Chapter 216 Life and Death Without Blame (Thirteen)
Jiang Gu had very few memories of Gu Qinghui. Most of the time, they were in that cramped and narrow tomb, where Gu Qinghui held him, his features indistinct, his voice weak and gentle as he called him A Shi. A wind chime made of dark stone swayed above his head, imbued with some spiritual power by Gu Qinghui, emitting a warm yellow light.
Like the sunset glow at dusk.
Compared to Gu Qinghui, Jiang Gu had a more vivid memory of the warm flesh and blood sliding down his throat, carrying a fishy and bitter taste, and the biting cold wind blowing in from the cracks in the tomb.
He hadn't expected to recognize Gu Qinghui, nor had he anticipated the uncontrollable anger welling up from the bottom of his heart.
Song Shijun spread his hands without any guard up, smiling gently and affectionately: "Let me think, you people should call them... Mother?"
"Heh." He smiled with pity in his eyes, his fingertips gathering the light emanating from Song Chongshi's scattered primordial spirit. "How ridiculous. According to you, I gave life to everyone in the tower, so shouldn't they also call me Mother?"
"Pah! You shameless old bastard! Why don't you just fly to the moon?!" Wei Feng cursed behind him. "Master! Don't be fooled by him! Be careful, it might be a trap!"
Jiang Gu's gaze fell on Song Chongshi's face, and he said calmly, "What do you want me to do?"
"Master!" Wei Feng exclaimed in surprise and began to struggle violently, causing Song Chongshi's primordial spirit to dissipate even more rapidly.
Song Shijun's smile deepened: "You are a Jade Rank, so naturally I won't kill you. I've heard about your affairs and know you're extremely intelligent, but intelligence is no substitute for the entire Wangyue Sect. Come with me to Yanyu Terrace to see Master Xiao, and I'll spare your mother's life."
Jiang Gu remained silent for a long time, watching the woman in the water mirror without making a move.
Wei Feng suddenly felt uncertain. He said anxiously, "Master, you must not believe him. Once you are controlled by them, you will become their puppet!"
Song Shijun clenched his fingers, and the water mirror in front of him began to ripple. The primordial spirit lying in the Heavenly Secret Box slowly opened its eyes, sat up, and looked down at Jiang Gu. Her face was filled with confusion, but she still hesitated and called out, "...A-Shi?"
Jiang Gu met her gaze indifferently.
"You actually know him?" Song Shijun asked, somewhat surprised.
Gu Qinghui turned to look at him and said in a calm voice, "A heartless person like Lord Song will never understand, even until death."
In short, it both scolds him for being heartless and curses him to die.
Instead of being angry, Song Shijun laughed, but he raised his hand and forcibly shut down the water mirror. In his hand, there was a palm-sized Heavenly Secret Box. He looked at Jiang Gu, and his meaning was self-evident.
For Jiang Gu, Gu Qinghui in the Heavenly Secret Box might be real, or he might be fake; it all depends on whether he can afford to gamble on that possibility.
Wei Feng finally broke free from Song Chongshi's primordial spirit and rushed towards Jiang Gu. Ghost patterns condensed into a hand and gripped Jiang Gu's clenched fist tightly. "Master!"
The Fire Rope was still suspended in mid-air. The half-awakened spirit was attached to the paper doll and stood frozen in place. Wu Hezhi and Qu Fengyu were staying at the eye of the teleportation array. As long as Jiang Gu made a move, they could forcibly break the malfunction array. They were willing to fight with all their might and might be able to take down the Golden Spirit Tower.
But that was Jiang Gu's mother—Wei Feng didn't know how much Gu Qinghui meant to Jiang Gu, but when he saw Qu Qing in the sea of clouds and realized she was about to kill him, he felt very complicated. If he were to put himself in her shoes... he couldn't.
He is not Jiang Gu. Most of the time, he cannot guess Jiang Gu's thoughts, cannot measure Jiang Gu with ordinary human emotions, and cannot fathom how much Gu Qinghui means to Jiang Gu. But he will support any decision Jiang Gu makes.
As long as Jiang Gu is not in danger.
"Okay," Jiang Gu said in a deep voice.
Wei Feng suddenly tightened his grip on his hand.
Song Shijun smiled kindly: "Gu Qinghui has really raised a good child."
Wei Feng sensed something was wrong. Giving the initiative to someone else wasn't Jiang Gu's style. He grabbed Jiang Gu: "Master, you—"
Jiang Gu glanced at him and said to Song Shijun, "Let them go."
Song Shijun said, "I only promised to protect your mother, not these people."
“He is my Daoist partner and disciple, and Qu Fengyu is my friend. They are very important to me,” Jiang Gu said calmly. “If you can’t even do these things, I don’t mind fighting to the death.”
