Chapter 5: The Nameless Coffin Shop, First Business Deal
“When a host lives long enough, they will realize that nothing in this world remains unchanged forever.”
“The Heavenly Path is like this, and so is human nature.”
“Hehehe!”
“Reality is reality, and when they speak, it all sounds impressive.”
Chen Changsheng smiled as he got up, glancing at the dawn breaking on the horizon. He casually extinguished the campfire and continued heading south.
When a person possesses an endless, long lifespan, they not only become more cautious but also get bored.
Faced with extreme boredom, Chen Changsheng set a small goal for himself.
That was to see how Niansheng was doing.
However, while pursuing this small goal, Chen Changsheng discovered another passion of his.
That is to learn; as long as it involved an industry he was interested in, he would stop and spend a few years learning.
In the past decade, Chen Changsheng had been a beggar, sold tofu, and even learned the brewing technique.
Yet among all these professions, what Chen Changsheng most enjoyed and excelled at was providing full funeral services.
The reason is simple: unlike the trade of beggars, which inevitably involves disputes, because even beggars need to compete for territory.
On the contrary, selling coffins is much more stable.
Thieves do not steal, and bandits do not rob; whether you are a high official or a noble, you cannot escape being confined within these planks.
Besides, Chen Changsheng’s skills in seeking dragon veins and burial sites were also improving.
While others relied only on theoretical knowledge from books, no one knew whether it actually worked.
But Chen Changsheng was different; after helping people with burials, he could slowly observe the family’s subsequent developments.
Over the past decade, the longest observation period Chen Changsheng undertook lasted five years.
It was this stop-and-go behavior that led him to cover only three thousand miles in his decade of wandering.
……
Linglong Small Town.
Watching the fleeting figures passing overhead, Chen Changsheng clicked his tongue and sighed.
“No wonder that woman looked so disdainful when I mentioned my visit; it took me fifty years to cover this distance.”
“Ordinary people’s luck isn’t that great; living to fifty is already a struggle.”
After reflecting on the ruthless passage of time, Chen Changsheng began searching for suitable storefronts in the town.
This place was a small town under the Linglong Sect’s mountain gate, frequented by low-level cultivators and miscellaneous workers from the Linglong Sect.
Originally, Chen Changsheng planned to infiltrate the Linglong Sect to check on Niansheng’s situation, but when he arrived at Linglong Small Town, he dismissed that idea.
Because legends of Wei Niansheng circulated throughout a hundred miles of the Linglong Sect.
The Linglong Sect had produced a once-in-a-thousand-years genius, who achieved Golden Core perfection merely after fifty years of entry. Her astonishing talent had even stirred the reclusive sect leader.
Faced with such a prodigious woman, countless young talents flocked to her, hoping to become her partner on the path of cultivation.
However, in response to the multitude of admirers, Wei Niansheng’s reply was always the same.
“All of you combined are no match for Changsheng.”
Over time, Wei Niansheng was regarded as the most pure-hearted cultivator in the cultivation world because her obsession with Changsheng was unparalleled.
In stark contrast to Wei Niansheng’s immense attention, Chen Changsheng’s presence was practically nonexistent.
No one in the entire Linglong Small Town noticed that a small coffin shop, capable of displaying only three or four coffins, had opened in the most remote area of Linglong Small Town.
……
“Is anyone there?”
A little bald head peeked into the coffin shop.
Upon hearing a sound, a figure suddenly sat up from inside a coffin.
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Seeing someone abruptly sit up from the coffin, the little bald head was startled.
After confirming that the person before him was alive, he patted his chest to calm his nerves.
“Benefactor, how can you lie in a coffin?”
“Coffins are for the dead.”
Watching the little bald head’s serious manner, Chen Changsheng chuckled.
Having run this coffin shop for three years and rarely having visitors, if it weren’t for his occasional cultivation of low-level spiritual herbs for sale, this shop would have likely closed down long ago.
“Little monk, that’s not quite right.”
“Whether mortal or cultivator, one inevitably faces d*ath in the end.”
“Then why should the living disdain their final resting place?”
Hearing Chen Changsheng’s words, the little monk tilted his head and thought for a moment, then folded his hands in prayer: “Amitabha!”
“Thank you, benefactor, for the guidance; I was mistaken.”
“Hehehe!”
“Unexpectedly, though you’re small, you have quite the insight.”
Saying this, Chen Changsheng jumped out of the coffin and patted the little monk’s round bald head.
“Now tell me, little monk, what brings you to my coffin shop?”
The little monk lowered his head and replied, “Recently, the Heavenly Buddha Temple and Linglong Sect joined forces to subdue a notoriously evil demon cultivator.”
“That demon cultivator refused to surrender and was ultimately killed by an elder of the Linglong Sect.”
“Though that benefactor committed numerous evils, I, as a little monk, do not wish to see his corpse left to rot in the wilderness, so I want to buy a coffin to give him a proper burial.”
Hearing the little monk’s words, Chen Changsheng clicked his tongue and responded, “Do you have money?”
“I’m in this business to make a profit; I can’t take a loss.”
“I’ve already prepared it.”
With that, the little monk pulled three medium spiritual stones from his storage bag and handed them to Chen Changsheng.
Looking at the valuable medium spiritual stones, Chen Changsheng smiled and then took one.
“One medium spiritual stone gets you the best all-inclusive service I offer; when can we set off?”
“Right now; if we delay any longer, that benefactor’s body will start to smell.”
Facing the little monk’s request, Chen Changsheng had no hesitation and immediately agreed.
As for the coffin shop…
Chen Changsheng didn’t even bother to close the door; with only two coffins in the shop, no sane person would come to steal a couple of ordinary coffins.
……
In the wilderness.
Under the little monk’s guidance, Chen Changsheng finally laid eyes on the so-called demon cultivator.
At this moment, he bore no difference from the dead mortals nearby.
If one had to note a difference, it was that half of his face had been completely smashed in.
Seeing such a scene, Chen Changsheng couldn’t help but exclaim, “Little monk, are you cultivators really so lacking in compassion?”
“Regardless of what he did before, this person is, after all, one you’ve spent great effort to capture.”
“To k*ll without even burying him; shouldn’t you at least dig a hole for him?”
“Leaving him out here in the wilderness is unconscionable.”
“In the cultivation world, I see you, little monk, still have some humanity left.”
In response to Chen Changsheng’s words, the little monk merely recited Buddhist scriptures silently.
Seeing this, Chen Changsheng shook his head and began the work of collecting the corpse.
