I Just Wanted To Live but I Somehow Became Better Than the Protagonist

“Don’t, don’t come any closer!” Yet the woman was already dead, and the weight of his Buddhist aura was too profound for her to indulge in infatuation.

“Hmm?” Ye Yong paused, for as he drew near, the woman’s form began to grow transparent. After pondering the cause of this phenomenon, he placed the heavenly-grade Sarira he had exchanged for 120,000 into the system’s repository.

—

30 Unfulfilled Desires

The intense aura of Buddhism faded, and the woman felt a measure of relief, yet the parts of her that had turned transparent could not be restored. She existed in a state of half-being guided to the afterlife, even her unfulfilled desires felt distant, as she longed to step into reincarnation. Were it not for the weight of her desires, she might have surrendered long ago.

“You two celestial beings can see me, right? I beg you, please help me.” The woman felt a flutter of anxiety, for Ye Yong’s appearance was too ethereal, and beside him, Qin Shiming resembled a fairy from the mortal realm. Beings of their caliber surely wouldn’t waste their time aiding a mere commoner like herself.

“You are already dead; why not enter the cycle of rebirth?” Ye Yong did not immediately ask what help the other sought. After all, if the person expressed a wish he could not fulfill, it would only bring trouble upon himself. Instead, he chose a different approach, hoping the woman would reveal her unfinished business. This way, even if he could not assist, it would not feel awkward.

“Actually…”

The longer a soul lingers in death, the more it loses its emotions. The woman, having only recently passed, still clung to her humanity. She covered her face and wept, recounting her plight.

It turned out her husband had gone out to sea to fish a month ago and had yet to return. A small fishing boat lost at sea for over a month—clearly, the odds were grim.

Though the Dragon King restrained his subordinates from attacking humans, other creatures lurked in the waters, even the dead—water monkeys, drowned ghosts, and the like. Danger was ever-present.

In any case, her husband was missing, and she waited alone at home with her infant, barely a few months old. For days, she had felt a fog clouding her mind, her limbs heavy as if something were gnawing at her very being. As she closed her eyes to sleep today, she sensed she might die. Upon opening her eyes, she found her soul had indeed left her body, her breath extinguished.

She had little to hold onto, save for her tiny child. Yet here, no one could see or hear her. Meeting Ye Yong and Qin Shidong was her great fortune in this life.

The woman continued to plead, not for them to adopt her child, but simply to take the infant to her relatives across the city.

“We can help you, but are you sure your relatives will take in your child?”

“Yes, yes! They have no children of their own; they are my child’s godparents.”

“Very well.” Though it would require a journey, it was a small effort, and Ye Yong did not refuse. “But before that, we need to ascertain the cause of your death. Logically, you should not have died.”

“What do you mean, immortal?”

“Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but there is dark energy surrounding you. Coupled with what you said about something eroding your body… In any case, let’s go inside and take a look.”

“Alright, alright!” The woman hurriedly led Ye Yong and Qin Shidong to her home.

The door was locked from the inside, but this posed no challenge for a cultivator. Ye Yong summoned his spiritual power and easily unlocked it. The interior held little furniture; in the living room lay a bed, where the woman’s corpse rested, cradling a sleeping infant in her arm.

Ye Yong approached the woman’s body and noted her darkened complexion, a malevolent energy swirling within her. The infant, too, bore traces of this residue.

“This water… it’s problematic.” Qin Shidong quickly picked up a bowl from the table, filled with clear water. To the untrained eye, it appeared ordinary, but to a cultivator, it was infused with the same dark energy that enveloped the woman.

Ye Yong lifted the lid of a water jar, revealing more of the tainted liquid. Though it was slowly dissipating with time, it would take several days to fully clear. Consuming it before it vanished, even in small amounts, could overwhelm a mortal body.

Water was essential for life, and the woman’s recent discomfort was undoubtedly due to her consumption of this cursed drinking water.

“Immortal, what is wrong with this water?” Even as a lingering spirit, the woman could not discern the anomaly.

“Where did you draw this water from?”

“Just behind the house; our five families share a well.”

Ye Yong and Qin Shiming exchanged a glance, then made their way to the well. The light was dim, and darkness loomed within, but for cultivators, the lack of sight mattered little; their spiritual sense could pierce the shadows, revealing even what the eyes could not behold.

As expected, the well water was tainted with malevolence, far more potent than that contained in the water jars.

Poisoning? No, this was not poison; any toxin capable of birthing such evil could not possibly be intended to harm mere mortals.

Ye Yong expanded his spiritual sense, delving deep into the well, tracing the flow of water. Before long, he discovered a hidden river at the bottom, its waters coursing with dark energy.

It went without saying that something sinister lurked beyond the river.

Ye Yong inspected other wells nearby, but since they were not connected to the hidden river, only this one had been affected.

“Immortal, have you found anything?”

Though he knew the woman might not comprehend, Ye Yong felt it necessary to convey the reason for her death.

After revealing everything, the woman fell silent for a long while. “Immortal, life and death are fated; perhaps this is the destiny bestowed upon me by the heavens. I only ask of you, please ensure my child is entrusted to a reliable relative.”

“Rest assured, what we promised, we shall fulfill.” Ye Yong nodded, then inquired about the four families sharing the well.

After knocking on the doors of those four families, each was taken aback upon seeing Ye Yong. When he asked if they had been feeling unwell lately, they regarded him as a celestial being descended from the heavens, a prophet of sorts.

Ye Yong briefly explained the woman’s passing and the issue with the well water, providing them with pills to dispel the malevolence. He assured them he would resolve the contamination, urging them to keep the matter quiet. Grateful and bowing in thanks, he returned to the woman’s home.

He lifted the child, covered the woman’s body with a blanket, locked the door, and, guided by the woman’s spirit, soon arrived at her relatives’ home.

After a brief explanation, the relatives, though saddened, took the child in their arms, promising to bury the woman’s body the next day. Unable to see the woman’s lingering spirit, the couple solemnly vowed to raise the child as their own, ensuring her soul could rest easy in the cycle of rebirth.

With her wish fulfilled, the woman’s already translucent form grew even more ethereal, subtly shifting as if to flow toward some unseen destination.

“Immortal, your great kindness, I cannot repay. In the next life, I shall toil like a beast, at your beck and call.” With that, the woman’s spirit transformed into a radiant light, vanishing without a trace.

Having done a good deed, Ye Yong felt a swell of joy. For cultivators, it might seem trivial, but for the woman’s family, and even her relatives, it was of immense significance.

Declining the invitation from the relatives to rest inside, Ye Yong turned to Qin Shiming. “I wish to investigate the source of the malevolence; you don’t mind, do you?”