Chapter 130 The feast begins
Well...it can't be said that nothing happened at all. God still struck a thunderbolt just for the sake of courtesy.
I thought it was as powerful as a nuclear bomb, but after lighting it I found out it was just a bottle of soda, and a flat soda at that.
The arrogant smile on Xuan He's face gradually faded. He ignored the skeleton's attack and stared at Jiu Nian with his bloodshot eyes. He said nothing, but everyone present understood his meaning—even in death, he would remain a conscious ghost.
He believed that nine years would give him the answer.
Nine years could indeed give him the answer, or rather, it had already been given to him.
Xuan He suddenly remembered the seemingly inexplicable words that Jiu Nian had said before: The spirits know good and evil through their horns, and the spirit horns are also like this. Ordinary people can hardly distinguish true from false, but the spirits can tell at a glance... Ordinary people can hardly distinguish true from false... true from false...
Xuan He suddenly realized something, then was filled with disbelief. "Impossible! I just dug this Lingxi horn from Sui Jing's forehead. It's warm and hot! There's no way it could be fake!"
Xuan He spoke with certainty, but the scene when he dug out the Lingxi horn from Sui Jing suddenly emerged in his mind. He realized belatedly that something was strange... Could just over twenty years of imprisonment cause Sui Jing's power to drop so much that he could only hide in his belly to avoid disaster when facing a siege from ghosts?
Would Suijing allow him to do whatever he wanted without resistance just because he had been in his belly?
Is it not to resist, or is it that they are simply unable to resist?
When he suddenly attacked, nailed the flint mirror to the heart of the Jianmu tree, and used his hand-made blade to dig out the Lingxi horn, what was the flint mirror's expression? Fear? Anger? Silent ridicule?
It was obvious that I was the butcher and he was the meat, and it was Suijing who fell into the abyss of death and destruction. Why did a smug smile appear on the corner of his mouth when his last breath dissipated?
Xuan He was already in a state of confusion, and Jiu Nian delivered a fatal blow at the right time: "The Lingxi horn of the Suijing is already colorful."
At first glance, this statement seemed insignificant, merely repeating what Qing Bai had observed. However, Xuan He was horrified: "How did you know that?"
Jiu Nian raised his hand and gently stroked Qing Bai's back fur. Xuan He's gaze also fell on Qing Bai, and then, as if waking from a dream, he smiled bitterly: "So that's how it is. This is really... Greed is insatiable, like a snake swallowing an elephant, and in the end, the mantis stalks the cicada."
So what? Qing Bai was confused by the two people's incoherent conversation. The key point was that the two people seemed to be focusing on him, but he himself was completely confused.
"The initial spot on Lingxi's forehead was formed by Lingxi's blood and energy. When it was born, it was blood red, and then turned jade-colored. The more injured souls it healed, the deeper the jade color became. If one loses virtue, heaven will punish him. His spirit will dissipate and the jade will become turbid. When it becomes turbid, it will become colorful. Then Lingxi will lose its power and will not be born." Jiunian's voice was low, obviously explaining to Qing Bai, "These changes may be hidden from others, but they cannot be hidden from his own clan. You see that his horn is colorful, so he must have lost his Lingxi power for some time."
After hearing this, Qing Bai suddenly understood. Many of the things he couldn't understand before suddenly became clear. No wonder Sui Jing chose to escape to the human world after being hunted for nine years. Obviously, with his precious status as the "only" Lingxi in the world, the underworld would protect him even if it cost them their lives.
It turned out that he was not desperate to seek help from anyone, but was too self-aware. He knew that after he lost the ability to heal his injured soul, the underworld would not only not protect him from the nine-year knife, but would throw him into the frying pan of the eighteen levels of hell.
Qing Bai not only had a sudden realization, but also drew inferences from it: "Is there a solution to this 'Spiritual Dispersion Jade Turbidity'? For example... what you eat replenishes what you need, eating Lingxi replenishes Lingxi?"
He remembered clearly that Suijing said he came to the giant locust tree in pursuit of spiritual resonance, and that Suijing looked at him with eyes that seemed to want to devour him in one bite, as if he was looking at a dish that was not to his taste but very nutritious.
After nine years of hesitation, his understanding of Lingxi was limited. He only learned a lot of "common sense" by chance after deciding to take care of little Lingxi. He was not sure whether Lingxi could nourish each other by feeding on each other...
After nine years of hesitation, Xuan He seemed to be giving up, and he didn't hesitate to speculate on Sui Jing's intentions with the utmost malice. He first said, "So that's how it is," and then sighed, "Ling Xi was born in the Nai River, gifted with the ability to heal wounded souls... After arriving at the Giant Locust Tree, he hid at the bottom of the pond, and was 'reborn' in the belly of the wounded and resentful spirits at the bottom of the pond. By doing this, is he trying to 'change his appearance' and deceive the heavens?"
