Chapter 224 Life and Death Without Blame (Twenty-One)

Seven days ago, inside the Golden Spirit Pagoda.

"Ashi, let's save her if we can." Gu Qinghui looked at Jiang Gu, and for some reason, she knew that Jiang Gu would definitely agree.

After a long while, she heard Jiang Gu say, "Okay."

Countless celestial boxes floated in the main hall where they were, and paper figures covered with cinnabar were scattered all over the ground. The malfunction array operated non-stop, turning the surroundings into a dark green, as if they were in the underworld.

In his mind's eye, Wei Feng also heard their conversation. He carefully said, "Master, the women and children here have no ability to protect themselves. Even if we are rescued by chance, Song Shijun may very well use them to blackmail us."

Although he found it absurd that Jiang Gu would agree to save a group of insignificant people, and even more so that Jiang Gu would not be threatened because of these people, he still couldn't help but offer a reminder.

"Do you have any ideas?" Consultant Jiang asked.

Wei Feng was stunned for a moment: "Me?"

Jiang Gu asked, "If you were asked to find a way to save them right now, what would you do?"

Wei Feng sat cross-legged in his sea of ​​consciousness, frowning as he pondered deeply. He carefully considered his words and said, "They've been in the Golden Spirit Tower for too long. Those women may never have left the tower in their entire lives. They might not believe me. The children are too young to understand, and the older ones have long been brainwashed... It's impossible to expect them to cooperate. I'll probably have to use some forceful methods."

Jiang Gu gestured for him to continue.

“Seal their memories and throw them into a spirit pet bag, then find a safe place to release them.” Wei Feng’s brows furrowed more and more as he spoke. “But… they won’t survive.”

The living conditions outside the tower are even harsher for them.

Wei Feng suddenly understood why Jiang Gu had remained silent for so long before agreeing after Gu Qinghui asked the question, and felt that this matter was a thankless task.

Jiang Gu quickly gave him an answer.

“They have close ties with the Golden Spirit Pagoda, no less than Song Shijun, and they are not incapable of protecting themselves, but no one has given them the opportunity,” Jiang Gu said.

Wei Feng was taken aback: "Master, do you mean, let them destroy the Golden Spirit Pagoda?"

"Only they themselves can save them," Jiang Gu said.

Just as Wei Feng was about to speak again, Gu Qinghui's voice suddenly rang out from outside: "A Shi, who are you talking to?"

Jiang Gu regained his senses and replied, "My disciple."

Gu Qinghui was somewhat surprised: "You let him into your sea of ​​consciousness?"

Jiang Gu nodded calmly, and Gu Qinghui smiled and said, "It seems you trust me a lot—"

Before she could finish speaking, she saw a man in red appear behind Jiang Gu. He was clean-cut and handsome, slightly taller than Jiang Gu, with a high ponytail. He had a golden and jade-like appearance that was very endearing. When he smiled, he revealed two small tiger teeth. His voice was clear and lively: "Hello, Grandmother, my name is Wei Feng."

Looking at the golden pendant between his eyebrows, Gu Qinghui felt that her son's ruthless path was probably doomed.

She smiled and nodded to Wei Feng: "Good boy, you two are a perfect match."

Wei Feng's eyes lit up immediately, and he turned to look at Jiang Gu with delight. Jiang Gu changed the subject without changing his expression: "The primordial spirits in these Heavenly Secret Boxes are all controlled by Song Shijun, and most of them are members of the Eight Pavilions. The Golden Spirit Mace in Wei Feng's hand is specifically used to deal with traitors from the Eight Pavilions—"

Gu Qinghui instantly understood his meaning: "If the Golden Spirit Mace cuts off the retreat of the Eight Pavilion cultivators, preventing them from reviving, Song Shijun will be unable to continue to increase manpower."

Jiang Gu nodded and said, "What the people in the tower lack most is spiritual power and cultivation. The Jiang family's Heavenly Pool can cleanse the marrow and tendons, and these primordial spirits can provide cultivation. Whether they want to go out or not is entirely up to them."

“I am very familiar with the Golden Spirit Pagoda, so I will handle this matter,” Gu Qinghui said. “Moreover, there is one person who hates the Golden Spirit Pagoda even more.”

Jiang Gu asked, "The person who was suppressed under the tower by Song Shijun?"

"Do you know who this person is?" Gu Qinghui asked.

Jiang Gu lowered his eyes to look at the malfunctioning array beneath his feet. It was the very array that Song Shijun had suppressed but hadn't killed…

"It is his own other half of his primordial spirit."

——

In front of the Temple of War.

Song Shijun looked at the person opposite him who looked exactly like him, and his face was more unsightly than ever before.

