Chapter 94: Disrespecting the Dao Ancestor is a Capital Crime. Learn from your mistakes.

Chapter 94: Disrespecting the Dao Ancestor is a Capital Crime. Learn from your mistakes.

The Dao Ancestor's shrine was silent as a tomb.

For thousands of years, the belief that the Divine Court was righteous and the Daoist Sect was evil had long been deeply ingrained.

But if the Divine Court had truly turned black into white...

"Ahem," a fair-skinned cultivator with slender eyebrows and eyes raised his hand. "This shouldn't be a one-speech hall, right? Could I... get a quick word in?"

He looked at Fu Yu, his expression falsely friendly. "Daoist friend, if what I'm about to say displeases you, I truly apologize. But I just want to speak the truth."

Fu Yu had traveled the rivers and lakes for many years; there was no type of person she hadn't seen.

She raised an eyebrow, unfazed. "Speak."

The fair-skinned cultivator puffed out his chest slightly, adopting a posture of being afraid yet still standing his ground on principle. "For so many years, the Divine Court has cared for the world, cherishing all living beings..."

Fu Yu abruptly cut him off. "Louder!"

A muscle in the fair-skinned cultivator's cheek twitched violently. He opened his mouth again. "The Divine Court's great love..."

Fu Yu: "Speak up! Louder!"

The fair-skinned cultivator's face flushed red. "You—!"

Li Xueke said mockingly. "You what, you? Is there something wrong with you? Oh, sorry, I'm also just speaking the truth, not insulting you. I mean—is there something wrong with your throat? Must you 'be allowed to get a quick word in'? We ask you to speak up, what's your problem?"

Now the fair-skinned cultivator was red to the roots of his hair.

Li Xueke sneered, his tone full of disdain. "Putting on this cowering, submissive act, playing the victim. Disgusting!"

After he finished, Fu Yu smiled and raised her hand, jerking her thumb lazily in his direction. "Continue. I know you don't have just that one line of crap."

She paused, a smirk playing on her lips in a good-natured reminder. "Remember to speak up."

The fair-skinned cultivator's eyes darted around nervously for a while. Seeing the people around him gradually losing patience, he had no choice but to stiffen his neck and blurt out, "If you want to slander the Divine Court, you need to back it up! I've never seen the Divine Court harm any good person! But—"

He suddenly pointed towards the main hall. "The entire city's townsfolk hate *that person*! You can't possibly blame the Divine Court for that, can you?"

Fu Yu nodded. "You bet I'll look into that. However."

Halfway through, she slowly leaned down—

She was sitting high up, and had to cock her head to the side to meet this person's eyes.

"Sounds like there's a story there," Fu Yu said casually. "You've personally witnessed the Divine Court harming someone."

The fair-skinned cultivator flinched, instinctively taking a step back, his gaze flickering wildly.

Fu Yu clapped in delight and laughed. "I guessed right."

She jumped down from her rocky perch, staring into this person's eyes, closing in on him. "What are you feeling guilty about? Let me think... was it you who reported someone?"

The fair-skinned cultivator almost tripped over his own feet. He suddenly clenched his fists and blustered, "So what if I reported my senior brother! He... he was from the Evil Path! I discovered he was from the Evil Path, I reported him, what's wrong with that!"

Fu Yu let out a short, humorless laugh. "Why do you sound even more guilty? It seems... this senior brother of yours was your benefactor?"

The fair-skinned cultivator's pupils trembled violently, his face turned deathly pale, his lips quivered as if he had seen a ghost.

He shot back, "So what if he saved me! I reported an evil cultivator, *I* am the righteous one!"

Fu Yu nodded. "To stab your own savior in the back, who knows what benefits you gained from it. To deceive your own pitiful conscience, you must defend the Divine Court's 'justice' tooth and nail."

A vein throbbed on the fair-skinned cultivator's temple, his eyes brimming with hate.

Seeing his appearance, the crowd couldn't help but show scornful looks.

"Hypocrite, pah!"

"Hiding behind a banner of righteousness, disgusting!"

"You really know how to betray a life-saving benefactor!"

