Hello, Welcome to Merit Supermarket (SUPERMARKET)
Early in the morning, the He family welcomed two guests.
One had the appearance of an immortal, with a childlike face, long white beard, and an air of transcendence. The other had messy hair, an unbuttoned shirt revealing solid muscles, and was yawning when the door opened.
The guard didn't hesitate to refuse them when they asked to visit, especially the latter, who looked like a troublemaker.
Hearing the refusal, the two weren't annoyed. The old man chuckled and said, "Go tell the butler that the Supervisor is here."
The guard, half-doubting, relayed the message. Soon, he saw the head butler rushing over while looking flustered: "Quick! Open the door for our distinguished guests!"
Huh? They really were guests!
After the door opened, the butler led them in while apologizing profusely.
However, the two had no time for his explanations.
The Supervisor grabbed his student and dashed toward the main hall like the wind.
By then, everyone was already seated in the main hall, including Jiang Chenyi and Huo Yunxi.
When the Supervisor appeared, the He family's Grandma reacted faster than Jiang Chenyi and Huo Yunxi.
She was the first to notice the Supervisor's arrival.
Upon seeing Great Grandma He, the Supervisor obediently let go and approached her alone before bowing his head and saying, "Sister, it's been a long time."
Great Grandma He snorted, "It's been so many years, I thought you'd died out there. I was even debating whether to notify you when I passed away."
The Supervisor... lowered his head even further and was too guilty to say anything: "How could that be..."
"Hmph, you're so impressive. Should I give you a little red flower as a reward?" Great Grandma He rolled her eyes fiercely.
Two elderly people nearing a hundred years old now seemed like children.
Seeing him silent, Great Grandma He sighed helplessly: "We are both with one foot in the grave, why bother with some things? Close our eyes, and let the floodwaters rage!"
She was 98, and her younger brother was over 95. At their age, they were basically prepared not to wake up the next day.
The Supervisor pursed his lips and did not respond to his sister's words.
His demeanor made Great Grandma He feel even more powerless. She actually knew why her brother was unwilling to stop at this age—it was all for the Celestial Masters Association.
But the Celestial Masters Association today was not the same as it was eighty years ago. If it was beyond saving, why not just let it go and disband it?
"Forget it, let's not talk about this. Let's discuss the main matter first." she said impatiently while waving her hand.
Great Grandma He pointed to where Jiang Chenyi was and recounted what had happened yesterday: "As soon as I heard it was someone you knew, I knew he wasn't lying."
The Supervisor raised his head.
When he learned that it was the He family who had been affected, he felt uneasy.
But without seeing the actual situation, he still held onto a glimmer of hope—what if his young friend was mistaken?
However, when he formed a hand seal and opened his Celestial Eye, seeing the Karmic Sin rooted in the chest of the He family member, overwhelming anger and fear nearly consumed him.
"Who! Who did this!"
His hair and beard moved without wind, and he was so furious that he seemed to bristle.
The young man brought by the Supervisor instinctively took a step back upon seeing his Master's anger, but the next moment he wanted to rush to his Master's side.
It wasn't the first time he had seen his Master this angry, but when his Master was extremely furious, he would attack anyone around him indiscriminately!
And right in front of the Supervisor was his sister!
As strands of purple lightning began to emanate from the Supervisor's body, Jiang Chenyi and Huo Yunxi also sensed something was wrong.
They rushed forward as well, but the young man hurriedly stopped them: "Wait, Master is in a dangerous state now!"
In the next moment, the faint lightning leaking from the Supervisor's body had already affected nearby electrical appliances.
Seeing the situation was dire, Jiang Chenyi ignored the young man's obstruction and quickly stepped forward before reaching out a hand directly toward the Supervisor.
"Don't touch him!" The young man was so frightened by Jiang Chenyi's action that his heart almost stopped. Just as he was about to stop him, Huo Yunxi grabbed his collar.
"Don't interfere with him."
The young man glared angrily at this man, but the scene that followed was beyond his expectations.
