Chapter 313 Shen Cangxuan's Choice
So he continued to play the role of the "useless master in the Jindan stage", and even deliberately mixed with both good and evil to make himself look harmless.
Only in this way will Xue Ming not notice it.
This seemingly weakest person is the player who plays the whole game.
As for Meng Hong...
She had indeed been his Taoist partner.
But after discovering that Chen Wanzhen was secretly practicing the Soul Devouring Demonic Art, Shen Cangxuan never looked for her again.
Once you embark on some roads, there is no turning back.
"So, Xue Ming thought he was plotting against the Heavenly Dao."
Gao Huohuo whispered, "Little did he know that the Heavenly Dao had been waiting for him to join the game."
"No." Tiandao's voice completely dissipated, "I'm waiting for you."
When that will completely dissipated, Gao Huohuo slowly opened her eyes and found that Zhong Hanshang had been standing beside her without her knowing when.
"What did Tiandao say to you?" he asked.
Gao Huohuo smiled slightly and reached out to hold his hand: "It said--"
"Our story has just begun."
Gao Huohuo looked at the mark of heaven appearing on his palm, and suddenly felt the familiar aroma of wine brought by the mountain breeze.
Turning around, he saw Shen Cangxuan leaning against a green pine tree, tossing a wine gourd, the golden elixir jade token on his waist sparkling in the morning sun.
Her eyes were red as she chuckled softly, "Master, did you enjoy this game of chess?"
Shen Cangxuan raised his head and drank the remaining wine, half of the burns from repairing the way of heaven were exposed on his sleeves.
"Shouldn't the winner buy a wedding drink first?"
In the distance, Zhong Hanshang's sword tassel and Gao Huohuo's sleeve were entangled together, rustling in the morning light.
Looking at her master's calm and composed look, Gao Huohuo felt as if her heart was being pricked by fine silver needles.
Deep in those eyes that always smile, there is clearly a loneliness that has not been dispelled for three hundred years.
Three hundred years passed, and her master was guarding the deserted main hall of the Shadow Moon Sect alone.
Every midnight, he could be seen wearing a thin robe, calculating in front of the astrolabe until dawn in the east.
Gao Huohuo knew that she and Zhong Hanshang were able to defeat Xue Ming in the end because of her master Shen Cangxuan's painstaking planning.
He is like a chess player, placing his moves one by one in the dark, unknown to anyone, until the entire game is formed.
And Zhong Jingxuan, Zhong Hanshang's father, was a chess piece dropped by Shen Cangxuan.
Back then, Zhong Jingxuan knew that he would not be able to live to see the end, but he still agreed to Shen Cangxuan's request without hesitation.
He sacrificed his own soul and transformed it into a demon-trapping formation, locking the Soul-Devouring Demon alive in Luoxia City.
That night, the setting sun was as red as blood, and Zhong Jingxuan stood on the city wall.
He turned around and smiled at Shen Cangxuan and said, "Cangxuan, the rest is up to you."
Before he finished speaking, his figure disappeared in the blazing spiritual light.
Only a remnant soul lingers in the formation, enduring the erosion of evil spirit day and night.
Therefore, when Zhong Hanshang brought Dongfang Han into the Shadow Moon Sect for the first time, Shen Cangxuan's gaze lingered on the young man for a long time.
He seemed to see the old friend's former appearance through that young face.
The general who once drank with him and talked about the world, the close friend who still smiled freely at the critical moment of life and death.
What is even more regrettable is Zhong Hanshang’s mother, Princess Shu of the demon clan.
After learning about her husband and Shen Cangxuan's plan, she joined this doomed tragic game without hesitation.
She used the secret magic of the demon clan to conceal the secrets of heaven, secretly passed on information, and even betrayed her own people.
But in the end, the couple's plan was exposed and they were hunted down by the demons, and both died.
Shen Cangxuan had sat alone in the middle of the night countless times, looking in the direction of Luoxia City, stroking the jade pendant that Zhong Jingxuan had given him.
The jade pendant is cold, but it seems to still retain the warmth of an old friend.
He murmured in a low voice: "Brother Xuan, Shu Niang... wait a moment, this game of chess is almost over."
After Xue Ming was executed, the sky of the Cangyun Realm finally cleared of the haze, and the sky was filled with rosy clouds and surging spiritual energy.
The laws of heaven were gradually completed, and countless cultivators achieved enlightenment and breakthroughs.
And Shen Cangxuan, the chess player who had been planning for three hundred years, began to be surrounded by signs of ascension. The faint sound of immortals seemed to be guiding him to the upper realm.
But just as thousands of monks were looking up at the sky, waiting to witness the ascension of this legend.
Shen Cangxuan just smiled faintly and raised his hand to extinguish the fairy light around him.
He turned and walked towards the ruined city wall of Luoxia City, where there were still traces of Zhong Jingxuan's burning soul.
