Ch24 – The secret of the ancient lotus

Translator: Abo Dammen

Jing Ren was dazed for a while, his thoughts in disarray, before he finally remembered what had just happened. He looked up to see Bai Qing and Jing Liansheng standing coldly before him. 

His face instantly turned pale, all color drained. His knees went weak, and he knelt on the ground involuntarily. Bai Qing understood completely. He said, “So it really was you who plotted against us?!”

Jing Ren was deeply pained, yet seemed to find a hint of relief in this anguish. His hoarse, old voice said, “It was me. Kill me!”

Bai Qing, however, asked, “Why did you want to harm us?”

Jing Ren’s gaze swept over Ying Zhili’s face before returning to Bai Qing. He gave a bitter smile. “What? Didn’t he tell you about my identity?” 

“Your identity…” Bai Qing hesitated, glancing at Ying Zhili. Ying Zhili still wore that annoyingly self-important smile. Jing Liansheng paused for a moment before speaking, “We have met.”

Jing Ren gave a pale smile. “We have indeed met… a hundred years ago…”

Jing Liansheng’s eyes darkened. “You were one of the grave robbers.”

Jing Ren lowered his head, smiling bitterly. “Yes, I was.” 

Ying Zhili continued, opening his explanation, “To be precise, Jing Ren is Jing Shuizhi’s ‘Great-Grandfather.’”

“Great-Grandfather?” Bai Qing was stunned. “You are the great-grandfather?”

Jing Ren looked old, but surely not over a hundred!

“Counting, their family has seven Great-Grandfathers,” Ying Zhili said, holding up his fingers. “Back then, the seven Jing brothers planted the Ancient Lotus together. They all knew the Ancient Lotus could grant more than one wish at a time. But more wishes meant the cost would naturally increase. Moreover, even those present who didn’t make a wish would share the cost.” 

Bai Qing fell silent for a moment, trying to process the information, then spoke, “So it’s like splitting the bill when eating out? Seven people eat together, order what they want, but the bill gets split evenly. Like, if I drink water and the guy opposite orders lobster, I still have to pay part of the lobster cost. Is that the idea?”

Ying Zhili smiled, the corners of his eyes forming crescents. “You could understand it that way. Your analogy is interesting.”

Bai Qing frowned and continued, “Then those seven brothers…”

“Using your analogy,” Ying Zhili took over, “they thought of a method that was both ‘economical’ and ‘fair’. Everyone orders a dish that everyone can eat.” 

“That does sound more economical and fair,” Bai Qing raised an eyebrow.

Ying Zhili nodded. “Though the seven Jing brothers knew the Ancient Lotus’s power, they dared not make multiple wishes lightly. They agreed to make only one wish together, which was for the family to prosper, a hundred years of flourishing.”

Listening to Ying Zhili, Bai Qing’s vague suspicions grew clearer. He asked, “Then… Jing Ren here broke the agreement?”

Ying Zhili nodded. “Correct. The first six brothers all made the same wish. Only Jing Ren was different. He had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, so out of selfishness, he wished for eternal life and longevity.” 

Bai Qing sighed. “What happened later?”

A playful smile curved Ying Zhili’s lips. His eyes gestured for Bai Qing to look at Jing Ren. “Why not ask him yourself?”

Bai Qing then turned his gaze to Jing Ren. The old man’s face was filled with regret.

Jing Ren lowered his head, his voice hoarse and heavy, “My terminal illness… was indeed cured. At the time, I thought I was the luckiest person in the world. My brothers were initially a little angry, thinking I broke the agreement, but ultimately said little. After all, I was trying to stay alive! 

“But when our family truly became the richest, problems emerged. My brothers bore the cost of having no descendants. Initially, they still held out hope, but as they aged and realized they truly would have no heirs, they utterly despised me. They believed that if I hadn’t made my own wish, the cost would have been less severe…”

Bai Qing paused slightly.

Jing Ren closed his eyes, pain twisting his expression. “They hated me, said I didn’t deserve to share their wealth, made me a servant of the Jing family, forever unable to rise… And I understood. The price of my immortality was to bear my brothers’ hatred, to be a servant of the Jing family for eternity.”

Bai Qing listened, furrowing his brow. 

Jing Ren suddenly opened his eyes, staring at his shriveled hands, tear-streaked. “However, though the Ancient Lotus granted me long life, it did not make me free from ailments. I actually suffer from many chronic pains. These illnesses aren’t fatal, but they bring annual disasters and sickness. Even so, I still have to drag my aging body, serving my juniors as a slave… My life is worse than death…”

As he spoke with agitation, Jing Ren’s expression twisted, filled with unyielding anger. “They could not understand! I was fighting for my life back then! I had no other choice! As older brothers, they didn’t even offer to help me extend my life, and instead, they hated me! And treated me like this! I… I hated it!”

Bai Qing frowned. “Great-Grandfather, so far, your situation is indeed pitiful. But… what does this have to do with harming me and Liansheng?”

Jing Ren’s face stiffened, as if slapped. His lips trembled. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jing Liansheng said coldly, “A hundred years ago, those seven brothers promised the next Ancient Lotus wish to me. Now, he reneged.”

Jing Ren gritted his teeth, face darkening, yet wearing a mask of fragile helplessness, “Ancestor, with your power, why must you fight me for this wish? I… I can promise you, I’ll give the next Ancient Lotus wish to you…”

Bai Qing immediately caught on. He smiled wryly, “Oh, so you verbally say you’re full of remorse, but deep down, you’ve been eagerly waiting for the Ancient Lotus to bloom a second time this past century, so you could make another wish, right? Saying you’d rather be dead, but I see you never wanted to die at all! You say you regret it, but you just regret that the wish you made wasn’t perfect, wasn’t it? It didn’t leave you satisfied!”

