Chapter 73 Losing a Loved One: What if the Loved One Came Back from the Dead...
The setting sun cast a veil of light, enveloping the four of them.
Xiao Huaiyuan had intended to mediate, but Fu Ming gently pushed him aside, drew his sword, and stepped forward to fight. The black veil hanging from the edge of his hat was blown up by the wind, revealing a handsome and calm face. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Fu Ming showed neither smile nor resentment, but simply beckoned to the furious Yang Pei: "If you want to kill me, then come and do it."
He knew Yang Pei harbored resentment, so he wanted to have a brutal fight to see if there was any chance of resolving the conflict.
Thus, Fu Ming and Yang Pei, two Nascent Soul stage cultivators who could be ranked among the top five in the cultivation world, fought fiercely for hundreds of rounds. The flashing swords and shadows disappeared into the twilight, resembling a shadow puppet show that had once been popular in the countryside.
Time seemed to stand still within the imperial palace, yet the two battled as if the sun and moon had lost their light and the Great Dao had been annihilated.
Fu Ming didn't use the Primordial Devouring Heaven Record; he responded to the surging waters with only his swift swordsmanship. After a brief separation, the sword and blade clashed a thousand times, reverberating with a resounding clang. His fighting style was so fierce that it even sliced off a section of Yang Peirou's soft, spring-like sword.
But he did not press his advantage. Instead, he forcibly stopped his sword strike and asked calmly, "At that time, I was just an ordinary disciple of the Tianyan Sect. I had no grudge against the Rihua Palace. Why are you so sure that I did it?"
With a long sword held in front of him, Yang Pei, panting heavily like a broken bellows, stared intently at the perpetrator before him and said, "You... practice the evil art of devouring flesh and blood, your greed is insatiable, you don't even spare children who are just beginning their cultivation. The Rihua Palace is littered with corpses, all bearing the traces of the devouring technique, what else is there to distinguish?"
His fingertips gently caressed the hilt of the sword as he murmured, "No, although I cultivate the Devouring Path, I never slay innocent people with my sword. I can uphold my principles even in the Demon Realm, let alone the fact that I had a pleasant conversation with Palace Master Yang just the day before."
Yang Pei seemed to have heard some incredible joke, and laughed in a way that was as shrill as crying: "Ridiculous! Who knows what you heartless demonic cultivators are thinking!"
Fu Ming crouched down to look directly into her eyes. They were two-tone, soft brown pupils, but the upturned corners of her eyes made her look even more furious. If you ignored those features, she really did resemble Yang Huan.
After falling into demonic possession, he forcibly suppressed many chaotic and painful memories in his heart, which only suddenly surfaced when he entered the imperial palace. In fact, when he delivered the letter, Yang Huan was still arranging to introduce him to her younger sister, Yang Pei.
Why? Because Fu Ming had asked Yang Huan if there were any local specialties worth bringing back from the Sunflower Palace, and he had promised his junior brother that he would bring him a small gift every time he traveled far.
Yang Huan then told him with a smile that her younger sister also loved to collect strange and unusual trinkets, and would go to various markets.
Wait, the market, Fu Ming suddenly remembered something.
He asked anxiously, "Yang Pei, do you remember being controlled by the Ghost Market Master in the Ghost Market? Do you remember what you did back then?"
"How did you know I..." Yang Pei's cursing was interrupted by confusion. When she came to her senses, her anger rose even higher. "Damn Fu Ming, I knew that little brat was you! Well, you actually teamed up with Xiao Huaiyuan to deceive me!"
Is this the key point?
With veins throbbing on his forehead, Fu Ming cut straight to the chase: "What I mean is, I was being controlled by someone back then, which is why I acted that way."
Yang Pei rolled her eyes: "If you have nothing to hide, why did you run away? You can find out once you get back."
Fu Ming immediately retorted, "I was going back to the Tianyan Sect, but weren't you going to kill me on the way?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? Who would want to kill you before interrogation?"
