Chapter 84

Chapter 84

If she didn't love her, why give birth to her in the first place? Meng Yuan felt uncomfortable. Teng Yu'e was no longer human; what was there to talk about love? She didn't even have normal human emotions.

"Senior Meng..."

Meng Yuan opened her eyes wide and turned her head around: "Fusheng? Fusheng? Where are you?" Meng Yuan heard Kong Fusheng calling her.

"Senior Meng..."

She heard another sound, this time much clearer. Meng Yuan looked down at her waist and noticed a round, bulging bulge. Inside Teng Yu'e's stomach, Teng Yu'e had swallowed Kong Fusheng whole. It sounded impossible, but with the facts before her, Meng Yuan had to believe it; Teng Yu'e's mouth could indeed swallow a person whole.

Meng Yuan needed to disembowel Teng Yu'e to rescue Kong Fusheng. As she hesitated and pondered what to do, Teng Yu'e clutched her stomach, like a worm weaving a cocoon. Seeing her arms wrapped around her stomach, Meng Yuan sensed something was wrong and chose to observe the situation.

While Zhou Xiuqi's side was locked in fierce combat, Tan Yuhua took a few steps back, covering her left eye, her smile unchanged, blood still flowing from her left eye. Zhou Xiuqi sheathed his sword and asked, "Where did you hide the Ghost General?"

Tan Yuhua smiled slightly: "Why the rush?"

Zhou Xiuqi said expressionlessly, "If you're not in a hurry, why should I be?"

They were exhausted from fighting, and Tan Yuhua was injured. They were already at a disadvantage against the two of them. Now, neither side made any move, and they were just having a quiet conversation.

Tan Yuhua: "Why should I be in such a hurry?"

Zhou Xiuqi: "I'm in a hurry to apologize."

Upon hearing the word "apology," Tan Yuhua's eyes twisted with a distorted smile: "Apology?"

"I've saved so many people, and you dare to say I'm guilty?"

"The people of Xinghua Village should have all died more than ten years ago. They have survived for so many years because of me. What I gave them were things they longed for day and night, things that even the gods could not provide."

Zhou Xiuqi said, “A sin is a sin. No matter whether what you did was right or wrong, it is unforgivable. Ask yourself, was it really to satisfy them or to satisfy yourself? Did you save the people of Xinghua Village to raise the Ghost General and use the resentment generated by their souls to prevent them from being reborn, making them neither human nor ghost?”

Meng Yuan turned his head to the side; this was the first time he had ever heard Zhou Xiuqi say so much.

Tan Yuhua remained calm and composed, saying, "How are you any different from me? If your brother Zhou Xiushan hadn't pushed you out of that fire, how could you now speak so righteously and utter such meaningless words?"

Meng Yuan's attention was completely drawn to this place.

Zhou Xiuqi lowered his eyes and said, "For the sake of the world in his heart, I strive to cultivate, slay evil spirits, and eliminate all evil in the world. Every day I am doing what he wants to do."

"He clearly doesn't like it at all."

[Ding-dong, Intermediate Quest Progress: 60%]

The system's task notification woke Meng Yuan. Zhou Xiuqi didn't like saving the world, which shattered her impression of him. In both her first and second lives, she believed that Zhou Xiuqi was willing to dedicate himself to the world.

Zhou Xiuqi pulled out the white gauze from his waist, the gauze blurring the lines on his hands and covering his entire life.

“Brother, I want to become a Taoist priest in the future.” Zhou Xiushan covered his eyes with a clean white veil, and Zhou Xiuqi massaged his ankles. “You are not allowed to tell Mother about what happened today, nor are you allowed to tell her that you want to become a Taoist priest.” Zhou Xiuqi carried a basket on his back, his face covered in mud. He washed his handkerchief and vigorously wiped his face.

Zhou Xiushan said anxiously, "I won't tell Mother. If she finds out we went out secretly and got injured, she'll definitely make a big fuss. I'll go out secretly on my own from now on."

Zhou Xiuqi was washing the handkerchiefs, wanting to say something, but ultimately refrained from saying anything to him. But in his heart, he thought, "Mother won't let you go out."

Looking at the sky outside, he realized he could still go out and find some more firewood. He said to Zhou Xiushan, "It's still early, I'll go out and find some more firewood." Zhou Xiushan swung his legs and said, "Brother, you go ahead, don't worry about me."

Zhou Xiuqi went outside and found firewood on a nearby mountain. He bent down and picked it up. Sweat dripped from his forehead. He raised his hand to wipe it away, but it kept dripping down. He looked up and saw a fiery red color in his eyes.

The next second, his feet suddenly became hot for no reason. He jumped up and a fire suddenly broke out.

Behind him, a large swath of forest burst into flames, the heat washing over his face. He slid down the mountain, thankfully the mountain wasn't high and there weren't many rocks. He dusted himself off, dodging the inexplicable fires that appeared along the way, and headed straight for his home.

"Help! Help! Fire! Fire!"

"Aa ...

"Don't burn me! Don't burn me!!!"

The heart-wrenching cries of pain echoed in his ears; he couldn't approach, he could only hide. Sweat poured down his forehead, and his breath grew shallower. Just before he collapsed, he reached his doorstep. Zhou Xiuqi gasped for breath; there was no time to pause. Something was fishy about this fire. He pinched his nose, flung open the door, and thick smoke billowed out. Zhou Xiushan collapsed to the ground. Zhou Xiuqi carried him on his back and ran towards the back path.

Zhou Xiushan slowly woke up on his back, his voice weak: "Brother, how did it suddenly catch fire?"

