Chapter 134 Tolerance (Bonus Chapter for 3100 Nutrient Solution) In this world, ...
After her head was completely sewn back on, the demonic markings on her face had completely disappeared. However, her once bright black eyes, which were no different from those of an ordinary person, had turned blood red, as if...
It was like those blood-red eyes she had seen before in the skies above Xicheng Town.
Li Chen frowned deeply, staring intently in Su Shuqing's direction, as if deep in thought.
As she was deep in thought, a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, startling her so much that she quickly turned around and threw a punch.
The person standing behind her, after being punched by her, didn't utter a sound. When she was about to throw a few more punches, the hand she raised suddenly froze in mid-air.
She looked at the person in front of her and asked in surprise, "Old monk? What are you doing here?"
After asking the question, she finally came to her senses, looked at the person in front of her knowingly, and chuckled, "It's you again, isn't it? Can't you do something a virtuous monk should do? You're always lying to me, is that right? Is that what a monk should do?"
Zen Master Mingcun said, "I did not want to do this, but it was a last resort."
"I'll let bygones be bygones for the trouble you caused me. But what happened just now, you deliberately showed it to me, didn't you?" Li Chen said. "Let me think... if you showed it to me, then it means those things are probably related to me. That demon statue, could it have been erected by that demon for that person named Xiang Huan?"
"Also, that demon named Su Shuqing, I saw her underground in the weapon-cultivating world before. She's still alive and has a close relationship with the Ascension God Sect. Could it be that she wants to use the Ascension God Sect to resurrect that person named Xiang Huan?"
"Oh no, it's called the 'Cult of Ascension to Godhood' already. If it's just about bringing someone back to life, it would be a disgrace to the name. I guess she either wants to use that statue to cultivate herself into a god, or she wants to elevate the already dead Xiang Huan to a godhood. Am I right?"
Zen Master Mingcun nodded slightly and smiled, "Sect Leader Li has always been wise, what he said is correct."
"Hey, don't praise me yet," Li Chen said, waving his hand. "Every time you praise someone, it means you're going to assign them something. I'm really scared of you praising me like that."
"Since my guess was roughly correct, it means this matter is indeed related to me. I mean... could I be the reincarnation of that person named Xianghuan? But that doesn't make sense either. If I really am the reincarnation, the appearance is too similar, and the name is the same... It can't be that we were all reincarnated with the same parents and had similar names, right?"
"Given all this, you obviously already knew all along, so let me make a bold guess. Could I, like that idol, also be a tool to help Xiang Huan become a god? My master once told me that he didn't see any children by the roadside when he went there, but when he turned back, a child appeared by the roadside. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"
Zen Master Mingcun nodded with a smile and said, "Sect Leader Li is indeed related to him. However, he is not the reincarnation of Xianghuan, nor does he have parents. He is a child created by that demon clan using Xianghuan's flesh and blood."
"She infused Xianghuan's primordial spirit into your body, hoping to revive Xianghuan. Little did she know that even in life, Xianghuan could not suppress the sword forged from the bones of a dragon, and after her death, her primordial spirit was devoured by the remnant soul of the dragon within the sword. The two merged, thus giving birth to a new primordial spirit."
Li Chen said, "Oh...you mean, I am that newly born primordial spirit? She doesn't still know that the person she wants to resurrect is already dead, does she?"
Zen Master Mingcun smiled slightly, “It is precisely because they are unaware that they have the opportunity to win.”
Li Chen said, "Could it be that you want me to impersonate the person she wants to resurrect so that I can take the opportunity to get rid of her? Will the demonic energy dissipate once she dies? Oh, I almost forgot to ask. The Ascending God Sect, could it be that she founded it? And all those heinous things she did were also done by her?"
"If it really is her, what good has it done for the people she wanted to save, after harming so many? It has only added to their sins. In the end, the person who saved her has become the eternal sinner of this world, which is truly tragic."
Instead of answering her question directly, Zen Master Mingcun suddenly asked, "In your opinion, what kind of person is Xianghuan?"
“Fool.” Li Chenjin answered without hesitation, “She doesn’t have the ability, but she insists on playing the hero. In the end, she ends up being disliked by everyone, and so many innocent people die indirectly because of her.”
Zen Master Mingcun smiled and said, “Xianghuan and I were once good friends. Before I left this world, I advised her. I told her that being too soft-hearted and too compassionate was not a good thing. Sometimes killing can save people, while not killing can harm them. The ways of the world cannot be judged from one perspective. One must think things through carefully in order not to do wrong.”
