To Raise a Soul 46.2

Clothed in a thin shirt, Yu Zhen stepped into a gloomy, earthen house. The golden glow of merits shifted around him. A blood-colored copper coin flew at him from a corner and he caught it with his bare hands. 

“As expected, there’s evil cultivation.”

He purified the coin with merits and flicked his wrist, throwing the coin back into the corner.

“Oooff!”

A strange and muffled grunt sounded. Golden light erupted from the coin and illuminated the corner which was occupied by an old, hunched-up male figure.

Yu Zhen walked in front of the man with his peach wood sword in hand and golden lights moving around him.

“Did you make the baby spirit for Qiu Xiehua?”

The evil cultivator lowered his head without a word but suddenly lunged at Yu Zhen’s heart with five claw-like fingers.

Bang!

The sharp, blood-red nails made contact with Yu Zhen’s chest but the sound made was that of contact with a hard object. Sensing a terrible energy, the cultivator’s expression turned ferocious and he crouched down, wanting to escape.

“Where are you going?!” San’er rushed out from the jade hanging at Yu Zhen’s chest. He pounced on the cultivator and maliciously laughed, “Long time no see, my ‘father of rebirth’.”

“Ahhhhhhh-!”

After everything was settled, Yu Zhen emerged from the earthen house with a downcast mood and a cracked piece of jade in his hand.

Yin Yan leaned against a tree outside the house, wordlessly waiting for him.

With a guilty conscience, Yu Zhen avoided Yin Yan’s gaze and whispered, “Sorry, I was careless again.”

Recently, Yin Yan had continuously trained Yu Zhen’s combat abilities. For Yu Zhen’s practice, he had found a few hidden spots in B City where evil spirits and ghost cultivators lurked. It was all for the purpose of ferreting out and defeating the cultivator who had created San’er.

The Qiu family had collapsed and Qiu Xiehua was half-dead as he was living out his time in prison. The lingering karma on San’er was almost eliminated. After some consideration, Yin Yan used the excuse of observing the market to leave B City for a “business trip”. He took Yu Zhen with him and found the hiding places of evil cultivators.

But even after all their preparation, when Yu Zhen took part in actual combat, he was almost killed by an evil cultivator in a sneak attack.

Yin Yan looked at Yu Zhen. As Yu Zhen was facing downward, his long and delicate eyelashes were noticeable. Yin Yan shifted his position and replied, “I’ve said it before – evil cultivators are not ghost cultivators. Ghost cultivators don’t have a body.  They are affected by the peach wood sword, but evil cultivators are not.”

“… I’m sorry.” Yu Zhen’s head drooped even lower.

Yin Yan looked away from Yu Zhen’s face and asked, “Where is the cultivator?”

“Still inside.”

“Dead?”

Yu Zhen’s hands tightened and he shook his head. “No, I’ve only crippled his cultivation.”

An evil cultivator is a living person. To kill a person… Although Yu Zhen no longer held back against ghost cultivators, Yu Zhen couldn’t kill yet.

Yin Yan looked back at Yu Zhen’s face. He quietly watched for a few seconds but didn’t pressure Yu Zhen. Then he called out, “San’er.”

The baby spirit immediately appeared from the jade and floated over. Respectfully and cautiously, he replied, “Great immortal.”

“Take care of your karma.”

“Yes!”

San’er dashed into the house impatiently. The soul of the evil cultivator escaped from the earthen house. Yu Zhen did not need Yin Yan’s prompt and unhesitatingly went after the soul with his peach wood sword, scattering the soul to the winds.

With the dispersal of the evil cultivator’s soul, the evil energy on San’er faded significantly, and his cheeks became ruddier.

“Thank you, Master.”

San’er knelt down before Yu Zhen with sincerity and respect.

Since his meeting with his mother, his antisocial behavior had been greatly curbed. He became obedient, respectful, and sincere toward Yu Zhen, his master.

