Chapter 391: Stubborn Yin Qi
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Five minutes later.
"What are you doing here?" Lonemoon tried his hardest to suppress the urge to beat her up as he scanned her from head to toe. She was completely uninjured. Si Yu had only called him ten minutes ago, yet Shen Ying's body had traveled tens of thousands of miles.
"Oh. Someone pulled me here." Shen Ying tilted her head.
"Who is he?"
She paused and glanced at Yun Heng beside him. She gnawed on the fruit that Chef just passed to her and said, "Perhaps... the Rich Ghost?"
"Rich... Song Ren?" Lonemoon exclaimed. Was he not called Mischievous Ghost? "What did he bring you here for?" Song Ren was a ghost with grievous energy. Chef had said before that grievous energy has great impact on remnant souls. The last time the remnant souls attacked the city, his grievous energy exploded.
"I don't know." Shen Ying shook her head.
Ads by Revcontent
"What about the others?"
"I don't know." Shen Ying continued shaking her head.
"Holy shit, you don't know anything and you came here obediently?" Where are your brains? Have you eaten them all up?
Shen Ying shook her hand out and answered after awhile, "Isn't he molding now? It'll be horrible for me not to bother about him." Did I not just lose him for a second?
"..."
Molding? What did she mean?
Lonemoon looked confused. Yi Qing, on the other hand, thought of something and asked, "Master is saying... Song Ren's grievous energy is acting up again?"
"Hmm."
Ads by Revcontent
Chef frowned. He thought about the grievous energy that suddenly grabbed Yun Heng and disappeared. Master was saying that she came here because of the grievous energy. Given the distance, Yi Qing was guessing that Song Ren's outburst of grievous energy this time was much bigger than the last.
But why was it that Song Ren's grievous energy did not do that before? How did it carry someone through tens of thousands of miles?
Unless.. it was because of this place!
Yi Qing looked around at the Yin Qi that was still filling the surroundings. Then, he faced the person beside him. "Yun Heng, what kind of place is this northern region? Why is that even though the remnant souls have entered Samsara, the Yin Qi remains?"
Yun Heng stared blankly back at him. Honestly, he replied, "Well... I don't understand the exact reason as well. It's said that this place has been like that since the ancient times. The story is that this place has always been extremely cold, so it attracted many evil spirits. As time went by, so much Yin Qi accumulated that nobody could get rid of it anymore. The northern region did not use to be this big. It only got bigger because more and more Yin Qi accumulated here over time, and the number of evil spirits increased as well."
"That's right..." He suddenly recalled something else and continued, "It is also said that the evil spirits over here used to consume human beings. A few hundred years ago, deviant ghosts that consumed people appeared. All our Mystic cultivator ancestors gathered them over here."
He sighed as a pained expression crossed his face. "Ever since that day, more and more deviant ghosts appeared. The entire northern region grew in size until it became this big."
"Why are you suddenly asking about this?" Lonemoon could not help but ask. "What are you thinking?"
Yi Qing frowned and explained what was in his head. "If those deviant ghosts could affect Song Ren, then the grievous energy in his body-"
Ads by Revcontent
"Could be related to this northern region!" Lonemoon finally understood. He turned to Yun Heng. "Where was the place to which evil spirits first became attracted?"
"It's the north-most region!" Yun Heng pointed in front of them.
Lonemoon and Yi Qing exchanged a meaningful look and nodded curtly. "Let's go and take a look!" They were going to do it, whether to find out the truth or just to look for that Mischievous Ghost.
The direction that Yun Heng pointed out was where the Yin Qi seemed the thickest. Yi Qing brought Shen Ying and Lonemoon pulled onto Yun Heng. Four of them mounted swords and headed straight in. The closer they got, the darker their surroundings became. The Yin Qi was frighteningly thick. They could faintly see several remnant souls fly past them.
This was the mortal world, yet they felt like they were in the Underworld. In fact, the Yin Qi here was even thicker than Yin Qi in the Underworld.
Lonemoon's heart fell. Why was there such a place in the mortal world? What was going on?
Before he could figure things out, he felt the load on his sword lighten.
"Aiya!" He did not know whether it was because he was not used to it – Yun Heng, who had been standing on the sword, suddenly let out a loud cry and fell off headfirst. Before Lonemoon could react, Yun Heng reached the ground. Thankfully, Lonemoon had not been flying that high.
Lonemoon pursed his lips. How could he fall down from the sword? This was one embarrassing Soul Formation cultivator. He must have been one of a kind!
