Chapter 92 The Lin Family is Extinct
Taiyi Zhenren looked the boy up and down, his satisfaction evident. But Nezha heard his master say, "You have just taken human form and need to consolidate your form for a day."
The boy lowered his eyes and remained silent.
Taiyi continued, "Li Jing destroyed two of your golden bodies, and I am actually quite upset about it."
Nezha then raised his face, his eyes flashing with hatred: "Master, I will never let this go!"
“You must avenge your grievances before the karma from your past life is cleared. Very well,” Taiyi turned away, leaving his back to her, and said, “Adjust your body for a while, then come find me in Peach Garden.”
Little Grey was in a side room.
The understated yet elegant decor seemed like thin wallpaper to Nezha, as if it could be punctured at any moment. The girl curled up on the bed, her chest rising and falling softly with her breath, as quiet as a kitten. The first thing Nezha did after transforming was to check on Pingyu through Xiao Hui. Clearly, there were no nightmares in the room, yet the girl was still sleeping restlessly.
Healed.
He exhaled a breath and manipulated Little Gray to fly forward a little.
The moment the bird landed on the flat couch, Nezha refused to let it approach. As he gazed through Xiao Hui's eyes at the girl's peaceful sleeping face, a thought flashed through Nezha's mind:
Why can a beast openly stay by Pingyu's side while she sleeps, but he can't?
The boy had just been reborn, and his emotions and desires were at their peak. A gluttonous snake emerged from his jealousy, relentlessly tearing chunks of flesh from his heart.
Sensing the murderous intent, the pigeon trembled uneasy, causing the bedding to rustle.
The noise was a bit loud, waking Pingyu, who was already sleeping restlessly.
The girl's eyes widened suddenly, the wariness in them almost tangible.
Nezha's breath hitched suddenly, wondering if Pingyu would notice the pigeon's unusual behavior and connect it to him.
But Pingyu did nothing.
Animals move without any discernible pattern. After Pingyu recognized it as Little Grey, he pulled it into his arms.
"Are you not used to sleeping at home?"
Pingyu mumbled in a daze, stroking the pigeon's soft feathers again and again: "It's okay, we'll go back in a couple of days."
The girl hugged the pigeon, and Nezha felt as if he were being held in Pingyu's arms. The boy wrapped his arms around him, gently pressing his cheek against his arm, and the pigeon affectionately nuzzled Pingyu's face, though tears welled in its eyes. If Pingyu were awake, he would see many finger marks appear out of thin air on Xiao Hui's body. The boy calmly tightened his grip, so much so that the veins in his arm bulged. Xiao Hui whimpered in pain, and the air was filled with the sickening sound of bones cracking.
never mind.
He slowly released his grip and let Little Gray go.
Its blood will soil Pingyu.
Nezha got up from the pond and walked towards the Peach Garden.
Taiyi Zhenren had been waiting there for a long time. He threw off his clothes and asked, "How well have you adapted?"
Nezha put on the clothes and replied, "I can move freely."
"Alright." Nezha saw a glittering silver light before his eyes, and the Master took out a long spear from his leopard-skin bag. He said, "This spear is called the Fire-Tipped Spear. Your master will now teach it to you. After you have mastered it, you can go down the mountain."
The traditional master-apprentice teaching method takes place, and the night passes in the blink of an eye.
Birdsong could be heard on Qianyuan Mountain as they rose at dawn to hunt for food, soaring over the mountain ridges. The flock flew leisurely, their clear calls following their path all the way to Cuiping Mountain.
Ping woke up.
The girl's eyes were clouded for only a moment before they cleared up immediately. She wrapped herself in the blanket and sat on the bed with the pigeon, not daring to move.
Her birthday has arrived.
Whether I will be able to walk the path to immortality in the future depends on my success or failure today.
"who!"
Pingyu was so paranoid that he felt like every bush and tree was an enemy soldier, and his hair was about to explode.
A thin old man stood outside the door. The Taoist priest complained, "I asked your slave to make me breakfast. I called him but he ignored me. It's infuriating!"
Pingyu: You ate a week's worth of my food yesterday and you're still hungry?
She took down a token and threw it over: "I don't plan to leave my room today. It wouldn't be good if my fate were to suddenly strike and affect the pilgrims who come to visit. Give this to him, and he will listen to you after seeing this token."
After speaking, Pingyu thought for a moment and added, "Senior, please have him deliver today's meals to my door."
"You plan to hide for a day?" The Taoist took the token, fiddled with it for a while, and said, "That's fine, to avoid causing unnecessary trouble."
The Taoist priest, having obtained what he desired, withdrew and closed the door behind him. The coachman slept in the cook's quarters, located at the innermost part of Nezha's palace, a distance that took some time to reach from Pingyu's bedroom. The coachman was still washing and preparing the food; it would take him a while to finish. The Taoist priest, unhurried, strolled leisurely with his hands behind his back, slowly making his way to the edge of the flat land. The sun was beginning to set, and everything in the mountains was slowly awakening. He looked down, his gaze piercing through the layers of dense forest to the foot of the mountain. The caravan from yesterday remained motionless, as if no one had awakened.
"Tsk tsk, lazy indeed." The Taoist clicked his tongue, shook his head, and sighed as he blew a breath downwards.
The fresh air swept through the trees and struck the grazing horses.
The horses neighed in alarm, waking the soldiers who were still dozing in their tents. They came out and saw the frightened horses threatening to break free of their tethers. Startled, they rushed forward to calm them. After a brief period of chaos, the convoy finally began to move.
Li Jing rode at the front on horseback and said, "The grand sacrifice is tonight, and the human offerings must be delivered before dusk."
