Thousands of lives were lost
"No." Cha Suxun replied to her through telepathic communication.
Yuanli immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, fortunately, he was not a completely heartless bastard who took advantage of others and ran away.
Unexpectedly, Cha Suxun once again communicated to her, "Later, when you grew up, you no longer needed me. You even deliberately avoided me. I wanted to offer myself to the Demon Lord's bed, but he refused. How can I describe my feelings at that time? Oh... I wonder if Ah Li can imagine those concubines in the cold palace who are crazy about wanting to sleep with him?"
Cha Suxun caressed her, her flames wrapped around his hands, and he enjoyed every intimacy she gave him.
He understood her and said to her through telepathy: "It's all in the past. I'm very happy now. If you really can't get over it, A-Li, please love me a little more, okay?"
"Okay. A'cha, can we get married earlier?" Yuanli said to her through telepathy.
"I believe you. You will never abandon me again in this life. Even during the waiting process, I am always overjoyed. You don't have to do this to comfort me." Cha Suxun said to her through telepathy.
Yuanli telepathically said to him, "But I want to make you happier, and give you a little more sense of security. Ah Cha, I want you to be the happiest and most joyful being in this world. You understand me, and I understand your heart. I know that having me will bring you joy."
Cha Suxun held her up and kissed her. Her flames swept across his face like countless gentle tentacles, cool and warm. The feeling of the conflict between cold and hot was wonderful and unforgettable.
He thought that he would never forget the feeling of kissing her original lips.
He sent a telepathic message to her and said, "Give me three days to complete the rest of the wedding ceremony. Three days from now, it will be an auspicious day that only comes once in a century. How about we choose that day for our wedding ceremony?"
Yuanli telepathically said to Cha Suxun, "Okay."
The atmosphere on Yuanli and Cha Suxun's side was full of sweetness, but on Yunyan's side, it was filled with sadness.
Yun Yan was wearing a plain white loose robe. He had consumed a lot of it, and the loose, open collar revealed his bony chest and the silver necklace with a crescent moon pattern of flower vines. The gems inlaid on the necklace reflected a bright light in the candlelight, making it hard to ignore.
At this moment, in Princess Huaifeng's room, there were only Yun Yan and another man who was several times more handsome than Yun Yan.
The man was dressed in luxurious clothes and wore a crown on his head that was similar to Princess Huaifeng's crown, but it was not as dazzling and luxurious as the princess's.
In anger, he tore off the necklace from Yun Yan's neck and held it tightly in his hand. The tip of the crescent moon pierced his flesh, piercing his skin and causing blood to ooz out. The more he looked at it, the angrier he became, but he still tried his best to control his emotions and threw the necklace back at him with force.
Yun Yan picked up the dagger on the table and cut his wrist fiercely. A lot of blood immediately flowed onto the ground.
He didn't care about the pain in his wrist at all, and looked at the man with the contempt of a victor in a provocative manner.
The man was obviously panicked.
The palace door was pushed open. Princess Huaifeng walked into the room and saw the blood all over the floor. She looked at the man with questioning eyes.
"If I say it has nothing to do with me, will you believe me?"
Yun Yan covered the scar on his wrist, his expression painful and his lips pale. He hurriedly explained, "Your Highness, it really has nothing to do with the Prince Consort. It was me. I cut myself."
After Huai Feng cast a spell to heal the wound on Yun Yan's wrist, he let him go back to his room to wash and change clothes.
In the bedroom, only Huai Feng and his husband were left staring at each other.
The prince consort took off his shirt and knelt in front of Huai Feng. He conjured up a thick whip out of thin air and presented it to the princess with both hands.
"Your Highness, fight."
The prince consort's tone sounded as if he was used to it.
Huai Feng took the thick whip and cast a spell to destroy it, leaving no trace of the whip.
This surprised the prince consort.
The eyes looking at her were full of disbelief and questioning.
"Your Highness..."
Huai Feng personally helped him up and gently stroked the scars on his body left by the whipping.
"Such a beautiful body, but I made it like this, husband, don't you resent me?"
"I love Your Highness deeply, so how could I resent you for such a small matter? Every lash of punishment Your Highness has inflicted upon me was due to my own faults. As Your Highness's husband, I was jealous and wanted to monopolize Your Highness."
"Do you really think you're wrong?"
"Your Highness, do you want to hear the truth?"
"Do you still dare to lie to my Highness?"
"Why wouldn't I dare to lie? As long as I can gain His Highness's favor for a moment, there's nothing I wouldn't dare to do. Over the years, I've been forced to tell countless lies in this deep palace."
"Forced?"
"Well, after I fell from His Highness's favor, he gradually stopped trusting me and stopped protecting me. Gradually, the undisguised love I once displayed for him now became, in his eyes,... the jealousy of a husband who lacked magnanimity. Gradually, His Highness lost the patience to even listen to my arguments. He only believed the false accusations and fabrications of those vying for his favor, constantly berating and punishing me with harsh words. Often, at times like these, the truth is more effective than lies. The quicker I admit my mistakes, the less angry His Highness will be, and the less disgust he will feel for me... and I can... sooner see His Highness for his routine business."
