Chapter 82 Bai Lian looked bewildered...
Bai Lian stared blankly at everything, her throat dry and hoarse, unable to speak. She caught a little demon who was being pushed around, her heart heavy. The people she used to live with had become strangers at this moment.
The wind and snow sheltered her in their arms, shielding her from the frenzied crowd scrambling for the red peaches. She didn't know what to do. As she grew up, she felt that she could solve any problem in the world if she wanted to. Unfortunately, human greed and the desire for life are innate, and she couldn't stop people from crawling back from hell to the human world.
Because she didn't want to be cursed by hell.
Hua Yan sobbed softly. The surroundings were chaotic. Liu Mian's passing was like a continuous rainy day for him, a pain that penetrated to the bone and lingered for a long time. He had not yet emerged from his grief.
Upon seeing the collapsed peach tree, it felt as if the very backbone that had supported the joy of reunion had crumbled.
Lu Ming hissed softly, "Stop fighting! Stop fighting!" He pulled two tribesmen, whose faces were bruised and swollen from the fight, apart. Their eyes burned with a fierce madness. He was afraid, but when he saw the barely suppressed tears in their eyes, his taut shoulders suddenly slumped.
He stared blankly at the withered tree, wondering, "What should I do?"
His gaze shifted to Linglong sitting on the withered tree, a smile playing on his lips as he watched the chaotic scene with amusement.
Lu Ming felt a chill in his heart. He stood alone in the chaotic crowd, surrounded by insults and fistfights, like a huge slow-motion movie. The figures of his clansmen fighting to the death gradually became ferocious.
He didn't know what to say. Should he apologize? In what capacity should he apologize? Even if he did apologize, would Linglong necessarily forgive them?
Lu Ming lowered his head, his face full of shame. The gaze from the tree seemed light and airy, landing on the center of the mountaintop and looking at everyone, but he felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, pressing down on him so that he couldn't lift his head.
Only at this moment did he truly realize that Zhaohua was dead.
The sun was already up, and the light of dawn had already descended upon Peach Blossom Valley, so why did Zhaohua die?
The warmth of another person from last night still lingered on her fingertips. Linglong sat on a withered branch, coldly watching everything.
His anger seemed to wither away along with the peach blossoms.
He should have been angry, but when he saw the few little demons standing in the crowd with red eyes, as if they had done something wrong, he suddenly couldn't be angry anymore.
All of this was Zhaohua's choice. He was a bird, and the tree he perched on was withering away. He couldn't stop it; he was just a bird.
Linglong smiled, a smile that betrayed his weariness. With a flick of his finger, he picked up a few peaches that had fallen to the ground. The others' fingers chased and stretched out, shouting, while the peaches floated steadily in front of Fengxue and the others.
Hua Yan stared blankly, crying like a little kitten, as if he had used up all his strength. He heard Linglong say softly, "Eat, this is Zhaohua's gift, you all have one."
Shi Wenzhe, like a silent shadow, stood in the shade of the tree trunk, and suddenly, tears streamed down his face.
The celebratory sounds suddenly burst forth, like boiling water steaming, and everything in the past was like pages on a book, turning quickly one by one, bringing her back to reality from her ethereal dream.
Shi Wenzhe blinked his sore eyelids and heard the monotonous mechanical voice of 001 ring in his mind.
【bite--
Congratulations, host, on completing Task One: Understanding and gathering information about Peach Blossom Valley. 99.999999%
Second: Survive the war between immortals and demons
Host vitality detected: -1 -1 -1 -1... Total negative 250.
Host's will to survive: -1-1-1-1... Total negative 250, triggering the system's "survival of the fittest" alarm. To improve the host's will to survive, 001 can grant the host one wish.
Host, please ask.
After saying that, 001 suddenly fell silent.
Shi Wenzhe rolled her eyes, her disheveled hair making her look like a drowned rat. She looked up, her voice trembling, as if asking for confirmation, "Really?"
001:“.”
Shi Wenzhe chuckled softly, "Okay." She touched her face haphazardly with the back of her hand, looked at the dawn sky and the chaotic crowd, took a deep breath, and whispered, "I don't want anything else, can you bring Zhaohua back to life?"
001 paused for a moment, and the voice that followed was troubled.
"I'm sorry, host, reviving someone who has died in the past is something the Survival System 001 cannot do."
Shi Wenzhe scratched his hair and muttered, "You promised me."
