Chapter 68 Although I feel fear for the two people's behavior...

Although Qingluan felt strange about the two people's behavior, she didn't have much energy to think about it.

After all, the most important thing for her now is to find the city lord.

So, she suppressed the urge to beat Fu Xuzhi up, calmed herself down and said, "Okay, then I'll go to the back mountain to check, how about that?"

Mo Beixing nodded: "Okay, then I'll go to the village to take a look, Fu Xuzhi, you go to the cemetery behind!"

"As you command." Fu Xuzhi still had that smile that made Qingluan feel baffled, and blinked at Mo Beixing: "Your Highness the Princess."

Okay, another upgrade.

Qingluan silently complained in her heart:

From a young lady to a princess.

But Mo Beixing seemed to be very pleased with Xu Zhi's performance. He raised his chin proudly and curled the corners of his mouth: "Humph, if that's the case, why don't you do it quickly?"

"yes."

After saying that, the two stopped talking and moved towards their respective areas in tacit understanding, as if the laughter and joke just now had never happened.

When Qingluan saw the two of them leave, she also hurried towards the back mountain.

As she walked, she thought unconsciously:

What a strange pair of guys. Are all guys in love like this?

Mo Beixing seemed to hate the man, but couldn't help laughing when he looked at him.

Is this the legendary flirting?

This is really a very strange thing.

But such thoughts did not last long, Qingluan stopped, trembling, and looked forward.

She saw a woman with white hair and tattered clothes.

At this moment, she was holding a hoe, standing blankly on the hillside.

Qingluan couldn't believe that she found the city lord so easily.

She took a few steps forward and stood beside the city lord who seemed to have just become an immortal, and called her softly; "City lord?"

The city lord ignored Qingluan and just stared blankly at the village at the foot of the mountain.

Qingluan followed her gaze and saw a huge dark area, like a scar, falling on the dilapidated and gray village.

She knew exactly what it was.

That is the mark left by the thunder tribulation.

Qingluan turned around and looked at the city lord again.

I saw a line of clear tears sliding down her cheeks. She raised her head and tried to wipe the tears from her face, but after a few wipes she stopped and looked at her fingers in shock.

Because of hard work and the cold, her fingers were covered with calluses and cracks. They were swollen like radishes and as rough as tree bark. When she touched the soft faces of her grandchildren, they would scratch them and hurt them.

But now, all traces of those sufferings have completely disappeared.

The city lord's fingers and appearance were both familiar to Qingluan.

Smooth, soft, fair, and even looks a little plump.

Her face did not have the old wrinkles like those of ordinary mortals. Instead, those fine and dense lines made her look gentle and kind. She looked like an old lady who had no worries and lived a life of luxury.

The appearance of immortals is always exceptionally beautiful.

Although cultivating immortals cannot change the cultivators' facial features, it can expel impurities from their bodies, making the spots on their skin disappear and their skin smooth and delicate; it can also change their body shape, making them look slender, dignified and elegant.

But such a rich and beautiful face looked extremely strange when paired with the rags and tattered clothes the city lord was wearing.

Her clothes were worn, dirty, patched, and even smelled bad.

Qingluan understood why this was the case.

For poor people, cleanliness has always been a luxury.

Especially in winter.

There is not enough firewood for heating and cooking, so why would any poor person use charcoal or firewood for cleaning?

Filling your stomach, not freezing to death, and not getting sick, any of these is much more important than being clean.

When it becomes difficult to even survive, dignity becomes the most insignificant thing.

"It's not cold anymore, it's really not cold anymore..." the city lord murmured, seeming to be full of confusion: "I really don't feel cold anymore."

After she realized the changes in her body, she couldn't help but smile, but her tears didn't stop. So, she cried and smiled and said, "I'm not hungry anymore, and my calluses are gone... I've become an immortal! I really have become an immortal!"

After laughing for a while, she fell to the ground again, covering her face with her hands, and began to cry in pain. Her vague, crying voice seemed to be calling for something.

Qingluan spent a lot of effort to hear her voice clearly: "......Aniu......Zhuzi......Third brother......Little sister......"

They were names, names that couldn’t be more ordinary.

Qingluan seemed to sense the owners of these names.

That should be the city lord’s family.

Qingluan squatted down and leaned gently against the city lord.

She just stayed quietly beside the city lord who could neither see her nor hear her voice.

Until the heavy snow covered them both.

.......

This is a poor village that looks very ordinary.

The population of the village was not large, with only about a dozen houses. Most of them were covered with thatched roofs, which were blown to and fro by the bleak north wind, making them look particularly pitiful.

Mo Beixing quickly noticed something unusual about this village.

So he ran quickly towards the southeast corner. After only a few steps, he saw a few people dressed as farmers with blurry faces gathered around a piece of scorched earth that had been struck by lightning.

