Chapter 99
Lin Jichen finally received news from his master. His master said that the sect leader already knew about it, and that this matter was no longer their concern. He should continue to guard the stronghold.
Lin Jichen breathed a sigh of relief and looked at her junior brother, saying, "I'm sorry to have worried you, but it's alright now."
Su Liyue, who had only recently arrived, was summoned by an elder and ordered to go to the Qingxu Sect. She couldn't understand the message the elder sent.
The elder said it was urgent, and she had no choice but to bid farewell to Lin Jichen and the others, embarking on the road to Qingxu Sect. The journey was arduous; demons roamed everywhere, relentlessly searching for the people. The blood and bones on the ground were chilling. Such a hell on earth, she had only ever read about in books before, but seeing it with her own eyes today, she finally understood why the older generation harbored such deep hatred for demons!
She also helped her fellow students who were still rescuing and searching for civilians several times, helping them to send those who were alone and hiding everywhere to nearby strongholds, which took up some of their time.
Outside the gate of Qingxu Sect, Gu Qingci and Murong Jing saw Su Liyue's back.
"Senior Sister!" Gu Qingci called out loudly to Su Liyue.
Su Liyue turned around and saw the two of them, full of questions: "Why are you here?"
Gu Qingci learned some things, but in the eyes of the demons, it was as if she hadn't learned anything at all. Murong Jing, although highly talented, had only studied for fifty years, not even having had time to go down the mountain for training. It's unclear why these two were sent out alone.
"The sect leader sent us to Qingxu Sect, saying it was about something very important," Gu Qingci replied.
She herself had been asked to come to the Qingxu Sect, so it seemed to be something truly important. However, she hadn't yet realized that anything about her was connected to Gu Qingci.
She nodded and said, "Let's go inside first and talk about it!"
All three had been summoned by the elders of the Exorcism Bureau, so after announcing their names at the mountain gate, they were allowed in. Then, someone led them to the main hall where the leaders of various sects were still holding a meeting.
The disciple leading the way looked at the main hall with a puzzled expression. Usually, the hall was filled with the sounds of daily debate, but today it was unusually quiet. It seemed that the silence had deepened ever since that demon arrived. Had the demon brought some news?
He said to the disciples guarding the door, "These three are the disciples of the Exorcism Division: Su Liyue, Gu Qingci, and Murong Jing."
He had just finished speaking when the doors of the main hall opened, and a voice came from inside: "Come in!"
The three looked at each other and then entered the main hall.
The hall was not as luxurious as I had imagined; there were only a few pillars standing there and countless candles placed on both sides of the wall.
Everyone had seen the leaders of various sects in the main hall several times, and although they couldn't recall some of their names, they were still familiar faces. Suddenly, an unfamiliar man came to Gu Qingci's side and reached out to lift her hand.
Gu Qingci had never been treated so lightly by a man before. She wanted to pull back but couldn't move. She raised her other hand to hit the man, but there was no way to do so, and she couldn't even speak.
Murong Jing pushed the man away and asked sternly, "How dare you act wildly in front of all the sect leaders? Who are you?" As he spoke, he shielded Gu Qingci behind him.
The man didn't see anything wrong with it. Instead, he looked at the sect leaders and said, "That's it, this is the bracelet. I want to take it now."
"Of course I can't give it away. This bracelet was entrusted to me by Senior Sui Fu to be kept safe; it's his last wish." Gu Qingci, realizing she could move again, immediately covered the bracelet, refusing, "I can't give you this bracelet, it's..."
"Give it to him!" said an elder from the Exorcism Division. He also looked helpless. "This is Yue Ze from the Demon Clan. You should know who he is."
"Why?" Why would a demon dare to appear here? And why would she give her things to a demon? Gu Qingci didn't understand.
Murong Jing didn't know why his master was doing this, especially since the other party was a demon.
"Young man, you should know that this thing didn't originally belong to her. It belonged to Shi Wanqing, and she was just keeping it for her temporarily. Haven't you heard about what happened between Shi Wanqing and Chonghua?"
Upon hearing this, all three fell silent. Who would take such a thing seriously? Everyone assumed it was just a tactic used by the demons to slander Tianyu Mountain, and even if there was something true, it wouldn't be as the rumors suggested.
The elder of the Exorcism Division looked at Han Wenqing, who nodded. He sighed and said, "Things are not as you think. Please listen patiently to what I have to say next."
So he told the whole story, and finally shook his head and said, "There is Shi Wanqing's aura in the bracelet, and Sui Fu put a wisp of her remnant soul into it to nurture it. This wisp of soul is very important. Without this bracelet, Chonghua would go even crazier."
Such acts of destroying the world for one person are something we've only ever seen in storybooks before; those are fictional, and people just read them for fun. In real life, when similar things happen, all the major sects would deal with these rebellious disciples immediately.
Take Wen Sushu and Ding Xiuyuan from Tianyu Mountain and Qingxu Sect, for example. Back then, they caused quite a stir, and both sects issued kill orders. In the end, it was Shi Wanqing who killed these two unfortunate villains who had committed numerous evils. It is said that Shi Wanqing showed no mercy at all.
Now that Chonghua is trying to pull this off, even if he succeeds, he'll be walking right into a trap. The first thing Shi Wanqing will do when she gets back is kill him.
