Chapter 87 Chapter 87 Don't Trust Your Memory
No one expected that the entrance to the secret realm that they had been waiting for for many days would suddenly appear in such an unexpected way.
The light that fell from the sky was the entrance. All the monks on the street, regardless of whether they intended to enter the secret realm or not, were sucked in.
Zhongli Bai stopped and found that the surroundings had changed. It was no longer the streets of Cangzhou, but a very lively town.
The scene was warm and familiar, just like when the unruly Taoist was still around and he would often take him to set up a stall in the town of the human world to tell fortunes.
Zhongli Bai couldn't help but take a few steps forward.
"You, you look so good holding a compass, but you are able to inherit my master's legacy, and you are also a charlatan?"
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind.
The "unruly Taoist" was still dressed simply as he remembered, with patches on his sleeves. Seeing him turn his head blankly, he showed his signature expression of disgust and asked:
"Have you completed everything I instructed you to do? Have you found the savior?"
"I……"
This dialogue was so natural that Zhongli Bai subconsciously wanted to answer.
But the next moment, he couldn't help but shudder, thinking that his master had already traveled to who knows where, so how could he appear here?
What's more, he was clearly sucked into the Tianxuan Secret Realm. This place was probably an illusion pieced together based on his memories, so it seemed so real and natural.
Zhongli Bai then shut up, turned around and left.
The "Unruly Taoist" grabbed him, his fingers as stiff as dead wood:
"You've made some progress in divination now. Perhaps you can predict what's in your mind. What will be the outcome?"
As he spoke, he pointed his finger, and the four-sided compass in Zhongli Bai's hand suddenly moved by itself.
After the pointer rotated a few times, it suddenly stopped in the west.
"What?"
Zhongli Bai was shocked, not only because the west pointed to an ominous omen of "a life-or-death situation", but also because the fake "unruly Taoist" in this illusion could actually control the four-direction compass directly without him.
The next moment he realized that the "Unruly Taoist" could move the compass because in his memory, the compass was the Unruly Taoist's magic weapon.
In essence, he was still using his cultivation to tell fortunes.
After all, the things here are inseparable from his thoughts and memories.
Therefore, what the "unruly Taoist" said is not entirely absurd.
The "Unruly Taoist" shook his head and said:
"The West is about to be destroyed, and there is a narrow escape from death. Your hexagram is really too fierce."
“…”
Zhongli Bai was silent.
The "Unruly Taoist" continued:
"In one life, I slew demons, in the next, I killed gods, and now you've predicted a bad omen. It shows that fate is ultimately unpredictable..."
Zhongli Bai naturally couldn't answer.
He lowered his head and used the compass again, but the needle was still pointing to the west.
His hands began to tremble.
Before coming to Cangzhou, he and Ji Chu had cast a fortune on the cloud boat. At that time, the fortune was very auspicious. Although it was not pointing completely to the east, it was hovering nearby.
Earlier, when I had just been reborn, the hexagram also pointed to the east. After that, when I worked with Ji Chu, there had never been such a bad omen.
Why did the hexagram suddenly change now?
The gap is even so huge. If the illusion in the Tianxuan Secret Realm can not really interfere with the Four-Direction Compass, then there must be some variables that directly affect the result.
Although he hoped that everything was fake, Zhongli Bai knew very well that no matter how fake the illusion was, it could not affect the results of the Four Directions Compass.
The hexagram indicates a very bad omen, which means this journey will be dangerous and unlikely to end well.
But what happened after they arrived in Cangzhou that changed the outcome?
Zhongli Bai was completely puzzled.
He looked around and his eyes were fixed on a pancake stall.
He ran over in two steps, grabbed the three copper coins on the table and started to tell fortunes.
fierce.
Very bad.
Still fierce.
…
The stall owner looked at him and continued to sell sesame cakes without even thinking of stopping him.
Zhongli Bai looked at the ominous scene that repeated again and again in front of him, and sweat began to form on his forehead.
The "unruly Taoist" came over with his hands in his pockets, looking calm and composed. He glanced at the hexagram on the ground and smiled mockingly, as if he was watching a trapped beast fighting.
The hawking sounds on the street, the laughter of children chasing each other, the complaints of parents, and the comments of the "unruly Taoist" mixed together, making his hands tremble even more.
Zhongli Bai forced himself to forget about the noisy noises and stretched out his hand to make a spell that only a hexagram cultivator would use:
"All evils retreat, let my heart be clear, do not obscure it with falsehood..."
