Chapter 64 The Nine-Tailed Fox Demon-Suppressing Shrine's statue witnessed many things...

The statue in the ancestral hall has witnessed many strangers from afar who came to pray. Every parent who lost their child on the battlefield, every wife who lost their husband, every child who lost their parents, and every husband who lost their wife, from the moment they walked the winding paths of Qianliwan and finally arrived at the ancestral hall, would become a devout believer kneeling before the statue, murmuring heart-wrenching prayers. The prayers accumulated day by day, and the power of their thoughts grew stronger day by day. Heaven had mercy on all living beings and on the world.

And so a pure and innocent little fox was born. The little fox stumbled and laughed foolishly. It didn't have to do anything. It only needed to stay in the ancestral hall, sitting cross-legged and sleeping, and that was how it saved all living beings and saved all evil.

Ming Shu let out a long sigh and opened his golden eyes. He looked at the dilapidated old ancestral hall once again. The joy he felt when they first met had completely vanished. Now, all he could see were the mottled cracks and the broken beams scattered across the hall.

The statues that held his longing have vanished, and this shrine... Ming Shu thought: "If the inevitable end is death and misfortune, he hopes that this shrine can exist a little longer, a little longer, until the end of time and the seas dry up and the rocks crumble."

That was just his small home.

A huge six-pointed star appeared beneath Ming Shu's feet. Ming Shu stood in the hazy white light, his long hair flowing and his shawl fluttering. He was radiating golden light and stood alone in the center of the great formation, like a golden statue without joy or sorrow.

The golden light grew larger and larger, illuminating the entire cycle of reincarnation and reflecting the faint candlelight in the ancestral hall. The ghostly cries stopped for a moment, then a shrill scream erupted in the golden light, accompanied by the rustling sound of paper burning to ashes.

"Ming Shu!" Yun Jin cried out in a panic.

It all happened so fast. Before Yun Jin could even pull her hands away from supporting Qin Wenxue, she watched as Ming Shu transformed into a giant, holy nine-tailed fox. The nine-tailed fox let out a loud cry and took a few steps in the air, creating golden ripples on the ancestral hall. Faint chanting came from all directions, like the chanting of thousands of people in front of a Buddha statue, ethereal, lofty, pure, and melodious, washing away all sins and resentment.

The restless corpses and bones in the mass grave suddenly fell asleep. The nine-tailed fox's body gradually turned into a phantom. He reluctantly turned back to look at Qin Wenxue and Yun Jin, his eyes seemingly filled with tears, with a faint white light flickering. An immense, unbearable grief spread from the bottom of his heart to the root of his tongue, finally turning into bitterness.

With his last ounce of strength, he unleashed a beam of white light, which enveloped the unconscious Shi Wenzhe. From within the light, a majestic and authoritative voice resounded, like ten thousand drums beating in unison, calling out to Shi Wenzhe: "Shi Wenzhe! Shi Wenzhe! Wake up now!"

Ming Shu opened its golden eyes and took one last look at the world before coiling up above the ancestral hall to suppress it. Its tail wrapped around its head, it closed its eyes, and its figure gradually disappeared.

The flames vanished at that moment, and the three thousand guests fell silent, as if they had exhausted all their spiritual power, turning into a dusty, gray sword. All of this happened too fast, so fast that no one had time to say goodbye.

Qin Wenxue's eyes were red and blood was spreading from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were full of pain and shock. The Ming Shu Heart Protection Mantra had lost its connection with him, and his heart felt empty. At this moment, Linglong took advantage of the situation and thrust the Ani Gun straight at Qin Wenxue's heart. The fierce wind from the gun blew up his wide sleeves, making his figure look very thin.

Qin Wenxue shoved away the stunned Yun Jin. He swayed for a moment, and Ani pierced his chest, but was caught by Wusheng and fell to the ground with a thud.

The air was so still you could hear a pin drop. Linglong's face was contorted in pain. Blood welled up in Qin Wenxue's chest. He took two steps back and wiped the blood from his mouth with trembling hands.

Qin Wenxue suddenly chuckled softly, her eyes red and bloodshot. Each laugh sounded like a secret sob. Yun Jin closed her eyes, unable to bear watching any longer, and two lines of tears streamed down her face. She heard Qin Wenxue whisper, "You can't kill me."

Linglong said, "I know that the clothes you are wearing must be a very powerful magic weapon. I smelled an unpleasant scent on them."

“I encountered a wisp of divine soul a few days ago, from the Ninth Heaven. It was that annoying old codger named Chang Kun?” Linglong sneered, her eyes arrogant. “He wanted to kill me, calling me ‘little brat’ all the time. It was disgusting. But he underestimated me. If I were so easy to kill, the Four Great Immortal Sects wouldn’t be so terrified of me. It’s laughable. The number one ascension expert on the Zhaoyao Continent. His name is impressive, but he’s not a good person. He’s arrogant and conceited, daring to come up and fight me with a broken sword that’s all show and no substance.”

Linglong raised an eyebrow and said jokingly, "Do you think he's been away from the Zhaoyao Continent for so long that he thinks this place can't produce another opponent who can fight him? How ridiculous."