"..." When Wei Feng heard the word "friend" come from Jiang Gu's mouth, his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, immediately relaxed a lot. His master had no friends, let alone consider Qu Fengyu a friend. It was already a favor that he didn't kill her.
Of course, Wei Feng had no doubt about his Daoist partner's identity, and was certain that Jiang Gu's first half of the sentence was true, and that the second half of the important sentence was definitely referring to him.
Song Shijun scrutinized him and sneered, "Your ruthless path in Pingze is nothing more than this."
Jiang Gu let him mock him, then casually stuffed half a piece of cinnabar-stained human skin paper into Wei Feng's hand, saying, "Go and save your own life."
“He’s a thief of jade,” Song Shijun warned. “Letting him go would be a huge hidden danger.”
"I'd do anything to keep him alive," Jiang Gu said expressionlessly.
These words were so outrageous that even Wei Feng felt they went too far. He never expected to hear such words from Jiang Gu's mouth, and so calmly and without any emotion. While his heart was breaking, he couldn't help but feel a small flame of joy. Although it was just to fool people, at least his master had said it.
Even more outrageous, Song Shijun actually believed it.
“Alright, I’ll let them leave.” Song Shijun waved his long arm.
The people in the main hall suddenly disappeared. Wei Feng was prepared and tried to enter Jiang Gu's sea of consciousness, but he was pushed out first. Before he could speak, he opened his eyes again and found himself back at the gate of Shuncheng.
Without the malfunction array, Wei Feng successfully transformed into human form, but his complexion was even worse than that of the ghostly figure.
Qu Fengyu almost immediately placed his sword against Wu Hezhi's neck.
Wu Hezhi reverted to his true form, his face pale and his body weak. Upon seeing this, he laughed and said, "My mind was crushed by Song Shijun, and this body probably won't last much longer. You can kill me if you want."
"Ahe is already dead, why would I kill a corpse?" Qu Fengyu sneered, "Don't worry, I'll make you disappear into thin air sooner or later."
Wu Hezhi said, "I also have my own difficulties—"
"Everyone in this world has their own troubles!" Qu Fengyu interrupted him sharply. "If you keep babbling, I'll cut your tongue out first."
Wu Hezhi gave a bitter smile, but before he could finish the bitterness, Qu Fengyu pierced through his dantian with a soul-binding rope and tied him up.
Although Wu Hezhi was seriously injured, he still had the strength to fight. However, for some reason, he did not put up any resistance. He said to Qu Fengyu, "I did not intend to let Shen Yuxin and Xuan Zhiyan live, but I never thought of killing you."
Qu Fengyu's expression faltered slightly. She gave a sarcastic smile: "Look, this is the disgusting thing about you Moon Gazing cultivators. Do you think I should be grateful to you for saying this? Wu Hezhi, I don't care who you are or what you were originally, whether you're a human cultivator or a ghost cultivator. You first occupied Ahe's body, and regardless of whether it was after Ahe's death or you forcibly took over, you suppressed and guarded Wei Feng for hundreds of years. In these hundreds of years, putting aside everything else, at least Shen Yuxin and I have genuinely considered you a friend, and Xuan Zhiyan has also shown you great respect... You deceived me first, and the damage caused is irreparable. Put away your laughable mercy; saying this only makes me feel more disgusted."
Wu Hezhi sighed, "So be it."
"Whether you stop or not is not up to you." Qu Fengyu tightened the soul-binding rope, severing his spiritual power, and stuffed him into the spirit pet pouch. She turned to look at the unusually quiet Wei Feng, "What exactly is your master planning?"
Jiang Gu considers her a friend? Nobody would believe that.
What's even stranger is that Wei Feng, with his personality, didn't rush back to the Golden Spirit Pagoda to rescue people.
Wei Feng looked at the piece of vermilion paper in his hand, which was covered with a faint trace of crimson remnant spirit. He frowned, trying to sort out his chaotic thoughts. Just when Qu Fengyu thought he had gone crazy, he suddenly spoke: "I understand."
"What do you know?" Qu Fengyu asked.
"I know what Master is planning!" Wei Feng gripped the piece of paper tightly, his eyes shining with an eerie light, his blood surging with excitement. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible!"
He immediately sent a message to Xuan Zhiyan, but Qu Fengyu stopped him: "Wait, explain what exactly happened first!"
"I can't explain it to you clearly." Wei Feng grabbed her arm. "Auntie, you and Zhiyan must stay close to me."
Qu Fengyu was taken aback when he called her "Auntie." She opened her mouth, but ultimately didn't ask any further questions: "...Okay."
——
Meanwhile, near Jiexiang.
"Xiang Yun, should we continue waiting for Jiang Gu? Aren't we going to send someone to help?" Xiao Qingyan asked somewhat uneasily.
