Chapter 129 Colorful

Qing Bai was stunned, not because Jiu Nian's words really sounded like a joke or a mockery, but because Qing Bai was very sure that Jiu Nian would never use a joke to brush him off at such a time, nor would he make such a light mockery in front of this 'miracle' that was filled with so much flesh and blood. Qing Bai was even more surprised, because it meant that Jiu Nian's words were literal.

——Xuan He has been struggling for so many years just to go to heaven?

Then he shouldn't be hiding in the giant locust tree to refine corpses and plant trees, he should go to the rocket launch base to get a ride.

Hearing the laughter of the nine young people, Qing Bai realized that he had spoken out the complaints in his heart.

"'Jianmu, a hundred feet tall, branchless, with nine trunks and nine thorns beneath. Its fruit is like hemp, its leaves like awns. Great Sun passed by here, and it was created by the Yellow Emperor.'" Jiunian's voice was deep and gentle, and his recounting of ancient events had a unique charm that made one hold one's breath and listen intently. "Jianmu is located in the center of heaven and earth. If someone stands under the tree, their shadow disappears, and even if they shout, no sound can be heard. In the past, the gods and the Five Emperors used it to travel between heaven and earth. It was called... the Ladder to Heaven."

"Ladder to Heaven?" This term was so familiar that Qing Bai couldn't help but ask, "Is it true?"

Nine years: "I don't know, but it says so in the book."

"What book?"

Year 9: "Classic of Mountains and Seas."

Qing Bai: “…”

Who said that Jiu Nian can’t tell jokes?

Jiu Nian saw Qing Bai's speechlessness and explained, "I've never seen something like Jianmu, something that only exists in myths and legends."

Seeing Qing Bai's disappointment, Jiu Nian continued, "However, when I was young, I heard the elders of my clan talk about how, in ancient times, Jianmu was called the sacred tree because the gods needed it to travel to and from the human world. Later, a great catastrophe occurred, the gods returned to heaven, and Jianmu collapsed, separating the immortals and mortals forever."

"A great catastrophe, the gods return to heaven, and immortals and mortals are forever separated..." Qing Bai pondered for a moment, and suddenly said, "So Xuan He created this pirated Jianmu, is he trying to ascend to heaven?"

Jiu Nian corrected: "It's going to heaven, not ascending."

Qing Bai looked puzzled, and Jiu Nian explained, "To ascend to heaven requires enlightenment, either through perfect merit or divine guidance. He has none of these."

"Furthermore, the Heavenly Ladder has collapsed, the gods have retreated, and there is a shortage of immortal spirits. There is no possibility for the living beings in the world to ascend to heaven. Regardless of their talent and cultivation, they can only achieve the status of Earthly Immortal, living forever in the world and not dying in the human world... All that Xuan He did was to commit murder and sin, which only increased his sins."

"Even if he really built a road to heaven, the moment Xuanhe set foot on it, the heavens would only send down punishment instead of heavenly music and sunshine."

After hearing this, Qing Bai actually praised him: "So, although he has no virtue and is not perfect, his ambition is great."

"My heart is higher than the sky."

Jiu Nian shook his head and laughed.

Qing Bai asked again: "So we are now waiting for him to be punished by God?"

Jiu Nian neither said yes nor no, but simply smiled: "Things have their priorities, and punishments also have their order. The victim comes first, followed by heaven's punishment, and the law is the foundation... As for us waiting here, it's naturally because..."

Jiu Nian paused, as if weighing his words, and Qing Bai continued, "Finishing blow?"

Jiu Nian thought about it carefully and felt that these two words were very well used here, so he nodded.

Seeing Jiu Nian nod, Qing Bai relaxed a little and had the leisure to talk about other things: "Speaking of which page of the Classic of Mountains and Seas are you on?"

"Hmm?" Jiu Nian looked at Qing Bai blankly...Why did he have a subtle feeling of being scolded?

Qing Bai didn't get a response from Jiu Nian and thought he didn't hear clearly. When he was about to ask again, he was interrupted by a thunder that resounded through the sky.