As he spoke, he looked at Li Chenjin and continued, "The former Sect Leader Li was decisive and ruthless in his actions, but he was also too ruthless. He was used to stopping killing with killing and stopping war with war, which inevitably led to bad consequences. The current Li Chenjin combines the strengths of both. Although he makes mistakes occasionally, he is much better than the former two."
Li Chen listened to him in silence for a long time before saying, "Old monk, can you talk about something serious? I'm not interested in who I was before, nor do I want to know. As long as I am who I am now, that's enough."
"Besides, you went to all this trouble, surely it wasn't just to tell me this?"
Zen Master Mingcun sighed softly and slowly said, "Dust has settled, and this world has been destroyed. All living beings in the world perished in the battle between Sect Leader Shen and the demon race. One of them wanted to ascend to godhood and absorbed the souls of all living beings for his own use; the other wanted revenge and was determined to slaughter all living beings in the world, severely damage the demon race, and finally committed suicide, perishing together with the demon race."
"Although their actions differ, both are endless paths of slaughter, causing suffering to all living beings in this world. Without a turning point, it will be difficult to change the inevitable destruction of this world. Therefore, I have returned to this world in order to find a turning point."
And who is the one who changes things is self-evident.
However, one thing caught Li Chen's attention. She murmured, "This world has been destroyed before? Didn't we die once? No, it should be twice... There won't be a third time..."
As she spoke, she looked at Zen Master Mingcun and asked, "Did I do nothing before? According to my previous nature, I shouldn't have stood by and watched the world descend into chaos. So, I died before I could do anything?"
Zen Master Mingcun said slowly, “Sect Leader Li has always been intelligent and quick to understand things. I did not want you to recall the past, but now that our fate has come, you must completely settle a karmic debt in order to be freed from the shackles of this world.”
"What?"
Before Li Chenjin could finish speaking, everything suddenly went dark, as if she had fallen into a new dream in this dreamlike place.
As the light returned and her vision returned, she found herself back in a familiar place, the very spot where the legendary Sword God had fallen. The Moon-Embracing Sword was stuck in the ground, raining down on its owner who was lying on the ground.
In Li Chenjin's memory, the rain was extremely heavy at the time, and now, looking at it again, she found that she was indeed right.
The continuous rain formed a curtain of rain that seemed to swallow the world, blurring everything in sight, but it gradually awakened the person lying on the ground who was unconscious.
Li Xianghuan's fingers twitched slightly, and then she slowly opened her eyes.
She gazed at the rain before her, and after a long while, she managed to sit up, supporting herself with the Moon-Embracing Sword, kneeling on the ground, and looking up at the gloomy sky above.
The rain falling from the sky kept getting into her eyes and then streaming down her cheeks.
This happened repeatedly, and it's unknown whether her tears were mixed in with the flowing liquid.
However, she probably wouldn't cry at this moment.
After all, if she remembered correctly, Li Xianghuan was only focused on revenge at this moment. He was kneeling on the ground not because he didn't want to stand up, but because he didn't have the strength to do so.
Li Chen knew exactly what would happen next. It was the same old story: he returned to Wanshan Sect and found a new sect leader had taken over. Then he returned to Zeng Guyi's bamboo house, only to find a letter there. He decided to give up revenge and part ways with the sword cultivator world.
The only difference was that Li Chenjin did not see the black dog from her memory, carrying wild fruit and eagerly running towards her through the rain. This made Li Chenjin feel a little strange. Could it be that the other her was really so unlucky?
But after she patiently read on, she discovered...
The other woman was truly unlucky.
This Li Xianghuan was not only covered in injuries, but he also didn't even have any sweet rice balls.
Extremely hungry, they could only survive on rainwater and mud, looking even more miserable than her.
Most importantly, in her memory, after leaving the bamboo house, she left with the fermented rice balls and never returned to that "valley".
But Li Xianghuan was different. After reading the letter in the bamboo house, he left, but day and night he kept walking slowly toward that "valley".
She walked from day to night, and then from night to day, and so on for countless days and nights, until she finally staggered back to where she started. Standing beside the Moon-Embracing Sword, she reached out and gently grasped the hilt, stroking it repeatedly, lost in thought.
Just as Li Chen was beginning to wonder if she was burning with rage because she was recalling the letter from earlier, or if she wanted to go back and kill someone for revenge...
She slowly loosened her grip on the sword hilt, then slowly sat down, looked up at the clear blue sky above, admired the view from above, and then slowly lay down on the ground.
After she lay down, she grabbed a few handfuls of soil and put them on her body. Then she grabbed two more handfuls of soil and covered her eyes with them.
She must have pondered for a long time in the bamboo house, but couldn't decide where she should die. So, she simply returned to the burial ground that Zeng Shujin had chosen for her, and died here as he wished.
Anyway, she can't even draw her sword right now, so even if she wanted to take revenge, how could she do so?
