Chapter 37 The Person You Care About Most "Because you care about him the most, that's why..."
Xiao Huaiyuan was unaware that in the illusion, Fu Ming was being entangled by a false version of himself.
Where exactly did I slip up?
The two pieces of wooden stake that had been split apart floated into the air, then spun and reassembled.
Fu Ming then noticed that a rough human face was carved on the front of the wood, with hard lines, quite resembling the spirit of Xiao Huaiyuan himself.
However, because the incisions were not aligned properly, the eyes and mouth were at opposite ends, making it look like the character was running away from home.
Fu Ming immediately burst out laughing.
"What are you laughing at!" Mu Tou had been acting serious and mysterious, but his composure crumbled instantly after Fu Ming mocked him, revealing a high-pitched, androgynous boyish voice.
A thin twig and three yellow leaves sprouted from the top of his head, making him even funnier, especially with his contorted expression of raised eyebrows and a wide grin.
Fu Ming pinched the round leaves and pulled them upwards:
"Laugh at your bad luck. When you created the illusion and went through my memories, did you feel that my memories were fragmented and chaotic, with the same fragments appearing repeatedly, making it difficult to know which part was real?"
That's really true.
The piece of wood, pulled off the ground, trembled violently: "You...you...you did this on purpose?"
"Of all the people you've set your sights on, why did you have to provoke me, a specialist in soul arts? You should know that once the illusion is exposed, I can then invade your soul."
Fu Ming held onto the leaf tightly, seizing the opportunity to start a conversation, since it would be difficult to directly communicate with the core of the divine tree after leaving the illusion.
"I have marked your demon soul with a divine mark. You had better obey me, or I will chop you up and burn you for firewood."
When Fu Ming squinted, his eyes curved like a fox's, and his every move exuded the air of a master, leaving Mu Tou stunned and bewildered.
That can't be right. This human's cultivation level is so low that it's outrageous. Would he really try to cultivate some kind of soul-invading technique?
But he seems so confident.
Should we run?
Shenmu sniffed.
His soul smells so sweet.
It was the fragrance of food, imbued with good fortune and a unique flavor from the underworld, more fragrant than any other cultivator he had ever consumed. Shenmu swallowed hard.
At the most difficult moment in Musheng's life, Mumu chose the third option between obeying and running away.
"Okay, okay, I promise you." The wooden figure nodded with Xiao Huaiyuan's face on it. He had just straightened the cross-section and it had returned to its human appearance, except that it still had a tuft of branches and leaves.
Grass and vines sprouted from every corner, quietly wrapping around Fu Ming's calves and wrists. The dark green threads tightly bound his fair skin, attempting to suck the soul beneath.
With a metallic clang, a flurry of blade energy chopped the chaotic vegetation into pieces the size of scallions, and then a cluster of green flames ignited at Fu Ming's fingertips.
"Ah!" Wood cried out, clutching his bald head.
Fu Ming looks gentle and weak, but he is so cruel that he burned one of his last three leaves.
With a slap, Fu Ming took the black gold scabbard and slapped the squeaking Shenmu again.
That feels good.
They even launched a sneak attack. Don't they have any shame about Shenmu?
If the system hadn't pointed out that this was the ancient divine tree, Zhugan, Fu Ming wouldn't have had the patience to waste time talking to him.
The sacred tree finally behaved itself. Born with the favor of Heaven, its spirituality far surpassed that of ordinary demons. After being unilaterally beaten by Fu Ming, it immediately realized what was happening:
This person's spiritual strength is definitely not at the Golden Core stage.
He immediately shook the leaves and bowed, begging for forgiveness, trying to get away with it: "I was wrong, I was just too hungry and couldn't resist."
"Can you change your face?" Fu Ming pondered, stroking his chin, and suddenly blurted out this nonsensical question.
"What?"
Why do you have to become him?
Fu Ming could no longer bear it. Xiao Huaiyuan was composed and self-controlled, and he would never show such a pitiful and smug expression on his face, okay? It was too weird.
"Because he's the one you care about the most."
After Shenmu composed himself, he did indeed resemble Xiao Huaiyuan from his memories. The boy was not as tall as him, so he always looked up at Fu Ming, his eyes dark and deep, as if they could only hold Fu Ming alone.
Although it was only similar in appearance but not in spirit, Fu Ming still avoided eye contact and subconsciously retorted.
"How could that be?"
He and Xiao Huaiyuan were just ordinary fellow disciples, so why would he care so much?
"You're lying. His phantoms are everywhere here."
Bang.
A heavy object fell to the ground.
Millions of fragments of memory came rushing in like a torrent.
Faded and yellowed, thin and upright, somber and quiet, the figure of his junior brother chasing after him emerged from the trees, mud, river, and even mid-air, like a ghost haunting him to the death.
"Senior brother, I entered the Dao last night."
"Senior brother, aren't you going to morning class again today?"
"Senior brother, I'll go with you to the competition."
"Congratulations, senior brother, on winning the championship."
Decades have passed in the blink of an eye. The junior apprentice has grown up into an adult whose aura is somewhat at odds with his own, tough and stubborn.
"Senior brother, I don't believe you would do such a thing, you..."
On that stormy night, the mountain was covered in blood and filth. Xiao Huaiyuan held his leg, his broken sword stuck in the ground, his eyes blazing like thunder.
Fu Ming refused to respond, but his lips moved automatically, uttering the same words he had uttered thirty years ago: "Don't come looking for me again."
Xiao Huaiyuan appeared again at an inopportune moment, amidst the boiling sea of blood caused by Fu Ming's advancement to the Nascent Soul stage, and said...
