Chapter 26: Today's Fate - He still couldn't bear to let go. ...
“Master!!”
Lan Jue and Zhong Ming knelt at the edge of Wuji Cliff, watching Chen Mu's figure completely disappear into the darkness, their cries of pain lingering in the air.
"Chen Mu...is actually dead?"
Xiao Wangyou said this in a trembling voice and wanted to take a step forward, but before he could move, he saw a sword light coming straight in front of him.
"You beast! I will kill you!" A fierce light flashed in Zhong Ming's eyes, and the sword was full of power!
Xiao Wangyou was stunned for a moment, but the dark shadow monk behind him reacted immediately and blocked with his sword.
He silently recited the Crazy Technique and struck Zhong Ming in the heart with one blow!
"puff--!"
The shadow monk's cultivation level was above the out-of-body experience level, and he used all his strength in this attack, causing Zhong Ming to spit out a mouthful of blood immediately!
"Junior brother!" Lan Jue shouted, and the Sword of Forgetfulness flew out like lightning, forcing the shadow monk back.
He held onto Zhong Ming with one hand and held the sword in the other. He glared at Xiao Wangyou with a glare as sharp as a blade, wishing he could cut him into pieces with his eyes: "Xiao Wangyou! You keep saying that Master is the real culprit of the genocide, but the Phoenix Feather you accused him of was actually the gift Second Junior Brother gave him as a disciple!"
"If you want revenge, you should go to the Gu family! How could you be so foolish as to cause the death of my master!!"
Xiao Wangyou's pupils shrank and his face was filled with horror.
"No! This... this is impossible! How could it be the Gu family..."
He took a step back, staggered, and almost fell to the ground.
"Master saved your life, but you are not only ungrateful, but you even hurt him to this extent!" Lan Jue held the sword across his chest, spiritual power surging throughout his body, and the water vapor in the air suddenly surged.
“Prepare to die—!”
Lan Jue flew out, and the shadow monk immediately held his sword to resist him. The clash of swords released bursts of spiritual waves.
The two black shadow monks who were repelled earlier were both seriously injured. It was obvious that Lan Jue was resisting his leader. The young master Xiao Wangyou was stunned there with a pale face. After thinking for a moment, he still raised his weapon and stabbed Lan Jue in the back!
"Stop!" Xiao Wangyou noticed their actions and shouted again.
Zhong Ming was lying on the ground coughing up blood. Seeing this, his pupils trembled and he raised his sword to attack again!
"boom--"
The spiritual powers of several people collided. Zhong Ming stopped one person, but the other one still attacked Lan Jue!
Lan Jue caught a glimpse of the approaching knife light in his peripheral vision, and he suddenly mobilized his spiritual power to resist it, but the shadow monk in front of him seized the opportunity and punched him right in the heart!
"Cough!" Lan Jue vomited a mouthful of blood and immediately turned over and stepped back.
Gu Congxing watched his junior brother and senior brother get injured one after another, and his already extremely sad heart was filled with boundless anger.
Damn it! Where on earth did this Out-of-Body Stage cultivator come from?
The Kong family has been destroyed, where did Xiao Wangyou find these helpers from!
Seeing those shadowy monks about to attack Lan Jue and Zhong Ming again, Xiao Wangyou leaped forward and stopped them: "Enough! Don't kill them!"
The shadow leader immediately said, "Young Master! They already know our identities. If we don't eliminate them now, there will be endless trouble!"
"Shut up! You know I'm your young master!" Xiao Wangyou refuted harshly, "If what Chen Mu and Lan Jue said is true, then we've taken revenge on the wrong person! We killed the wrong person!!"
"Chen Mu is dead, are we going to make the same mistake again?!"
He roared these words loudly, and for a moment, the several shadow monks were silent.
A moment later, a seriously injured black shadow monk said with his dying breath, "The isolation formation we set up is almost expired. In a short while, the outside world will notice the unusual movement here."
Xiao Wangyou let out a "tsk" sound, and he looked around Wuji Cliff and summoned a scroll of glittering magic weapon - Po Yu Tu.
He unfolded the map and said to the people behind him, "Retreat first!"
The two seriously injured black shadow monks both jumped into the map and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
“—Don’t run!”
Seeing that they were all about to escape, Zhong Ming immediately stood up and chased after them, but the frenzy technique he had been hit with before made his blood boil again.
