Chapter 169 I can't figure it out:

"That's why I say you should thank me," the mimosa flower fairy burst into laughter.

As the illusion faded, the red cloud vanished as if it had never existed.

Lu Yingqi looked dazed, clearly still not recovered from the illusion he had just experienced.

The mimosa flower demon's shrill laughter drew his attention: "When I met him, he was often troubled by his inability to use his magic, but you never noticed. He didn't want to leave you, so he relied on my power to survive until today. Otherwise, he would have aged long ago due to the backlash from the Heavenly Dao. Even if he were lucky, he wouldn't have passed the Foundation Establishment assessment and would have been expelled from the outer sect sooner or later..."

Lu Yingqi seemed to wake from a dream, staring blankly at the mimosa flower fairy.

"I'm the one who helped him achieve Foundation Establishment, I'm the one who helped him pass the inner sect assessment. Do you think it's only natural that he would stand by your side and hold onto his position as your attendant for a long time? No, that's an impossible task for him. I provided him with the power. So, you should thank me!"

The mimosa flower fairy spoke with righteous indignation. Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi stood at a distance. Although they did not see the illusion that Lu Yingqi had seen, they understood the whole story from the flower fairy's words.

"However, it doesn't matter whether you thank me or not. Xiaozhi has already thanked me. He gave me his spirit as promised, fulfilling our life-and-death contract. Now he's become a part of me—I'm very satisfied," the mimosa flower demon laughed.

“It was you,” Rong Xie shouted, “you forced him to sign this unequal contract with you!”

“Young Master Rong, you are mistaken,” the flower plate turned to the person it was speaking to as if it were a human face. “We demons have always advocated voluntariness and autonomy and never coerced anyone. This life-and-death contract was signed by Xiaozhi willingly; otherwise, it would not be effective. Young Master Rong can ask Judge Shen about this. If he does not know either, you can ask your witness of the Heavenly Dao—the Heavenly Mirror.”

Rong Xie looked at Shen Bingsi. Shen Bingsi had always been at the forefront of fighting demons and monsters, and her understanding of demons and monsters far surpassed that of him, who was only good at theoretical discussions.

Shen Bingsi nodded and added, "However, demons are masters of deception. Just because they don't force people doesn't mean they used any honorable means."

"Hahahaha, demons are the best at deceiving people?" The acacia flower demon burst into laughter again, as if she had heard an extremely ridiculous joke. "The best at deceiving people are clearly humans, aren't they? The Lu family tricked other people's children away, Madam Mei lied to the world about the existence of a spiritual spring well, Elder Bai and his generation of disciples deceived people's feelings. They said they would ascend together during dual cultivation, but after it was over, they discarded them like worn-out shoes. Even someone as taciturn as Lu Yingqi can deceive people with his actions, tricking them into giving their hearts, and in the end, using that heart to prove his own path!"

"..." Rong Xie was speechless for a moment, and Shen Bing Si also remained silent.

“Xiaozhi, why didn’t you tell me…” Lu Yingqi murmured, “If he had told me—”

"So you're going to give up using him to prove your path?" the mimosa flower demon pointed out incisively.

Lu Yingqi felt as if he had been thrown into a place even more terrifying than the Heart-Questioning Gorge. The Hehuan Flower Fairy could bring him to his doom with a single word.

"When you used him to prove your Dao, you didn't even know Elder Bai had the Spirit Locking Array. Did you ever think he would die? If he died, he would lose consciousness, become ignorant and clueless, and not know where he would be reborn or what he would become. You only thought that after you ascended, you could understand the Heavenly Dao and easily find him. Did you ever think about him?"

He will lose everything and passively wait for someone to come to him. If he loses everything, will he still be himself?

“When you were proving your Dao, you made your choice. Now that he has assimilated with me, it’s just a predictable result of your choice. Everything is going according to your plan. What else could you be dissatisfied with?” the mimosa flower demon laughed.

"..."

Lu Yingqi remained silent, his face tense, his expression more terrifying than ever before. Upon closer inspection, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his hands hanging at his sides trembled abnormally.

