Before Dawn 1

It should have been a charming night, but someone quietly arrived.

It's that oriole!

Huaiwen saw it when she returned to the front of the wooden house. Following the direction the oriole had flown, she saw Fulin. Huaiwen raised an eyebrow and took small steps over: "Master."

He gently called out, "A-Jun."

The doubts that had been building up in Huaiwen's heart surged up. Fulin knew this; his face was kind. He first looked over Huaiwen's back at Xuan Ye, then said with a sigh and helplessness, "In the end, it's still you."

Xuan Ye tilted his head back, his expression neither pleased nor angry, but he harbored some animosity and wariness towards Fu Lin. Fu Lin noticed this and said, "Didn't I bring the person back? Don't look at me like that."

"What?" Huaiwen asked, raising an eyebrow.

Fu Lin laughed: "It's nothing, I just made a bet with you... my friend, and I completed it."

"What's the stake?" Huaiwen asked again.

He sighed deeply, "I'm bringing you back. Ah-Jun, you must have already been to Fengqin Mountain and know what your master has done. I've told you everything you have questions about, including the matter of the black energy mass. But as I told you before, your destiny has come to an end here, and you should not delve any further."

"But Master..."

“No buts. I already said it.” Fu Lin Yan Su, “And remember this, you are not a priest.”

This matter struck Huaiwen's heart like a thunderbolt. According to the principles of Heaven, it was the gods who should save people from suffering, even if it was the exiled god Mo Heng, it would be his duty to do so. But Huaiwen was just a junior apprentice, a novice Taoist priest, who had not yet attained immortality. To put it bluntly, he was courting death.

Fu Lin looked at the silent Huai Wen and sighed, "Let's go, I'll take you somewhere. There you'll find the answers you seek."

The ghost hovering in the sky vanished without a trace. Huaiwen was puzzled, but he saw Fulin walk forward. He exchanged a glance with Xuanye and followed.

In this Pengxi region, there is a swamp.

This swamp is different from ordinary swamps. It is not quicksand or mud, but rather a collection of scattered stones that resemble brains. These stones radiate outward from the center of Pengxi Island.

These brain-shaped stones were not naturally formed in Pengxi; they were created later. Initially, the swamp swallowed a demon or a priest, simply devouring them. Later, because they died with their eyes wide open in discontent, some transformed into vengeful ghosts, floating in Pengxi, while others, lacking sufficient cultivation, turned into these brain-shaped stones.

They attract people's attention with their strange appearance, luring them in and causing them to sink into the swamp, thus gaining a sense of "My life is miserable, may yours be miserable too."

This process was repeated, eventually leading to the way it is today.

The three reached the outer edge of the swamp, carefully avoiding the brain-shaped stones as they stepped on them, and then moved a little further in. Seeing that there were more and more brain-shaped stones, they said to the monk, "Don't go any further. This is enough."

As soon as he finished speaking, Fu Lin swept his hand forward, and the "golden armor and jade robe" appeared before them.

Huaiwen was shocked: "Master, you brought it here?"

Fu Lin nodded: "It is the vessel of vengeful spirits and must be eliminated. However, this thing has been around for too many years and is not easy to destroy. I can only bring it here now. I will trap it in this swampy area so that it can never get out again and will no longer harm others."

The black aura emanating from the golden-armored figure was even more intense than before, its malevolent and resentful energy even heavier. However, Huaiwen also witnessed the golden-armored figure attempting to break through the barrier set up by Fulin, but it was unable to escape no matter what it did.

“Ah Jun, the golden armor and jade robes and the black aura are all manifestations of resentment. Even the cursed shackles on your body are caused by your senior brother’s resentment back in the Void Realm. Resentment is causing chaos in both the human and demon realms, leading to widespread disorder. So for the past three hundred years, I have been searching for a solution,” Fu Lin said. “Until today, I have finally found a way to break the curse.”

"What method?"

