Chapter 114 Conspiracy "Why are you so late? I've been waiting for you for ages..."
“We have different paths, so we cannot work together. They have established a new organization with the ambition of becoming kings and hegemons, and they do things that disregard human life. I will never be able to join forces with them,” Wan Qianzhong sneered. “Therefore, I am not familiar with them, so I naturally do not know the question you are asking.”
Shen Cangyu stared at her, her expression unchanged. Under her gaze, Wan Qianzhong finally deflated and said, "Alright, I admit it. I did indeed take advantage of their ambition and secretly planted the copper coin eye mark on them to monitor their actions."
Wan Qianzhong knew that those people were a group of ruthless individuals. She was keeping an eye on them only to prevent them from doing anything immoral that would tarnish the reputation of the Five Evils and disrupt her plans.
Hundred-Eyed Mirror was timid and cautious, always suspicious and fearful of being harmed, so he only attacked those close to him, making him relatively harmless. But Boundless Life was different. Boundless Life attacked everyone indiscriminately, complaining about everything and everyone, finding fault with everyone. When Boundless Life appeared, it was like a locust plague, always trying to convert everyone into his followers, destroying their bodies and devouring their souls.
Amitabha wanted more power and more followers. He wanted to make the Daoist teachings of Wuliangsheng as mysterious as peeping into the heavens. He wanted to become the next Tianxiang Niangniang, to be revered by thousands. In the future, whether it was cultivators or mortals, whenever the Daoist teachings were mentioned, their names would be the first thing that came to mind.
To this end, Amitabha imitated the appearance of the one who peered into the heavens and created many statues of gods, which he scattered among the people, using the power of people's faith to enhance his own magical power.
“Wuliang Sheng is just like its name, endlessly multiplying and never ceasing. Instead of going after those cowards like Bai Mujing, you should focus your attention on Wuliang Sheng. They are the biggest threat,” Wan Qianzhong said. “Amitabha is dead, but Amitabha’s followers are still alive. Without an organizer, Wuliang Sheng is no longer bound and is tyrannical in the human world.”
Speaking of this, Wan Qianzhong suddenly changed his tone: "Back then, Kunlun also sent many disciples to exterminate Wuliangsheng. At that time, they thought they had wiped out all of Wuliangsheng, but how could those cultivators who grew up in the mountains understand human nature? They probably let many Wuliangsheng go and even let Wuliangsheng reside in their bodies. It's really laughable."
The Kunlun disciple possessed by Wuliang Sheng...
Back then, on the mountain of Xingxiang Hall, Shen Cangyu saw countless disciples who had been possessed by Wuliangsheng. Apart from those who glimpsed the secrets of heaven, almost all other disciples of the Daoist arts were also infected by him. It turned out that the Wuliangsheng in their hearts was infected when they went down the mountain to exterminate Wuliangsheng's followers. Or perhaps, Wuliangsheng was already rooted in their hearts, but only after witnessing all kinds of things in the human world did he finally "awaken".
"Perhaps it's really as you say, that the laws of the world can be integrated with the Five Evils. Look at them, they were originally cultivators, but they were still influenced by Wuliangsheng."
Upon hearing Wan Qianzhong's words, Shen Cangyu recalled the sea god statue he had seen on the ship when he traveled to Kunlun years ago.
Ordinary people do not understand what Taoism is, but they believe that gods and immortals exist in this world. They offer their faith and worship the gods in order to gain spiritual comfort and protection for a smooth life. So fishermen put the statue of the sea god on their boats, trying to rely on the god's protection to fight against natural disasters and pray for a journey without wind or rain and a calm sea.
It wasn't just fishermen; such idols were scattered throughout the land, protecting different people—herdsmen, farmers, hunters… Wuliangsheng exploited this loophole, placing various idols to gain different kinds of faith. This practice was most prevalent five or six years ago, but has since been significantly curbed.
The reason is that Kunlun knew that the person behind these statues was Wuliangsheng, and Wuliangsheng only wanted people's faith. They had no ability to protect people at all. It was just a scam based on people's ignorance. So they took action to remove all the statues.
From then on, there was no faith in the mortal world; faith existed only in Kunlun. Along with faith, people's hopes for the future also disappeared.
One by one, the statues of gods in the mortal realm were dismantled, and the human world returned to the peaceful, indifferent, and stagnant state that Shen Cangyu was familiar with in his previous life.
The Boundless Beings were clearly wrong; they deceived mortals. But were the Boundless Beings' existence truly all harm and no benefit? If that were the case, shouldn't people be better off after the Boundless Beings were eradicated? Why have things turned out like this? This thought arose in the minds of the Kunlun disciples.
Wuliang Sheng deceived mortals, yet gave them hope to live. Should this lie be allowed to continue, letting them live in a beautiful dream forever, or should their dream be shattered, forcing them to see reality? In this whole affair, who is truly at fault? Is it Wuliang Sheng, the mortals, or Kunlun?
At this point, anger arose in their hearts, and countless evil seeds were transferred from the mortal realm to Kunlun.
"What kind of expression is that?" Wan Qianzhong looked at Shen Cangyu and frowned. "You wouldn't have empathized with Wuliangsheng, would you? You said you wanted to read all the people in the world, collect all the Taoist methods, and integrate all the Taoist methods in the world, including the Five Evils... You can't possibly integrate Wuliangsheng's heinous habits as well, can you? If you become like that, then our cooperation will have to end."
