"Thank you Yuqing."
Su Wenji called out Xie Yuqing's name. Fu Changling, standing high atop the tower, saw Xie Yuqing enter, sword in hand. Everyone made way for him. Xie Yuqing's body was still stained with blood and mud, as if he had just come off the battlefield.
Everyone stared at her blankly. Someone reacted and rushed towards Xie Yuqing, trying to stop her.
Xie Yuqing used the scabbard as a blade, raised his hand and swept it across, slashing all the way towards the Enlightenment Tower.
Su Wenji walked onto the long corridor and looked at the woman who was cutting through the crowd like a sword. He sighed and said helplessly, "Xie Yuqing, don't be willful with Yunze's life."
"vitality?"
Xie Yuqing leaped over and said in a cold voice, "What is life? Life is life! In pursuit of your life, you abandoned the people, abandoned your teachers and friends, retreated step by step, and in the end..." Xie Yuqing rolled over and landed on one knee in front of the Enlightenment Tower. He raised his eyes and looked up at the tower, "And you say I gave up Yunze's life?"
As he spoke, Xie Yuqing leaped forward on tiptoe. "I'm different from you. I don't believe in destiny, fate, or gods or Buddhas. I only believe in the sword in my hand." Xie Yuqing landed on the long railing in front of Fu Changling and stared at him. "I won't give up on anyone I want to protect. As long as my sword is with me, I will protect them without yielding an inch."
Fu Changling remained silent. Xie Yuqing stood up, pointing her sword at him. She spoke calmly, "For the sake of so-called righteousness, you used people to refine your meridians. For the sake of so-called righteousness, you abandoned all the ordinary cultivators and civilians outside of Qiankun City. Now, for the sake of so-called righteousness, you are also going to abandon A Yan."
"Fu Changling, if your path is to abandon the weak, abandon the innocent, and even abandon your family, won't you feel regretful about this path?"
"Heaven and Earth, the Emperor and parents, are the foundation of human existence. You must first protect those around you before you can talk about protecting the common people. You have a sword in your hand, but you dare not raise it. Even if you transcend the tribulation and ascend to heaven, what is the point?"
Fu Changling looked up at Xie Yuqing. He felt the light breaking through the clouds and falling on Xie Yuqing.
"Fu Changling," Xie Yuqing stared at him, "If you don't save him, no one else in this world will be able to save him."
If he also gives up on Qin Yan, who else in this world will save Qin Yan?
The common people are the Tao, but yourself and the people around you are not?
We always sacrifice the weak in exchange for the so-called future, and we always sacrifice the minority in exchange for the so-called justice. But Yunze sacrifices again and again, what kind of justice is it that he survives in the end?
"Senior Sister," Fu Changling raised his hand and drew his sword, "You are right."
"I shouldn't give up on anyone, especially him."
The moment he finished speaking, Fu Changling smiled lightly and his figure disappeared on the corridor.
Su Wenji was horrified and said in panic, "Daojun!"
"Ask for opportunities, keep your original heart, the original heart is also the Tao."
Fu Changling's voice drifted in the air. At this moment, all the cultivators' swords were shaking wildly in their hands. Fu Changling appeared again, already at the mountain gate. The cultivators could no longer control their swords, and they flew out of their hands and rushed into the sky. Then they gathered into a stream of swords, following Fu Changling, and left into the distance.
"You want me to comprehend the Way of Heaven, but if I don't even have my true heart, how can I talk about the Way of Heaven?"
"The Way of Heaven lies in the heart, not in man. Even if I die and my Way perishes, as long as there is one person in Yunze still alive, there is still hope."
"If you don't obey the way of heaven, then it is my way."
Fu Changling rode the wind, followed by tens of thousands of long swords. Xie Yuqing flipped from the Enlightenment Tower and followed closely behind him on his sword.
Su Wenji stood on the corridor, his eyes covered with white silk, staring blankly in the direction where Fu Changling was going away.
"If I don't obey the way of heaven, then it is my way..."
"Young Master," the attendant came flying over on his sword and said hurriedly, "The Taoist Master has left. What should we do?"
Su Wenji remained silent for a long time. After a while, he spoke in a low voice, "Send a group of people to wait for them on the way back to Qiankun City. Qiankun City must be fully fortified and ready for battle at any time!"
