Chapter 1000: Lu Yang's Day of Suffering

"Huh?" Master Duanchen was utterly bewildered. Was Master Lu’s way of amassing karmic merit seriously just dragging back a whole flock of people?

"This one practises Joyous Zen."

"This one was trying to commit suicide."

"This one is skilled in the art of hypnosis..."

Lu Yang introduced the origins of each person one by one. Every single one of them had quite a story to tell; to say nothing of what they had intended to do, the sheer process of capturing them had been exceptionally difficult, far beyond what could be summed up in a mere sentence or two.

Coming to the last one, Lu Yang spoke with deep, earnest gravity: "Fortuitously, Old Meng and I sensed that something major was bound to happen during this festival. Feeling uneasy, we kept a constant eye out for any anomalies in the city. See for yourself—we managed to hunt them all down."

Master Duanchen felt cold sweat drenching his brow as he listened. Every single one of these individuals posed a catastrophic hidden danger. If Master Lu and Master Meng had missed even a single soul, this entire Buddha Bathing Festival would have been utterly ruined.

Yet he could hardly be blamed for insufficient preparations; these rogue cultivators had operated with absolute stealth. Even if he had deployed extra patrols, they would have unearthed nothing.

"I wonder how you two benefactors managed to locate these people? Could you perhaps impart a technique or two to this poor monk?"

Lu Yang waved a hand, speaking with practiced humility: "What technique could there be? It was merely the protection of the Blessed One."

Master Duanchen was visibly moved upon hearing this. Indeed, that was the only plausible explanation; otherwise, even if the two had kept their divine senses perpetually swept across the city, it would have been impossible to ferret everyone out.

"It appears both benefactors are blessed with profound fortune."

"Well then, Master, we shall leave you to the arduous task of dealing with these folks. By my reckoning, the quarter-finals should be nearly decided by now. Old Meng and I ought to head to the venue," Lu Yang said, calculating the time.

Originally, after capturing the man who carried the zombie plague, they should have had plenty of time to enjoy themselves. Who could have foreseen a whole queue of villains waiting to be caught? By the time they finished rounding them up and delivering them back to Kaihuang Temple, the remaining time had nearly slipped away.

"Amitabha."

The moment Lu Yang stepped out of the temple gates, his vision plunged into darkness. When his sight restored itself, he was once again standing near the martial arena.

"Old Lu, want to see how their matches are going?" Meng Jingzhou pointed toward the clamorous arena, looking quite intrigued.

The corner of Lu Yang’s eye twitched. No, seriously, it was a grand festival; why had time wound back yet again? Could he not just enjoy a proper holiday for once?

"Don't bother. Their skills are thoroughly mediocre. The best among them are likely just those two cultivators ranked ninety-fifth and ninety-ninth on the Earth Rankings." Lu Yang had already watched it once before and knew that spectating here was a pure waste of time.

"What are the Earth Rankings?"

Lu Yang pressed a hand to his forehead, forgetting that the current Old Meng still had no inkling of what the Earth Rankings meant. "It is a ranking system compiled by the West Heaven Temple for the cultivators of the Buddhist Kingdom, divided into the Mortal, Earth, and Heaven Rankings..."

"So that's how it is," Meng Jingzhou murmured in realization, thinking little of it. Such intelligence could easily be gleaned if one simply did enough homework beforehand.

"Still, aren't you curious as to what level these Earth Ranking cultivators possess, Old Lu?" Meng Jingzhou remained intensely curious, choosing to stay and watch.

Up on the arena, Huo Ying stared grimly at Fang Wudi. "Fang Wudi, to think that you would come as well. I have heard you possess the Innate Sovereign Physique, and that at the moment of your birth, a golden dragon circled and plunged into your flesh, transforming into your birthmark..."

Meng Jingzhou watched with great enthusiasm for a short while, but his excitement quickly curdled into disappointment. "Just this little bit of capability? Back when I was in the Golden Core stage, I could have thrashed both of them single-handedly."

"I told you already, there is nothing worth seeing," Lu Yang said helplessly.

"Then how did you know that Earth Ranking cultivators would appear?" Meng Jingzhou was baffled. Even Kaihuang Temple had no registry of the participants; everyone had signed up on the spot.

