Chapter 191 should be the beginning of the backlash from the false spiritual root...

The boatman also looked at the water, and his expression changed drastically. "That vengeful ghost seems to be angry."

The black mist in the water grew increasingly dense.

According to the boatman, the man and the vengeful ghost were husband and wife in life. The man asked for something and sacrificed his wife to seal her here.

The woman remained immortal in this place, surrounded by resentment, and eventually became a vengeful ghost in the lake, waiting for her enemy to come and avenge her.

Even if the other person is a reincarnation, they will be recognized as long as they return here.

The boatman followed Si Yao's gaze, and in that instant, the person dragged into the water by the vengeful ghost suddenly flew out, bringing with them water plants that flung towards the boatman, only to be swatted back by him.

His face had changed, and his whole body seemed to be surrounded by a thick black aura, with his eyes filled with black energy.

Si Yao looked up and saw that even the person's soul was black, and the aura around him was intertwined with the resentment of the vengeful ghosts at the bottom of the river.

In the end, the black mist devoured the resentment.

"You're still alive," the boatman said, looking at the man.

"So what if she's a thousand-year-old vengeful ghost? I could kill her once a thousand years ago, and I can still kill her once a thousand years later."

Bubbling rose from the water's surface, followed by a column of water upon which stood a woman with disheveled hair. A bloody hole gushed from her chest, staining her clothes and the water at her feet red.

Beside her were two teenagers.

"Ruan Yulang, you actually used me as a sacrifice in your pursuit of immortality. Today, I will surely kill you, you unfaithful man."

"Blame yourself for being stupid. Who told you to trust men so easily? Mei Niang, just consider it helping me one more time. Now go and die obediently."

They soon began to fight in mid-air.

From their conversation, Si Yao learned that the man with the dark aura was named Ruan Yulang, who had failed the imperial examinations several times in the past thousand years and had been frustrated ever since.

Later, while sheltering from the rain in a dilapidated temple, he gave his dry rations to a monk who practiced unorthodox methods. The monk was deeply moved and vowed to repay Ruan Yulang, so he asked him what his wish was.

Ruan Yulang initially didn't take it seriously, treating the monk as someone to confide in. Unexpectedly, the monk said he had a way to help him pass the imperial examination, but all Ruan Yulang needed to do was sacrifice his wife's life.

At first, Ruan Yulang did not take it seriously, but when he failed the exam again, he finally remembered the monk's words. He found the monk and did as he was told, sacrificing his wife to be sealed there forever so that he could pass the exam and enjoy wealth and honor.

Not long after the vengeful ghost Mei Niang was sacrificed, Ruan Yulang indeed became the top scholar in the imperial examination and was even chosen as a son-in-law by the list of successful candidates, becoming the prime minister's son-in-law. With the support of his wife's family, he rose to a position of great power in just over a decade.

The greater the power, the greater Ruan Yulang's ambition. He was not satisfied with what he had. Looking at his aging face in the mirror and his body, which was not as good as it used to be, made him very anxious.

He wanted more.

He remembered the monk from before, and went to great lengths to find him, sacrificing his infant grandchildren in order to pray for immortality.

The monk agreed to his request again, but this immortality was different from the immortality that Ruan Yulang had envisioned.

When he reaches a certain age, Ruan Yulang's physical body will still die, but it will only be a physical death, and his soul will automatically possess the bloodline of his next generation.

He has possessed many of his descendants, and this continues to this day.

Ruan Yulang had come to understand that as long as his bloodline lived, it could possess someone after his death. However, this was not the immortality he desired; everything would disappear after his death.

Before he could continue his glory, the Ruan family fell from power.

He himself had barely managed to escape this calamity, and he wanted to settle accounts with that monk, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find him.

The monk who did such a thing could not withstand his own tribulation and had long since turned to ashes, so Ruan Yulang naturally could not find him.

As the monk died, his magical power naturally dissipated, and even the vengeful woman at the bottom of the river could not suppress him, breaking the seal.

The woman could sense that her enemy was still alive, but although she broke the seal, she could not leave the place, nor could she seek revenge on her enemy, Ruan Yulang.

