Chapter 35 Buddha's Disciple and Demon Lord, Who Will the Host Save?
Thud—
The collision of spiritual energies created a violent gust of wind.
As soon as Huali scrambled to her feet, she saw Lianzhuo standing beside her.
"Lian Zhuo!" Hua Li felt as if she had seen her own mother at that moment!
Wen Jin watched coldly as Hua Li flew towards the Buddha like a swallow returning to its nest, and scoffed lightly.
Lian Zhuo caught Hua Li and looked her up and down, "Are you hurt?"
Huali shook her head and was about to speak when she noticed the bloodstains on Lianzhuo's lips that she hadn't had time to wipe away.
Lian Zhuo's face was deathly pale, even worse than the time she had been at Baiyun Mountain.
"Lian Zhuo, what's wrong? Is the blood curse acting up?" She was at full strength right now and didn't mind giving him an extra treat.
Lian Zhuo shook his head. The Sea of Time was too intensely suppressive of his Nascent Soul stage cultivation. He had already damaged his foundation by activating the Sumeru Domain, and this time, his battle with Wen Jin to save Hua Li only made things worse.
The blood gu was like boiling water in his body. He remained calm on the surface, but in reality, he was as fragile as sandpaper that could be torn at the slightest touch.
Having caught his breath, Song Ran slashed his wrist and throat with his other hand.
Hot blood flowed and transformed into an array beneath the feet of Huali Wenjin, Lian Zhuo, and the other two. A flash of light appeared within the array, and the next second, the Blessing Lamp, which was originally on the Bright Moon Pavilion, floated directly above the three of them.
After spontaneously combusting multiple times in the Sea of Time, the lamp's surface, nourished daily by Song Ran's heart's blood, was nearly depleted and would soon be beyond Song Ran's control.
Song Ran was clearly aware of this as well, and his hand seals changed.
Lian Zhuo pulled Hua Li behind her with a solemn expression. "Now that the Sumeru Domain is in operation and time is reversed, Song Ran is unable to self-destruct the divine lamp during the Blessing Festival. He probably wants to use our blood as a sacrifice to form a new array eye."
"The red line here extends to the underground of the entire Chenliu City. If the blessing lamp explodes here, the people in the city will not be spared."
Song Ran coughed up blood and his body aged rapidly. There was no turning back now; he had already killed so many people, he absolutely could not afford any mistakes at the end.
As the blessing lamp grew larger, the wood-type card in Huali's hand also emitted a faint light.
The rosewood leaf was quickly lifted up, and its veins were shimmering, as if it were collecting something.
Without much thought, she tossed the card upwards, and it spun rapidly in the air. Tiny, faint spiritual energy slowly gathered among the blood-stained violet stamens on the ground.
It turned into a woman's portrait.
Song Ran paused in his hand seals, but before he could speak, hot tears welled up in his eyes.
The figure formed from spiritual energy smiled faintly and reached out to touch Songran's graying hair.
Ao Bai: "This is the purifying power of the wood-type card. It sensed the remaining soul power here and gathered and condensed it. It's Rong Niang."
Lianzhuo glanced at the card in Huali's hand, her fingertips twitching slightly.
"You can reconstruct Rongniang's soul?" Song Ran's eyes widened, his expression contorted with rage. "You can save Rongniang, can't you?"
For a moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Karin, but Karin herself was completely bewildered.
She screamed inwardly, "So, is it possible?"
Ao Bai jumped onto her shoulder. "Theoretically, it should be possible, but it can only be activated when the host upgrades the card to double S. The current SR can only gather scattered soul power and cannot revive people who have lost their destiny star."
A heavy look flashed in Huali's eyes, and she shook her head. Meanwhile, Rongniang's faint spiritual power began to dissipate.
Many faces suddenly flashed through the bright white light.
A candied hawthorn in the hand of a three-year-old child, a vegetable dumpling handed to him by a hunched old man, an old woman with a kind smile wrapped around her neck...
These are all remnants of memories remaining in Rong Niang's soul power.
Even after experiencing betrayal, suffering, jealousy, disappointment, being burned to ashes, and being reduced to dust, the memories that remain of Rongniang are still filled with small acts of kindness.