He looked up at the sky, and saw silver light flashing all over the sky. Lightning flashed like dragons, snakes, and broken spider webs, piercing through the layers of clouds and heading straight for "Jianmu". The number of lightning and its power were so great that people seemed to think... the sky was breaking.

No, it's really breaking!

The darkness shrouding the giant locust tree was torn apart by lightning, and light came down through the cracks. Qing Bai felt his mind become clear, and the world in front of him seemed to be wiped clean of dust and finally became clear.

With the light coming through, Qing Bai finally saw the true appearance of this 'Jianmu' tree - it was naturally tall, but it was definitely not so tall that it blocked out the sky and covered the entire giant locust tree. There were obvious signs of splicing on the trunk, and the tree grains on it were also very strange. If you look at it for a long time, you will find that they are not fixed, but are moving and wriggling at an extremely slow speed, forming a series of painful and distorted faces.

As for the branches and leaves, they are far from lush. There are only two branches at each joint, which is full of artificial stiffness and perfunctoriness.

Only when you escape from the darkness can you discover how dilapidated it is.

The skeleton 'jade belts' wrapped around the tree were indirectly exposed to the lightning. Although they were not accidentally injured, they were still frightened. As if they were under pressure, they suddenly retreated more than a hundred meters.

"Heaven's punishment is coming already?" Qing Bai looked at the Jianmu tree swaying alone in the thunder and lightning ahead. "Or is it just because it's too high that it has become a natural lightning rod?"

Jiu Nian was also looking at Jianmu, but his gaze was fixed on a certain spot. After a long while, he said, "Sui Jing is dead."

Although Qing Bai had a premonition that Sui Jing would lose in the battle with Xuan He, when the dust finally settled, he felt inexplicably disappointed and subconsciously asked, "How did he die?"

Year 9: "Slit the throat and bleed."

The roaring thunder and lightning in the sky seemed to pause for a moment, and the next second, thunder and lightning roared.

There is no need to elaborate on the past nine years. Right before Qing Bai's eyes is unfolding the spectacle of the 'sacred tree' bathed in blood.

...It was hard to imagine a single spirit beast possessing so much blood, enough to dye such a massive tree a glaring crimson. Or perhaps it had nothing to do with the quantity, but rather the spirit beast's inherent extraordinary power, its vitalizing blood flowing into the tree, bringing this tree, originally crafted from its corpse, to life, radiant and luminous.

At this moment, the black crane hiding in "Jianmu" finally showed up, still with a weird and disheveled body without feathers. Fortunately, as soon as he showed his head, the black fog that had been searching for him for a long time among the branches and leaves rushed over - wrapping himself in the black fog was also another form of covering up his shame.

Unfortunately, the black fog that surrounded him could not stop him. Xuanhe flapped his flesh wings and flew towards the top of Jianmu.

Qing Bai saw something in the black crane's beak from afar. He took a closer look and his expression immediately turned unhappy: "The horns of adult Lingxi are colorful?"

Suddenly I feel a resistance to adulthood...

Qing Bai was not mistaken; the horn in Xuanhe's mouth was indeed a rhinoceros horn. If his earlier statement that horns cut from corpses were ineffective was true, then this horn was most likely freshly cut by Xuanhe while Suijing was still alive.

When he thought about how Suijing had not only had his throat cut and blood drained, but also had his Lingxi horn dug out while he was still alive, although he couldn't help feeling sympathetic, after all, he was also the Jianmu 'fertilizer' chosen by Xuanhe, but after that bit of sadness, Qing Bai still gave him a smile for the passing of his only member of his tribe in the world.

Jiunian's expression was even worse than Qingbai's, as if he was surprised and doubtful, but he soon seemed to understand something and said softly, "So that's how it is."

Qing Bai looked at him in confusion, and Jiu Nian quickly explained, "The horns of adult Lingxi aren't colorful."

As soon as he finished speaking, daybreak came.