*** ***
"I'll go rescue my brother and hold them back in front. You figure out a way to take the people they've captured away."
Fu Changling gave Xie Yuqing an instruction, and Xie Yuqing responded. Then the two of them shortened the distance to an inch and quickly arrived at the territory of Wuqiu Palace.
Fu Changling's men had not arrived yet, but his sword had gone ahead. The rain of swords mixed with the night rain came down like an overwhelming force, hitting the Wuque Palace's barrier directly.
The entire Wuqi Palace rumbled and the earth shook. Everyone looked up in horror and saw that part of the flying sword was dissolved by the barrier, and part of it broke through the barrier and fell to the ground.
"What's wrong?"
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
Everyone in Wuque Palace suddenly became panicked. Jiang Yebai sat on the high seat with a calm expression. Qin Yan stood beside Jiang Yebai, watching the falling sword rain with an expressionless face.
A moment later, Fu Changling appeared at the foot of the Wuque Palace. He held a small gold-sprinkled fan in one hand and clasped the other behind his back. His clear, yet somewhat hoarse, voice resounded throughout the Wuque Palace, "I am Huayang, invited by the Demon Lord to attend a banquet at the Wuque Palace. I wonder where Taoist Sui Yan is, if I may meet him."
Hearing this, Qin Yan turned and looked at Jiang Yebai.
"Master, disciple is willing to fight."
Jiang Yebai looked up at him.
Qin Yan was no different from the one in his memory, except that he had changed his feelings towards Yun Ze and deleted the memory of Fu Changling. He seemed to be the disciple who had advised him not to drink back then.
He looked at Jiang Yebai, waiting for Jiang Yebai's instructions. Jiang Yebai stared at him. He seemed a little hesitant, but after a long time, he said, "Go."
Qin Yan saluted respectfully, then took his sword and left.
Looking at Qin Yan's back, Shangguan Mingyan turned to look at Jiang Yebai and couldn't help but ask, "What is the Demon Lord hesitating about?"
"I was just thinking, if one day Yan Ming wakes up," Jiang Yebai murmured, "how sad he would be."
Shangguan Mingyan looked at Jiang Yebai as Qin Yan walked out the door and couldn't help but ask, "Then why do you do this?"
"Do we have a choice?"
This question made Shangguan Mingyan silent. He lowered his eyes and smiled bitterly.
“Yes, we have no choice.”
Fu Changling stood at the foot of the mountain, looking up at the Wuqiu Palace on the top of the mountain.
Just a moment after he challenged her, he saw a figure in white walking out of the Wuque Palace.
He held a sword in one hand and an umbrella in the other, standing on a high place, looking down at him from above, without saying a word.
He seemed to have completely forgotten him, and there was no sadness or joy in his eyes, without any emotion at all.
This was the first time Fu Changling saw him and treated him with such complete indifference. He had never looked at him like this when he was the Sui Yan Demon Lord. Later, he became the eldest senior brother of Hongmeng Tiangong. Even if he cut off his roots of love and charged forward in this life again, even if he was ruthless, he still remembered him.
But now he seemed to have forgotten everything and had become a completely different person.
They looked at each other from a distance. Fu Changling forced a smile, walked up the stairs and walked towards him.
The surrounding monks came over shouting and slashing, but as soon as they touched Fu Changling, they were instantly shaken away.
Qin Yan was standing on a high place watching Fu Changling coming towards him with a fan. He had a smile on his lips and kept looking at him, as if he had come to the Wuqiu Palace just for him.
But he was not concerned with his purpose.
Qin Yan's gaze was all on the spiritual energy flowing around him. He was trying to guess Fu Changling's abilities and assess the gap in strength between them.
The higher Fu Changling went, the higher the cultivation level of the cultivators who tried to intercept him became. When he was only a hundred feet away from Qin Yan, a cultivator finally broke through his barrier and slashed down with a big knife!
Fu Changling turned the small fan in his hand, and drew the sword from his spine, pressing it directly against the monk's big knife.
"Spine Sword."
Qin Yan watched Fu Changling draw his sword and commented calmly, "Lin's bloodline."
Fu Changling listened to Qin Yan's words and realized that he had probably forgotten everything. He pursed his lips and fought his way up.
