Chapter 84 84 "Phoenix" "I said... it hurts, right?

A week ago, September 2, Jinwuyuan.

"So, you followed that kid - what's his name - Gu Minghui into the treasure house of Longyuan Academy." Bai Xian scratched his head, trying to sort out his thoughts.

Ning Changkong nodded: "Yes."

Bai Xian was puzzled: "Why did you two go in? Shouldn't there be people guarding the place strictly?"

Chu Qingge sat upright at the side and reminded, "Gu Minghui's soul has merged with the Yinglong fragments. The protective formation of the treasure pavilion was originally to protect the Yinglong remains, so they naturally let him go."

"Oh, yes, yes, I think he also said that before when he came in the middle of the night. I said that the aura of this child was a little familiar..." Bai Xian continued to scratch his head, "Then what was it?"

Ning Changkong told the story again without getting tired of it: "Under the stimulation of Yinglong's aura, Kunlun Mirror triggered the Yaochi illusion. Gu Minghui and I were swept into it, and then... Anyway, I accidentally brought out a blue bird feather."

Chu Qingge cooperated and showed the green feather.

Bai Xian said "Oh" and looked at Chu Qingge: "Then..."

Chu Qingge lied calmly: "The piece of feather with the soul fragment of the blue bird is me."

Bai Xian wiped his face thoughtfully.

Ning Changkong concluded: "Anyway, this is why Qingniao and I are so familiar with each other."

The strange tacit understanding between Jiang Yunxiao and Chu Qingge when Jiang Yunxiao was stabbed a few months ago was finally explained clearly by Bai Xian.

...maybe that explains it clearly.

Bai Xian stood up and said, "Okay, then Miss Chu, will you stay for dinner today? Are there any dietary restrictions?"

Chu Qingge blinked twice blankly and looked at Ning Changkong.

Ning Changkong: "You don't have anything to ask?"

"Then let me ask." Bai Xian threw her long hair behind her with an expressionless face, "Ms. Chu, do you still remember any of the little things that happened back then? Maybe we can reminisce about the past."

"Actually..." Chu Qingge coughed awkwardly twice, "My memory is a little confused, probably because it's just a fragment of the soul, and the soul is incomplete..."

"…Uh, I don't have any dietary restrictions, but I won't stay for dinner. Thank you."

After seeing Chu Qingge off, Bai Xian was cutting vegetables in the kitchen without even looking up: "When you first came here, you also made up this excuse, saying that you couldn't remember anything..."

There was nothing we could do about it. How many old monsters survived from the mythical era? They couldn't get information from Xuanwu and then use it to show off in Baixian's place, right? Ning Changkong stuck out his tongue, rolled up his sleeves, and helped him wash the vegetables in a flattering manner.

"You...don't want to ask something else?" he probed cautiously.

"There is indeed a problem." Bai Xian stopped cutting vegetables and said seriously, "She won't treat you badly, right?"

"That's absolutely not the case. We are two crickets on the same rope." Ning Changkong assured, patting his chest.

Bai Xian shrugged, "Then I don't have anything to ask. I've already protected a fake phoenix, so I don't mind protecting anyone else."

"I'm just curious, how can one die and still leave behind soul fragments..." Bai Xian lowered his head and continued to cut vegetables, "Why didn't Feng Qingwu leave anything behind back then? He didn't even give me a thought..."

Ning Changkong joked cheerfully, trying to liven up the atmosphere: "I am still here."

"You... forget it, that's true." Bai Xian snorted.

"By the way, I have something else to tell you..." Ning Changkong took out the silver longevity lock from under his collar.

September 14, the first year of the Reiki Recovery, a formation node.

Chu Qingge closed his eyes and used his spiritual energy to manipulate the ink, rewriting this crucial formation node.

"I shouldn't have listened to you... I shouldn't have listened to the two of you." Bai Xian muttered in a low voice, squatting in a corner where no one could block him. "If I had been allowed to go up, I could have had a few more words with Chi You."

If he didn't appear in human form now, Chu Qingge suspected that he was so anxious that he could pick his own feathers off with his beak.

It's no wonder. Chu Qingge was distracted by the fact that Ning Changkong's physical data kept declining during the battle, and she was also shocked. Bai Xian could only look at the fire in the sky from a distance, which only made him more anxious.

The flames of the phoenix dyed half of the sky red. The light of the flame was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, flickering unsteadily. This unstable state continued to increase Bai Xian's panic.

Bai Xian stood up suddenly and said, "No, I have to go... take a look. I——"

"If I were you, I would go to the town to rescue people right now." Chu Qingge finally opened her eyes and interrupted him coldly, "He asked you to stay, after all, there is a reason."

For example, it is not worthwhile to sacrifice Bai Xian's life again; the passage between Penglai in Jinwu Garden and the real world cannot be handed over to outsiders; and the demon clan in the future may need a leader who shares the same ideals as Ning Changkong.

