Chapter 546: Chapter 538: Good Doesn’t Work, Ugly Does
With the return of Jing Xiaosi, the legitimate eldest son, the Marquis Chang’an Mansion became increasingly restless. As soon as Jing Xiaosi entered the mansion, he moved into Old Madam Jing’s courtyard, paying no heed to his stepbrother or what the Marquis had done.
Jing Chao wouldn’t live long. Once Marquis Chang’an confirmed he was not his son, he definitely wouldn’t be allowed to stay in the mansion. Indeed, chaos erupted until midnight, when Mrs. Niu and her son were hastily dispatched to the manor to ‘recuperate’.
At that very time, outside the city at Jinhua Temple, Master Tai Cheng, whose cultivation had been increasingly stable, had enjoyed a successful half a year. However, his good mood vanished instantly upon seeing his disciple, Daoist Taiyang, with silver-white hair and wrinkled, aged skin. He stared at his disciple in alarm.
“Have you been rebounded against? Who did you fight with, and over what?” Master Tai Cheng was furious that someone dared to disrupt the ground above Jinhua Temple, showing no regard for him at all.
Daoist Taiyang, covering his painfully pounding chest, coughed several times, and said, “It was a rabbit cub and a fox. I was caught off guard. But that’s not the main issue now, I need your help, elder brother.”
“How could this rebound not be the main issue?” Master Tai Cheng frowned, somewhat doubtful, and said, “You have reached the ninth level of Taoism, yet you still faced a rebound. The opponent’s Taoism must be slightly superior, truly a rabbit cub?”
Daoist Taiyang grimly responded, “If my magic hadn’t been broken and rebounded, how could he have tricked me?”
“What magic?”
Daoist Taiyang pursed his lips, his gaze somewhat evasive.
Master Tai Cheng grew more dubious, eyeing him sideways. Suddenly, he thought of something and exclaimed, “Did you practice those Forbidden Techniques?”
Daoist Taiyang lowered his head.
“You’re insane!” Seeing his demeanor, Master Tai Cheng didn’t need further clarification and scolded, “We come from the Righteous Path, true disciples of Zhengyi Dao, and yet you dared to violate the master’s command and secretly practice and utilize Forbidden Techniques?”
Daoist Taiyang retorted, “Elder brother, I just wanted to achieve eternal life and strengthen our Jinhua Temple’s influence.”
“Shut up!” Master Tai Cheng berated, “To achieve eternal life through the Righteous Path, not through those abominable Demon Path techniques. Do you remember Qingping Temple, where the Taoist Chi Zhenzi, despite his high cultivation talent, chose the Demon Path for the sake of mastering the so-called Tongtian Dao, practicing those forbidden arts, despised by the Righteous Path Mystic Sect, unacceptable to our master, and was executed in Heavenly Termination Valley, with his soul utterly scattered.”
Daoist Taiyang sneered, “Of course, I remember. Chi Zhenzi was said to be executed, but who knows if he truly died? I don’t believe he didn’t have any life-preserving techniques. Perhaps he used some Forbidden Technique to fake his death and made his elder brother think he was utterly scattered.”
Master Tai Cheng gasped in exasperation, sneering, “So you wish to follow his path?”
“Elder brother, I just want our Jinhua Temple to be stronger, is that wrong?” Master Tai Cheng urgently said, “Now is not the time to argue about this; you must help me, only you can.”
“What exactly is this Forbidden Technique you used?”
“Seizing life.”
What?
Master Tai Cheng’s vision darkened, his fingers trembling as he pointed at him: “You… you… aren’t you afraid of heavenly retribution?”
No, it’s already happened, considering the rebound. Hasn’t his lifespan been shortened by twenty or thirty years?
“Has your cultivation also regressed?” Master Tai Cheng asked in shock.
Daoist Taiyang grimaced and nodded, had it not been for this, he wouldn’t have thought to seek help from his senior brother.
Master Tai Cheng staggered again, really wishing a thunderbolt would strike him unconscious.
This was a heavy blow.
“You really are confused. Are you stupid?” Master Tai Cheng, infuriated, fumed, “Such a Forbidden Technique is inherently forbidden by Heaven and Earth. Once the technique succeeds, you will surely suffer from the Five Disadvantages and Three Deficiencies. Should it fail, you will face backlash. Why would you commit such an unideal and thankless act? Are you mad? What on earth did the other party promise you?”
Indeed, there was a time when Daoist Taiyang couldn’t see at all, having sequestered himself for an entire month. Could it have been because he cast such a Forbidden Technique for someone?
“Senior brother, I had no choice. That’s my only son. If I don’t save him, he will certainly die. Brother, he’s my only child.”
Master Tai Cheng was dumbfounded. He didn’t even have a partner, so where did a son suddenly come from?
Daoist Taiyang explained, “Ten years ago, when I roamed the secular world, I engaged in Dual Cultivation with a woman…”
Master Tai Cheng’s face burned, “Enough, don’t say any more. I feel embarrassed just listening.”
However, when he revealed the identity of the child, Master Tai Cheng jumped up, his face pale as he stared and said, “So you mean to say, you made the Marquis Chang’an a cuckold?”
Junior brother, how bold you are, cuckolded right unto the head of a Marquis, truly seeking death.
Marquis Chang’an: Where’s my sword, my sword?
Daoist Taiyang said, “That was the only time I had that child. Senior brother, you must understand, the higher our cultivation, the more the Heavenly Dao restricts us. Wanting descendants becomes even harder. I had no intention of forming a partnership, only wishing to pursue cultivation; therefore, this child, I must protect.”
“The name isn’t correct, the words aren’t proper, who knows if you and that woman were unjust, perhaps it’s the Heavenly Dao’s intolerance that caused the child to be inherently weak…no, if the technique failed and you faced backlash, the child can’t escape it either.” Master Tai Cheng scrutinized Daoist Taiyang’s face, calculated with finger-guessing, and as his face grew paler and sweat formed on his brow, a sweet metallic taste filled his throat.
Calculating a fellow practitioner’s fate is even harder than that of ordinary people. With his calculations, Master Tai Cheng’s energy also grew tumultuous.
Master Tai Cheng conducted a small cycle of breathing to regulate himself and sighed, “Junior brother, if you pursue the path of immortality, why obsess over progeny? Pursuing immortality, yet watching your descendants die before you, what’s the point? The child ultimately has a shallow fate with you. Don’t continue to stray and spoil your own cultivation.”
Daoist Taiyang’s face darkened: “Senior brother, what do you mean?”
“The child won’t live long.” Master Tai Cheng said coldly, “This is karmic hindrance that you yourselves created, it’s fate.”
“Senior brother!” The features on Daoist Taiyang’s face twisted somewhat, he ground his teeth and said, “Are you just going to watch your nephew die?”
Master Tai Cheng frowned, “Junior brother, don’t be deluded. Once the child’s origins can no longer be concealed, Marquis Chang’an will not let it go.”
Daoist Taiyang scoffed, “I’d like to see what he dares to do to me, a Magician.”
Seeing him like this, Master Tai Cheng’s brow furrowed into the character for ‘river,’ a sense of ill omen in his heart, fearing his recklessly cursed brother might bring serious trouble to the Daoist Temple, hence he said, “Junior brother…”
“It’s bad, it’s bad.” A Daoist child tumbled in, his dark cyan Daoist cap had even fallen to the ground, looking up at Master Tai Cheng he said, “Temple master, it’s bad, a troop of officials have surrounded our Daoist Temple, they say, they say they are here to capture a practitioner of the Demon Path!”
Master Tai Cheng: Truly, the good don’t work, the bad do, it really happened.