Chapter 85: Eighty-Five Cuts "I'm going to burn you like firewood..."
Luo Mingshu's last memory is of how she finally transformed into human form, put on her most beautiful clothes, and waited for Xie Changming to appear, but she only saw his divine bone wood among the scattered fire in the heavenly realm.
She did indeed cry for a long time while holding that sacred bone tree. The little god who had been with her for so long had died just like that. This hateful, cunning little god dared to die secretly on his own and even abandoned her. She was determined to snatch his sacred bone tree, burn it as firewood, sleep on it as a bed, and dance around on his grave every day.
—Of course, Luo Mingshu did indeed do that later on.
Ye Xuan confiscated her memories, but a trace of impression remained deep within her consciousness, which is why she appeared in the Misty Star Sea a second time.
As for Luo Mingshu, who had only recently taken human form, being thrown down to the mortal realm and picked up by Liu Hongying, that's another story.
After recalling the events, Luo Mingshu suddenly came to her senses and turned her gaze back to Xie Changming.
Xie Changming looked at her, his attack halting. He was somewhat at a loss. He wasn't ready to let Luo Mingshu know these things. He didn't mind telling Luo Mingshu these things, but in the beginning, wasn't it Luo Mingshu who told him not to say it?
He didn't know what he was like in Luo Mingshu's memory. Could he be a cunning liar?
Luo Mingshu looked up at Xie Changming, and after a long while, she sighed and said, "Arrest him first, and we'll settle accounts with you later."
Xie Changming didn't know what Luo Mingshu wanted to settle with him. He quickly subdued Ye Xuan, who was a newly appointed Western Realm Immortal Lord. Ye Xuan's foundation was not as good as those old Immortal Lords. Xie Changming could even kill the previous Western Realm Immortal Lord, so dealing with him was naturally a piece of cake.
They still had questions for Ye Xuan, so they didn't kill him but spared his life for the time being.
Wei Qing, who was standing to the side, was dumbfounded by the strange changes. He pointed at Luo Mingshu and said, "Little Yinglong, is the other one the little god who kidnapped Little Yinglong?"
Luo Mingshu knew Wei Qing's personality, so she quickly reacted and said to Wei Qing, "If you tell others what happened here, the Heavenly Realm won't be able to catch us. On the contrary, you will be interrogated by various immortals about the details. How will you slack off then?"
Wei Qing thought about it and agreed. He glanced at the unconscious Ye Xuan, sighed, and said, "So, Brother Ye."
"He's trying to devour your soul and possess you, do you still consider him a friend?" Luo Mingshu glanced at Wei Qing. "Our target on this trip is him, so please don't interfere, or we'll take you down with us."
Wei Qing felt that Luo Mingshu made sense. He was just used to trusting others, and Ye Xuan was one of the few cultivators in the Heavenly Realm who was willing to communicate with him.
He took his leave and warmly invited Luo Mingshu and Xie Changming: "If you wish to interrogate him, you may come to my immortal abode."
Luo Mingshu and Xie Changming did not go to his immortal abode. Instead, they took Ye Xuan back to the immortal abode in the Southern Realm. When the news of their "elopement" spread, those in the Heavenly Realm who were searching for them would never have imagined that they could return.
Inside the Immortal Abode, Xie Changming tossed Ye Xuan aside and took Luo Mingshu to sit in the main seat.
"The entire Heavenly Realm is protecting her, so why are you going against the grain?" Xie Changming asked, knowing that the Heavenly Realm valued Luo Mingshu highly.
"If you want to kill me, how can I tell you the truth?" Ye Xuan said with a bitter smile.
"Whose divine thoughts did the system you sent out steal?" Luo Mingshu thought of the system that Lu Yaoyao wanted to protect.
"A newly ascended cultivator can be grabbed at will, their memories and independent consciousness erased, and then they will be at my beck and call." Ye Xuan spoke of this with great confidence, after all, his forte was spells related to divine sense.