"Demon Fu Ming, I am the one who is to fight you today. Do you really have no regrets at all?"
Broken, distorted, and sharp images flashed back and forth before Fu Ming's eyes.
This is a scene rife with logical flaws and utterly illogical. The young Xiao Huaiyuan and the adult Xiao Huaiyuan appear simultaneously. In his left ear, he hears praise that elevates him to the highest level, while in his right ear, he hears scathing sarcasm.
Compared to other righteous people, Xiao Huaiyuan's words were extremely gentle, so why did he still feel heartbroken?
When Fu Ming first arrived in this world, his parents took him to a fortune teller while he was still an infant. The old Taoist priest at the village entrance predicted that he was destined to be a lone star, betrayed and abandoned by everyone.
Perhaps the old Taoist priest had truly seen through the secrets of heaven, and the divination proved prophetic. Not long after, his entire family perished in a fire, and within five years of becoming his disciple, they were separated. He was later resented by his junior brother, whom he had raised himself, to this day.
Is this the will of Heaven, that all those close to him must leave him?
"Senior brother, why have you become like this?"
Xiao Huaiyuan, who was already a head taller than him, stood in front of the thousands of troops and shouted at him, raising his long sword to kill him.
Fu Ming's heartbeat slowed, his limbs felt heavy, and his whole body felt weak, as if he had lost the will to resist.
Would it be a better ending if it just ended like this?
He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, exposing his vulnerable throat, displaying a weak posture as if he were about to be slaughtered.
Just as the sword was about to sever his skin, the heavens and earth shook, rocks shattered, and the lush forest evaporated like a dream.
A long, jet-black sword flashed like lightning, piercing the attacker through.
"When did you find out..."
The noisy nightmares all adopted the same bewildered expression. "Xiao Huaiyuan" stared wide-eyed, blood spurting from the corner of his mouth, ruining the carefully maintained composure he had just managed to maintain.
Fu Ming deftly drew his sword, and as he stood up, he habitually flicked the dirt off the blade, even though there was nothing in the illusion: "I've already said you're unlucky, don't try to play these little tricks on me."
In an instant, his pupils turned bright red, like churning magma from the earth, violent and indifferent.
Before becoming the Demon Lord, Fu Ming's reputation was renowned in both the immortal and demon realms. He had killed at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, demon cultivators who had tried to harm him using illusions.
He stretched out his five fingers in the air, then slowly grasped and closed them, and the entire Yuanqiao Mountain exploded at his fingertips.
The illusion has been dispelled.
The scene composed of dark memories faded away, and a scene of lush green vines and trees intertwined unfolded before him. He raised his knife and broke free from his restraints, landing on the soft grass carpet.
Jiang Jie and Wu Ming, who were traveling with him, were still hanging upside down. The illusion they were trapped in would not break on its own for the time being, so Fu Ming decided to let them hang for a while.
The Pearl Tree, being an ancient divine tree capable of commanding all other trees, is probably now using the vegetation as cover to flee.
However, when he poked the sacred tree earlier, he took advantage of his powerful soul and casually placed a mark of recognition on it.
Fu Ming pondered this as he spread out his divine sense network to search for the location of the marker.
Finally, he pulled out a small, pure white tree, about half a person's height, from a tree hole that was covered with vegetation.
Just a second before he caught Shenmu, he tried to run using his roots as legs.
Fu Ming held out his hand: "Hand over the fruit."
Shenmu pretended not to understand and almost had his last two leaves burned off by the fire—of all the leaves on his tree, only three were real, the rest were all fake leaves he had conjured up.
Fu Ming wanted the pure white fruit produced by the Pearl Tree, which could reshape the soul and cleanse memories after consumption.
He suddenly asked for it because he remembered an important question.
His memory is incomplete.
The whole incident caused by the fall into demonhood is complicated and complex. He has always suspected that he was used as a pawn, but his memory of the years in which the incident occurred at Rihua Palace is intermittent and incomplete. Thinking about it too much will breed inner demons.
After becoming possessed by a demon, he was in a daze, tormented by nightmares every minute. He also deliberately sealed off many memories in order to maintain the stability of his soul.
However, if we want to reach the Mahayana stage, we must address this hidden danger.
Shenmu hesitated before replying, "There's only one that's almost ripe; I need to go back and get it."
The place he was referring to was the giant pit that Fu Ming and the other two had fallen into.
One person and one tree walked and talked about them.
Fu Ming said with disdain, "How come there's only one?"
Shenmu said aggrievedly, "Because I'm so hungry. I haven't been able to get enough to eat for many years. I finally managed to catch a few humans, but you won't let me eat them."
Fu Ming: "Don't eat those unhygienic things anymore. I'll take you to eat something better later."
Shenmu: "Yes, Master, you are so kind."
He had intended to curry favor with Fu Ming, but instead received a flick on the forehead.
"Who told you to use his face? Get another one."
...
Fu Ming and his two companions' scores remained around 1,000 for a long time, and their rankings slowly slipped down over time.
Because they were trapped in the illusion for too long, the person in charge of the Immortal Alliance moved their water mirror to the corner and reduced its size.
The Heavenly Ranking suddenly changed, with the name Ming Chen rising unexpectedly, gaining eight thousand points and surging straight into the top three.
The person in charge of the mirror quickly brought up the water mirror again to take a look: Xiao's disciple was accompanied by a boy who appeared out of nowhere, and he even looked a bit like... Xiao.
He glanced again at Xiao Huaiyuan, who was in the main seat.
Xiao Huaiyuan stared intently at the water mirror, his brows furrowed, lost in thought.
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Author's Note: Fu Ming's feelings for his junior brother are quite obvious, but he's rather evasive about it.
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