Xianzhou City.
Mu Zhe walked along the main street, his brows suddenly furrowing slightly for some reason.
Jiu Xi, drooling over the demonic cultivators walking around, noticed this and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Mu Zhe closed his eyes slightly, spreading his divine sense silently over the entire city of Xianzhou, and whispered, "Something's not right."
Jiu Xi inhaled a few breaths of demonic energy from a passing demonic cultivator, then sneaked back like a thief: "Hmm? What's wrong?"
Mu Zhe said, "When I was clearing out the plague demons in Yuzhou City, those thirteen plague demons were scattered throughout the city, but the plague demons here..."
He pointed to the center of Xianzhou, "...seem to be fewer than thirteen, and they're all gathered in one place."
Jiu Xi gave a blank "Ah," not quite understanding, and simply asked, "Can I eat them later?"
Mu Zhe stopped, opened his eyes, and stared intently in the direction of the plague demons.
Jiu Xi: "Not going?"
Mu Zhe: "I can't go."
Jiu Xi: "Ah?"
"Master just wants to get rid of me, not actually make me get rid of those thirteen plague demons," Mu Zhe said. "As long as Master kills Li Genglan, or Senior Brother Sanshui stops Feng Yun from activating the 'Plague Demon Raising' formation, those plague demons won't be a threat."
Jiu Xi looked at the demonic cultivators running around, slurping their food. The feeling of being able to watch but not eat was too painful. He forcibly tore his gaze away from the demonic cultivators and said with difficulty, "Then what are we going to do? You don't just want to wait here, do you?"
Mu Zhe naturally wouldn't just wait. He spread out his divine sense again, but this time he wasn't searching for plague demons, but for cultivators and mortals.
Sure enough.
Mu Zhe suddenly opened his eyes, turned south, and said, "Let's go."
He had already quickly left, and Jiu Xi hurriedly followed, asking, "Where are you going?! To eat?"
Mu Zhe's voice was flat: "To rescue people."
The thirteen plague demons were not yet complete, and there were definitely other mortals or cultivators in Xianzhou City who had been captured by the demonic cultivators and brought there to be refined into plague demons.
If they could be rescued in time, the plague demon-raising formation would be ineffective without thirteen plague demons.
But Mu Zhe still felt something was strange.
Since ancient times, records of "raising plague demons" have always taken place in mortal cities, because mortals are powerless, while any plague demon with some cultivation could easily cause a one-sided massacre.
For example, Fengdu.
And the unfinished Yuzhou City back then.
This time, the "plague demon-raising" formation was in a demonic cultivator's city.
Xianzhou is teeming with demonic cultivators, even boasting two Demon Lords at the Nascent Soul stage. Even if they created plague demons, they couldn't possibly slaughter the entire city so easily.
This formation only works in mortal cities; in a city with cultivators, it's practically a joke.
Yet Li Genglan did it, and Feng Yun and the Demon Lord were also involved in the plot. Mu Zhe felt there must be a larger conspiracy behind this.
Shen Gurong, facing Li Genglan, couldn't possibly lose due to the several-realm advantage. The plague demons could be easily dealt with; the most difficult thing was the formation, whose location was unknown.
Mu Zhe even began to suspect that the formation in Xianzhou might actually be a "plague demon raising" formation, and that the already created plague demons might just be a decoy to mislead them.
Thinking further, Yu Xinghe was lured to Fengdu, and at the same time, their spirit boat had its spirit plate smashed by demonic cultivators, accidentally entering Fengdu…
Then they followed the weasel into Xianzhou.
Perhaps, all of this was just a trap set by Li Genglan to lure Shen Gurong to Xianzhou.
Jiu Xi followed him, noticing his extremely pale face, and whispered, "What are you thinking about?"
Mu Zhe had already strode into the mansion where cultivators and mortals were imprisoned, swiftly killing countless demonic guards, and breaking through a hidden door into a cage made of black iron.
Indeed, there were cultivators imprisoned inside the iron cage.
Mu Zhe walked over with a somber expression, his gaze sweeping inside, and suddenly froze.
Inside the cage, Miao Qingfeng and Su Fangyi were attempting to draw an array to escape when the door was suddenly kicked open, startling them. They looked out in horror.
There was little light here, and it took them a while to recognize Mu Zhe.
Mu Zhe: "..." Why is it them again?
