Chapter 986: Good People Get Good Rewards

Tang Chuanwu was absolutely certain that half an hour ago, there had been no golden beans upon the table.

His vigilance flared. Having practiced martial arts for over half a year, his five senses had sharpened considerably; not even a cultivator of the sixth layer of Qi Refining should have been able to appear soundlessly to place them there.

Who could it be?

Was this mysterious visitor a friend or a foe?

Before this, his younger sister’s latent spiritual roots had been discovered by the chief of the Desert Gang, a local tyrant who sought to use her body to practice an evil art. He had sent men with silver, calling it "life-buying money." When his sister refused, an underhand cultivator among the subordinates struck too hard in the fracas, killing her. Seeing this, Tang Chuanwu had lunged forward, only to be beaten to death as well.

In the subsequent multiple cycles of reincarnation, he had continuously gathered intelligence, unearthing two crucial pieces of news: the Desert Gang’s deputy chief had long coveted the leadership, and their arch-rivals, the Wolf-Slaying Gang, had always cast covetous eyes upon their territory.

By inciting an intense turf war between the two factions, the deputy chief had seized the chaos to assassinate the leader and claim the mantle for himself. With no one left aware of his sister's spiritual roots, she had successfully evaded that fatal calamity.

Tang Chuanwu called out into the void, "I know not which master aids us siblings. Pray, leave your esteemed name, so that we might erect a tablet of longevity in your honor to repay this profound kindness."

There was no response.

After waiting a brief moment, Tang Chuanwu called out once more, yet silence remained his only answer.

"Could it truly be the life-buying money again?"

Unable to gauge the stranger's intentions, an immense anxiety gripped his heart.

"I must see just what kind of being gave these golden beans!"

Snatching the kitchen knife from the chopping board, he plunged it fiercely into his own heart!

...

Having left the golden beans behind, Lu Yang returned to the Kaihuang Temple.

"Old Lu, what did you sneak off to do that has you looking so pleased?" Meng Jingzhou asked in bewilderment. The fellow had been stealthily tailing Tang Qiaoqiao, so why did he return looking so utterly delighted?

Lu Yang grinned, humming a light tune. "Just doing a few good deeds. Doesn't Buddhism emphasize that good karma brings good rewards? This is called accumulating virtue through benevolence..."

Before the words could fully leave his lips, Lu Yang's vision plunged into darkness. He instantly found himself listening to the very first pilgrim weeping and pouring out her grievances to Master Duanchen.

"Master, many years ago on my wedding night, my fiancé eloped with my maid..."

Lu Yang was speechless.

Was this the so-called good karma bringing good rewards?

Why on earth had time wound backward yet again out of nowhere?

Had the user of the Dao Fruit of Time encountered some new predicament?

Though Lu Yang knew Master Duanchen would spend the entire day filling and emptying water from a bottle, and knew exactly what kind of pilgrims would arrive, he had already been standing behind the master to observe. To leave now would give the impression that he found it too tedious to watch, which would surely wound the master's pride.

Resigned to his fate, Lu Yang could only stand rooted to the spot, watching the day’s events unfold all over again like an unskippable playback.

Only when the final pilgrim, Tang Qiaoqiao, departed did the day-long recording ball of memories finally conclude.

Originally, Lu Yang had thought to simply give the golden beans to Tang Qiaoqiao and let her carry them home, but he worried the young girl might accidentally flaunt her wealth on the road. For safety's sake, delivering them directly to her home seemed most prudent.

This time, without needing Tang Qiaoqiao to lead the way, Lu Yang made a straight line for her house. At that moment, Tang Chuanwu had just finished a set of fist techniques and was sitting by the table, resting and drinking water.

Lu Yang pondered for a moment. Plonking the golden beans directly onto the table would surely startle the young man. Thus, he placed the golden beans upon the kitchen stove instead, before vanishing into thin air.

Tang Chuanwu waited all the way until Tang Qiaoqiao returned. The siblings conversed for a long while, during which Tang Chuanwu kept his eyes fixed firmly on the table, yet from beginning to end, no golden beans materialized.

"Strange. Why haven't they appeared yet?"

It was only when Tang Qiaoqiao carried the fish bones to the stove that she cried out in astonishment, "Where did these golden beans come from?"

A cold shiver ran down Tang Chuanwu's spine. He had deliberately sat by the table precisely to discover how the visitor would appear.

The golden beans appearing on the stove meant the intruder had seen him sitting by the table and, wishing to remain undetected, had altered the location.

"To achieve such a feat, the person must be at least a powerful Foundation Establishment expert, or perhaps even a Golden Core Ancestor."

Tang Chuanwu pondered. This manner of leaving the golden beans did not seem to harbor malice.

If they were using the money as a medium to cast a curse, it ought to have been hidden more securely, beyond any hope of discovery. If it were life-buying money, it would have been placed right before his eyes.

"Could it be that some passing master saw our pitiful plight and bestowed them as charity?"

Perhaps it was some Golden Core Ancestor traveling the mortal realm in jest, a casual whim on their part, while he himself was merely overly anxious, mistaking every bush for a foe.

It was no wonder Tang Chuanwu was cautious; he knew his meager strength was negligible before a Foundation Establishment master. He could not afford to act too arrogantly merely because he possessed the power of time reversal.

Time reversal was not invincible; it carried its own flaws.

Through hundreds of instances of both voluntary and involuntary time reversals, he had long grasped the two major characteristics of this ability: it required his own death as a prerequisite, it could only return to the hour of the Dragon, and the reversed time could not exceed a single day.

If a cultivator of the demonic path discovered his anomaly and performed a soul-search, uncovering his experiences, he would find himself in an inescapable abyss.

A soul-search would not kill him; it would merely strip away his sanity, turning him into an idiot.

A demonic cultivator could easily imprison him after the soul-search and kill him whenever they desired a time reversal. After the time rewound, he would still remain in a state of idiocy, reduced entirely to a tool for the demonic sect.

He would not even have a single chance to turn the tables.

...

"Dear patrons, the Bathing Buddha Festival is still two months away. I wonder if this poor monk might publicize your presence to the outside world?" Early in the morning, Master Duanchen stood guard outside the guest rooms of Lu Yang and his companion, waiting for them to emerge.

The letter had merely invited the two to visit the Kaihuang Temple; that it was to bolster the temple's prestige had been Lu Yang's own deduction. Now it was certain: they were to serve as a grand attraction to draw cultivators from afar.

Meng Jingzhou patted his chest and flashed a thumbs-up. "Of course. My martial brother and I are upright men of honor. You may publicize us as you see fit, Master."

"Then this poor monk offers his thanks in advance."

"This poor monk believes that if one wishes to gain fame rapidly, one must rely upon a 'grand event'."

Under Master Duanchen's management, the incense offerings at the Kaihuang Temple grew more prosperous by the day, a testament to his own refined methods of publicity.

"For instance, our Kaihuang Temple shares its reputation equally with several surrounding monasteries. Pilgrims generally choose whichever temple is closest to them, with no distinction whatsoever."

"To remedy this, this poor monk captured numerous evil spirits and venomous creatures, placing them not far from Kaihuang City to create the illusion of a massive onslaught. When this poor monk stepped forward to eliminate them all at once, our reputation naturally eclipsed the other temples."

"This poor monk wishes to ask you two to pretend to encounter evil spirits in the city and vanquish them. In this manner, your appearance will be tied to an event. The populace loves nothing more than discussing such matters over tea and meals, which will surely spread the news of your arrival in Kaihuang City with greater speed."

Lu Yang and his companion gave it some thought, and subsequently agreed to the plan.