As the figure faded from the screen, Song Ran was startled and quickly reached out to pull it back, but the moment he touched it, the figure scattered into a shower of fireflies in his arms.
Song Ran staggered and knelt on the ground, trying to reach out and grab it. But the shimmering white light touched his fingertip, lingering, but eventually disappeared.
At that moment, Song Ran froze on the spot, his whole body trembling. Hua Li thought he was crying.
But he was laughing.
Song Ran raised her head, her eyes like poisoned silver needles, a cold liquid running down her chin, her gaze burning with hatred as she looked at Hua Li.
"Are you kidding me?"
Hua Li felt a tightness in her chest, and under the immense pressure, she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Ignoring the pain, her gaze was calmer than ever before. "Song Ran, can't you see? Rong Niang doesn't want you to become like this at all."
“Rong Niang is kind, but I am not. Everyone who did that day deserves to die!”
The past events were already vividly depicted on the paper. After a moment of silence, Huali nodded, "I know they deserve to die."
Three pairs of eyes turned to her again at the same time because of those words.
Lian Zhuo showed no joy or sorrow, Wen Jin remained expressionless, but Song Ran smiled, "Since that's the case, then you can complete this great formation for me!"
“But! Aren’t they all dead already!” Huali looked up, her eyes blazing. “You used the Blessing Lamp to turn the entire Chenliu City into ruins. Those who were meant to die are long gone, but you felt their deaths were too easy, so you used the Sea of Time to trap them and make them die repeatedly.”
Song Ran: "..."
"Song Ran, do you really think all those bystanders deserve to die? They're just ordinary mortals. How can they protect themselves or choose sides when faced with a conflict between cultivators and mountain demons?"
"What does a child of a few years old know? Why should he be trapped here forever, only to turn to ashes in the end?"
"You keep saying you only want fairness, but what about fairness for those innocent people? Who will fight for them!"
The madness in Song Ran's eyes subsided for a moment, and in a daze, he returned to that day.
After Rongniang vanished into ashes, he knelt like a walking corpse at the spot where she disappeared, while passersby avoided his gaze.
Some children tried to speak, but adults covered their mouths and took them home.
Even so, as night fell, several children still returned with freshly picked crabapple blossoms.
—Empress Rong is very kind. Once, I got lost while playing, and she brought me back.
She would also often pick fruit from the mountains for me.
—I don't believe that Consort Rong is a bad person either. The bad people are those cultivators. They were deceived by bad people and killed Consort Rong. But they are too powerful. I can't beat them!
—Don't cry yet. When we grow up, we'll go to the immortal mountain to cultivate magic and become powerful before avenging Consort Rong.
—Let's pinky swear, it's a deal.
The memory is too distant, so distant that Song Ran has forgotten the scene at that time, and those children who said they would learn immortal techniques together have become a few thin white bones in the ruins, along with that begonia flower.
Song Ran's voice was dry: "So what... I can't turn back now."
"But you can fulfill Rongniang's wish, at least don't let those kind people in her memory be reduced to ashes and never reincarnated after experiencing so many deaths."
Song Ran's lips moved slightly, "I..." Before he could finish speaking, the blood vessel inserted into his body suddenly tightened.
The black demonic energy snaked upwards, following the red lines and entering Song Ran's body. His eyes turned cruel and unfamiliar in an instant, and he rapidly formed hand seals like a puppet.
The creator of the Sea of Time is not subject to suppression of spiritual power; with the blessing of demonic energy, his power becomes even stronger.
Wen Jinlian's expression changed at the same time, and they both vomited blood.
Lian Zhuo was affected by the Sumeru Illusion and the Blood Gu, while Wen Jin was affected by the premature start of the Soul Return Period.
The unexpected had finally happened. Wen Jin's eyes were gloomy. "Damn it."
Of the three, only Karin remained unaffected.
Ao Bai: "Oh no, he's about to ignite the Soul Lamp. Both the Buddha's disciple and the Demon Lord are being suppressed. If they aren't healed with spiritual power, they will either die or be crippled."
"You can only choose one right now: Lian Zhuo or Wen Jin. Who will you choose, host?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
