Chapter 156: Bitter Fruit

Chapter 156 -152: Bitter Fruit

Jiang Chaosheng asked calmly,

“What of my destiny?”

Li Ying clutched her right eye, blood seeping from between her fingers. Her left eye stared at Jiang Chaosheng in terror.

“You… you… you…”

Li Ying had never seen such a dazzling destiny, let alone such terrifying karma!

She remembered now.

Her father had said that someone would come to take the Five Immortals Candle one day.

It didn’t belong to her. If she used it wantonly, she would surely suffer karmic retribution!

‘Could this man be the true owner of the Five Immortals Candle?’

Jiang Chaosheng lifted his indifferent gaze.

“A mortal’s destiny is as humble as dust.

Yet, some use a life as insignificant as an ant’s to shoulder burdens far beyond their own capacity.

They choose to burn themselves away, illuminating a stretch of darkness for others.

Even a speck of dust can reflect the echoes of the cosmos.

And you?

For your own selfish desires, you killed so many people and ruined the cultivation of the Five Immortals.

You call yourself an Immortal?

You’re nothing but a bloated maggot laughing at an ant for being skinny.”

In her extreme terror, Li Ying somehow grew bold and shrieked at Jiang Chaosheng,

“You can only say that because you have a terrifying destiny!

If I had a destiny like yours, I’d be running my mouth too!”

Jiang Chaosheng glanced at Li Ying.

“I was talking about your father.”

Li Ying froze.

‘Father?’

‘That old man I always looked down on?’

‘He had the Five Immortals Candle but never thought about getting rich or paving his own way. How was that any different from being useless?’

Jiang Chaosheng reached for the Five Immortals Candle.

“His destiny was paper-thin.

Yet this mortal, to change the fates of those who came to him in suffering, shouldered an immeasurable amount of karma.

He didn’t bear that karma just because he was kind.

More than anything, he wanted to ensure you would at least be provided for.”

Jiang Chaosheng picked up the Five Immortals Candle.

A strange scene appeared on the table.

A fox, a weasel, a hedgehog, a snake, and a rat.

They were wearing Daoist Robes, and they bowed to Jiang Chaosheng.

Jiang Chaosheng looked at their Daoist Robes.

The Daoist Robes were filthy.

They weren’t this dirty when Li Qinglian sent them out of Antique Shop Zero.

He sighed.

“What a waste. Ten years of cultivation your father helped them build, and you destroyed it all in three.”

Jiang Chaosheng blew out the candle flame.

The Five Immortals dissolved into wisps of smoke and vanished.

Jiang Chaosheng put away the Five Immortals Candle and headed for the door.

Li Ying panicked.

‘Without the Five Immortals Candle, I’m nothing!’

“Don’t go!”

Li Ying leaped off the platform bed.

“AHHH!!!”

She let out a pained scream.

She had twisted her ankle and was completely unable to move.

She could only lie sprawled on the ground, watching Jiang Chaosheng in terror.

In that state, she truly did resemble a maggot.

Jiang Chaosheng glanced back over his shoulder.

“You envy my destiny?

But could you carry my karma?

You can’t even carry your own.”

Jiang Chaosheng paid Li Ying no more mind.

The backlash from the Five Immortals Candle had arrived. Her karma had come due.

Li Ying watched helplessly as Jiang Chaosheng left. She wanted to scream, but suddenly heard a CREAKING sound from the roof.

She looked up, her pupils contracting.

The ceiling began to tremble, and the main support beam swayed precariously.

‘This was the large, tile-roofed house my father built ten years ago, but…’

‘It’s going to collapse!’

“Hel—”

The word “help” hadn’t even left Li Ying’s lips.

The beam from above came crashing down, smashing onto her lower back.

The agony of tearing muscle and shattering bone turned her face a sickening, purplish hue.

Then, stones and splintered wood rained down from above…

…

As Jiang Chaosheng stepped into the courtyard, he heard the house collapse behind him, not a flicker of surprise on his face.

The Five Immortals Candle appeared to change the destinies of others, but in truth, its wielder was also a participant.

All that karmic debt was for that “Little Li Daxian” to bear.

‘What was that Little Li Daxian’s name again?’

