Chapter 130 Ying Lingyun 3
Ying Lingyun has many flaws. He is extravagant, pleasure-seeking, a gambler and a man of ambition. Moreover, he does not care about his personal conduct and has brought women he has just met to hotels for one-night stands more than once.
At the same time, he is determined, ambitious, and indomitable. Even if he is defeated in public, he will accept defeat and get back up no matter how many times he falls. He has extraordinary magnanimity.
His combination of flaws and strengths gave him the air of an ancient hero, which was the biggest reason why Zhu Ba valued him so much. This man truly gave Zhu Ba a headache, yet she couldn't help but admire him.
Zhu Ba believed that Ying Lingyun wouldn't betray his daughter, because men like Ying Lingyun rarely had romantic feelings. Since he had accepted his political investment, he would inevitably take responsibility for his daughter. He certainly had many moral flaws, but he always knew right from wrong. It was precisely because of this that he was able to harden his heart and kill his adoptive mother, Yin Yue.
However, there are always exceptions.
Yin Yue was the exception to Ying Lingyun's rule.
For Ying Lingyun, Yin Yue was truly a very, very special woman. He probably initially believed he could completely forget about her after killing her and embrace a new life. But perhaps it wasn't until after everything was over that he realized his true feelings.
He regretted it.
Regret is the greatest poison in the world; even a heart of gold can be eroded into rotten, smelly teeth by it.
Zhu Ba easily discovered that her son-in-law was researching a way to revive Silver Moon.
Even if Ying Lingyun were a politician with connections in both the secular world and the supernatural world, before the Fan Tian incident, he couldn't possibly use his connections in one world to influence the order in the other. This meant that if he wanted to resurrect a powerful demon like Yin Yue, he couldn't use his resources as a politician; and if he tried to use his connections in the supernatural world, it would inevitably attract the attention of the Zhu family.
Zhu Ba repeatedly tried to persuade him to give up that impossible wish, but he not only did not listen, but became increasingly mentally unstable. In the end, he had a real break with the Zhu family, and even with his wife Zhu Jiu, and disappeared without a trace.
Silver Moon was like a persistent evil spirit, trying to disturb Ying Lingyun's mind in life and driving him mad in death.
Neither Mr. Zhu nor Zhu Jiu told Zhu Shi and Chang'an about this matter, because neither of them wanted their young siblings to hear such an embarrassing family matter.
However, since Zhu Shi is now an adult, Mr. Zhu no longer wants to hide it and simply takes this opportunity to tell us everything.
“That man has gone mad,” Mr. Zhu said calmly. “He used to be as upright and dignified as a great man, but when he broke with us, his eyes were bloodshot, his face was ashen, and he was spitting and roaring that he would resurrect that female demon no matter what.”
"I had hoped he would see the light and return to the right path, but I never imagined he would disappear for years. When I saw him again, he looked like a dead man..."
He sighed deeply, lost in his own emotions, seemingly recalling the head that sat on the wooden table in the empty room.
We didn't interrupt his thoughts immediately. At the same time, I was also processing the information I had heard.
Just now, Mr. Zhu mentioned Ying Lingyun's magical artifact, "Moon in the Water," saying that it is an item that can replicate supernatural powers.
Zhu Shi once wondered why the creator of the monster was able to use Lu Youxun's ability, "Possibility Clone." Even if the Humanitarian Division could fully analyze it, it would be impossible to perfectly reproduce it. That power is based to a certain extent on Lu Youxun's personal talent, and no one else could replicate it exactly.
But what if the creator of the monster didn't analyze and reproduce it, but instead used the magical artifact "Moon in the Water" to directly copy it? That would seem to make sense.
Seeing that Mr. Zhu had almost come out of his thoughts, I asked, "Is reviving Silvermoon a very difficult thing?"
"It's not 'very difficult,' it's 'impossible.' The resurrection of the dead has been considered a miracle since ancient times, the most difficult feat to achieve among all magic and rituals." He said slowly, "Even just resurrecting a mortal requires an enormous amount of power, or requires meeting extremely difficult conditions, or both... let alone resurrecting the Silver Moon, or a fully-fledged demon?"
"Based on my deduction, resurrecting Silvermoon requires both 'power' and 'conditions' to be gathered simultaneously. The 'power' alone would require draining the strength of ten Great Impermanences. This is impossible. As for the 'conditions'..."
He thought for a moment, then said, "In some barbaric tales and legends, if ancestors want to be resurrected, they can use their descendants as living sacrifices, which can also be seen as a 'condition'. So I've thought before that Ying Lingyun might go so far as to use Chang'an as a living sacrifice to resurrect Yin Yue. Although even tigers don't eat their cubs, that man has indeed gone mad."
