Chapter 21 Heavenly Evolution Secret Realm Begonia Flower Cake
Hearing her guess, the disciples of Tianyan Sect felt their hair stand on end. "How could a small village be worth such cruel methods?"
Fu Yunyao looked at the statue again, thinking of the gold dust that had once touched her fingertips.
The gold dust had the same effect as the gold dust in the well water. She had originally suspected that the gold dust in the well water came from this statue. But now, looking at the blank-faced person, she had a new idea: the gold dust on the statue was left unintentionally by someone.
Mortals do indeed revere cultivators, but would a village that has just experienced a major disaster really spend a fortune to build a golden statue?
She spoke, her soft voice sounding somewhat eerie amidst her repeated pleas and prayers.
"It's difficult for a person to hide inside a statue as tall as a person, but what if it's a skeleton that has been dead for many years?"
Fu Yusheng was slightly taken aback. "You suspect that her remains are hidden inside?"
"This place is still a spiritual vein after all. She committed suicide with resentment in her heart. It is not surprising that she would become a spirit under the nourishment of spiritual energy. As for the villagers who drove her to her death, they would naturally be afraid and suspicious after experiencing one disaster after another."
As Fu Yunyao spoke, she chuckled, "How can we stop the monsters from causing trouble? We should seal up her remains, and then, in the name of remembering Sect Master Mu, completely seal her within this golden body."
The Tianyan Sect disciples beside her gaped in astonishment upon hearing her guess; they too had witnessed Mu Shu's past when they entered the secret realm.
"So, are they praying here every day, begging Sect Leader Mu to save them, or begging the owner of the corpse to spare them?"
Inside the temple, the chanting of prayers continued.
"Please save us, immortal."
Please, let us go.
"We will pray for you day and night, wishing you a speedy attainment of immortality through cultivation."
We will pray for you day and night, wishing you a speedy rebirth.
“The children in the village are still so young, they shouldn’t have died today.”
The child is innocent and should not be punished like this.
As they prayed, a bolt of lightning struck, hitting the temple with deadly accuracy. The statues shattered, and amidst the chaos, white bones lay scattered.
The villagers in the temple watched this scene with horror in their eyes.
They knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.
A phantom appeared above the skeleton, surrounded by countless golden dust particles.
They wanted to seal her away with gold and silver, so she used gold dust to trap them in an endless illusion. This illusion had no end, until they became wary of each other and pushed each other into a house overflowing with oil. Fireworks then ignited, burning their humanity and souls to ashes.
The phantom reached out and pointed to one person's wrist.
The others looked over and saw a corner of rotting flesh peeking out from his wrist, which was hidden by his sleeve.
Upon seeing this, the others quickly moved away. "He's caught the plague too! Get him out of here!"
"I didn't, I didn't!" He tried to struggle, but was eventually dragged by several people who covered his mouth and nose toward a house that had been filled with oil.
He was thrown into the house with other people whose bodies were also rotting.
A door separated two worlds; inside, people pleaded and cried desperately, while outside, people wore veils and looked numb.
The torches in their hands fell off, instantly setting the house ablaze.
The Tianyan Sect members tried to step forward to stop them, but then the sky darkened again.
On the street, the red lanterns lit up again, and in the firelight, the villagers became dazed once more, their dark eyes fixed on the well at the village entrance.
They dragged their heavy steps closer and closer, even to those trapped in the flames. As they stepped out of the fire, bits of charred flesh fell to the ground.
Just like last night, after they drank some water, they discovered that Fu Yunyao and her group at the temple gate were once again charging towards them in a large force.
Tianyan Sect disciples: !
He drew his sword and forced the approaching zombies back.
The woman's phantom remained suspended above the skeleton, her laughter melodious. She snapped her fingers, and moonlight streamed down.
They tore at each other again, even more fiercely than the night before.
The Tianyan Sect members tried to stop them, but their fingertips passed right through the villagers.
"At this rate, they'll really die!"
Fu Yunyao shook her head, "It's too late, this illusion is about to end."
She looked at the woman's illusion and asked, "Is it worth incurring countless karmic debts and sins just to take revenge on them?"
The woman's smile faded. "I didn't want to, but we've trapped my soul just because we believed those ridiculous rumors. Just like back then, they humiliated my daughter and me in every way. I could have endured it all. I just want to see my Shu'er one more time."
After her death, she was nourished by the spiritual veins and became a mountain spirit.
That day, she heard that a prodigy from the Tianyan Sect had gone to the village to combat the drought, and the other spirits in the mountains told her that the prodigy's name was Mu Shu.
Mu Shu...
She shares the same name as her Shu'er.
She couldn't resist; she wanted to see her. But little did she know, it was all just a pretense set up by the villagers to lure her there.
The village did suffer from drought, but that happened three months ago, and the prodigy of the Tianyan Sect is long gone.
She was greeted by the Taoist priests' incantations, who dug up her bones and forced her to return to them.
She saw the statue they had moved there. It looked completely unfamiliar, but even though she knew it was her Shu'er.
Her soul and remains were trapped together inside that golden statue.
“I didn’t resent it at first,” she said, her voice filled with sorrow, “until I realized that the golden statue contained my husband’s ashes!”
“I always thought he had abandoned my son and me. It wasn’t until that day that I learned that he was transporting goods with some people from the village when they were robbed. Those people who used to call him brother actually pushed him to the edge of the bandits’ sword in order to save their own lives!”
“I told myself that even if I am tainted with sins because of this, I will avenge him.”
She spoke pitifully, but one of the disciples of the Tianyan Sect was not convinced. He said...
"Then go and take revenge on those people. Why involve everyone in the village?"
"Whether it's one grudge or two, it's still a matter of revenge. Why can't I settle all my scores?"
