Chapter 34: A Deal is Made  

After a long pause, Uncle Nine finally snapped out of it. He looked at Ren Fa and asked, "What… What is this? Who exactly are you?" 

Ren Fa shrugged and lazily lay back on the sofa. 

"I didn't lie to you. I am Old Master Ren. But I could also say that I'm not. If I hadn't had a lucky encounter, everything you just saw would have been exactly how things played out." 

Uncle Nine thought for a moment. If Old Master Ren hadn't changed, things really would have gone the way they did in the movie. 

"Then what's your situation now? Are you saying you died and came back to life?" Uncle Nine couldn't sense any corpse energy from Ren Fa, so he had no choice but to ask directly. Given the circumstances, it didn't seem like Ren Fa intended to harm him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let him see the future. 

"I didn't come back to life! I still became a zombie, and honestly, being a zombie isn't bad at all!" 

As he spoke, Ren Fa released the aura he had been suppressing. A powerful, overwhelming pressure filled the room, slamming into Uncle Nine like a tidal wave. 

Uncle Nine's entire body stiffened—his first instinct told him that he was absolutely no match for Ren Fa. 

Looking at the faint silver glow surrounding Ren Fa, Uncle Nine swallowed hard. He never expected to see a Silver-armored Zombie in the outside world. This was only the second time he had encountered one. 

The first time had been at Mount Mao, where a Silver-armored Zombie had appeared. It had taken nearly the entire sect to subdue it. But now, the one before him seemed even stronger. Even if he went to Mount Mao for help, he wasn't sure what the outcome would be. 

As Ren Fa withdrew his aura, Uncle Nine let out a deep breath of relief. If Ren Fa had wanted to harm him, he wouldn't have stood a chance. 

"Old Master Ren, what are your plans now?" Uncle Nine asked cautiously. 

"Uncle Nine, don't be so nervous. I actually want to make a deal with you." Ren Fa remained sprawled out on the sofa, completely at ease. 

"A deal? What kind of deal?" Uncle Nine was intrigued. He couldn't imagine what he had that might interest a zombie of this level. 

"Uncle Nine, I want to learn Daoist techniques. Would you be willing to teach me? I can follow you to the mortuary. If you run into any problems you can't solve, I'll help you out. Of course, if you have other requests, as long as they're reasonable, I can agree to them too." 

Uncle Nine's eyes widened in shock. 

A zombie learning Daoist magic? 

Wouldn't he end up hurting himself before he could even hurt anyone else? 

"It's not that I don't want to teach you," Uncle Nine said hesitantly, "but I'm a disciple of Mount Mao. If I were to teach you, I'd have to report it to the current sect leader. Only the leader can decide something like this. And your situation is… quite unusual…" 

Even Uncle Nine himself found it hard to believe—a zombie wanting to learn Daoist arts? How was he supposed to explain this to the sect leader? 

"No problem, just teach me the Taoist techniques that aren't from Maoshan. You've been traveling for so many years, so you must have learned some non-Maoshan spells, right? Don't worry, I'll make it worth your while." 

Uncle Nine hesitated. Over the years, he had indeed learned some techniques outside of Maoshan, but most of them were dark arts. 

"I do know some non-Maoshan techniques, but they're all evil arts. I can't teach them to you. If you really want to learn orthodox Maoshan Taoist techniques, I can report back to my sect and get you an answer soon." 

Evil arts were techniques that harmed others to improve one's own cultivation. They worked fast and were highly effective, but they were cruel and went against the natural order. 

 Ren Fa didn't push any further. "Alright, I'll leave it to you. Since you dug me up, you better take responsibility for me. I'll go with you to your Yizhuang." 

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