Chapter 55.1: In order to learn this art, you must dual cultivate.

Chapter 55 Part 1

Ling Xiao’s heart tribulations was once every seven years. No wandering souls or wild ghosts could escape it.

After Yi Lingzi had finished speaking, there was no one amongst the four people present who had a response.

Since he had entered the ancient tomb for such a long time, Xi Jia had forgotten that Yi Lingzi had already died 19 years ago. Just as Qishan-daoren had said, Yi Lingzi’s magic power was profound. With coutless legends in the Xuanxue world, he was simply a monster. Even if such a great master died, you would think that he would always have a way to save himself.

As strong as Yi Lingzi, how could he just die so easily? Now, he had suddenly appeared, his corpse didn’t rot, and his spirit didn’t disperse. Could it be that he didn’t have the ability to remain in this world?

Xi Jia looked at Yi Lingzi in a daze. After quite a while, he immediately turned his head and looked at Ye Jingzhi.

Ye Jingzhi was still cupping a bit of Yi LIngzi’s ashes in his hands. His eyes trembled, and he only looked at his master, but didn’t speak.

Seeing everyone’s reaction, Yi Lingzi burst into laughter instead, “What’re you doing, what’re you doing? Isn’t this daoist already dead? Now that this daoist needs to enter reincarnation, why are you all shocked for? Qishan, you rotten old man, it’s not that this daoist wants to criticize you. It’s fine if the younger generation didn’t have the eyesight or knowledge to make sense of the situation, but you’re almost 100 years old. You still don’t know that this poor daoist has relied on passing through Ling Xiao’s heart tribulations in order to wait up until now?”

Qishan-daoren was after all, experienced and knowledgeable. At this moment, he had already returned to his senses, but he still refuted in disbelief, “Y-you’re saying nonsense! You, Yi Lingzi, why don’t you say, is there anyone whose corpse would not rot after being dead for 19 years? This is impossible, this old man doesn’t believe it, you must be lying!”

Yi Lingzi was good friends with Qishan-daoren for decades. How could he not understand his old friend’s unwillingness to believe the facts. He humphed and said, “You don’t understand a Corpse Nurturing Ground? The yin energy in this Corpse Nurturing Ground is strong to this degree and this poor daoist’s soul didn’t enter reincarnation, being able to protect the body a bit in order to prevent it from rotting isn’t allowed?”

Qishan-daoren continued to dispute, “No matter, this old man doesn’t care about you anyways. If you want to leave, then leave, we’re leaving even if you don’t leave.”

Once his voice fell, Qishan-daoren turned to leave. He didn’t dare to take another look at his old friend.

The most painful thing in the world was to lose something, regain it, only to lose it again.

When Yi Lingzi suddenly passed away, Ye Jingzhi was still small. Although he felt sad, it was also impossible for him to fully understand this kind of grief. Only Qishan-daoren had lost 4 close friends all at once with himself being the sole survivor, enduring the torment, remorse, and despair in his heart. Now that he saw his old friend again with difficulty, even if it was only Yi Lingzi alone, Qishan-daoren was very happy in his heart.

However, Yi Lingzi was now telling him that he needed to enter reincarnation, and his old friend would leave once again.

Believing or not believing was not important because the answer was already very obvious.

Ye Jingzhi slowly held the ashes in his hands tighter. He pursed his lips but didn’t speak. Yang Ze’s gaze stayed on Yi Lingzi and Qishan-daoren for a while. In the end, he also looked at Yi Lingzi without speaking.

Xi Jia looked at the situation around him and noticed that the only one present who could break the deadlock was himself. In his heart, he felt a trace of helplessness and pain, and he reached out to gently grab Ye Jingzhi’s wrist. Then, he raised his head and said, “Master, we all got it. Your body didn’t rot because the Corpse Nurturing Ground and the soul’s protection. Then, why didn’t you reincarnate after all these years and instead willingly endured two heart tribulations?”

Before, Cengxiu-zhenjun had told Xi Jia that there was a total of three times for Ling Xiao’s heart tribulations. So long as there was a proper reason to obtain Ling Xiao’s approval, Ling Xiao wouldn’t make things difficult for you. But if your reason wasn’t able to convince Ling Xiao, Ling Xiao would send punishment. The pain of heart tribulations far exceeded the 18 Layers of Hell because life was precious. People who didn’t cherish life would receive Ling Xiao’s disdain and loathing.