"I knew it, cowering, hiding your head and tail, definitely bad news."

The fair-skinned cultivator, blustering with rage and humiliation: "You... you evil cultivators! You'll come to a bad end!"

The crowd burst out laughing. "Tsk tsk tsk, now that your dirty little secret is exposed, you start cursing others."

As they spoke, the eastern sky turned the pale grey of dawn.

Night receded, and sounds of people gradually emerged from the lanes and alleys outside.

Sounds of drawing water, washing up, calling children, carrying loads, setting up stalls, lighting fires... The city came alive, filled with the atmosphere of daily life.

The city's common people returned to being human, but the two ghosts remained ghosts.

Morning light spilled down. Fu Yu arranged for the two yawning ghosts to rest in the main hall—asking Jun Bu Du to keep an eye on them.

"You two ran around all night. Sleep well during the day, I'll need you to go out again tonight."

The female ghost nodded. "Okay!"

She dragged the reluctant male ghost into the main hall. Looking up at the statue, her ghostly face instantly paled, and she cried out in shock, "Oh no!"

Following the female ghost's gaze, Fu Yu's breath hitched.

The perfectly fine statue from last night was now in trouble.

More than half of the statue's body was splashed with something pitch black, soaked so deeply it was unclear whether it was dog blood or some other filth.

Cracks like those on a tortoise shell spread from the crown of the head down to the feet; roughly one-third of the statue was damaged.

Fu Yu's heart skipped a beat. She leaped onto the shrine, suppressing the tremor in her eyes, and reached out to touch his hand.

He was a clay statue, his hand covered in cracks like parched earth.

She supported his arm, stood on tiptoe to get closer, and asked softly, "Who did this?"

The statue shook its head slightly, indicating it didn't know.

When dawn broke, it was already like this.

Fu Yu pressed her lips together until they turned pale. After a long moment, she asked again, "Does it hurt?"

The statue's fingers turned, patting the back of her hand reassuringly.

Fu Yu looked up, meeting his gaze.

Her gaze was terrifyingly calm: "If there's danger, force your breakthrough at any time. You can't get hurt. No one is more important than you."

The statue lowered its gaze.

When he wasn't deliberately making expressions, he looked so compassionate, like someone above the mortal world.

Fu Yu jumped down from the shrine and strode away.

"Bang!"

She slammed the main hall's doors shut and locked them.

Under the shrine, the female ghost timidly approached the male ghost: "Hey, what was she just muttering to the Dao Ancestor statue? Does controlling the statue like that require communicating with ghosts and gods? Are there actually ghosts here?"

Male ghost: "What's there to fear about ghosts! If one dares come, I'll finish it off!"

Female ghost: "Don't say such things, you'll jinx it and summon one! I'm terrified of ghosts!"

Male ghost: "Alright, alright, the Dao Ancestor statue is watching, where would ghosts come from?"

Female ghost: "That's exactly why it's scary, it's watching us! Senior brother, don't you feel like it's looking at us? So terrifying!"

The statue silently gazed at the blood all over the floor.

"..."

"The Dao Ancestor statue was destroyed?!"

Everyone was shocked. "Weren't we watching the door the whole time? Something came in, yet we had no idea?"

Just thinking about it sent chills down their spines.

If something could destroy the Dao Ancestor statue without anyone noticing, killing a few people would be easy.

Fu Yu shook her head.

She asked, "Who mentioned yesterday that someone was disrespecting the Dao Ancestor?"

A young cultivator stepped forward: "Me, me, me! I heard the commoners say that the Daoist Sect's Sword Immortal, Helan Yunyi, was cracking down on disrespect toward the Dao Ancestor everywhere."

Fu Yu nodded. "Destroying the statue in the Dao Ancestor shrine—is this the kind of disrespect?"

She pondered for a moment, telling everyone to keep their ears open for related info, then jerked her head in a signal to open the door and set off.

When opening the two large doors, the sound seemed off.

Looking up, everyone was shocked.

The two heavy, black-lacquered wooden doors of the Dao Ancestor shrine had also been damaged.

Cracks spread like spiderwebs; a touch made the wood splinter and creak.