"Xiao! Wang! You!" Blood continued to flow from the corners of Lan Jue's lips. He called out Xiao Wangyou's name word by word, with a fierce light in his eyes.
Xiao Wangyou frowned, but the leader of the black shadows chanted a mantra and sent two streams of spiritual power to hit Lan Jue and Zhong Ming again!
"You! I told you not to—"
"Hey, Young Master, look carefully. I'm only temporarily erasing their memories of that day. Otherwise, if the Qingxuan Sword Sect comes to hunt us down, will you and I be able to escape?"
"……snort!"
Xiao Wangyou turned around and stepped into the scroll with the black-clothed leader.
The broken map slowly closed in the air, and finally, like a drop of water falling into the sea, it left a ripple in the air before disappearing without a trace.
"Amnesia... I absolutely cannot lose my memory of today!"
Lan Jue's pair of autumn-water eyes were surging with a dark and fierce light at this moment. He recited a spell, and the spiritual power surging around his body changed from azure blue to blood red, and finally condensed into characters and engraved on his arm!
——Lan Jue actually cursed himself!
At the cost of his own blood, unless he dies, he will never forget what happened today!
This move was extremely damaging to his qi and blood, and as soon as he succeeded, he fainted completely.
Gu Congxing's heart was shocked. He flew closer to Lan Jue, but felt bursts of demonic energy coming from behind him!
Oh no, junior brother!
Gu Congxing turned around, only to see that Zhong Ming's blood was boiling, his spiritual power was disordered, and strange vertical pupils appeared in his eyes!
When Gu Congxing saw his junior brother like this, and thought of the black shadow monk's frenzied attack, he suddenly understood!
No wonder the shadow monk really listened to Xiao Wangyou and left. It turned out that he had already made a backup plan since that attack!
Junior Brother has been possessed by the devil. When the people from the Immortal Sect arrive, they will only point their swords at Junior Brother who has exposed the demon blood! How can they track down Xiao Wangyou who has left no trace?
Damn it! What a deep-minded bastard!
At this moment, as if confirming what Gu Congxing was thinking, a group of Qingxuan Sword Sect monks came riding on their swords.
What they saw was a scene of devastation at the edge of Wuji Cliff, Sword Master Chenmu was nowhere to be found, Lan Jue was seriously injured and unconscious, and the only conscious person, Zhong Ming, was wailing and struggling.
"This! What on earth just happened?" Elder He and Elder Duan looked at each other, both of them were shocked.
Among the many disciples who came with them was Chen Wang. As soon as he saw Zhong Ming lying on the ground, he shouted, "Zhong Ming! You have fallen into a demonic state and gone mad, seriously injuring my brother!"
At this moment, Zhong Ming was desperately trying to suppress the surging demonic energy and fight against the amnesia technique - he had begun to lose his memory, and he felt a lump in his throat when he wanted to say the name of the real murderer.
His expression was sometimes lucid and sometimes confused, his pupils had turned vertical, and black scales appeared on his hands. However, he still raised his head and said to everyone:
"Master, falling off a cliff..."
Everyone looked at him with horror in their eyes.
"! It's actually the demon clan!"
All the disciples immediately drew their swords and stood ready for battle.
"How dare the Northern Demons sneak into our Qingxuan Sword Sect!"
Seeing Zhong Ming struggling to raise his head and about to open his mouth to argue, Chen Wang hurriedly spoke again: "Tell me! Are you possessed by a demon, or are you a spy of the demon cultivator? Is it you who caused Master Shen Jianzun to fail in his tribulation?!"
He was just speaking casually, but he didn't expect that Zhong Ming's eyes would burst into tears after hearing this, and he vomited a large mouthful of blood. The spiritual energy mixed with demonic energy surged around his body, and he looked like a complete demon.
Gu Congxing was floating around him, wishing he could kill the noisy and vicious Chen Wang with one sword!
Elder He stroked his beard and sighed, "You said Zhuo Guang Sword Master fell off a cliff?"
Zhong Ming nodded with difficulty, but before he could open his mouth, Elder Duan snorted coldly, "You demons are full of nonsense! The wind below Wuji Cliff is as sharp as a blade, and there is a sealed demonic dragon. If you fail to survive the tribulation and fall down, you will die!"