As he was reciting, his voice suddenly paused.
“False…false…”
He suddenly opened his eyes and manually moved the compass needle to due west.
"Birth and death are two separate things, without distinction."
"If I were the Last God, after calculating the prophecy of Ji Chu II's slaying of the gods, would I do nothing and just watch her be reborn to fulfill her destiny?"
"No, it won't."
Zhongli Bai shook his head and asked himself:
"It will definitely take action, but I just didn't notice it..."
"How could I not have noticed?"
He clenched his fist and wanted to hit himself, but the next moment he patted his head and comforted himself:
"Calm down, Zhongli Bai. A calm mind leads to clear eyes and a clear heart, and one won't be deceived by lies or falsehoods."
He grabbed his hair and carefully recalled what happened when he saw the golden eyes in his previous life:
"Xue Xianchen's condition isn't right. He must have been possessed by the Last God... The one with the golden eyes is the Last God. He wanted to devour Ji Chu's soul, but was interrupted by Senior Brother Meng's sword..."
"No problem..."
Zhongli Bai had a terrible headache.
In his previous life, only his soul remained following Ji Chu, without a body, and everything he saw and felt was obtained through Ji Chu.
From Ji Chu's perspective, there was nothing wrong with all of this. It was Senior Brother Meng who suspected that she was possessed by a demon, and when he failed to stop her, he tried to kill her.
etc……
Ji Chu said something before entering the secret realm.
She said that Senior Brother Meng had changed so much that she felt like everything in her previous life was just a dream.
if……
What Ji Chu saw was not true?
Zhongli Bai felt like his breathing had stopped.
They used to think that they were reborn, so they could take advantage of the information gap to prepare for the Last God's actions in advance.
But what if the Last God has already taken action?
Killing gods is destiny, and the destruction of the gods is also destiny... How can I prevent Ji Chu from killing me and avoid destiny?
It can't be...
His eyes suddenly opened wide.
Meng Yuci, Senior Brother Meng.
Senior Brother Meng is from the witch clan, which is also considered a god clan. Doesn’t that mean he is also within the scope of the “god” who kills gods?
Could it be that the Last God wanted to find a scapegoat and dispel Ji Chu's destiny along the way? !
So, was it Meng Yuci himself, or was it the Shaowei Sword, who killed Ji Chu in his previous life?
…
No! He had to tell Ji Chu, he had to...
Zhongli Bai looked up and suddenly found that the scene around him was slowly dispersing like a reflection in the water.
The "unruly Taoist" in front of him stood in front of him, his expression stiff, but he still maintained a lively tone when he spoke:
"So? It's fate, you're going to lose."
This is not something an "unruly Taoist" would say.
If it were his master himself, he would now say:
"A fortune teller predicts destiny not to change it, but to follow the flow."
Zhongli Bai recalled his master's tone and said these words to the fake "unruly Taoist".
“You are not a fortune teller, so of course you cannot understand the hexagrams. You can only know good and bad luck, but it is difficult to predict success or failure.
As soon as he finished speaking, the "Unruly Taoist" smiled coldly, and his figure spread out like ripples on water. In the blink of an eye, he turned into the appearance of Venerable Asanga.
His eyes were red gold, eerie and terrifying.
The black fog surged towards him, and Zhongli Bai felt that his limbs were suddenly out of control.
The next moment, a vertical line suddenly appeared between the pair of red-gold eyes, making the pupil-less eyes look like snake eyes, eerie and terrifying.
Zhongli Bai felt a pain in his heart.
The scene of having his heart gouged out by Asanga in the previous life was replayed.
The feeling of pain and death was so real that he could hardly tell the difference between truth and falsehood, as if he had really returned to his previous life and was facing the despair and pain of death all over again.
He wished he could use the Yin-Yang rotation again so he could go back to the beginning and tell Ji Chu first:
Don't trust your memory.
Don't be trapped in your memories.
…
Unfortunately, there is no other Yin-Yang Rotation card in this world.
There is no regret in making a move, just wait for the result.
Just before his consciousness completely faded, Zhongli Bai saw the compass needle slowly stop and finally settle in one direction:
"Northwest hexagram, leave everything to fate, a narrow escape from death."
Not great, but not particularly bad either.
Destiny always involves both danger and opportunity.
They haven't completely failed yet.
He believed in Ji Chu.
*
Ji Chu stood on the street in Cangzhou.
It was still the Fushi Festival here, with many people wearing masks and walking happily on the streets, as if they had never been affected by the Tianxuan Secret Realm.