If he knew beforehand that Xiaozhi would die and be eaten by the flower demon, would he still use Xiaozhi to prove his Dao?

If he knew in advance that Xiaozhi had died and that there would be no more Xiaozhi in the world, even if he ascended to heaven, he would never find Xiaozhi again, never be able to talk to Xiaozhi, never see Xiaozhi's smile, and never find someone who would treat him as wholeheartedly as Xiaozhi. Would he still use Xiaozhi to prove his Tao?

However... if he doesn't use the small branch to prove his Dao, he will be expelled from the sect, his cultivation will be ruined, and since life is limited, he will never be able to ascend in this lifetime.

Then his life would lose its meaning.

“So that’s how it is,” Lu Yingqi murmured to himself, “The final trial is like this… a life-or-death struggle.”

Just as Lu Yingqi was deep in thought, the acacia flower fairy laughed loudly and quietly moved away from the cliff.

"Watch out, he's trying to escape!" Shen Bingsi was the first to discover the mimosa flower demon's intentions.

"Hehe, until we meet again!" Golden runes flashed out, and the mimosa flower fairy turned into a phantom and disappeared beyond the cliff.

"Damn it!" Shen Bingsi lifted the Shengxie Sword, but he was too weak and gasped as the sword fell heavily back to the ground.

Rong Xie quickly helped him up, and Shen Bingsi said impatiently, "Lu Yingqi, what are you doing? You just let the monster get away like that?!"

However, Lu Yingqi acted as if he hadn't heard anything, standing there muttering to himself.

"Damn it! That monster ate Xiaozhi and knows magic script. This time, its power has greatly increased—if we just let it escape like this, who knows what kind of disaster it will cause in the future!" Shen Bingsi was furious.

Rong Xie patted Shen Bingsi's back reassuringly to calm him down, then looked worriedly at Lu Yingqi standing on the edge of the cliff.

Rong Xie once met a highly skilled old Taoist in the Lingjing Sect, who was doing odd jobs in the inner sect, such as chopping wood and tending fires. He often muttered incantations while doing these things and didn't even look people in the eye. His senior uncle, who was familiar with the sect's history, told Rong Xie that this was because he had gotten stuck in a dead end while trying to break through to a higher realm. He was so focused on that one question that he became abnormal and might stay like that for the rest of his life.

“Lu Yingqi doesn’t seem to be in a good state…” Rong Xie’s heart sank. “Let’s go and call someone.”

Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi returned to the Dao Palace and explained Lu Yingqi's condition to Elder Bai. Elder Bai fainted on the spot and only recovered after the two medical cultivators worked together to save him.

"What a terrible debt, all of it is terrible!" Elder Bai sighed to the sky, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant. He used to have the appearance of an immortal, but now he looked like a frail old man. He had experienced great ups and downs in one day, so it was no wonder that he looked so weathered.

Elder Bai ordered his disciples to inform the sect leader, while the guide and Rong Xie went together to fetch Lu Yingqi. After assigning the tasks, Elder Bai collapsed back onto the bed, and the two medical cultivators rushed over to continue the emergency treatment.

After Rong Xie and the guide brought Lu Yingqi back, the sect leader and the sect elders also arrived at the Dao Palace. It was a rare sight for the Dao Palace to be so brightly lit late at night.

"How did things suddenly turn out like this?" The sect leader frowned as he looked at Lu Yingqi.

The latter still seemed to be talking to himself, muttering something under his breath, his eyes glazed over, staring blankly into the air in the corner, as if he were talking to an invisible person.

"Bad luck. I had a chance to break through to the Fusion Realm, but I encountered a problem that I couldn't solve. Sigh."

"In the end, cultivation is all about one's state of mind. Even we old folks are at risk of getting stuck in a rut, let alone a young junior like Junior Nephew Lu. What a pity, what a pity."

The elders gathered around Lu Yingqi and sighed in regret.

