Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Match-3 Puzzle Funeral Home, located on the outskirts of Yujing City, right next to Xieguang Mountain.

Zhang Fan drove his Five Spirits Rainbow Light alone to this desolate place. Even from afar, he could see wisps of blue smoke rising and drifting from a building at the foot of the mountain.

”Looks like something’s burning.”

Zhang Fan curled his lips. He’d lived in Yujing City for so long, yet he never knew there was a funeral home out here near the suburbs.

According to the boss, this [Match-3 Puzzle Funeral Home] has been in Yujing City for over thirty years.

”Why open it in a place like this?”

Arriving, Zhang Fan parked his car at the entrance and looked up. Behind the funeral home, the mountain rose steeply, the slope not bowing at all. In feng shui, this is called [Black Tortoise Refuses Corpse], a notorious evil spot.

Black Tortoise Refuses Corpse means: the main peak does not descend, the Black Tortoise raises its head and hides its top, a sign of major misfortune.

Sure, there’s a mountain at the back and water nearby, but if you build a house for the living here, the family will go bankrupt. If it’s a burial place, the lineage won’t even last two generations before it’s cut off.

The weirdest part is, Match-3 Puzzle Funeral Home looks, from the outside, just like an enormous coffin. It’s surrounded by iron fences, and even the main gate is one of those huge metal factory gates from the seventies or eighties.

”Iron Chains Lock the Coffin!?” Zhang Fan muttered under his breath, an odd look on his face.

This kind of feng shui layout, he thought he’d seen in the [Dao Secret Record] before—it’s a method for raising evil and gathering inauspicious energy. But the details, he just couldn’t quite remember.

”Zhang Fan!?”

At that moment, a familiar voice sounded behind him, yanking Zhang Fan out of his thoughts.

He turned his head and froze in surprise.

Sui Chunsheng and Zhan Xinyue were walking right toward him.

He had to admit, he really was fated to run into this pair of siblings again and again.

”What are you doing here?” Zhan Xinyue asked, a bit surprised.

”My company has some business dealings with this place, so I’m here to deliver some documents.” Zhang Fan waved the file bag in his hand, then asked, ”What about you guys?”

”We’re here on official business, of course.” Zhan Xinyue chuckled.

”Official business? At a funeral home?” Zhang Fan said, skeptical.

”Still that matter with the old residential district.”

Sui Chunsheng’s words instantly made Zhang Fan tense up.

”What’s up? Did you find anything?”

Zhang Fan kept his expression casual, sounding nonchalant as he asked the question.

Sui Chunsheng didn’t think much of it. After all, they’d met several times, so they counted as acquaintances. He immediately said, ”Last time at that old house, even though we couldn’t find the previous tenant’s info, we did check the property rights for the house.”

Hearing this, Zhang Fan’s eyelid twitched violently, his breathing growing heavy.

That was his family’s house.

”Turns out it belongs to this funeral home.”

”Huh!?” Zhang Fan was stunned.

So the old house he grew up in was actually rented? And the property certificate didn’t even have his family’s name on it?

Right now, the place he’s living at in Hongfu Garden is rented, too.

So basically, his Zhang Family doesn’t own a single piece of property!

”What’s up?” Sui Chunsheng looked at Zhang Fan’s expression and couldn’t help but ask.

”Nothing, just a bit surprised.” Zhang Fan shook his head.

”There’s something even more surprising.”

”Guess who actually owns this funeral home?” Zhan Xinyue said mysteriously.

”No way it’s my family, right?” Zhang Fan grumbled inwardly, but outwardly he just shook his head.

”Zhenwu Mountain!”

Sui Chunsheng’s lips curled as he said the three words.

”Zhenwu Mountain!?”

Zhang Fan was caught off guard, then fell silent.

He would never have guessed that the old house he’d lived in since childhood actually belonged to Zhenwu Mountain.

”Jade Scroll!?”

Zhang Fan’s brow furrowed, and he glanced toward his chest by instinct.

Right then, a strange thought and doubt crept into him—when he’d accidentally joined the ordination ritual during a sightseeing trip and merged with the Zhenwu Jade Scroll, was that really just a coincidence?

”Zhang Fan, what are you spacing out about?”

Zhan Xinyue waved a hand in front of his eyes, pulling him back to reality.

”Oh, I was just thinking what a coincidence it is, us running into each other. Let’s grab lunch together later.” Zhang Fan said, sounding casual.

”I was thinking the same thing.” Zhan Xinyue chuckled.

The three of them walked forward together. In broad daylight, Match-3 Puzzle Funeral Home was locked up tight.

”Anyone here?”

Sui Chunsheng rattled the chain on the iron gate, making a loud clanking sound.

”Who’s that?”

At that moment, an old, raspy voice came from the side room. Soon after, a short, hunched old man shuffled out, wearing dark sunglasses under the midday sun, feet in worn cloth shoes. He ambled over to the gate and sized them up.

”Sir, we’re from the Jiangnan Province Daoist Alliance.” Sui Chunsheng quickly showed his credentials.

Since Match-3 Puzzle Funeral Home was under Zhenwu Mountain, it clearly wasn’t any ordinary funeral home. From what Sui Chunsheng said, the owner here was also a Daoist.

”Daoist Alliance?” The elderly man in sunglasses thought for a second before pulling out a key and slowly unlocking the big iron gate.

”Here to collect more fees again?”

At those words, Sui Chunsheng and Zhan Xinyue exchanged glances, both looking embarrassed.

”Sir, we’re not here for money. We just want to inquire—ask about something.”

”I knew it, can’t possibly be that shameless, coming to collect money for no reason at all.” The old man in sunglasses muttered to himself.

Sui Chunsheng looked even more awkward and glanced at Zhang Fan, but Zhang Fan acted like he didn’t hear a thing.

He knew as well as anyone—an organization like the Daoist Alliance often solicited sponsorship or fees from influential Daoist families or companies in the province. Running such a massive group wasn’t cheap, after all.

”Come on in.”

The old-timer in sunglasses waved them in and led the way.

The huge funeral home was completely deserted, not a soul in sight—just evergreen pine and cypress everywhere, which only made the place feel even colder and lonelier.