His fingertips stroked the mottled bricks and stones, and he murmured softly:
"Brother Xuan, I told you...if I win this game, I'll definitely ask for a glass of your wedding wine."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly put his fingers together to form a seal, and the spiritual energy in his body poured out like a galaxy, turning into thousands of golden threads that disappeared into the void.
He actually sacrificed his entire life's cultivation and asked the heaven for a chance to reverse the cycle of reincarnation!
"Master, are you crazy? You haven't even had a drink at our wedding!"
Gao Huohuo's eyes were red as she tried to stop him, but he gently pushed her away.
"In my life, I have calculated all the secrets of heaven, but I only owe them."
He looked at the gradually condensing light of reincarnation with a smile on his lips.
"If I hadn't begged you, Brother Xuan wouldn't have surrendered Luoxia City. If I hadn't sent the message, Shu Niang wouldn't have revealed her whereabouts..."
Above the sky, two entangled light and shadows vaguely emerged - one was like a proud spear, and the other was like a blooming red lotus.
Shen Cangxuan's hair turned white at a speed visible to the naked eye, but his voice became more gentle.
"In this life, it's my turn to protect you. Brother Xuan, didn't you always say you wanted to be a knight-errant? Shu Niang, those sweet cakes you're talking about..."
When the last spiritual power dissipated, the three strands of soul light fell into reincarnation together.
Gao Huohuo knelt at the place where his master disappeared. Suddenly, he saw a spring breeze blowing by, and a tender sprout broke through the soil in the crack of the wall.
It was just like the Phoenix tree that Shen Cangxuan had planted in the general's mansion when Zhong Jingxuan got married.
The day the news reached the Shadow Moon Sect was late autumn.
The ginkgo leaves in front of the mountain gate rustled down to the ground, covering it with golden color. When the wind blew, they rolled up tiny spots of light.
It was as if he was the figure in white who always liked to stand under the tree and watch the stars for the past three hundred years.
Someone's sword fell to the ground with a clang, and then the entire mountain gate fell silent.
The eldest senior brother clutched the jade slip of communication tightly, his knuckles turning white; the third senior sister turned her back, her shoulders trembling slightly, but she refused to let the tear fall.
The sweet scent of osmanthus wafting from the dining hall suddenly turned bitter.
It was in this silence that Elder Hu stepped into the main hall.
He took out a yellowed letter from his arms, and the familiar frosty sword energy was still condensed on the seal.
"The Sect Master gave it to me before he left."
Suddenly, the cry of a crane broke through the sky outside the hall, just like the smiling eyes of Shen Cangxuan standing in the clouds when the new leader took the throne that year.
To all members of the Shadow Moon Sect:
Seeing your letter is like meeting you in person.
When you read this letter, I will have already dispersed all my cultivation and entered the cycle of reincarnation to find my old friends.
After three hundred years of planning, Xue Ming was finally brought to justice and the Heavenly Dao was restored. This is the blessing of the Cang Yun Realm and also my lifelong wish.
However, deep down in my heart, there is still a regret that has not been resolved - because of my conspiracy, my old friends Zhong Jingxuan and Princess Shu's souls were scattered across the world and there is no afterlife.
Brother Xuan and I have known each other since we were young. We once drank together in the wind and snow and slew demons together.
At that time, we were drinking and expressing our aspirations. He said that he was willing to protect the mountains and rivers for the people. I laughed and said that I wanted to attain the great truth and achieve immortality.
Unexpectedly, in the end, he used his spirit to suppress the devil, and I used my life span to set the game.
The farewell in Luoxia City turned out to be a farewell forever.
Shu Niang was originally a princess of the demon clan, but in order to protect the people, she was willing to betray her own clan.
She sent a message to me before her death, each word stained with blood: "Brother Shen, Jingxuan and I are leaving first."
I have not dared to forget this feeling and this friendship for three hundred years, and I cannot forget it.
Today I offer my life’s cultivation as a sacrifice, and pray to Heaven for a chance.
I don't ask to ascend to the immortal path again, I just hope that the three of us can meet again in the next life and continue our old relationship.
In this life, it is my turn to protect them - Brother Xuan can roam the world and be a free and easy knight; Sister Shu can experience the world's fireworks and never be involved in blood and rain again.
The entire Shadow Moon Sect is entrusted to Huo Huo.
This boy has a stronger character than me.
The third compartment of the Sutra Repository contains my life's experience. The sword tomb in the back mountain left nine styles of "Eternal Hate", all of which can be passed on to interested disciples.
Don't be sad, my friends. Spring goes and autumn comes, with the growth and decline in order. This departure is not a farewell, but a new life.
If in the future a new bamboo in the mountains suddenly grows three inches taller, or a wind chime under the eaves rings for no reason - that means we have come back to see you.
Shen Cangxuan's last work
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