Chapter 199: The Mutated Winter Melon

At first, Yun Jiao thought it might be difficult to get Ying Lun to teach Yi Zheng cultivation. After all, while he was unreliable, he was still a King of the Underworld — personally tutoring an ordinary wandering soul felt like a bit of overkill.

But to her surprise, when they delicately brought up the idea, Ying Lun didn’t hesitate at all. He slapped his chest with confidence and said, “No problem! Leave it to me, little disciple! Teaching a soul to cultivate? Piece of cake! I’ll have him reborn as a whole new ghost in no time. You’re my friend — after all those seeds you gave me, this is nothing! Oh, speaking of which, how did that corn turn out? Too bad only a few stalks grew. They look like spiked clubs — quite stylish! Very fitting for the Underworld’s aesthetic, if you ask me…”

The moment he started on his favorite topic — crop aesthetics — Yun Jiao and the old man wisely made their exit, abandoning a bewildered Yi Zheng on the spot.

---

Lately, both Yun Jiao and the old man had been busier than ever. Classes for both the third and fourth cohorts were done, the final exams completed, and because Yuan Jiang had suddenly dumped all his responsibilities and flown back to the Heavens, the work for the talisman class fell squarely on Yun Jiao’s shoulders.

On top of that, the Tianshi Hall’s new semester was about to start, so she was buried under teaching schedules, student groupings, and curriculum drafts. She’d lost count of how many virtual conferences she’d had with the other sect heads. Other than cooking and sleeping, every minute of her time went into either graduation logistics or school preparation.

The old man was no less swamped. Though his fourth class had already graduated, affairs in the Youling Domain kept him occupied. Apparently Yun Jiao’s previous warning had worked — the remaining three ghost judges were now model officials, sending in regular reports on every detail of their territories. They even conducted a full census of the domain’s ghost population. Everything was tidy and well-structured.

The new ghost judges were scheduled to take office in three months — meaning Yi Zheng had only three months to train. But ghost cultivation was notoriously slow, far more arduous than that of mortal disciples. Only someone like Ying Lun — who understood souls inside out and literally wielded the power of life itself — might make the impossible possible.

After all, he could make vegetables thrive just by sprinkling life force on them.

So, after tossing the soul into Ying Lun’s hands, they didn’t worry about it again. They fully trusted him.

Until three months later—

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“Who the hell are you?” The old man gawked at the man standing before him — wearing a straw hat, tattered clothes, and carrying a huge basket of vegetables on his back. The man was grinning foolishly, yet his face seemed oddly familiar.

“Lord Yama, it’s me — Yi Zheng!”

“…”

What in the world?

The old man stared, dumbstruck. The figure before him had a burly frame, broad shoulders, and muscles bulging under his spectral skin. Even his ghostly pallor had somehow turned bronze.

This was Yi Zheng? Was this a joke?!

Where was the delicate scholar from before? The gentle, bookish aura?

Who replaced him with a farmhand?!

(Д≡Д)

“What happened to your soul body?” Yun Jiao’s expression darkened as she looked him up and down.

“Oh, Master Ying said my spirit was too weak — that my yin energy couldn’t even pull up a garlic sprout. So he taught me a soul-tempering method.” Yi Zheng chuckled, radiating cheerful farmer energy as he swung down the massive basket on his back and plopped it in front of them with a heavy thud.

Yun Jiao and the old man exchanged a wary glance. This… did not feel promising.

“And besides that?” she asked cautiously. “What else did you learn in these three months?”

“A lot!” Yi Zheng said, brimming with enthusiasm. “I learned how to grow garlic, tomatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, and more than a dozen vegetables! Master Ying said once I’ve mastered the basics, he’ll let me try high-difficulty crops — like watermelons!”

Yun Jiao: “…”

Old man: “…”

Three months. Three entire months.

And Ying Lun had turned their ghost judge into a farmer.

w(Д)w

“Oh right, Lord Yama,” Yi Zheng went on eagerly, his eyes shining. The frail scholar was gone — now he exuded the glory of the working class. “These are the harvests from the past few months. Master Ying said the fields are too crowded, so I should bring you some of the ripe ones. There’s still plenty more!”

He lifted out something the size of a watermelon — that turned out to be a grape.

The old man’s mouth twitched. He glanced between the muscled ghost and the monstrous fruit, then cast Yun Jiao a silent look:

Girl, do you think he’s gotten addicted to farming? Maybe he doesn’t even want to be a ghost judge anymore?

Yun Jiao: “…” Don’t ask me! I have no idea either!

Yi Zheng blinked at their silence, then suddenly remembered something. “Ah, there’s one more message from Master Ying for Lord Yama and Fairy Yun.”

“What now?” the old man asked warily.

“Master said last night, he discovered a strange new melon growing in the fields. Looks really odd — never seen anything like it before, and it gives off white vapor! He wanted me to ask if maybe one of the seeds got mixed up, and also find out what it’s called.”

With that, Yi Zheng tipped the basket over. Vegetables tumbled out with a crash.

And there it was — a massive, snow-white melon, nearly the length of a person, covered in fine fuzz.

It looked exactly like…

“Isn’t that a winter melon?” the old man blurted out. “Just… bigger. A lot bigger. Why is it pure white though?” A mutant?

Yun Jiao stepped closer, eyes narrowing. It was indeed a winter melon — but faint sizzling sounds came from within, and thin wisps of white mist drifted off its surface.

That wasn’t vapor. That was… immortal qi.

Her expression sharpened. Without hesitation, she whipped out a talisman and slapped it onto the melon.

BOOM!

The entire melon exploded.

A soaked white figure rolled out of the wreckage, coughing and sputtering.

“Pah—! Nearly suffocated, damn it!” The figure pushed himself up with both hands, gasping furiously. “If I find out which bastard sealed me in that stupid melon, I’ll— I’ll skin him alive!”

Yi Zheng’s jaw dropped. An immortal?!

Meanwhile, Yun Jiao and the old man spoke at the same time:

“Uncle Wen!”

(⊙_⊙)

(End of Chapter)