The prince consort sadly picked up the shirt he had taken off on the ground and held it in his arms. His nervous hands rubbed the fabric of the clothes anxiously, like a child waiting to be punished, nervous and afraid.
"Your Highness, I don't want to lie to you today. I never feel I'm wrong. Even though I'm your husband and I have to be magnanimous and tolerant towards your harem, I'm also an elf with flesh and blood. I love my wife deeply, and I don't want to share you with any outsider. I just want to monopolize your heart. I wish everyone who competed with me for your favor would die! I don't resent what you've done to me. I only resent myself for not being good enough. Even though I have the best looks among the elves, I still lost your favor."
Upon hearing this, Cha Suxun telepathically transmitted to Yuanli, saying, "I was right. He is Princess Huaifeng's consort. He is misleading us into believing that he is Yun Yan, the in-law."
After saying that, Cha Suxun took out the "Yin Liu Ji" that Yuanli had ordered Shuyong to take away.
After a quick glance through it, I found that it was indeed about the story of the prince consort, Yun Yan, and Princess Huaifeng.
Their ending was the same as the one Cha Suxun knew, except that there was another part after that:
From then on, Princess Huaifeng and her husband lived together for the rest of their lives, and no one in the harem took a concubine again.
According to the rules, the princess should have chosen a new in-law, and no matter whether it was a prince consort or a favorite, as long as they had slept with the princess, they had to leave the princess's bedroom after the service and could not sleep with her all night to avoid disturbing the princess's sleep.
However, the princess not only announced that she would never choose her in-laws again in this life, she also personally overturned the ancestral system and slept in the same bed with her husband every night until dawn. After her death, they were buried together.
The story in the book ends here.
Yuan Li was very surprised and couldn't help but exclaimed to Cha Suxun through telepathic communication, "I never thought that not only would my luck gradually change, but one day, I would be like a lucky koi fish, so lucky that any book I picked up would contain key information."
Cha Suxun was stunned, his eyes filled with heartache and self-blame and guilt.
He spoke to her through telepathy, "You should have been as lucky as a lucky koi fish. If you've read the books and stories written about you in the demon world, you'll have seen that sentence: The king we admire in the demon world is a lucky son deeply favored by the heavens. I haven't found the method to completely fuse the jade hairpin with your soul thread before reincarnation, so you are so unlucky in this life. When I find the method to fuse them, you will once again become that lucky son deeply favored by the heavens."
In fact, Heng Jin had already taught her the method of fusion, and was even allowed to enter her spiritual realm.
But she didn't know how to say it, and it seemed that she couldn't say it to make him sad.
After thinking it over again and again, Yuanli chose to keep it secret.
She telepathically transmitted to Cha Suxun, "Ah Cha has done well enough. Without you, I would be a broken soul. Before this, I believed that all my life's luck had been exchanged for you. Now, I still believe so. And I will always be willing to trade all my luck to the heavens without hesitation so that I can have you."
These words were not meant to coax him, but were her true feelings.
Hearing this, Cha Suxun couldn't help but shed two tears of happiness from the corners of his eyes.
Even though he had thousands of words to say to her in response, he was afraid that he would not be able to control his emotions.
Therefore, Cha Suxun chose to remain silent temporarily and decided to do his business first to ease his inner emotions.
He took out a mysterious brush, dipped it in the ink mist emitted by the ink soul lamp, and changed the ending to Yun Yan being the one who survived and the one who was burned to death in the fire. At the beginning of the ending after the fire, he added a sentence: From then on, Yun Yan lived as the son-in-law, and could live in peace and contentment with his beloved prince.
As soon as he finished writing, the prince consort standing in front of him with Princess Huaifeng turned into Yun Yan.
Yun Yan did not continue the lines that the prince consort interrupted. The illusion slowly dissipated. Yun Yan teleported to Cha Suxun, snatched the book and pen from his hands, and quickly changed the story back to the original version.
After finishing writing, Yun Yan returned the book and pen to Cha Suxun. Then, his story with Princess Huai Feng began again.
Cha Suxun spoke in a positive tone to Yun Yan, who was immersed in the fantasy world of the story, "Your Highness, you are in such a good mood. You like to play the role of a love rival and have a loving reunion with your wife. With your most hated face, won't you be disgusted by yourself when you look in the mirror? It's not easy for the formation to find a love-sick person like you."
The illusion was shattered, and Yun Yan, who was kneeling on the ground, seemed to come back to his senses suddenly.
"I don't understand what you're saying."
Cha Suxun pulled him out of the illusion of obsession, but ignored him. He just picked up the half-broken notebook, held it up to the lamp, and the real words appeared immediately.