Yu Zhen was helpless against San’er and Xin Xiaoxiao’s habit of kneeling. Unable to persuade them against it, he gradually became used to it. In silence, he began to treat them even better.

They had done a good deed with the evil cultivator’s death. After making his death seem natural, they picked up some “spoils of war” from the cultivator and headed back to B City.

“This evil cultivator had a lot of money.” Yu Zhen checked the cultivator’s magical storage item and was shocked at what he saw.

Caring little for human wealth and power, most cultivators were not greedy nor desired much. There were many with treasured magical tools, but not many had accumulated the money of ordinary people. At the very least, the previous ghost cultivators that Yu Zhen had eliminated didn’t have that on them.

However, the evil cultivator they had just eliminated was different. Not only did he have extremely large sums of money, but he also had a lot of gold, silver, jewels, antiques, calligraphy, and paintings. He had a warehouse worth of goods.

“With that much money, why did he live in such a rundown house?” Yu Zhen was puzzled. He seemed to be holding onto a mountain of gold rather than the magical storage item of an evil cultivator.

Yin Yan removed the item from Yu Zhen’s hand. He lightly wiped the surface of it and then returned it to Yu Zhen. “Don’t try to understand the thoughts of an evil cultivator. It’ll affect your Taoist heart. According to the rules of the cultivation world, the evil cultivator was killed by you and your ghost attendant, so these items are all yours. The restrictions on it have been removed. Remember to store it in the pagoda tower.” 

In a panic, Yu Zhen stuttered, “N-No. There’ll be a problem with taking these when the origins of these assets aren’t clear.”

Yu Zhen was an extremely poor man. If a large sum suddenly appeared in his bank account, it would be very suspicious no matter how anyone looked at the situation. No, no, no. I don’t want to use this money. I won’t be at peace with it.

Yin Yan looked at him. “You really don’t want it?”

Yu Zhen shook his head wildly.

San’er, hiding in the jade, wanted to rush out and hold Yu Zhen’s shaking head so that it would still. How could I have such a stupid master?! The money was delivered to your door, but you don’t want it?!

“You can’t refuse it.” Yin Yan did what San’er wished to do. He held Yu Zhen’s head and continued, “That evil cultivator gained his wealth through evil deeds. It’s been tainted with karma. If it directly went into the hands of ordinary people, there would be problems.”

Yu Zhen stared at him, wide-eyed.

“You must first wash away the karma with your merits. After that, you can do what you wish with the money.”

With soft hair under his palm, Yin Yan couldn’t help but rub it. “I’ll help you make a reasonable origin for this money. Don’t worry about it.”

The two of them were at the departure terminal of an airport, sitting close to each other.

Yu Zhen’s eyes were fixed on Yin Yan. Slowly, his ears turned red. His neck also turned red and he lowered his head, nodding. “En… I’ll listen to you.”

He appeared very shy.

Yin Yan was stunned by that reaction. His heartbeat sped up and he slowly removed his hand. “You…”

“It’s a bit hot.” Yu Zhen looked away and messed with his own hair. He then fidgeted with his ears and whispered, “And a little itchy.”

A lock of hair from the area he messed with stuck out mischievously, irritating the skin behind his ears with his actions. 

It must be very itchy. The bump on Yin Yan’s throat bobbed up and down.

“I’m a bit ticklish.” Yu Zhen found an excuse to cover up his feelings.

“En.” Yin Yan shifted his gaze away and gradually, his heart rate slowed to a steady pace. He pressed his fingers together and added, “I’ll pay attention to it next time.”

So his face turned red because I rubbed his hair and it felt ticklish… Yin Yan lowered his gaze and pondered the issue.

There’s a next time.

Yu Zhen also lowered his gaze. Thinking about that killer move of rubbing his head, Yu Zhen’s face turned even redder and he nodded.

Good, good. It’s great that there’s a next time.

San’er in the jade: “….” I seem to have come across a little secret. A little secret that would get me killed if I said it out loud.

