Fifty-three: Soul-changing and Evil-inviting
What is the purpose of practicing?
There's a beautiful, high-sounding answer: the pursuit of the Great Dao. There's also a very pragmatic, irrefutable answer: the search for immortality. The biggest difference between cultivators and mortals is that each breakthrough in a realm extends the limits of their lifespan. A Jindan cultivator's lifespan is twice that of a mortal. By the time they reach the Palm Realm or Divine Transformation Realm, they can easily live for hundreds of years, unburdened by the passage of time.
But as a human being, there will always be a day when our life will come to an end.
From Lu Yinche's perspective, Gong Jue's physique and talent were no less than his brother's back then. Even if he couldn't compare to a gifted contestant like Yan Yanshu, unless there were major accidents, he should still have room for improvement. At least in the illusion created by the flute sound, Gong Jue was still very healthy.
Why had he fallen into this situation, forced to use the souls of countless others to sustain his own life? Natural selection, even within the limits of food acquisition, doesn't eliminate the root of the problem. Devouring souls, on the other hand, completely annihilates a person, a practice even more sinister than harvesting the golden elixir.
To the point of being condemned by Heaven, he was forced to wrap himself in black cloth, dressed as if he were buried to prevent the dead from resurrecting. Yan Yanshu's sword shone coldly on Gong Jue's face, which was almost black, as if he was about to die.
"What did you do to yourself?" Lu Yinche frowned. "Where did these souls come from?"
Gong Jue didn't answer and seemed to want to take the Guansheng Flute back. Lu Yinche knew his intention and was on guard against it. He drew a horizontal line in the air with his right hand holding the flute, and several golden lotuses fell down.
Gong Jue said bitterly, "The technique I've practiced has not helped me improve my cultivation. If I can't ascend, I must die. I can kill, rob, and take some souls. What good does that do?"
Lu Yinche frowned.
What did this mean? Was there something wrong with his technique? Could it be because of Tianmu—was it because he had damaged the Heavenly Gate, causing the Gang Qi to leak? But others couldn't change the sect. Given Gong Jue's background and talent, it wouldn't be impossible for him to figure out a set of mental methods on his own and become a founding master.
Yan Yanshu seemed to guess what Lu Yinche was thinking and said, "It has nothing to do with what you did. He went down the wrong path and betrayed you."
"I haven't betrayed you. I've been doing what you asked me to do. You said this world was about to be destroyed, and I believed you. I helped you gather the secret treasures and realize your plan. You said you wanted two apprentices, so I found them for you. If you don't teach, I will teach them. How wonderful! Even medicine men are willing to refine for their master. How loyal! They are still serving you, the sect leader who refuses to be the sect leader. If it weren't for me, if it weren't for me, the Yin Sect and its plan would have fallen apart long ago! I must live!"
He should be referring to the man in red at the auction. However, Lu Yinche remembered Shang Jiao saying that his master had a senior sister, so the gender did not match.
Gong Jue's words quickly resolved the issue. Like him, the red-robed member of the Yin Sect had absorbed the souls of countless others in the process of extending his lifespan. Those souls hadn't been refined and transformed into power itself, but instead had been combined with Gong Jue and the others' souls in their most primitive form. A person's sea of consciousness could only accommodate so many souls; as new souls entered, they were inevitably squeezed out, rendering the old ones unusable.
The woman in red clothes only changed her appearance, making her look like a man, but Gong Jue had gone further than her and could not turn back.
"The Immortal Alliance tried to intercept you, but your soul lamp in the Gong family was extinguished. Many people thought you were dead," Yan Yanshu looked at Gong Jue coldly, "You should never have appeared again."
Gong Jue was equally hostile to him: "What qualifications do you have to say that? You relied on your eloquence to deceive Ah Che? You are not as good as me. At least I have always been with him. I am waiting for him to come back. I know he will come back."
Yan Yanshu stepped forward and said, "Of course he will. Ah Che is back. This is what he deserves. It has nothing to do with the so-called sacrifice you're trying to deceive yourself with."
Gong Jue sneered, "Sacrifice? I wouldn't say that. Lord Sword Saint, that's your word. How glorious, how sanctimonious. Give your Taoist partner a sword, earn a reputation for sacrificing your relatives for the sake of justice, and then just pat your butt and nothing will happen. Why don't you quickly make a big fuss and remarry?"
Yan Yanshu didn't continue to argue with him, and focused on explaining to Lu Yinche: "No. I only have you."
