Preventing souls from reincarnation, what use is the Underworld then? It seems that the woman must have employed a powerful talisman to deceive the night-patrolling ghost messengers. However, such deception can fool them only momentarily, not forever. If that female ghost continues to randomly seduce passersby, endangering their lives, and eventually becomes a fierce ghost and causes trouble, the ghost messengers would ultimately come looking for her.
"So my intervention isn't exactly breaking the rules, but I still need a reason..."
As he spoke, Gu Shi Yi turned back to the railing, leaning on it as he looked across at the brightly lit flower boat,
"I asked the female ghost for silver, which is to involve myself in karma. If she pays me silver to save her, then it's not like I'm forcing my hand in the matter. Afterwards, whatever unresolved debts of karma from past and present lives between them won't count against me. My deal with the female ghost is a cash-for-service arrangement, and by saving her, I also enable her enemy to commit fewer evils, which means they'll have fewer sins to answer for in the Underworld..."
"Tsk..."
Big Boss, who had been silent until then, twisted his body and shivered his branches while snickering coldly,
"Clearly driven by greed, yet you speak as if you're so pure and noble. Why not just refuse the silver then!"
Gu Shi Yi rolled his eyes,
"How else am I supposed to buy you that gold-trimmed, big porcelain jar? Who was the one fussing about an unworthy broken pot not fitting their status!"
Big Boss, left without a response by her remark, huffed and twisted his body. Meanwhile, Li Yaner continued to ask out of curiosity,
"So if there's no silver, Shiyi wouldn't take action?"
Gu Shi Yi replied,
"Silver is one form of karma, but other things are karma too. Even a bowl of porridge or a stick of incense is karma..."
"That's still up to you to decide!"
Big Boss chimed in again, to which Gu Shi Yi responded,
"For such matters, a cultivator relies on their true heart. If there's unresolved karma, it will become a demon of the heart when one tries to progress. The more heart demons there are, the harder it is to advance. That's why, since ancient times, amongst the multitude of people undertaking the Great Cultivation, so few actually ascend. Great Cultivation is about defying the heavens. One must repay their own debts; without clearing them, how can one ascend to the upper realm?"
That's why immortals are without desires and detached; that's why the reclusive masters hide from the world—aren't they just avoiding worldly karmic debts?
Thus, there are those who cultivate in seclusion to avoid karma, and others who cultivate amidst the world to sever karma!
Because he had promised the female ghost, Gu Shi Yi couldn't leave. He simply found a sheltered spot, sat down cross-legged, allowing Li Yaner and Big Boss to absorb the moonlight, while he himself sat in meditation to cultivate his energy,
"Shiyi, how do you plan to save that female ghost?"
Gu Shi Yi said,
"That's simple, find the right moment to sneak onto the boat quietly, smash the flowerbed, and take out the bones!"
However, as the Flower Boat's days and nights were reversed, this was the time when the people onboard were most alert. He had to wait longer, for another hour or two. By then, people would have finished their wine and most of their business. Of course, there were exceptions able to party all night, but it would be the time when their guard was the lowest, and that would be his chance to board the boat and get the job done!
Hence, the three of them fell silent, each attending to their own tasks...
While Gu Shi Yi was meditating at the dock, waiting for the crowd on the Flower Boat to dissipate, he was unaware that five grim-faced men had checked into the inn where he was staying. Even though it was late into the night, Xuancheng City remained bustling. In the inn's lobby, where a few scattered tables were still having drinks, the yawning waiter leaned against a pillar, half-asleep. At a table in the corner sat the five men,
"Big Bro, Xuancheng isn't too big, nor is it too small. How do we find the person we're looking for?"
The one called Big Bro was the eldest among them, appearing to be in his fifties, with narrow eyes, a sullen face, a hooked nose, and a black spot the size of a thumb on his left cheek,
"When we set out, the sect leader bestowed upon us a treasure-seeking disk. Once it is activated, it can detect the trace of the treasure within fifty miles... However..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Big Bro took a sip of his drink and set down his cup, his gaze falling upon three men dressed as scholars, each holding a folding fan, who had just entered the inn. The leader, with a gentle smile, spoke with the owner; he seemed to be a regular patron given his familiar manner.
Upon feeling his gaze, the scholar-turned man turned his face, met Big Bro's eyes, and smiled politely. Big Bro used his Divine Sense to scan them and quickly realized they were merely ordinary mortals; he dismissed them from his mind and turned back to finish his earlier conversation,
"But using that thing causes quite a stir. We will discuss it further once we're back in our room..."