"Among that group of people, the largest were those wearing Qingyue Palace robes. I hadn't even fallen into demonic possession yet, and they were already shouting 'Demon! Demon!' and attacking. As the Palace Master of Qingyue Palace, were you completely unaware of this?"
In an attempt to enhance his authority, Fu Ming tried to manage his facial expressions like Xiao Huaiyuan, but his words remained nonsensical.
Upon hearing this, Yang Pei's face went blank: "You had already escaped by the time I received the news, how could you have had the time..."
She got stuck.
How could the members of Qingyue Palace overstep their bounds and act without authorization in such a short time?
Going further back, no matter how talented Fu Ming is, he is only at the Nascent Soul stage and is unfamiliar with the terrain of the Sunflower Palace. Can he really slaughter everyone in the Sunflower Palace?
The two stared at each other, and suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.
Upon comparing the accounts, Fu Ming and Yang Pei suddenly realized that there was a third party among them. With a few tricks, they could easily manipulate them. Yang Pei frantically grabbed at her hair, making it a mess.
So, didn't the Tianyan Sect also have a traitor recently?
Fu Ming instinctively wanted to consult with Xiao Huaiyuan, but found himself having crossed several mountains while fighting. Finding him wasn't difficult; perhaps due to the excessive fusion of his spirit and body, Fu Ming could now vaguely sense Xiao Huaiyuan's presence.
Just as every family person often has this thought, Fu Ming was also curious about what Xiao Huaiyuan was doing at this moment.
Xiao Huaiyuan was keeping Yang Huan occupied.
Compared to the epic battle between the other two, which was full of sparks and lightning and irreconcilable, this side was much quieter. Xiao Huaiyuan's forbidden domain completely blocked the radiance, and the two were only fighting from a distance, without even taking out their swords.
Yang Huan died young, and her cultivation stopped at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, but Xiao Huaiyuan still did his best to prevent her from disrupting the battle.
Although he didn't understand the underlying principles, Fu Ming was still slightly moved.
He patted Xiao Huaiyuan on the shoulder and said with satisfaction, "With a junior brother like this, what more could one ask for?"
This is an analogy for a virtuous wife. Fu Ming, still harboring wicked intentions, intentionally or unintentionally placed himself in the position of a husband.
"Senior brother." Xiao Huaiyuan gestured for him to lean closer.
"Um?"
The warm air flowed onto his ear cartilage, bringing a tingling and itchy sensation, and the ambiguous words that followed made the tips of Fu Ming's ears suddenly burn.
Did he hear that right? What did he mean by saying that if he talked to Yang Pei a few more times, he would never be able to get out of bed again?
What virtuous wife? She's a jealous woman.
Yang Pei then drifted to Yang Huan's side like a moth to a flame. The two sisters touched each other's heads and hugged each other, looking very affectionate and lovey-dovey.
But the idea of someone who had been dead for a hundred years mysteriously reviving through the Heavenly Restoration Society's soul-burning ritual was still strange no matter how you looked at it. Seeing Yang Pei engrossed in it, Fu Ming kindly offered a reminder.
"Yang Pei, you're being bewitched."
"Why don't you take a closer look? Is this phantom that has come back from the dead really your sister?"
Yang Pei probably wasn't listening to his unpleasant but honest advice at all. She buried her head in Yang Huan's shoulder, her cheeks glistening with barely perceptible tears, yet she wore a smile.
That was clearly an illusion. This person was a bit reckless, but he couldn't be that stupid.
Why is that?
Fu Ming opened his palm.
He never understood human relationships, otherwise he wouldn't have ended up in this predicament.
Before Fu Ming could think any further, the Yang sisters vanished like comets, and the space began to shift again with the rotating star trails, marking the start of a new round of teleportation.
Someone grasped his hand from above and said gently, "Indulging in illusions is also a path to liberation. Senior Brother, your Dao heart is firm, and you can guard your true self no matter what external things may bring."
"But for ordinary people, the pain of life still requires something to hold onto."