"He also..." This was truly unexpected, and Gu Qingci didn't know what to say.
Murong Jing looked at her and said softly, "If you're unwilling, I'll help you." But deep down, he still wanted Gu Qingci to cooperate, after all, this was a matter of great importance concerning the people of the world. However, emotionally, he thought, what does the fate of the world have to do with a woman's bracelet, especially since she had worn it since childhood?
Murong Jing's inner conflict was written all over his face. Gu Qingci smiled slightly at him and nodded, saying, "Since it's for the sake of all living beings, I'm willing. Besides, this bracelet originally belonged to Aunt Wanqing, so it's now being returned to its rightful owner." She took off the bracelet and placed it in Yue Ze's hand.
Yue Ze took the bracelet and said with a smile, "One thing is done, but there's still one more thing."
Su Liyue felt that what was about to happen was related to her, otherwise they wouldn't have called her over. She looked at Yue Ze. Unexpectedly, he was also looking at her, and he said, "It seems that you've already guessed, young lady."
"There's no good reason to guess. If there was nothing wrong, they wouldn't have called me over."
Yue Ze stretched out his hand and looked at Su Liyue, saying, "You're right, I have no choice, otherwise I wouldn't want to bother you."
Su Liyue looked at her elder, who simply sighed, "Do you still remember Rong Xi?"
Upon hearing this name, Su Liyue could no longer maintain her composure. Was this matter related to him? She turned to look at Yue Ze, unaware that her hands were trembling.
But Rong Xi has been missing for a long time, and everyone has been searching for him for a long time. How could he be involved with the demon race? Although he is a demon, he is deeply trusted by everyone in his sect.
Seeing Su Liyue's lost and dejected appearance, Yue Ze said directly, "Our demon race and your immortal sects are destined to be enemies. Even demon cultivators are no different in the eyes of our demon race."
Su Liyue relaxed after hearing this. It was good that it had nothing to do with the demons. But why did they ask her about Senior Brother Rong?
“Because you and Rong Xi had a connection in your past lives,” Yue Ze said, seemingly able to read the other’s mind. “In your past life, you were a cultivator, just like now. You took a demon as your disciple and later died for the sake of all living beings. You were originally destined to suffer for all your lives, and you didn’t even have this life. But Rong Xi used some method to bring you back to this world.”
With each word Yue Ze spoke, Su Liyue felt a growing pain in her heart. She clutched her chest, unable to speak.
She knew nothing of her past life, and she was still searching for Rong Xi. She looked at Yue Ze, shook her head, and smiled bitterly: "It's no use you looking for me. I can't find him either, and I don't know where he is."
Yue Ze was also quite helpless. "Yes, I just found out that this person has disappeared, neither alive nor dead. But I believe he is still alive, after all, everything he did was for you." Yue Ze said, leaning closer to Su Liyue.
Seeing Su Liyue's distress, the elder of the Exorcism Bureau felt heartbroken himself. He said, "Rong Xi has truly disappeared. We've been searching for him for hundreds of years, but we still haven't found any news."
Yue Ze looked at Su Liyue gently and said, "It's very simple. Don't you want to know about your past with him?" His eyes were very warm. Su Liyue looked into his eyes and felt that Rong Xi was right beside her. This warmth came from him, and she unconsciously fell into this warmth.
Just as something flashed through her mind, she suddenly felt a chill all over her body and came to her senses.
Yue Ze looked at Han Wenqing, who had interrupted his spellcasting, with displeasure. "Sect Leader Han, what is the meaning of this?"
"Even if you manage to remind her of her past life, so what? What Rong Xi did is still beyond her control after her death; she can't give you the answers. Besides, she'll be lost in the illusions you've created." Han Wenqing was determined to prevent this from happening.
"Alright! It's the same whether he's here or not. Chonghua has already made two preparations," Yue Ze said, holding the bracelet.
Countless candles were placed on both sides of the main hall, and suddenly several went out. At first, everyone just glanced at them and showed a hint of regret.
Seeing everyone's expressions, Murong Jing suddenly realized what these candles were. They were the disciples' soul lamps. All disciples of the immortal sects had a soul lamp after entering the sect. Some sects used a candle, while others used an oil lamp. But what they all had in common was that the lives of the disciples were linked to this lamp; when a disciple died, the lamp would go out.
Those few candles just now indicated that several fellow disciples of the Qingxu Sect had passed away.
Some sect leaders had already begun to comfort Sect Leader Chu, but at that moment, several more candles went out. Others flickered, until only a tiny flame remained.
Seeing that everyone present, including Yue Ze from the demon clan, looked rather grim, Gu Qingci asked Murong Jing beside her, "Do those candles have any special meaning?"
"These are the soul lamps of Qingxu Sect disciples; they go out when the disciple dies." As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of soul lamps went out.
If so many disciples of the Qingxu Sect have died, then other sects must be in the same boat. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, hundreds of disciples from other sects may have perished.
While everyone was discussing matters within the Qingxu Sect, so many disciples were dying outside. It was a despairing sense of powerlessness.
Sect Leader Chu was stunned. He stared at the flickering soul lamps for a long time, unable to speak.
"Since Chonghua has already begun its operations, I must take my leave now. Take care, everyone." Yue Ze pushed open the door of the main hall and left.
These words also awakened Sect Leader Chu, who said sadly, "Everyone, we must also take action."
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