Chapter 120: Too Young, Too Upright

The effect of the Three Lives, Three Deaths decree was plain to see.

But according to Xiao Qingliu’s observations, starting the next day, the conflicts among Willow Lake City’s martial world drastically decreased. Those two who had been constantly bickering and fighting before — Cao Bazi and Old Knife — now both holed up in their own territories, neither daring to stick their heads out.

The rogue cultivators who had frequently appeared before also vanished almost overnight, hiding who-knows-where.

Even the villainous beggars and drifters, the kind who’d immediately swarm out whenever things got a bit chaotic, bullying folks in the alleys, pilfering chickens, and stealing dogs — they too suddenly seemed to learn their manners. No one bothered young women anymore. No one prowled the streets all day eyeing others’ house walls like thieves. Instead, they just squatted listlessly by the roadside with drooping heads, not daring to look people straight in the eye.

Of course, this was only the initial effect, but compared to the previous couple of days, the difference was undeniably clear.

“The effect is so obvious, why hasn’t my Merit arrived?”

Fang Cun, unsurprised, waited for a few days and knew it was time to have a chat with the Celestial Merit Record.

Three days later, on a quiet night, he sat alone in his bedroom. He brewed a strong pot of tea and adopted a patient, earnest tone.

“System, come out and chat!”

Fang Cun called softly, then sat quietly waiting.

The Celestial Merit Record made zero response.

Fang Cun had no choice but to say, “Celestial Merit Record!”

Darkness filled his vision. The ancient, imposing Celestial Merit Record silently materialized before his eyes.

Fang Cun demanded, “Why aren’t you giving me my Merit?”

The Celestial Merit Record remained silent.

Fang Cun said, “Is it because most of those Demonic Cultivators are still alive?”

The Celestial Merit Record still made zero response.

Fang Cun chuckled. “It’s true they’re still breathing, but you should have noticed, the situation is different now!”

Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “Before, the alleys were full of conflicts and killings, disturbing the commoners’ peace, harming innocent passers-by. Before, Demonic Cultivators rampaged, devouring hearts and livers, violating women. Before, bandits struck frequently…”

He paused here, giving the Celestial Merit Record time to answer.

But the Celestial Merit Record remained utterly silent.

“Alright then…”

Fang Cun sighed helplessly. “Perhaps, in your judgment, since the Demonic Cultivators haven’t been eradicated, or the evil atmosphere persists, you think I haven’t completed what you wanted me to do, so you’re withholding the Merit. But have you considered, what exactly am I supposed to do to meet your standard for finishing this task completely? Kill every single Demonic Cultivator and bandit? Then you’d probably punish me by turning my hair white again! So, should I persuade them all to be virtuous, to do good? You know as well as I do that’s impossible, right?”

“And my approach now actually stops them from doing evil, even pushes them towards doing good, wouldn’t that be even better?”

“Don’t you think I’m tackling the problem at its root?”

“…”

The Celestial Merit Record seemed completely inert, lifeless!

“You’re still too young…”

Fang Cun sighed deeply, adopting a lecturing, elder-brother tone. “I realized long ago: you issue missions, calculate Merit points… everything must be one-for-one, black-and-white, pure and simple. But how can worldly affairs truly be so pure?”

“For example, you think murderers are guilty. Wouldn’t those who instigate murder be equally guilty, right?”

“Then let me ask you: those who do good earn Merit. Do those who persuade others to do good also earn Merit?”

“…”

The Celestial Merit Record remained unmoved.

Fang Cun showed no impatience, sighing again. “Fine, let’s look at it from another angle…”

“Harmers are guilty. But what about those who cause harm unintentionally?”

“Going further, what about those who harm others out of unavoidable necessity, to save people?”

“I want you to consider this scenario properly: a great river floods, raging turbulent waters threatening to swallow entire towns along its banks, drowning thousands upon thousands. If I saved them, wouldn’t that count as grand Merit? Now, suppose to save those tens of thousands, I forcibly changed the river’s course… but doing so caused the river to sweep away and bury a smaller village on the other side, killing hundreds there. Good deed or evil deed?”

“If I did that, would you reward me with Merit, or punish me with a head full of white hair?”

“…”

The Celestial Merit Record offered the same, utter silence.

Fang Cun gave a soft sigh. “You… you’re still too rigid.”

“I don’t know where you came from, why you cling to this lofty, absolute, and unequivocal stance. But if you represent the true Heavenly Way, then you shouldn’t have come here among mortals. You should have just stayed lofty and imposing, watching impassively from above. Everything that happens in this world is, in its way, ‘reasonable’. Heaven and Earth care not, view all beings equally, like straw dogs. That is what a mature Heavenly Way does…”

“However… since you are here…”

“I don’t know how you ended up in the mortal world. There are two main possibilities: either you grew bored of being up there and came down on your own, or my elder brother brought you out. But since you’ve entered the mortal realm, you are already tainted by the red dust!”

“Don’t deny it…”

“You now possess concepts of good and evil, Merit and Sin… that IS the red dust!”