But she knew that this was no longer the place where she had just stood.
Following behind her was a tall and thin person wearing a rabbit mask, but his walking movements were too stiff and he looked like a fake person. However, he still called her "Ji Chu" in Zhongli Bai's voice.
Ji Chu didn't respond and turned to look for the inn where his senior brother was just now.
If he was also sucked into the Tianxuan Secret Realm, perhaps he would remain there...
But no.
There was no inn, no senior brothers, only a long street that seemed to have no end.
Everyone was walking on their own, as if they didn't see her who suddenly appeared.
There were footsteps behind her. The moment Ji Chu turned around, a person suddenly appeared in front of her. He rushed towards her at an extremely fast speed. He was wearing the same clothes as her. He did not avoid or give way, but bumped straight into her.
Ji Chu was startled, but she didn't feel any impact, only a gust of wind blowing past her side.
She quickly turned around and found that the man's figure dispersed and reunited like ripples on water, and finally turned completely into her appearance!
Then, another person wearing the uniform of a disciple of the Fu Yu Xian Sect and a cat-faced mask trotted over and called out to her warmly:
"Ji Chu! You are really here!"
It was Xu Ying's voice.
She took off her mask, stepped forward, and grabbed Ji Chu's arm with a stiff movement, like two pieces of wood entangled together:
"Ji Chu, you were punished by Elder Shen to kneel for many days and didn't show up. I was so worried about you!"
It was obvious at first glance that "Xu Ying" was not a real person. Her movements were stiff, but her tone was pretending to be cheerful, creating a clumsy and weird scene.
Ji Chu walked over and reached out to grab a handful of "Xu Ying".
Instead of touching him, her own hand passed through the other person's body.
"Ji Chu" who was pulled back lowered his head and said nothing.
Xu Ying said:
"Ji Chu, please don't leave, okay? We all know that Elder Shen wronged you in this matter. But you don't have to leave the sect, right?"
She waved to the person standing on the side of the road, and the person who looked similar to Jiang Chengxu trotted over.
"Yes, Ji Chu, Xu Ying and I both believe in you."
“Let’s go find the headmaster and let him make the decision. Don’t let Elder Shen punish you again…”
The fake "Ji Chu" spoke, and his voice was exactly the same as hers:
"The headmaster won't care."
Ji Chu then remembered that this seemed to be her previous life. She was in a bad mood and wanted to sneak down the mountain, but was stopped by Xu Ying and Jiang Chengxu.
Later, seeing that they could not persuade her, they finally gave up trying to stop her.
Now the three people in front of her were like performing a puppet show, recreating the scenes from her previous life.
It’s just that the “puppet”’s movements are so stiff and not natural at all.
Ji Chu was a little confused.
But she couldn't meet these people, so she could only stand by and watch.
According to her recollection, what happened next was that she insisted that she did not need help, and Xu Ying and Jiang Chengxu cured her and had no choice but to let her go.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she had this thought, the "puppet Ji Chu" suddenly raised his head, and a long sword suddenly appeared in his hand, and pierced Xu Ying in front of him with the sword.
Ji Chu was startled and subconsciously went over to help Xu Ying.
And this time, her hand actually touched Xu Ying's body.
Wet, warm blood flowed onto her hands and, as her heart pumped, quickly dyed her sleeves red.
Xu Ying trembled in her arms, her dying eyes full of disbelief.
"Ji Chu...you...why?"
“No… that’s not the case…”
Ji Chu shook his head.
She knew this was an illusion, but the shock of Xu Ying's death in front of her was too great. She couldn't control herself and summoned the Xunzhen Sword, stabbing it at the "puppet Ji Chu" in front of her.
With a "puff", the long sword pierced her heart, and the figure of "Puppet Ji Chu" scattered and drilled into her body like the wind.
The person her sword pierced turned out to be Jiang Chengxu's face.
“…”
Jiang Chengxu knelt on the ground, spat out a mouthful of blood, and looked at her in disbelief.
Then he lowered his head, stretched out his hand stiffly, and desperately grabbed "Xu Ying's" hand, just like how the two of them died in their previous life.
Looking at this scene, Ji Chu felt his brain go blank in an instant.
The people who were originally coming and going around, along with the entire street, suddenly disappeared.
The whistling wind blew past Ji Chu's ears, and she was shocked to find that she was no longer on the streets of Cangzhou, but in——
The top of Xuanhe Peak!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com