Chapter 217 Life and Death Without Blame (XIV)

Inside the Golden Spirit Pagoda.

A chain covered in spikes hovered around Jiang Gu, its intent to pounce on his flesh and blood.

Song Shijun crushed the remaining primordial spirit in his hand. It was hard to imagine that just half an hour ago, he was gently calling his younger brother Chong'er. He looked at Jiang Gu and noticed the slight astonishment in the other's eyes.

It was as if they couldn't accept that he would treat his own brother in this way.

Song Shijun was very pleased with the hint of reluctance he showed. He smiled and said, "I have always heard people say that Jiang Gu cultivates the ruthless path and is ruthless and doesn't care about his own family. It's a pity that you are just an ordinary person. You gave up your entire plan for your mother and even willingly let the Jade of Calamity go. On the surface, you are indifferent, but in reality, you are deeply in love with him. The Master really misjudged you when he said you could successfully overcome the tribulation."

Jiang Gu seemed to have been touched on a sore spot, and lowered his eyes, saying indifferently, "The Path of Ruthlessness is not about severing feelings and love, but about being unfettered and letting go when necessary."

Song Shijun smiled and said, "Isn't this a coincidence? I also cultivate the Path of Ruthlessness. If what you say were true, would I still be alive today?"

Jiang Gu fell silent upon hearing this.

Song Shijun, pleased by Jiang Gu's silent surrender, casually tore off a fragment of his spirit, crushed it, and used it as spiritual energy to attach to the rope, sealing Jiang Gu's major acupoints. "Do you know why I'm not afraid of the Spirit Loss Array? Because I don't need spiritual energy at all. As long as there are living people in front of me, I will have a continuous supply of primordial spirits to use. Compared to the uncontrollable spiritual energy in the world, primordial spirits are much easier to control. What do you think?"

Blood seeped out from under the white robe. Jiang Gu ignored his self-praise and said coldly, "Release my mother from the Heavenly Secret Box."

Song Shijun stared at him for a moment, then suddenly laughed and said, "Alright, since you're so sincere."

He threw the Heavenly Secret Box in his hand, and the box shattered. Gu Qinghui's distraction appeared. The moment she got up from the ground, she subconsciously turned her back to Jiang Gu and protected him behind her.

“However, I need to remind you that she only has a primordial spirit and no physical body right now. Whether you can keep her primordial spirit from dissipating depends on your ability.” Song Shijun was already confident of victory. Before leaving, he “kindly” reminded him: “Oh, by the way, this wooden box is used to protect the primordial spirit. Unfortunately, you insisted that I release her, so it has been broken now. You’ll have to find a way to fix it yourself.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Qinghui moved, but Jiang Gu grabbed his wrist from behind.

Seeing this, Song Shijun gave a strange laugh: "Whether you're acting or not, I believe what you say. Do you know why I believe you? Because you were able to plot to kill Chu Guanshan and Wen Ziheng in order to rescue Wei Feng. You do have some skills, but Chu Guanshan died once a long time ago. The fact that you were able to kill him is the only oversight I've made in all this time."

"So I'm really looking forward to what other surprises you can give me, Jiang Gu."

The palace doors slowly closed before Jiang Gu's eyes, and the only light quietly went out.

In the darkness, Jiang Gu slowly frowned, and many details he had previously overlooked finally came together: why did the Eight Pavilions stage such a large-scale and unexpected rebellion five years ago, why was Chu Guanshan killed by them so easily, and why did Wu Hezhi risk destroying his avatar to personally come in and take Qu Fengyu away...

If he could control or influence all the divided spirits within the Golden Spirit Pagoda, then this would make sense.

Because the traitors in the Burning Platform Hall had all died once, they were easier to control; because from the beginning, the rebellion planned by Chu Guanshan was actually influenced by Song Shijun behind the scenes, Xiao Dan only found Chu Guanshan through the Eight Platforms Rebellion, but did not find Song Chongshi; because Wu Hezhi knew that his divided spirit was not under his control, he had to come in person to feel at ease.

If the above inferences hold true, then Song Shijun's hidden power in the Eighth Pavilion and the Tenth Floor far exceeds everyone's imagination.

Wei Feng's primordial spirit was once shattered by Chu Guanshan. If Song Shijun was behind it, how much would he be affected?

This conclusion made Jiang Gu's heart sink. But if Song Shijun was able to be the mastermind behind this, why did he expose this to him so easily?

Jiang Gu's mind was in turmoil, but suddenly his palm felt a chill.

He looked up and met Gu Qinghui's calm gaze. Being imprisoned in the Heavenly Secret Box for so long made her primordial spirit look turbid and pale, as if shrouded in a faint shadow. Seeing Jiang Gu looking at her, she smiled at him: "Ashi, in the memories I received from the primordial spirit's original body, she called you by this name, right?"

She didn't say "me," but referred to herself as "she," cleverly and tactfully warning Jiang Gu not to confuse them, even though they were essentially the same person.

Advisor Jiang: "How long have you been detained here?"

"It's been several hundred years, I can't remember clearly." Gu Qinghui laughed. "Gu Qinghui was born in the Golden Spirit Pagoda. She left the pagoda at the age of sixteen. If her spirit is distracted, she will be locked in the Heavenly Mystery Box and fall into a deep sleep. After she dies, I will wake up and take over her memories."

"Are you familiar with Song Shijun?" Jiang Gu asked again.

Gu Qinghui said, "I have dealt with him many times. Song Shijun is meticulous and intelligent, but he is also naturally fond of excitement. Many of his behaviors are illogical. Sometimes, in order to seek excitement, he will even deliberately expose his weaknesses to the other party without considering the consequences. You can't guess about him using ordinary people's ideas."

