Chapter 154 I finally understand that you're just making things difficult for me.

As they were talking, Zhou Yaren fell asleep due to exhaustion, and the room gradually fell silent. Bai Yuan stared blankly at her thin and tired face.

Zhou Yaren looked extremely haggard, her face pale and bloodless. After all, she had just risked her life and almost died at the gates of hell. How could anyone not feel sorry for her?

Bai Yuan's anger had subsided, and he finally remembered how Zhou Yaren had looked so distressed with red eyes several times. He couldn't help but feel sorry for him, wondering how he had been so heartless and ignored her back then.

Perhaps because the dust had finally settled, she finally had some free time in the dead of night, and only then did the pangs of heartache for this person belatedly surface.

She originally wanted to keep Zhou Yaren by her side, but did she really want to leave him to wander the world?

Bai Yuan changed her mind, not because she was angry and took the opportunity to change it; she had had this idea before.

Just then, the Gu Master was leading Yin Sui to search for the Boundless Secret Realm, and she could take this opportunity to send Zhou Yaren back to his hometown. Perhaps only in this way could she relieve him of the torment he had endured for a thousand years.

Bai Yuan suddenly remembered A Zhaosu, a corpse that had died outside Hangu Pass.

Azhaosu did not die from the lightning strike, but rather from injuries sustained during his pursuit of the Immortal Path.

He died with resentment for failing to save his people. Bai Yuan buried him himself and began searching for the traces of the Undead.

However, the world is vast and the land is boundless. Bai Yuan searched for a very long time, traversing mountains and rivers, but the heavens and earth, though endowing her with power, did not make her omnipotent.

Life is full of hardships, and everything has its own insurmountable difficulties. Hardships will not be avoided or ended. Even if time passes, what lies before her is still that mess that has not been cleaned up.

Bai Yuan recalled those helpless and pitiful pleas: "Please save me."

He said again and again, "I am innocent."

But if we want to save him, we must send him back to the place where Azhaosu was judged...

Bai Yuan stared at the sleeping Zhou Yaren, feeling seven or eight parts unwilling in her heart. She sighed inwardly: Aren't you making things difficult for me?

If only everyone in this world could act according to their own desires, she could use this chain of punishment to keep Zhou Yaren by her side, which would be a fitting fulfillment of the saying "to follow each other through life and death".

Bai Yuan lowered her eyes, and the red silk ribbon on her wrist caught her eye. She suppressed this selfish thought that caused her so much suffering.

Ah Zhao has endured countless life-and-death experiences, accompanied by punishment and misfortune. She never longs to clear her name and break free from her shackles. Why should she torment others for such a selfish desire?

Bai Yuan reached out and gently touched a bruise on his brow.

She remembered that the blind man always carried medicine with him, so she went to the bathtub and rummaged through the pile of damp clothes to find two porcelain bottles. One bottle contained pills for oral administration, and the other contained ointment for external application. Bai Yuan draped the wet clothes over the screen, turned around and sat down in front of the bed. She gently lifted the corner of the quilt and began to apply the medicine little by little to the haphazard wounds.

When Zhou Yaren woke up the next day, she could clearly feel that her wounds had been treated, but Bai Yuan was nowhere to be seen in the room.

His heart tightened, and his divine sense instantly spread out. Zhou Yaren got off the bed, groped for the clothes that had already dried, put them on, and hurriedly went out to find her.

Bai Yuan hadn't gone far. He sat on a rock by a ditch, watching several women washing clothes with washing sticks and listening to their everyday gossip.

These were all ordinary, trivial matters. For example, if the chicken droppings weren't cleaned up, a naked baby crawling on the floor would pick them up and eat them, leading to a big argument between the couple, with each blaming the other. Or, if a man helped a widow carry water, his wife would scratch him the next day, and he would never dare to do manual labor for outsiders again.

Bai Yuan had been watching the commotion for a while when Zhou Yaren arrived, leaning on a cane. She stood up, threw away the foxtail grass in her hand, and said, "Let's go."

Zhou Yaren didn't react immediately: "Where to?"

Bai Yuan followed the path forward: "Didn't we say we'd go back to Pinglu first?"

At this moment, the courtyard in Pinglu was shrouded in gloom. Several teenagers, who had just woken up from serious injuries, had become lifeless after experiencing a great tragedy, which Elder He found unbearable.

Elder He, supporting himself with slightly bent knees, sat down in front of the medicine furnace with somewhat slow movements. His whole body ached, and his chest felt like it was about to flare up. He had been stubborn for half his life, but at this moment he had to admit that he was getting old.

I'm too old and useless now.

He had studied medicine since childhood, but he didn't know what to do with Wen Yi, who was under the influence of the Gu poison. After hearing about the dangers from the snake catcher, he was afraid of the potential consequences and decided to cremate Wen Yi's body first. As a result, Lin Mu threw a tantrum and cried for him, and his wailing still gives him a headache.

He still remembered that when the boys came to distribute the medicine they carried with them because they were going down the mountain to settle some matters, apart from the pretentious Li Liuyun, the other boys were jumping around like monkeys.

When the Celestial Master and the Sect Leader stood on the Golden Summit of Taihang Mountain and watched the young people descend the mountain, they said the following words.

“Liu Yun is too unsociable. This trip down the mountain will be a good opportunity to strengthen the bonds between fellow disciples.” After saying this, the Celestial Master looked worried and sighed, “If in the future, if there is a day when we are all gone, Liu Yun will have gone astray.”

The sect leader chimed in, "I know you're afraid he'll become obsessed."