"What happened?"

"Who knows? The thunder yesterday was so scary."

"What a sin! More than a dozen people in Lao Niu's family are all gone."

"It's really weird. The thunder didn't strike anywhere else but directly hit Lao Niu's house, striking his house, his eldest son's house, and his third son's house."

"Are all the bodies gone?"

"No way, it's all turned to ashes, where did the body come from?

.......

Mo Beixing squeezed in between the group of people and looked at the dark scorched earth.

His eyesight allows him to see things that mortals cannot see.

There were indeed no corpses in this scorched earth. They had been cleaned up very thoroughly, and even the bone fragments had been picked out one by one.

Only cultivators can do this.

People around were discussing and sighing, but apart from fear, there was not much else on their faces.

In such a world, death is too common a thing.

They discussed the death of Lao Niu's family numbly, only slightly afraid that such a natural disaster would befall them.

"Forget it, let's go back." An older man coughed and said, "The weather is too cold."

"Yeah, it's really cold."

"Go back and rest."

“What should we do here at their house?”

"There's nothing left again. Let's wait until the weather warms up."

.......

People dispersed one after another, and finally, only an old woman in her fifties could not bear it anymore, and sighed as she picked up a handful of scorched earth.

"No matter what, there must be a grave and people must be buried in the ground." As she said this, she took off her headscarf, wrapped the handful of soil, and walked towards the cemetery.

She was illiterate, couldn't carve tombstones, and didn't have the energy to dig a hole for each person.

But at least he was buried.

Thinking this, she walked to the cemetery, taking one step forward and one step back.

But as soon as she arrived at the cemetery, her eyes widened in horror.

At the edge of the cemetery, in the area originally allocated to Lao Niu's family, more than a dozen grave mounds appeared overnight.

In front of those fresh graves stood signs with crooked words written on them that she could not understand.

As soon as the woman loosened her grip, the charred soil was blown up by the wind until it completely disappeared in the snow.

But Mo Beixing recognized those words.

He walked quietly past the graves, looking at each one.

Those were some very common names. The person who wrote them didn't seem to be very good at using a pen or writing. It looked more like they were copied from someone else's work.

Among those names, Mo Beixing did not find Li Liumei.

"The city lord built a tomb for them, right?" Fu Xuzhi came out from behind a tomb and said to Mo Beixing, "Are you cold? Do you want me to hold you?"

"It's not cold, don't." Mo Beixing ruthlessly refused: "I don't know you well, stay away from me."

Fu Xuzhi sighed: "Well, it looks like I still have to work harder."

"Hmm." Mo Beixing looked at the grave mound and fell into deep thought.

The thunderstorm caused by the ascension of the Lord of Qingyang City killed her family members during her mortal period...

Could this be the source of her inner demon?

"Qingluan has found the city lord, he's on the mountain." Fu Xuzhi said, "Are you going to deal with him?"

Mo Beixing shook his head and frowned, "Let me think about it again... I always feel that I am very close to her inner demon."

"Inner demon?" Fu Xuzhi also sighed: "Is this your ability?"

"Ability?" Mo Beixing frowned. "It can't be called an ability, but if the inner demon takes shape, I can sneak into the cultivator's mind and find a solution."

Fu Xuzhi's eyes suddenly turned sad: "Beixing...you just told me that you can't deal with your inner demons...are you lying to me? I'm so sad...woohoo, you have to compensate me."

"First of all, if it's before the inner demon takes shape, I really can't do anything about it." Mo Beixing patiently explained to this unreasonable bastard: "Secondly, if you tell me about the city lord's inner demon with that attitude, do you think I will let you go with me?"

"Beixing, am I this kind of person in your heart? I'm so sad."

Mo Beixing rolled his eyes, then rewarded Fu Xu with a slap: "Are you satisfied?"

"Yeah." The fake sadness on Fu Xuzhi's face faded away instantly. He became intoxicated, savoring Mo Beixing's slap: "Not particularly satisfied, can you let me feel it again?"

Mo Beixing kicked him in the face and sent him flying: "Are you satisfied now?"

"Well, I'm satisfied." Fu Xuzhi licked his lips, rolled aside, and no longer bothered Mo Beixing.

After dealing with Fu Xuzhi, Mo Beixing looked towards the hillside.

He decided to go over there and see the city lord.

Inner demon?

What exactly is her inner demon?

Mo Beixing couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

If he could find the city lord, he would be able to temporarily restore some of her sanity.

But he always felt that there were still some things between her and Qingluan that he didn't understand.

Qingluan treated him very well, and the city lord also treated him very well.

Mo Beixing still wanted to help them.

Looking at the grave mound behind him, Mo Beixing fell into deep thought again.