Cengxiu-zhenjun had lived for 103 years and seen plenty of wandering souls and wild ghosts. But, amongst the wild ghosts that had experienced heart tribulations, the most that they had passed was three times. During the fourth time, no one was able to endure the tormenting pain, and their soul scattered in the end.

Hearing Xi Jia getting them out of the predicament, Yi Lingzi beamed as he nodded. In regards to this disciple-in-law, he became more and more satisfied. He explained, “19 years ago, you should have thought that this poor daoist had died along with the millennium drought demon. But in reality, the drought demon had appeared too suddenly. Its strength was stronger than this poor daoist, and it had also suddenly attacked. This poor daoist was unable to defeat it and could only use all of my magic power to give it a serious injury and seal it inside the bronze coffin. With the body as the formation crux, as long as this poor daoist’s body is sitting on the bronze coffin for a day, the drought demon wouldn’t be able to come out. This is the truth of 19 years ago.”

Qishan-daoren suddenly turned his head, angrily asking, “You needing to seal the drought demon is very reasonable. Please don’t tell this old man that Ling Xiao thinks that the drought demon getting released doesn’t matter. So, you can’t stay in the human world to seal the drought demon?”

“You old geezer, you even dare to fathom Ling Xiao’s thoughts?”

Qishan-daoren confidently replied, “Could it be that this old man is wrong?”

Yi Lingzi laughed, “You’re wrong, because this poor daoist can completely enter reincarnation. With the corpse, the drought demon will been sealed.”

Qishan-daoren still wanted to refute, but after thinking, he truly couldn’t find a mistake. He could only sulk.

Daddy Ling Xiao had never made a mistake. If Daddy Ling Xiao said you didn’t have the justification, then you didn’t have the justification. If you were still staying in the mortal world, clinging to the world of the living, and not willing to enter reincarnation, then you must endure the punishment accordingly.

Xi Jia’s only doubt was, “Master, why would you willingly endure heart tribulations twice and wait 19 years without entering reincarnation?”

The drought demon was already very weak. Even if Yi Lingzi didn’t voice the warning, leading to Ye Jingzhi negligently moving his corpse aside and undoing the seal to let out the drought demon, the four of them would have been able to take care of it. Then, why would Yi Lingzi stay here and endure the pain of the heart tribulations for no reason?

“Because, I believe you would come.”

Everyone was stunned.

Yi Lingzi swept his gaze over the four men, one by one. He didn’t recognize Yang Ze so he didn’t pay much attention to Yang Ze. He narrowed his eyes at Qishan-daoren and smiled at Xi Jia with praise. Lastly, he looked up at his disciple who had grown up.

Yi Lingzi said, beaming, “Jingzhi ah, Master thought you would come in the first few years and retrieve Master’s body. Master didn’t expect to wait so many years. It’s all Fellow Daoist Lian Chen’s fault. Fellow Daoist Lian Chen didn’t know that Master is able to seal the drought demon. Thus, he had arranged a formation on this ancient tomb with all his efforts to prevent the drought demon from escaping. Otherwise, you would have come earlier, right?”

Yi Lingzi had guessed down to the smallest detail. Ye Jingzhi firmly looked at him and also slowly tightened his grasp of Xi Jia’s hand.

“Yes, Master.”

Yi Lingzi laughed out loud, “Actually, Master originally thought Ling Xiao would approve of this poor daoist’s reason for staying in this world and wouldn’t send a heart tribulation. But Master didn’t expect that this reason simply wasn’t justified, so Master had to endure it twice. Painful, really painful. Master wouldn’t be able to endure it another time.”

Ye Jingzhi calmly looked at his master. On the surface, he didn’t look any different. Only Xi Jia, who was holding his hand, knew that Master Ye could only maintain his calmness by tightly holding his hand. He asked, “Master, what is your reason?”

Yi Lingzi calmly raised his head, “Master wanted to wait for you to come in order to tell you how to completely deal with your Body of Three Fiends.”

As soon as he said it, Xi Jia and Qishan-daoren were both stunned. After so many things had happened, they all forgot that when they first entered the tomb, they also needed to find a solution for Ye Jingzhi’s Body of Three Fiends in addition to retrieving the remains of the four great masters.