"Hey, are you alright?"
Ads by Revcontent
"I'm... alright!" Yun Heng rubbed his face and got to his feet. He looked confused.
"If you weren't balanced, you should have told me first. I would have set up an array!"
"Exalted Master, that's not true," Yun Heng shook his head. "Someone... pushed me."
"What?" Lonemoon paused. Lonemoon was just about to reach out to help Yun Heng back up on the sword when something seemed to move beneath his feet. "Be careful!"
The next moment, he shot a burst of spirit Qi which trapped the person on the floor and pulled him up.
There were a series of swooshes as thorns appeared on the ground where Yun Heng had been standing. Each one of them emanated chilling Yin Qi that was capable of getting rid of any kind of spirit Qi.
Yun Heng jumped, frightened. His entire body stiffened. If Exalted Master Lonemoon had been a second slower, he would have been pierced by a thousand thorns by now.
"There are no arrays here." Yi Qing activated his divine perception to scan the surroundings and shook his head. "There are also no strange auras."
Ads by Revcontent
Lonemoon frowned. Was this really purely coincidental? Did Yun Heng happen to stumble upon these thorns by chance?
He decided to put this aside. Later on, however, as they flew deeper in, Yun Heng seemed become possessed by an ill-fortune ghost. Everywhere he went, something bad happened.
He dropped into mud here, then walked into stone walls there. First, he got burned by deviant fire that fell from the sky, then even remnant souls who were just floating by and which had no intention of doing any harm would suddenly turn around and scare him, so that his legs felt like jelly.
If Lonemoon had not been watching over him, Yun Heng would have slipped and died a couple of times.
The more important thing was, these unfortunate events seemed to only be happening to him. The other three were unaffected. Not even a single hair on their heads was missing.
After Yun Heng nearly fell off the sword for the 101st time, Lonemoon conjured a seal to catch him in mid-air. These things were coming instinctively to Lonemoon now. He started to pull Yun Heng up.
Beside him, Chef's expression suddenly changed. "Father Niu!" Suddenly, a burst of sword Qi brushed past them. There was a ring and a crash. Something was rebounded by the sword Qi.
Lonemoon took a closer look and saw that there were many black bodies around him. They were all charging toward the group, looking mildly explosive.
Grievous energy again!
The Yin Qi was too thick, so he had not realized the grievous energy earlier. His heart jumped, and he quickly set up an array to protect the entire group of people. Compared to the earlier attacks which were only directed at Yun Heng, these bodies of grievous energy were unbiased.
More and more bodies of grievous energy appeared. Faintly, they could hear chilling ghostly cries.
"Quick, look down!" Yun Heng, who was yanked over by Lonemoon, exclaimed as he pointed downward. His face was drained of all color.
They all looked down. The pitch-black wasteland was now filled with countless illusory figures. Each of them looked terribly frightening.
"Remnant souls!" Yi Qing shouted.
Chapter 392: Shards of Memories
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Why were there so many remnant souls all of a sudden? All the way here, they had only seen about one or two remnant souls. The situation looked like... the remnant souls were being summoned by the grievous energy?!
More and more remnant souls began to appear below them – the number just about doubled. What's more, the newer ones looked more and more frightening. The ghostly cries were so high-pitched that all of their eardrums felt like they were going to burst at any moment.
Yun Heng's body swayed. He could not handle the sights and sounds before him. Lonemoon immediately conjured a seal to block out the noise.
"Many thanks Exalted Master." Yun Heng looked slightly better. He watched as the number of remnant souls kept increasing. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I'm going to set up the array and send them to Samsara."
"Wait!" Lonemoon stopped him just as he was about to conjure the seal. "There are too many of them, you won't be able to deal with them on your own." Moreover, Lonemoon no longer needed him as an advertisement.
Lonemoon pushed Yun Heng to the back of the sword. With two hands, he formed a huge Rebirth Seal beneath their feet, which at once covered the ground where a significant number of remnant souls were standing. All around, the Yin Qi began to dissipate. All the hideous ghosts began to recover their original looks. However, they did not disappear. Instead, a fresh flow of Yin Qi caused all of them to look hideous again.
"Eh?" Lonemoon paused. "What's going on?" The array was working fine!
Ads by Revcontent
Yi Qing, on the other hand, was thinking deeply. Could it be...
He activated his assistant authority to scan their surroundings. His eyes widened. "The River of Forgetfulness... is gone."
