Guangchengzi Cleanses His Karmic Sin, Zhunti Weeps (Four Thousand Words)

After getting drunk, Guangchengzi's limp, mud-like body was casually tossed by Yuanshi Tianzun. It traced an arc through the air and fell into the Eight-Treasure Merit Pool. Golden waves splashed up, refracting rainbow halos beneath the sunlight.

"Ugh!"

Guangchengzi, whose drunken eyes had been hazy moments ago, abruptly opened them. There was no trace of intoxication left in his pupils, only deep shock. He instinctively struggled to rise, only to discover that he was soaking in warm golden pool water—a comfort unlike anything he had ever known, as though even the filth deep within his soul was being cleansed.

"My disciple, the Eight-Treasure Merit Pool can cleanse the karmic sin upon you." Yuanshi Tianzun's voice echoed beside the pool like a great bell.

"The Eight-Treasure Merit Pool?" Guangchengzi froze. His body, numbed after years of corrosion by baleful energy, could actually feel long-lost warmth at this moment. He lowered his head to look at his hands immersed in the golden liquid of merit, and his deathly still Dao heart suddenly trembled violently.

Outside the pool, Yuanshi Tianzun stood with his hands behind his back, watching the several-zhang-tall crimson karmic sin surrounding Guangchengzi gradually dissolve beneath the cleansing of merit. The two Sages of the Western Sect, however, looked livid. Zhunti's eye twitched as he watched the pool water recede at a visible rate. His heart ached so badly he nearly vomited blood. "That damned Guangchengzi! How much slaughter must he have committed to gather such karmic sin? The merit my Western Sect accumulated over countless yuanhui!"

Outside Chentang Pass, Zhao Gongming put away the twenty-four Sea-Calming Pearls and called tentatively toward the heavens, "Master?"

"Master is currently on Golden Turtle Island." Lu Chen's figure slowly condensed from the rosy clouds, familiar devouring Dao charm swirling around his fluttering robes.