Yi Lingzi said, “Looking at the entire Xuanxue world, besides Master, who else could resolve your Body of Three Fiends? Not mentioning giving them 19 years, even if you give them 90 years, they wouldn’t be as good as your Master, hahahaha.”

Qishan-daoren, “……” Although he really wanted to beat him to death, what he had said was very reasonable……

Yi Lingzi continued to be pleased with himself, “But, that couldn’t be blamed on them. After all, if Master wasn’t a Celestial Master of Wu Xiang Mountain, Master wouldn’t be able to find a way to save you. Speaking of the past 19 years, is that old fellow, Cengxiu, still jealous of Master? Jingzhi, you should go understand Cengxiu, his heart is bitter. Master is younger than him by more than 10 years but is better than him in all aspects. It’s normal to think that way. But, he is still a pretty good person, and he should definitely be treating you pretty well, right? Maybe he’s doing everything possible to save you, isn’t Master correct?”

Cengxiu-zhenjun who got shot while lying down, “……”

Ye Jingzhi, “Master did not say wrong.”

With Yi Lingzi’s joke, the sad and heavy atmosphere somewhat lessened, and everyone started to relax.

Yi Lingzi faced Qishan-daoren, “You old geezer, you have always treated my disciple well, right?”

Qishan-daoren, “……This old man now thinks you should hurry and reincarnate.”

Yi Lingzi didn’t care about this envious, jealous, and hateful Qishan-daoren. He turned his head and looked at his disciple, “It’s almost time, Master really has to go. You have this wife, that’s great, and Master is very satisfied. Back when Master set this marriage for you, it wasn’t on a whim. Before finding your wife, Master already got a way to deal with your Year Fiend but was always missing the requirement.”

Xi Jia could hear that something was off, “Master, is settling Master Ye’s Body of Three Fiends related to me?”

Yi Lingzi’s expression sank, “Who are you calling ‘Master Ye?’”

Xi Jia was dumbfounded, “Huh?”

Yi Lingzi looked his own disciple before looking at his disciple-in-law. Finally, his gaze stopped at their joined hands, and he asked in discontentment, “You already have this relationship. Still calling ‘Master Ye’ is so distant. Disciple-in-law ah, are you unsatisfied with my family’s disciple?”

Xi Jia came to an understanding, and he quickly denied, “No, Master, I’m used to calling him that. Before I didn’t know……didn’t know about the engagement so I have always been calling him Master Ye.”

Yi Lingzi raised his brow, “Now that you know, you’re still calling him that?”

Brother Jia couldn’t compare with Yi Lingzi who was such a slick, old fox. With this question, he was speechless and could only blush in silence as he lowered his head.

Yi Lingzi pretended to be angry, “What should you be calling, hm?”

There was even more shame on Brother Jia’s face: In front of Qishan-daoren and Yang Ze, two outsiders, couldn’t Master give him a bit of face!?

Ye Jingzhi protected his wife without a second thought, “Master, I like him calling me like this.”

Yi Lingzi’s eyes widened, “You actually like your wife calling you this?”

Ye Jingzhi subconsciously answered, “Don’t like.”

Yi Lingzi, “Then, why did you say that?”

Ye Jingzhi returned to his senses, “A-as long as Jia Jia is happy.”

Qishan-daoren and Yang Ze silently eating this bowl of dog food, “……”

Yi Lingzi was so angry that he was rendered speechless by this unpromising and pure disciple. However, Xi Jia slowly curved the corners of his lips, tightened his hold on Ye Jingzhi’s hand, and said in a low voice, “Jingzhi.”

The tips of Ye Jingzhi’s ears turned red as he lowered his head, “En……”

Yi Lingzi who was angry to the point of losing his mind because of his innocent and pure disciple and disciple-in-law, “……”

This poor daoist had been frivolous for a lifetime, carefree for a lifetime, so why after getting old, disciple is pure and innocent, and even disciple-in-law is also this pure and innocent! If word got out, this would be smashing this poor daoist’s signboard!

Translator’s Addition:
Yi Lingzi: No one is better than this daoist! Hahahahaha!
Qishan-daoren: I really want to beat him to death.
Yi Lingzi: Aren’t I already dead?
Qishan-daoren: Hurry up and reincarnate!

Translator’s Notes: None~