With a whoosh, Little Nine soared into the sky, proudly revealing its true form above the cave!
Katyusha rocket launchers fired simultaneously!
Swoosh—swoosh—swoosh—swoosh—swoosh—
Thud—thud thud—thud thud thud thud—
The swirling ash and flames instantly engulfed the cave.
"Ptooey, ptooey!"
The group's luck had already run out when Xiao Jiu fired the cannon, but they were still affected by the residual force, and they all ended up covered in dust and dirt.
Chu Hongluan felt a throbbing sensation on her forehead, but considering that she was the one who had directed it, she didn't say much. She could only silently cast a few cleansing spells on herself and pretend nothing had happened.
Xiao Jiu circled in the sky once, and when it figured it was about time, it shrunk its size and flew back, becoming the size of a palm, and rested on Chu Hongluan's shoulder.
He strutted around proudly, eager to claim credit.
"how!?"
"......good."
"Hehe, I knew it. When you get back, praise me a bit more to your benefactor, tell him how domineering and powerful I am, and so on..."
Before Xiao Jiu could finish speaking, Chu Hongluan forcibly stuffed the spatial bracelet back into her hand.
As the smoke and dust cleared, the cave in front of us had been leveled, revealing the tomb beneath.
Yes, a tomb.
"You're here! I knew you'd find me. You're amazing, no wonder you're from my hometown!"
Yuehua's divine sense sat on the coffin in the very center of the tomb, leisurely swinging his legs. He looked at Chu Hongluan with a bright smile, which made him seem more lively.
"Hiss—" Ke Tinghe gasped.
It turns out that Senior Yuehua didn't ascend at all!
This cave is where he was buried!
"May I speak with Miss Chu alone for a while?"
Yuehua asked.
Chu Hongluan hooked Liu Jinghong's little finger and squeezed it, as a gesture of comfort.
Then he said, "Okay."
Chu Hongluan jumped down into the tomb alone, and with a wave of her hand, she created a soundproof barrier.
She looked around the tomb chamber, and finally her gaze fell on the coffin under Yuehua's buttocks.
"Is your true form... lying right here?"
“Yes.” Yuehua smiled, her eyes crinkling. “I can only be somewhat clear-headed when I’m this close to my true form.”
"So, like those demonic beasts, you too have been corrupted by demonic energy." This is not a question, but a statement.
"Yes," Yuehua sighed deeply. "After the war between gods and demons, the land corrupted by demonic energy was far more than just barren wastelands. There were simply many people like me, diligently trying to curb the spread of demonic energy. Back then, we were young and arrogant, thinking we could save the world, but the ending was..."
At this point, he smiled again, looking somewhat dejected: "You've all seen how it ended."
Yuehua sighed again before continuing, "Generally speaking, humans are not so easily corrupted by demonic energy. After all, humans have legs and are best at avoiding danger and seeking good fortune. If they find demonic energy, they know to stay far away."
He paused, then lowered his voice, as if muttering to himself: "But I don't believe in superstitions. I'm a time traveler. I thought I was the protagonist."
After a short while, he regained his composure and became excited again: "Fellow villager! Don't you think those monsters look a lot like zombies? It's one thing to be missing limbs, but what's outrageous is that they can survive with only half a skeleton left!"
"When I first saw a monster, I thought to myself, 'Damn it, they sent me to this world, why didn't they give me a cheat code? Like the Plants vs. Zombies system, where you can use any plant you want, and it's specifically designed to counter monsters!'"
"But then I thought, even though I don't have any cheat codes, I'm a 21st-century PhD in biology. Can't I create cheat codes even if I don't have any? Don't laugh at me, but at that time I just felt that creating plants that could restrain magical beasts might be the mission that God had assigned to me."
"After that, I carved out a cave dwelling in the demonically corrupted land and began my research experiments. The experiments gradually yielded results, but my body was also deteriorating step by step. The demonic markings growing on my skin, my craving for raw flesh, and my increasingly uncontrollable mind all told me that my days were numbered."
“I know that being corrupted by demonic energy and being possessed by demons are two completely different concepts. I will soon become a monster that is neither human nor ghost.”
"Unless I force a breakthrough and ascend to immortality before my mind is completely devoured."
"But demonization is irreversible. If I break through the realm, I will become the number one demon god in the world, and no one can stop me! At that time, the demon god will bring disaster to the world, and this world will be in danger!"
"But for thousands of years, haven't all my efforts and hard work been for the purpose of fighting against demons? If in the end I become a demon in order to prolong my life, wouldn't my whole life become a complete joke?!"
"Therefore, I have decided to end my own life."
"Before I came to an end, I wanted to go out and hand over the fruits of my life's work to someone else. But I forgot that when I first divided this area, I placed a restriction on it, forbidding monsters from leaving. Ironically, it was only then that I discovered that the restriction had already defined me as a monster as well."
“I can’t get out. So I can only start preparing for my own death. I hope that a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years from now, someone will come to my cave, accept my life’s work, and let these plants play their proper role! Therefore, I designed these trials.”
"But things didn't go as planned. At that time, my consciousness was already in chaos, and I was almost completely controlled by the demonic energy, which turned me into another person."
"I can't help but think, why should my life's work benefit a complete stranger, allowing him to achieve fame and fortune by stepping on my bones and be revered by the world!"
"I, a prodigy in my youth, broke through the Nascent Soul stage at the tender age of twenty, and after another ten years, I broke through the Tribulation Transcending stage. After that, I climbed all the way to the Mahayana stage. If I wanted to break through to the next realm and ascend to immortality, it would be within my grasp! Who in the world is worthy to compete with me? But why is it that someone like me—is unknown and obscure?!"
"They should all come down and be buried with me."
At this point, Yuehua covered her eyes, her whole body trembling as if she were sobbing: "I'm becoming less and less lucid. On one hand, I long for someone to select a reliable person to take these plants out. On the other hand, I'm controlled by demonic energy, harboring evil thoughts, wishing everyone would die with me!"
"I was relentlessly torn between these two states, painstakingly setting up layer upon layer of barriers, then hastily leaving behind a divine thought before lying down in the pre-prepared coffin and shattering my own heart meridian..."
Therefore, the final stage becoming a doomed situation with no survivors was not his intention.
But over millions of years, were they really the only ones who discovered the cave? Perhaps others have already been there long ago.
However, none of those who came here survived.
Tragically, a person with a noble heart was forced to commit one killing after another after his death.
If, in the end, these obstacles prevent his life's work from ever seeing the light of day again...
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