"Hiss..." The Elder Cultivator drew a sharp breath. "The damage goes deep! If this continues, these doors won't be able to block ghosts!"

The memory of the fierce ghost transformed from the little girl yesterday crashing against the door was still vivid.

Fu Yu's gaze sharpened slightly.

The statue was also about thirty percent damaged.

"One-third destroyed in one night," she said expressionlessly. "This is a death countdown with two days left."

Everyone gasped sharply.

Even those who had been afraid of the fierce ghosts and reluctant to go out now pulled themselves together, on high alert.

Fu Yu said gravely, "Even so, don't act rashly."

Everyone nodded, their faces growing increasingly grim.

The scene on the street was no different from yesterday.

Fu Yu walked the streets, listening to the commoners at the stalls shooting the breeze.

No one mentioned disrespecting the Dao Ancestor; the streets and alleys were peaceful.

Out of the corner of her eye, a figure suddenly flashed by.

Fu Yu looked up and saw a person with a clenched fist, stomping off angrily.

It was the fair-skinned cultivator.

Having exposed his own past misdeeds and been criticized by everyone, he was currently seething with rage.

Fu Yu tilted her head, signaling Li Xueke and Yu Xiao to follow this person.

Li Xueke had experience with this sort of thing: "Using him as bait?"

Fu Yu was surprised: "Clever."

Li Xueke's face fell: "I did learn my lesson, you know."

Back when they met in the Corpse Ghost Bone Forest, hadn't she used him as bait?

After passing two streets, this person kicked over two vegetable baskets, three wooden stools, and a fish basin by the roadside.

The commoners in the city didn't hold it against him; after grumbling a bit, they cleaned up themselves.

Passing by a tea stall, the tea master was just telling the customers about the Dao Ancestor: "When the Dao Ancestor mended the heavenly rift, there were rainbows of seven-colored light across the sky, and spiritual birds and beasts everywhere! After that, peace reigned across the land..."

"Bullshit!" The fair-skinned cultivator couldn't bear it any longer. "Stop spreading rumors here! Mending the heavenly rift? He's not worthy!"

Instantly, everyone at the tea stall turned their gazes, staring eerily at him.

The fair-skinned cultivator's anger-filled mind suddenly cleared.

His pupils contracted, and he took a step back.

He wasn't exactly panicked—he could just run back to the Dao Ancestor shrine.

He sneered, preparing to escape while spouting nonsense: "You're all fools, you don't even know who killed you!"

The commoners at the tea stall didn't get up to chase him.

They simply wore the same expression, opened their mouths simultaneously, and spoke in unison: "You, disrespect the Dao Ancestor."

Countless voices overlapped, eerie and chilling, sending shivers down one's spine.

It felt like a judgment from beyond the nine heavens.

"Why should I revere..." The fair-skinned cultivator feigned calm, wanting to snap back defiantly, but his body suddenly stiffened!

Immediately, he let out a heart-wrenching scream.

One after another, bloody holes appeared all over his body, dark blood welling up incessantly.

He scrambled frantically, covering one wound only for another to spring open.

"Help... save..."

No one could save him.

There was nothing around him—he died under an invisible "Law."

The brutal torture continued under the sunlight for over ten breaths.

Finally, the fair-skinned cultivator's throat was pierced. Blood spurted from his mouth as he gurgled and collapsed to the ground, twitched a few times, then fell still.

Li Xueke's eyes widened: "Is disrespecting the Dao Ancestor a capital offense?"

He quickly glanced left and right, "But I didn’t see Helan Yunyi show up to do the killing?"

Fu Yu mused aloud: "So, whoever destroyed the Dao Ancestor’s shrine is already dead?"

"Logically, that should be the case." Yu Xiao sighed, "But I can’t help feeling it’s not that simple, alas!"

As they contemplated, another cultivator hurried over from a different street.

"Big trouble!" His face was deathly pale, his voice hushed, "Something’s happened!"

Fu Yu waved a hand to reassure him: "It’s fine, take your time, no rush. Something happened here too."

The cultivator: "..."

You really know how to comfort people!