Chapter 660: Deep Blessed Destiny

Had it been the constables or bailiffs arriving, Boss Hong might still have mustered the courage to put up a fight.

But Lu Yang was a different story.

Who in the Great Xia Dynasty did not know of Lu Yang? Cultivators knew him as the peerless genius who had fought to a draw with the Young Sect Master of the Heavenly Court Theological Sect during the Golden Core Stage; commoners knew him as the protagonist of "The Legend of the Daoist Sect: Lu Yang's Chapter."

The Five Great Immortal Sects were loftier than the heavens themselves, brimming with immortal masters as numerous as the clouds. It was said that within those immortal gates, they did not even bother to subdivide the Qi Refining Stage. The highest-cultivation ancestor of their own Bamboo Leaf Sect was merely at the Nascent Soul Stage, utterly unworthy of even fetching shoes for the immortal sects.

To say nothing of Lu Yang of the Daoist Sect—this was a supreme prodigy who, at a tender age, had already served as the Acting Sect Master of the Daoist Sect, a man destined to become its undisputed future leader.

Even a city lord would treat Lu Yang with the utmost courtesy, let alone a mere Qi Refining practitioner like himself.

Meng Jingzhou glanced at the slightly smug Lu Yang, filled with immense regret.

He had been a step too slow in announcing his name just now. Even if he did so now, the impact would pale in comparison to Lu Yang's.

The young girl who had emerged alongside Boss Hong was also thoroughly startled by Lu Yang's name; she had not expected this to be the legendary Prodigy Lu.

Compared to Prodigy Lu, her own sweetheart amounted to absolutely nothing.

The two standing beside Prodigy Lu seemed, judging by their posture, to hold equal status with him. Both were exceptionally handsome, and that monk in particular possessed the most striking appearance of all.

She began to ponder which of the three men she ought to choose.

And this Prodigy Lu was not bad-looking either.

"Where did the pendants you are selling come from, and how many have you sold?"

"I will confess! I will confess everything!" Boss Hong said in a hurried scramble.

Lu Yang smiled with narrowed eyes. "Boss Hong, turning yourself in is not as simple as merely surrendering. You must also give a truthful account of all your deeds."

"It was... it was over a month ago when someone approached me, asking me to help him sell a batch of pendants. Originally I was unwilling, but the other party's cultivation was extremely high. Had I refused, my situation would have been perilous, so I had no choice but to agree to his demands."

Lu Yang frowned. "Who was that person? What did he look like, and what was his cultivation?"

"I do... I don't know his name. He was tall and thin, just like a bamboo pole."

"And you have no idea what his cultivation level was?"

"None at all."

Lu Yang and his companions knitted their brows slightly. It appeared that the person distributing these pendants had some sort of scheme, though his ultimate purpose remained obscure.

"Are you looking at the pendant in my hand?"

Lu Yang: "..."

"Fairy, wake up, stop cultivating." Lu Yang entered the Great Hero Hall of his spiritual space and shook awake the Immortal Fairy, who was currently practicing a dream-induction spell.

"Yawn—what is it?"

"Ah? What's wrong? Has that girl Yun charged in?" The Immortal Fairy sat up from her lotus platform in a daze, her eyes half-open and half-closed.

"We have run into a bit of trouble and need to borrow your vast insight."

"Is there something wrong with the pendant?"

"What about the pendant?" Through Lu Yang's perspective, the Immortal Fairy eyed the pendant dangling in his hand. "Who forged this?"

"No problem at all, except that the forging technique is utterly wretched, far inferior to this Immortal's Pillow of Yellow Millet."

"And the intended targets? Does it work on both mortals and cultivators?"

"The forging is too crude; it can only enter the dreams of mortals. The underlying design principle is sound enough, though. If it were forged with more precision, it could enter the dreams of cultivators as well."

"If one must point out a flaw, it is that this pendant can record dreams."

"Record dreams?"

"Meaning that whatever dreams are experienced using the pendant, and whatever effect they have on the dream's master, can all be recorded."