Qing Bai looked up in surprise, just in time to see the last trace of the broken sky being completely swallowed up by the light, and the black giant beast lying in the clouds with its eyes closed.

Qing Bai murmured: "That is..."

Nine Years: "That is my true self."

Qing Bai's heart was shocked, and his eyes widened instantly. He could no longer look away, and he wished he could imprint every inch of the black beast into his mind.

But... it has a unicorn head and a rooster tail, and looks like a black tiger... I inexplicably feel a sense of familiarity... If those eyes were opened and they were a pair of majestic, golden eyes, it would be even more familiar.

"Xuanhe has set up a large formation around the giant locust tree, using the broken stones of the Samsara Platform as eyes, to prevent me from entering..."

Before Jiu Nian could finish his words, he was interrupted by Qing Bai: "The broken stones of the Samsara Platform?"

How could the Samsara Platform, such an important landmark building in the underworld, have rubble?

Jiu Nian's expression froze, and he was obviously a little embarrassed, but he still explained to Qing Bai seriously: "It's... the rubble that fell off when I crashed into the Samsara Platform."

Qing Bai also remembered this and couldn't help but despise Xuan He even more. This bird has done a lot of sneaky things. Not to mention stealing Lingxi's body, he even stole the bricks from the Samsara Platform! And he used them specifically to deal with Jiu Nian!

"When I bumped into the Samsara Platform, my soul left my body and I was forced to sleep for many years," Jiu Nian not only concealed nothing from Qing Bai, but also revealed some unknown details. "After waking up, I don't know why my soul is still often unstable. The Samsara Platform is designed to transport souls, and it naturally restrains those with unstable souls... Xuan He must have anticipated this and specially set up the Samsara Stone formation to force my soul out of my true body."

Qing Bai raised an eyebrow. Although it was not clear on Mao Mao's face, his tone was obviously dangerous: "Since you know so much, why is your soul still out of your body?"

Nine years of silence, quietly looking at Qing Bai.

Qing Bai felt uneasy when he looked at her, and was about to say something when the black crane just flew to the top of Jianmu, holding the blood-stained rhinoceros horn and roaring towards the sky. Although the roar was not startling, it startled the skeletons that had just been scared away by the thunder. The enemy was right in front of them, and now even the mines from the sky could not scare them, let alone thunder from the sky.

The skeletons lost control in an instant, no longer working together as well-trained as before, but rushed towards Xuanhe like hungry tigers pouncing on their prey.

Xuan He pretended not to notice and raised his hand to attach the Lingxi Horn to the Jianmu tree. Jiu Nian suddenly spoke, "Xuan He, are you determined not to turn back?"

This was a strange way of speaking. Although it was a question, it didn't sound like a question, but rather like the beginning of a verdict.

Xuan He gave Jiu Nian some respect and stopped. He turned to look at Jiu Nian and said with a smile, "At this point, there's no need for politeness. Lord Jiu Nian, could you please be quiet for a moment and serve as a witness?"

It's true that once one ascends to heaven, one becomes arrogant. Before, he was very careful and calculated in dealing with Jiu Nian, but now he has been directly downgraded to a witness.

He had been crazy for nine years but remained calm, his eyes even showing a hint of compassion: "The spirits can tell good and evil through their horns... The spirit horns are the same. It is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish the true from the false, but the spirits can tell at a glance."

This statement was truly baffling. In the past, Xuan He would have analyzed it word by word, fearing he'd missed any clues. But now, he simply didn't have the time. Seeing the skeleton army only a few meters away, the flickering light in his eyes was clear. Xuan He didn't wait any longer. He decisively pressed the Lingxi horn in his hand against Jianmu. The Lingxi horn, which was as long as an adult's forearm, was like being struck by an invisible blade, instantly splitting in two, revealing the straight white veins inside.

He has a telepathic connection with all beings and can talk to ghosts and gods.

Suddenly, a violent wind blew up in this area, clouds piled up like mountains, and the sky became dark. From above, a low rumble came, not like thunder, but like the whisper of a god...

For a long time, nothing happened.