"What's the use of you saying all this now? Didn't you force Ying Qi to prove his Dao?" Elder Bai angrily pounded the bed. "Now look what's happened, Ying Qi has been driven to despair by you, and you're all helpless, just nagging him around."

The elders exchanged bewildered glances, unwilling to take the blame: "Elder Bai, wasn't it you who suggested the method of killing one's wife to attain enlightenment? What does it have to do with us? Besides, if he can't succeed in attaining enlightenment by killing his wife, it means his Dao heart isn't firm enough, and what does that have to do with us?"

"You—" Elder Bai choked with anger and fainted on the spot.

Seeing this, the elders hurriedly surrounded them again, some offering help, others offering words of advice. In the end, it was the sect leader who settled the matter with a single sentence:

"Lu Yingqi did pass the Dao Proving Formation after all. He was just having a momentary lapse in judgment. There's no need to kick him out. Just leave him in the Dao Palace and wait for him to come to his senses. He'll still be a great power in our Xuantian Sect as he strives to break through to the Integration Stage."

Xuantian Sect isn't short of people, let alone a cripple. Before Lu Yingqi awakens to his true nature, they don't even need to provide him with spirit stones, so it won't cost them much. Once he awakens—he'll be a powerful figure who will only bring glory to Xuantian Sect—then there's even less to worry about.

The matter came to an end. The sect leader and elders left with sighs. Elder Bai lay on his sickbed for a long time. Another young madman who kept muttering to himself appeared in the woodshed in the backyard of the Dao Palace. There was no more Xiaozhi in the world.

The ending was tragic.

Inside the carriage that left the Xuantian Sect, Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi sat facing each other, the atmosphere somewhat heavy.

For Shen Bingsi, after all, she had spent so much time with her fellow practitioners, and now they had gone mad so suddenly, she still felt a pang of sadness.

For Rong Xie, however, the situation was far more serious. Xiao Zhi's death, the failure of the Dao Proving Array... everything pointed in the same direction, the ending in the Book of Destiny.

He tried every means to avoid the incident that led to Lu Yingqi's untimely death, and even dug up the major incident of a former Hehuan sect member marrying the old master of the Lu family and conspiring to kidnap children to raise as furnace cauldrons, which seemed to have solved Lu Yingqi's last worry.

Little did he know that this was only the first step in breaking the shackles of fate. Once completely released, fate raced uncontrollably toward its end. Rong Xie didn't even know if he had brought forward Lu Yingqi's fate, or if Xiao Zhi's ending in the Book of Fate would be just as tragic. He was filled with a deep sense of guilt and the suffocating feeling of being unable to escape fate. For a time, he was depressed and speechless.

“Luckily you were smart enough to urge Elder Hong to reveal his whereabouts before Old Man Bai collapsed,” Shen Bingsi tried to ease the atmosphere in the carriage. “Otherwise, given his ability to cheat, he would most likely have denied introducing Elder Hong to us because his disciple had gone mad.”

The carriage they were riding in was heading towards the Hehuan Sect. Strangely enough, the Hehuan Sect's headquarters was located within Liujin City, right under Lu Yinglin's nose, yet Lu Yinglin insisted that he knew nothing about the Hehuan Sect... Anyway, Rong Xie didn't believe him.

"Did I ask that?" Rong Xie's mind was still a complete mess.

"It's you, of course it's you." Shen Bingsi grabbed Rong Xie's hands, but before she could catch her breath, she started coughing again.

Rong Xie immediately withdrew his hand, and the scabbard of the Guangdian Bailan sword appeared in his hand. He skillfully tapped Shen Bingsi's shoulder and pressed him back to his original position: "Keep your distance! Behave yourself until you find Elder Hong."

Shen Bingsi gripped the scabbard, coughing as she chuckled, "Just because you found it doesn't mean you can be dishonest."

"You dare!" Rong Xie tightened his grip, and Shen Bingsi begged for mercy repeatedly. A commotion broke out in the carriage, temporarily dispelling the gloomy atmosphere shrouded in fate.