"What!" Lonemoon exclaimed. He instinctively activated his own assistant authority, but the scene before him remained the same. Everything remained pitch black. Indeed, there was no sign of the River of Forgetfulness.
"Could it be that the River of Forgetfulness has a blind spot?" How could it not be present here?!
"I think so..." Shen Ying suddenly raised her hand. "Perhaps you should activate your wide-angle lens."
What?
The two of them stared blankly back at her. A moment later, they understood. Activating their divine perception, they scanned the surroundings. Their expressions immediately changed.
Holy shit shit shit shit shit!
Ads by Revcontent
(⊙_⊙)
What the hell?!
They saw that within a radius of 500 kilometers, there were golden rivers flowing everywhere. However, it was not one main river that flowed through this region. Instead, the river seemed to have been cut up into little pieces of unequal lengths, and then dispersed all over the place. Some ran through the ground, some were floating in mid-air, some were standing up tall like pillars and some were so twisted that they looked like vines.
How was that the River of Forgetfulness? It was in little pieces like a puzzle. A puzzle that was missing many pieces, at that.
"What... What exactly happened here?" Lonemoon's face was a mask of confusion. He had never seen such a messy River of Forgetfulness. Was Shortie on strike?
With the River of Forgetfulness in such a messy state, nobody knew how to even begin trying to clean it up.
"Maybe there'll be an answer over there!" Yi Qing pointed to the front where there seemed to be a blinking golden light..
Lonemoon tried to look closely and found that it was the source of all the little golden pieces. it was probably the place from which the River of Forgetfulness flowed into this little world. In other words, it was what Yun Heng had referred to as the north-most region.
"Chef, lead the way. We'll take a look!" Lonemoon instructed.
Ads by Revcontent
Yi Qing nodded and summoned his sword intent. They heard a cry of a dragon. The sword Qi immediately turned into a white dragon before their eyes, which broke through the array, flew through the thick grievous energy and the crowd of remnant souls, and created a clear path for the group to walk.
The few of them flew after the dragon, toward the north-most region. They flew extremely fast, so that they arrived at the place where the River of Forgetfulness looked the richest within seconds.
The moment they landed, they scanned their surroundings. Apart from the fact that the Yin Qi felt much thicker here, there seemed to be nothing unusual.
"Shen Ying." Lonemoon nudged the person beside him. "Do you feel like anything's amiss?" For some reason, Lonemoon felt weird.
"Oh, I think this place is...." She stopped mid-sentence. There was a strange expression in her eyes. A moment later, he tilted her head and said, "I don't know."
"..." What the hell was "is I don't know" supposed to mean? You freaking know!
"Father Niu, I believe you!" She judged him.
"Get lost!" Lonemoon glared at her. After thinking for a second, he pulled up a screen. He recalled the few-hundred-page-thick instruction manual, then began to slowly operate the screen.
A few minutes later, rows of data appeared on the screen. He retrieved his notebook and compared the numbers to the ones already in his notebook before. Suddenly, his expression darkened and he frowned.
"Why is this place's data in a mess?"
Ads by Revcontent
"What's the matter?" Yi Qing asked.
"This place is different from everywhere else. Its data seems... flipped around!" That was if he had not noted down the wrong numbers earlier.
Yi Qing stared blankly at him, as if not understanding what Lonemoon meant by "flipped around". He closed his eyes and released his divine perception to sense the auras around. A few seconds later, he widened his eyes in shock. "There are all kinds of auras mixed around here, including spirit Qi!" By right, spirit Qi could not be mixed with other Qis like Yin Qi and ghost Qi. In a place with such rich Yin Qi, one would expect there to be no spirit Qi present at all. Yet, there was also immortal Qi mixed in the air around here!
"Exalted Masters, what are you talking about?" Yun Heng stepped forward and asked, looking positively confused.The entire way here, he had been unlucky, Now as he took that step forward, he tripped and fell.
He was just about to land face first into the ground. Shen Ying had been far away. Suddenly, she appeared by his side and reached out to keep him steady.
"Lightbulb, stop touching things." They'll break.
"Huh?" Before Yun Heng could react, they heard several cracks underneath his feet, as if something has just broken.
There was a white beam of light which lit up beside him where he would have fallen. It broke through the darkness and caused the surroundings to become brighter and brighter. The light embraced all four of them.
Ads by Revcontent
Shen Ying sighed softly. Aiya...
The gray fog cleared up into light. Faintly, they saw a figure that resembled a blessed and holy ground.
