Chapter 3 The Cruel Truth of the Catacombs

In a spacious, magnificent and solemn underground hall, He Lingyun stared with wide eyes in disbelief at the "wonderful sight" before him.

This empty stalactite hall located deep in the bottom floor is divided into several areas. The western area is full of tombstones and graves, the northern area has more than a dozen columbariums with urns densely packed in the towers, and the southern and eastern areas are even more bizarre, with rows and rows of countless female corpses sealed in crystal covers and the remains of various kinds of spiritual beasts and birds, including insects, snakes, birds, and other spiritual animals!
Spherical crystal lamps hang high on the ceiling of the hall. The lights are bright and incandescent, making the huge underground hall as bright as day.

It was very clear under the light. The female corpses and the remains of spiritual beasts and birds seemed to have been specially treated. Upon closer inspection, the skin was rosy, the fur was shiny, and the feathers were distinct. They were absolutely lifelike. If they were not motionless and lifeless, He Lingyun would have thought they were just sleeping here.

In order to prove that the so-called "Body Donation Agreement" was not made up, Senior Brother Jin Guangzong Wen brought He Lingyun here and used tombs, urns and crystal coffins with remains sealed to endorse the authenticity of the "Body Donation Agreement".

"After signing the donation agreement, in addition to getting what you want immediately, I will also find your remains no matter where you fall. After completing the anatomical sampling and research, I will bury you peacefully here."

Wen Rui still had that earnest salesman's tone, spreading out his hands to show the "wonderful sight" in the underground hall while talking eloquently:
"You can choose the burial method yourself. If you want to be buried in the ground, I will build a tomb and erect a monument for you. If you want to return to dust, I will cremate you into ashes. If you want to preserve your appearance, my body makeup preservation skills are also unique."

As he spoke, he gestured as if he was promoting a high-end cave residence: "What you see is the cemetery of the fallen monks in the three hundred years since the founding of the Lishan Immortal Sect. It can be said to be a high-end community, with good wind and water, an underground CBD, and a back garden for immortals. It is absolutely solemn and majestic. It has a one-stop service for setting up a mourning hall, sending paper money, and funeral services. If you want, we can find six Kunlun slaves to dance and carry the coffin for you..."

He Lingyun neither understood nor took a single word in. Her heart was greatly shaken at this moment. Although she had long known that the disciples of Lishan Immortal Sect lived in miserable circumstances and were often oppressed and bullied, and that many of her fellow sisters and brothers who secretly went out of the mountains to collect resources every year had never been heard from since then, she had guessed that they were probably already dead.

But seeing so many grave remains with his own eyes confirmed his previous speculation and completely dispelled the fluke that "perhaps Senior Sister XX just found a small cave to practice in seclusion and never came back." Faced with the cold and cruel reality, He Lingyun still found it difficult to adjust his mood for a while, and sadness continued to surge from the bottom of his heart.

"So many sisters have died..."

He Lingyun murmured. Her originally firm determination to seek the Tao seemed to be shaken a little. With resources extremely scarce and the external environment so dangerous, and her master unable to provide protection, a non-human cultivator like her, even if she cultivated a righteous aura and had never committed any evil deeds in her life, would hardly have a chance to achieve enlightenment. She was afraid that in the near future she would become a grave in this hall, a handful of earth.

Wen Rui seemed to be completely unaware of the despair she had revealed, and continued to promote her product in a businesslike tone:

"Junior Sister He, seeing this scene, I don't need to say much, you should be able to understand it yourself. The remnants of the Jiejiao are facing such a harsh reality now. You never know which will come first, tomorrow or death. In this case, face the reality. Signing the donation agreement will not only allow you to immediately obtain the scarce resources and magic weapons, but also ensure that you will at least die with value and dignity in the future."

"What does it mean to die with dignity?" He Lingyun suppressed his surging emotions and pointed at the corpse sealed in the crystal cover and said coldly: "Like this?"

"if not?"

Wen Rui spread his hands calmly and said, "Do you think that those monks from the Chan Sect, the Human Sect, and the Western Sect who openly or secretly hunted down our non-human disciples of the Jie Sect are the ones they claim to be 'eliminating demons and defending the Way'? Demon cultivators are all treasures, especially the corpses of demon cultivators who practiced the righteous way and contain a lot of pure spiritual energy. If they are refined into magic weapons and flying swords, the grade bonus is very high, and each one is very valuable."

Tilting his head, the human cultivator glanced at He Lingyun expressionlessly, as if he was evaluating her corpse, and said in a flat tone: "Do you want to be hunted like a wild beast, and then have your skin, flesh, bones and feathers stripped off by the person who killed you and refined into a weapon to continue hunting your kind?"