Su Fangyi looked at him, and tears suddenly began to slowly slide down her cheeks.
Mu Zhe, considering that Su Fangyi had previously informed him of the Daoist Companion Pact, didn't object too much. Just as he was about to use the Jiu Xi Sword to break open the cage, Su Fangyi suddenly rushed over, gripping the iron bars tightly with both hands, and hissed, "Holy Lord...has the Holy Lord arrived?"
Mu Zhe frowned: "What?"
"The Holy Lord cannot come to Xianzhou!" Su Fangyi's face was streaked with tears, choking back sobs, "My master...Feng...Feng Yun wants to use the lives of countless demonic cultivators in Xianzhou City to activate the formation and steer the Heavenly Dao back to the right path."
Mu Zhe was stunned, immediately stepping forward, and said sternly, "What do you mean?!"
Su Fangyi said, "That formation isn't 'Raising Plague Ghosts'! It's a trap, the Holy Lord cannot come to Xianzhou!" She trembled with sobs.
Miao Qingfeng gently supported her, her face pale, and said to Mu Zhe, "Fangyi accidentally stumbled upon City Lord Fengyun and the Demon Lord discussing this matter, and that's why she was thrown into Xianzhou. They said she'd be made into a plague demon, she..."
Su Fangyi's pupils trembled. To be sent to Xianzhou to die without any emotion by the master who had raised her—the blow was too heavy for her.
Mu Zhe's face was grim. He used the Jiu Xi Sword to open the cage, severing the shackles on their wrists, and said in a deep voice, "Don't cry yet. Tell me what that formation is, what is meant by the righteous path of heaven?"
The wind rattled the small window frame, and even the mist seeped in little by little through the cracks in the windowpanes, swirling around in a hazy white fog.
"The righteous path of heaven?" Outside Xianzhou City, Shen Gurong smiled coldly. He leaned down slightly, looking down at Li Genglan, his lifeless eyes reflecting the ugly face.
"Tell me, what is the true path of Heaven?"
Li Genglan coldly replied, "The destiny ordained by Heaven is the true path."
And destiny is recorded in the Capital Records; the Capital Records are the true path.
Shen Gurong sneered upon hearing this: "You..."
Lin Xia Chun coughed.
Shen Gurong: "..."
Shen Gurong forcibly swallowed his words.
"You're talking nonsense."
His imposing manner clearly weakened. Shen Gurong glared at Lin Xia Chun irritably before continuing to Li Genglan: "Man proposes, God disposes. You can't even distinguish right from wrong, entrusting your future to a predetermined destiny. Don't you find that pathetic?"
Li Genglan replied, "Everything in the Three Realms is ordained by Heaven."
His blood-stained fingers gripped the handrail so tightly they nearly crushed the wooden frame to powder, a testament to the immense force he had used.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he spoke with a chilling glint in his eyes.
“Back then, there were tens of thousands of people in Youzhou, so why was I the only one mistaken for being possessed by the plague demon? That was fate.”
“Countless ferocious beasts roamed outside Youzhou, and I was just a child then. Why did I survive for several days before being saved by Nanyang, who happened to be passing by? That was fate.”
“I entered the Daoist path of demonic cultivation, found the plague poison in Youzhou, and used a fragment of a scroll I obtained by chance to research and create a magic array for ‘raising plague demons.’ That too was fate.”
“Everything is predetermined by the Heavenly Dao. The wheel of karma turns, and no one can escape its shackles.” Li Genglan said menacingly, “The wheel of cause and effect returns to the Heavenly Dao's destiny. The one who guards the Jing Shi Lu is the only one who can defy the Heavenly Dao. That’s why you survived back then and did not become a plague demon.”
Shen Gurong stared coldly at him, as if looking at a clown jumping around.
“If it weren’t for him!” Li Genglan hissed, “He was clearly favored by the Heavenly Dao, yet he defied it for a piece of trash, changing my predetermined fate. He deserved to die! He deserved to suffer for a hundred years, he deserved…”
Shen Gurong’s pupils suddenly contracted, a surge of rage engulfing his consciousness, almost burning him out of his mind.
“Deserved?” He murmured, repeating Li Genglan’s words, “You said he deserved it?”
