irreconcilable
"What's written on it?" Taiyin Xingjun couldn't make out the meaning, while Hu Ziyu found the handwriting quite striking after looking at it for a long time. It seemed that only Linghong could handle this decryption mission. Linghong winked, pondered carefully, repeatedly pondered and speculated, trying to meet everyone's expectations.
"I think it should be the cross that reads 'You trash, you have the guts to come to the human world to catch me'. But the handwriting is extremely ugly, and it was written in a hurry, so I... am only 50% sure." Ling Hong had to spend about a quarter of an hour to guess just the cross, and he still couldn't be completely sure. Then, it would be difficult to trouble him to use his wisdom to get the handover list of the five elements, Hu Ziyu thought.
A few bronze-colored pieces of iron scraps lay scattered on the floor at the corners of the blueprints—the very fragments of the broken alchemy furnace. Hu Ziyu, imitating Ling Hong, crossed his arms in thought and paced in circles.
"So, the senior used his own magical power to accomplish three things: burning the lock, writing on the titanium-rich basalt with his bare hands, and disguising his divine body and power to escape into the mortal realm... Furthermore, before leaving, the senior had everything in place: a reserve of mana and merit points, a pre-arranged schedule for responding to the wishes of believers, and even a special note for the thugs who were expected to break into the warehouse in the future. If he could even predict the timing and methods of their attack, then why... didn't he just stand up to it all himself, instead dragging me, this unfortunate fellow, into this situation as his scapegoat?"
At the end of the sentence, a sour feeling suddenly surged into my throat.
The thought of "dying in vain and being a scapegoat" kept lingering in Hu Ziyu's mind. He could hardly figure out who he should hate the most: the stick-wielding suspect who caused his early death, the family-loving soldiers who caused trouble for no reason, or the Demon King, whose life or death was unknown.
Taiyin Xingjun sensed the turbulent emotions within him and soothed him softly, "Little Rabbit, feel free to speak up. The three members of Lingxiao Palace and I are here today. We will all work together to redress your grievances."
Hu Ziyu closed his eyes tightly, blinking away the mist between his eyelashes, shook his head and shrugged, sighing helplessly: "The die is cast, there is no point in being upset, I just feel confused about many things.
First, when it comes to major events like immortals and gods exploding their own magical powers or escaping from their posts, the heavens neither send personnel to investigate nor keep a record of them.
Previously, I thought this was not something a newcomer should be concerned about, so I didn't even mention it in front of Boss Hong... uh, Linghong.
The storage app on my rose gold PAD has a paid expansion for a 'stop-action' feature similar to the Night Patrol. When I first turned it on, the last location of the senior and Yutu viewing gold were both shown underground. I thought it was a system error and ignored it.
Ling Hong said: "It has a three-realm positioning system and an acceleration seal. The old man took him away so that he could continue to lock onto Song Xinghe's coordinates after his mana was exhausted."
Before detonating his magical power, Hu Tianbao took out his seat and left the handover list and PAD outside.
Afterwards, Taiyin Xingjun was able to successfully retrieve the Rabbit God's exclusive PAD thanks to the supercomputer's wide-area search function.
Taiyin Xingjun interjected, "The Tianbao matter is too difficult. I didn't want to tell you the truth too quickly. Moreover, we currently have no evidence. Revealing it in front of people who can't distinguish friend from foe will only increase our danger."
Ao Guang asked in a deep voice: "In this case, is it better for us to avoid it first?" "No need, anyway, this is a fact that must be made public sooner or later. What's more, it's good for the three representatives of Lingxiao Palace to listen together." The beautiful face of Taiyin Star Lord was rarely covered with a layer of gloom and sadness.
"Tianbao's cause of death was absurd, earning him widespread criticism from the Three Realms. For over three hundred years, the Ai family's forces have resorted to extremes to discredit his character. First, they planted several homophobic individuals at the Jade Rabbit Temple, then falsely accused him of exploiting the situation, seducing subordinates, and engaging in verbal and behavioral harassment. When the punishment meted out by their superiors was insufficient, they bribed a young and ignorant child and tricked him into bathing with them. They even fabricated a story about the assistant officials slaying their own relatives for the sake of justice. His hard-earned merits, accumulated through forming a loving marriage, were thus diminished, finally reaching the critical threshold of demonic transformation a season ago."