"An Illusory realm!" Lonemoon immediately recognized that sorcery. He conjured a seal to try to get rid of the illusion.
"Wait!" Yi Qing called out. He looked around and said, "There are no killing machines in this illusion. It doesn't look like it's trying to trap us. Instead..." It looked like it was trying to tell them something.
Lonemoon relaxed his hand and pondered for a moment. Activating several bursts of his own spirit Qi, he walked around the group, gesturing for each of them to reach out and hold on to the spirit Qi. He did not want anyone to get lost – especially not that directionless dimwit. He made two more rounds, just for safety.
A few seconds later, the bright light began to clear up. The few of them paused to take a look at the surroundings. Everything was much clearer now. But before they could see what was in front of them, their eyes narrowed all at once.
Holy shit!
(⊙ o ⊙)
This was a place with extremely rich spirit Qi. There were spirit herbs and spirit plants everywhere. There were even spirit peaks floating in mid-air. However, in the middle of the entire scene, there was one huge black hole. It looked like someone had torn a hole in the sky. Everything around them began to turn in circles around the hole, finally being sucked into it.
Lonemoon and Yi Qing's hearts sank. At the same time, they called out.
"A crack in the plane!"
"It's also a typhoon," Shen Ying added lazily.
"..."
Chapter 393: The Story of the Illusory Realm
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
"What!" Lonemoon's chest tightened. So this was a plane storm. He had heard people talking about it before – plane storms were much scarier than cracks in the plane. If one did not handle it in time, they would get bigger and bigger, until the entire plane became affected by it. "What are we waiting for then? Fix it up!"
"Father Niu, this is an illusory realm," Yi Qing reminded him.
Lonemoon stopped himself. Shit, he nearly forgot.
Wait a moment!
If all of this was an illusion...
"How can people create illusions of plane storms?"
Things that happened in the illusory realm were pre-set by the people who set up the array with the intention of attracting others. However, only the three of them and Meng Po knew about planes. How could this person set up illusions that contained such realistic plane storms?
Ads by Revcontent
Unless that person had seen one before!
So...
"This plane storm isn't real – it's something that has happened here before!"
Yi Qing thought of this too. His heart sank as he turned to look at the black hole with a somber expression. A plane storm appeared in such a small world like this – how did they settle it?
Before he could give it further thought, an anxious voice came from behind them. "Uncle-Master!"
Two figures appeared, one in front of the other, and flew over toward them. They did not seem to be able to see the group of four standing there. In fact, they brushed right past them. Their cultivation levels did not look low. The duo stopped in front of the group, just a couple metres away.
"Uncle-Master, it's too dangerous here. We should go back and inform Sect Master and the rest first," said the man on the left as he kept his eyes on the black hole. He sounded very anxious as he spoke.
"There's no more time!" The other man shook his head. "If we don't block this hole it will get bigger and bigger. The entire world will be sucked into it."
Ads by Revcontent
"But..."
"Disciple-Nephew Cui, quick send a transmission to the sect. Tell them to get the people living within a hundred mile radius of this place away! I'm going to try and block it!" Once he finished speaking, he turned toward the storm and flew over.
"Uncle-Master!" The man clenched his fists by his sides. Yet, he had no other solution. All he could do was grit his teeth and follow his Uncle-Master's instructions.
The other man stopped a few metres away from the storm and tried to stabilize himself. Raising both hands, he began to conjure a seal. In a flash, a huge array appeared, flying toward the plane storm. The array was obviously meant to seal up the hole, which was swallowing everything around it.
But it was a plane storm afterall. How could this one man be able to deal with it? In just a second, the array collapsed in front of the black hole. The man tried several other arrays, but to no avail. The hole in the sky got bigger and bigger.
Although he knew that this was just a replay of something that happened in the past, Lonemoon could not help but feel curious. How exactly did this man deal with the plane storm?
Indeed, after the man tried and failed ten other different techniques, he clenched his fists by his side and stood upright for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, he made up his mind. He gritted his teeth, drew his spirit sword and stabbed himself right through the chest.
Holy shit!
Lonemoon nearly fell backward with shock. This was not the time to give up on himself, was it?
Ads by Revcontent
The next thing they knew, blood was spurting out from the man's chest like a broken tap. As if they had been activated, the blood gathered and condensed to form an array, which grew bigger and bigger until the last drop of blood dropped from the man's chest and he fell over. A translucent figure drifted out of the man's body, poised in the same array-conjuring manner as the man was just a few seconds ago.