"Don't worry, Seventh Brother is always reliable in his work," Jiang Xiangyun said calmly. "Besides, Jin Yingxiu is here too, so everything will be foolproof."
"Flawless my foot!" Lu Liyu couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Yan Huai'an and Xie Chenglian know we took the eighteen cages and have already chased us to the edge of the border town. Before Jiang Gu can return to refine the three divine artifacts, we'll probably be refined first. You two were so sure that releasing those paper figures and spirit beast remnants would be useful, but what happened? As soon as the Life and Death Tower opened, they all vanished without a trace. I've figured it out now, you two brothers are both liars, you're both black-hearted rotten dogs!"
Xiao Qingyan awkwardly advised, "Young Master Lu, Xiang Yun must have his own plans."
"He has plans? He only has plans in bed." Lu Liyu leaned back, arms crossed, her bloodshot eyes filled with malice. "I'm telling you, Young Master, you may not know what kind of person Song Shijun is. If I'm one point wicked, he's ten. We can at least threaten Xie Chenglian with Xie Chichun, but if we use Song Chongshi to threaten Song Shijun, he'll tear his own brother's soul apart without batting an eye. Moreover, once a person stays in that Golden Spirit Tower for a long time, their will changes. That's how we all got out. If we hadn't cultivated to a certain level later, we wouldn't still be loyal to Wangyue now..."
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Jiang Xiangyun asked.
Lu Liyu laughed and said, "How about we call it quits here and call it quits? You go back to your Pingze, hand over the Tenth Realm, and I'll take the brothers from the Burning Platform Hall and escape for our lives. What do you say?"
Jiang Xiangyun stared at him for a long time before laughing, "Fellow Daoist Lu, please be patient. I said Jiang Gu can bring the Golden Spirit Pagoda, and he definitely can."
Xiao Qingyan lowered his eyes and looked at the Mirror Flower Scroll in his sea of consciousness.
——
The main hall of the Golden Pavilion.
Jin Hendie froze on the spot when she saw Jin Yingxiu suddenly appear, then angrily said, "What are you doing here!"
Jin Yingxiu slung the black bone umbrella over her shoulder and smiled, "Good sister, of course I'm here to retrieve my things."
Blood mist instantly filled the air, and the skulls jingled.
The dark, imposing border town loomed over the edge of Wangyue like an invincible behemoth, blocking out the moonlight. The bustling city of Heguan and Daohai remained as lively as ever, though recently many unfamiliar faces had appeared.
Bai Yi and Hou Wenxin walked in the crowd, completely inconspicuous.
“I’ve contacted the Lord of the Palace, but she’s been in seclusion for many years,” Bai Yi said in a low voice. “I’m not sure if I can persuade her.”
"Amitabha." Hou Wenxin smiled. "Fellow Daoist Bai, as a fragment of the Lord of the Palace, is so compassionate. It seems that the Lord of the Palace is not someone who does not know good and evil."
Bai Yi nodded and turned to look at the boundless sea in the distance.
The sea was vast and misty, and flying boats of all sizes swarmed like fish crossing a river, shuttling between various magical formations.
“Father.” Jiang Zhuan walked to Jiang Yinzhong’s side, looking uneasily at the end of the mist, trying to see what was on the other side. “I still think this move is too reckless.”
“Xiang Yun is right. If Pingze continues to sit idly by and wait for death, it will only be at the mercy of others in the end,” Jiang Yin said solemnly. “Zhuan’er, time waits for no one. Pingze has waited tens of thousands of years for this opportunity. Once we win, we will never have to depend on others again, and the Jiang family members will no longer need to fight with all their might for Pingze’s pitiful resources.”
Jiang Zhuan said, "I understand. You have been planning for this day for many years."
Jiang Yin stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze distant.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the flying boat, Elder Song Ping of the Linglong Sect was discussing matters with Sect Master Jing Cang.
"Sect Master, we still haven't been able to contact Lu Ziming, but his soul lamp is still lit," Song Ping said. "After some deduction, I believe he is no longer in Wangyue."
"Not in Wangyue?" Jing Cang calculated with his hands, and after a long while, he sighed, "Never mind, those two brothers have their own opportunities, and our Linglong Sect cannot keep them."
“Brothers…two people? But Zhenyi is already—” Song Ping was stunned.
Jing Cang shook his head, not wanting to say more, and only said, "The Lin and Zhou families have also come?"
“They’re all here,” Song Ping said in a low voice. “Ever since the Linglong Sect and the Jiang family made the number of Wangyue Temples public, no one is willing to continue guarding those pitiful temples. They’re willing to risk their lives to cross the sea for the countless divine artifacts.”
Jing Cang got up and stepped out of the cabin, looking up to see the edge of the Moon Gazing Continent revealed behind the mist.
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