"Do you really think your rewards can control the cultivators in the lower realms?" Luo Mingshu said disdainfully. "The first system's host, Lu Yaoyao, helped you because she wanted to protect the system's primordial spirit. As for the second one..."
Luo Mingshu paused. Before she arrived at the Misty Star Sea, she slowly handed over the task to Shui Qingnian. Under her subtle probing, Shui Qingnian indeed let slip that Fan Qing had a tattoo of the Eastern family that had once enslaved the demon race, so she had murderous intent when she confronted Fan Qing.
"The second system's host, Fan Qing, also wanted revenge, which is why she worked for the system you sent out." Luo Mingshu couldn't stand Ye Xuan's sneaky and despicable behavior. "Just because you think you know a little bit of magic that manipulates divine thoughts, you think you can completely control other people's actions."
"So what? As long as they help me, that's enough." Ye Xuan stared intently at Luo Mingshu. "Little Yinglong, he treated you like this. You must resent him a lot. You waited for him for so long, but he destroyed your beloved Heavenly Realm."
"Who said I like the Celestial Realm?" Luo Mingshu was shocked. She didn't expect Ye Xuan to have such a misunderstanding.
She cried while holding the Divine Bone Tree because she thought Xie Changming was dead. Who knew that Ye Xuan would distort her original meaning and make such a reading comprehension.
"The Heavenly Realm has been so good to you, yet you don't even think about the Heavenly Realm." Ye Xuan never expected Luo Mingshu to be such an ingrate.
He thought that if he had resources like Luo Mingshu, he wouldn't have taken such a risk and done such a thing. And what did Luo Mingshu have that made her so special? She hadn't even tried. The only reason she received the protection of the Heavenly Realm was because of her family...
"The Heavenly Realm is kind to me?" Luo Mingshu thought, this was the biggest joke she had ever heard.
Since her memories returned, she recalled some information about the Yinglong clan. She knew that the demon gods possessed an entire piece of land above the heavens, called the Wasteland—because the demon god bloodline either merged and disappeared with other races, or the pure-blooded demons had all fled into the Misty Star Sea.
The desolate land holds countless treasures left behind by the ancient demon gods, for Yinglong's nature is to amass wealth.
In short, Luo Mingshu was neither short of money nor magical treasures; what the Heavenly Realm gave her was not particularly valuable. Small. Piano. Organized.
Besides that, what did the Heavenly Realm give her? They sent a group of emotionless minor gods who could be destroyed at any time to take care of her, and they wouldn't even send a single cultivator with their own consciousness.
Those minor gods roaming the celestial realm are just ordinary resources that can be found everywhere. Besides that, what has the celestial realm given her? Occasional feigned concern, and even when two cultivators who came to visit her spent the whole day having a romantic chat, they didn't even bother to spare her a glance.
So this is what the Heavenly Realm calls "being good to her," and even this small act of kindness is inferior to Xie Changming's; he initially found her annoying.
But Xie Changming is different; he is a living, thinking being, which is why Luo Mingshu was able to hatch after he appeared.
Luo Mingshu chuckled and said to Ye Xuan, "I have everything the Heavenly Realm has given me. Demon gods can also give orders to lesser gods. And what things the Heavenly Realm has given me that the Wasteland doesn't have?"
"How has the Heavenly Realm been kind to me?" Luo Mingshu asked.
"They care about you a lot..." Ye Xuan knew that Luo Mingshu's identity was special, and the people in the Heavenly Realm were only superficially kind to Luo Mingshu for a purpose.
"Ridiculous," Luo Mingshu thought. Even the ordinary cultivator who picked her up in the lower realm was better than those immortal lords in the celestial realm.
They weren't without feelings; they simply didn't care about her.
"As expected, demon gods cannot stand with humans." Ye Xuan shook his head and said helplessly.
Xie Changming recalled what Ye Xuan had once tried to do to Wei Qing, and the voice that had sealed Wei Qing's cultivation in his memories sounded very similar to Ye Xuan's. He asked directly, "Was it you who sealed Wei Qing's cultivation?"