This was... Double-Cultivator Soul Technique!
(⊙ o ⊙)
How awesome!
The array had been activated. The sky became entirely red. The white figure looked phenomenal against the red backdrop. Even the pitch-black hole in the plane became red.
Lonemoon's eyes were bulging out of his skull. He looked on in disbelief at the man who had just stabbed himself in the chest.
He was trying to...
"Offer his spirit!"
This was a bit overboard, wasn't it? He was offering up his own soul as a sacrifice just to close up that hole in the sky. Still, that was a plane storm. Even if he did this, it would not necessarily...
"Look at the River of Forgetfulness!" Yi Qing exclaimed.
Ads by Revcontent
Lonemoon turned to look at the ground. The River of Forgetfulness in the illusory realm had been normal, but now, under the activation of the array, the calm waters began to stir. Layers and layers of golden flowers began to form on the water surface. At last, as if they were being pulled by strings, countless golden droplets of light gathered toward the array.
A minute later, the red of the Soul-Sacrificing Array became golden. The array flew straight toward the hole.
"He's using the River of Forgetfulness to seal that hole up!" Lonemoon finally understood what the man was doing. However, only Meng Po had the power to control the River of Forgetfulness. It was no wonder he felt the need to sacrifice his own soul. But even so, it might not...
The blood array that turned golden had already fully covered the hole, but it did not completely block it. The force that was sucking everything into the hole was becoming even stronger, so that the array began to look warped.
The man's soul was getting more and more translucent. He did not look like he could hold on for much longer. Gritting his teeth, he flicked his wrists, and the ground trembled. The River of Forgetfulness below him broke into different segments and rose into the sky, toward the array.
Finally, the blackhole of the plane storm reduced in size. The pitch-black hole minimized toward its center.
But the man had already reached the limits of his body. His figure was fast disappearing. If this carried on, the array would be gone before the hole was completely dealt with
At this crucial moment, a panicked cry came from below. "Help!"
Ads by Revcontent
Perhaps it was because the entire ground shook earlier. A man in green robes suddenly entered the area where the plane storm was. He was hugging a tree, trying to pull himself back out of the dangerous region.
A look of pain flashed across the face of the man who was barely holding it together. As if having made up his mind, he shot a burst of spirit Qi out of his body and pulled the other man over.
"Eh?" The man who got pulled up paused and looked at him. "Thank you, you've saved-"
"I'm sorry!" Before he could finish his sentence, the first man closed his eyes, not daring to look. A burst of spirit Qi shot straight through the other man's heart
He did not even have time to defend himself. His soul was pushed right out of his body.
The first man flicked his wrist so that the other man's soul glowed. The glowing soul entered the first man's translucent body. The two souls became one. The first man's soul looked less translucent.
He conjured another seal and the array once again glowed strongly golden. The hole was now reducing in size even more quickly. Within half a minute, the plane storm that threatened to swallow the entire earth earlier had disappeared.
The soul of the man who set the array up was now almost gone. With a soft clink, his own soul took on the same glow as the earlier man's did. Then, his soul split into two halves, each of which floated into the River of Forgetfulness.
Yi Qing: "..."
.Lonemoon, "..."
Yun Heng: "..."
They watched a brutal... rescue of the world?
The few people who had been watching the entire scene kept silent for a long while. All kinds of different emotions filled their hearts. Then, the scene before their eyes changed once again.
Chapter 394: Doomed Fate across Four Lives
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As compared to the immortal mountains and blessed earth previously, the image now was apparently the mortal world. All who walked past in the surroundings were mortals with no Spirit Qi. This seemed to be the house of a not prominent, but well-to-do family.
A half-grown child ran past him laughing. Though his looks were strange, the people had somehow recognized at first sight that this person in front of them was that man in green, who was almost blown into plane storm and dragged by the world-saving cultivator to do soul salvation.
So this... was his afterlife after his soul was repaired by Samsara? They were slightly stunned and became even more confused. They couldn't understand the meaning of this illusion and had to look on. Yet what happened next inside the illusion filled them with mixed emotions.
That man in green was named Wen Tianyou in this life, and he was the son of a merchant. His biggest wish in his whole life was to make enough money and marry the most beautiful girl in the city. Since ten, he saved every bit of money in a jar and buried it carefully like it was a treasure. And he was indeed talented in money-making. Before he turned twenty, he already owned a whole street of shops in the city, and became the richest man in the city. Everything was perfect. Yet on the day that he was about to marry his beloved girl, all of this suddenly stopped.
