After hearing Wang Yunji's words, Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger was somewhat surprised.
Normally, Wang Yunji had been the one most defiant toward it. It had never expected him to stand on its side now and speak for it.
"You needn't put on this act of suffering before me. You've seen those three as well. So long as you tell the truth, I can let you go."
Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger said to Wang Yunji.
"Great King! No, this truly is what I think, not some act of suffering."
Wang Yunji said calmly:
"My birth was sinful. I was born into a wealthy merchant family, destined from the moment I was born to inherit ten thousand mu of fertile fields and several grand estates. Whenever I saw the tenant farmers working my family's land unable to eat their fill, I felt pity for them. I thought that once I inherited the family property, I would surely lower the rent so the tenants could all eat their fill. Looking back now, it was nothing more than charity handed down from on high."
"When I was a child, my father often went to a lavish temple to burn incense and make offerings. I scoffed at it. So what if the Bodhisattva in the temple was given a golden body? Wouldn't that lofty Bodhisattva still be unable to see the suffering of the mortal world? Looking back now, perhaps that was the beginning of all evil."
"Not long after I came of age, my father passed away and left me to inherit the family business. The first thing I did after taking it over was cut off the temple's incense offerings. I took that money and used it to repair roads and build bridges throughout the county. Compared with gilding a clay statue, I believed that making travel convenient for the county would allow everyone to eat their fill and stay warm. At that time, rumors began spreading through the county that I had been possessed by an evil ghost. I did not care in the slightest, because I saw that, thanks to the roads I built, villagers from remote towns could sell the vegetables from their homes in the county, earn a few more coins, and after saving for a year, buy one more piece of clothing to survive the winter rather than freeze to death."
"Then, I lowered the tenants' rent. At that point, rumors spread everywhere that my family had earned too much heartless money and committed too many evil deeds, so I was trying to silence the tenant farmers. They said Golden Light Bodhisattva would sooner or later send down divine punishment. At the time, I still did not realize it, until a flood came. It washed away the bridges I had built, ruined the newly repaired roads, and drowned the tenants' crops just as they were about to ripen."
"And all of it was because I had cut off Golden Light Bodhisattva's incense money, so Golden Light Bodhisattva sent down divine punishment upon Fangcheng County. I was the one who made the county's people homeless and scattered. I deserved my punishment."
"Later, the county magistrate and the commandant came to find me. They said the disaster relief grain had vanished and asked to borrow some grain from my family. Knowing it was meant to aid the refugees, I readily agreed and brought out my household's stored grain. But only a few days later, the county magistrate came to see me again and told me the grain had disappeared once more. I had my servants investigate and discovered that the county magistrate and commandant had secretly sold the grain, because it was of good quality and could fetch a high price. I stopped lending grain to the county magistrate. Instead, I distributed it myself in the south of the city and set up porridge stalls to aid the refugees."
"At that time, I also discovered that many households in the county that could still afford to eat were coming to beg for grain, take rice, and drink porridge. Even my family's grain would not last long. Someone then suggested mixing sand and stones into the rice and grain. The poor were used to food mixed with impurities, and those who truly needed life-saving grain would not mind such things. I accepted his advice. Sure enough, just as he said, far fewer people came to collect grain—but my reputation grew several shades fouler."
"I did not care about that. It had been my fault from the start. I had brought down the natural disaster, and everything was punishment for me. If I had not cut off Golden Light Temple's incense money, perhaps none of this would have happened."
After Wang Yunji calmly finished recounting everything, Lin Chan frowned and said:
"You were the kindest one. Your luck was simply poor."
Lin Chan had long since used [Karma Eye] on Wang Yunji and knew that he was not a bad person. He had not expected him to be so wronged.
All the other ghost slaves were wrapped in Bad Karma. Only Wang Yunji still possessed one-quarter Good Karma, far more than Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger possessed.
One had to know that ghostly creatures were steeped in Bad Karma simply by existing.
An ordinary person could spend another day in the world doing nothing and at most accumulate Neutral Karma. Ghostly creatures had no Neutral Karma; for every additional day they existed, they accumulated another day's worth of Bad Karma.
For Wang Yunji to possess so much Good Karma showed that he had not been an evil person in life and had rarely committed violence after death.
Just like earlier, when he had tried to tempt Lin Chan with money, he had spoken in such a slow, unhurried manner, without a shred of enthusiasm.
Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger also realized that Wang Yunji was the most wronged of them all and lowered its head in shame.
"I'll release you right now!"
Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger breathed out white smoke and had it merge into Wang Yunji's spirit body.
Wang Yunji's originally frail spirit body solidified considerably after merging with the white smoke, but he did not leave.
"I only devoured you. I did not devour your family. Go wherever you wish now."
Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger said to Wang Yunji.
"Great King! I know my sins and karma are grave. I have no face to return my soul to my homeland."
Wang Yunji said.
"Are you mocking me for not knowing good from evil? Are you deliberately provoking me?"
Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger bared its fangs and said with a vicious glare.
"Great King! The one who could not distinguish good from evil was me."
Wang Yunji was unafraid. Looking into Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's eyes, he said:
"Originally, I truly thought that I had done good all my life and never committed evil, yet I ended up meeting such a miserable end. They say Good Karma bears good fruit, and Bad Karma bears bad fruit. Since I met such an end, it meant that what I did before was not good. This so-called goodness was perhaps nothing more than my own wishful thinking! True goodness, perhaps, should have been giving the Bodhisattva a golden body."
Hearing this, Lin Chan understood that Wang Yunji could actually distinguish black from white, good from evil. He was simply lost.
He had done good deeds yet received no good outcome, so he had denied his own past.
"Good will be repaid with good, evil with evil. But the good cause planted in this life may not necessarily bear good fruit in this life."
Lin Chan spoke at that moment.
Upon hearing Lin Chan's words, Wang Yunji fell into thought. Then enlightenment dawned upon him, and he was completely relieved.
The good he had done throughout his life had not been in vain.
It was simply not yet time for the fruit to ripen.
Wang Yunji had not truly wanted to understand the causes and consequences. He merely wanted to find an excuse to free himself, and what Lin Chan said happened to allow him to break free from this cycle of good, evil, cause, and effect.
"Little sir, I understand."
Wang Yunji bowed to Lin Chan, then turned into golden light and dispersed.
Lin Chan felt something merge into his body, only to quickly fade away.
Lin Chan only knew that the Good Karma on his body had increased again.
Although he did not know what this Good Karma was useful for, accumulating more of it could never be wrong.
However, it was not time to relax yet. There was still a Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger before him, staring at him like a tiger watching its prey.
Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger stared at Lin Chan for a long while. Then it suddenly moved, slowly walking toward him.
Lin Chan could not sense Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's emotions and felt that something was very wrong.
Today, he had torn away Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's hypocritical mask and caused it to lose four—no, five—subordinates.
And before its final subordinate, Wang Yunji, went to reincarnate, he had ruthlessly mocked the fierce tiger. After mocking it, he had patted his backside and gone off to be reborn.
Lin Chan himself had also been too loose-tongued and insisted on chiming in.
Now things were great. He alone was left to face Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's fury.
Everyone knew it was a tiger that was both bad and stupid, so why the hell did he provoke it!!!
Before you continue