"Of course I know. I have already lived through it once."

"What do you mean, lived through it once?" Meng Jingzhou was exceptionally startled.

Seeing the bewildered expression on Old Meng's face, Lu Yang realized he had never found the opportunity to explain during the previous time loops. This, at least, was a good chance.

"This story must begin from the moment I broke through to the mid-stage of Soul Formation..."

Lu Yang explained from the very beginning, recounting his experiences over the past half-year or so, leaving Meng Jingzhou entirely in a daze.

He had heard his ancestor mention that certain half-immortals could freeze time, but a reversal of time itself was something he had never encountered before.

Seeing Old Lu speak until his throat was parched, it certainly did not sound like a fabricated tale.

"So that's how it is. To think the Dao Fruit could actually bring about such an occurrence..." Meng Jingzhou nodded in sudden enlightenment, only to instantly fall into a blank stupor.

"Huh, Old Lu, what did you just say?"

Lu Yang: "..."

Damn it. He had forgotten that the mechanisms of the Dao Fruit carried a property of erasure. He had wasted his breath explaining for nothing.

"Oh, it's Master Lu and Master Meng." A familiar voice rang out. Without even turning around, Lu Yang knew it was Tang Qiaoqiao and Cui Que'er.

"Masters, weren't you supposed to take the stage as judges? Why are you still lingering here?"

"It isn't our turn yet," Lu Yang explained casually, refraining from asking about Tang Chuanwu’s whereabouts as he had the last time.

"How come there are only the two of you? Where is that brat Chuanwu?" His good brother, Meng Jingzhou, asked on Lu Yang's behalf.

"My brother followed the shopkeeper to the neighboring Lotus City to restock inventory."

"Then Miss Cui, please do be careful when you distribute the porridge," Lu Yang cautioned.

Cui Que'er was astonished. "How does Master Lu know that I am going to distribute porridge with my father?"

"Miss Cui has forgotten; you mentioned it yourself. Your family distributes porridge every fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth day of the month. Today happens to be the fifteenth of May."

"Would it kill you to distribute the porridge a day late?" In Meng Jingzhou's eyes, today ought to be a day reserved entirely for revelry.

Lu Yang shook his head. "Of course not. The karmic merit gained from performing good deeds today is ten times that of ordinary days. It is all the more reason to distribute porridge."

Cui Que'er grew increasingly astonished. "Master Lu knows so much. I thought only we locals were aware of this tradition."

After parting ways with Cui Que'er and Tang Qiaoqiao, Meng Jingzhou egged Lu Yang on: "Old Lu, shall we go and amass some karmic merit as well?"

"That is simple enough." When it came to how one should accumulate merit today, no one understood better than Lu Yang.

Lu Yang led Meng Jingzhou through the bustling streets. Suddenly, a man clad in a black cloak spun around abruptly, laughing with manic frenzy, leaving Meng Jingzhou utterly perplexed.

"The chaos of Kaihuang City shall begin with you—"

"Don't bother, the lines are exactly the same." Lu Yang lunged forward with a sudden stride, spreading his large hand to smother the cloaked man's face before slamming him into the ground with a resounding thud.

"Old Lu, he is..."

Lu Yang crouched down, retrieving the Spirit-Locking Rope and expertly binding the cloaked man. This time, he did not even need to perform a soul search.

"Don't ask so many questions. I am taking you to amass karmic merit."

"Huh? Oh."

Subsequently, the depraved monk, the unclad cultivator, the insect cultivator... were apprehended one after another. Armed with the experience of the previous capture, Lu Yang was even more adept this time.

"Mission accomplished. Let us deliver them all to Duanchen—"

Before his words could finish, Lu Yang’s vision turned black, and he found himself back near the martial arena once more.

In a flash, five cycles of the loop had passed.

"Old Lu, want to see how their matches are going?" Meng Jingzhou pointed toward the arena.

"Don't bother. At the absolute best, it will just be two Earth Ranking cultivators turning up."

"What are the Earth Rankings?"

Lu Yang took two steps forward and practicedly patted the spectator on the outermost perimeter who was shouting the loudest.

"Come, you explain to him what the Earth Rankings are."