At this point, he paused, his voice a little colder: "Even if it is a wild beast, a wolf will tear its own fur after falling into a trap, and it doesn't want the hunter to benefit from its death!"

He Lingyun was stunned when she heard this. Although she had been transformed for more than 200 years and had reached the Jindan realm, due to the special circumstances of her sect, she had only stepped out of the Lishan Mountains a few times. Her experience was simply incomparable to that of the human cultivator in front of her, whose realm was so low that he could hardly sense spiritual energy, but who had experienced the great calamity of the Conferred Gods and usually opened his door for business and had close contact with the outside world.

"Back then, in the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation, three thousand Red Dust Guests were captured by the Western Cult as slaves and mounts. The three thousand Red Dust Guests died on the spot, and their bodies were collected by the disciples of the Chan Cult who were cleaning up the battlefield. Not a single resource was wasted."

Wen Rui continued, "The monsters who practice cultivation in the mountains and wilds do not practice properly and their spiritual energy is mixed. Some of them also eat human karma and have a foul smell. They cannot refine high-grade immortal gate magic weapons at all.

At this point, he pointed at He Lingyun and continued, "For a non-human cultivator like you who comes from Jiejiao, you practice the righteous way, have pure spiritual energy, a clear mind, and no karma or evil spirits. That's the best material for making weapons. Now that Chanjiao, Xifangjiao, and Renjiao are growing stronger and stronger, and their sects are spreading. The materials accumulated in the previous Conferred God War are no longer enough, and the resources in the cultivation world are gradually scarce. The third and fourth generation disciples want to get a good treasure that is enough to build the foundation for enlightenment. Instead of going to the secret realm to explore and collect, it is better to hunt down the 'hairy and horned' Jiejiao remnants."

Slowly shaking his head, the human cultivator who had been speaking in a calm tone finally showed some emotion. He slowed down his tone and sighed, "The older the Holy Mother Wu Dang gets, the less courageous she becomes. After she withdrew from the battlefield of the Ten Thousand Immortals, she no longer had the intention to compete with the Chan Sect and the Western Sect. She only kept the last wisp of incense from the Jie Sect. In the future, I'm afraid she will have to work hard to make peace with the Western Sect and the Chan Sect, try to gradually integrate into them, and strive to become a so-called 'normalized' Taoist sect. I think the Lishan Immortal Sect will end up like a certain country in the future, being used and eaten up by others, and then thrown aside to fend for itself!"

At this point, his tone changed, and he said in a cold voice: "Now some branches of the Chan Sect have regarded Lishan as a breeding ground for demon cultivators, and slaughtered the disciples of the Lishan Sect who went out for training as livestock!" He Lingyun was sweating profusely when she heard this. The anger, humiliation, helplessness and loss almost made her unable to breathe. She took a few deep breaths and suddenly thought of something. It seemed that she found an outlet to vent her anger. She said angrily: "It's okay for outsiders to covet us, but as a fellow Jiejiao, aren't you also squeezing the value of the corpses of our Lishan disciples? You even opened a shop selling magic weapons! I guess you have made a lot of money from the dead over the years. Is this what you call 'a valuable death'?"

Wen Rui shook his head nonchalantly, as if he was used to it. He spread his hands and said, "You are not the first one to doubt me before signing the donation form. Please release your spiritual sense to feel whether there is any defect in the tomb and the remains in the crystal coffin over there."

He Lingyun released his spiritual consciousness and with his cultivation at the Jindan realm, his perception range soon covered the entire hall. It was just as Wen Rui said, no matter whether they were buried in the tomb or sealed in the crystal cover, every remains was basically intact. At least the scales, feathers, horns, claws, bones and even the inner elixir that were most valuable for refining into magic weapons were not missing, and even the abundant spiritual power attached to them was not extracted.

Facts speak louder than words. If the human cultivator in front of him wanted to make money using the remains of Lishan disciples, he would definitely not have preserved them so intact. He Lingyun was speechless after being refuted.

Everything in front of her seemed to be logical with Wen Rui's explanation, but after thinking about it carefully, there were many doubts. Her mind raced, and she questioned: "Then what is your purpose in doing this? Since these remains are so valuable for outsiders to fight for, with your cultivation level, taking back so many remains is like pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth or taking chestnuts from fire. How did you do it?"