“I personally selected and taught my apprentices. I know his temperament, so I want to find him a few companions who can walk this seemingly endless road with him,” the Celestial Master said. “You know, those involved are often blinded by their own interests and stubbornly refuse to see the truth. They might stray onto a path of no return if they are not careful. At that time, at least he will have a few loyal fellow disciples who will lend him a helping hand.”

The Celestial Master specially selected a few disciples—Lian Zhao, Wen Yi, Lin Mu, and Yu Heqi—who may not all be outstanding, but they were all disciples with excellent character. He then sent them to work with Li Liuyun.

Elder He didn't mean to provoke the Celestial Master; the Jingzong sect wanted to cultivate a successor, so naturally they were making plans for their precious disciple in every way.

The Celestial Master's plan has yielded remarkable results, leaving everyone who was struggling to get along completely disoriented.

Elder He glanced at Lin Mu, who was curled up in a rattan chair with the urn of ashes in his arms, wiped his dim old eyes, and raised his hand to instruct Lin Mu: "Don't stay here, hurry up and go send a message to the Celestial Master."

Lin Mu looked up blankly, his eyes red and swollen like goldfish in a pond.

Elder He ignored his foolish appearance: "With my disciple injured like this, I don't believe that Jingzong can still sit on the Golden Summit of Taihang Mountain."

When a group of younger children are beaten and bullied outside, their master has no choice but to come and support them.

As soon as Lin Mu opened the courtyard gate, he bumped into Bai Yuan and Ting Fengzhi who had returned.

In fact, Zhou Yaren had a premonition when the Gu Master appeared at the Three Gates Natural Barrier, but he never expected it to be so tragic. Not only was Lu Bing not saved, but Wen Yi also lost his life, and several teenagers were seriously injured and almost died.

Zhou Yaren felt extremely guilty.

Elder He made his dislike for him blatantly on his face, giving him no kind look and slamming the door shut as soon as he entered the house. The fact that he didn't start cursing at Zhou Yaren on the spot was already a favor to her.

Zhou Yaren knew that nothing she said could make up for it: "I will definitely kill the Gu Master and Wang Xiang..."

"Tingfengzhi." Lin Mu interrupted him blankly. He had overheard what the Gu Master said to Tingfengzhi back at the Three Gates Perilous Pass. The Wangxiang were undead, and so was Tingfengzhi. "The Wangxiang are your kin. Can you really bring yourself to kill them?"

Zhou Yaren was stunned for a moment.

Lin Mu said, "Back then, at the perilous Yellow River, you could have clearly killed the Gu Master and that Wangxiang."

But did he listen to the Gu Master's nonsense and therefore show mercy to Wangxiang?

Lin Mu's two sentences struck him directly. At that moment, Zhou Ya's mind was in turmoil, which allowed the Gu Master and Wang Xiang to escape. If he hadn't shown mercy...

Zhou Yaren was speechless and could not defend herself: "I'm sorry."

“Tingfengzhi, I don’t blame you.” What he truly blamed were the Gu Master and Wangxiang, who had harmed and killed people, and he was determined to make them pay for Wenyi’s life. Lin Mu had previously arrogantly believed that the Gu Master and Wangxiang were not worth fearing at all, “Many things are simply beyond our control and our ability to predict.”

Looking at Lin Mu's swollen eyes and his restrained emotions towards Zhou Yaren, Bai Yuan suddenly felt that this child had grown up. His senior brothers had taught him to grow up at the cost of their blood: "Sanmu."

When Lin Mutou heard her speak in that tone for the first time, it felt like they had suddenly become closer, more intimate than ever.

Bai Yuan said, "Wait until I've slicing the Gu Master and Wang Xiang to vent your anger."

Upon hearing this, Lin Mu's nose suddenly stung, and the tip of his nose instantly turned red. He turned his head away to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.

After visiting a few teenagers, Bai Yuan and Zhou Yaren did not stay any longer. This time, only the two of them traveled together in quiet solitude.

Suspecting that the Gu technique might be related to the search for the secret realm, Bai Yuan also brought along the tiny Gu snake that had hatched.

The journey to the East Sea was long, and they guessed that Wang Xiang would definitely choose the Yellow River waterway. Therefore, Zhou Yaren, feeling guilty towards the young men of Taihang Road, and Bai Yuan went to the ferry and boarded the ship. If they made it in time, they might be able to catch up with Gu Shi and Wang Xiang at the estuary.

The river flows swiftly, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, depending on the width of the river.

The sun grew hotter day by day, and the people working on both sides of the strait went shirtless, as leftover food would spoil if left out for a day or two.

At this moment, a headless corpse was stuck at a desolate bend in the Yellow River, entangled by a jumble of withered water plants and vines. The rotting corpse was slowly oozing murky, blackish liquid, drop by drop, filthy and sticky, slowly dissolving into the river water.

These murky bodily fluids seemed to have a mind of their own, lingering around the foul-smelling corpse instead of being diluted or dispersed by the river.

After seven days and seven nights of decay and rotting, the headless corpse gradually decomposed into a newborn phantom.

Wang Xiang was in a daze for most of the day before finally remembering his name from his previous life.

His name is Xu Zhangfang, no, his original name should be Xu Fu, but he changed his name many times later.

But how could it be underwater? How could it not have a body?

It took Xu Fu quite a while to rack his brains and piece together his memories of his life.

Memories slowly returned, and Xu Fu suddenly realized what he was doing.

But how could that be? It's unbelievable. How could it turn into a monstrous illusion?

After much deep thought, Xu Fu suddenly realized something.

No wonder! No wonder he thought he had no grudge against the Gu Master, yet so many monstrous creatures appeared at the Three Gates Perilous Pass to take his life, as if they had some deep-seated hatred for him. It turns out it was the sins he had committed in the past.

Only after death did I realize this.

Ah, he knew it; he finally got his comeuppance.