...For example, Ning Changkong's will must be executed by someone.

Bai Xian looked up at the sky and asked sadly, "How long has it been?"

Chu Qingge replied: "37 minutes."

Ning Changkong on the other end just asked about the time.

Bai Xian left this formation node without looking back: "I'll go out and take a look. Call me when you're almost better."

Bai Xian left the secret formation node and walked aimlessly in the direction of the crowd, occasionally looking up at the sky that was dyed blood red by the phoenix fire.

He had not walked far when his conspicuous long white hair and the ascetic attire he wore attracted the rescue personnel, who pulled him in to assist in the relief work.

Less than an hour has passed since the crisis broke out, and many rescue equipment has not yet been able to reach the scene through the paralyzed transportation network. In such an emergency, relying on the power of practitioners has become the most efficient means of rescue.

Bai Xian doesn't have a lot of good feelings towards humans. On the one hand, the demons have been separated from humans for too long, and the differences in culture and customs are too great. The younger generation of the demons may be able to change their mindsets and adapt to changes, but Bai Xian is already an old demon who lives one day at a time and has no interest in chasing trends.

On the other hand...human life is too short.

In the ancient times when spiritual energy was abundant, Bai Xian also made friends with human heroes, and then watched them grow from youth to middle age, and finally to old age and death.

Bai Xian thought he no longer had the courage to face the departure of those with whom he had established a deep bond.

He absentmindedly used his spiritual power to move large pieces of bricks and rubble, and carefully pulled the child out from under the rubble. While he was distracted, he accepted the gratitude of the child's parents. The parents had obviously just dug out the rubble with their bare hands, and their dirty hands excitedly held Bai Xian's hands, and the dirt on their hands rubbed onto his originally clean clothes.

Bai Xian slowly came back to his senses and responded stiffly. He stood on the ruins, with parents in front of him thanking him excitedly and people coming and going with different expressions around him.

The warmth penetrated the fabric and the noisy sounds filled my ears.

Bai Xian suddenly felt a little disgusted with himself. At this moment, he realized two things:

First, he didn't hate humans; he was just afraid of leaving and entering this living world again.

Who is he? He is the Phoenix's attendant and the ancestor of the Hundred Birds.

Once ignited by the era of heroes, now only the embers remain, the orphans of the mythical era.

...A coward who has been sleeping in Jinwu Garden for a long time, indulging in memories of the past.

His spiritual energy revived, and he felt the long-lost excitement, eager to relive the long time he had spent traveling with Feng Qingwu, and the time that seemed eternal when they laughed, joked and played along the way.

Bai Xian took the initiative to protect Ning Changkong, the fake phoenix, but that was all. He followed Ning Changkong calmly, reading books and playing with his phone in the study room of Jinwu Garden, occasionally chatting with him and discussing what to eat next.

He always stays content with the status quo, indulges in the ordinary life day after day, pretending that the moment of separation will never come.

Bai Xian’s second dissatisfaction with himself stems from this: he once claimed that he no longer had the passion to see those with whom he had deep feelings leave again, but he stubbornly played the role of the ostrich covering his ears and deceiving himself into believing that eternity exists.

The passage that opened above the city tore apart the ordinary people's fantasy of ordinary life, and also tore apart Bai Xian's self-deceiving fantasy. Feng Qingwu, who was supposed to have a long life, left before him, not to mention Ning Changkong, who was born a human and was in poor health.

But the difference is that he is an elder now. Bai Xian thought that when Ning Changkong comes back, he will tell him this truth, so that he can talk to his old friends as soon as possible and realize his wish as soon as possible.

Life is short. Human life is short, and mixed-bloods won't get very far—in the end, they won't live longer than Bai Xian.

Tell him: No matter what he wants to do, Bai Xian will always support him, from his youth to his old age.

Bai Xian didn't have the chance to attend Feng Qingwu's funeral, but he should have the chance to witness Ning Changkong's life. He will cherish it.

He will be mentally prepared.

The frozen time began to flow, and the ember that had been silent for a thousand years finally ignited again. Bai Xian hurriedly walked to the next place that needed his help.

12 seconds after Ning Changkong's "death", system space.

"Do they have an obsession with ripping out hearts?" Ning Changkong ruffled his hair in annoyance. The remaining pain made him mutter uncontrollably, "If you want to ensure death, a headshot will work. Or maybe it's more elegant to stab someone through the entire body... Tsk."

Chu Qingge turned around in her computer chair and looked at him, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself.

"I don't want to hear it!" Ning Changkong directly blocked her words and said with a frown: "I quit, I want to get off work!"

"Hey, have you sent out the will I wrote before? If not, can you still go back now? Can you help me with it..." Ning Changkong's voice gradually became quieter, and then he sighed helplessly.