"It's a pity that the law of nature is so vast that nothing can escape it..." Xuan He glanced at Qing Bai, "No wonder he completely disregarded our previous sincere cooperation and openly opposed me. It turns out that his goal is the same as mine."
Mu Qing Bai Biao: "..."
The word "what a pity" should not be used before the law of heaven.
And: "Are those female corpses at the bottom of the pool wounded souls?"
Perhaps having accepted that Sui Jing had tricked him with his life, and lacking confidence in his ability to snatch Qing Bai from Jiu Nian, Xuan He appeared very calm, so calm that even the skeleton biting his lower body didn't affect his expression as he spoke, "Lingxi heals the wounded soul. To put it bluntly, it's also another form of 'eating'. It not only helps with cultivation but also nourishes the spirit. My Jianmu was refined with Lingxi, so naturally I need to use the wounded soul to nourish it daily."
Sure enough, when calmness reaches its extreme, one will appear crazy. What’s more, Xuan He is not just pretending to be crazy, he is really crazy.
"Women are yin, and their resentment is even stronger... Although it can't compare to naturally formed wounded souls, it has its own unique flavor." Xuan He smiled grimly, "They are the feed I carefully cultivated."
Carefully cultivated...feed?
Qing Bai couldn't bear to listen any longer, but his manners didn't allow him to curse, so he simply interrupted Xuan He's reading and tried to pierce his heart: "Why are you so sure that Ling Xi can be refined into Jian Mu, and Jian Mu can send you to ascension?"
"After all, Lingxi is just a new species that emerged in the last thousand years in response to the Soul-Smashing Disaster, while Jianmu is the sacred tree that exists in mythology and legends. The two are completely unrelated. How did you come up with the idea of forcibly linking them together?"
Xuan He frowned, his eyes as cold as ice.
Jiunian understood Qing Bai's plan and spoke out at the right time: "The underworld has no record of Lingxi refining Jianmu, and my clan has never heard of it. It is truly a fallacy."
It would have been fine if he hadn't said anything for nine years. Xuan He was just calm and secretly crazy. But when he said this, Xuan He suddenly became extremely aggressive as if some hidden pain point had been hit.
"Master Jiunian has noble blood and a profound family background, so he naturally knows many unknown secrets." Xuan He's expression was twisted and ferocious, and the black flames dancing in his eyes were not the pain of being gnawn by the skeleton, but the resentment and jealousy buried in his heart for who knows how many years.
"The end of the human world, the immeasurable catastrophe, the gods have returned to heaven, and the immortal spirits have dried up! The gods have abandoned their children in the world, but you, the dragon clan, have been blessed with the best! As long as you are willing to ascend to heaven, you can be enshrined as a god. How many spiritual beast cultivators have prayed for this opportunity, but you have thrown it away like a piece of trash, insisting on staying in the human world as monsters and beasts! Especially you, for nine years!"
Xuan He's eyes were as sharp as lightning, and his resentful look made him look more like a demon than the skeletons that were crawling up his legs and feet.
"They've degenerated so low as to ask for eternal damnation in the underworld, spending their days in that filthy place among demons and monsters! This truly opened my eyes!"
Xuan He's words were extremely powerful and resounding in both emotion and volume, but the listeners' minds were distracted in different ways.
Qing Bai: Jiu Nian is indeed from a 'famous family'! He truly deserves the title of 'family tradition'!
No wonder Jiu Nian once said he had a complex family background. The dragon clan... that's certainly quite 'complex'. I just don't know what kind of dragon Jiu Nian is... maybe he's not a dragon at all. The Chiwen he possessed wasn't a dragon, only a dragon's offspring. Could it be...
He also had always had a vague feeling that Xuanhe was full of malice towards Jiu Nian, and it turned out to be no illusion. When this bird looked at Jiu Nian, its eyes must have been bleeding.
It was the first time in nine years that someone had pointed at his nose and accused him of self-degradation. It took him a while to process the logic behind it. He wasn't angry, but calmly returned the accusation: "You see me as self-degrading, and I see you as the same."
"I've fallen into depravity? Hahahaha! You know shit! This is my 'Tao'!" Xuanhe laughed shrilly, as if trying to convince Jiunian and the other two, or questioning the heavens. "When a crane is a thousand years old, it turns pale. After another two thousand years, it turns black. It's called Xuanhe... A three thousand year old Xuanhe? How amazing! But what happens after becoming a Xuanhe?"
"From the day I was born, I made a great vow to achieve immortality with this body. To this end, I have painstakingly worked for three thousand years, without a single day of slacking off. I thought that cultivating the body of Xuanhe was the beginning of my immortal journey, but heaven told me that this was the end." Xuanhe calmed down again, but the aura around him was even more dangerous than when his face was distorted by jealousy and hatred. "I don't accept it."