The lightning surrounding his Master was actually all absorbed into the Bell on the young man's wrist. In just half a minute, his Master returned to normal.
The Supervisor stood dazed with his eyes vacant. It took a long time before he gradually came back to his senses.
"It's you, young friend..." His voice had become much more weathered.
The young man hiding behind Huo Yunxi was stunned. He suddenly looked up at his Master, and when he saw the fatigue in his eyes, his heart ached.
It was only now that he seemed to realize how truly old his Master had become.
Even though the lifespan of a Celestial Master was longer than that of an ordinary person, he was nearly a hundred years old!
Jiang Chenyi pressed down on the other person's shoulder and used his Merit to wash away his anger while also trying to calm him down quickly.
"Calm down, I can handle their situation. I called you here to help catch the mastermind behind this!"
His words gave the Supervisor a glimmer of hope.
"Really? Can you really solve this?" The Supervisor hadn't expected that someone as young as Jiang Chenyi could resolve such a predicament!
Jiang Chenyi chuckled, and a Golden Abacus appeared in his hand.
As a Celestial Master, and a top-tier one at that, he naturally recognized that this Golden Abacus was no ordinary Magical Artifact.
The rest of the He family didn't see how the Golden Abacus had appeared. They only saw the young man sitting confidently to the side with the Golden Abacus slamming heavily onto the table.
"Let's make a deal with the Supermarket. Out of all of you, I'll select a few, and then use Merit to exchange for a method to remove the Karmic Sin."
The existence of Karmic Sin was a man-made disaster for the He family. Since it was man-made, the Merit required for this transaction had an upper limit, and there was no need to involve Votive Power.
At this moment, He Suisui once again explained her transaction situation to the He family.
Hearing such a miraculous scene, everyone present was eager to act.
Even the Supervisor and his student were filled with curiosity about the transaction.
They had never heard of such a method before!
"Young friend, you are indeed no ordinary person." the Supervisor said with a smile while stroking his beard.
While He Suisui was explaining to the others, the Supervisor deliberately sat down next to Jiang Chenyi.
"Last time, I was busy cleaning the house and didn't have the chance to have a proper chat with you." the Supervisor said and no longer in a hurry now that he knew Jiang Chenyi had a solution.
"My surname is Gu, and my given name is Sheng. This is my disciple, who shares my surname. His name is Gu Yuan, but you can call him Xiao Yuanzi."
Xiao Yuanzi—no, Gu Yuan—huffed in annoyance when his Master casually revealed his nickname.
After the introductions, Gu Sheng's expression turned cold and sharp.
"I must thank you, young friend, for discovering this matter in advance. Great Grandma He is my elder sister. Although she and her son haven't been affected by the Karmic Sin, they are both old. If they had to watch their descendants pass away one by one, with the elderly burying the young, they probably wouldn't last long. By then, the He family would truly be extinct."
From this, it was clear that the mastermind behind this absolutely hated the He family!
Jiang Chenyi asked about the effects of the Karmic Sin. Seeing the confusion on his face, Gu Sheng pursed his lips with his eyes flickering with anger.
Gu Yuan, sitting beside him, explained on behalf of his Master, "The Karmic Sin doesn't just consume the flesh and blood of the He family members. It also devours their Merit, fate, and luck."
This meant that if the mastermind managed to consume the entire He family, their faction could use the He family's fate to rise to great heights!
"It's been a long time since I've seen such a method." Gu Sheng said with a cold laugh and his expression was complex.
The other three sat obediently beside him and patiently listened as he recounted stories from the past.
"Eighty years ago, someone used a similar method to seize the lives and destinies of most members of a family. Fortunately, it was discovered in time, and the remaining members were saved."
To capture that person, the Celestial Masters Association dispatched five high-ranking officials at the time, but only one returned.
"That was me." said Gu Sheng, the sole survivor of that incident and now the only living elder-level figure in the association.
"I’m not afraid to admit it, but the person who carried out the act was actually a member of the association—the nephew of the president."