"Of course it was me." Ye Xuan was very proud of his divine sense technique. "Unfortunately, it still failed."
"You want to use Wei Qing to kill her?" Xie Changming's eyes gradually filled with murderous intent.
Ye Xuan was forced back by his killing intent. He shook his head and said, "No, I just want to defeat her. I just want to make her bow her head. After experiencing countless failures, even the proudest person will become dim."
"What good will it do you to control me?" This was what Luo Mingshu found most puzzling.
"This... since I'll be killed by you if I choose to, why should I tell you the answer to this question?" Ye Xuan became stubborn in his final moments.
Xie Changming sneered. He wasn't in a hurry to find the answer from Ye Xuan. If Ye Xuan didn't know, the other immortal lords in the Heavenly Realm should know. He would ask them separately after leaving the Misty Star Sea.
“You can’t kill me in the Misty Star Sea,” Ye Xuan said to Xie Changming.
“As long as the power is strong enough, even the Misty Star Sea cannot stop it.” Having clashed with the Misty Star Sea several times, Xie Changming also knew the maximum threshold that the Misty Star Sea could withstand. Last time, when he wanted to kill Wei Qing, it was just a casual strike, and the heavenly lightning that the Misty Star Sea released barely blocked it, and Wei Qing was still seriously injured.
He stepped forward, a dark light flashing in his hand. This attack, seemingly effortless, actually contained all his energy. This time, even the Misty Star Sea could not stop him, because his initial goal in coming here was to kill him.
Ye Xuan's figure gradually dissipated. Because the Misty Star Sea had a shielding effect on divine sense, his death would only be reported to the Celestial Realm after they left the exploration scene.
As Xie Changming completed his objective in the exploration scene, the surrounding scenery gradually disappeared, and Luo Mingshu found herself slowly turning back into her original form.
Countless chaotic scenes flashed before their eyes. Logically, the two should have left the Misty Star Sea by now, but high-level exploration scenarios are not so simple.
Luo Mingshu and Xie Changming were in the same team. As teammates, their goals were interconnected. Therefore, it was not enough to just complete Xie Changming's goal; Luo Mingshu's goal also had to be completed before they could leave.
Luo Mingshu's goal, of course, is...
"Your glass bead." Amidst the chaotic scene transitions, Xie Changming handed Luo Mingshu's glass bead back to her.
At this moment, the dark purple light on the transparent glass bead was almost filling the entire bead.
During this journey of exploration, the only thing that changed in Luo Mingshu was her memory. After she remembered everything, the dark purple energy in the glass bead surged.
However... there's still one last thing missing, because Luo Mingshu has one last, most intense wish that hasn't been fulfilled. She lacks nothing, so she can basically be considered without desires, but there's only one thing that has become her sole obsession.
Luo Mingshu's gaze suddenly swept over the scene that flashed before her eyes, and she couldn't help but grab Xie Changming's sleeve and say, "It's Yingniang!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the chaotic scene suddenly froze, and then the scene around them began to appear.
A brand new exploration scenario appeared before them, solely to fulfill Luo Mingshu's wishes and goals. The conditions were laid out; whether they could accomplish it depended entirely on their own fate.
When Luo Mingshu came to her senses, she was soaking in the pool, the little dragon's tail behind her swaying in the clear water. Xie Changming was not too far away from her this time; he was standing on the shore, gazing at her intently.
“Come on up.” He held out a hand to her, and Luo Mingshu grabbed his hand and jumped onto the shore with a burst of energy. As she moved, the little dragon’s tail beneath her flashed with light and transformed into human legs.
Luo Mingshu sat on the grass by the shore, looking down as she rummaged through her spatial pouch for shoes, when Xie Changming handed her a pair.
"How come you have one too?" Luo Mingshu took it and put on the embroidered shoes.
Xie Changming stretched out his legs and sat down next to her. His voice was deep: "You insisted on wearing them last time, so I bought a few pairs when I had some free time."