"I was able to escape from the battlefield of Ten Thousand Immortals where 'Golden Immortals are everywhere and Heavenly Immortals are as numerous as dogs', so of course I have some skills to save my life. Back then, I threw a shuriken at Yuanshi Tianzun from 800 miles away in the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation. Am I proud? Besides, if I can't rob openly, won't I steal? If I can't steal, won't I cheat? If I can't cheat, won't I buy with spirit stones?"

He Lingyun frowned when he heard this. He refused to believe that this sloppy Taoist priest of low level in front of him had ever fought with a legendary saint like Yuanshi Tianzun.

Wen Rui shrugged and said, "As for the plot, I have already told you that these remains have extremely high scientific research value to me. I have already obtained physiological, biochemical, and genetic research results according to the agreement, and of course I have to fulfill my obligation to bury the donor's remains. Even if we are talking about business and not talking about fellow feelings, I still have to maintain basic credibility. Otherwise, how can I continue to exploit the sisters of the Lishan Immortal Sect?"

This human brother spoke so frankly and honestly about the exploitation of his junior sister that He Lingyun was speechless and stood there with his eyes wide open. The outside cultivators were killing the goose that lays the golden eggs and sucking the marrow out of the bones of Lishan disciples. This senior brother Wen, who had some connection with the Lishan Immortal Sect, was only slightly stronger. He only plucked their hair, drew their blood, and desecrated their corpses.

Wen Rui didn't care about her sad expression, he took out the jade slip from his arms again, handed it to her and said, "Junior sister, I have explained this 'body donation' project very clearly, do you want to consider it?"

Seeing that He Lingyun didn't answer, he continued to talk: "Please believe me, you will die sooner or later, so why not live in the present and exchange your remains for benefits immediately. Combining various parameters and the ending samples of Lishan Sect disciples in the past, according to statistical principles, your chance of becoming an immortal and ascending to heaven is only 10 in 62 to the 15nd power, and the chance of dying within a year is 48%, 76% within ten years, 99.6% within a hundred years, and % after a hundred years. Signing this agreement, not to mention that you can get something you urgently need right now, after you die, I will also build a monument and a tomb for you to commemorate you, and worship you during festivals. Isn't this a bargain for nothing?"

He Lingyun gritted his teeth when he heard this, narrowed his eyes and glared at Wen Rui fiercely. He really wanted to just kill him and take the treasure, but unfortunately his flying sword was damaged and his strength was only one tenth of what it was. He might not be able to defeat this treacherous businessman who was able to escape from the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation in the past and might have some hidden tricks up his sleeve.

Although I am angry, if I think about it calmly, I feel that what Senior Brother Wen said does make some sense. It is consistent with the current predicament faced by all the demon cultivators of the Lishan Immortal Sect.

With a deep sigh, He Lingyun fiercely snatched the jade slip, condensed his spiritual power at his fingertips, and carved three bronze seal characters "He Lingyun" on the jade slip.

Seeing her sign the agreement, Wen Rui couldn't hide his joy, and at the same time, he stared at He Lingyun's body up and down, as if declaring that this body already belonged to him. He was looking forward to how he would perform what he called "physiological anatomy, organ observation, tissue sampling and testing, cell microstructure analysis, gene sequence analysis, etc." on this body in the future. These were things that He Lingyun couldn't understand but sounded terrible and disgusting.

"I've signed, give me the flying sword now!"

He Lingyun threw the jade slip back and urged impatiently. She really didn't want to face this Senior Brother Wen for a moment. She especially hated the evil look he gave her. She felt extremely physically uncomfortable.

Wen Rui put away the jade slip slowly, gave He Lingyun a meaningful smile, and said, "As for the flying sword, I will definitely give it to you, but..."

When He Lingyun heard the word "but", his heart trembled, thinking that he might have been deceived by this thief. His face turned cold and he shouted in a cold voice: "But what? If I can't get the flying sword today, I will tear down your black shop and kill you, the profiteer who exploited my fellow disciples!"

"Don't misunderstand..."

Wen Rui waved his hand and said, "I have always kept my word. I will definitely give you the flying sword. It's just not a flying sword in the narrow sense, but a flying sword in the broad sense. The appearance may be different from what you imagined, but I can guarantee that the new flying sword I developed, whether in comprehensive combat effectiveness or operational sensitivity, or even functionality and maneuverability, will far exceed the traditional flying swords of the same grade. It can be called a fighter among flying swords."

He Lingyun narrowed her eyes and glanced at Senior Brother Wen with suspicion, who was talking nonsense. She neither understood nor wanted to understand, let alone believe this guy. She seemed to be certain that she, who was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper, must have been deceived by the treacherous Senior Brother of the Human Race.

(End of this chapter)

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