“Learn their strengths and discard their weaknesses. I will not harm anyone. I only want to place different methods in the right place, so that each method can perform its own function. That is the ideal world I want.”
"Is this why you're looking for the Hundred-Eye Mirror? To learn its techniques, then modify it to turn it into your tools?"
Wan Qianzhong was half right. The other half was that Bai Mujing harbored deep resentment towards Wan Qiguixin in the past and even wanted to eliminate the Kunlun Sword Master. Shen Cangyu was very curious about who was behind all this and what their motives were. After all, this person had impersonated Pei Wenjing and killed so many people, and so many people believed him without anyone noticing anything amiss.
In this life, he even impersonated Qiu Sheng at the Xingxiang Hall. If Shen Cangyu hadn't found a flaw in his disguise, the Spirit Pearl would have truly fallen into his hands. Shen Cangyu was certain that this person was very familiar with the person who believed in the return of all things to the heart.
“Yes, I need to have a good talk with him. Maybe I can persuade him, just like I persuaded you,” Shen Cangyu said.
"The Hundred-Eyes Mirror who participated in the Night Voyage back then was cautious. He only sent his own paper effigy. My copper coin mark can be nailed to a person, but it cannot be applied to a paper effigy. If you want to find that Hundred-Eyes Mirror messenger, I can't help you. But if you want to find other Hundred-Eyes Mirrors, I can give you their addresses."
"who?"
“You know him,” Wan Qianzhong took a sip of tea, “Xu Qiubai.”
*
The fish cart fell from the sky and landed on the hilltop where peach blossoms were in full bloom. Shen Cangyu put away the fish cart and looked up at the warm spring sunshine and the beautiful flowers in full bloom before him. The peach blossoms and flowing water before him looked like a fairyland, which reminded Shen Cangyu of Yunmeng Marsh where Xiaoyao You had lived.
After the collapse of the Heavenly Secrets Sect, most of the disciples of the Incense Hall who sought redemption eventually went to the Free and Unfettered Wanderer Sect. Within Kunlun, the Free and Unfettered Wanderer Sect was the final resting place for the Heavenly Secrets Sect. Unexpectedly, outside of Kunlun, Xu Qiubai made the same choice.
Back then, Xu Qiubai left Kunlun carrying the hatred and disgust of the people. Before leaving Kunlun, he deliberately spread his crimes and earned a lot of infamy. Then he whispered in Shen Cangyu's ear that he had verified for her that one could cultivate external alchemy by relying on people's extreme disgust.
He appeared heroic and selfless, sacrificing himself for her, but Shen Cangyu was unable to save him from the clutches of the Discipline Hall.
Shen Cangyu gazed at the small house nestled among the peach blossoms from afar, pondering how she should reappear before Xu Qiubai.
When she was still in Kunlun, she never left to look for Xu Qiubai, nor did she contact him. After she left Kunlun, she didn't look for Xu Qiubai either. Now, facing new problems, she suddenly came to find him. She's like a character following a plot, while Xu Qiubai is a specific NPC. Only when key plot points are triggered do they have a chance to talk.
"Too materialistic," Shen Cangyu thought to himself, "no wonder she's so greedy."
The external alchemy cultivation method that Xu Qiubai proved to her is now of no use to Shen Cangyu. The real practitioner of external alchemy is not Shen Cangyu, but Shen Chunrong. In the novel, Shen Chunrong is the final villainous boss, but outside the novel, Shen Chunrong wrote a terrible novel with a terrible ending and rose to fame through infamy.
Therefore, Shen Cangyu no longer has any connection with Xu Qiubai on the surface. So what reason could she possibly have for appearing in front of Xu Qiubai?
Allies?
In the past, she thought she was the only reborn person in this world with memories. Her mission was to fight against the protagonist. Xu Qiubai was also the second variable in this world. He survived again because of her existence. They had the same goal: to fight against the protagonist.
But now everything has changed. All their previous knowledge was just their guesswork, a self-righteous illusion.
Shen Cangyu believed that Shen Qingyan's appearance had robbed her of her chance to exist, causing chaos in the world. In reality, her disappearance was her own choice, and it was only after she, as the protagonist, disappeared that the author realized the story couldn't continue, so he created a new protagonist to cater to the market.
Shen Qingyan's birth began with an experiment, which could also be described as a rescue.
Since resistance is no longer an option, allies will also cease to exist. The bridge she built between Xu Qiubai has collapsed, just as the alliance of the Five Evils to build a harmonious society has crumbled.
If our paths diverge, how can we make plans together?
Shen Cangyu was still worried. If she had come to see a stranger, she wouldn't be so conflicted.
Suddenly, the wooden door of the mountain cabin opened, and the figure that came out was quite different from before, like a willow branch that had grown taller. Yet, in this mountain forest, he was still dressed in gold and silver, adorned with brocade, and seemed to be living a very good life.
This glance shattered Shen Cangyu's illusion that he had begun to renounce the world and embark on a carefree life.
Xu Qiubai opened the door and immediately saw the figure standing in the distance among the trees. There was no surprise in his eyes, but the sound of his voice seemed to instantly pull Shen Cangyu back to the past.
"Why are you so late? I've been waiting for you for ages."
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