Chapter 615: A Meeting at the Mourning Hall
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
In the back garden of the Zhu family’s manor, Madam Baihua and Ying Ning came to Meng Qi for help again.
“Mr. Merciless Tyrant is indeed magnificent to have let Dark Broadsword get away with it.” She grinned and her eyes flickered. Ying Ning was also admiring Meng Qi.
Ignoring their countenances, Meng Qi replied, “What has he told you? Where is he hiding now?”
Seeing the power of the Mark of the Devil, he really wanted to capture Dark Broadsword now!
“He sent messages to the 13th Childe and the Seventh Lady of the Yun family, saying that the enemy had formidable power and he was almost killed. The enemy might be involved in the death of the Master of the Yun family.” Madam Baihua grinned while covering her mouth. “He also said that he didn’t find out who the enemy was, he could only give a rough description of him. As for his whereabouts, even the 13th Childe and the Seventh Lady don’t know.”
In order not to expose his intentions, Meng Qi did not ask anything further. He grinned, staring at Madam Baihua. “Your Grace never goes to the temple without a reason, are you visiting me today just to praise me?”
“Mr. Merciless Tyrant is a far-seeing man, I won’t dare to lie to you.” Madam Baihua grinned until her eyes crinkled. Then she admitted, “Dark Broadsword said the Master passed away. Though we didn’t see the corpse, the Ninth Childe and I considered it plausible. However, to prevent any contingency, we want to make sure the Master really has ‘met his end’.”
“They suspect that the Master faked his death to eliminate the hidden trouble in his family. If Madam Baihua can’t verify his death, she cannot and will not dare to carry out the plans ahead.”
“How is this relevant to me? To confirm the death of the Master, who could be more suitable than the legitimate sons of the Yun family?” Meng Qi stood in front of the windows, fiddling with the blossom in the vase with one hand. His tone was flat without emotion.
The Master of the Yun family had not been buried yet, as they were waiting for people from different forces to come and pay their respects. His several legitimate sons were taking turns guarding the mourning hall, thus they would have enough chances to confirm it!
“The Ninth Childe surely has tried to investigate, but he still can’t confirm it. So, he wanted me to use our unorthodox methods to help, thus here I am, visiting the Merciless Tyrant for help. You used to be proficient at evil life-taking Kung Fu, you must’ve been better than the ordinary grandmasters at distinguishing the living from the dead. Now it’s time for you to show your skills.” Madam Baihua elaborated in detail. “I really can’t think of anyone else more suitable than you.”
The Merciless Tyrant was once renowned and some of his unique skills were known to the world. But through his adventures, “now” he made great progress in strength. He would no longer need to use those skills for distinguishing. That being said, it did not mean he had forgotten about the skills.
Meng Qi was both curious about the Master’s death and also reluctant to say that he did not practice the evil life-taking Kung Fu. He did not even know the superficial Qi circulation route, however, he still nodded after she had finished. “Well, I’ll go and take a look.”
He paused for a moment and turned around, walking toward Madam Baihua with his hands behind his back. “Don’t you dare take advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble, making sure that the Master is ‘really’ dead.”
“Why would you say that?” Madam Baihua’s eyes flickered as Ying Ning drooped her eyelids, not saying a word.
“If he really is dead, nothing else is necessary; and if he is faking his death, with his strength and defensive power, you must bring out divine weapons or someone at the Half-step to the Dharmakaya to hurt him,” Meng Qi said jokingly.
Madam Baihua squeezed out a smile. “Our sect is a small one, we don’t have any divine weapons or anyone at the Half-step to the Dharmakaya, so you may rest assured.”
She was smiling reluctantly.
“It’ll be the best. I ask for nothing more than a virgin Incense Stove at the Half-step Exterior Scenery. If it’s too dangerous, I’ll leave in no time.” Meng Qi glanced at Ying Ning.
“The elder may rest assured that I’ll be a good Incense Stove,” Ying Ning replied at once, her disappointed expression pitiful.
...
In the mansion of the Yuns—
Meng Qi pulled his frock, feeling helpless. In the end, he was again playing a monk.
Meng Qi, Madam Baihua, and Ying Ning were not picked up by the Ninth Childe in secret. Instead, they walked in through the front door pretending to be emissaries from the East Sea “Scurry Island”. In this way, they could prevent many contingencies. After all, there were many secret forces and formations in hiding. No one was sure if someone was watching the mourning hall, thus the Ninth Childe did not dare to act recklessly.
“Scurry Island” sat in the depths of the East Sea and did not enjoy a great reputation. However, the Scurry Island people had been in business with the Yuns, so it was plausible that they would send people to mourn. In front of Meng Qi was the real “Scurry Island” envoy, “A Million Hands”, who was both a Peerless Master Pro and one of the two great Guardians. The other great Guardian was “A Thousand Arms”.
Apparently, the envoy knew Madam Baihua and Ying Ning, leaving Meng Qi to suspect that “Scurry Island” was one of the “disguises” of the Sect of the Plain Lady.
Therefore, them passing off as the attending disciples was flawless. As for Meng Qi, they seemed to value his face and reputation. Thus, to keep from being exposed, they claimed that Meng Qi was an eminent monk who sought accommodation in some temple on Scurry Island, and he was also an expert at transcending and leading the dead into the blissful world.
In this way, Meng Qi had every reason to approach the coffin. Anyway, the Ninth Childe was looking after the mourning hall today.
Draped in a yellow frock and red cassock, Meng Qi wore a grave face as he strolled. He transformed and hid his breath to prevent anyone from finding out that he was really the Merciless Tyrant.
Meng Qi only used the regular disguising skill instead of the Eight Nine Mysteries to keep Madam Baihua and Ying Ning from suspecting his true identity.