"I don't recognize it."
"I've traveled all over the world, searching for the way to ascend to heaven. Sadly, the world's people are so foolish. Cultivators don't strive for progress, don't think of eternal bliss, and instead, they're greedy for temporary gains and worship the dead, even spirits, as gods." Xuan He snorted coldly, his expression filled with disdain. "From then on, I understood that I was the only one who could walk the path of cultivation and ascension."
"Fortunately, there's always a way out. By chance, I came across a piece of Tongtian Rhino. Tongtian Rhino truly lives up to its reputation and has countless uses. Burning it allowed me to briefly reach another level. Although it's a pity that it's been lost for a long time, it also gave me a glimmer of hope."
Needless to say, that glimmer of hope is naturally telepathy.
Xuan He looked at the two who had become surprisingly calm after hearing his words, and said with a smile, "I know that Master Jiunian's use of the word 'self-degradation' to describe me is also a sign of regret."
"But I am a crane, born to fly high in the sky. So, what difference does it make whether my feet are supported by clouds or something else?"
Qing Bai was simply amazed. He had never seen a more pure-bred villain than Xuan He.
'Other things', those women who were tortured, suppressed, and used as feed to be trapped at the bottom of a pool without seeing the sun, those Lingxi who were deceived, betrayed, and used as cultivation resources and tragically exterminated, when they fell into Xuanhe's mouth, they were just 'other things' for him to step on.
He finally saw through Xuan He. He had lofty ambitions and was self-righteous. He was willing to sacrifice everything, both expendable and unexpendable, for his bullshit "ambition." However, the ones who were sacrificed were others, while he was the one who achieved his goal.
To put it bluntly...
"You've practiced hard for so many years, and it's normal to lose your life goals once you've achieved success. If you're really bored, you can find a job screwing screws in a factory." Qing Bai spoke earnestly and nonsensically, "Why take revenge on society by committing indiscriminate crimes?"
The sneer on Xuan He's face froze, and he wanted to say that his life goal has always been to ascend to become an immortal rather than simply to cultivate into Xuan He, so don't underestimate his ambition.
Qing Bai ignored him and continued, "Besides, you're short-sighted, ignorant, and paranoid, so why would you judge others by your own standards? Dragons value freedom and don't want to be used as slaves or mounts by gods. Does that hurt your heart that's willing to give it away for free?"
Qing Bai knew very well that for Xuan He, an extremely arrogant person who did not treat people as human beings or lives as his own, and who thought that everyone in the world except him was a fool and treated other people's lives as feed and disposable consumables, it would be useless to accuse him of taking human lives and killing innocent people. No matter how many words of justice he said or how many times he told him to turn back, it would be useless. He would not admit his mistakes. After living for so many years, he had already formed a set of "right and wrong" views that only benefited himself, and they were unbreakable.
In this case, the stab to his heart must be aimed at the part that hurts him the most and that he cares about the most.
As expected, as soon as Qing Bai said this, the calm mask that Xuan He had put on with great difficulty was twisted and shattered again.
Xuan He was furious: "What do you know? Ascending to immortality should be the great path for all spirit beast cultivators in the world! It is you who have strayed from the path!"
Qing Baitou tilted his head and said: "If this avenue is really that good, why are you the only one obsessed with it?"
Before Xuan He could speak, Qing Bai deliberately interrupted again: "Let's take a step back and say that if all the spirit beast cultivators in the world were devoted to the Dao, then it would be even less likely for you to ascend."
"Whether it's myths or ancient texts, a beast like you who only grows old without cultivating virtue will either be killed or tamed and used as a mount. You won't even be able to become a heavenly soldier or general."
After saying that, Qing Bai turned around to seek Jiu Nian's approval: "Really?"
Although Jiu Nian really wanted to ask Qing Bai what ancient books he had read, it was obviously not the right time, so he had to keep it in mind and nodded in agreement.
After receiving Nine Years' recognition, Qing Bai felt much more relaxed. He calmly delivered the final blow to the already broken Xuan He. "Besides, no one is born to be above the Nine Heavens. If you don't believe me, just look down... The 'thing' you used as a footstool has now gnawed off your feet."
Xuan He subconsciously lowered his head, and was shocked to find that those skulls that he had never taken seriously had actually bitten off his feet. The most complete one had even climbed to his waist, and he was completely unaware!
He realized it so late... It's not because he was slow or careless, it's God's will.
Xuan He's eyes darkened, his hands loosened, and he fell off Jianmu.
…It turned out that he was already in the abyss.
The skulls were stunned for a moment, but then quickly reacted and swarmed over, like a large black blanket gently falling on Xuanhe's broken body, and then chewed up his bones and sucked his marrow like a grand banquet.
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