The boatman thought that since the monk's power had disappeared, Ruan Yulang would definitely suffer a backlash and would eventually find his way here. The resentful woman harbored hatred for Ruan Yulang and would surely be able to sense his presence and capture him.

That's why he stayed here as a boatman, waiting for Ruan Yulang to arrive. Ruan Yulang had lived for a thousand years, and his soul had been corrupted. Although he had never properly cultivated, he was not so easy to deal with.

Even a resentful woman was no match for him.

The boatman took out his natal sword and flew up to slash at Ruan Yulang several times, but he was completely unharmed.

"I am immortal, how could I be killed by a bunch of fools? No one in this world can kill me. I want to live forever, I want to live forever!"

As soon as Ruan Yulang finished speaking, three bolts of purple lightning suddenly descended from the sky. After they fell, the three bolts merged into one, becoming a bolt of lightning as thick as a child's arm, which struck directly at Ruan Yulang.

When the lightning subsided, Ruan Yulang was also struck by the black smoke around him, leaving him looking dazed.

Si Yao threw a dagger at the resentful woman, "Take this dagger and kill him, then you can leave this place and be reincarnated. Do it now!"

The resentful woman took the dagger, looked at Ruan Yulang who was now powerless to resist, and stabbed him directly in the chest.

Ruan Yulang's eyes became unfocused, and then his soul vanished completely from the world.

The resentful woman shed tears of blood, and the dagger in her hand fell onto the boat. "I have finally avenged myself with my own hands."

The woman's tears of blood turned into clear tears, the sky cleared up instantly, and even the lake water stopped turning black.

"Thank you both for avenging me." The resentful woman picked up the dagger and returned it to Si Yao.

The boatman said, "Your obsession has dissipated. You should take the two children and go to be reincarnated."

The resentful woman nodded, her figure beginning to dissipate, and soon she disappeared without a trace.

Seeing the changes around him, the boatman then safely brought Si Yao to the shore.

"From now on, this river will be safe, and we won't have to worry about evil spirits causing trouble," the boatman said.

Si Yao was about to leave when the boatman called out to her, "Fellow Daoist, please wait."

The boatman came over and asked, "Was that lightning strike just now related to you, fellow Daoist?"

"How could this have anything to do with me? I think it's clearly that Ruan Yulang who has done all sorts of bad things and is now getting his comeuppance."

Seeing that Si Yao denied it, the boatman was puzzled but did not press her for an answer.

Si Yao looked around, nodded to the boatman, and said, "Until we meet again."

The boatman also cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Fellow Daoist, until we meet again."

Si Yao turned and left. Now, without needing to fly on a sword, her steps were fast enough.

Once she was far from the riverbank and sure no one was following her, Si Yao breathed a sigh of relief.

"Senior, did you see that just now?"

I saw it.

Si Yao found a place to sit down. Just now on the boat, for some reason, Si Yao felt an inexplicable power surging out from her dantian. Her golden core had its cloud patterns deepened at some point, and lightning power was swirling around it.

It was exactly the same as the lightning that had struck down earlier.

She clearly had a fleeting thought that Ruan Yulang deserved to die, but she never expected that Ruan Yulang would actually be killed.

Xiang Bei reached out and patted Si Yao on the shoulder.

Stay calm; this kind of situation will inevitably happen again.

Si Yao sat cross-legged and felt the energy in her dantian.

With her five elements spiritual roots operating on their own and her golden core able to unleash the power of lightning, she felt the spiritual energy in her dantian becoming increasingly abundant, and she could also freely control her cultivation level.

Si Yao opened her eyes and glanced at the dragon egg in her storage bag. The gaps on the dragon egg seemed to have widened, but there was still nothing that had hatched.

She reached out and touched the dragon egg. The little creature inside seemed to sense her touch and rolled over to rub against Si Yao's palm.

While on her journey, Si Yao made sure to inquire beforehand to confirm that the all-knowing scholar, who was rumored to know everything, would indeed frequently appear at the Cloud Artifact Pavilion.