I'd rather be dead.
Unfortunately, she did not die.
She had only been lying down for a short while when she heard a sobbing sound.
She tried to hold back, but finally couldn't resist and wiped the dirt from her eyes.
As she looked toward the source of the sound, she saw a black dog with a broken hind leg lying next to her, with a dead puppy in its mouth.
The black dog, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, put the puppy down from its mouth and began licking the blood off its body, as if licking it clean would bring it back to life.
Li Xianghuan glanced down at it and knew without even checking that the puppy was beyond dead. There was no way she could bring it back to life, since its head had been crushed and its eyeballs had popped out somewhere. How could it possibly survive?
She stared at the black dog that kept licking its puppies for a long time before finally reaching out to pick up the puppy's corpse. After looking it over, she said, "Stop licking it. It's dead beyond any hope. Even if I gave it all my remaining spiritual power, it wouldn't survive. I'll bury it for you."
After saying that, without caring whether the black dog understood what she said, she began to dig a hole in the ground with her bare hands.
She seemed to be deliberately mistreating herself, even digging her nails outwards and bleeding profusely without stopping.
When they felt it was about time, they put the puppy's body back into the pit, covered it with soil, and piled it into a small mound.
After finishing all that, she lay back down, closed her eyes, and continued to silently wait for death.
To her left was a sword, to her right a small mound, and she lay covered in blood between the sword and the mound, a scene that was strangely comical and amusing.
She didn't know how much time had passed when she felt her arm being gently nudged. When she opened her eyes, she found the black dog with the missing hind leg standing beside her, wagging its tail.
When the black dog saw that she had opened her eyes, it lowered its head and nudged the ground.
Li Xianghuan looked in that direction and saw a few wild fruits.
She stared at the few wild fruits without making a move.
After a long while, he suddenly spoke: "I think you have some intelligence, and you shouldn't be stupid. Can't you see that I'm waiting to die? People waiting to die don't eat. You'd better leave now, or I'll break your other leg too."
After she finished speaking, she closed her eyes again.
But the black dog obviously couldn't understand her words and thought she didn't like eating wild fruits, so it went to catch a pheasant or a rabbit for her.
But it had lost a hind leg, and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't catch up with the pheasants and rabbits.
After all that effort, he only managed to bring back some wild vegetables. Then he continued to use his nose to push Li Xianghuan's arm.
Li Xianghuan naturally didn't want to pay attention to it, but the black dog was very patient. After repeating this eight or nine times, it forced her to give up her idea of waiting to die. She sat up, swallowed the wild fruits and vegetables, and then waved to the black dog.
When the black dog ran up to her, she stroked its head and said slowly, "Fine. Since you won't let me die, then I'll just have to stay alive for now."
"Fortunately, I see you're not young anymore. I remember dogs don't live many years. So I'll wait until you're about to die, then I'll die, and we can keep each other company on the road to the underworld..."
"Sigh... Since we're going to keep each other company, I'll give you a name. Let me think... My favorite food is sweet fermented rice balls, so you can be called 'Sweet Fermented Rice Balls' from now on."
The black dog stared at her blankly, clearly not understanding what she was saying, even when she called out "Sweet Rice Balls" to it several times, it didn't react at all.
Li Xianghuan repeated it a few times before giving up, but still muttered to herself, "Does she not like this name? What should it be called then? Braised Chicken Leg? Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs? Squirrel Mandarin Fish? None of them sound as good as Fermented Rice Balls..."
"Alright, I'll call you a few more times, and you'll remember eventually. From now on, you're a dog with a name. If anyone calls you a stray dog, you can..."
Before Li Xianghuan could finish speaking, the black dog suddenly barked, as if in response to her words.
Li Xianghuan paused, "I didn't call you a stray dog..."
"Woof!"
"...Sweet fermented rice balls?"
"..."
"Stray dogs?"
"Woof!"
"..."
It's clear that Li Xianghuan wants this black dog to know that his new name is "Sweet Rice Balls," and that's a long and arduous task ahead.
Fortunately, Li Xianghuan was not one to give up easily. He decided to raise a dog, so he took it with him and left this place, entering the human world and becoming a sickly mortal.
However, she clearly hadn't decided on her name yet, and when asked, she could only say that her name was "Xiao Li".
In order to earn money to feed and clothe her and her dog, she began to look for ways to make a living.
She tried her hand at performing and selling calligraphy and paintings, but she was unknown in the art world and no one wanted her work. In the end, she earned some money by writing letters for people from time to time.
However, this job of helping write letters was not available every day, and as for performing arts, she knew nothing but sword dancing. Even if she went to learn to dance, she didn't learn it very well. In addition, she insisted on bringing a dog with her, and she was kicked out not long after.
