Junior Brother, Be Careful Next Lifetime

"That day, I went out training with my junior brother. We heard that around Heze Mountain... there was a Great King lurking."

Zu Moyan had meant to say "fierce tiger," but recalling that the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger styled itself as a benevolent beast, he changed his words.

"If you want to kill me, just say it. No need for all this circling around!"

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger sneered dismissively.

Zu Moyan's cultivation was, in the tiger's eyes, laughably weak—no more than a child's plaything, dealt with in a single swat.

"Great King, forgive me! That day, to find you, my junior brother and I searched for a long time but never caught sight of you. You must have spotted us brothers early on and watched us from the shadows. Unfortunately, I still failed your test."

"Because we couldn't find you, my junior brother and I had a falling out. He wanted to go down the mountain for pleasure, to defile the daughter of a mortal family we were staying with. That family had treated us very well, so I secretly killed my junior brother to spare them that calamity."

After saying this, Zu Moyan looked at the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger with hope in his eyes.

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger sank into recollection. That day, the two brothers had indeed quarreled, but it had been too far away to hear their words clearly.

Rather than guess, it would simply use a Soul Search.

The tiger raised a paw, drawing Zu Moyan's spirit body close, and rapidly flipped through his memories, finding the conversation between him and his junior brother that day.

"Senior Brother! The tiger's nowhere to be found. Are we going back empty-handed today? That mountain villager's daughter from last time—she was so pure and cute. Why not just go for it?"

Zu Moyan's junior brother snickered.

"Get lost! Hurry back to the sect. What's there to dawdle about out here? Boring."

Zu Moyan spat in reply.

"Won't take long. It's on the way, isn't it?"

His junior brother paid no heed to Zu Moyan's warning.

Zu Moyan said nothing more. When they reached a narrow mountain path, he suddenly stabbed his junior brother through. Afterward, he rifled through the body, taking the Storage Bag and other belongings.

"Junior Brother! You didn't know this was my hometown—I don't blame you. Be more careful in your next life. Besides, it's not easy for me to come out here. You wouldn't want your senior brother to go back empty-handed, would you?"

As Zu Moyan finished speaking and was about to burn the corpse with Spirit Fire, the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger pounced and swallowed him whole, saving the trouble.

After reviewing this, the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger closed Zu Moyan's memories and snarled viciously:

"What you said is true, but you killed your junior brother mainly for his spoils. I was not wrong to eat you."

The tiger knew its reasoning was flimsy, but having already eaten two men by mistake, admitting Zu Moyan was also a wrongful kill would prove it was a tiger Indiscriminate of Good and Evil. So it twisted the facts.

Lin Chan watched this scene with interest, saying nothing.

This Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger cared deeply about distinguishing good from evil. If he could prove himself not a wicked man, the tiger might actually spare him—not just as a jest.

Today, he might just barely cling to life.

"The Great King speaks truly. I deserve ten thousand deaths!"

"But in my entire life, I only wrongfully killed one man—my junior brother. Yet the Great King has imprisoned my soul, turning me into a Grief Ghost, never to be reborn, while the Great King has eaten two men by mistake."

Zu Moyan, now clear-headed, paused as if waiting for the tiger to rebuke him. But the tiger said nothing, so he continued:

"Though I am far beneath the Great King, could I not be given a chance to reform?"

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With these words, Zu Moyan looked at the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger with pleading eyes, filled with a longing for freedom.

By now, the tiger's mind was seething with rage. Seeing Zu Moyan push his luck only made it harder to restrain itself. It seized Zu Moyan's spirit body again and began rifling through his memories.

"Let me see if your life was truly as upright as you claim!"

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger started from the beginning, flipping through at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

Zu Moyan was born into a mountain family that made a living gathering herbs. As a child, he was kind and simple, and had once crossed paths with the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger.

Back then, the young Zu Moyan was terrified. He poured out all his herbs as an offering to the tiger, begging for his life.

In Zu Moyan's memory, the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger found him amusing and, since it only ate the wicked, let him go.

Seeing this, the tiger was already burning with shame. It had a vague sense that Zu Moyan might not be as evil as he had seemed.

And indeed, as time marched on.

Zu Moyan grew up and encountered an Immortal Master from the Lingjing Sect, entering the path of immortality.

He bid farewell to family and friends, followed the Immortal Master into the sacred mountains, and cultivated bitterly for decades. After achieving some success, he descended the mountain to subdue demons and exorcise ghosts—always upright, with no major stains on his record.

He had even remained celibate, never breaking the precept against lust. He was a model youth of the righteous path.

Later, he returned to the mountain village with his junior brother, planning to eliminate the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger and find his long-lost hometown.

His father had died. His mother was blind and could not see. His childhood sweetheart had married and become a grandmother.

Though his former family could no longer recognize him, they still welcomed them warmly.

And his junior brother had set his sights on Zu Moyan's niece.

Zu Moyan already felt guilty toward his mortal family. Coupled with the pressures of sect affairs, a failed Foundation Establishment breakthrough, and an Inner Demon festering in his heart, a wicked impulse surged—and he killed his junior brother.

Looking over Zu Moyan's entire life, it was one of integrity and honor. Only this one act of malice had led to murder, and it was precisely then that the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger had stumbled upon him and taken his life.

"G-Great King... Can you... set me free?"

After being subjected to Soul Search twice in a row, Zu Moyan was already dazed and muddled, but he knew this was his only chance to regain freedom. He steeled himself and spoke.

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger panted heavily, only calming down after a long while. It exhaled a puff of white smoke and said:

"I spared you once when you were young. What harm is there in sparing you again?"

Zu Moyan was overjoyed. He fled in a flash without a trace of reluctance, nor any sign of his earlier weakness.

Lin Chan, seeing that the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger was truly magnanimous, felt a bit more at ease.

Though this ferocious tiger was Indiscriminate of Good and Evil, it still had its limits. That meant Lin Chan's chances of survival were greater.

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger did not pursue the fleeing Zu Moyan. It walked slowly to Wang Yunji's side and said flatly:

"I suppose I wronged you as well."

Wang Yunji's spirit body was gaunt and skeletal, yet he had been the calmest among the four Grief Ghosts.

Now, seeing his colleagues all gone, he showed neither joy nor sorrow. He said evenly:

"Great King, I bear an ill reputation. My Great King eating me was only right. I truly deserved to die, a thousand deaths would not be enough. Even if I am never freed for eternity, I accept it willingly."

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