Is the city lord’s inner demon related to these dead people?

No...it doesn't seem so.

When Mo Beixing came to the city lord, she was still crying and laughing in the snow.

The wind was still cold but it couldn't break her skin, and her tears wouldn't turn into ice even if she wanted to.

It feels good. It feels so good.

She had never felt so comfortable before.

This feeling even overshadowed the pain of losing her family, and the joy in her heart gradually outweighed the sorrow.

This doesn't seem right.

But the city lord thought grimly:

What can we do about this?

So much of her family had died.

And...are those people still considered her family?

She didn't notice that as she gradually stopped crying and began to smile, the village behind her began to emit a dark aura.

Fu Xuzhi stood beside the grave, quietly looking at those things that were twisted like black mud.

Those were some unwilling souls, and their residual souls were left and hidden in the city lord's sea of consciousness.

If you listen carefully, it seems that they have lost all ability to speak and can only repeat the same words over and over again.

“Become an immortal….Become an immortal….Become an immortal….”

Is it the obsession of becoming an immortal?

Fu Xuzhi ignored those residual souls, but turned his head with lack of interest and looked at the hillside.

A smile appeared on his face again, and he couldn't help but reach out and gently stroke his cheek.

Ah, that fragrance seemed to still linger around his nose.

He greedily inhaled Mo Beixing's scent.

Ah, that's nice.

.......

After laughing for a while, the city lord raised his feet again and walked deeper into the mountains.

She walked so easily, she had never walked so easily before.

The usually rugged mountain roads and slippery snow were no longer obstacles. She jumped and walked through the woods, laughing as she moved forward.

Her body became light, her eyes became clear, and infinite power lingered in her body.

Until they came to a cave.

From a distance, she smelled a foul odor.

She knew what it was because the smell was so familiar to her.

That was the stench of a rotting corpse.

The smell was disgusting and scary.

But she had smelled it too many times.

As time goes by, she will no longer be afraid and sad.

Maybe she's become numb.

But she still slowed down her pace, as if afraid of disturbing something, and walked to the edge of the cave quietly.

"Afen, are you still there?" she asked softly with a trembling voice.

After a while, she heard a slight rustling sound in the hole, as if a mouse was moving.

"Well, you're still here, I'm leaving."

The city lord closed his eyes and shed tears again.

Her eyesight became very good and her hearing became very good.

She knew, it wasn't like...

Afen went in in early winter.

The city lord looked up at the falling snow and couldn't help but let a bitter smile appear on his face.

.......

Mo Beixing is still looking for the city lord's inner demon.

He was right. Fu Xuzhi was indeed not interested in this at all and even felt a little bored.

He just wanted to do something, do something with Mo Beixing.

Fu Xuzhi knew from the very beginning that the city lord’s inner demon must be very powerful.

The choices she made when she was a mortal created her inner demon. Her path to becoming an immortal was too straightforward, which was extremely abnormal. Therefore, as a price to pay, her inner demon would become so powerful that she would not be able to defeat it.

This is the cause and effect of this world.

But now he was really bored, and he began to speculate about the city lord's inner demons.

In his opinion, the city lord's inner demons were already obvious.

In this world, being contaminated by cause and effect is a very serious matter.

Even if the city lord is a selfish person, those people are her family after all, and she will always have feelings for them.

You don't need a lot, just a little is enough.

Such inner demons continue to be magnified over the long years until they grow into giants that can devour everything.

.......

Mo Beixing saw everything in the cave at a glance.

There were piles of human bones and rat feces inside.

A gray, fat rat lay on a shriveled corpse, tearing flesh from it.

Almost at that moment, Mo Beixing understood that the city lord's inner demon could not be her family.

This has nothing to do with selfishness; it is the law of survival here.

The city lord is already very old, and even though she is in good health, she is about to lose her value in a village like this.

They were going to abandon her in order to survive.

And she abandoned them in order to survive.

There is no difference.

No one will feel pain or guilt because of this.

That's the rule here.

So what is her inner demon?

The moment he looked into Qingluan's eyes, Mo Beixing understood.

"Is it fear, Sister Qingluan?" Although Mo Beixing was asking, his tone was extremely certain.

Qing Luan raised the corner of her mouth and revealed a dry smile: "Don't you already know?"

"Hmm..." Mo Beixing was silent. He sighed, "You are afraid too, right?"

"Yes." Qingluan laughed helplessly: "She and I are similar..."

Therefore, she understood what the city lord's inner demon was very early on.

Mo Beixing closed his eyes and told the void what he had discovered:

"Death is not scary to her, and the soul is not scary either, but there is one thing that is very scary, and that is reincarnation."

"She was so terrified that she might be reborn as a mortal."