“Once you’ve entered the red dust, you need accurate judgment for yourself. Do you judge by intention, or by consequence?”

“If you judge by intention, then you should know everything I’ve done was with good purpose. If you punish me with white hair again, you are just being unreasonable!”

“If you judge by consequence? Let’s be honest here — hasn’t Willow Lake City undergone huge changes? Compare how things were when the Devouring Sea Gang was in charge versus how they are now that I’m in charge. You should see the difference clearly…”

“Or, just directly calculate the difference between those two times, and make up the Merit owed to me?”

“…”

After talking for a good long while, Fang Cun couldn’t help but take a couple of sips of tea.

He waited half a day more, but the Celestial Merit Record remained floating silently before his eyes, completely inert.

Could this Celestial Merit Record truly possess not a shred of sentience?

Feeling deeply frustrated, Fang Cun deliberately heaved a heavy sigh. “I see. After all, it’s just a lifeless object. Incapable of distinguishing shades of black, white, or grey. Devoid of its own judgment. How could it possibly comprehend all these principles I’ve been explaining?”

“Forget it. In the future, I’ll just go through the motions, scam some Merit and let it be…”

“After all, this damned Merit Tome… is really quite dumb.”

“…”

Ding-ling…

Before his thoughts fully settled, lines of characters suddenly shimmered into view before his eyes.

Demonic Evils linger nearby, dark currents surge unseen. The martial world strives in strife, its malice reaches the common folk. Sweep aside the murk, restore purity and peace…

Bestow Merit: Three thousand!

“…”

“?”

Fang Cun’s eyes snapped wide open. A surge of heat rushed straight to his head.

He stared hard at the figure ‘Three thousand’ to ensure he hadn’t misread it, then immediately leaped to his feet, rolling up his sleeves.

“Are you serious?”

“Was anything I said sinking in?”

“I explained patiently, reasoning with you for half a day… did you think I was singing you a tune?”

Boiling with fury, he presented every visible sign of being boiling with fury. He stormed to the door, flung it open, and pointed fiercely outward.

“This Fang Lao’er isn’t the clingy type! I don’t need you to help me defy heaven and alter fate! If our fundamental principles are too incompatible…”

“You — get out!”

The Celestial Merit Record showed not the slightest reaction.

Fang Cun raged on, “If you won’t go, then I will just…”

Ding-ling…

At that moment, another notification sounded. Another portion of Merit arrived. Fang Cun paused, slightly taken aback. He focused: Three hundred Merit.

“Three hundred Merit? Are you giving charity to a beggar?”

Fang Cun muttered inwardly, quite indignant. He tentatively focused his consciousness onto the notification.

A scene instantly unfolded before his eyes: several fierce, black-masked bandits. Fang Cun recognized them as some of Willow Lake City’s bandit leaders. Judging by their location, they seemed to be at the foot of a mountain roughly forty miles outside the city. They had just seized a few escort wagons. They glared down at the trembling guards and merchants, raising their blades as if about to casually silence everyone.

But as the blades were about to fall, one man suddenly remembered something. He urgently grabbed the arm of a man about to strike, muttering something rapidly. Though faint, the words ‘Three Lives, Three Deaths’ or similar phrases could be caught.

Clearly hesitant now, the bandits finally decided. The blades didn’t fall. Instead, they gave the people a few sharp kicks and chased them away.

“Damned Fang Lao’er…”

The scene faded just as the bandits turned away, already inspecting the captured wagons while grumbling and cursing.

In front of Fang Cun, only the Celestial Merit Record remained floating silently. The three hundred Merit points seemed particularly conspicuous.

“So that’s it…”

Fang Cun pondered silently. “It didn’t give me the full reward for purging the martial world of demonic evils… but it gave me… a commission?”

He mused over this slowly. Gradually, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

This time, he hadn’t actually come for the full Merit reward. After all, even the total possible payout for this mission was only seven thousand — insignificant, hardly worth mentioning. For practicing the Formless Treasure Body Scripture, it would be like trying to put out a wildfire with a teacup — utterly inadequate. Compared to that, however, collecting a ‘commission’ from these rogue cultivators… for the current Fang Cun, that represented a genuinely substantial income…

Even if he risked his life doing missions, how many could he truly complete? How much Merit could he earn?

His real purpose for this ‘heart-to-heart’ with the Celestial Merit Record was actually to secure this commission arrangement.

Stepping back; even if the Record hadn’t agreed to the commission this time, it wouldn’t have mattered.

What truly mattered was confirming it could actually be reasoned with!

Even if reasoning failed, that was fine too. At least it proved whether this thing was truly inert or not. Rules of a lifeless object were far easier to exploit…

You don’t need to worry about what layer I’m operating on… because I make gains on every layer…

…

“Hmph. System!”

A faint, knowing smile finally crossed Fang Cun’s face. He waved dismissively.

“This time, I’ll let you win. Pay more attention next time!”

“Dismissed!”