The revelation from the Moon Lord came too suddenly and frightened Ling Hong so much that he was dumbfounded and speechless for a long time.
He never expected that the shortcut for him to be credited with a great achievement and to climb to the top of the immortal realm would be a bloody road, and also the road of no return for his former master.
"It just so happened that Song Xinghe showed up at this time. Tianbao has been gritting his teeth and holding on all these days, just to see his beloved one again. For a lonely soul like him who was beaten to death, the priesthood and reputation are like external possessions. It would not be a pity to lose or give them up." The external statement was that he had done many unjust things and was unworthy of his position, so he must give way to someone more virtuous. Of course, there was no follow-up or official record left. It was just assumed that the Moon Palace quietly disposed of the Dharma body and essence of an inferior god and replaced him with Tilie's successor.
Therefore, the story that Hu Tianbao followed his love and detonated his own magical powers was only circulated within the Moon Palace, and few outsiders knew about it.
If Hu Ziyu had not shined at the official banquet, a little-known god like Rabbit God would never have been the focus of the spotlight.
Ling Hong bit his lower lip tightly until the wrinkles between his lips were broken and bleeding, and he did not let go even when Hu Ziyu yelled at him to open his mouth.
Hu Ziyu used both hands to pinch Ling Hong's philtrum and jaw, trying to make him speak.
"Over the years, Senior...hasn't he ever defended himself?" Taiyin Xingjun sighed, "In the first one or two times, he defended himself very hard, but who in Lingxiao Palace and Chenghuang Palace, led by family-loving straight men, would believe him? Even in Yutu Temple, where he worked, no staff dared to believe him.
With a flick of a pen, the bosses wiped out merit and salary by the zillionthousand ...
As for what it was used for, if he didn't tell me, no one could guess. "Now, everything made sense. The seven-character folk song and the Gangbu dance performed by the enigmatic pink-robed Taoist in the front hall of Weiming Hall were likely the code for executing "remote thawing."
On the one hand, Hu Ziyu was concerned about Hu Tianbao's motive for passing on the throne, and on the other hand, he was also worried about the layout of Ya Zi and others in the warehouse. At the same time, he also hoped that Ling Hong would not blame himself too much.
Instead of dwelling on the past, it is better to look ahead and face the difficulties ahead with care.
"As for Hong'er's matter, he said that this was a good thing. The temple needed a supreme immortal to avoid being inferior to others and relying on others for everything. He had predicted today's situation in nine out of ten ways. He had made every possible arrangement, every effort, and every future recovery. However, he still miscalculated one thing."
"What's the matter?" Hu Ziyu, the three elders of Lingxiao, and the three generals of the Ao family asked almost in unison.
Finally, the Moon God wiped away his sad expression and put on a smile that represented vitality and beauty.
"The little rabbit is so smart and so beloved by everyone that the Aijia Group's old tricks are no longer effective. They have no choice but to resort to a more brutal and direct method to siege it."
"No, no way." Hu Ziyu's face flushed. The three elders of Ling Xiao stretched out their arms, wanting to play with and shape their cheeks, and he quickly changed the subject.
"But... there are some things I still can't figure out. How did the senior get down from the Moon Heart to the mortal world? Also, why did he go into the warehouse? He wanted to self-destruct. Anywhere would be fine. If it were me, I would definitely choose to explode at the Love Family Group's headquarters. It would be heroic and spectacular, and I could also drag a few unfortunate souls to hell. If I chose here, what if the Star Lord didn't activate the supercomputer? Then wouldn't that be..." Taiyin Star Lord smiled playfully and replied, "The last question is not difficult. Little Rabbit is smart and will definitely figure it out."
After a brief discussion, the female fairies, the engineering team and the three elders of Lingxiao stayed outside, with Taiyin Star Lord leading the way into the warehouse. Linghong and Ao Botong served as flanks, protecting Hu Ziyu on both sides. Ao Guang, who stayed behind, was responsible for observation and vigilance, and providing assistance when necessary.
The treasure vault security AI recognized the signs of the Star Lord's body and automatically activated the lighting and guidance device.
A few wisps of blue-green light hung in the air without swaying, as eerie as the netherworld fire of the ghost world.
Without the starry sky, dark gray would be the only color in the warehouse, and stone siding would be the only building material and decoration.
Closely against the four walls, there are secret cabinets displaying various rare ancient books and sealed ancient magic weapons, which are also made of dark gray stone slabs.
