Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 424: Lu Yang: It’s My Turn to Shine

“To the southeast of Hanshui City, a couple resided in a small village called Baishui Village, where. One early morning, the husband Liu San woke up and realized his wife hadn’t woken him up as usual. He tried calling his wife a few times but to no avail, so he began searching for her. In the end, he discovered his wife had drowned in a water basin.

“The coroner noted that there were no signs of struggle when the wife died, as if she had willingly drowned herself. Baffled, he reported it to the higher-ups, and after a round of investigation, the authorities concluded that it was the work of Drowned Ghosts.

“Drowned Ghosts refer to those who drowned with resentment in their hearts and happened to encounter yin energy at death, becoming ghosts that haunt the world. They typically inhabit bodies of water—rivers, lakes, and oceans. Coincidentally, there is a frigid pool near Baishui Village. The water is so cold that long-term consumption would make mortals ill, and the yin energy is extremely dense, suitable for Drowned Ghosts to dwell.

“A Golden Core senior brother passed by on the way back to his sect. Hearing about this matter, he headed to the frigid pool and sent a walking corpse to go underwater and capture the Drowned Ghost. However, that Drowned Ghost proved formidable and was at least at the Half-Step Nascent Soul Stage or even the Basic Nascent Soul Stage.

“With Hanshui City plagued by excessive ghost calamities, the authorities and sects were stretched too thin to deploy additional forces to deal with the Drowned Ghost.

“Well? Shall we take on this mission?” Zhao Po summarized the mission he had found and asked Lu Yang’s trio.

Meng Jingzhou felt that a mere Drowned Ghost posed no challenge. “That doesn’t sound difficult. Do you have anything more challenging?”

“There’s a female ghost seeking a ghost marriage—”

“The Drowned Ghost then,” Meng Jingzhou hastily interrupted. You must be joking. With my current state, female ghosts will either find me an eyesore and not even show themselves, or find me an eyesore and slap me to death.

“Alright then, let’s set off.” Zhao Po distributed one talisman to each of the three before departing.

“What are these talismans?”

“These are Soul-Dispelling Talismans. They are specially crafted by our sect and distributed to every disciple who deals with the ghost calamities. The sect discovered how tough it was to eradicate ghosts permanently. Even if the malevolent ghosts are beaten into a weak state, without appropriate countermeasures, it’s still hard to kill them. Working with the talisman masters and ghost-catching Daoist priests, they created these talismans overnight.”

The disciples of the Corpse-Driving Sects were Corpse Drivers and practiced yin-attribute cultivation techniques similar to malevolent ghosts. They could defeat ghosts but struggled to kill them.

“Once we defeat the Drowned Ghost, we can activate this talisman to finish it off!”