Distracted within the puppet's body, she calmly looked at him: "Song Shijun, all I wanted to do was rescue my mother. Releasing you from the Heavenly Box was also just to allow our primordial spirits to fully merge. But you betrayed me, willingly stripping away your seven emotions and six desires, leaving me with all those things you thought were useless. Do you still remember the days and nights of agonizing torment in the tower?"

Song Shijun's face darkened, and he sneered, "Don't flatter yourself. You've been wrong from the start. That woman doesn't care about you at all! She finds you disgusting and has never treated you like her own child. She was just lucky enough to give birth to you, so why should you be grateful?!"

Distracted, he shook his head: "You have long since betrayed your original intentions. I shouldn't have released you."

"You're clearly being foolish!" Song Shijun said. "If killing you wouldn't have severely weakened me, I would never have spared you!"

Distracted, he shouted sharply, "Then let's calculate it today!"

Both of their primordial spirits were Song Shijun. Since Song Shijun could control the Golden Spirit Pagoda, his avatar could too. The two fought fiercely, vying for control of the Golden Spirit Pagoda. Meanwhile, Jiang Gu and Gu Qinghui took the opportunity to release the women and children from the imprisoning formation.

Song Shijun tried to stop him, but his distraction blocked his attack.

"Are you crazy?!" Song Shijun cursed. "They'll destroy the Golden Spirit Pagoda if they do this. If the Golden Spirit Pagoda is destroyed, I'll die, and you won't survive either!"

His divided spirits, without the slightest hesitation, continued to provide them with a steady stream of spiritual energy. What shocked Song Shijun even more was that all the divided spirits preserved in the Heavenly Secret Box had actually attached themselves to the paper figures. Their tainted primordial spirits were rapidly dissipating, while the spiritual energy was continuously replenishing the women. He roared angrily, "Jiang Gu! What exactly do you want to do?!"

Jiang Gu looked at him coldly: "They gave these people their lives, and now that they don't want to give them back, it's only natural that they want them back."

This answer enraged Song Shijun, who laughed in response: "Have you forgotten that Gu Qinghui's life is still in my hands!"

After speaking, he formed a hand seal, but Jiang Gu was even faster. The Golden Spirit Mace flew out of his hand and slashed straight at Song Shijun. Seeing this, Wei Feng created a mist that enveloped Gu Qinghui's primordial spirit and followed closely with the Crimson Snow Sword. Song Shijun failed to form a hand seal and immediately tried to summon his Dharma Image, but his divided spirit sealed his dantian and sea of ​​consciousness by damaging himself. Song Shijun was furious and went straight for his own divided spirit, piercing through his dantian with a single palm. He was extremely fast and broke through the crowd with his divided spirit, slamming his opponent heavily against the stone wall of the temple. In an instant, fragments of stone flew everywhere.

Song Shijun slowly raised his head, staring at "himself" with a gloomy gaze. "Just because I don't want to kill you doesn't mean I can't. That woman knelt down and begged me. She would only be willing to sacrifice herself to the tower if you didn't die."

Distracted, she stared at him in disbelief: "You sent her to the pagoda for the sacrifice?! How could you send her to the pagoda for the sacrifice! What about Chong'er? What happened to Chong'er?"

"Only by sacrificing my blood relatives can I completely control the Golden Spirit Pagoda. You don't even understand something this simple? She's been dead for years. Song Chongshi was created by me by fusing your primordial spirit with other split spirits. Unfortunately, he's just as indecisive as you and unlikely to amount to anything. Did you see clearly when his soul was scattered that day? He was still calling me 'brother' before he died, completely unaware of your existence." Song Shijun smiled mockingly.

The distracted spirit was filled with grief. The dantian that he had pierced suddenly began to melt, trying to forcibly merge with his primordial spirit. Song Shijun's expression changed, and he decisively cut off his own hand. Then the distracted spirit began to explode from the dantian. Song Chongshi quickly retreated, but Jiang Gu and Wei Feng blocked his way.

Song Chongshi gritted his teeth, ignoring the primordial spirit clinging to his back, and directly activated the Golden Spirit Pagoda. He silently chanted the incantation, and black energy suddenly emanated from Gu Qinghui's body in the distance, and his primordial spirit began to shatter.

Seeing this, Wei Feng immediately threw out the black jade bracelet, firmly protecting Gu Qinghui's primordial spirit in the center of the artifact. Sure enough, the black aura was instantly dispelled without a trace, and a layer of golden spiritual power mixed with white mist covered Gu Qinghui's body, protecting her completely.

However, in just that short time, Song Chongshi seized the initiative, striking Jiang Gu squarely on the shoulder with his sword. Wei Feng glanced at the bloodstains on the white clothes and immediately flew into a rage, grabbing Song Chongshi's neck with his five fingers like claws, a flash of white pupils in his eyes.