Someone came from the city. Immortals who came from the sky besides. They said that Wen Tianyou was a person with great prospects, and that he was meant to achieve the great success of Heavenly Ascension one day. Tianyou didn't want to go, neither did he want to do immortal cultivation. Yet his parents said that this was his fate. His friends said that he was in great luck. Even the girl that he liked said that he was an extraordinary person indeed. Everyone thought that he should go on the immortal way.
And Tianyou had to go. The top genius of immortal sect, Supremacy Wen Ding, wanted to take him in as a disciple. He even promised that he would be his only disciple, and that he would teach him all he knew. All cultivators envied his good luck, yet he himself was not in the least willing. For some unknown reason, he didn't like that person. He even wanted to go away every time he saw him, with a premonition that something bad was about to happen.
He didn't imagine that such a premonition became reality a few months later.
Ads by Revcontent
A huge black hole suddenly appeared in the sky, and only the array of Supremacy Wen Ding could fill that gap, otherwise the whole world would be destroyed. Yet this array required soul sacrifice. Unfortunately, his soul on its own was not sufficient to activate the array, and another soul similar to his was needed.
And Wen Tianyou was that person!
He suddenly understood why everyone forced him to cultivate despite him having a Maimed Spirit Root.
Yet he didn't want to die. He was afraid. He wanted to run. He didn't want his soul to be destroyed.
Yet he had no chance. The escape plan was discovered.
Within one night, all those fellow cultivators of the sect who used to be amiable and caring to him changed their faces and started calling him selfish, insensitive, and ungrateful.
The sect master said, "We immortal cultivators are meant to protect justice in this world to begin with. How can you abandon the living beings of the whole world for your single self?
His fellow cultivators said, "We thought that although inferior in quality, since Supremacy favored you, you must have strong character. I didn't imagine that... I have seen you wrong.
Ads by Revcontent
Cultivators of other sects said, "You are one of the living beings of this world as well. How can you bear watching living beings die? Once you leave, you destroy the whole world."
His parents said, "My son, the immortal elders are right! How can you be so selfish? Since you are already an immortal cultivator, you should just be like Supremacy Wen Ding and put life and death aside."
The girl he liked said, "How can you be like this? You are not the Big Brother Tianyou I knew anymore!"
...
Everyone told him that he shouldn't escape. Everyone told him that he should be sacrificed for the array. Everyone told him that... he must die!
But... he didn't want to!
He was named Tianyou, yet heaven didn't seem to protect him any more! ["Tianyou" means "protected by heaven" in Chinese]
Finally he was still pushed onto the altar. He saw his best friend in the past push the spiritual sword into his chest, saw his own blood drain bit by bit, gathering together into an array. He saw his own soul slowly dissipate. Yet he was completely unable to resist.
Until the moment when he was about to disappear. Into his ears came the familiar voice of Supremacy Wen Ding, whose soul was about to dissipate just like him. "I'm sorry!"
Ads by Revcontent
From his remnant soul which was already changed into light spots, grievous energy suddenly emerged. Yet both of them went right into the River of Forgetfulness.
And then it was the third life...
Due to his being reborn with grievous energy in his remnant soul, Wen Tianyou surprisingly had the memory of his past life. His great hatred made him fall into the demonic way since young. He vowed to kill all the cultivators in the world to avenge himself.
He practiced the most dangerous forbidden techniques and the most vicious mental cultivations. He went through all the suffering in the world and finally became a Skyfiend. He gathered tens of thousands of demons to attack the immortal sect. Yet in the last minute his efforts failed, because he met a person who brought blessings with him since birth, and had a golden light of merit all around him. While the man's cultivation was inferior to his own, he still died under his immense karma, his soul sacrificed once more.
What was ridiculous, was that he only recognized the man in his last moment. He recognized where the merit on him came from, and it was actually... the merit of world-saving!
Both being souls being sacrificed alive, himself was cast aside by the whole world and damned by the cultivators, while he got a good name passed down for generations, genuine gratitude by everyone, and the merit of world-saving!
So he was not only fighting those decent cultivators and his fate but also heaven!
Eventually, he fell into complete despair, only hoping that the heaven would let him go so that he could have a life of safety and security.
And then... his fourth life came.
This time, there was no great trouble at first. He had no memory of his past life, and there was no more black hole in the world. He was only an ordinary scholarly student, who for the benefit of preparing for exams, purposely moved to a quiet small house in the woods miles away from the county city.