After returning to B City, Yu Zhen threw himself into the beginning stages of working on the leisure center. 

There were golden lotus seeds to oversee and there were no more problems at the construction site. The project progressed quickly. The main framework of the building was established and arrangements could be made for the greenery.

Yu Zhen bought seeds according to the finalized plans and raised them using his merits. Then, without resting, he went to a small plant nursery on the outskirts of B City to carry out the transfer of the facility’s ownership.

That was the solution he’d decided on to settle the issue of moving the greenery. Yin Yan had explicitly stated that he didn’t want Yu Zhen to buy a plant nursery as he didn’t have the energy to take care of it. However, with the addition of San’er and Xin Xiaoxiao, that was no longer a problem.  

He bought the plant nursery, not for the purpose of making money, but to provide a front under which he could sell flowers or other related products.

Using the orchids he had planted in the dimensional pot, he was able to prepare the money to buy the plant nursery early on.

New varieties of wild orchids were rare in the orchid market. The plants in Yu Zhen’s dimensional pot happened to be a rare type of orchid which had been declared extinct. The plants looked good and they were rare, making them highly valuable.

Thanks to the environment within the dimensional pot, many orchids had grown. Yu Zhen picked the most beautiful one and transplanted it outside. He grew it in ordinary soil for some time to make sure it was able to continue maturing and withstand growing outside the dimensional pot. Then he contacted the flower shop owner he had previously worked with to find a way to sell the flower.

As he completed these tasks, he neither avoided Yin Yan nor did he ask for any help or advice. He completed each task by himself, which included finding a plant nursery and negotiating its price. 

When they were signing the contract, the simple and honest owner of the plant nursery showed some hesitation. As he watched Yu Zhen holding a pen to sign the contract, his conscience got the best of him. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Mister Yu, wait one more moment. There are some other things I haven’t told you yet about the plant nursery.”

Yu Zhen paused and looked up at the man.

Looking at his gentle and trusting expression, the owner felt even guiltier. Despite his wife’s protests, he spilled his guts. “There’s actually a problem with my plant nursery. None of the plants grow well, and they rot easily. The price you’ve offered is for a high-quality plant nursery. But my plant nursery is not of high quality! You-you should rethink it!”

“Aiya, you are…Y-you!” The owner’s wife swatted him but was too embarrassed to face Yu Zhen. She looked away, the edges of her eyes were red.

Looking at the despairing husband and wife, Yu Zhen sighed internally and replied, “I know. Before I came here, one of your peers had secretly told me all the bad things about this place. Don’t worry, since I have decided to buy the place, I will definitely have a way of improving it. Don’t feel guilty about it. On this point, you can say I’m taking advantage of someone’s weakness. It’s not easy to buy a plant nursery in B City, but I’ve taken advantage of your positions.”

The boss’s wife stopped crying. She stared blankly at the signed document. With the sudden feeling of enlightenment, she wiped away her tears and pushed the document back. “No need, no need. We were the ones who were confused. Mister Yu is a kind person. We can’t defraud you. We’ll pretend that this hasn’t been signed. I know of a few people who are looking to sell their plant nurseries. We can help you get in contact with them. Think of it as us making it up to you.”

“What about the plant nurseries the two of you bought in your hometown? I heard you’ve already made advance payments for it. If you can’t make the remaining payments, the advance payments will be gone.”

The boss and his wife remained quiet for a while before the boss said, “It doesn’t matter. There will always be a way.”

Yu Zhen pushed back the contract. “You have the time to deal with it, but the illnesses of your two children can’t wait. Don’t worry, I really have a way to deal with the plant nursery.”

If they held onto the nursery, the two people before him, and their two children, would be dragged into a precarious situation by that burden. Because Yu Zhen had realized that fact, he had chosen this small plant nursery over a medium-sized one.

The owner and his wife were dumbstruck by what they heard. After hesitating and thinking of their children, the boss finally picked up the pen and bowed his head while he signed the document.