Chu Qingge then slowly spoke: "I just want to ask you, do you want to rip someone's heart out?"

"I'd rather not take anyone's heart out!" Ning Changkong crossed his arms unhappily, watching Chu Qingge turn the chair back and start typing on the keyboard.

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What does it feel like to be possessed by the Qilingcypress?"

Chu Qingge glanced at him in bewilderment amidst her busy schedule: "No sense. The eating function is only supported by a plastic bag, how can there be a sensory system?"

Before Ning Changkong could ask any more questions, Chu Qingge had already completed her preparations and took out her small remote control from the drawer.

"That body is almost broken, and I don't know if I can put your soul back in... Anyway, let's try it first."

The remote control was pointed at Ning Changkong and beeped.

43 seconds before Ning Changkong's "death", he appeared in the center of the formation.

A second before the formation was triggered, Bai Xian, who was pacing anxiously, suddenly remembered:

From beginning to end, Chu Qingge never mentioned how to bring Ning Changkong back safely from Jiuli.

He turned around suddenly and was about to grab Chu Qingge by the collar to interrogate her, but his action only caught a glimpse of a shadow. The blue bird had already turned into a stream of light and flew straight towards Jiuli, leaving only a sharp shout in his ear: "Stay here!"

...Why is he always the one left behind?

September 14, the first year of the spiritual energy recovery, the demiplane Jiuli.

There is nothing good about returning to a body that has been stabbed through the chest.

The pain spread rapidly throughout his body like an electric current. Every nerve was screaming and every cell was burning. His consciousness began to blur and the whole world was spinning as if it was going to swallow him up. But the pain was very clear, like a taut string that could break at any time.

Really, if I had known not to listen to Chu Qingge and leave this way to save my life, I could have died here...

Ning Changkong felt the familiar aura of the Bluebird stuffing the piece of Qiling cypress into his pocket. It seemed that someone had seized the moment when the demiplane was pushed away and rushed from the real world into the passage that Jiuli was about to close.

It's hard to say. She came here in person to supervise the work. Maybe she will just teleport me over there...

Ning Changkong let the pain tear his mind apart. He raised his shaking hands and concentrated the last bit of his mental strength to trigger the teleportation spell that had been set up on Dijiang's feather in advance.

According to experience, this type of severely injured and dying body will generally have a final period of mobility ranging from a few dozen seconds to two minutes.

A few dozen seconds was enough to do a lot of things. He tried his best to stay awake, eyes wide open, trying to maintain a bit of clarity in the dizziness of the transmission.

Bai Xian once said, "The phoenix can achieve nirvana," but this is just a rumor.

It combines the legend of the Western phoenix and Phoenix.

The Dijiang feathers were set up early to anchor the aura of the phoenix.

Target, Phoenix's side.

Ning Changkong was almost thrown onto the red velvet quilt. Blood gushed out of his mouth and chest, staining the quilt even darker.

Beside him, Phoenix, who had been lying on the bed in a stiff posture, slowly opened his eyes, like a robot slowly starting up.

Yes, it's just wishful thinking. The phoenix is ​​not a living thing.

If there is something that can inject vitality into Lin Jinsong's body, which is damaged to the point of being almost unusable and lifeless, the only thing that comes to mind is the Nirvana Fire that drives the Phoenix.

Well, it was just like Feng Qingwu's heart saved his life on that terrible night - why does this scene look so familiar? By the way, the other half of Feng Qingwu's heart seems to be in Phoenix...

The goal is clear, and the next key issue is how to snatch the fire of Nirvana from Phoenix.

Before the battle, Ning Changkong and Chu Qingge's plan stopped there. They had no further strategy, they were just going to teleport him to Phoenix, throw everything they had and try their luck.

And now Ning Changkong suddenly had an idea.

Phoenix did not show any surprise at his appearance here, but sat up from the bed silently, with white-red flames burning in his hands, ready to give the dying intruder a final blow.

Ning Changkong's trembling hands finally touched the small silver longevity lock hidden under his collar.

He was almost unable to speak now, but there was still airflow vibrating his vocal cords, making a broken sound:

"I said... it hurts, Phoenix."

Generally speaking, artificial bodies do not need to be equipped with sensory systems. Even if they are, they will not be able to sense pain. Why? This is a non-living body made by alchemy. Why should we use the pain of the world to damage its working ability?

There is only one possibility:

Pain is the reality of being alive. It is the constant pain that maintains the knowledge that "I am still alive" and keeps the consciousness tightly attached to the body.

Phoenix's consciousness quietly "died" at midnight, giving Ning Changkong the opportunity to take over, and its connection with this alchemical body was not close.

Ning Changkong clenched the longevity lock in his hand and activated the pain-relieving technique on it.