The rain was rolling and the wind was blowing hard. The umbrella was shaking in the wind. Blood flowed down the steps along with the rain, winding like a snake.
Fu Changling hacked his way up, and when he reached Qin Yan, the ground was already littered with corpses. He stepped in the blood, panting and raising his hand towards Qin Yan: "Brother," he smiled, "I'm here to pick you up."
Qin Yan looked at him quietly, his gaze falling on his eyes.
Fu Changling was born with a pair of beautiful eyes, but what made Qin Yan even more surprised was that this person's eyes were not only beautiful, but also had a clarity that was rare in this world.
He looked at himself like a child, and his eyes were full of himself.
"I come from the prison." Qin Yan said calmly.
"I know." Fu Changling smiled bitterly, "I don't care."
"I bear the expectations of the entire world. Even if it goes against the will of Heaven, for the sake of my people in the Prison of Karma, I must still go against my heart."
As he spoke, Qin Yan raised his eyes.
The rain fell along the umbrella, forming a bead curtain between the two people.
Qin Yan's eyes were filled with murderous intent. At that moment, he turned the umbrella in his hand and swept the sword across. Fu Changling quickly turned back and heard Qin Yan whisper, "I must kill you."
As the words fell, Qin Yan's sword came down with a bang.
Qin Yan's sword is fast, but what is more terrifying is that his sword is not only fast, but also carries a powerful force like a tidal wave. Looking across the two worlds, few people can directly confront Qin Yan's sword.
Fu Changling retreated hastily, and Qin Yan chased him closely. Then the two swords collided, and dozens of moves were exchanged in an instant.
"Brother," Fu Changling said anxiously, "I am Changling. Have you forgotten everything?"
"I have chosen to forget about Yunze's matter."
Qin Yan answered calmly. Fu Changling did not attack him deliberately, but simply avoided him and listened to Qin Yan's explanation: "I came here for the prison of karma, so there is no need for such unnecessary emotions."
"You'll regret this!"
Fu Changling shouted, "Brother, if you had made your choice after remembering everything, I wouldn't have forced you. But you don't remember anything now. If you make your decision, what if one day you remember everything and regret it?!"
"Then don't get up."
As Qin Yan spoke, he swung his sword with a magical light, like a giant dragon rushing towards him. Fu Changling suddenly jumped up and landed directly on the roof of the Wuqiu Palace.
Qin Yan stood still, swung the sword in his hand, and hundreds of sword intentions attacked Fu Changling directly.
Fu Changling rushed around Qin Yan, observing the direction of the flow of spiritual energy around Qin Yan and thinking about how Jiang Yebai was extracting Qin Yan's emotions.
All human emotions and memories are stored in the spiritual consciousness. If Jiang Yebai wants to accurately extract Qin Yan's memories, he must enter Qin Yan's spiritual consciousness.
The construction of spiritual consciousness is like a house. Extracting any pillar, beam, or even a nail will inevitably lead to collapse. Therefore, after Jiang Yebai extracted Qin Yan's memory, if he wanted to maintain the spiritual world from collapse and chaos, he must fill that position with something.
For example, a certain emotion.
What Qin Yan showed at this moment was an almost paranoid belief in the Karma Prison.
Because of this belief, even if he lost some of his memory, he didn't want to explore or ask.
In order for Qin Yan to recover his emotions and memories, it is necessary to clear the "curse" that Jiang Yebai placed in Qin Yan's consciousness.
It was difficult to clear the curse of a person who was close to the tribulation. And it was even more difficult to remove the curse without hurting Qin Yan.
But Fu Changling had to try, so he twisted the talisman in his hand and began to set up a formation around Qin Yan.
Qin Yan saw his intention of drawing the formation. He stood still, and his sword intent followed Fu Changling closely. Wherever Fu Changling went to, his sword intent followed closely.
"Qin Yan, you came from the Prison of Karma, crossed the two realms, and took over the body of an adult outside of Wenjian City."
As Fu Changling spoke, he raised his hand and pressed a small magic circle to the ground. Qin Yan's sword light then smashed down. Fu Changling pointed his toes and fell in the next direction.