Linghong's eyes quickly scanned the bookshelves, which held several ancient bamboo slips and silk scrolls. Some were ancient books strung together like hanging coins, with small holes punched in bamboo slips. Others were more common scroll-bound or folded-out cotton paper manuscripts. While he didn't take everything at once, he still managed to grab about 70% or 80%. He swiped any books he could find, whether usable, or potentially useful, into his app. If there were any inscriptions on stones, pottery shards, or clay pots that were inconvenient to take with him, Linghong would open the camera app, take a photo, and let the system automatically convert them into modern text.
"Master Hong, why are you taking these things? Are these all safe to take?" A chill ran through his heart, and Hu Ziyu got goose bumps all over his body.
He did not know tadpole script, oracle bone script, bronze inscription, etc., but he could roughly understand seal script and clerical script.
As soon as he saw a large book with the words "Xiyue Heart Sutra" written on the back, his intuition told him that these brick books would definitely become his future studies.
Ling Hong replied: "These are assets that belong exclusively to the Three Gods of the Moon Palace. The more you learn, the more abilities you will have to protect yourself and others." Hu Ziyu felt deeply distressed, but also felt a little more fortunate and relieved.
This guy actually still had the energy to collect rare books and plan his homework, but his gloomy mood had already calmed down a lot.
Behind the bookshelf is a dazzling array of medicine shelves. In addition to elixirs, there are also various herbs, tree rings, animal skins, crystallized beetles or fossil specimens.
Hu Ziyu casually picked up a porcelain bottle containing medicinal pills and discovered that the medicine certificate issued by the Shennongdian Food and Drug Administration for the medicine had expired two hundred years ago.
"Come and take a look." Taiyin Star Lord, who was walking more than half a hundred feet ahead, suddenly shouted: "This is the medium through which Tianbao came to the earth." Hu Ziyu put down the medicine bottle and was pulled forward by Linghong.
The warehouse is not big, only about 100 square meters. On both sides of the entrance are books and medicines arranged in an orderly manner. Behind them, there is only a broken alchemy furnace and an ancient mirror that has been covered in dust for a long time.
There was no ambush, nor any sneak attack mechanisms or techniques.
"A physical version of the Guanfan Mirror!" Ao Botong couldn't help but exclaimed: "I thought they were all sent back to the central government for centralized disposal half a century ago!" Taiyin Xingjun explained: "The normal process is that they should be collected by the central government, outsourced to a waste treatment plant, crushed into cosmic dust, and discharged to the other side of the galaxy.
But the Moon Palace is located in a remote area and is often forgotten, so it has been preserved intact."
The old-style Guan Mortal Mirror looks like a round mirror the size of a basin. It can be activated by infusing it with magic power. It does not require an authentication key, nor does it have external functions such as connecting to the network, route navigation, and record query. Therefore, when Hu Tianbao came down to the mortal world through it, there was no trace of him in heaven, and no one would know where he went.
Instead of keeping an eye on the old rabbit's tail, it is better to search for "Song Xinghe" directly, and perhaps you can find that infatuated and crazy figure among the audience.
Hu Ziyu studied the fragments of the alchemy furnace for a while, and then followed Xingjun and Ao Guang to watch the old-style Guanfan Mirror water curtain.
The three randomly chose the Busan Dome in South Korea as a fixed point to see if they could find any trace of Song Xinghe or his group "Magic Echo 7".
As for the second question asked a quarter of an hour ago, he now knew the answer.
"I have been thinking about the necessity of self-destructing magic power before jumping into the mortal world. If there is no other choice, who would want to do this and end up in an irreparable situation. Usually, if the senior wants to enter or leave the warehouse, just ask the Star Lord or Lord Wu Gang to lend the official seal. As for the reason, anything is fine, borrowing books, making medicine, or just making up something, it will sound more or less credible." Hu Ziyu said, and the Taiyin Star Lord beside him nodded in agreement.
"The senior came here so he could jump into the alchemy furnace and recover as soon as his mana exploded, his Dharma body burned, and his essence was damaged. He was truly reborn from the brink of death. Afterwards, having lost his Dharma body but his essence intact, he used the Mirror of Viewing the Mortal World to escape to the mortal world, find a place to live, and continue his activities as a human."
And this person is most likely the acting leader of Weiming Hall - Brother Bao, who also has the surname Hu.