001 paused for a moment, seemingly regretting her impulsive words and feeling helpless about Shi Wenzhe's current predicament.
The screen displayed two intertwined, chaotic blue lines, like two opposing ideas vying for victory.
001 remained silent, but could be heard occasionally of anxiousness.
Can she get a way out of a system? No, 001 is just a system, it has no emotions.
She pursed her lips, her tightly furrowed brows and eyes looking dark and gloomy. She suddenly changed her mind, "I don't want him to come back to life. Take me back to Qin Wenxue's side."
The tangled lines on the light screen suddenly straightened, and 001 breathed a sigh of relief, "Good."
She then added, "But I have one request: I want to come back here."
001 asked in confusion, "Why?"
Shi Wenzhe said, "I want to say goodbye to Linglong."
001 didn't understand the host's thoughts, but compared to reviving Zhao Hua, it wasn't an unreasonable request, so it agreed.
"I can only give you five minutes."
Shi Wenzhe felt relieved after hearing the other party's reply, but then he suddenly remembered what he was about to do.
Immediately afterward, the scenery around Shi Wenzhe began to distort. The once vibrant Peach Blossom Valley now appeared dry and lifeless, like a pattern printed on paper. Time flowed rapidly, and the image of Linglong standing alone on the dilapidated city wall suddenly flashed before his eyes. It seemed as if they had unintentionally made eye contact. Shi Wenzhe's heart surged, and he wanted to say something to her, but the scenery before him was quickly replaced by 001, transforming into a dark tunnel shimmering with blue light.
Shi Wenzhe had imagined her reunion with Qin Wenxue a thousand times, each time envisioning a happy and harmonious family reunion. So when she landed in the center of the battlefield where Qin Wenxue and Linglong were fighting, her mind went completely blank.
The two different Linglongs made her experience of life and death feel somewhat disconnected. Her heart pounded twice in relief, but the pain that followed was like a continuous drizzle, twisting her heart, liver, spleen, and lungs as if they were about to burst apart.
The snow fell heavily and fiercely, obscuring Shi Wenzhe's features and making him difficult to see clearly.
The sudden appearance of Shi Wenzhe paused the tense atmosphere between Qin Wenxue and Linglong for a moment.
Qin Wenxue looked surprised, then quickly flew forward and pulled Shi Wenzhe into her arms.
Qin Wenxue's body seemed perpetually cold, like a block of ice. Shi Wenzhe disliked the cold, but loved the scent of fresh snow under the chill, and the sense of security in her arms. Tears welled in her eyes, and the strength on her wrist clearly reminded her that she had returned. Unfortunately, this brief encounter was not her purpose. She forced a stiff smile at him, which looked rather awkward.
He looked dejected. Qin Wenxue frowned, a surge of heartache flashing through his eyes, but Shi Wenzhe was preoccupied and didn't notice.
"Shi Wenzhe, how did you end up in such a miserable state?" Chang Hong's weak voice rang out, smug and cheeky. Shi Wenzhe stared at him for a long time before, amidst the heavy snowfall, she saw him beckoning to her from his nine-layered purple lotus, looking as if he had no bones.
He didn't look well, as if he was about to die at any moment. Shi Wenzhe instinctively wanted to worry, but the countdown sound of 001 urged her to panic.
This encounter was something she had planned for a long time. Shi Wenzhe thought to herself, "It's good, but she has more important things to do now."
Linglong's eyes were bloodshot, his face contorted, his silver hair flying wildly, baring his teeth and claws. He stared at Shi Wenzhe in disbelief, as if betrayed by someone close to him, his face contorted with pain and anger. Then he quickly darkened his face, gritted his teeth and roared, "You really... deserve to die."
Shi Wenzhe sneered as he looked at the other person's pitiful and pathetic yet pretentious expression.
She decided to forgive the other person's unreasonable behavior, after all, the other person was an orphan, no, an elderly widow.
Once this thought arises, the other party's clearly heinous methods seem to become weak and feeble, after all, all his plans have failed, which is somewhat laughable.
Shi Wen stared intently at Linglong, but she still wasn't used to Linglong's current demonic appearance. Linglong with Zhaohua by her side was the most gentle Linglong.
Shi Wenzhe clenched her hands, then traced Qin Wenxue's face in a fleeting, almost superficial way. She wished time could slow down so she could take a good look at Qin Wenxue and ask him how he was doing. There were so many things she wanted to say, but time was running out.