Zhou Xiuqi was too weak to speak anymore; only heavy breathing answered him. They knew that this path would lead out of Xinghua Village. They had discovered this together. Zhou Xiuqi glanced back: "Where's Mother?"

Zhou Xiuqi remained silent. He didn't know where his mother was; he could only choose one. Sweat poured down his face, and he felt hot. After running as fast as he could, he finally ran out of Xinghua Village. Zhou Xiuqi stood still, trying to catch his breath, his mind still tense, never letting go of Zhou Xiushan.

After a while, a white gauze, now blackened, was stuffed into Zhou Xiuqi's hand. Zhou Xiuqi said, "What are you going to do for me..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Xiushan kicked hard and fell backward.

The flames instantly engulfed everything, but Zhou Xiuqi fell right in front of them. Just then, the flames stopped advancing, and a boundary line appeared before him. The flames had only burned Xinghua Village.

"Ahhhh, brother, run, brother—" Zhou Xiushan grabbed the grass on the ground. The moment his face was engulfed by fire, the sweat on Zhou Xiushan's cheeks splattered onto the ground, uncontrollably.

Zhou Xiuqi was grabbed by the back of his neck, and with a sigh, he disappeared from the spot in an instant.

He clutched the white veil tightly in his hand, and Zhou Xiuqi raised his eyes again: "Whether he lives or dies, that fire won't kill me."

"Because I was adopted by his mother, I am not from Xinghua Village."

Tan Yuhua must not have known this, which is why he thought Zhou Xiuqi was alive only because Zhou Xiushan was a scapegoat. Even now that he knows, his expression won't change; he might just be thinking to himself that he didn't come to kill Zhou Xiuqi himself.

Even if she herself is not doing well, why would she want others to do well? Meng Yuan turned around, and Teng Yu'e made a strange sound, which attracted everyone's attention.

One second, two seconds later, Teng Yu'e's stomach split open, and a figure rolled out, covered in insects.

"Ouch, ouch, I'm truly impressed, truly impressed." Kong Fusheng loosened his knees, collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, almost dying.

Along with it came a round ball.

Before Meng Yuan could get a good look, a loud bang rang out, and thick smoke billowed out. Fearing something was amiss, she quickly covered her mouth and nose and hid to the side. By the time the smoke cleared, Tan Yuhua and Teng Yu'e had both vanished.

Kong Fusheng slowly stood up, his bones cracking from not standing for so long: "Senior Meng! Senior Zhou! Princess!" he called out excitedly to each of them. Meng Yuan, seeing the worms dripping from his body, felt very uncomfortable and quickly threw out a cleansing talisman.

Kong Fusheng was clean, so she approached him and said, "What happened to you? Your life tablet is broken."

Zhou Xiuqi and Xiao Zheyu approached, and Kong Fusheng gesticulated wildly as he recounted, "After telling you the story, I wanted to investigate what was inside. Sure enough, there was a ghost living there, the same ghost fairy from that day. She scratched my wrist, but luckily I stopped the bleeding in time. She wouldn't let me leave and dragged me into the house."

"It seems she wanted to eat me. After I was deliberately eaten, I heard another man's voice inside my stomach. She must be an accomplice of the ghost immortal."

"So when I went back in, I crushed the life tablet to make him realize something was wrong and escape with the ghost immortal. I also know where they are."

Meng Yuan said, "How could you know while you were still in my belly?"

Kong Fusheng touched his neck: "The Ghost Immortal's belly was full of dead babies. I squeezed in and poked a hole in her belly so I could barely see anything."

Zhou Xiuqi said, "It's not the stomach. That part can't close up. It must be the resentment of a new deceased person, absorbing her resentment. You've received the Taoist temple's soul-soothing incantation, so you won't be absorbed by her."

Kong Fusheng was furious: "She even dares to keep a dead person as a pet."

The deceased didn't disappear; instead, it moved to another location and was nurtured within Weng Xian's own body. What was the reason they were so confident they could defeat the protagonist group? Teng Yu'e, like her, had transmigrated into the book, but having lived so long, she must have a way.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

His leather boots stomped on the ground, and his crimson eyes gleamed slightly.

Blood mist swirled around him.

[Ding dong, intermediate quest progress has regressed to 0%]

It changed again; in a short period of time, the changes that altered the final outcome took another turn.

"Ghost! How dare you!" Zhou Xiuqi, filled with rage, gripped the Evil-Repelling Sword and charged forward. Kong Fusheng's expression changed: "Ghost! Where do you think you're going!"

Xiao Zheyu stretched out his hand: "Zhou Xiuqi!"

Meng Yuan stood in the center again, as if she were an outsider.

They all felt like they had entered another world. Clearly, their progress had been 60% just now, but it was now slowing down because Shang Mang suddenly appeared.

But Zhou Xiuqi already knew that Shang Mang was a ghost, so why would he suddenly act this way?

Meng Yuan was racking her brains, but she still couldn't figure it out.

She had experienced this feeling of being kept in the dark many times before. Meng Yuan broke between them, grabbed Sha Du with one hand, pinched the sword blade between two fingers, and her eyes darted back and forth between them: "What exactly are you doing?"

Zhou Xiuqi frowned: "Meng Yuan, leave."

Shang Mang gave a forced, insincere smile.

"Your life is intertwined with his, so only one of you can die."

This sentence suddenly popped into my mind.

Only one can die.

Calamity can kill Shang Mang. She connected Junan's words, and a net seemed to shine in the sky, visible but untouchable.