Fu Ming, who had successfully completed nine years of compulsory education, three years of high school education, and four years of university education, nodded in response.
It's understandable; even in this non-materialistic world, aren't the Tianfu Society and Buddhist practices the same?
"I think it's better to die cleanly than to live in illusion. What's the point of numbing yourself all day long... um."
Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Huaiyuan, who had coiled around him like a snake, lifted his chin and kissed him impatiently.
Her waist-length hair danced wildly in the brilliance of the shooting stars.
Fu Ming never opened his eyes while kissing, but this time he unusually wanted to see Xiao Huaiyuan's expression. As soon as he did, he was overwhelmed by the immense sorrow in Xiao Huaiyuan's dark eyes.
He didn't know why, but he just imitated Yang Huan by pressing Xiao Huaiyuan's head onto his shoulder and stroking the back of his head back and forth, like vigorously rubbing the mane on a lion's head.
"Xiao Huaiyuan, why are you so sad?"
Perhaps it was the airs of the Tianyan Sect leader, or perhaps it was a belated rebellious phase. No matter what Fu Ming did—be kind, ruthless, coercive, or tempting—his junior brother still refused to utter a single word.
Fine, I won't say it then.
"We're here." Fu Ming pushed away the heavy chest pressing down on him.
The sun had set, but the sky was not yet completely dark. The sky in this area turned into a clear indigo, occasionally punctuated by winding, turquoise aurora lights.
This place is a snowfield surrounded by a dark forest.
The verdant mountains and rivers ahead are too common in the Central Plains and Eastern Continents to be easily discernible. But this place is far more unique. This is the far north, the least populated region.
As soon as he stepped onto the light, sandy snow, Fu Ming's true energy smoothly broke through the shackles and headed straight for the mid-stage of the Mahayana realm. At the same time, Xiao Huaiyuan, who had been holding his hand the whole time, also broke through to the early stage of the Mahayana realm, which was simply effortless.
An abundance of true energy overflowed from the meridians, transforming into a gentle breeze that stirred up a flurry of snowflakes.
At this moment, the human-machine system in Fu Ming's consciousness suddenly began to announce: "Passed the first level of the Heart Domain, reward has been issued, progress (1/?)."
How many layers are there exactly? Fu Ming subconsciously wanted to pressure the system to let him look up the information.
I tried asking several times in different ways, but all I got was a cold, mechanical reply: "Sorry, your permission level is insufficient to view this."
Sorry, your permission level is insufficient.
sorry……
Fu Ming gave up trying, and he began to miss the somewhat clumsy but lively and adorable system.
Two sets of footprints were left side by side on the snow.
"In short, this place is called the Heart Domain. As the name suggests, it is a place where one can break through the obstacles of the Dao Heart and proceed to the next level to advance smoothly." Fu Ming made up a story in a seemingly serious manner.
Xiao Huaiyuan never asked him how he knew, and believed everything he said, making him an obedient junior brother-type robot.
"Breaking through the third level of the Heart Domain might allow us to ascend to immortality, but we don't know where Lord Yun is hiding. He might suddenly jump out and ambush us."
After walking for a long time, the monotonous white snow made his eyes tired, and Fu Ming yawned.
Suddenly, Xiao Huaiyuan tugged at his sleeve.
Xiao Huaiyuan transmitted his voice to him, "Senior brother, are those tree shadows closer to us now?"
Upon closer inspection, the cedars, which were originally spaced further apart, were indeed now much closer together. If these cedars had cultivated into demons amidst the rich spiritual energy, it wouldn't be an insurmountable problem for them to hunt them down.
Fu Ming touched his sword and looked around. The snow was so bright that he couldn't help but blink several times. At that moment, a strange phenomenon flashed across his field of vision.
If the realm of the mind is not merely the mind of the Dao.
Or is it an idealistic mind?
Fu Ming gripped Xiao Huaiyuan's hand tightly: "Xiao Huaiyuan, did you see that? These aren't trees, they're clearly frozen people!"
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