Chapter 202: Cause and Effect Cancel Out

Chapter 202: The Recompense of Karma

A cool night breeze swept over the wildly overgrown weeds, blood droplets clinging to the grass stems rolling with the wind, dangling at the leaf tips, trembling on the verge of falling.

The already crimson soil below had stretched open its mouth, yearning to continue drinking that sweet, crimson nectar.

The warehouse had become a ruin, Wei Ju'er leaning against a broken wall, collapsed in the blood-soaked pool.

Around him lay the mangled corpses of Jin Yi Wei in their ornate robes, their severed bodies surrounded by still-warm shells.

The kinetic firearm, "Zhao Dan," provided exclusively by the Ministry of War, had scattered into debris, leaving only half the barrel lying across his knees.

A pair of bright yellow monk's shoes stepped into view.

Wei Ju'er, defeated, lifted his head to meet the gaze of a smiling pair of eyes, gazing down from above.

"The monk's request is not complicated—just have you, Wei the Hundredth House, accompany me to Chongqing Mansion and draw out Li Jun. As compensation, I can secure your position as a Hundredth House."

"Chengdu Mansion's Jin Yi Wei's Hundredth House is Yu Conghai, a shareholder of Qingcheng Group. What, you can kill that bull-nosed man too?"

Wei Ju'er let out a scornful laugh, but even that simple movement caused him to cough up a string of blood foam.

"He's merely a Golden Core cultivator trapped at the seventh level of the Dao, unable to advance. What's wrong with killing him?" The young monk's proud brow revealed a flicker of arrogance.

"Big talk, don't forget this is Chengdu Mansion, not your Buddhist domain!"

"The monk walks the Buddhist path; wherever I stand is the Pure Land of the Dharma."

Jiang Wu raised his palm before him, staring at the blood-soaked figure struggling to rise against the wall. "A monk does not speak falsehoods. I hope Wei the Hundredth House will consider my words carefully."

"Hahahahahahahaha."

Wei Ju'er felt his heart and lungs ablaze, as if scorched by fire. Even the slightest twitch of his lips brought a searing pain.

"Consider?"

He slowly lifted his head, patted the flying fish pattern on his chest, and sneered, "Do you see this flying fish robe on me?"

Jiang Wu's face remained calm. "These years, many Jin Yi Wei have knelt before the Buddha, seeking forgiveness. Not a few."

"But I am not them, and they do not deserve to be Jin Yi Wei!"

Wei Ju'er's eyes turned blood-red, his body radiating an unyielding killing intent.

His hunched frame straightened inch by inch, his twisted spine emitting a chilling crack.

His toes scraped the ground, sliding until his feet were shoulder-width apart, his hands like blades, crossed before him.

Wei Ju'er bared his teeth, revealing a mouth of crimson, "Come, I'll let you taste the suffering your ancestors once endured!"

"So you're a hidden remnant of the martial way."

The wisdom root at Jiang Wu's brow glowed a blood-red hue, his vertical palm rotating slightly, palm outward, forming the Fearless Seal.

"It's your grandfather!"

Wei Ju'er's mouth twisted into a grin as he slashed with both hands.

*Pfft!*

A palm descended, and Wei Ju'er's arms were severed at the elbows, the wounds smooth as if cut by a sharp blade.

A second palm, a ferocious gash stretched from his shoulder to his waist, the heart within his ribcage nearly visible.

A third palm, and Wei Ju'er's flying fish robes exploded into fluttering fragments, his ankle joints shattered into powder.

The Jin Yi Wei commander, who had never begged for mercy even in death, pressed his back against the broken wall, eyes wide with fury, unyielding even in death.

Jiang Wu lifted his palm to his eyes, staring at the white liquid staining his fingertips, a sneer of disdain curling his lips.

"Blood turns to white, willing to fall—this is not even a remnant, but a waste. Even the Buddha has no interest in refining you into a Dharma Protector."

The young monk flicked his fingers, and from his sleeve rolled a golden orb no larger than a human fist, landing with a clang.

The orb deformed and stretched, transforming into a child-faced mechanical novice, palm-sized.

"Greetings, Buddha."

The little novice clasped his hands in prayer, bowing to Jiang Wu.

Then, turning, he leaped onto Wei Ju'er's shoulder, flipped his wrists, and spat out two knives as thin as cicada wings, pressing them to Wei Ju'er's jaw.

*Ssslllaash!*

Amidst a bone-chilling sound of flesh being torn, Jiang Wu gazed southeast.

"Since you choose to devour the Buddha and ascend the martial way to the seventh level, I shall slay you into the sixth level of the Dharma."

The young monk clasped his hands, bowing slightly.

"Karma meets its due, with no offense to the Buddha."

Hongya Mountain, Peace Restaurant.

Li Jun placed a sign reading "Master has left, other matters postponed" at the door.

The crooked handwriting was unmistakably his own.

Since the Qixiao Group incident, this Peace Restaurant had become his refuge.

As the owner, Zou Si Jiu had been forthright, entrusting Li Jun with the core control of the restaurant's "Eight Gates" before departing Chongqing Mansion—a Feng Shui compass.

Yet he had also tearfully urged him, saying this restaurant had cost him half his life's savings. No matter what happened, he must never fight here.

Even if he had to fight, he should first switch to the "Death Gate," whose structure was most stable and hard to destroy.

Otherwise, if the shop were damaged and reclaimed by Hongya Mountain, they would have to move to their home in the slums of the eighteen flights.

"Actually, it's not necessary to go to the eighteen flights. He Cangjia has many places in other districts."

Recalling his words, Li Jun couldn't help but chuckle at Zou Si Jiu's face, ashen as if his wife had died.

In truth, Li Jun understood why Zou had left so abruptly.

Beyond placing the boy named Xiaoqi in safety and resolving that karma, the more pressing reason was his inability to awaken Li Hua's soul.

This, Zou Si Jiu had not concealed but frankly disclosed.

The Moji "Ming Gui" core is the soul; the armor-like exoskeleton is merely a vessel.

Without the soul's return, the "Ming Gui" would never awaken.

Yet Zou Si Jiu was not shirking—he offered a solution: to seek aid.

What a Yin-Yang Eight-Bao shaman cannot accomplish does not mean a higher-sequence Yin-Yang practitioner cannot.

This ritual-focused charlatan had entrusted the restaurant's control core to Li Jun, implying a pledge.

Li Jun had his own plans. Since he chose not to continue fleeing, he would inevitably face the coming struggles.

At this juncture, letting Zou take Li Hua away would ease his burdens.

As long as Li Hua was not in Chongqing Mansion, Li Jun could act without restraint, battling the approaching river dragons.

"If this world weren't so messed up, perhaps opening a shop and being a boss would be a fine choice."

Standing at the restaurant door, Li Jun watched the endless flow of people in the cliff market, a sudden pang of melancholy in his eyes.

"Alas, in this age, whether those seeking death or those courting it, there are too many."

Li Jun shook his head,

casting away the myriad futile musings that plagued his mind,

and turned on his heel to step back into the shop.