The reason he committed such a heinous act was because he felt his family wasn’t prestigious enough.
He wanted to become the president of the association, but the current president explicitly told him that the position would not be passed on to him.
At the time, he believed it was because his family lacked influence, so he resorted to sinister methods.
Hearing this, Jiang Chenyi and the other two couldn’t help but show expressions of disbelief.
What kind of twisted logic was this…
Because his uncle wouldn’t let him inherit the presidency, he thought his family wasn’t powerful enough, and then he targeted innocent people?
Even a dog would shake its head at this reasoning.
"And then? Did he have disciples or students who inherited his garbage logic and planned to replicate it?"
Jiang Chenyi had no patience for such people.
The only reason he didn’t curse outright was because he knew his words would likely be censored.
Gu Sheng frowned deeply.
He couldn’t answer Jiang Chenyi’s question.
"From what I know, he didn’t have any disciples during his lifetime, and the ancient text on the forbidden art of Karmic Sin was burned—by my own hands."
So even now, he couldn’t understand why someone would still know about this forbidden art!
"There’s one more thing…" Gu Sheng said in a somber tone.
"The Karmic Sin he used back then was collected from the battlefield. It wasn’t just Karmic Sin—there was also a strong aura of death…"
Jiang Chenyi understood what he meant.
The He family had deep Merit. For Karmic Sin to take root in them, the mastermind must have collected a massive amount of it.
And Karmic Sin is something only those who commit evil deeds possess.
Petty theft wouldn’t generate much Karmic Sin, but causing someone’s family to fall apart—even if it’s just a moral issue—would burden that person with significant sin.
"So, where did this person collect such concentrated Karmic Sin?" Huo Yunxi looked up at the sky.
He couldn’t see the tiger-shaped Merit mist above the He family, but he could sense many things trying to entangle them.
Gu Yuan’s voice was icy. "If it’s within the country, the best place to collect it would be a maximum-security prison. But if it’s abroad… there are plenty of such places."
China had endured long periods of internal and external wars, and society had only recently stabilized.
But abroad, the flames of war hadn’t ceased. Conflicts of all kinds were happening everywhere.
Even if it wasn’t outright war, there were countless clashes.
Moreover, how many of these wars were driven by desire? Those who waged war for their desires carried the thickest Karmic Sin.
Except for defensive wars against invasion, most wars brought nothing but sin.
After all, once a war breaks out, a large number of lives will be lost.
"Not to mention, the delta not far from us is bound to be filled with Karmic Sin." Jiang Chenyi said with his lips curling, though he wasn't smiling. Instead, it was clear to everyone that he was angry.
He Suisui had already finished her explanation on their side.
Jiang Chenyi stood in the main hall with his gaze sweeping over the members of the He family before him.
Including the children, there were seventeen people here. Aside from He Suisui, Great Grandma He, and Grandpa He, fourteen of them had Karmic Sin manifesting on their chests.
Additionally, two members of the He family couldn't make it back in time, but once the others were dealt with, their return shouldn't be far off.
Moreover, with Gu Sheng around, the experiences of the He family were likely to draw the attention of higher-ups. Once the mission was over, they would surely be released.
Huo Yunxi looked at the He family members and asked Jiang Chenyi with some confusion, "Should we take them back to the supermarket first?"
Jiang Chenyi shook his head. Even if they didn't take everyone back to the supermarket, just selecting a few to bring back would be too time-consuming.
The round trip from the capital to Huacheng would take at least a day.
And the supermarket's teleportation had a limit—no more than three people at a time.
Considering the side effects of teleportation, he was worried that not only would the transaction fail, but they might also end up having to send people to the hospital.
"I have another method." he said while feeling grateful for the Merit Points he had accumulated over this period, which allowed him to unlock a new function of the supermarket.
As soon as he finished speaking, back in the supermarket in Huacheng, the hidden door that only Jiang Chenyi could open began to undergo a dramatic transformation.
Countless golden threads slowly spread across the entire door and clinging to it like a spider's web.
In the next moment, at the center of the door—where all the threads converged—a vortex appeared.