"Come back!" In a moment of panic, Jiang Gu leaped forward and pulled him back around the waist. The moment the spiritual energy barrier dissipated, the aftershocks of the self-destruction of the distracted spirit sent them flying dozens of feet away.

Jiang Gu held him tightly in his arms, and when he looked up, he scolded, "Are you out of your mind?!"

“You’re injured.” Wei Feng gestured for him to look at his shoulder.

Jiang Gu cast a healing spell on him. When Wei Feng saw this, he wanted to kiss him, but Jiang Gu frowned and said, "Don't be silly."

Wei Feng gave him a pitiful look, then turned around and viciously swallowed a cultivator who tried to ambush him. He was so close to Jiang Gu that he couldn't tell whose ghost pattern it was. He licked his lips, and the ghost pattern took the opportunity to snatch a strand of Jiang Gu's hair.

"..." Jiang Gu patted his lower back reassuringly, then looked up at Song Shijun, who was seriously injured in the distance.

Wei Feng understood and charged forward with his sword. Many Pingze cultivators also spotted Song Shijun. Although the Wangyue cultivator was difficult to kill, the magic treasures and purple mansions he dropped after death were extremely valuable, so it was worth risking their lives. Moreover, in this situation of picking up the leftovers after being seriously injured, they were eager to finish him off.

Wei Feng's sword pierced Song Shijun's heart. His dantian was sealed by the distraction, making it impossible for him to summon his Dharma form. The backlash from the people in the Golden Spirit Tower further aggravated his injuries. As soon as Song Shijun regained his senses, he opened his eyes to see a large group of Pingze cultivators rushing towards him, and he was stunned for a moment.

Only four words remained in my mind: shameless!

Wei Feng swiftly and decisively ripped out his heart. He inherited Jiang Gu's good habit of cutting off his head, removing his heart, and shattering his pills without missing a single one. However, there were too many cultivators around who wanted a share of the pie, and he was forcibly squeezed out.

The Golden Spirit Pagoda shattered, and the women and children who emerged from it scattered and fled in the chaotic battlefield.

From Song Shijun's corpse, a wisp of his primordial spirit silently emerged and attached itself to the cultivator closest to him.

On the other side, the battle between Jiang Yinzhong, Jing Cang, and others and Xiao Dan had reached its most intense moment. Looking into the distance, the sky was filled with countless Dharma images, and the chaotic arrays and turbulent spiritual energy made it impossible for anyone to get close. Meanwhile, the surrounding cultivators were all fighting each other with bloodlust. Without the assistance of the Golden Spirit Pagoda, the number of cultivators from the Eight Pavilions finally began to decrease, but the number of Pingze cultivators who had fallen was also increasing. Blood had flowed like rivers around the temple, and the ground was littered with corpses, abandoned magic weapons, and arrays. Some people even broke through on the spot, with thunderclaps and lightning. Under the light of the lightning, twisted and ferocious faces were revealed, and the greed and bloodlust in their eyes were unmistakable.

In the distance, the statue of the God of War, Yao Shuo, stood majestic and imposing. The dark clouds dispersed, finally revealing his appearance. His sharp features and indifferent eyes made him seem aloof and unapproachable, as if he didn't care about the battle at his feet at all. The spear in his hand seemed to be stained with a deep blood color in the lightning, and it gleamed black in the reflection of the lightning.

As Jiang Gu led Wei Feng through the high sky, his gaze suddenly paused when he saw the statue.

Wei Feng didn't know what had happened, but he instinctively grabbed his hand and asked telepathically, "What's wrong, Master?"

"Something's not right." Jiang Gu stared at the statue of the God of War, his chaotic thoughts gradually clearing, and his tone unusually urgent, "Get out of here quickly!"

As he spoke, he quickly formed hand seals and sent talismans to inform Jiang Xiangyun, Bai Yi, and the others. But as if in response to his guess, the sounds of fighting below gradually weakened.

Jiang Gu's pupils contracted sharply. Through the blurry spheres of light, he met Xiao Dan's calm, smiling eyes.

'I thought you would at least give me a definite answer.'

'Whatever I seek in the Way, whether right or wrong, is right.'

Jiang Gu suddenly turned around and ran towards Gu Qinghui behind him. His spiritual power spread out rapidly, and the black jade bracelet suddenly expanded. He stretched out a hand to Gu Qinghui. Gu Qinghui was confused, but still subconsciously wanted to grab him and opened her mouth to call his name.

However, just as he was about to grab Gu Qinghui, the blood mist exploded in front of him.

High above, countless explosions of spiritual energy rang out, turning both the Moon Gazing cultivator and the Plain Ze cultivator into dazzling flowers of blood in his eyes.

The blood from Jiang Gu's condensed primordial spirit slid down his chin and fell from the sky.

It crashed heavily into the soil.