His eyes were crystal clear. Lu Yinche wouldn't suspect he was lying. Not to mention the witness of Heaven, their names were engraved on the marriage stone. Even those street tales that loved to make up stories out of thin air would immediately publish a book about any unnecessary actions by Yan Yanshu.
Moreover, he liked Yan Yanshu's eyes very much.
Gentle, ocean-like eyes.
When you look over, you'll find he's been looking at you, with nothing in his mind except a person. He's just looking at you intently, as if this is something significant in itself and doesn't need any other purpose.
Lu Yinche looked away and denied Gong Jue's slander: "If he had a ghost, how could he dare to communicate with me? Isn't he afraid that I will turn him upside down? You don't need to say such things."
He couldn't remember exactly how Yan Yanshu established his relationship with him, he only vaguely remembered those eyes. When they overlapped with the eyes he saw later, they spanned hundreds of years.
Yan Yanshu was resolute. He never denied his waiting and never concealed his joy of reunion.
It's all in his eyes.
And Lu Yinche could read those emotions, from their exchanged glances, from their connected souls.
"If he hadn't deceived you and injured your soul, you wouldn't have left Yin Sect to be with him," Gong Jue said. "He's always like this, pretending to be weak, innocent, and straightforward, but in fact he has everything planned out, thinking more than anyone else. You're just a pawn in his plan. Look, all the bad things are done by you and me, how clean he is!"
"Are you talking about that sword?" Lu Yinche lowered his eyelids slightly, and he suddenly remembered something.
The Guansheng flute vibrated slightly in Lu Yinche's hand. Of course, no one was playing it, not even the wind lingered there. It was the vibrations of the fragments of Lu Yinche's soul in his sea of consciousness that moved it.
It was still those eyes. Yan Yanshu's brows were tightly furrowed, and his eyes were sadder than he could remember ever seeing them.
He said, "Are you sure?"
Lu Yinche told him: "I have to do this. It's better if you are the one pointing the sword at me, right?"
Yan Yanshu nodded. But why did he look so sad?
Don't be sad, he will come back, he will come back, when everything is settled, he will come back.
Fate may have a predetermined course, but as long as people exist, they can shake all the mountains. He will change the fate of this world, and he will work hard to return to his side.
He dug out a vague impression from his memory, faced Gong Jue, and said, "I asked him to do that."
Five hundred years ago, Lu Yinche was once a mere cultivator curious about the workings of the Heavenly Dao. Everything unfolded during the moment he retreated to reach Guixu. Heaven sent down a thunderstorm, a natural outcome, but in that moment, Lu Yinche heard a divine revelation that was not granted by heaven. He suddenly grasped the true nature of the world, an absurd truth he could not reveal to anyone, a destiny that was certain and imminent.
This world, a tiny bubble encased in the so-called infinite energy of the upper realm, is about to burst as the upper realm is squeezed and crushed. All cultivation becomes meaningless. Unless one ascends, and ascends continuously.
Lu Yinche didn't understand what a normal person would do. Would they give up on themselves? Would they try to cover their ears and steal the bell? But he wouldn't. He was aware of the world beyond the upper realm, aware of the vastness of space. He wanted to go to the outside world, he would keep going, until there was no further to go. That was his rightful destination.
Therefore, he chose to split his soul and return to the past, blow up the Heaven Gate, and connect this world with the upper world, buying time for the world to breathe. To this end, he did not hesitate to let the other half of his soul fall into a deep sleep, thus deceiving the supervision of the heaven. Fortunately, his incomplete part completed the mission, but the remaining soul could not go on.
So, he asked Yan Yanshu to give him a sword strike, not only to end the Immortal Alliance's pursuit, but also to settle the karma of this life under the witness of the Heavenly Dao. From then on, his soul would be free, finally able to drift across the sea and reunite with the dormant soul.
But success is not guaranteed. There is no precedent. And it is impossible to predict.
Of course, he might die.
Yan Yanshu knew it. Lu Yinche knew it too. But he still did it. Because he had to move forward. He couldn't stay in a single moment and give up on the future.
Yan Yanshu chose to support him, taking on possible irreversible consequences and also bearing tremendous pressure.
"he--"
"You've been waiting for me for a long time."
Lu Yinche's voice was calm. He could imagine how long Yan Yanshu had waited for him after that sword strike. He had finally waited for his return.
Gong Jue sneered: "So you feel guilty, right?"