For a moment, Lu Yang could not fathom what the other party was trying to achieve.

Forget it, no use dwelling on it. Let the authorities handle it.

"The individual also made a specific demand, stating that I could only sell the pendants to mortals, not to cultivators."

"Then who are you?" Lu Yang shifted his gaze to the pitiful-looking young girl.

"I... I am his junior sister, just passing by to visit him." The girl was thoroughly intimidated by Lu Yang's gaze.

"Oh? There is a twenty-year age gap between you, yet you come to visit him late at night, a lonely man and a solitary woman sharing a room?"

"Yes... that is right."

Shi Chan took a step forward and chanted the Mantra of Truth. A massive golden Buddhist character imprinted itself upon the girl's brow. "Female benefactor, please speak the truth."

Under the influence of the Mantra of Truth, the girl poured out the purpose of her visit in explicit detail: "I came to entreat Senior Brother Hong to assassinate a rival named Fu Ling..."

Lu Yang: "..."

Meng Jingzhou: "..."

Why was it Miss Fu Ling yet again?

Now that the matter was clear, there was no need to linger. Lu Yang left the Hong estate and found the constables patrolling the main street.

"Constable brother, there is another case here!" Lu Yang hailed the man. It was the very same constable to whom they had delivered the rogue cultivator assassin the previous night.

To think they would cross paths again so soon.

After Lu Yang explained the situation at the Hong estate, the constable stared at him as though he were looking at a ghost.

Last night you brought in an assassin guilty of attempted murder, and tonight you have apprehended a gang caught mid-assassination?

The constable almost suspected that Lu Yang was an assassin from out of town trying to expand his business here, using the government's hand to eliminate local competition.

Before long, the constable contacted his superiors and summoned a large contingent of bailiffs. They escorted everyone from the Hong estate to the magistrate's office for overnight interrogation.

The Zhong father and daughter, as witnesses and victims, also arrived at the yamen.

"Master, is the matter resolved?" Zhong Ming asked with great emotion.

"Indeed. Your daughter's affliction was caused by Kang Wei's use of a dharma artifact. Now that the truth has come to light, it remains for the authorities to determine how to proceed."

"Thank you so much!" How could Zhong Ming not be moved? A problem that had plagued him for a week had been resolved by the master in a single night. "Then, regarding the incense money..."

"Five hundred taels of silver."

To Zhong Ming, five hundred taels of silver was but a drop in the bucket. He immediately drew a one-thousand-tael silver note from his sleeve.

"Master, this is a token of my gratitude."

"It is too much." Shi Chan insisted on accepting only five hundred taels. Unable to dissuade the master, Zhong Ming could only produce a five-hundred-tael note and present it with deep respect.

With the matter concluded, Shi Chan returned to the inn without casting so much as a single glance at the young lady of the Zhong family.

"Shall we head to the Spring Fragrance Pavilion tonight to temper your state of mind?" Lu Yang teased with a smile. Accompanying Shi Chan on his rituals was truly an eye-opening experience.

"No. But one night has passed, which is not yet the peak of this poor monk's carnal desires; it would not yield the optimal tempering effect. In my view, it is best to wait quietly for three days."

"Sophisticated."

As the three returned to the inn, they happened to run into the Fu Ling sisters who had just returned themselves.

"Oh, Master, you have returned quite late."

"A ritual delayed us for some time. I observe that you two benefactors have not returned early either."

Fu Ling's eyes crinkled into mere slits with her smile. "We were fortunate today. A client we had been unable to secure previously was finally locked down today. We discussed many details, and by the time we realized it, it was already this late."

Shi Chan chanted a prayer to Amitabha Buddha, "Donor Fuling is blessed with deep and profound fortune."

"Then I shall take comfort in your auspicious words, Master, though today's events were indeed quite strange."

"I have no idea what came over him, but that client from yesterday who was making all those outrageous demands suddenly changed his tune today, saying he would consider it an act of charity to build up spiritual merit, and that he wanted to see if the Master's words actually held any truth."