“But now, Chen Mu’s life lamp is clearly still lit!”
"You demon, you actually dared to curse Master. You are truly vicious!"
Hearing the curse, Zhong Ming's expression brightened, and Gu Congxing was also shocked.
Zhong Ming's eyes suddenly gleamed with light, and even his aura grew stronger. "Master has indeed fallen off the cliff! If his life lamp is still on, then this is the most critical moment! He is seriously injured. Please, go and save him—"
"You demons are truly stubborn!" Elder Duan interrupted him with his eyes wide open in anger.
The disciples and elders holding long swords stood proudly, with an air of immortality, but no one moved.
The whispers of several disciples continued to be heard.
"With Zhuoguang Sword Master's cultivation, how could he have fallen into the Cliff of Infinity even if he failed to transcend the tribulation? His lies are hardly convincing."
"What a cunning demon! They even fabricated this lie and tried to trick us into going to Wuji Cliff! That's a notorious place of death within the sect!"
"Junior Brother Zhong Ming, you are actually a vicious and cunning demon..."
Gu Congxing floated beside Zhong Ming, looking up at them together, feeling boundless despair in his heart.
Zhong Ming had completely transformed into a black-scaled, horned creature. His lips trembled, as if he wanted to open his mouth to argue, but in the end, he closed his mouth amid the accusations.
Gu Congxing thought he would cry, but he didn't.
The boy who always loved to act like a spoiled child and cry in front of him actually showed a thoughtful expression in this desperate situation - at the same time, a suicidal determination gradually emerged in his eyes.
He murmured in a low voice, "Since that's the case, why not confirm the stigma..."
"As long as they can save Master..."
Gu Congxing was shocked. He saw Zhong Ming close his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had a ferocious look on his face.
"Ah, yes, I am indeed a demon."
He no longer suppressed his demonic aura, allowing himself to completely reveal his demonic form, and shouted loudly: "It was me. I designed a plan to cause Shen Mu to fail in his tribulation, and after his cultivation was completely destroyed, he fell into the Wuji Cliff."
"Lan Jue was also seriously injured here while trying to save Chen Mu."
Seeing everyone's expressions suddenly change, with shock and anger mixed together, Zhong Ming smiled sincerely.
"Since he's not dead yet, I'll go down and kill him with my sword myself!"
Amidst a chorus of fear and curses, Zhong Ming jumped to the bottom of the dark cliff!
Gu Congxing opened his eyes wide, and he stretched out his hands desperately, but his transparent fingers pierced through Zhong Ming's body.
“Junior Brother——!!”
Gu Congxing exclaimed and sat up from the bed. He was covered in cold sweat and his face was covered in tears.
He... is back?
Everything that happened in his previous life was like the most terrifying nightmare. Gu Congxing covered his heart and gasped for breath.
Master, Junior Brother, and Senior Brother.
He called out their names in his heart, and strengthened his belief—
In this life, I must keep them away from this damn fate!
Absolutely! Absolutely must save them!
At this moment, a golden light reflected in Gu Congxing's eyes.
Is that... a Buddhist bell?
Wasn't that the gift he gave to his junior apprentice? Why was it here?
As Gu Congxing was thinking, a chill suddenly ran down his spine.
The desperate expression of Zhong Ming filled with death in his previous life overlapped with the scene of him screaming and crying in the blood fountain in this life. Gu Congxing's heart trembled, and he immediately ran out!
***
After recovering from the blood awakening period, Zhong Ming sent the unconscious Gu Congxing back to the room.
After returning to his cave, Zhong Ming gripped the sword tightly with both hands, with the tip of the sword pointing at his heart.
At that moment, he looked at his own eyes in the sword light, and many images flashed through his mind.
When he was a child in a fishing village, he was stoned by other children. When he fought back, he was met with even more cold stares.
Some even said that he was an evil spirit and that he had killed his parents.
But the grandfather who raised him never despised or blamed him. This silent and compassionate old man always stroked Zhong Ming's head over and over again and told him various stories.
He taught him the truth and told him how to be a human being.
However, when the blood moon arrived, a massacre occurred without warning.
The heartless demon cultivators in the village twisted off people's heads with a smile and stabbed the chests of those who were fleeing in fear with sharp knives.
Damn the demon cultivators! Damn the demons!