Luo Mingshu lowered her head and fiddled with the tassels on her embroidered shoes. Too many things had happened in the last exploration scene, and there were many things she hadn't had time to settle accounts with Xie Changming for.
Seeing that Luo Mingshu had her head down, Xie Changming turned his head, looked into her eyes, and asked, "Did you really cry before?"
Luo Mingshu did cry while holding his original divine bone wooden body, but she wouldn't admit it: "I didn't cry."
Xie Changming raised his hand and touched the small dragon horn on her forehead.
Luo Mingshu said, "I told you long ago, if you dare to die in front of me, I will take your sacred bone wood and use it as firewood to make furniture and a bed, and lie on it day and night to squeeze out all your value."
Upon hearing this, Xie Changming chuckled and said, "At that time, I was just freed from the constraints of the Divine Bone Wood body to make things easier. After killing the Western Realm Immortal Lord, I wanted to go find you, but you were no longer in the Immortal Mansion. I thought you had run away and abandoned me because you despised me as a demon."
Luo Mingshu lowered her head and slammed Xie Changming's forehead hard with the dragon horn on her forehead: "At that time, the Heavenly Realm was in chaos. When your divine bone wood body suddenly fell down, I must have thought you were dead."
Xie Changming asked, "Do you blame me?"
Luo Mingshu thought for a moment and said frankly, "Of course I resent you. You cunning and despicable demon, you actually dared to die secretly."
"So, how do you plan to get revenge?" Xie Changming asked her seriously.
Luo Mingshu raised her hand and placed it on his chest. She said softly, "Xie Changming, have you forgotten? Because of this, I killed you once in the Misty Star Sea."
She held a grudge. At that time, she thought that even if Xie Changming was to die, he could only die at her hands.
Xie Changming thought about it and realized that she had already found a way to get revenge in the Misty Star Sea.
"Okay," he said to her. "Now that your memories have returned, does the previous information still count?"
“What do you mean by ‘work’? What did you mean by ‘work’ before?” Luo Mingshu asked warily.
Xie Changming's cheek was very close to Luo Mingshu's: "Naturally, it's about the time you kissed me."
Luo Mingshu widened her eyes to hide her nervousness: "Xie Changming, can you please wake up? I was biting you."
Xie Changming asked innocently, "So why aren't you biting anymore?"
“You…” Luo Mingshu looked up and bumped his forehead again, “You tell me to bite and I’ll bite.”
"That was because I was naive back then. You were the only living, talking creature I had ever seen," Luo Mingshu retorted to Xie Changming. "Later, I was thrown into the lower realm and saw countless handsome men from the human and demon races."
Xie Changming didn't know that "Beautiful 300-year-old Water Spirit Root is Super Easy to Foole" was Luo Mingshu, so he also didn't know that Luo Mingshu had been a contrarian for so long that she had never been able to successfully date anyone else.
So he asked warily, "Who is there?"
There was no one at all, and even if Luo Mingshu asked her to name someone, she couldn't say. So she turned her head away and stammered, "Xie Changming, it's definitely not you."
Xie Changming leaned over and bit her cheek.
"Xie Changming, are you biting me?" Luo Mingshu said, covering her cheek.
"Didn't you say I was a dog?" Xie Changming retorted. Anyway, he was, so a bite wouldn't hurt.
Luo Mingshu pushed him away. With Xie Changming's face facing her, she really couldn't control herself. Damn it, how could there be such a cunning demon?
After pushing Xie Changming away, she shifted her gaze elsewhere, and behind the distant green mountains, she saw a huge, illusory figure.
It was a pillar that stretched from heaven to earth, with no end in sight. Looking at it this way, this pillar was no different from the one on the star shore.
Luo Mingshu was startled and took a half step back, falling into Xie Changming's arms. He held her shoulders and looked up at the enormous pillar that stretched from heaven to earth.
"Have we arrived at the exploration scene of the Immortal Cultivation World replicated in the Misty Star Sea, or have we arrived somewhere else?" Xie Changming couldn't help but ask.
