"Daoist Priest, is this cup of tea prepared for Mark?"
Ying Caihong's hoarse, trembling voice came through.
Upon hearing this, Cao Yi glanced at the still steaming Biluochun tea on the stone table and nodded, "That's right."
When he had just entered the kitchen, he had vaguely heard the sound of a car. This place looked quite remote, with woods surrounding it for hundreds of meters, so he guessed the visitor was probably one of Ying Caihong's subordinates, hence he poured an extra cup.
"How is this possible?"
Ying Caihong, upon receiving Cao Yi's affirmative response, felt her long-suffering, pale face grow even whiter. She swayed, and if her hand hadn't quickly grabbed the edge of the stone table, she might have fallen to the ground.
All this time, she had treated real religions as a joke, running a cult and deceiving people.
Today, encountering a genuinely capable religious figure made her feel fear; if there were truly gods in this world, would heaven eventually hold her accountable for her actions?
"Ying, please have some tea."
At some point, Cao Yi, who had already taken a seat, raised his tea cup and smiled at Ying Caihong.
"Oh, okay, I'll drink some tea."
Ying Caihong, with a stiff expression, sat down, trembling as she lifted the tea cup to her lips.
"Actually," Cao Yi took a sip of tea, and his smile faded, replaced by a serious expression, "besides the Resurrection Flower, there's something terrifying in the Goddess Tomb."
"Something terrifying?"
Ying Caihong looked up, bewildered, at Cao Yi.
"A thousand-year-old zombie."
Cao Yi slowly articulated the four words.
Before setting off, there was a secondary task in the system's mission that required him to subdue a thousand-year-old zombie, meaning there was a strong possibility that there was a zombie in the Goddess Tomb that hadn't appeared in the original plot.
"A thousand-year-old zombie!"
Ying Caihong was startled, and the cup slipped from her hand, spilling tea leaves and water everywhere.
Any person from Huaxia would know what those four words meant.
"A thousand-year-old zombie is born from accumulated resentment and filth over a thousand years, unafraid of any external harm. Once it appears, even if you obtain the Resurrection Flower, it will be difficult for you to survive."
Cao Yi warned Ying Caihong based on his shallow understanding of the thousand-year-old zombie.
"Unafraid of any external harm…"
Ying Caihong's brows furrowed.
In her heart, she was already about eighty percent convinced. Cao Yi's display of foresight and extraordinary power had conquered her.
Thinking that her only hope had turned into a mirage, she felt very unwilling.
She looked at Cao Yi with hopeful eyes, wishing this mysterious Daoist Priest could help her.
"Actually, even if you don't come, I would still go to the Goddess Tomb. As a Daoist of the Zhengyi sect, I won't sit idle and wait for the zombie to emerge and harm the world."
Cao Yi said solemnly.
Ying Caihong didn't expect a silver lining; an excited expression appeared on her pale face: "Great! As long as I can get the Resurrection Flower, I will pay Daoist Priest five million dollars."
Cao Yi smiled but said nothing.
"Where is the shrine? I want to pay my respects."
Ying Caihong suddenly said.
"That way."
Cao Yi pointed in a direction.
"Daoist Priest, I'll be right back."
Ying Caihong stood up and walked towards the shrine.
Cao Yi watched her departing figure, amused. This cult leader had been scared by the extraordinary power he had just shown, running to the shrine to pray to the Dao Ancestor for psychological comfort.
If the Dao Ancestor (assuming he is personified) knew, I wonder what he would think.
After about two or three minutes, Yoko's voice came from outside: "Master, Mark says he has never seen a Daoist and insists on coming over to take a look."
Cao Yi turned to see a man and a woman at the door. The woman was Yoko, who had just gone out, holding the same red handbag as Ying Caihong.
The man was a medium-built, sharply dressed foreigner; he should be Mark, the representative from Global Mining who had signed the agreement with Wang Kaixuan and Big Gold Tooth in the beer house in the original plot.
"Where's the Master?"
Yoko asked, her face showing a puzzled expression when she saw that Ying Caihong wasn't there.
"She went to the shrine," Cao Yi casually replied.
"What? The Master went to pray to your god?"
Yoko's face was full of shock.
In her eyes, Ying Caihong was a living god.
A living god going to pray to a god in a temple—this was too subversive for her worldview.
"The Dao Ancestor is not anyone's god; it is the Dao."
Cao Yi corrected Yoko's misunderstanding of Daoism.
"If it's not a god, then why is it called a shrine?"
Yoko retorted.
This girl had quite the sharp tongue!
Cao Yi smiled and explained, "It's called a shrine for ease of understanding, to make it more acceptable for the public."
Yoko wasn't interested in quarreling with Cao Yi over this boring religious issue and bluntly asked, "While I was out, what did you talk about with the Master? How much did you cheat her out of?"
Cao Yi didn't say anything, just held up five fingers.
"Fifty thousand dollars."
Yoko's eyes narrowed. Though this price was suggested by Ying Caihong earlier, she still felt very displeased.
In her view, Cao Yi was nothing but a flashy scammer posing as a Daoist.
"It's five million dollars."
Cao Yi corrected her with an air of nonchalance.
As if five million dollars were just a number.
"What? Five million dollars?"
Yoko almost jumped up.
This amount far exceeded her psychological tolerance.
Cao Yi smiled and nodded.
"You scammer!"
Yoko's eyes burned with rage, and the red handbag in her hand creaked ominously as she gripped it tightly, clearly ready to throw it at him.
"It's merely a matter of mutual consent."
Cao Yi continued to be nonchalant.
Yoko was already a hot-tempered person; seeing Cao Yi profiting while acting innocent made her lose her cool. She threw the red handbag straight at him.
In the days when he was an ordinary person, Cao Yi would have instinctively dodged. However, after his transformation through the Golden Core, he possessed physical qualities far beyond the average person.
The rapidly flying red handbag seemed to him like a slow-motion film. With a gentle movement, he caught it effortlessly between two fingers.
Yoko's gaze flickered, and she sprang forward like a cheetah descending from the mountain, her agile legs propelling her forward. She launched into a fierce karate attack that was shocking in its ferocity and strength. An ordinary fighter would have already collapsed.
Cao Yi relied on his enhanced physique to stay just ahead of Yoko, making her every powerful strike miss.
After more than three minutes of exhausting exchanges, Yoko, whose stamina was drained, had to back off.
Clap, clap, clap… a round of applause sounded.
Cao Yi turned to look; it was Mark, who had been watching the spectacle.
The foreigner had a flushed face, clearly an enthusiast of martial arts as well.
"What do you mean by that?"
Yoko, who had been at a disadvantage for so long, redirected her anger at Mark.
"I haven't seen such an exciting fight in a long time, especially Miss Yoko's performance; it was excellent," Mark remarked, praising Yoko amid his nostalgia.
Flattering is not exclusive to Greater China!
Yoko's anger lessened slightly.
"However, it seems this Daoist Priest is lacking in strength, as he avoids every powerful strike from Miss Yoko."
Mark added.
With a creak, the door of the shrine opened, and Ying Caihong emerged, coincidentally hearing Mark's words, her expression turned strange.