“Your sect’s really thought of everything.” Lu Yang chuckled as he stowed away the Soul-Dispelling Talisman. Actually, this is hardly necessary for us. With Meng Jingzhou—the bane of ghosts—here, we can even burn the ghosts to death. Both the Pure Yang True Fire and the Three Flavor True Fire suppressed malevolent ghosts.

~~~

The frigid pool was diagonally across Hanshui City from the Corpse-Driving Sect. After the group set off, they directly traveled through Hanshui City and passed by One More Time Barbeque Shop, which was still in its soft opening phase.

Hanshui City was still flourishing and bustling with people, largely unaffected by the ghost calamities. One reason was the sheer number of people in Hanshui City, which generated overwhelming yang energy, deterring ghosts from entering and wreaking havoc. The second reason was that even returning home wasn’t necessarily safe. A single door couldn’t block malevolent ghosts bent on causing trouble, so public spaces became comparatively safer.

Following the location in the mission description, the four people and one walking corpse passed by Baishui Village and reached the frigid pool.

Standing beside the pool, the four could sense its chilliness. The frigid pool was surrounded by mountains on three sides and shielded from sunlight all year round. Dense vegetation covered the area, with several old locust trees particularly conspicuous. These various factors had resulted in water turning frigid.

Though the water was crystal clear, one still couldn’t see the bottom and determine the Drowned Ghost’s position.

“How strange. Why is there not a single fish?” Meng Jingzhou was puzzled. Logically speaking, such places should be teeming with fish. I wouldn’t be surprised even if a giant fish weighing 180 jin appears here.

“Were they all eaten by ghosts? Since when do ghosts eat fish?”

Lu Yang pushed aside Meng Jingzhou, stopping his endless stream of questions. He crouched down and observed the frigid pool. “Stop caring about whether you get to eat fish. Ask about it only after we’ve caught it. Now, the real question is: who can swim and lure the malevolent ghost out?”

The four exchanged glances. Lu Yang had a Sword Spirit Root, Meng Jingzhou had a Single’s Spirit Root, Man Gu was an Ancient Barbarian, while Zhao Po was a Corpse Driver—none were swimmers.

“I’ll do it! I’ll get my walking corpse to go down!” Zhao Po lit three incense sticks and bowed to the walking corpse thrice. As the walking corpse absorbed the scent, its pallid skin gained a hint of ruddiness, and its hollow eyes flickered with a trace of spiritedness.

The walking corpse jumped into the frigid pool, sending ripples across the previously still surface. Evidently, the walking corpse had found the Drowned Ghost and was in the middle of a battle.

A ghost’s strength stemmed from the fear in living beings’ hearts and the frailty of their souls, but neither of these had the slightest effect on walking corpses.

Zhao Po’s forehead glistened with cold sweat as his teeth chattered uncontrollably. Since he could sync with his walking corpse’s senses, he could feel how powerful the malevolent ghost was, and the pressure on him multiplied.

“Brother Zhao?” Lu Yang asked in concern.

“The intelligence was wrong! The Drowned Ghost down there is not at the Half-Step or Basic Nascent Soul stages, but at the Intermediate Nascent Soul Stage! The walking corpse also sees a female corpse, likely the wife from Baishui Village who drowned!

“It’s luring the ghost up now. Ready yourselves!” Zhao Po hollered.

Lu Yang’s trio immediately assumed combat stances, poised to unleash devastating attacks the moment the Drowned Ghost surfaced.

With a thunderous explosion, a figure leaped out of the water.

“Three Flavor True Fire!”

“Pure Yang True Fire!”

“Tyrannical Barbarian King Fist!”

The three’s simultaneous assaults nearly struck home before Zhao Po frantically yelled, “Stop stop stop! That’s not the Drowned Ghost but my walking corpse!”

Hastily redirected, the attacks crashed into the cliffside, sending boulders tumbling in a deafening avalanche.

“Where’s the Drowned Ghost?” Lu Yang was perplexed.

Zhao Po revealed an embarrassed grin. “I was too loud when shouting to ready yourselves just now. The Drowned Ghost heard it and knew there was an ambush, so it fled back.”

“That complicates things. Now that he’s wary, he won’t take the bait again.” Man Gu was troubled and at a loss for what to do.

Meng Jingzhou suggested, “Why don’t we drain the water with our storage rings?” freeωebnovēl.c૦m

“Zhao Po shook his head. “That won’t do. This frigid pool has already become the Drowned Ghost’s territory. Storage rings can’t absorb owned items.”

Lu Yang flashed a confident smirk. “Leave this to me. It’s time to showcase the unique art I’ve diligently practiced for days!”

Meng Jingzhou inquired curiously, “What shady and heretical spells have you picked up this time?”

“This mighty ability is famous! You’ll recognize it right away!” Lu Yang adopted an air of mystery that only scratched Meng Jingzhou’s curiosity.

“Quick, show it to me!”

Lu Yang paced by the edge of the pool, channeling his powers to stir a breeze beneath his robes, such that his fluttering robes gave him the image of someone about to metamorphose and ascend to an immortal. “Listen well, the malevolent ghost down there! This humble Daoist is giving you one last chance. If you still don’t emerge, don’t blame me for resorting to my methods!”

The water remained completely calm.

Lu Yang had already expected no response from the Drowned Ghost. He flipped his palm and pressed it against the water's surface before lifting it sharply. The water formed a waterspout that whirled into his palm, revealing the Drowned Ghost right at the bottom of the frigid pool.

Turning around, Lu Yang gently flung his sleeves in an unfettered manner. “Behold the technique I’ve finally mastered after days of diligent practice—”

At the sight of this scene, Zhao Po stood transfixed with his mouth agape, unable to utter a word for a long while. “Th-this is the legendary Sleeve Cosmos!” He absorbed the entire pool of water with a mere flick of his sleeve. What else could this be if not Sleeve Cosmos?

“...Right, this is Sleeve Cosmos!”

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l