Fu Lin calmly explained: "Originally, I was going to deal with the 'Golden Armor and Jade Robe' myself, but unfortunately, an accident happened during my time travel, causing me to lose a part of my soul and spirit, so I can't deal with it myself. And since it's related to the curse shackles on your body, I have no choice but to let you deal with it."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Ye asked, "This 'golden armor and jade suit' is at least a thousand-year-old evil artifact. How do you want A-Jun to deal with it?"

Fu Lin hesitated, looking lost in thought. Huai Wen calmly said, "Master, please speak."

“Ah-Jun, if it weren’t for Master… losing that wisp of his soul, how could I bear to let you do this?” Fu Lin said with self-reproach, “Ah-Jun, Master can’t bear to let you wear this ‘golden armor’.”

Huaiwen remained extremely calm, and without the slightest hesitation, she asked, "Will I die after wearing this?"

"No!" Xuan Ye roared immediately.

Fu Lin shook his head, his expression stern: "No, Master will not let you die."

Huaiwen asked, "What will happen then?"

“The worst possibility is that you will have to live with this burden for the rest of your life,” Fu Lin said slowly. “But Ah Jun, your master is already looking for a way to prevent you from suffering because of this.”

Xuan Ye took a step forward, but stopped when he felt a light, delicate butterfly brush against his back. Huai Wen's face was resolute as she replied, "Master, I understand. You know my aspirations; how could I bear to see the world in chaos?"

After saying that, Huaiwen walked towards the "golden armor and jade suit". Under the watchful eyes of Fulin and Xuanye, she raised her hand and brought the "golden armor and jade suit" to herself. Before putting it on, she said, "Master, you just said that you were reluctant to let my destiny come to this point and that I should not investigate further. But the world is changing in an instant. How can we not let people investigate?"

"Ah-Jun, your master is such a conflicted person too..." She covered her face with her hand, "Ah-Jun, your master doesn't want to see you like this..."

“Then let Master do it—” Huaiwen, who had been determined to die, suddenly changed her mind and threw the golden armor and jade robe toward Fulin.

In a flash, Fu Lin dodged, shouting, "Ah Jun, you've been controlled!"

Huaiwen sneered: "Is that so? Pei Suqin!"

Seeing that her plan had been exposed, Pei Suqin turned to flee, but was captured alive by Xuan Ye, who was waiting behind her.

“I underestimated you.” Pei Suqin struggled but couldn’t escape. She toned down her arrogance and asked, “How did you find out about me?”

Huaiwen replied calmly, "My master won't say I'm not a priest. He'll just say that being a priest isn't fun."

Pei Suqin chuckled self-deprecatingly a few times, then said, "I never expected him to say things like that. Well, you truly are a chosen one; no wonder fate wants to kill you!"

Huaiwen's eyes were sharp as she asked fiercely, "Where is my master?"

Pei Suqin snorted: "Your master? Does he deserve to be your master? And do you deserve to be his disciple?"

“We are from the same sect,” Huaiwen advised. “Even if our master is wrong, you must not kill him, and you should not let your personal resentment lead you to oppose the world. Wouldn’t it be better if you could let go of your hatred and reincarnate again?”

Several sharp laughs reached Huaiwen's ears. She heard Pei Suqin mockingly say, "If you had said 'let go of hatred' eight hundred years ago, I might have listened, thinking you were joking. But now that things have come to this, you actually tell me to let go of hatred. They stripped me of my position as a priest and took my life, yet you won't let me take revenge!"

"What do you mean?" Huaiwen asked.

Pei Suqin looked up to the sky and roared, "What do you mean? It means your whole life has been a joke! Junior sister, junior sister, do you know why you can't attain immortality? Because you—"

At this point, Pei Suqin suddenly lost her voice, her face contorted in pain, unable to utter a word. Xuan Ye and Huai Wen immediately scanned their surroundings, and soon the concealed Mo Heng was spotted by Xuan Ye.

Huaiwen poked his head out and asked, "Mo Heng, is that you?"

Mo Heng, who had his back to Huai Wen, slowly turned around when he heard the question and said, "It's been a long time, A-Jun."

Huaiwen asked again, "Have you been following us the whole time?"

Mo Heng nodded in agreement, and Huai Wen asked again, "Mo Heng, why do you want to save us but won't let us land on the island?"