He was certain that Luo Mingshu's goal had not yet been achieved, so the Misty Star Sea would create a scenario for her to complete her goals and desires and advance to the next level.
"I don't know." Luo Mingshu shook her head, sorting out her thoughts. "But I'm sure I saw Yingniang in the chaotic scene just now. She was lost in the Misty Star Sea, and she must be here."
Luo Mingshu rallied her spirits and prepared to go to the place where the huge pillar stood to investigate the situation there.
She reached into her spatial pouch and pulled out her turtle, which she hadn't used in a long time.
Luo Mingshu turned over and sat down. Xie Changming wanted to sit down too, but she refused: "My turtle doesn't carry dog hooks."
Xie Changming: "?" A few nights ago, you were the one I liked to hook up with the big dog the most.
He suggested, "You've probably never sat in the back seat of a car before, haven't you?"
Luo Mingshu was taken aback: "I always drive myself, how could I have ever sat in the back seat?"
"The view from the back seat is quite nice too." Xie Changming held out a hand to Luo Mingshu. "You've given me so many rides, how about I give you one?"
Luo Mingshu was taken aback. She thought for a moment, and decided that the view from the back seat might be nice too, since she had never seen it before.
So she placed her hand on Xie Changming's hand, moved back a little, and made room for Xie Changming.
Xie Changming could also drive Luo Mingshu's travel device. He controlled it to speed forward, but the speed was much slower than when Luo Mingshu drove it herself.
Luo Mingshu thought he would drive very fast, so she grabbed his narrow waist with both hands early on, but he actually drove at the speed of a child's rocking horse.
"Xie Changming, what are you doing? Are you driving a rocking horse?" Luo Mingshu put her hands on Xie Changming's shoulders and questioned him loudly.
Xie Changming's reply was quite self-righteous: "I'm afraid if I drive too fast, you'll fall off."
Luo Mingshu wrapped her arms around his waist: "Xie Changming, I'm holding you tighter than you are holding me, you're afraid I'll fall off."
Xie Changming clearly liked the phrase "I'm holding you," so he felt comfortable driving the tortoise faster.
This time, his speed surprised even Luo Mingshu. A dark purple lightning bolt flashed across the mountains, creating a beautiful scene.
Xie Changming's speed in the tortoise was not slow either. When they arrived at the foot of the "Chengtian Pillar", they realized that this was not the cultivation world, because under the Chengtian Pillar was not the Star Shore, but a huge altar-like place.
"Why is there a Heavenly Pillar here?" Luo Mingshu wondered. "I'm here to find Yingniang and to advance my cultivation level. It shouldn't have anything to do with the Heavenly Pillar, right?"
"You have intricate connections with Cheng Tianzhu." Xie Changming also noticed a clue in Ye Xuan's words. "That's why Ye Xuan wants to control you."
"Me and the Pillar of Heaven?" Luo Mingshu thought of the palm print that appeared on the pillar when she last touched it. "If you want to put it that way, I touched the Pillar of Heaven on the Star Shore before and left a mark on its surface."
Xie Changming returned the tortoise to Luo Mingshu and casually said, "I knew it was you who wrote 'I am the best in the world' on the Chengtian Pillar."
Luo Mingshu was surprised that Xie Changming could even see that. Her face flushed red with embarrassment. "I just made a few marks with my finger, and the marks disappeared later."
Xie Changming hummed in agreement. His judgment was never wrong; Luo Mingshu was indeed still Luo Mingshu.
Of course, just as the two were discussing the reason for the appearance of the pillar, a sound of something breaking through the air suddenly came from afar, as if someone was flying in.
Xie Changming immediately focused his attention on the newcomer.
"Fellow Daoists, what are you doing here at Chengtian Pillar?" The newcomer had a gentle female voice, but it sounded unfamiliar.
Luo Mingshu and Xie Changming both looked at her, but were both stunned for a moment, because the female cultivator who came looked a lot like someone they knew.
There wasn't a single one who could fight. Meng Weifang said that his mother had also disappeared into the Misty Star Sea along with Liu Hongying.
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