Chapter 399: Elders' Consultation

Tianmen Peak, Elders' consultation.

The five elders surrounded Meng Jingzhou, clicking their tongues in wonder.

"This curse on Nephew Meng is quite intriguing.

"Indeed, in my over two thousand years of life, this is the first time I have encountered such a bizarre curse; I didn't even come across anything like it during my travels in the Desolate Province."

"This curse shouldn't be of much consequence to Nephew Meng anyway, seeing as he possesses the Single Celibacy Spiritual Root, and besides, the curse will automatically dissolve after a period of time."

"Rest assured, Little Meng, since you were harmed by Qiu Jin'an, I will definitely get even on your behalf!

"My good disciple, how do you feel right now?"

"The Desolate Province is rife with shamanic witchcraft, the very origin of curses. Fourth Brother, of everyone here, only you have been to the Desolate Province and studied curses. Why are you—" The four elders, Meng Jingzhou, and Lu Yang all turned their heads simultaneously to look at the Fourth Elder, who was gently swaying his feather fan.

Lu Yang recalled the information regarding the Desolate Province.

The Desolate Province lay to the west of the Central Continent, bordering Liang Province and the Buddhist Kingdoms of the Western Regions. It was a place where shamanic witchcraft and corpse-driving arts flourished, where the populace possessed a rugged and uninhibited temperament, and where ancient traditions ran deep; it was also the ancestral home of Mangu.

The Fourth Elder wore a troubled expression: "After I was afflicted with a hex myself, I did indeed study the art of curses for a time. For instance, I can tell that Nephew Meng can only possibly break this causal backlash by shattering his core to form a nascent soul, reaching the Nascent Soul Stage. Of course, that is merely a possibility. If even attaining the Nascent Soul Stage cannot break it, then he will have no choice but to wait until he breaks through to the Soul Formation Stage. At the exact moment of breaking through to the Soul Formation Stage, it will undoubtedly be undone."

As these words were spoken, Meng Jingzhou’s face turned entirely pale.

If it were the Nascent Soul Stage, it would still be manageable, but if it required the Soul Formation Stage, how many years would he have to cultivate?

"I can dispel some simple curse techniques, but those only involve very shallow levels. For example, when you few are cursed by people day in and day out, it is always I who dispels them. However, Nephew Meng's situation is of too high a level; with my cultivation, it is difficult to undo."

"If I could reach the Tribulation Transmutation Stage, I would certainly be confident in handling it."

Old Master Ba rolled his eyes: "As if you could reach the Tribulation Transmutation Stage. Get in line. Your cultivation progress can hardly match Eldest Brother or Ninth Brother."

The Fourth Elder spread his hands: "Then I have no other options left. Wait, we could ask Master for help."

The Seventh Elder did not think this was a good idea: "Although Master is at the Tribulation Transmutation Stage, the old gentleman knows nothing of curse techniques, and furthermore, he suppresses the Prisoner Peak and cannot afford to be distracted."

"Disciple, how about you execute another set of Single Celibacy Curse Fists against Second Brother? Perhaps the two backlashes will cancel each other out, and it will be undone?"

Meng Jingzhou hurriedly shook his head. Was that a joke? How could that be called backlashes cancelling out? That would be backlashes stacking!

"In truth, Nephew Meng need not be overly anxious; your curse is not as severe as you imagine," the Fourth Elder consoled.

"Could the Fourth Elder please elaborate?"

"The ones suffering the causal backlash are the two of you, you and Qiu Jin'an. Therefore, the causal backlash has been split into two. You bear half, and Qiu Jin'an bears half. Bearing only half of a causal backlash is far easier to resolve than a complete one."

Meng Jingzhou’s eyes lit up: "Does that mean you have a way, Fourth Elder?"

"Not at all."

Meng Jingzhou: "……"

"I hear Nephew Li knows the art of regrowing severed limbs. By changing body parts, he replaces every single part of his entire body from top to bottom, thereby evading causality. Could this method be applied to Nephew Meng? For instance, Old Seventh, could you refine a grand medicine capable of regrowing severed limbs to feed my disciple?"

What the Third Elder spoke of was Li Haoran's Golden Elixir of Rebirth.