"You were born and raised in Yunze. You are the eldest senior brother of Hongmeng Tiangong, and you have many fellow apprentices and sisters. You once said that you would protect Yunze with your life, fight against the strong and support the weak, and uphold the principles of righteousness."
"No need to say more." Qin Yan's long sword seemed to carry thunder, and with a loud "bang", a deep pit was smashed in front of Fu Changling.
Fu Changling barely rolled under Qin Yan's sword and knelt on one knee, panting. Qin Yan looked up at him and said indifferently, "Draw your sword."
"You are my senior brother," Fu Changling took a breath and repeated the mantra again, "I won't lift the sword."
As soon as he finished speaking, the magic circle under Fu Changling meandered towards Qin Yan. Qin Yan jumped up, and the light pattern moved even faster, like a hand, suddenly grabbing Qin Yan's feet, and then going straight into his mind with the memories described by Fu Changling.
Qin Yan subconsciously raised his sword and slashed quickly, but after just a moment, he still had a splitting headache.
He knew Fu Changling was using a Taoist attack, so he didn't give Fu Changling time to cast the talisman. He instantly appeared in front of Fu Changling, slashing with his sword at high speed, and threatened: "Raise your sword!"
Fu Changling's spine was cut by Qin Yan's sword. He rolled on the ground and defended without attacking. He pressed the magic spells on the ground one by one, repeating the past over and over again.
"Your senior sister's name is Xie Yuqing. She is a ruthless swordsman. She grew up with you and has taken very good care of you."
"Your junior brother Yunyu is usually very talkative, but his cultivation is average. He admires you and always follows you around, helping you with chores."
"You raised a fox spirit and named it Dahua. The place you lived in was built by your master. There is a moon-shaped archway in the house. You buried wine under the hall and often hid there to drink."
"The first time you and I met was when you were eight years old." The sword suddenly pierced Fu Changling's shoulder. Fu Changling quickly retreated and raised his hand to press the pattern to the ground.
Invisible patterns on the ground began to surround Qin Yan. They secretly entangled with each other like vines, then intertwined into a dark web, and fell silently at Qin Yan's feet.
Qin Yan felt that something was madly attacking his consciousness, making his vision blurry and all he saw were illusions.
Every scene that Fu Changling described revolved in his mind.
Fu Changling said that he went up the mountain, that he became his disciple, that he knelt in front of him and called him senior brother, that he followed him, and was bitten by Dahua to go to the sword test platform for morning training.
This is his memory.
But he doesn't need to have such memories!
The moment he realized it, Qin Yan vaguely heard Jiang Yebai call out, "Yan Ming."
The sentient beings in the karmic hell pushed the boat with their hands to survive drowning, and the scene of large piles of bones floating on the river came to mind.
Qin Yan drew his sword and rushed towards Fu Changling with all his strength!
"At the Hongmeng Heavenly Palace Master's enthronement ceremony, you were short of a jade pendant, so I gave it to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Yan's sword suddenly pierced through Fu Changling's body, and Fu Changling groaned.
Qin Yan's hands trembled as he looked up at the young man whose chest had been pierced by his sword. He said indifferently, "Aren't you going to draw your sword yet?"
"Just remember this," Fu Changling panted, forcing a smile, "and return me... this... jade pendant."
Qin Yan pulled out his sword and stabbed it into his body again. He seemed to not care at all and just said, "It's not important."
"The second time we met was in the Xuanji Secret Realm."
Fu Changling said, raising his bloody hand and trying to touch his face: "I couldn't see at that time, and you saved me."
Fu Changling's eyes moved slightly, and he felt the blood rushing out of his body wildly.
Setting up the formation consumed too much of his spiritual energy, and he was completely unable to heal the wounds inflicted by Qin Yan, who had similar abilities. He felt that even standing here seemed difficult.
But he didn't know why, when he looked at the person in front of him, a crazy sense of pleasure came over him.
Okay.
It would be fine if I died here, by his sword.
That year, he personally sent him to the trial platform and forced him to reveal his love secrets.
Qin Yan never blamed him, never hated him, and even never gave him a chance to atone for his sins.
Now that he wants his life, he will give it willingly.
"You let me hold your sword and take me for a long, long way."
As Fu Changling spoke, he raised his hand, grasped his sword, and gripped the hilt tightly.