Jing Ren’s face almost couldn’t hold it. But he tried desperately to hide his resentment, banging his head repeatedly on the ground, wailing, “Ancestor, you misunderstand! I truly regret it. I beg you to spare me. I will never dare again…” 

The seven Jing brothers had indeed promised Jing Liansheng the next wish.

But Jing Ren was unwilling. Seeing that the Taoists wanted to capture Jing Liansheng, he was happy to provide help. On the surface, he came to handle the legal matter, but in essence, he brought the Taoists to conspire against Jing Liansheng.

Now, with his scheme exposed, Jing Ren was naturally full of regret. What he regretted, of course, wasn’t doing wrong, but regretted that he hadn’t done it perfectly.

He never believed he did anything wrong. I worked diligently as a butler for a hundred years! The wealth and happiness afterward are what I deserve! This fierce ghost just happened to appear and snatch my opportunity! Since he’s a ghost, he shouldn’t exist in the living world! That I found Taoists to deal with him is also upholding justice, correcting chaos! How is that malicious? 

He only hated the heavens for being unfair, believing evil was not being suppressed! Even sect Taoists couldn’t deal with this fierce ghost!

Ah… my luck has always been terrible…

Thinking this, Jing Ren wept.

Jing Liansheng turned and left, no longer paying attention to the old butler weeping behind him. Ying Zhili also sighed softly, following Jing Liansheng’s steps. Bai Qing hurried to catch up, curiosity bubbling. “What, you really just spared him?” 

“Remember what I said before?” Jing Liansheng glanced at him. “The Ancient Lotus’s blessings only last a hundred years.”

Bai Qing, hearing this, was stunned, his face draining of color, mouth slightly agape. After a long pause, he finally managed to say, “The hundred-year term is up… Then his lifespan…”

Jing Liansheng said, “No need to worry about him. He will naturally go.”

Ying Zhili, standing to the side, shook his head with a look of regret, but spoke nonetheless, “It really makes one sigh. A hundred years, gone in the blink of an eye.” 

Bai Qing, looking at the slight curl of Ying Zhili’s lips, thought: You don’t look regretful at all. Enjoying the show, huh, Shibo.

Not long after Jing Liansheng’s group left, the sun quietly climbed over the hillside. Golden sunlight poured over Jing Ren’s aged face. His heart suddenly tightened. A force gripped his throat. His body froze abruptly, then fell heavily to the ground with a dull thud. His eyes opened wide, pupils reflecting the clear blue sky, yet they could no longer focus.

Just as his soul was about to leave his body, a dazzling golden light flashed before Jing Ren’s eyes.

He stared blankly. The Ancient Lotus suddenly bloomed. Its petals were like white silk, with edges tinged in gold, like the most splendid scenery of early spring, breathtakingly beautiful. 

This scene was exactly the same as the Ancient Lotus bloom he had seen a hundred years ago. He was dazed, about to make a wish, to loudly cry out his desire for life, for wealth, for endless ambition.

However, at that moment, something unexpected happened.

The originally stunning lotus suddenly became terrifyingly grotesque. Its soft, silk-like petals transformed into sharp, knife-like teeth. At the center of the flower was actually a blood-red mouth, suddenly opening wide. Jing Ren’s soul was pulled by a powerful force, uncontrollably flying toward the gaping maw. He was terrified, trying to struggle, but found himself completely unable to move.

That mouth was like a bottomless abyss. It swallowed his soul in one bite, dissipating into the endless darkness. In the final moment before being devoured, he heard the Ancient Lotus’s voice. 

The voice was not human speech, but a strange, ineffable expression, like distant winds interwoven with the sound of fine rain, or the most primordial whispers of heaven and earth.

An ordinary mortal could not understand such a language.

But as his soul merged with the Ancient Lotus, he suddenly comprehended.

It turned out the Ancient Lotus was not an auspicious symbol, nor was it born to fulfill mortal wishes. 

Those so-called blessings were merely bait to lure prey.

The Ancient Lotus was like a venus flytrap, delighting in consuming tormented, twisted souls. However, the world had its own iron rules. Even with its overwhelming power, the Ancient Lotus could not indiscriminately devour living beings. Only when a person willingly made a pact with it would the heavenly Dao allow it to consume the soul.

Thus, it used wishes as bait, enticing those with desires to come forward. Merely consuming souls could not satisfy it. On the surface, it promised fulfillment, but in reality, it set countless traps, leading its victims into a chasm of despair.

Once a soul was soaked in desire and suffering, twisted into chaos, the Ancient Lotus would open its blood-red mouth and feast. 

In the darkness, Jing Ren vaguely heard his brothers’ howls, then Jing Shuizhi’s sorrowful cries…

Jing Ren finally understood everything. But it was too late.

His soul was completely torn apart in the mouth of the Ancient Lotus, transforming into a wisp of smoke in the endless darkness, vanishing forever.

Before sunrise, Jing Liansheng, Bai Qing, and Ying Zhili had already returned to the guesthouse. They entered Jing Liansheng’s room, closed the door, and drew the curtains, blocking the sunlight that was harmful to yin beings. 

Inside, only a dim yellow desk lamp emitted a faint glow, casting their faces in muted light.

Jing Liansheng took out the string of rusted wind chimes from his sleeve. His fingers gently caressed the chimes, but his gaze was sharp as a blade, fixed directly on Ying Zhili.

“Explain.”