"Brother?" Zhu Shi was taken aback. "But..."
"That's right. The ability to resurrect someone by sacrificing their own children is limited to ordinary mortals. But then again, ordinary mortals can't possibly possess the great secret technique of bringing the dead back to life. As for the conditions for resurrecting a great demon, they are so stringent that they cannot be judged by common sense," said Old Master Zhu. "This shows that Ying Lingyun hasn't gone so far as to be insane as to eat his own children. If he wanted to achieve his wish, sacrificing even ten or a hundred of his own sons wouldn't be enough, let alone one."
"It's not a matter of quantity. To resurrect Silver Moon, Silver Moon herself must be sacrificed alive. The conditions for resurrecting a great demon are that demanding."
Zhu Shi complained, "Wouldn't that be pointless? He has to revive Silver Moon first before he can sacrifice Silver Moon again. But if Silver Moon herself is already revived, then what's the point of reviving her... Isn't this just an endless nesting problem?"
I now understand how impossible it is to revive Silvermoon.
Then, I thought of the "divine seal" that grants all wishes, and I also thought of the fragment of the divine seal that Ying Lingyun was suspected of possessing.
Could he be planning to achieve his wish by collecting fragments of the divine seal?
“Speaking of which, I have a question…” Zhu Shi said.
Mr. Zhu nodded: "What's the problem? Tell me."
“My father was an orphan who lost both his parents, and then he was adopted by Silvermoon disguised as a human… Why would Silvermoon adopt a child?” Zhu Shi asked curiously. “Silvermoon must have been recovering from serious injuries at the time, right? And from what you just said, Grandpa, restoring her original power was the most important thing for her.”
"Yet she chose to spend this time raising human children who were not related to her by blood. Even if she didn't actually expend that much effort, wasn't it unnecessary to do such a thing?"
"Yes, I have thought about the question you raised. There is no reliable reasoning, but there are some speculations," said Mr. Zhu. "Yinyue is ultimately a fox demon, and she has a side that favors talented human men. However, she is proud and arrogant, and she looks down on ordinary talented men."
"So perhaps she was taking advantage of her free time while recovering from her serious injuries and decided to cultivate a talented man she could appreciate. Although she didn't know if Ying Lingyun's actual talent met her expectations, he was still a man she had raised herself, and at least he was more pleasing to the eye than some stray cat or dog."
“Cultivating yourself… isn’t that ‘nurturing’?” Zhu Shi said.
Is it just my imagination? I always feel like Zhu Shi has a lot of random, miscellaneous knowledge.
I recalled the starting point of this series of topics.
“Now that Ying Lingyun has not only joined the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau, but has also become like that… the Zhu family’s plan to escape the supernatural world must have to be abandoned, right?” I asked. “What does the Zhu family plan to do next? Is it going to have Zhu Shi marry someone with status and power in secular society?”
Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhu seemed to suddenly perk up. He gazed intently at me and then asked, "Are you very concerned about my granddaughter's marriage?"
"Hmm?" I suddenly felt a pressure on my body that I didn't know where it came from.
Mr. Zhu said kindly, "You don't need to worry, I have no intention of interfering in my granddaughter's marriage."
"I'm not that worried," I said.
"And to be honest, the Zhu family has no intention of leaving the supernatural world now." He continued without changing his expression, "Times have changed. After the Fan Tian incident, the distance between secular society and the supernatural world will only get closer and closer, and they will probably merge into one in the near future. Although we don't know whether the country will be ruled by supernaturalism or social order at that time, the so-called leaving the supernatural world is meaningless."
"In this new era, strength is everything. Power and status must be built upon genuine strength. This so-called 'strength' is not the collective strength of the past secular society, but the strength of individual power, the strength of someone as strong as you..."
He paused slightly, then spoke in a very serious tone: "I also hate those roundabout ways of speaking, so I'll get straight to the point here: Zhuang Cheng, are you willing to accept the Zhu family's allegiance?"
"Grandpa?" Zhu Shi suddenly became restless.
I read aloud the words they uttered: "Refuge with me?"
Mr. Zhu straightened his collar, his expression solemn, and stared straight at me.
"To be able to shake, even crush, my Zhu family's barrier with just a glance... means you possess at least the power of a Great Completion stage. To have such supernatural abilities so early in your career, perhaps one day you can become the new Great Impermanence, a god walking on this land."
He reiterated his earlier proposal: "If you are willing to bestow upon the Zhu family the honor of being your brothers, from this day forward, the Zhu family will go through fire and water for you without hesitation. What do you say?"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com