Ads by Revcontent
One day, about a dozen Mystic cultivators in yellow robes ran hurriedly along a lane outside the woods. Behind them was a very strong wave of Yin Qi, as though something was chasing behind them. The group hurriedly took out a voice transmission talisman to seek help.
After a while, from the talisman paper came a male voice soft as water. "In front of you is the county. You can't let the deviant ghosts inside the city to harm the civilians. Use the sealing talisman to seal them temporarily into the woods back there."
"Yes, Heaven Master!"
As such, all the deviant ghosts filled the woods, and devoured the only living person inside there alive. Not even his bones were left.
The scholarly student became a ghost, and his soul was about to be divided into tens of thousands of pieces. An immense wave of grievous energy that even himself couldn't understand erupted, and it was non-stop. After being devoured by the grievous energy, only one thought left in his heart.
He wanted an answer, wanted a justice, and wanted to ask why.
But.... even himself forgot why he had to ask that, and who he should ask.
So he rushed out of the surrounding remnant souls, out of the orders of heaven and earth, and then...
Ads by Revcontent
Appeared in front of the Manager!
Shen Ying, "..."
.Lonemoon, "..."
Yi Qing: "..."
They finally understood why these illusions appeared.
The three remained silent for a while, and then turned back together, to look at Yun Heng, who swayed as though he just suffered a major blow.
Coincidentally, that scholarly student was called Song Ren, and the Heaven Master in that voice transmission talisman had the surname of Yun.
"..."
Chapter 395: Yun Heng's Amendment
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The truth came so suddenly that all of them were stunned. Especially Yun Heng. He seemed as if he had lost his consciousness and stood in his original position without moving for a long time.
The illusion surrounding them shifted back to that scene of Song Ren's first life, like a replayed movie.
Lonemoon and Yi Qing's expression were complex as well. They finally understood where Song Ren's inexplicable hatred towards Yun Heng came from. And the endless grievous energy on him that even Little Shortie couldn't eliminate. And why it could only be eliminated when Shen Ying was around. Subconsciously, he must have still wanted justice. The justice that even the Heavenly Dao couldn't give him only Shen Ying can be the only one to give it to him.
Yet this was a matter in which there was no saying who was right and who was wrong. His miserable four lives were pitiful indeed. Yet in whichever life, what Yun Heng did were truly great world-saving deeds. Should he not stop the plane storm, perhaps not only Song Ren, but all the people in the small world would die. Even souls would disappear in the crack of the plane, unable to be reborn ever again.
Yun Heng chose the best method. He had to save the people of the world for so many times, even risking his own soul. That was why he received genuine gratitude from the world, and heaven-blessed good karma for every life.
From the angle of righteousness, nobody could say that his choices were wrong.
Maybe Yun Heng had not let the whole world down, but he did let Song Ren down.
Ads by Revcontent
"Why doesn't Moldy Ghost's body light up?" Shen Ying's head tilted, and she suddenly asked.
Yi Qing was confused for a moment and then understood that she was talking about merit. He explained in a low voice, "Master, although doing good deeds could accumulate merit, there was no specific boundary for so-called good and evil in the first place. So only when one gets genuine gratitude from another, do they receive merit."
"Oh." Shen Ying frowned. "So... nobody was grateful to Moldy Ghost?"
"..."
Yi Qing didn't answer, and his expression darkened. Not only was nobody grateful, in the first life, nobody even knew about his share in saving the world. In the second life, he was forced onto the altar. In the third life, it was not even worth mentioning. He was a head of demons to begin with, not to mention gratitude, it could not be imagined how many hated him. That was why each of his lives was more unlucky than the previously. Yet due to their souls being blended in the first life, a connection was made between him and Yun Heng, such that they got involved with each other in every life.
"Hey, what do you mean to do about this matter?" Lonemoon gave Shen Ying a push, pointed towards Yun Heng whose thoughts still hadn't returned and said.
"Huh?" Shen Ying's look was totally blank. What's that got to do with me?
"What 'huh'?" Lonemoon gave her a stare. "This illusion has put it clearly enough. Song Ren is here to seek justice from you!"
Ads by Revcontent
"Sigh. What a bother..."
"What a bother, it's got to be resolved after all. What should we do?"
Shen Ying tilted her head and gave it thought, "Maybe make a salad?"
"..."
Such a world conundrum is so difficult!