Linghong picked up the fragments on the ground and planned to hand them over to a real engineer outside to see if it was possible to repair it. If not, he would try to collect materials and imitate the prototype to build another one.
Taiyin Xingjun gently put his arm around the shoulders of the Jade Rabbit Temple master and servant and said, "Now that the target is clear, the next step will be much easier.
This matter is not difficult, I will entrust someone to handle it." At this point, the clouds and moon have been cleared, and the dust has settled. Although there are still some regrets, and the road ahead is full of forks and dangers, the three of them still smile with joy, revealing a sense of relief.
In comparison, the expressions of the Ao family father and son, who had found a few strands of wolf hair on the mirror, were not so good.
"The former Rabbit God blew up his own magical power and abandoned his Dharma body to avoid becoming a demon and to escape from the world. This is understandable. But Zi'er, in order to sever the Rabbit God's lifeline, went all the way down to the Moon's Heart, persevering in doing so just to burn open the lock and destroy the alchemy furnace. Father, I think that's not the case."
Although these words were only said to Ao Botong, Ao Guang did not mind letting the three people in Yuegong hear them.
Ao Botong felt sad and said in horror: "My father means..." Along the way, although Ya Zi mostly planned things in secret in order to wipe out the Rabbit God's lineage in one fell swoop, the eyes of heaven were wide and nothing escaped him.
In the past, when he attacked Hu Tianbao, who was unable to hold the whole army together, Lingxiao Palace could still tolerate him; now, he accidentally offended the favorite of the Queen Mother, and was faced with an overwhelming amount of punishment and reckoning. He had no way to resist and could only let karma explode.
So, with time running out, he had no choice but to act hastily and risk everything. Naturally, with another demon about to transform, he had no choice.
"However, while Lord Tianbao can still use the furnace to quickly heal himself, Second Prince will be unable to withstand the pain of his essence melting," Ao Botong said worriedly. Aside from the Phoenix Clan, at this point, there's no other solution except to rebuild their essence from scratch. This requires relics from the past, such as used pads, magical instruments, talismans, handwriting, clothing, and even better, body parts like hair, bones, and teeth.
The key point is that a furnace that matches the harmony of the Dharmakaya and spiritual veins is also required. The surveillance footage in the machine room only captured Ya Zi entering the treasure vault alone. Not only did he not bring any assistants or guards with him, but the immortal and divine clones who had previously helped him explore the path were also nowhere to be found.
It was as if the people had evaporated into the Moon Heart in an instant, but some of them retreated or changed their minds in the middle of the process and recalled their spirit in advance. Ao Guang enlarged the image he had asked the Moon Palace Fairy before and projected it on the floor, repeatedly observing Jiaozi's actions before he disappeared.
Compared to a head-on battle, Hu Tianbao might be better at casting a line to catch the big fish, but Ya Zi is not a reckless man. If he wants to break into someone else's cave, he must of course make some plans first.
"Before self-destructing, he cast a curse on his blood, transforming it into protective armor." It was the same magical shield he'd created when he faced ten enemies alone in the front courtyard of the Taiyin Palace, except this time it was a full-body, sweat-blood armor capable of absorbing pain and shock. While this was speculation, Ao Guang felt somewhat reassured if the child's pain during his Yuan-breaking wasn't as intense as described in the scriptures. "From what I know of the Wolf Gods, they are a cooperative and loyal race, willing to sacrifice their lives when necessary, solely for the sake of group victory." Those vanished spirits weren't simply scattered or missing. They dedicated themselves to Ya Zi's armor, hoping to become a force to resist demonic transformation and mitigate pain.
The old-style Guanchen Mirror has no record of where Ya Zi escaped to. It could be the human world, the ghost world, or the devil's realm.
Perhaps, he will use the technique of transferring essence to fight for a chance to escape. If he can really achieve his wish, perhaps he will have the opportunity to regenerate through a borrowed body or shape his own Dharma body.
Or perhaps, if he could successfully find Hu Tianbao wandering around in the human world in the future, he would try to kill him again and again.
Hu Ziyu was reminded of a politician who said, "I will only supervise you in my lifetime." The celestial version of this would be, "I will only kill you, the god, in my lifetime."
There is a kind of affection called the bond of life and death; on the contrary, there is a kind of deep hatred called the incompatibility of the world.
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