As for the shaved head, he could grow it back in a few seconds with his Living Propagation skill.
There were people in white everywhere in the mansion of the Yuns, and everyone was wearing sackcloth mourning sashes. Every person encountered in the hall was donning a profoundly sad face, no matter if it was genuine or fake.
After walking for a while, Meng Qi and the others arrived at the mourning hall. The Ninth Childe stood at the door in mourning clothes receiving guests.
He looked middle-aged and had a pair of small but lively eyes. He returned a salute politely, but then asked, putting on airs, “Who is this Master?”
A Million Hands answered, “This is Master Fa Zheng seeking accommodation in the temple on our island. He’s an expert at transcending matters. I especially invited him to come and see if he can help.”
There were real pure lands in this world, and transcending was a real thing. Though they were not followers of Buddhism, all the other sons and grandsons appeared grateful and bowed to thank the eminent monk.
“We have made some arrangements, but we dare not bother the Master. Master can check whether the arrangements are appropriate if he’d like.” The Ninth Childe was not enthusiastic, but still polite.
In others’ eyes, the Ninth Childe did not take interest in such things, he was merely being polite.
Meng Qi put his palms together and murmured the name of the Buddha. He drew back his momentum, emitting a peaceful and quiet aura while walking into the mourning hall. At the same time, he was sensing the Qi of heaven and earth. He carefully looked around and refrained from approaching the coffin. The guests in the mourning hall all praised in their hearts that this eminent monk followed the proper etiquette.
But in fact, Meng Qi’s eyes became darkened. Millions of bright and inexplicable threads of star rays seemed to flicker in his eyes. He no longer saw an ordinary world, but a mysterious world where the translucent threads of star rays interweaved.
He was secretly practicing the heart sutras of the “Fruits of Karma”!
Just a few threads of karma lingered inside the coffin, blowing in the wind. They came from the Void and expanded out in different directions. Some of them were stuck in the corpse, while some extended to indescribable places and seemed that they would intertwine in another life.
After carefully distinguishing for a moment, Meng Qi scowled. “It indeed is the Master who is inside, and the most of the threads of karma have been broken and no longer connect to the world.
“That is to say, the Master is really dead!
“In the aspect of karma, he’s dead!
“He died a natural death even though he exchanged for the longevity elixir...” Meng Qi fixed his eyes on the remaining threads of karma.
Despite the fact that he could not discern the specific contents, he was able to tell that some karma came from eccentric places—even death could not extinguish it because of some unknown intertwining. Some of it was the karma of death itself. Over time, all the threads of karma would vanish, and even Meng Qi, who practiced the Fruits of Karma, would fail to “see” them.
Looking at the “karma of death” threads, Meng Qi was impressed and decided to study it later on.
He retracted his gaze and his eyes returned to normal. Now, he felt the deafening silence inside the mourning hall and all the other guests gawking at him.
“The Master really is a capable Buddhist monk, I was being rude a moment ago.” The Ninth Childe changed his previous cold attitude and became very respectful.
Just now, he felt Qi movement inside the mourning hall. He could not see through the mystery and indescribability of the Qi. Along the path of movement, he found Master Fa Zheng’s breath was ethereal—superior to heaven and earth. The breath was either clean or dirty, not falling into an ordinary category!
The unfathomable but clearly Buddhist feeling made him believe that Meng Qi was a real eminent monk, and he would not treat him lightly.
All the people in the hall came to their senses and thanked the eminent monk.
Respectful and surprised, Madam Baihua said using Secret-voice Sending, “Mr. Merciless Tyrant really has profound skills. I wonder, have you confirmed the Master’s death?”
“He’s dead.” Meng Qi gave a positive answer confidently.
“So...” Madam Baihua murmured but did not continue. After offering her condolences with A Million Hands, she strolled out of the mourning hall.
Just then, a voice came.
“He Jiu, the young heightslord of the Eastsea Sword Village, the Tai Shang Elder Huang Taichong, and Elder He Xiu have arrived!”
“He Jiu is here? So soon?
“Shouldn’t the people from the Eastsea Sword Village be the last to offer condolences?
“A young heightslord and two grandmasters—a strong lineup...
“The Longevity Immortal Venerable is here too...”
Meng Qi became confused and was as surprised as everyone in the mourning hall. The Ninth Childe was both shocked and suspicious as he greeted them at the door.
Soon afterward, He Jiu, a brown-haired old man, and the grim He Xiu walked into mourning hall. Moreover, Dark Broadsword was accompanying them!
“Dark Broadsword...” Meng Qi quietly took a step back.
“Running into him on such an occasion, will my ‘simple’ disguise deceive him?”
However, Dark Broadsword was not paying any attention to Meng Qi, instead, he cast his eyes directly on the coffin.
“It turns out he’s here to confirm the Master’s death as well...” Meng Qi realized.
He Jiu glanced around the room and suddenly said, “Who is this Master?”
At the same time, using Secret-voice Sending, he told Huang Taichong, He Xiu, and Dark Broadsword that the monk was strangely familiar, but he could not tell exactly who he was.
“He’s Master Fa Zheng, who seeks accommodation on Scurry Island.” The Ninth Childe, Yun Feiyang, introduced him.
“I have the same strange feeling,” Huang Taichong said to He Jiu by way of Secret-voice Sending.
The Eastsea Sword Village was divided into five branches, and the branches took turns being in charge. Nevertheless, the He family branch had been in power exclusively since He Liu became the heightslord. Huang Taichong was the master of another branch, the “Million Swords Sect”, besides, he was also listed on the Terrestrial Rankings.
Suddenly, he stared at Meng Qi with swordwill in his eyes. He meant to see through his disguised breath!