At the same time, Jiang Chenyi also sensed the presence of the "door."
He opened his eyes, and for a brief moment, Huo Yunxi seemed to see a black and gold vortex in Jiang Chenyi's eyes.
But it disappeared almost instantly and if he hadn't been staring at Jiang Chenyi, he might not have noticed it at all.
"Let's go to a more open area." Jiang Chenyi said with his voice sounding ethereal and quite different from his usual tone.
Huo Yunxi tightly gripped Jiang Chenyi's arm. Jiang Chenyi didn't look back at him but gently patted the back of his hand—don't worry, I'm fine.
Everyone moved to the central courtyard.
Jiang Chenyi pointed out a few individuals—those with the strongest inner voices, including the daughter-in-law of Aunt.
Then, from this group, he selected four people with the deepest Merit, which coincidentally included this daughter-in-law.
The four who were chosen couldn't help but feel nervous in front of Jiang Chenyi.
This nervousness was inexplicable. He was a young man much younger than them, yet the pressure he exuded was no less than that of the family head.
In fact, it was even more intense.
"I'll emphasize just one thing." Jiang Chenyi said. "No matter what you see later, don't be too surprised. Remember the purpose of this trip and what you truly want to achieve."
The four of them nodded in unison. Among them were two soldiers, a doctor, and a university professor—none of them were fools.
After confirming everything, Jiang Chenyi withdrew his gaze.
In the next moment, strange and mesmerizing patterns suddenly appeared on his neck and collarbone. Jiang Chenyi took a step back with his hands overlapping to form an eye-shaped opening between his thumbs.
"Open!"
He slowly spread his hands apart, and the "eye" grew larger.
In the eyes of the four people behind him, they saw a black and gold door materialize out of thin air that slowly opened in response to Jiang Chenyi's gesture.
When the door was fully open, they finally understood why the young man had warned them not to be too surprised.
Faced with the vast and wondrous starry sky, their minds went blank for a moment. Fortunately, their willpower was strong, and they quickly regained their composure.
Once they came to their senses, they saw Jiang Chenyi standing at the doorway with his calm eyes fixed on them.
"Go in, and remember what I told you."
The young man was accustomed to their astonishment and quickly ushered them inside as soon as they regained consciousness.
The door closed once again.
Apart from Jiang Chenyi and the four people, two others witnessed this scene clearly—one was naturally Huo Yunxi, and the other was Great Grandma He.
Even Gu Sheng, a Celestial Master, couldn't detect the door to the supermarket, let alone anyone else.
When the He family saw their loved ones suddenly disappear, they were indeed startled. But with Great Grandma He present, they were reassured: "Don't panic, they've gone to make a deal."
Huo Yunxi glanced at her in surprise. Great Grandma He's gaze also fell on him, and after scrutinizing him for a while, she hesitantly asked, "Child... what is your surname?"
The tall, stern man shook his head before correcting her, "I am much older than you."
According to Jiang Chenyi's estimation, Huo Yunxi had died a hundred years ago, and judging by his current appearance, he must have been in his twenties when he passed away.
So, in reality, he was over a hundred and twenty years old, making him the oldest person present.
Great Grandma He was momentarily stunned, clearly unaware that Huo Yunxi wasn't human.
Gu Sheng scratched his head before awkwardly explaining to his elder sister, "He's a Spirit, formed after death."
After death... older than her... Grandma seemed to fall into deep thought and remained silent afterward.
Not long after, under the anxious and expectant gazes of the He family, Jiang Chenyi and the four people returned.
In their hands, they carried a rectangular box.
Jiang Chenyi wiped his face.
Opening the door from a distance had taken a toll on him, and this wasn't a drain on his Merit but rather a mental strain.
He rubbed his throbbing, swollen head before forcing himself to explain the contents of the box to the He family.
He opened one of the boxes first to reveal several white cocoons inside.
"The contents can enter your heart and consume the root of your Karmic Sin. The method is simple—just eat them. If a child has trouble swallowing, place the cocoon in water. It will dissolve upon contact, and drinking the water will have the same effect."