"A grand medicine for regrowing severed limbs is easy enough to refine; it is nothing more than begging for a few root hairs from the Little Medicine King. But the question is, does this method truly work?"

The Fourth Elder stepped forward to dismiss the idea: "Nephew Li's Golden Elixir of Rebirth can indeed evade causality, but the level of Nephew Meng's causal backlash is far too high; it simply will not work."

Old Master Ba thought of another method: "The Tiance Sect is proficient in the arts of causality. The very site of our Asking Dao Sect was calculated for our Ancestral Master by the people of the Tiance Sect, bringing blessings for a hundred and twenty thousand years. To be able to calculate even such matters, their mastery over causality is unrivaled. A causal backlash should also fall within their scope of handling. Why don't we seek them out and give it a try?"

The Eighth Elder shook his head: "I recall that the Tiance Sect inherits its lineage from the ancient Shihuang Clan. They are proficient in the arts of causality and capable of divination and fortune-telling, but the Tiance Sect believes that causality cannot be eliminated; it can only be converted from one form of causality to another. For this reason, they rarely interfere in the secular world. If they interfere too much in the secular world and causality clings to them, they will lose their ability for divination and fortune-telling."

"I have heard of this as well. I also heard that the Shihuang Clan did not have a good reputation in ancient times. They frequently used their divination abilities to plot for wealth, take lives, and disrupt the order of the world, using the opportunities to seek breakthroughs."

"Later, the Shihuang Clan enraged an unknown grand power. That grand power severely wounded the Shihuang Clan, causing them to collapse from then on. Afterwards, the Shihuang Clan wished to seek revenge, but that grand power ascended to immortality. Fearing that they would provoke this ancient immortal, the Shihuang Clan ordered the clan to be sealed, strictly forbidding all clansmen from contacting the secular world, as entangling with secular causality would invite great terror."

"The Tiance Sect inherited the lineage of the Shihuang Clan after that upheaval and became a hidden world sect."

"If we let Tiance help handle it, it would likely change Nephew Meng from being unable to see women to being unable to see men."

"Then how about placing another curse on Nephew Meng, cursing him to encounter romantic calamities every day? Would the two curses counteract each other that way?"

"That sounds like a possibility. Who knows how to cast a curse? Fourth Brother, do you?"

The Fourth Elder rolled his eyes, feeling that his senior and junior brothers viewed him as far too omnipotent: "I do not. What I learned was how to break curses, not how to cast them on people. If I knew how to cast a romantic calamity, I would have cast one on myself first."

"Fourth Brother, you are a dignified Confucian cultivator, what business do you have with romantic calamities?"

"To emulate the ancients by remaining unmoved with a woman in my lap, thereby tempering the character of a gentleman."

"The gentlemen who frequent brothels all use that exact rhetoric."

"They copied me."

"Has anyone learned the art of casting hexes from the vast Eastern Sea? The principle is similar to curses; perhaps it could resolve the current situation."

"Old Eighth, you've been to the Eastern Sea, haven't you? Did you learn it?"

"No. Back then I was constantly pursued and hunted by the Sea Race; how could I have the leisure to study hexing arts?"

While the elders held their meeting to discuss Meng Jingzhou's curse, Lu Yang continued to seek the assistance of the ancient immortal within his mental space.

Reasonably speaking, since he possessed an ancient immortal as a cheat code—and the strongest among the ancient immortals at that—no matter what difficulties he encountered, the ancient immortal ought to have a solution.

"Fairy, do you have any other ideas?"

"I do."

"What is it?"

"As the saying goes, when the body dies, the Dao dissipates and all causality is void. As long as one dies once, the causality will naturally vanish." The Immortal Fairy cheerfully proposed her second plan, which had been thoroughly considered.

Lu Yang felt that given Meng Jingzhou’s intelligence, there was a high probability he would not agree to this method.

The Immortal Fairy was displeased with Lu Yang's attitude. She frequently used this method to evade causality, and it worked every single time.

The more Meng Jingzhou listened to the elders' discussion, the more he felt their methods were unreliable. Seeking help from others was inferior to saving oneself: "How about I make a trip to the Desolate Province? Perhaps I might find a solution there."

"That is indeed a feasible approach."