By the time she arrived in the city, it was already quite late. The city was still quite lively; she could easily find the direction of the Cloud Weapon Pavilion by asking anyone.

Knowing that she was going to Yunqi Pavilion, someone kindly reminded Si Yao that Yunqi Pavilion is only open on the first and fifteenth of the month, and closed to visitors at other times.

Si Yao's arrival was unfortunate; an auction had just ended ten days prior.

We'll have to wait a few more days for the next auction.

Si Yao found a place to stay and was strolling around the city when she saw her own wanted poster. After realizing what she had done, Si Yao walked past it, then turned back to take a closer look.

It was an arrest warrant for Si Yao, not for Yao Si.

Moreover, the wanted notice was issued by the Heavenly Sword Sect, which also offered a reward. Judging from the description, it was no different from pointing at Si Yao's nose and cursing her as utterly wicked.

The reason this warrant was issued is probably because the fake spiritual root thing was discovered, and they couldn't find her anywhere, so they came up with this idea.

Her appearance in the portrait was so lifelike that not even the smallest details were overlooked, as if afraid that others would not recognize her.

As Si Yao was looking at the wanted poster, someone walked over and asked, "Isn't this Si Yao, the senior sister of the Heavenly Sword Sect? Why is she wanted? The Heavenly Sword Sect has even put such a large bounty on her. What happened?"

Looking at the bounty, Si Yao didn't think it was much. She even thought the Heavenly Sword Sect was too stingy. How could she only be worth such a small reward? Who were they trying to humiliate?

Another person said, "The Heavenly Sword Sect is really ruthless. They even pulled this stunt after the person was dead, just to fool those who don't know the truth."

"What? Dead? Could it be that the senior sister of the Heavenly Sword Sect is dead?"

"You don't know, do you? Let me tell you."

The other person immediately leaned closer and listened attentively. The two of them were whispering to each other, talking about how the Heavenly Sword Sect had stolen Si Yao's spiritual root.

Si Yao listened in as well, and sure enough, she heard yet another version of how she died. She was told that after her spiritual root was dug out, her body was thrown off a cliff by the people of the Heavenly Sword Sect to destroy the evidence.

Well, this is somewhat close to the truth: Wen Yin did indeed intend for her to fall off the cliff and die. If they had discovered that they had given Wen Yin a fake spiritual root, they would probably already know that their own spiritual root was still within her.

Si Yao looked at the portrait carefully again, and even wandered around in front of the onlookers a few times, but no one recognized her as the person in the portrait.

Those people whispered among themselves for a while, and it wasn't for nothing that Fei Siyao spread Chongming's messy affairs.

The last person exclaimed in surprise, "Is that really true?"

"Didn't you all read the gossip tabloids? They said that Fairy Si Yao is currently missing. The wanted poster has been out for several days now, and many people have gone after the Heavenly Sword Sect's bounty, but there's still no news about Si Yao. I think Fairy Si Yao was definitely silenced by them, thinking that there would be no way to prove anything, which is why they dare to slander Fairy Si Yao like this."

"That makes sense. I was thinking of going to the Heavenly Sword Sect before, but thankfully I didn't."

Listening to those two people reminded Si Yao that besides the largest auction house, Lin City also had a gossip tabloid about immortal sects. It was full of all sorts of gossip, some true, some false, and whether it was true or false depended on one's ability to discern the truth.

Si Yao went to a secluded spot, changed her appearance to that of a man, and went to provide some information to the gossip tabloids.

As for whether they dared to risk offending the Heavenly Sword Sect by writing it down for others to see, Si Yao didn't care.

The person in charge of receiving Si Yao from the gossip tabloid felt deeply insulted by her distrustful gaze.

“Young master, what are you saying? Our boss is the young master of Lin City. There’s no gossip tabloid we wouldn’t dare publish.”

Si Yao believed that the gossip tabloids in Lin City were backed by the City Lord's Mansion. Even if someone came to their door to attack, they would have someone to protect them.

Si Yao rubbed her hands together and laughed, "I just heard about it, just heard about it. Please don't give me away."

