My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion-Chapter 793 - 495 Heavenly Dao (More Tonight)

"Kill them all."

As these four words were uttered, the crowd's hearts skipped a beat.

Pairs of widened eyes stared in disbelief, questioning if they had heard correctly.

"Daoist... surely you're mistaken..." Li Chenghang asked, his voice trembling.

"What he said was true," Chen Yi gestured toward Li Xian and then pointed at the woman known as Duan Zengshi. "What she said was true as well. Neither of them lied. Then kill them both, and channel their spirits together."

Duan Zengshi, being but a delicate woman, couldn't bear the weight. Her legs buckled, and she collapsed to the ground with a pale face visible to the naked eye.

Li Xian wasn't much better; his lips quivered uncontrollably, his hooves shaking violently, rooted in place.

Yin Tingxue glanced at the man and the sheep, and, detecting no trace of deception, couldn't help but turn to Chen Yi. She hesitated to speak.

Chen Yi turned back, sending a secret transmission: "Close your eyes. Don't look. Don't listen."

After hesitating, Yin Tingxue nodded slightly.

"...Isn't this a bit extreme?" Li Chenghang couldn't bear to watch his father, Li Xian, be killed, yet he dared not offend this Taoist.

Chen Yi chuckled and, without a trace of hesitation, flicked his finger.

A streak of swordlight flashed by, and a hole appeared on Duan Zengshi's forehead.

"Ah!" Li Chenghang hadn't had time to react and just began to cry out.

Another streak of swordlight flew by, and a hole appeared on Li Xian's forehead as well.

"Father!"

Li Chenghang lunged forward almost instinctively, but it was already too late; the sheep's body was convulsing, its hooves twitching slightly before it finally stopped moving.

His father's life drained away in his hands.

Turning his head around, his eyes showed not only fear but an overwhelming confusion and deep-seated anger. In the next moment, fury consumed his heart.

"Calm down, Li Brother." The Daoist gestured dismissively toward him.

"I... I'll kill you!"

Li Chenghang screamed and charged at Chen Yi.

Whoosh.

Another streak of swordlight pierced through.

A hole was left on Li Chenghang's forehead.

His body slid to the ground, utterly lifeless within moments.

In the blink of an eye, three corpses lay strewn across the ground. Chen Yi surveyed the scene quickly. The brutality was clear, and this was why he had instructed Yin Tingxue not to look.

He turned around and grabbed a handful of ash from the altar dedicated to the God of Stove in Duan Mansion. "Apologies. Just borrowing something to eat."

After saying this, as if expecting some response, Chen Yi looked up at the God of Stove statue.

He reached out and gently tapped it.

The black-faced, long-bearded statue's head rolled off.

"Just a prop."

Chen Yi clicked his tongue in disdain, then turned back around, sprinkling the ash onto the ground. He pulled out three sticks of incense from his pocket, lit them, and placed them atop the ash pile.

As faint trails of smoke rose,

three wisps of souls floated upwards from the ground, their faces displaying confusion.

Once they saw Chen Yi, the three simultaneously let out terrified screams.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through, bone-chillingly cold.

"No need to panic," Chen Yi gestured again, as if to calm them.

The three spirits refrained from bolting away, trembling slightly before noticing the haziness of their own forms.

It was only then that Chen Yi told Yin Tingxue to open her eyes. The young girl curiously studied the strange sight. "Only souls left."

The three spirits finally came to their senses. With a shaky voice, Duan Zengshi asked, "D-Daoist… what are you doing?"

Chen Yi answered slowly, "Searching through your souls, to verify the truth. Beyond that, I need to have a word with Old Master Li."

With that, the spirits turned their gaze toward Li Xian.

Li Xian, puzzled, pointed to himself and asked, "Me?"

"You died three years ago and were reincarnated as a sheep almost instantly. Have you never thought this was unusual?"

"Wha… what's unusual?" His son, Li Chenghang, finally came to his senses and asked.

"The process is off."

The group stared wide-eyed upon hearing this.

Having never faced death before, how could they know what the process was?

"When someone dies, their soul typically lingers for seven days. Afterward, Oxhead and Horseface or Black and White Impermanence arrive to escort the soul to the underworld, where judgment is made before reincarnation. Wandering souls are apprehended and sent to the underworld by the City God," Chen Yi explained methodically. "But you skipped all of these steps and reincarnated immediately."

The trio was suddenly enlightened. So even in death, one must report to authorities and go through procedures.

"But your town..." Chen Yi glanced at the headless statue of the God of Stove. "Not having a City God is one thing, but missing even the God of Stove?"

Even the wealthiest regions like Suzhou and Hangzhou might lack a City God in every county, but each household would surely have a God of Stove.

Humans might not have officials above their heads, but they mustn't lack sustenance below.

Yet even the God of Stove was missing.

What kind of lair of dragons and tigers was this town?

"In any case, let's start with the soul search."

......…

It was, predictably.

After sifting through their souls, it became clear that both individuals had told the truth, having concealed nothing deliberately.

Chen Yi had anticipated this. His actions weren't merely to uncover hidden truths but to investigate this town's abnormal reincarnation process.

After recovering from the strain of the soul search, Li Xian spoke up. "That being said, back then… I seem to recall falling into some kind of pit." He gestured downward to demonstrate and continued, "I fell and fell, and with a sudden splash, I tumbled out of a mother sheep's womb, landing on a pile of dry grass."

"This defies all reason and shouldn't be possible," Chen Yi remarked after hearing this. "Life and death, reincarnation—these are dictated by the Heavenly Dao."

"Is that really the case?"

Suddenly,

an unexpected voice rang out.

Chen Yi's pupils contracted slightly as his gaze lowered and landed on the ground.

His vision seemed to penetrate the surface, reaching deep into a specific spot.

In a small, confined space beneath the earth stood an elderly woman whose figure was ethereal. Wandering about with her hands behind her back, she inspected her surroundings as if casually browsing a market.

Who else could she be but the Old Saintess of the No-Life Tripod?

Amid the intrigue, an unspoken apprehension emerged—how was she able to freely move about and perceive the outside world?

"Why have you come out?" Chen Yi narrowed his eyes, questioning her with his mind.

The Old Saintess didn't reply, continuing instead to observe her surroundings as if waiting for Chen Yi to grow impatient and interrogate further. Fortunately, Chen Yi was remarkably patient and understood that a figure who had been cooped up in the tripod for so long could not be acting without purpose.

After a long while, the Old Saintess finally spoke:

"Life and death, reincarnation—dictated by the Heavenly Dao? Who said that?"

"When people die, they enter the underworld and reincarnate. Hasn't it always been so?" Chen Yi promptly replied.

He was met with a scoff from the Old Saintess.

It sounded as though she had just heard the most absurd joke.

Chen Yi remained impassive, but her subsequent words caught him by surprise.

"Before Buddhism spread to the Central Plains, was there ever talk of life and death or reincarnation?"

Chen Yi froze for a moment.

His thoughts stalled briefly.

"Daoist, Daoist?"

Two urgent calls snapped Chen Yi back to reality. As he turned back to look, the Old Saintess had already vanished, retreating back into the tripod.

Pressing his fingers to his temple, Chen Yi mulled over the perplexing situation in the town. Now, at last, a thread of clarity began to emerge.

Li Xian and the others were nervously watching him, hesitating while continuing to call out softly.

At his side, Yin Tingxue gently poked his arm.

Straightening his posture, Chen Yi asked, "Do you know where that pit is?"

"Huh?"

Chen Yi reiterated, speaking slowly and distinctly, "The pit you mentioned—the one where falling in led to instantaneous reincarnation."