"The time it takes to clear the Karmic Sin is not fixed, but it usually happens within two days. After it's cleared, you'll feel extremely drowsy. Just sleep it off, and it will crawl out of your mouth while you're asleep..."
As soon as these words were spoken, some people immediately got goosebumps. However, the daughter-in-law took it quite well—after all, in the hospital, she had seen it all.
One moment she was observing a diseased liver, and the next, she dared to eat stir-fried pig liver in the school cafeteria!
"If you don't feel extremely drowsy after two days, then come find me again."
But if that happens, it means the person's condition is quite severe.
The four of them carefully held the boxes in their hands and returned to their respective homes with their closest loved ones.
At this point, Jiang Chenyi couldn't take it anymore either. His legs gave way, and he almost collapsed to the ground.
Fortunately, Huo Yunxi had been keeping an eye on him. As soon as Jiang Chenyi showed signs of exhaustion, he rushed to his side.
He wrapped an arm around Jiang Chenyi's waist, but the young man had lost all strength and couldn't even stand steadily.
Seeing this, Huo Yunxi had no choice but to pick him up and quickly carry him back to his room.
"Do you need a doctor?" His voice was urgent, as if he would immediately go and grab a doctor if Jiang Chenyi said yes.
Jiang Chenyi's head rested against Huo Yunxi's chest. Hearing his words, he weakly shook his head. "Just let me sleep..."
Indeed, going to the Supermarket in person was the best solution. Everything else... was exhausting.
Huo Yunxi carried him to the bed, removed his shoes, socks, and outerwear then tucked him in, and drew the curtains to create a comfortable sleeping environment for Jiang Chenyi.
As the light dimmed, Jiang Chenyi could no longer resist the heavy drowsiness.
His head tilted to the side, and he fell into a deep sleep.
After noticing that Jiang Chenyi had fallen asleep, Huo Yunxi did not leave the room. Instead, he sat on the sofa at the foot of the bed before closing his eyes and quietly waiting for the young man to wake up.
During the time he waited, members of the He family began to consume the cocoon one after another.
Not long after, some of them started to feel drowsy.
Great Grandma He and Grandpa He gathered around the bedside of one of them. Shortly after he fell asleep, his mouth slightly bulged.
Soon, they saw a butterfly with white wings emerge from his mouth.
They thought the butterfly would fly out the window, but it gradually disappeared in mid-air, as if it had never existed.
This scene was profoundly shocking to Grandpa He.
When the man woke up, the first thing he said was, "I saw a butterfly break free from its cocoon and devour a black snake!"
It wasn’t just him; the same words were spoken by other members of the He family who had awakened from their slumber.
Moreover, after waking up, they all felt their bodies become lighter and more energized.
A child who had been suffering from a cold suddenly recovered while feeling full of strength; those who had been feeling tired in recent days now felt as if they had slept soundly for an entire day, with all their energy restored!
The daughter-in-law, who was a surgeon, felt the sensitivity in her fingertips return—a sensation she thought had faded with age.
This change was not subtle but the stark difference made them realize once again the alarming fact that the He family had been targeted.
"Thank goodness we met Mr. Jiang!" they exclaimed and unconsciously change their address for him, just like the previous clients who had made the same transaction.
Two days later, all the members of the He family in the ancestral home had completed the transformation of breaking free from their cocoons and becoming butterflies.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chenyi and Huo Yunxi, who had slept soundly for a full day and night, sat in the courtyard while quietly listening to the sounds of relieved sobbing around them.
"There are still two more people," Huo Yunxi said.
Jiang Chenyi looked up to gaze at the "tiger" in the sky.
Now, the Black Chains on the tiger's neck and limbs have completely disappeared, leaving only the last and most crucial one unresolved.
That is the chain piercing the tiger's heart, corresponding to the remaining two individuals.
And those two are currently the most promising members of the He family in their careers.
Destroying them would also deal a heavy blow to this white tiger!
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