Young Noble Be Monster Slaying-Chapter 842: Merit

In the unfathomable depths of the Divine Ruins stood an ancient Daoist monastery.

Morning sunlight spilled across the stone steps, fresh and clear after the light rain the night before. A middle-aged man in a Daoist robe ascended slowly. With a bucket of water in hand, he was making his way back into the monastery in silence. He had a distinguished appearance, and his brows were furrowed as though weighed down by some unspoken worry.

At that moment, another man in a Daoist robe stepped out from a side door. His expression was blank, and his eyes looked aloof and cold. He carried an empty bucket, appearing to be heading out to fetch water.

The two men kept their heads down.

Just as their shoulders brushed past each other, the stone-faced man suddenly stopped and said in a low voice, "It’s the end for Penglai."

Tap.

The man with furrowed brows stopped abruptly and said in a firm voice, "Lu Cang, did you tell the Mount Shu Sect something?"

"The Divine Ruins Monastery strictly forbids interference in mortal affairs. I remember that rule quite well," Lu Cang replied, a trace of sarcasm in his voice. "But Yang Buwei, do you?"

A breeze swept through, briefly disturbing the moment of silence.

Lu Cang continued, "It’s normal for the Mount Shu Sect to be on guard. But it’s extremely strange that the Penglai Supreme Sect suddenly launched such a deadly attack. And all of it happened right after you went to Mirage Mountain. If the Monastery Overseer finds out you were involved, what do you think will happen to you?"

Yang Buwei said in a deep voice, "I am well aware. I don’t need you to tell me that."

Lu Cang’s face remained expressionless, but every word he spoke cut like a blade. "Back then, the Overseer wiped out the entire Jiang Family just because his daughter fell in love with an outsider. So if the Penglai Supreme Sect started a war because someone leaked the secrets of heaven from the Divine Ruins Monastery, what do you think will happen?"

"Hmph." Yang Buwei let out a cold snort, ignored him, and continued walking without looking back.

Lu Cang let out a faint smile and followed the narrow path ahead. At its end, beneath two pine trees, sat a deep, ancient well.

Yang Buwei pushed open a small door and stepped into the courtyard.

This was the rear courtyard of the Daoist temple. It didn’t appear large, but its layout extended deep within. Several rooms lined the corridor, and the outer walls were draped with bluish-green vines.

As Yang Buwei passed by one of the quiet chambers, he caught a glimpse of a woman seated cross-legged in the center of the room.

The woman sat with her back to him, clad in a simple Daoist robe. Her long hair was gathered into a single tail that trailed to her waist, framing her slender, delicate shoulders.

The sight of that figure caught him off guard, as if she had appeared where she was never meant to be.

"I covered up the matter of you sneaking into the Hall of Heavenly Secrets," the woman said. Her voice was cold and clear, like ice striking porcelain. "My father won’t be able to hold you accountable for what happened."

Yang Buwei was silent for a long moment, then he said softly, "Thank you."

There weren’t many people in the monastery. After more than a century of living together, most were well acquainted with one another. But this woman was an exception. She had lived with the Monastery Overseer since childhood and had once attempted to escape in her youth. After being brought back, she was assigned to guard the Hall of Heavenly Secrets, and she hadn’t left it even once in over twenty years.

That was why Yang Buwei had been so surprised to see her just now.

"No need to thank me. Your life has nothing to do with me, and neither does the fate of the Penglai Supreme Sect," the woman said flatly. "I helped you because I need something from you in return."

"All right," Yang Buwei replied.

"You're not even going to ask what it is?" the woman asked again.

"I can more or less guess who it’s about," Yang Buwei said. "Besides, whatever it is, I don’t really have a choice, do I?"

...

Du Wuhen looked at the "miners" crowding the quarrying archipelago. His eyes gleamed with excitement as he said, "This time, we captured all of Penglai’s disciples in one swoop and cleared out all the spirit plants from the three islands. No matter what demands we make, the Penglai Supreme Sect will have to agree. We’re rich!"

None of them had imagined that what began as a simple act of opportunistic looting would end with the brothers becoming the biggest winners. If the Celestial Cosmic Ring wasn’t counted, then none of the other treasures taken by the rest could compare to the chunks of spiritual veins they had seized from the three islands of Penglai.

They had settled on the quarrying archipelago, not far from Penglai. Led by Du Wuhen, the group of human puppets quickly transported the chunks of spiritual veins that once formed the foundation of the three islands back to their base. Once the fight over the Celestial Cosmic Ring had ended, Grand Ancestor Fuyou also returned.