The sword blade cut through Fu Changling's palm, and blood dripped down. Fu Changling stared at him: "We got engaged there. You almost died for me in the Xuanji Secret Realm, and I supported the shattered golden elixir to save you. When we parted, you asked me to wait for you."
"I've waited a long time. Thirty years, two lifetimes."
Fu Changling smiled with tears in his eyes: "Qin Yan, do you remember that you like me?"
"Get out of here!"
Qin Yan was deeply moved, and his sword energy violently shook Fu Changling away. Fu Changling was thrown far away and vomited blood.
Qin Yan's mind was full of the scene that Fu Changling described. Fu Changling fell to the ground gasping for breath, and blood spread on the formation.
Jiang Yebai, who had been watching the battle in Wuque Palace, suddenly stood up. Mingxiu said anxiously, "Demon Lord, Sui Yan..."
"I can't go through there."
Jiang Yebai gripped the armrest tightly and said tremblingly, "If anything goes wrong, his sea of consciousness will be destroyed."
"What should we do then?"
Ming Xiu turned to look at Jiang Yebai: "What if he remembers and follows Fu Changling?"
Jiang Yebai was speechless, he just looked at Qin Yan in the formation.
He was dressed in white, his hand tightly grasping the pillow Snow had given him.
Even though he was in extreme pain at this moment, he still maintained his usual calm demeanor.
The past that Fu Changling described appeared clearly before his eyes, but there seemed to be an invisible force in his sea of consciousness, resisting the impact of those fragments.
Reason and emotion collide again and again, and unreasonable beliefs and former sincerity collide violently.
His grip was so tight that blood was drawn from the hilt of the sword.
His blood and Fu Changling's blood mixed in the formation. Fu Changling's consciousness was almost blurred, but he knew that he was awake and he had to help Qin Yan.
He knew that his formation was now fighting against Jiang Yebai's spell in Qin Yan's sea of consciousness. Any moment he was late would be hell on earth for Qin Yan.
Fu Changling was panting, he supported himself and tried to raise his head.
His vision was already blurred by blood, and all he could see was a white robe.
That was his end, his destiny, his way home.
So even though he was already weak all over and everything was moving away from him, he still used all his strength to support his already exhausted body and crawled towards the person in front of him bit by bit.
"You once entered the Golden Light Pagoda for me and endured the nails that pierced your bones..."
He spoke in a low voice, remembering the way Qin Yan had been tortured on the pagoda wall. He looked up at him, and Qin Yan looked down at him, like a god.
"You once fought against a hundred thousand ghosts for me at the Ten Thousand Bone Cliff..."
Fu Changling supported himself with his hands and moved with difficulty. Wherever his body passed, bloodstains were left like dragons and snakes, winding forward.
His vision became increasingly blurry, but the image in his mind became clearer and clearer. It was Qin Yan sitting in the Cliff of Ten Thousand Bones, feeding thousands of ghosts with his body and twisting a lotus in his hand.
"You once waited for me on the Samsara Bridge all night long..."
Big drops of rain hit Fu Changling. What appeared before his eyes was the young man standing with an umbrella in front of the Samsara Bridge. Then he turned his head, and the two lives were separated by clouds and mist, like flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water, which disappeared in an instant.
"You also lit the Zen lamp for me in the Wuqi Palace for ten years."
Fu Changling said this as he crawled to Qin Yan's feet.
Qin Yan stared at Fu Changling blankly. The blood in front of Fu Changling's eyes soaked his palms. All he could see was the scene he had seen from Qin Yan's consciousness that year.
The Immaculate Palace was shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by the single bronze Zen lamp. Qin Yan stroked the four-cornered bronze lamp, adorned with a blue dragon and containing a pearl, and said calmly, "I don't ask for his gratitude, I only ask for his life."
"My love has nothing to do with him."
My love has nothing to do with him.
When Fu Changling thought of this sentence, he felt a great happiness emerging from the extreme pain.
In his ridiculous and absurd life, this sentence, which should have been painful, actually showed some beauty.
After all, no matter what——
Fu Changling raised his head, staring at Qin Yan with tears in his eyes, and smiled as if crying: "Qin Yan, you loved me first."
You loved me first.
It is you who has spent your entire life loving this person silently in secret.