Before he set out, King Zhou ordered a priest to divine the date, and the tortoise shells, after three consecutive calculations, all pointed to today.
Pingyu was born when the yin energy was at its strongest, making him the best person to communicate with spirits and ghosts.
The Lin family members inside the carriage had long since woken up; the man's loud voice carried into the carriage and they heard it. With each turn of the wheels, their lives were consumed. Lin Dong and Xue Yue'e huddled together, while the woman in green twisted her hem in silence. The three of them set off again in a cold silence.
No matter how high one's official rank or how immense one's power, from a high vantage point, they are all as insignificant as a few sesame seeds. At least in the Taoist's eyes, this procession of carriages and horses was no different from ants carrying food on a rock.
Seeing that they had finally left, he swaggered away with his hands behind his back.
Inside the house, Pingyu remained unaware that he had just brushed past his parents, who were about to die.
Just like the book she's flipping through now, once it's turned over, it's gone, and she won't think of going back to look at it again.
The sun rises high, then slides down, finally reaching the mountainside.
The ants returned to their nests after foraging, and the convoy also entered the Chaoge Pass.
There was one more step before the vehicles from the Lin residence were brought into the palace gates.
The young officers accompanying the army gathered together. They spent some money to buy crudely made carriages from commoners and replaced the human sacrifices being transported in the Lin family's carriage with these carriages.
The Lin family's carriage was luxurious, its interior adorned with gold and jade of considerable value. The most powerful figure in the palace exploited the people, and even minor officials with some influence followed suit, profiting from the suffering of the people. While they confiscated the jewels from the carriage, Li Jing seized the opportunity to find the Lin family.
He lifted the curtain, and the three people inside remained motionless as if in deep meditation.
Li Jing said, "We're brothers, Brother Lin, is there anything you want me to pass on to Pingyu?"
After all, they were about to be sacrificed, and Lin Dong and Xue Yue'e would no longer be able to support their daughter. He harbored hatred in his heart, fearing that his harsh words would sow the seeds of disaster for Ping Yu.
Lin Dong exhaled a breath of stale air and replied, "Brother, just tell Pingyu to focus on her cultivation. Please."
Li Jing's visit was merely a formality; he sensed that the others didn't want to talk to him, so he didn't press the matter further.
He nodded and said, "Okay."
The auspicious time for the sacrificial ceremony arrived as scheduled.
The Lin family members, dressed in their most splendid slave attire, were led to the high platform.
Officials stood below, while King Zhou, embracing Daji, sat above.
The candlesticks burned at the edge, enveloping the human sacrifices in the stench of animal fat. Musicians played, and a shaman wearing a bronze mask danced before a colossal statue. The sacrifices were not allowed to look up, unable to see which god's chamber they were to serve. All they could see were the identical golden toes of all the statues.
It doesn't matter which god I'm to be offered to, since I'm destined to be chosen anyway.
Behind the platform was a bottomless pit, and the wizard would throw down a human sacrifice with each recitation.
At this moment, Green Robe inexplicably recalled the game that He Pingyu and Green Robe played in the family temple when they were children.
They threw beans into each other's mouths, and whoever missed catching a bean would have ink graffiti drawn on their face.
I wonder what the young lady is doing...
The woman in green looked at the deep pit; only a few people remained until it reached her.
Pingyu sneezed in Cuiping Mountain.
She felt a chill run down her spine all day, an uneasy unease gripping her almost completely. Now that night had fallen, Pingyu thought that as long as she could get through the night peacefully, she would forcefully suppress this feeling. To calm herself down, Pingyu played a game she used to play with Xiaohui when she was a child.
She had the driver bring rice and beans, which she then threw one by one into the pigeons' beaks.
"Sigh, I always lose when I play this game with you, Green Shirt. But if I play with you, I'm sure I won't lose!"
The girl muttered to herself, picked up a bean, and threw it into the pigeon's beak.
When you put a bean in your mouth, it's like falling into a bottomless pit.
The woman in green swayed and was pushed down.
"I wonder what my parents are doing, and whether they miss me."
Little Gray swallowed the second bean, and Lin Dong was thrown down before Xue Yue'e.
"I can go home tomorrow after I finish my apprenticeship ceremony. I want to eat my mother's mung bean soup..."
As the third bean was crushed between the bird's teeth, Xue Yue'e felt as if all the bones in her body had shattered.
Little Gray ate three beans and felt thirsty, pecking at the cup incessantly. Pingyu smiled, picked up the teapot, and poured it a cup of water. The pigeon lowered its head and clucked softly.
The soldiers surrounding the pit poured oil into the deep pit, and soon the oil soaked into every single person.
The wind blew open the window of the side room, extinguishing one of Pingyu's candles. She got up to light another, using the lit candle to ignite it. The extinguished wick ignited into a bright, blazing flame. The soldiers threw torches down, the oil fueling the flames that shot into the night sky, illuminating the face of the deity. The fire, lit with human blood, flesh, and skin, was so bright that there wasn't a single shadow on the statue, and it remained expressionless.
When human sacrifices are extinguished, God shows no mercy.
God does not rejoice in human sacrifices.
The musician played decadent music, and the dancers lingered among the officials.
From beginning to end, only people were singing and dancing around the raging fire.
The Lin family, wealthy merchants from Chentang Pass, had transformed into the ashes piled up at the bottom of the pit. The aroma of burning fat filled the air, tempting everyone to take another bite of roasted meat.
Apart from their daughter who was on Cuiping Mountain, none of the Lin family members, masters and servants, survived.
Author's Note: The swordplay ended there, and now our Nezha is about to unleash his full power.
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