Present Life, Afterlife

Upon hearing Wang Yunji's words, the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger was somewhat surprised.

Normally, Wang Yunji was the most defiant toward it, so it hadn't expected him to take its side and speak up for it.

"You don't need to put on a show of self-sacrifice for me. You've seen the other three—just tell the truth, and I'll let you go."

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger said to Wang Yunji.

"Great King! No, these are truly my own thoughts, not a ploy."

Wang Yunji said calmly, his expression flat:

"My very birth was sinful. I was born into a wealthy merchant family, destined to inherit thousands of acres of fertile land and several grand mansions. Every time I saw the tenant farmers who worked our land going hungry, I felt pity and thought that if I ever inherited the estate, I would reduce the rent so they could eat their fill. Now I see that was nothing more than charity from on high."

"In my childhood, my father often went to a lavish temple to burn incense and make offerings. I scoffed at it—what difference did it make to gild the Bodhisattva's statue? The exalted Bodhisattva still couldn't see the suffering of the mortal world. Now I realize, perhaps that was the beginning of all evil."

"Not long after I came of age, my father passed away, leaving me to inherit the estate. The first thing I did after taking over was to cut off the temple's incense and offering funds, using that money to build roads and bridges for the county. Rather than gilding a clay statue, I believed that improving the county's transportation would let everyone eat their fill and stay warm. That was when rumors spread through the county that I was possessed by an evil spirit. I didn't care, because I saw that villagers from remote towns could now sell their vegetables in the county thanks to the roads I built, earning a few extra coins. Over a year, they could save up for an extra coat to survive the winter without freezing to death."

"Next, I reduced the rent for the tenant farmers. Then, rumors flew everywhere that my family had made too much black-hearted money and committed too many evil deeds, so I was trying to silence the tenants. The Golden Light Bodhisattva would surely send divine punishment. I still didn't realize it then, until a flood came, washing away the bridges I'd built, destroying the new roads, and drowning the tenant farmers' nearly ripe crops."

"And all of this happened because I cut off the incense money for the Golden Light Bodhisattva. So the Bodhisattva sent divine punishment upon Fangcheng County. It was my fault that the county's people were displaced and homeless—I deserved it."

"Later, the county magistrate and the military officer came to me, saying the disaster relief grain had gone missing and asking to borrow some from my family. I knew it was for the refugees, so I gladly agreed and handed over the grain from our stores. But a few days later, the magistrate came again, telling me the grain had disappeared once more. I sent my servants to investigate and found that the magistrate and the officer had secretly sold it, since the grain was of good quality and could fetch a high price. So I stopped lending grain to the magistrate and instead distributed it myself in the south of the county, setting up a porridge stall to aid the refugees."

"Then I noticed that even families who could still afford to eat in the county were coming to beg for grain, take rice, and drink porridge. Even my family's stores couldn't hold out forever. So someone suggested I mix sand and gravel into the grain. The poor were used to eating impure food, and those who truly needed it to survive wouldn't mind. I took his advice, and just as he said, the number of people coming for grain dropped sharply—but my reputation grew even worse."

"I didn't care about that. It was my fault for bringing about the disaster; everything was punishment for me. If I hadn't cut off the incense money for Golden Light Temple, perhaps none of this would have happened."

Wang Yunji finished speaking calmly, but Lin Chan frowned and said:

"You were the kindest of them all—just unlucky."

Lin Chan had long since used [Karma Eye] on Wang Yunji and knew he wasn't a bad person. He hadn't expected such an unjust fate.

The other enslaved spirits were all steeped in Bad Karma, but Wang Yunji still had a quarter of Good Karma on him—far more than the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger itself.

After all, ghostly beings inherently carried heavy Bad Karma just by existing.

An ordinary person could exist for a day without doing anything and at most accumulate Neutral Karma, but ghosts had no Neutral Karma—every day they existed, they accumulated more Bad Karma.

For Wang Yunji to have so much Good Karma meant he hadn't been evil in life and rarely committed harm after death.

Just like earlier, when he tempted Lin Chan with money, he spoke slowly, without any eagerness.

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger also realized Wang Yunji was the most wronged of them all and lowered its head in shame.

"I'll release you now!"

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger exhaled white smoke, letting it merge into Wang Yunji's spirit body.

Wang Yunji's originally weak spirit body solidified considerably after absorbing the smoke, but he didn't leave.

"I only devoured you, not your family. You can go wherever you want now."

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger said to Wang Yunji.

"Great King! I know my sins are heavy, and I have no face to return to my homeland as a spirit."

Wang Yunji said.

"Are you mocking me for not knowing good from evil? Trying to provoke me?"

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger bared its fangs, speaking ferociously.

"Great King! It is I who doesn't know good from evil."

Wang Yunji showed no fear, meeting the tiger's eyes and saying:

"At first, I truly believed I had done good all my life and never committed evil, yet in the end, I met a miserable fate. They say Good Karma yields good fruit, and Bad Karma yields bad fruit. Since I ended up like this, it means what I did wasn't truly good—it was just my own wishful thinking! True goodness, perhaps, lies in gilding the Bodhisattva's statue."

Hearing this, Lin Chan understood that Wang Yunji could actually distinguish right from wrong, good from evil—he was just lost.

Doing good deeds without reaping good results had led him to deny his own past.

"Good has its reward, and evil has its retribution, but the good cause of this life may not bear good fruit in this very life."

Lin Chan spoke up then.

At Lin Chan's words, Wang Yunji fell into thought, then suddenly saw the light and was completely relieved.

His life of doing good had not been in vain.

It was simply that the time for the harvest had not yet come.

Wang Yunji hadn't been trying to understand the cause and effect—he was just looking for an excuse to free himself. What Lin Chan said gave him exactly that release from the cycle of good and evil karma.

"Young sir, I understand."

Wang Yunji bowed to Lin Chan, then dissolved into golden light and dispersed.

Lin Chan felt something merge into his body, then quickly fade away.

All he knew was that his Good Karma had increased a bit more.

He didn't know what use Good Karma had, but accumulating more couldn't be wrong.

Still, this wasn't the time to relax. There was still a Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger right in front of him, watching him with a hungry gaze.

The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger stared at Lin Chan for a long time, then suddenly moved, slowly walking toward him.

Lin Chan couldn't sense any emotion from the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger, and he felt that something was terribly wrong.

Today, he had torn off the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's hypocritical mask, costing it four—no, five—of its subordinates.

And on top of that, the last one, Wang Yunji, had thoroughly mocked the fierce tiger before reincarnating, then dusted off his hands and left for the cycle of rebirth.

He himself had a loose tongue too, having to chime in.

Now here he was, left alone to face the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's wrath.

He knew it was a tiger that was both wicked and stupid—so why did he have to provoke it!!!