The other party handed the silver to Si Yao, saying, "Don't worry, aside from everything else, we've done a pretty good job in this regard."

After Si Yao left, the person immediately shared the news with several eye-catching headlines.

The gossip tabloid spread throughout Lin City early the next morning.

"The Untold Story of Daoist Chongming and My Mother" and "Don't watch this! Daoist Chongming of the Heavenly Sword Sect actually did such a thing."

Even Xiang Bei was stunned and asked Si Yao to buy her some gossip tabloids to read, as she was thoroughly enjoying the gossip.

Si Yao bought two gossip tabloids, gave one to her senior, and kept the other for herself.

After reading it, Si Yao couldn't help but sigh, "It's quite something that gossip tabloids can still exist; their content is very engaging."

Si Yao felt no remorse whatsoever for making headlines in the gossip tabloids about Chongming. The Heavenly Sword Sect had even issued an arrest warrant for her; she was determined to retaliate.

As the former senior disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Si Yao was well-versed in gossip. She'd just reveal a little, and let them worry about it themselves.

The next day, she went there again under the identity of Yao Si, and offered a large reward for Bai Xiaosheng's whereabouts in a gossip tabloid.

She has a question she wants answered by Bai Xiaosheng. She will give a generous reward to anyone who can provide Bai Xiaosheng's whereabouts and any useful clues.

Si Yao also left the address of her house.

At first, everyone watched with curiosity, but as soon as the person who provided the information came out, they were indeed given a reward, the minimum being two qian of silver.

Si Yao naturally wouldn't personally oversee such matters; she paid someone to help record them.

However, it seems there was no gain. This all-knowing scholar is truly mysterious. Even those who have seen him in person cannot say whether he is male or female.

It is said that Bai Xiaosheng was wearing a black robe and a mask, so no one knew what he looked like, and even his voice was very indistinct.

Some say he is very tall, while others say he is very short.

After looking around, a lot of money was spent, but no useful clues were found.

Si Yao reached out and tapped the table, thinking she would wait until the auction hall opened before making a decision.

Before that, Si Yao also went to the auction house to consign some spiritual herbs, all of which were nourished by the spiritual spring water in her space, and their medicinal effects were exceptionally good.

Whether you're a healer or a pill refiner, you'll likely like it. Plus, she makes her own python jerky—jerky that can enhance cultivation—so why would anyone not buy it?

The people at the auction house were very polite to her when they saw what she brought out.

Si Yao thought that since Bai Xiaosheng often came to the auction house, the person in charge here might know Bai Xiaosheng.

Unexpectedly, the other party kept their mouth shut and refused to utter a single word about Bai Xiaosheng.

"I know you must know Bai Xiaosheng. Please pass on a message to him for me. I have a question I want to ask him. He can name his price. If he agrees, he should know where I live. If he doesn't, as long as I'm alive, I will definitely find him."

Si Yao left after saying those words.

There was no news from Bai Xiaosheng until the auction began.

As the owner of the items being auctioned, Si Yao was given a private box at the auction house. From there, she could clearly see everything being auctioned on stage.

The better the product, the later it is released.

Si Yao had little interest in those things; she preferred looking at the dragon egg in her space that had developed another crack.

Occasionally, the sound of the eggshell cracking could be heard, but the dragon egg had not yet hatched, which worried Si Yao. Ever since the crack on the eggshell widened, the dragon egg stopped moving and rolling around. Si Yao would place a bowl of spiritual spring water in front of the dragon egg, and every time she looked at it, the water would be drunk up.

Later, Si Yao simply moved the dragon egg next to the spirit spring, so she didn't have to scoop out the water every time.

"It's Bloodspotted Grass. There really are fully mature Bloodspotted Grass here."

Hearing a familiar voice coming from next door, Si Yao raised an eyebrow.

If I'm not mistaken, that should be Liao Shuo's voice.

"Great! It seems that Junior Sister Wen Yin can be saved."

Has something happened to Wen Yin?

Si Yao thought that the backlash from the false spiritual root must have begun.