Jiang Chaosheng didn’t know, nor did he care.

He stood in the courtyard, closed his eyes, and extended his senses to locate the next Taboo Item.

Slowly, a look of surprise crept onto Jiang Chaosheng’s face.

‘There’s clearly… a Taboo Item right here, near Wa City.’

‘But… I can’t sense it at all.’

“Can someone shield my perception of the Taboo Items?”

As he said this, Jiang Chaosheng suddenly froze.

Something like this had happened before, a long time ago.

It was during the Sea Coachman incident.

He had been on the Sea Train and encountered several Taiping Dao members carrying Taboo Items.

At the time, Jiang Chaosheng hadn’t sensed the missing Taboo Items they possessed.

He had wondered then why he couldn’t perceive the Taboo Items on them.

The most ridiculous part was:

Before he ran into those Taiping Dao members, he’d been convinced the Taboo Items they held were abroad.

Jiang Chaosheng had originally planned to get a clear answer from them.

Unfortunately, the Sea Coachman, that monster from Subspace, was simply too vicious.

He, Daji, and the Old Dragon King had given it their all but still couldn’t subdue it.

In the end, they only managed to defeat the Sea Coachman by having Antique Shop Zero purify the Compass.

In fact, even now, Jiang Chaosheng wasn’t confident he could take on the Sea Coachman alone.

‘In some other, forgotten era, that thing was probably an entity that could wipe the floor with Deities.’

‘If I weren’t immortal, if I didn’t have a top-tier fighter like Daji on my side, I don’t know how many times the Sea Coachman would have killed me.’

Even now, Jiang Chaosheng still felt a chill when he recalled the Sea Coachman.

Jiang Chaosheng could only have Li Xinyuan and Yang Xiao deal with them to resolve his own Curse as quickly as possible.

“So, Taiping Dao has a way to block my perception of Taboo Items?”

A faint smile touched Jiang Chaosheng’s lips.

‘Interesting.’

‘The more this happens, the more interesting it gets.’

‘And the more useful Taiping Dao becomes!’

‘Of course, useful doesn’t mean I have to subjugate them.’

‘Exploiting and using are two completely different matters.’

‘Isn’t the whole reason I want to find Taiping Dao because they have such a deep understanding of Taboo Items?’

He wasn’t at all surprised by Taiping Dao’s profound history.

‘This organization is likely older than the New Xia Kingdom itself!’

‘So, is the Taboo Item near Wa City connected to Taiping Dao?’

‘Well… that’s just perfect.’

…

He walked out of the courtyard and came face to face with two people.

A man and a woman.

The man was obese, dressed head-to-toe in designer brands and wearing a Vacheron Constantin watch.

The woman had a curvy figure with a soft belly, looking quite sexy in a hip-hugging skirt.

They got out of a new model AITO, staring in shock at the collapsed house.

The man shouted at Jiang Chaosheng,

“Hey! What the hell happened in there?”

His tone was hostile, dripping with the arrogance of the unscrupulously wealthy toward ordinary people.

Jiang Chaosheng had no intention of dealing with them.

However, he sensed the aura of a Taboo Item on them.

Jiang Chaosheng shot the pair a surprised glance.

‘Could they be connected to the Taboo Item near Wa City?’

Jiang Chaosheng replied,

“It collapsed.”

The fat man stared blankly at Jiang Chaosheng.

“Collapsed? What about Little Li Daxian?”

Jiang Chaosheng started walking toward the main road.

“Dead.”

The fat man stared at Jiang Chaosheng in disbelief.

‘My brain can’t even process this,’ he thought.

‘A living person died right in front of him, and he’s this detached?’

The fat man watched Jiang Chaosheng’s retreating back and muttered,

“That guy must be a lunatic!”

Beside him, the curvy woman hugged his arm coquettishly and said in a frightened voice,

“Brother Zhen, that’s too scary. Let’s just go back.”

The fat man gave the woman a squeeze and grinned.

“Fine. Too bad we came all this way for nothing.”

The woman leaned on the fat man’s shoulder.

“I want to get some steak.”

The fat man put his arm around the woman as they got into the car.

“Alright. We’ll head back to Lian and eat at a Michelin place.”