"You make it sound nice, but back then you chose to bury Sect Leader Mu with your own hands!"
The woman was instantly speechless. "I didn't, I..."
Her figure became unsteady, sparks flew throughout the village, but the villagers seemed oblivious, continuing to tear and bite.
Amidst the blazing firelight, Fu Yunyao spoke.
Are you happy with things as they are now?
The woman looked into her eyes.
"I am very happy. My only regret is that I will never see my Shu'er again."
"She's here."
Fu Yunyao turned to the side, revealing the people at the village entrance.
Mu Shu was dressed in the robes of the Tianyan Sect's sect leader, the light blue hem swaying gently in the moonlight. Her elegant appearance and features bore a resemblance to a woman.
"My Shu'er..."
The woman sighed softly, her figure slowly dissipating. As she vanished, the fighting villagers, the raging firelight, and the eerie red lanterns also disappeared, leaving behind only a dilapidated village and a dried-up well.
"We've... gotten out?"
"Then... why hasn't that phantom of Sect Master Mu disappeared!" The Tianyan Sect member pointed at Mu Shu's phantom, his expression wary. "Although I have always admired Sect Master Mu, I don't really want to see her in a place like this."
Fu Yusheng looked at Fu Yunyao, only to see her lightly tap the Rangchen Sword in her hand, and the phantom transformed into a silver light, falling into the Rangchen Sword.
She turned around and looked at the pile of white bones in the dilapidated temple, her eyes flashing slightly.
The woman's disappearance was only a moment to others, but for Fu Yunyao, it was an extremely long time.
She fell into a new illusion once again.
She saw the woman holding Mu Shu and gently applying medicine to her wounds.
"Remember what your mother told you: when the sand covers your hands, loosen the untied cloth strip until the sand falls on your face. Then cover your mouth and nose with that cloth strip. When your mother comes back, someone will definitely stop me. Don't be afraid. When you hear no more sounds outside, you can use the method your mother taught you to climb out of the pile of dirt by yourself. Your mother believes that you can do it."
The little girl asked in confusion, "Mom's back, why do I have to dig up the mound of dirt myself?"
In the dim light, she didn't see the woman's moist eyes. "Because your mother wants to see you reborn."
Fu Yunyao was confused. "So, at that time, did you want to get rid of her and gain a new life for yourself, or did you really want to use yourself to exchange for her new life?"
"I don't know either." The woman's illusion appeared beside her. "I want to live, and I want her to live too."
“You could have let her climb out of the pit the first time you left, but you didn’t.”
"Perhaps, at that time I just wanted to live."
"Then why did you go back?"
The woman laughed, her voice filled with sorrow, "I can't bear to part with her. She's so young. She deserves a better future. How could she just leave like that? If I go back, then only one of us can survive. And she's the one who lives. I'm so happy."
Are you happy?
Fu Yunyao withdrew her gaze, feeling to herself that she was somewhat foolishly naive.
He was actually willing to sacrifice his life for others.
"Young Master Yao, how did you know that letting her see Sect Master Mu would break the illusion?"
One of the disciples asked curiously.
Fu Yunyao gave her a strange look. "Didn't she say that her only regret was never being able to see her daughter again?"
The disciple remained silent: ...She did mention it, but who would pay attention in that situation!
...
The dilapidated temple was once again engulfed in flames.
"We need the help of Young Master Yao and this... fellow Daoist this time. If it weren't for you, we would probably be trapped and die in the illusion. The secret realm is dangerous. Would you like to travel together from now on?"
Fu Yunyao looked up at him without saying a word, which made the Tianyan Sect disciple who had asked the question feel a little guilty.
The danger of the secret realm was only for these disciples with low cultivation levels. But for the young master of the Yaotai Realm who wielded the Rangchen Sword and the cultivator beside her whose strength was unknown, they probably didn't even consider such a secret realm a threat. Otherwise, why would that person still have the mind to fiddle with pastries?
Fu Yusheng didn't care about their opinions. He handed the pastries he had just taken out of his Qiankun bag to the people around him.
"The crabapple blossom cake tastes pretty good, want to try it?"
Fu Yunyao should have refused, but in the end, she still picked up a piece of pastry.
The veil was lifted, revealing a girl with a beautiful and delicate face, gentle eyes and brows. She looked rather docile as she ate pastries with her head lowered.
Clever?
The disciples of the Tianyan Sect were startled by the word that popped into their minds.
That's the young master of the Yaotai Realm who can cut down the Demon Lord with a single sword strike. There's no way he could be associated with the word "well-behaved"!
He quickly looked away and glanced at another person, who was wearing a white fox mask. The person had a pair of jade-like eyes that held a smile as they gazed tenderly at the person beside them.
"Ahem." He coughed lightly. "Things happened in a hurry, and I haven't had time to ask your name yet."
Upon hearing his question, Fu Yusheng looked away and said.
"A person who drifts about, without a name."
"Huh?" He wanted to ask something more, but then he saw a mist rising around him.
The other disciples of the Heavenly Evolution Sect immediately became alert, as they had encountered mist every time they fell into an illusion before!
A voice rang out, a voice that was ethereal and elusive, as if it came from the heavens and earth, or as if it originated from the depths of their hearts.
"I have a question, and I would like to ask you all to answer it."
A note from the author:
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This ranking is almost over, and I haven't gained much in terms of favorites; in fact, I've even lost a few. I'm a little sad, but then I think, this is still my first novel, so I shouldn't strive for perfection. Just finishing it is already a huge success.
This is my first novel. My writing is immature and the plot has some problems. So, I am very grateful to every reader who has made it this far. I will continue to work hard and hope that this story can bring you some comfort.
Love you all~
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