001's voice gradually weakened, a signal that urged her on. She didn't want to sever ties with the past; she wanted to go crazy one last time and return to Peach Blossom Valley to do something outrageous.
Shi Wenzhe reached out and asked Xue in a hurry, "I want the Yin-Yang and Four Symbols Cauldron."
Qin Wenxue was puzzled, but she still handed it to her directly. The small bronze cauldron, about the size of a palm, slowly rotated in her palm.
Chang Hong's heart skipped a beat, and a sense of absurdity rose within him. To be honest, when he gave this cauldron to the little guy, he never expected that Shi Wenzhe would get there first. This step might be a tremendous opportunity, or it might bring a catastrophic disaster.
Shi Wenzhe quickly turned around and shouted "001!"
That resolute and determined air startled Chang Hong, as if a warrior were fearlessly facing death.
Something was about to happen; his body tensed.
But this was something his remnant soul couldn't stop. He relaxed his body again, and Chang Hong, gritting his teeth, reminded him: "You're bound to fail! Think twice before you act!"
Shi Wenzhe nodded to him, then stared intently at Linglong as if scolding him. His motherly demeanor left the three of them completely baffled.
Qin Wenxue lowered his eyes, his peripheral vision always catching a glimpse of a white hem. He didn't know what Shi Wenzhe was going to do, nor what the consequences would be, but he knew he would always be there for him. If Shi Wenzhe wanted to do something, then let him do it.
Linglong picked up the Ani Gun and drew an intricate array on the ground, using its body as the array's core, enveloping the three of them like prey in a spider's web.
As the sole predator in this vast net, Linglong tilted her head and laughed maniacally.
"You shouldn't have come out. You were almost there..." he muttered softly, his voice filled with anger at the interruption that had brought the plan to an end, and also with shame and annoyance at being mocked by Shi Wenzhe.
"3, 2, 1..." The countdown was coming to an end, and the Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron burst out with a dazzling blue light, enveloping the world. From within the blue light came Shi Wenzhe's ethereal voice, "Linglong, you can't force everything, but I want to be like you, I insist on forcing things." Her voice was hoarse, and she gently comforted her, "If Zhaohua were still alive, he would definitely not want to see you abandoned by everyone."
Sensing danger, 001 replaced the countdown with a wailing alarm and barked fiercely, "Host! Stop!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of her brush disappeared. She came and went in a hurry, like a gust of wind, free and unrestrained.
An uncontrollable anger rose in Qin Wenxue's heart. It wasn't that he disagreed with the other party's departure, but Shi Wenzhe had actually left without saying goodbye.
The Demon Lord has never suffered such injustice.
Chang Hong pondered the other person's words and sensed a storm brewing. He was quite surprised, feeling that Shi Wenzhe seemed to have matured a lot.
It seems the child has grown up.
Perhaps this time there will be an unexpected ending.
Linglong, however, was frozen in place by that cry of "Zhaohua".
He had meticulously planned and spared no effort to bring Qin Wenxue and him entangled in this situation from the cycle of reincarnation. All for… to create the illusion of Shi Wenzhe's feigned death, trapping her within his own sea of consciousness…
Possession.
Shi Wenzhe's encounter with all the malevolent attacks in Peach Blossom Valley, and the damage to the four layers of illusion, were all intentional acts by him. Every time she broke through the illusion and purified the malevolent energy within it, Peach Blossom Valley would recover a little, and she would become a little weaker.
Peach Blossom Valley was desolate. The rampant growth of vegetation on the path of reincarnation was beyond his expectations. The roots of the broken branches were the best nourishment for restoring Peach Blossom Valley, without exception.
That body capable of purifying malevolent energy is unique in the entire continent. Although he doesn't know what the other's true form is, the fact that it appeared in Peach Blossom Valley and came to his attention must be the will of Heaven.
But now, all those calculations seem rather ridiculous after hearing Zhe utter the word "Zhaohua" from Shi Wenzhe's mouth; Linglong's mind is almost driven mad.
Trapped in his sea of consciousness, Shi Wenzhe saw his sealed memories—memories that he had longed for day and night, memories that ultimately drove him mad.
Did she know she was trapped in her own sea of consciousness? Did she know the outcome of this scheme? Did she know he wanted to possess her body?
If she knew all this, why would she go back after escaping?
Why did he go to such lengths to trap Qin Wenxue and the other two in the illusion?
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