"Talking about salads... I just remembered that I haven't eaten dinner yet. Chef, do you have stock with you? So hungry!"
"Yes, Master. It will be ready soon, Master!" Yi Qing nodded hard, and with a dedication to his job, he produced from his storage bag, four, five, six... ten dishes, and put a table, chairs and cutlery in place.
He invited Shen Ying to sit down first. With a turn of his hand, he called out a True Phoenix Fire. With some sizzling noises, the dishes which were slightly cold were heated, producing inviting smells.
"Master, you can eat now."
Ads by Revcontent
"Bake that pork leg a bit more. I like it crispy."
"Yes Master, no problem Master!"
Lonemoon: "..." Son of a b*tch!
Hey, can't you look at the place we are in? We are still inside the illusion and you set up a table and eat so openly, do you think we're watching a movie?
He had an urge to knock down the table. Yet looking at a certain person who was already busy eating, the corner of his mouth twitched, and after a long while, he still sat down by the table to wait for her to finish eating first.
The style of the illusion which was originally dangerous and unpredictable suddenly changed. Three sat by the table, eating wildly, and one stood in a daze, unmoving, not far away.
"Hey, I mean... are you eating more and more recently?"
"One more bowl of rice, Chef!"
"Yes Master, no problem Master!"
"..."
Ads by Revcontent
***
Two hours later.
Shen Ying finally finished eating and looked at Yun Heng, who finally gathered his thoughts, yet kneeled in front of them with a firm look on his face.
"You've decided?"
"Yes!" He cupped his fist and replied. The previous looks of shock and confusion were all gone. "I've remembered the previous lives. I ask three masters... no, three Exalted Immortals, to fulfill my wish."
"You've got to consider it clearly!" Lonemoon stepped forward and reminded him in a deep voice, "You originally had the quality for confirmed Immortal Ascension. Should you give up now, you may not be able to reach ascension in your next life... no, forever."
"I didn't do those things for Immortal Ascension to begin with." He smiled. Not the kind smile from earlier, but a very relieved smile. "In any case, I'm the one who wronged him, and the justice that he asked for naturally should be paid by me."
Lonemoon frowned. Yet seeing his insistence, he could only sigh. After a long while, he couldn't help but ask, "Those lives... do you regret them?"
Ads by Revcontent
"No!" He shook his head without hesitation. "If I'm to repeat them, I would still choose to do as such. In the face of great righteousness, sacrifice is inevitable, even if it means more resentment to be born. Just that... I hope I'd be able to compensate him."
For a time, Lonemoon didn't actually known how to evaluate this matter. He was apparently a good guy who made saving the world his own mission for four lives, not even refraining from sacrificing himself. Yet he was just the one who made Song Ren's soul dissipate so many times that he ended up with immense hatred.
"This is already the best way that I can think of." Yun Heng's hands tightened beside his body. "Though it might be completely meaningless, at least give him a fair chance."
"Okay!" Shen Ying nodded and gave Chef beside her a look.
Only then did Yi Qing make a seal with one hand. A flash of white light went out from his hand. With a clanging sound, the whole illusion changed into thousands of pieces like a mirror broken, and then disappeared.
They returned once more to that Northern land full of Yin Qi. Only that in the air in front, several meters away, there was a new black figure. He suspended in mid-air, and grievous energy as dark as ink surrounded his whole body, with some violent and wild aura. His body shape could not be seen clearly, yet a blade-like look could be felt to direct right towards Yun Heng, as though to pierce him.
Yun Heng stepped forward and looked up at the black shadow in the air. He could not discern the emotions in his head. Guilt, regret, relief, and many other things. He looked firmly at that black shadow for a long while, before he spoke in a low voice. "I know it is too late now to do anything. But... I hope for you to have another chance to begin again."
Once his voice fell, the black shadow in the air looked as though he couldn't control himself anymore, and he suddenly changed into a wave of black mist, rushing over violently. Like sharp blades, they directly penetrated several holes in Yun Heng's body.
Glaring blood suddenly appeared all over him. Yet Yun Heng used his last strength to produce a seal with both hands! In the next instant, red lights flashed, and blood rushed out wildly, directly changed into many chains, trapping the whole block of grievous energy.
In the air, a gigantic golden array appeared and shrouded the two people underneath. Yun Heng's hand did not stop. He finished up the seal very rapidly, before he said word by word, "May my blood form your chance of life. May my soul cast your soul! I sacrifice all of me in exchange for your rebirth."