It was them! They killed the villagers! They killed Grandpa!
It was them! They took away my only family, my only home!
——But why am I a demon?
Why...
Zhong Ming closed his eyes tightly, and the nursery rhymes he heard in his childhood echoed in his mind.
The childish songs sung by children always made him cover his ears in pain.
"Black mane, monster eyes, dead parents, hated by everyone!"
"Killing someone, no one cares!"
Maybe, he thought, they were right.
He was born without a father or a mother, and his grandfather who adopted him died not long after.
When he was brought back by his master and thought he could seek immortality and get on the right track, he found out that fate had played a huge joke on him.
It turns out that his bloodline was not capable of becoming immortal.
When his bloodline awakened and he saw his senior brother covered in blood and unconscious in his arms, his heart fell into an endless abyss.
Senior brother, my favorite senior brother.
But because of me, there was a bloody bite mark on his neck and he was sleeping with a pale face.
"Killing someone, no one cares!"
——The curse-like ballad echoed once again, and before his eyes was Gu Congxing’s face with his eyes closed.
——Will he also kill his senior brother?
Zhong Ming's hands were shaking, but he gripped the hilt of the sword tightly and pushed it forward a little.
"Perhaps, I shouldn't be alive."
A tear slid down from the dark golden eyes and fell on the soil like blood.
"sorry."
He whispered this and resolutely stabbed the tip of the sword towards his heart!
"--stop!!!"
A golden light flashed and instantly hit Zhong Ming's wrist, causing the sword to fall to the ground.
“Bang!”
Then came a crisp sound.
Zhong Ming's head tilted by the slap, and a clear slap mark appeared on his face.
"Zhong Ming! You little bastard, you actually dare to seek death!"
Gu Congxing clutched Zhong Ming's clothes tightly, veins appeared on his forehead due to rage, and a fierce light flashed in his eyes.
"Are you crazy! Huh?!"
He shook Zhong Ming vigorously, and the young man with golden eyes looked dazed for a moment.
Zhong Ming reacted for a moment and looked at Gu Congxing in front of him in disbelief.
“Senior Brother…?”
When did he arrive? How come I didn't even notice?
No, why is Senior Brother here? He clearly already knows that I am a demon...
"Brother, I am a demon. You are the demon that thousands of cultivators have slain."
Zhong Ming blinked, a bitter smile appeared on his lips: "Brother, shouldn't I die?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!"
Gu Congxing looked Zhong Ming straight in the eye and moved closer to his head.
"You are my junior apprentice brother! You are Zhong Ming, the top-ranked player in this year's Inner Sect Competition! Not some demon with blood on his hands!"
"Listen, Zhong Ming. You were born with a different bloodline, but you only take on the dragon form when your bloodline awakens. Furthermore, you've always practiced orthodox techniques, not demonic ones, right?!"
Zhong Ming looked at the pair of sparkling black eyes and nodded in surprise.
"That's it! So what if you carry the blood of the Heavenly Demon? This is definitely not your fault!"
"Do you remember what I told you? As long as you practice diligently and keep your heart upright, who would dare to say you have any connection with the demons?!"
Zhong Ming recalled the time when they talked about his dream and thought of the gentle words Gu Congxing said when he hugged him.
The darkness in his eyes gradually dissipated, but his brows were still furrowed.
"But Brother, my bloodline..."
"Don't be afraid! Your bloodline is known only to heaven, earth, you, and me. I will never let anyone else know!"
Gu Congxing loosened his collar, held his face in his hands, and wiped away the tears on his face with his thumbs.
He met those dark golden eyes, and his voice gradually slowed down.
"If your bloodline awakens again in the future, I will be by your side to protect you."
"Don't be afraid, little brother."
"I'll always be there for you."
This series of words kept drilling into Zhong Ming's ears, making his eyes light up again little by little.
“Senior Brother…!”
His lips trembled, and he stretched out his long arms, holding Gu Congxing tightly in his arms.
Such a warm body will always be by my side.
Zhong Ming greedily sniffed the Yuelin fragrance on Gu Congxing's body and buried his head in his neck.
——He still couldn't bear to let go.
Even if he shouldn't be alive, he still wants to live selfishly.
——Live with Brother!!
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Love is deeper than despair and hotter than hope.
——"Puella Magi Madoka Magica"
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