Qin asked in a hoarse voice, "Where is Chang Yan?"

"Where? Hmm... let me think... I scattered that wisp of his soul, perhaps it was devoured by the vengeful spirits in Peach Blossom Valley." Linglong spoke casually, as if it were just something perfectly ordinary. She didn't seem to care at all. She smoothed the red tassel, slowly untying the knot. Linglong's fingers were slender and jade-like, actually quite beautiful.

When Qin Wenxue was young, she didn't like to talk. She was like a sullen snowball and liked to squat in the same place and grow mushrooms. At that time, Linglong was busy with official duties in the Demon Realm. She wished she could do the work of three people and was even more of a workhorse than the oxen and horses of Shifang City.

But every night when he returned to his bedchamber, he would always take some time to teach Qin Wenxue to write. At that time, his hand holding Qin Wenxue's fingers as she traced the characters was like this: long and warm. Qin Wenxue liked to snuggle in his arms and drift off into thought. If Linglong wasn't paying attention, his mind would wander, but soon he would be drawn back by Linglong's gentle and jade-like voice. He was like a butterfly that was occasionally mischievous but was directly attracted by beautiful things and did not hide his nature.

Linglong used to love teasing Xue Tuanzi, poking his soft cheeks and teasing him with a smile: "Don't be illiterate when you grow up, okay? Those demons in Shifang City are all wild children, born and raised in the earth, never read or written, all they know how to do is play in the mud. I worked so hard to build this city..."

He sighed then, and said earnestly, "But the rise and fall, and the longevity of a city, cannot be solved by force alone. Those demons are all single-minded, and they don't understand human deceit and hypocrisy. I can only entrust this burden to you from now on, little butterfly. Grow up quickly, and when you grow up, be a righteous and upright person. The four immortal sects drove my clan here, and I want them to drink all the mud they slinged at me, but I can't fall into their trap. They say I'm a cold-blooded executioner, so am I supposed to do as they wish and kill people?"

"Their fear and apprehension are paper tigers. They wish we could never rise again in this vicious land. But I don't want them to suffer endless torment and pain here for all eternity. I can't do it alone, but you can. If you can't do it either, the next Demon Lord can. As long as my clan lives, one day I will lead them to the human world to bask in the sun."

Qin Wenxue's eyes glazed over as he was lost in his memories of the past. Linglong's actions of cleaning the gun and teaching him to read and write gradually overlapped. The once radiant and elegant figure became blurred, and all that remained in his memory was this silver-haired, red-eyed, gloomy bastard demon king.

"What a bastard," he thought. "Why? Heaven treats the demon race badly, really badly."

The air he inhaled was hot and scalding, tinged with the stench of blood. Qin Wenxue's eyes were bloodshot, almost dripping with blood. He lowered his head, concealing the deep sorrow that threatened to spill from his eyes. The path to the lost was deathly silent. Ming Shu had taken away the crisis and the wind.

The world is impermanent, and so are people.

Shi Wenzhe felt a strange sensation in her body. Ever since she fell asleep, her soul had been drawn out of her body and floated into the air. She silently watched the entire battle until Linglong stabbed Qin Wenxue and his cold poison flared up, but she was not disturbed in the slightest.

People often say that the dead have no memory or feelings, and their souls simply wander aimlessly on the path of reincarnation, having no attachment to the mortal world.

Shi Wenzhe felt just like that, like a mannequin, devoid of joy or sorrow. But when Qin Wenxue was about to collapse and was injured by Ani, she cried out a few times. A huge wave surged in her heart. An unfamiliar force pulled her from the underworld to the human world, and the thumping sound of her heartbeat reached her ears.

A slight chill ran down her cheek. She reached up and wiped her face, seeing tear stains on her fingertips.

Shi Wenzhe's head was throbbing. She didn't understand: "She seems to be dead. It's so sad. Why are you crying?"

Her hand went through her chest, and looking at her transparent body, she felt uneasy and frantically pounded her body.

"No...no warmth." She tried again and again to return to her body. Qin Wenxue was injured, he was in so much pain, and she wanted to protect him.

"But why can't I! Why did she die so inexplicably?! If Qin Wenxue knew, wouldn't she be worried? Will I ever see Qin Wenxue again?"

Shi Wenzhe hammered her body as if in self-torture, her ethereal soul turning into a phantom. Suddenly, she bent over, her soul trembling in the void, a small white blob unseen by anyone. She cried even more fiercely.

She couldn't understand why, even though she had already become a wandering ghost, why was she allowed to linger in the mortal world after dying? Was there no law anymore? Why couldn't she be reincarnated after death, forced to retain her emotions and desires, and witness these separations and deaths? What difference was there between this and dying again?

Shi Wenzhe thought bitterly, his eyes filled with malice and resentment as he looked at Linglong. This was the first time she had ever considered violating the core socialist values ​​that she had upheld throughout her twenty-four years of life, and stabbing him to death.

Stabbing him once wasn't enough; I had to hang him up and beat him to make him disobey. Not only did he grow up to be ugly, but he also grew up to be brain-dead. He's really sick!