She paused, then said, "In some ways, you and he are very similar."

Jiang Gu said, "I will not expose my weaknesses in order to seek excitement; excitement is of no use to me."

Gu Qinghui said, "Then why did you take out your own heart and place it between that child's eyebrows? If he crushes that heart, your life will be in danger."

Jiang Gu paused slightly.

“You never trust anyone, not even him,” Gu Qinghui said. “Yet you gave him your heart, and even let him go out to do things for you. Why was that?”

“Song Shijun might misjudge your kindness, but I won’t. However, he’s right about one thing: the Path of Ruthlessness is about severing all emotions and love, and caring about no one,” Gu Qinghui said. “Ashi, is your Dao heart still firm?”

Gu Qinghui's words made Jiang Gu's expression grow even colder.

"Gu Qinghui and your father Jiang Yuan once discussed that there are countless paths in the world and thousands of laws in human society. I said that saving the common people is like an ant trying to shake a tree, and it is the most difficult path in the world. But he said that being ruthless and having six desires is the most difficult. The ruthlessness is the hardest to overcome, and the six desires are the hardest to cure." Gu Qinghui looked at him with a hint of pity.

“This is my own choice, and it has nothing to do with you,” Jiang Gu said. “You don’t need to care.”

"I can't help but care," Gu Qinghui said.

Jiang Gu looked at her with a more scrutinizing gaze, "Because Song Shijun is influencing you?"

“Because Gu Qinghui chose the path of ruthlessness.” Gu Qinghui gave him an unexpected answer. “Her path of ruthlessness did not waver because of Jiang Yuan, but it was broken by you.”

Jiang Gu's calm gaze finally showed a slight ripple.

"Before I met you, I always thought I would never be like her." Gu Qinghui looked at him with a relieved smile, "But now I think it's not so bad."

“Ah Shi, human emotions are the most uncontrollable thing. Perhaps we have all misunderstood.”

After Gu Qinghui finished speaking, he forcibly activated his Yuan Dan, and his primordial spirit began to dissipate rapidly.

Jiang Gu was even faster than her. A palm-sized wooden puppet flew out from his sleeve, and half a piece of vermilion paper stuck to the puppet, suddenly expanding and enveloping Gu Qinghui's primordial spirit. Unable to use spiritual power in the stun array, he tore off a piece of his own primordial spirit and made a simple spirit-gathering array. Because he had gathered Wei Feng's primordial spirit in this way many times before, he was very good at it.

"You won't influence my decision, there's no need for you to do anything unnecessary." Jiang Gu looked at her coldly.

He was no longer a helpless child, no longer needing Gu Qinghui to sacrifice herself to protect him. Gu Qinghui gave birth to him, raised him, and protected him with her own flesh and blood. He could never repay such a great debt of gratitude.

But his words were not very polite. Gu Qinghui glanced at him and raised his hand to touch Jiang Gu's sealed acupoint, but was subtly dodged.

“No need for that, I have a way,” Jiang Gu said.

Gu Qinghui smiled, then found a secluded spot to meditate, accelerating the fusion of his primordial spirit and physical body.

Jiang Gu paid no attention to the barbed chains and began to explore the main hall. Not long after, the primordial spirit he had torn off and pasted on the puppet's concentration array silently returned to his body, and even gained some weak spiritual power—an ancient and somewhat unfamiliar aura.

He paused in his hand holding the Heavenly Secret Box, then continued as usual, without turning back to look at Gu Qinghui.

Gu Qinghui did not open his eyes.

It's like some kind of innate understanding.

——

Ruins of the Fuquan Ancient Temple.

Wu Tuo, holding Xuan Zhiyan's hand, looked at Wei Feng with a puzzled expression.

Xuan Zhiyan and Qu Fengyu were both puzzled when they first arrived here. Qu Fengyu asked, "What is this place?"

"This is the ruins of the Fuquan Ancient Temple." Wei Feng looked at the various broken formations in the temple ruins, then looked down at the tattered paper doll fragment in his hand. The crimson color was a trace of the remnant spirit of the red-clothed boy from a thousand years ago, which was also what Jiang Gu asked him to do.

He walked to the center of the main hall. The mermaid statue was already shattered beyond recognition. Its broken arms lay on the ground, still stretching out its hands unwillingly towards the array eye where the Mirror Flower Scroll had been placed. A pool of water had accumulated inside. On the broken stone walls around it were traces of Jiang Gu being scorched by heavenly lightning during his tribulation. The ball made of silver-blue mermaid scales had long since rotted into pieces, floating on the murky water and reflecting a hazy light.

Wei Feng bent down and scooped up a piece of broken scales.

Whether it was Jiang Xiangyun leading people to Jiexiang or Jiang Gu being detained in Jinling Tower, none of these mattered to Jiang Gu and Jiang Xiangyun's plans. What mattered was that they absolutely could not appear in this place. Therefore, from the beginning, they never mentioned anything about Fuquan Temple. Wei Feng, as the least likely person to appear in this place that could seal him, was the best candidate to be chosen.

Wei Feng took out the black jade bracelet—this divine artifact had been by his side for a long time and had long been tainted by the filth around him, making it almost impossible to detect Jiang Gu's presence—he placed the bracelet in the pool.

The once calm water surface began to ripple, and what was reflected in the water was no longer lush foliage and sunlight, but thick fog. The fog spread with the ripples, and countless black dots gradually magnified, revealing them to be enormous flying boats, on which stood countless cultivators. The scene continued to zoom in, finally settling on a face that was not unfamiliar.

He must have been standing on the deck of the airship when he saw Wei Feng, and a gentle smile appeared on his face: "Young Master, how have you been?"

It is Qingdu.