Lu Yinche turned around reflexively, but Yan Yanshu didn't react. His hair was a little messy from the fight, but his face was still handsome.
"But he is just pretending, he has always been like this. Back then, he pretended to be a newbie who knew nothing and asked you to raise him, teach him, and pester you to give him things. Now he is still pretending. You see he is calm and composed, but he is not a human being at all, no! Do you know what he is thinking?" Gong Jue's voice was very excited. If Yan Yanshu's sword intent was not within reach, he might have pounced on him and torn the corner of Lu Yinche's clothes.
Lu Yinche looked innocent and asked Yan Yanshu, "What are you thinking about?"
The latter was stunned, his eyes wider than before, before he replied: "I can't let him hurt you."
Lu Yinche nodded, then turned back to Gong Jue, his tone relaxed: "I don't know. I can ask, I have a mouth. Xiao Yan is very honest." He paused, a smile on his face. "I will say everything I can say. Besides, it's a human, a puppet; natural, artificial, what difference does it make. There are also mermaids who like to play leaf games and fall in love with humans. Are there no beasts in the human race who are not worthy of being human?"
Gong Jue didn't expect him to defend Yan Yanshu so unreservedly. She murmured, "But he's not a human being. You can't love him. You can't do this. I'm the one who can stand by your side. I'm the one who can help you complete your plan. Why can't it be me?"
"That's because he's fighting for you! He doesn't understand your ambitions, he just selfishly wants to possess you, and you're soft-hearted, so, so... am I no good? Am I no good? You clearly said you thought I was good, and it was clearly you who personally chose me as your companion. Of all the people, you chose me. You chose me!"
"Have I ever loved you? Have I ever told you that?" Lu Yinche shook his head. "When you broke through to the Golden Core stage, you knew that cultivation depended on fate. There's no such thing as an inevitable outcome just because the conditions are met."
Of course not.
Lu Yinche is a generous senior. He is born with a delicate mind. He values and cherishes talents and is friendly to people. That is why both Gong Jue and Yan Yanshu are hopelessly attracted to him.
But this does not mean that he really has no preferences for life partners.
He can choose too.
Gong Jue actually knew this. He just didn't want to accept the fact that Lu Yinche had finally chosen someone else in this matter.
Then he was speechless and repeated the same words: "He lied to you, he lied to you. You would have been mine if I had told you clearly at that time, if I had not changed my soul, you would have been mine, you would have been mine..."
"It can't be you. When it comes to love, there are not so many assumptions." Lu Yinche interrupted Gong Jue's almost crazy mumbling, and the Guansheng flute in his hand was warmer than before.
But he still felt cold, so he pulled Yan Yanshu's hand over and used his body temperature to warm himself. The latter agreed to his request and used his spiritual power to rub Lu Yinche's wrist. He also tentatively sent the spiritual power into his meridians, which made Lu Yinche feel itchy and sneeze.
He looked at Gong Jue again. The person in front of him was completely different from the somewhat stubborn but ultimately innocent and adorable child in the Gong family in his memory.
Yan Yanshu was right. He absorbed too much power from other people's souls. Even though these powers extended his lifespan because his martial arts were in a dead end and he had no way out, and also gave him the strength to fight back and forth with Yan Yanshu, who was a real half-step ascender, but, it was ultimately an external object.
Everything gained has a price. Gong Jue gained a lot, and he was destined to lose a lot.
He was indeed no longer the Gong Jue of the past. He had lost his appearance, his voice, and there was almost nothing left of his soul that originally belonged to him.
He was devoured, replaced, and transformed by his own hands into a self that did not belong to him.
Gong Jue looked into his eyes with a deep gaze.
"This isn't Yan Yanshu's fault." Lu Yinche understood. "It wouldn't be fair for me to be the judge. I just know that I love him, but I don't love you. No matter what you say, the half of me that returned to the past loves him to death and is eager to settle everything for him. This is an established fact. I don't remember it, but you all witnessed it."
He paused, then glanced at Yan Yanshu with a smile. "You'd say he got there first, but now, hundreds of years later, that makes sense. The same thing happens to my other half of my soul. Maybe it's because he's nice to me, or maybe it's because he's so handsome, even his disguise looks so good. Just a smile from him makes me incredibly happy."
"It's only been a short time, but I love him."
Who knows how love is born?
Anyway, love is not a favor, not a transaction, does not require opportunities, does not ask for price, and does not need reasons. When you realize it, it is there.
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