I Am Your Natural Enemy

After a long time, having gone through The Last Dharma, now with the Spiritual Qi Resurgence, this core is once again awakening.

This sealing core itself has transformed into a demon beast.

It is equivalent to completing the disintegration from inside out, and when external power destroys this demon beast, it is tantamount to completing destruction from outside in.

Now the demon beast is dead, and the sealing core is also broken.”

The Wudang Sect Leader’s face was ashen as he detailed the discoveries he had made.

”How many sealing cores does this seal have? If one is broken, is there a possibility of the seal being undone?” The General Director was no longer concerned about how the problem occurred, but rather focused on the aftermath of the problem.

”There are at least five, but not more than nine. If one is broken, the thing sealed by this sealing core will not be unsealed, but until now, I can’t judge whether this is the first broken sealing core.”

”Taoist priest, you’ve worked hard. This is not your fault.” The General Director offered comfort.

”I am merely worried that this incident is not accidental; someone knew that only Wudang has the ability to completely kill that demon beast using the corresponding method.”

”Your concerns are valid, Taoist priest. The Scorching Sun Department will investigate this matter thoroughly, so there is no need to blame yourself.”

The General Director consoled the Wudang Sect Leader, but the Sect Leader was still unable to perceive it as an uncontrollable accident.

Having emerged from the dry well, he stood and reviewed, thinking he should have noticed something amiss when more than a hundred demons appeared at once.

He didn’t expect things that hadn’t appeared for over two thousand years to suddenly emerge now.

And at least over a thousand years ago, someone had somehow demonized this sealing core, relying on time to slowly erode it.

There must be something that deliberately did this, because the sealing core cannot naturally demonize.

The Wudang Sect Leader stood before the dry well, letting out a long sigh.

In recent years, he has personally taken action many times; this was the first time things went south. Although the demon was dealt with, yet more troublesome things might appear.

The best plan now is to hope that time has erased what was sealed or that the other sealing cores are still intact.

He, along with others, cleaned up any remaining demonized items here, burned them to ashes, performed a ritual, and then departed with the broken sealing core.

...

At night, in the eastern part of Luoyue County, within a small joss paper workshop not far from the riverside.

The workers were putting in extra hours, working with lamps throughout the night. The times of the year with high sales are but few.

This year’s peculiar events have increased the demand for joss paper greatly, even though it’s two months away from New Year, orders have already reached normal production capacity.

This workshop insists on traditional craftsmanship, printing with woodblocks, the core parts needing to be handwritten. Although the output does not match the speed of machines in large factories churning them out swiftly.

Yet this year, it is genuinely in short supply, prices have gone up twice, pushing orders out while still receiving extra payment bids for priority.

With no other options, the workshop owner hired more workers, who worked late into the night daily.

Today was another ordinary overtime day, but the workers didn’t complain, as the daily wages for eight hours were double last year, with additional pay for overtime.

Furthermore, qualified products were counted on a per-piece basis.

This significantly boosted their enthusiasm.

At 11 PM, the factory was due to close, but today, as it neared 11 PM, the owner hadn’t arrived, and the workers, feeling not tired, continued working, as extra hours meant extra pay, plus the bonus per piece gotten, all from ordinary households wishing to earn that extra bit.

This kind of work doesn’t see more than a few months of busy periods in a year.

They continued with overtime, and by midnight, one worker from the packing section stealthily took a stack of freshly printed joss paper, with the scent of ink still lingering, and hid it in his pocket.

At 1 AM, with the owner still not here to close up, the workers began feeling tired and started packing up, turning off the lights, and leaving.

The worker who stole the joss paper took it out of his pocket on his way home, unable to suppress the impulse in his heart as he looked at it.

On the ground, he drew a circle, enclosing himself within, and began burning the paper money in that circle, chanting his own name as he burned.

The money was being burned for himself.

His expression gradually became distorted, a smile crept upon his face, as he gazed upon the flames burning the joss paper into black ash, as if he were seeing glittering gold, reaching into the still burning pile and quickly withdrawing his singed hand, continued to wait.

When the flames died completely, leaving only some ash, the ash retained the appearance of the paper money.

The worker reached out to grab the ash, but suddenly the wind stirred, and the ash whirled upwards, scattering.

The worker tried catching the ash but couldn’t grasp any; the more he tried, the less he could do, watching helplessly as the ash drifted away with the wind.

”My money, all my money...”

The worker’s demeanor grew increasingly odd, desperately grabbing for the ash, appearing mad.

After all the ash had scattered, he stood there dazed, eventually considering where there might still be money.