After a few seconds of silence, Mo Heng replied, "Because Pei Suqin is here."

Huaiwen frowned: "You knew she was here?"

Mo Heng nodded in response: "I have been exiled here for almost two hundred years, while Pei Suqin only recently appeared here. I thought that since she came here, he would definitely come after her."

Huaiwen followed Mo Heng's gaze and landed on Xuan Ye. When their eyes met, Xuan Ye lowered his head, as if afraid that Huaiwen would find out something. He looked a little regretful and at a loss.

Seeing this, Huaiwen did not press Xuan Ye for details, but instead asked Mo Heng, "Do you know that Pei Suqin is impersonating my master?"

Mo Heng shook his head and then nodded, finally replying, "If you heard Cang Lun and Shi Yulu mention it, then you would know that it was Pei Suqin who killed Rong Yun back then. I originally thought that after she absorbed the True Dragon Qi, she would surely cause a great upheaval in the Three Realms, but for some reason, I haven't heard any news about her since that day."

“Even though I was exiled here, I hadn’t seen her for two hundred years. But I happened to see her recently. When I tried to chase after her, she disappeared again. Then she came out again on the day you arrived on the island. I was afraid she would do something bad to you, and I didn’t want to run to you, so I kept following her. I didn’t expect to lose her yesterday, so I had to change my target to protect you, and that’s how I followed you all the way here.”

Xuan Ye judged, "Given his current state, he has no way to control Pei Suqin."

Huaiwen paused for a moment, understanding what Xuan Ye was talking about. Even without the True Dragon Qi, Pei Suqin was still very powerful, and Mo Heng couldn't control her.

After thinking for a moment, Huaiwen sighed and said, "Mo Heng, I'm afraid I can't catch up with you right now, but I desperately need your help. Perhaps you know where my master is?"

Mo Heng shook his head, but he pointed at Pei Suqin and said, "But she pretended to be your master after she landed on the island, so she must know where your master is."

Having said that, Xuan Ye used magic to alleviate Pei Suqin's pain. He was angry but not intimidating. He leaned close and lowered his voice, saying, "You'd better lead us there properly, otherwise you will be neither dead nor alive, and you will never be able to avenge yourself. I will not do anything to you, but I will let you experience the pain of being burned by the True Dragon's Qi once again."

Pei Suqin was terrified upon hearing this. She wanted to curse, but Xuan Ye prevented her from speaking. She could only obediently nod in agreement to Xuan Ye's seemingly friendly question.

Although Huaiwen didn't hear clearly what Xuan Ye said to Pei Suqin, it was obvious that what he said frightened Pei Suqin, and she gave in.

Although Huaiwen didn't intend to investigate what Xuan Ye had done, she had a vague feeling that what Xuan Ye had done to Pei Suqin was related to her. She even thought that Pei Suqin was most likely absorbing the True Dragon Qi, and that his inability to unleash his full power and become the Ghost King was also because of him.

On the way to where Fulin was, Huaiwen hesitated to speak, but Xuanye noticed and asked her what was wrong.

After hesitating for a long time, Huaiwen finally asked, "What happened to Pei Suqin and Canglun in the palace back then, was it related to you?"

Xuan Ye hesitated for a moment before nodding: "A-Jun... I'm sorry."

Is it because of me?

Xuan Ye did not deny it, but fearing that Huai Wen would blame himself, he said, "It was that king who was foolish, turned black into white, and mistreated his people, wanting to exterminate them all. His death was inevitable in the end, and Pei Suqin only hastened it. Mo Heng and the others were just fulfilling their duties as priests. A-Jun, this has nothing to do with you."

Huaiwen's expression had been gloomy, but after hearing Xuan Ye's words, she tried to compose herself and gave a smile: "I understand."

The brain-flower stones gradually receded behind them. As they approached the fork in the road leading to the oasis and the desert, Pei Suqin led them toward the other side of Pengxi Island, where a series of jagged, uneven stone forests gradually appeared.

When a tombstone-like stone came into view, Pei Suqin's eyes turned sinister. Without a smile, she said seductively, "We're here. He's right here."