However, Grand Ancestor Fuyou didn’t look relaxed at all.

"Elder Brother, the time to celebrate has yet to come," Grand Ancestor Fuyou said calmly. "All of them have legendary artifacts. If the higher-ups of the Penglai Supreme Sect seek revenge, we’ll be their first target. And since we’re so close to the Penglai islands, I suspect they’ll be knocking on our door very soon."

"Huh?" Du Wuhen immediately started panicking. "Then what do we do?"

Du Wuhen had originally thought that everyone would loot the Penglai Islands together and then scatter in all directions. With demons and evildoers involved, he thought it would be difficult for the Penglai Supreme Sect to track them down. But now, it seemed he had been too naive.

"Elder Brother, don’t panic," Grand Ancestor Fuyou said, raising his hand. "As long as we have these disciples of Penglai in our hands, they won’t dare make a move. Those disciples are their greatest weakness."

"Right." Du Wuhen nodded repeatedly.

Aside from the few Eminent Ones who managed to escape early, all the disciples of the Penglai Supreme Sect were here. At a glance, it looked like a sea of people.

Grand Ancestor Fuyou said, "We’ll keep the ones who look more tanned. These Penglai Secondary Sect disciples clearly have lesser talent and lower cultivation levels, which means they hold a lower status within the Penglai Islands.

"Tell them to pass a message to the Penglai Supreme Sect: if they stop chasing us, we’ll release all the disciples in seven days. But if they continue the pursuit, we’ll start killing.

"The chunks of spiritual veins that made up the three islands are too difficult to store. I need to open a hidden realm immediately, but that’ll take time. So, we need to divert their attention. Take the disciples of the Penglai Secondary Sect west and release them at the designated time. I’ll take the rest north. Come meet me later."

As a powerful eighth-realm existence, Grand Ancestor Fuyou naturally possessed a hidden realm of his own. However, it had been shattered in a great battle long ago. Since his return, he had not yet found the time to construct a new one.

Grand Ancestor Fuyou continued, "Once I’ve finished creating the hidden realm, the disciples of the Penglai Supreme Sect will be worthless to us. By then, Penglai will have been squeezed dry, and there’ll be nothing more to gain. We could sell these disciples to the diabolical sects. The women can be sold whole, and the men... maybe in pieces. No, forget it. That’s a bit too impolite. Let’s just send them back.

"As for the two of us, we need to flee and lie low for a while. Until my cultivation fully recovers, we can’t face Penglai’s wrath head-on. We’ll equip ourselves with artifacts that block detection and hide among the common folk, which is the safest option. The Capital of Yu is a great choice. It’s populous and bustling, and the Yu Dynasty has poor relations with the Penglai Supreme Sect, which means they won’t allow large-scale searches.

"We’ll guard the chunks of spiritual veins that formed the foundation of the three islands. Once I fully recover, we’ll make our comeback. The Penglai Supreme Sect, with disciples but no resources, will collapse sooner or later. It won’t be long before they’re no longer anything to fear."

As Grand Ancestor Fuyou continued speaking, he suddenly noticed Du Wuhen staring at him in a daze, a dumbfounded expression on his face. He called out, "Elder Brother?"

"Ah!" Du Wuhen snapped out of it and said, "Little Second Brother, you’re... way too good at this."

The way Grand Ancestor Fuyou laid it all out, calm and merciless, had left him deeply unsettled and shaken.

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Well, damn. So you're done pretending, huh? Du Wuhen thought.

"Who hasn’t gone astray a few times in their youth?" Grand Ancestor Fuyou chuckled sheepishly. "If I said anything inappropriate just now, Elder Brother, feel free to correct me. I’ll apologize in advance."

Hearing this, Du Wuhen clicked his tongue in disbelief.

After spending so many days together and seeing how polite he’d been, he had almost forgotten that this guy used to be part of the criminal underworld.

This was the monstrous villain who almost wiped out the demons in the entire South Sea back in the day!

As he zoned out for a moment, he heard Grand Ancestor Fuyou murmur while staring at the crowd, "Should I apologize to them one by one?"

"There's no need for that," Du Wuhen quickly replied. "We’re on a pretty tight schedule."

Great. As long as you stick to bulk-selling instead of piecemeal... we’ll call that a huge act of virtue.