Fortunately, the owner of the dance hall was kind. Although he kicked her out, he gave her some money, enough for her food and lodging for a few days.
She bought herself some cakes and some meat buns for the sweet fermented rice balls. Every night before bed, she would open her purse and count how many copper coins she had left.
However, staying in an inn was not a long-term solution. After a few days, she was kicked out of the inn because she could not afford the room fee.
Left with no other choice, she used the last bit of money she had left to buy a pancake and a meat bun. She then huddled in a corner of an alley with some sweet fermented rice balls, munching on the pancake while muttering to herself about what she could do to make money next.
She muttered to herself for a long time, but couldn't come up with a solution.
After all, apart from being good with a sword and having some strength, she only knew how to play the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but she wasn't proficient in them.
But now, because she can't afford medicine, she can only let her injuries worsen day by day. Sometimes she even has difficulty walking, let alone doing those strenuous jobs.
After thinking it over, she realized she had absolutely no advantage. If she were the boss, she wouldn't hire someone like her either.
The once mighty swordsman, who commanded thousands with a single gesture and showered the world with riches, now finds himself huddled with an old dog in a sheltered but cold alley.
She listened to the bustling noise and family reunions outside, but she felt like a rat in a sewer, anxious about what she would eat for her next meal and where she would stay tomorrow.
As she pondered this, she couldn't even eat the biscuit in her hand anymore. She covered her eyes and burst into tears.
To be honest, although she had the title of Sword God, she was still only in her early twenties. It was difficult for her to suppress the bitterness in her heart and control her surging emotions. She cried for a long time until she had cried all her tears before she gradually calmed down.
When she finally put her hand down, she saw that the sweet rice balls had stopped eating the meat bun and were just squatting on the ground, quietly watching her.
Li Xianghuan never imagined that one day he would see human emotions on a dog's face.
Those sad and sorrowful expressions were squeezed into its round, bright black eyes, making its face reveal a hint of melancholy, as if it were about to cry.
From that day on, the sweet fermented rice balls seemed to know something; they stopped waiting for her to buy them meat buns and stopped following her around.
While she was looking for work, it would run out to find food on its own. As a stray dog that had spent most of its life wandering, it naturally knew how to beg for food.
In this world, there are always people willing to tolerate a dog that can't speak, so it can occasionally bring back some food.
Sometimes it's steamed buns, sometimes it's dumplings, and if you're lucky, you might even get a chicken leg or half a fish that someone else has left over.
These things, while not enough to fill a person's and a dog's stomachs, will at least keep them from starving.
But the puppy's luck isn't always that good; there are times when it can't get anything.
At that time, it depended on Li Xianghuan's luck whether he could earn enough money to feed himself and his dog.
The worst time for the sweet fermented rice balls was when not only did they fail to get any food, but they also limped back when they returned.
Not only that, but several patches of its fur were also torn up, revealing the red flesh underneath. At the same time, blood was constantly flowing from its mouth and nose. Just by looking at it, you could tell that it was seriously injured.
Li Xianghuan immediately dropped what he was doing and, just like he had often stood up for the disciples of the sword cultivation world before, ran outside to stand up for Jiu Niang Yuanzi.
However, she is now basically unable to use her cultivation, and she has no sword or suitable weapon by her side, so she is bound to suffer losses. Not only did she fail to get justice for the fermented rice balls, but she was also beaten bloody by those who chased after her to kill the dog.
Fortunately, she had been in many fights before, and now that she was about to die, she was even less afraid of being beaten. After enduring several blows, she snatched a stick from one of the men and beat them to a pulp. She also managed to steal a few taels of silver from them.
Although she had the money, the sweet rice ball was badly injured. By the time she had driven those people away, it had collapsed to the ground, unable to move.
Li Xianghuan stuffed the silver into his pocket, picked up the sweet rice balls, and immediately rushed to a famous clinic in the town to seek medical treatment.
But while there are many people seeking medical treatment at this clinic, it's unheard of for anyone to seek treatment for a dog.
Furthermore, this clinic was originally run by people, and the doctors there had never treated livestock. Therefore, even though Li Xianghuan took out her money, they refused to pay and told her to find a veterinarian who treated livestock.
Helpless, she had no choice but to leave the clinic and search and ask around the town.
But the town was too small, and there were no doctors who specialized in treating livestock. Most families would just treat their own animals haphazardly, and if they could live, they would live; if they couldn't, they would simply slaughter them for meat. Naturally, no one could save Jiu Niang Yuanzi.
After asking around and around and confirming that she couldn't find a single veterinarian who could treat dogs, she had no choice but to return to the clinic.
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