No words, no confession, no complaints, no hatred.
Even if the love story ended in vain, it could not conceal the pitiful, tragic, weak and tenacious feelings that could not be wiped out during those long thirty years, no matter life or death, love or hate, no matter the big or small things.
Qin Yan looked at the people under his feet. He felt something surging wildly in his mind. They seemed to be imprisoned by something and were about to break out of the ground.
He couldn't lift his sword or move his feet. All his emotions and vision were focused on Fu Changling.
"But I forgot." He murmured, a little confused.
"It's okay if you forgot," Fu Changling smiled slowly after hearing this, "I didn't forget."
As he spoke, his hands trembling, he took out the jade pendant he had given him that year. The jade pendant was stained with blood and tears. He looked up at him and said, "People are like jade. They should be polished and obtained."
As Fu Changling spoke, he raised his hand and cut into his chest.
His fingers were like blades, just like what Qin Yan did on the trial platform.
The essence of blood from the heart flowed down the fingertips and fell onto the formation.
The essence and blood of a cultivator in the Tribulation Crossing Stage is the most powerful catalyst for formations in the world.
Memories were like a huge flood, instantly breaking through the last bit of resistance in Qin Yan's sea of consciousness.
Qin Yan stared at the jade pendant blankly, and distant memories flashed through his mind quickly.
He seemed to have returned to his previous life, seeing Fu Changling lying in a pool of blood, his burning eyes staring at him with hatred;
It seemed as if he had returned to the moment in this life when Fu Changling entered the master's sect, kneeling on the ground and looking up at him, full of expectations.
"Knife and axe chisel,"
Fu Changling's words intertwined with Qin Yan's voice back then: "Life and death are a hundred pains."
"Only when the jade is completed can the man be completed."
The Demon Lord Sui Yan, who had handed the jade pendant to Qin Yan in the previous life, met the figure of the white-clothed disciple sitting on the high throne in the Hongmeng Heavenly Palace.
The face of Master Huayang, who was full of hatred in the heavy rain in the previous life, merged with the face of the young man in black who was looking up at him in the drizzle at this moment.
They all seem to have been carefully carved by the knife of time, and finally have their current appearance.
Life and death are full of pain, and then people are born.
"Now Changling has achieved success," Fu Changling said, his voice choking with sobs. "Brother, are you willing to get it again?"
Qin Yan said nothing, staring blankly at the jade pendant. Fu Changling, covered in blood, stared up at him.
Qin Yan couldn't help but reach out his hand, and with trembling hands, he touched the jade pendant.
It was at that moment that countless memories and emotions surged into the jade pendant.
He seemed to have returned to the column of water that washed away his memories. When he opened his eyes, he saw the young man in black looking up at him and reaching out his hand to him.
"Fu..." Qin Yan murmured, "Chang... Ling..."
The moment the words fell, Qin Yan's tears flowed down his cheeks and fell directly onto the jade pendant. Then the surrounding spiritual energy surged and all rolled towards him.
The heaven and earth trembled, and the mountains and rivers roared together.
A brilliant light shot up into the sky. Qin Yan half-knelt down and looked at Fu Changling, who was lying on the ground and looking up at him.
He felt as if there was a tree in his body. It was growing in his heart, quickly taking root, sprouting, and rapidly moving upwards.
He watched him.
For the first time since his rebirth, Qin Yan felt so clearly the endless mixture of sadness and joy, and felt the unspeakable love and emotion pressing against his chest, ready to burst out.
He stared at him quietly and said hoarsely: "You shouldn't have come."
He should stay in Qiankun City, comprehend the way of heaven, and then wait until he is close to ascending to heaven to save Yunze.
"I'm not coming," Fu Changling laughed, and his bloody hand touched Qin Yan's face, "What are you going to do?"
"Ayan, I want to be a more selfish person. When everyone gives up on you," Fu Changling said with a choked voice, "I'm still here."
Even if gods and Buddhas cannot save you, you will find someone else in this world.
"Qin Yan," Fu Changling propped himself up and lifted him into a hug. His blood stained his white clothes red, causing them to bloom with large, brightly colored flowers.
"As long as I'm here, I will always, always protect you."
He protected the people all his life.
Now, he wants to protect someone well.
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