Li Genglan saw his face finally change completely, and he laughed maniacally and gleefully, blurting out, “Yes, he deserved it! In the tens of millions of years of the Three Realms, which chosen one has been as pathetic as him? He actually destroyed himself for a mortal! His tragic death was entirely his own fault!”
Lin Xia Chun's expression finally changed. He tried to take half a step forward, wanting to persuade his master—though he felt it was pointless.
"Master..."
Shen Gurong trembled all over, his eyes bloodshot, desperately suppressing his impending rage, his pupils filled with an undisguised killing intent.
"Come here." Shen Gurong gently raised his hand, speaking softly to Lin Xia Chun without turning his head.
Lin Xia Chun hesitated: "Master..."
Shen Gurong said expressionlessly: "I'll say it one last time."
"Come here."
Lin Xia Chun: "..."
Lin Xia Chun had no choice but to transform into a sword, landing steadily in Shen Gurong's hand.
Shen Gurong trembled all over, but his hand holding the sword was as steady as a rock. His eyes were fixed on Li Genglan, his voice unwavering.
"Since you want to trap me, as you wish, I'm trapped here." Shen Gurong glanced down at Lin Xia Chun, whose eyes gleamed with a bloodthirsty coldness. With a slight turn of his hand, the sword flashed, its light illuminating their eyes.
"Since neither of us can get out, let's settle the score from back then." The blade slowly sliced across Li Geng Lan's neck, leaving a trail of blood.
A drop of blood slowly trickled from between his fingers, dripping onto the damp ground.
In the underground prison of Xianzhou City, Mu Zhe's jaw was clenched tightly, his fingers clenched so tightly that his sharp nails dug deep into his palms, blood dripping slowly from between his fingers.
Su Fangyi had composed herself. She crossed her arms and stammered, "Master…was she bewitched?"
"They're trying to force a predetermined course onto the 'right path' using an array. The dead cannot be brought back to life, and what has happened cannot be changed."
"Is what they call the 'right path' truly the right path?" Su Fangyi choked back tears, saying, "Isn't that something only heretics do?"
Miao Qingfeng gently patted her back, unable to find words to comfort her.
Mu Zhe's throat was thick with the taste of blood. He pressed his tongue against his palate, silently reciting the Calming Sutra three times before regaining his composure.
"You mean, a hundred years ago, Fengdu… that is, Huitang City, was set up with an array to 'raise plague demons'… Master was the only one saved and survived." Mu Zhe spoke each word with extreme difficulty, as if his throat was filled with blood, "And now, Li Genglan and Feng Yun are trying to force the events of that year onto the right path, to turn my Master back into the plague demon he was before, is that right?"
Miao Qingfeng nodded. "Yes."
Mu Zhe remained silent for a long time, then suddenly laughed, but there was no real smile in his eyes.
He murmured, "I understand."
All of Mu Zhe's previous unbelievable suspicions had become reality.
Shen Gurong was Shen Feng Xue.
There was no other world, no possession.
Shen Gurong said, "I have no home anymore."
With Huitang City now a ghost town, he truly has no home left.
Even when he learned from Shen Wanglan that Shen Gurong might be Shen Feng Xue, Mu Zhe still couldn't believe it, only wanting to wait for everything to settle down so Shen Gurong could tell him the whole truth himself.
But now, he was completely unprepared, yet forced to accept…
Accepting that Shen Feng Xue… Shen Gurong's special treatment of him back then was simply because he was someone Shen Gurong remembered from his past life.
The teacher Shen Gurong had cherished for so many years.
Over the years, Shen Gurong seemed to always be looking at his face, yet his heart was with someone else.
Now, recalling the way Shen Gurong looked at him, he felt a heart-wrenching pain.
Shen Gurong had only lost his memory all those years, but when… After returning to Huitang City, he fully regained his memories.
So why did Shen Gurong so unusually agree to his request so readily after leaving Fengdu?
Because he was supposed to be the reincarnation of the Master.
How ridiculous.
The more happy Mu Zhe was then, the more desperate he was now.
Mu Zhe slowly raised his hand, expressionlessly smearing the blood from his palm onto his face, wishing that the blood was the most potent poison in the world, so it could completely disfigure his face.
That way, he wouldn't be mistaken for anyone else by Shen Gurong.
Author's Note:
Mu Zhe cried in anger: You did this all for my face!
Master: ??? What kind of stand-in novel did you read??
If their romance is too angsty, you can hit me.
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