The defender - Liu Guanlan.
"So, your name is Liu Guanlan, Prince Consort. You even use the name of your most hated love rival. You've really transformed yourself into Yun Yan. You've been acting over and over again, getting so immersed in the role that you've even believed yourself to be Yun Yan, right? How sad and pathetic."
After saying this, Cha Suxun deliberately used a sarcastic tone to provoke him and asked, "Why? Liu Guanlan, your life together as a couple for life, isn't going well and happy?"
Cha Suxun's words seemed to arouse some memories that were rejected by Liu Guanlan. He immediately hid his whereabouts and disappeared in the Canjianzhai.
Having achieved his goal, Cha Suxun began searching the house for any possible clues.
Noticing the extra paper lanterns that appeared at some point, Cha Suxun moved the ancient books next to the wooden table to use as a footstool. He reached out to touch the top of the paper lantern and found a piece of letter fragment stuck to the lantern frame, with small characters written in cinnabar on the fragment.
Hold it up to the light to see clearly.
"If the formation is broken, the book figurines can be led to the 'secret compartment on the west wall' and the 'book-guarding seal' can be obtained to avoid the remaining dangers outside."
Cha Suxun transmitted his orders to her, muttering again, "Isn't this a hint that the defenders had already planned to leave a way out after the formation was broken, and weren't just blindly defending it?"
Cha Suxun searched according to the literal meaning and found that, although the west wall seemed flat, there was a brick with a texture different from the surrounding ones.
There is a very small word "book" engraved on the surface of the brick, which can only be discovered by close observation. It is thought that this brick is a "mechanism brick" with a secret compartment.
The secret compartment is hidden in the "book shadow pattern" on the west wall of Canjianzhai.
I tried it, but human power couldn't push it. It must be the spiritual energy of the book figurine that can trigger the mechanism, and that's what the small characters said.
"If the formation is broken, the book figurines can be led to the 'secret compartment on the west wall' and the 'book-guarding seal' can be obtained to avoid the remaining dangers outside... the book figurines..."
Cha Suxun summoned a "book-pushing figurine" according to the previous method, and asked the figurine to press its palm against the mechanism brick and gently push it inward.
No response.
Yuanli sent a telepathic message to Cha Suxun, "The person guarding the formation is the key. This must be related to everything in Canjianzhai. Why don't you try Yun Yan's signature on the fragmented manuscript? Or Liu Guanlan's signature? Imitation is your forte."
After saying this, just as Cha Suxun was about to start writing, Yuanli's thoughts suddenly became clear. She telepathically stopped him, saying, "Wait! We still can't try rashly. What if we only have one chance? I remember Yun Yan and Liu Guanlan's signatures had one thing in common: a small circle. Try to imitate that first."
Cha Suxun nodded and had the book figurine once again place its palm against the mechanism brick and gently push it inward. As he did so, he dipped a dotted brush into the mist from the Ink Soul Lamp and drew a small circle on the wall above the mechanism brick.
The moment the drawing is completed, the mechanism brick will sink inward, revealing a secret compartment half a foot square.
The secret compartment was covered with a layer of silk, and a palm-sized "book guarding seal" was placed inside.
The seal body is made of rosewood, with intricate "book symbols" engraved on the surface. The seal face has the four characters "Yun Yan Shou Shu" in seal script. A faded red rope is wrapped around the seal handle, with a dry ginkgo leaf tied to the end of the rope.
Cha Suxun said to Yuanli through telepathic communication, "The material of this ginkgo leaf is similar to the dried petals that fell when the formation was broken. They must be from the same lineage."
Yuanli telepathically said to Cha Suxun, "Since they come from the same lineage, their functions and uses should be similar, right? Ah Cha, I think we need to return to the Jade Book Platform."
On the way back to Yushutai, Cha Suxun and Yuanli discovered that the book-guarding seal could be used to avoid danger.
As long as you hold the Book Guarding Seal while walking, the "annoying paper butterflies" around you will automatically avoid you. Perhaps because the red sandalwood fragrance emanating from the seal dispels the aura of anxiety, the paper butterflies are afraid to approach, no longer needing to rely on the Ink Soul Lamp to dispel them.
At the same time, when encountering obstacles such as broken calligraphy and ink shadow secret doors, you only need to place the seal close to the mechanism, and the key to cracking it will be directly displayed.
Afterwards, he placed the book-guarding seal on the "book talisman" of the Jade Book Table in the core area. The light green flame of the Ink Soul Lamp instantly brightened, and the shadows of the books on the Yingwen Wall changed from a "silent picture" to a "sound scene" - one could faintly hear the whisper of the person guarding the formation, Yun Yan: "This formation is to suppress the confused spirit, not to trap people." Among them, there was also the sound of ancient books turning.
From this, Cha Suxun and Yuanli directly obtained the complete reason why Wuxiang Palace set up the formation.
"I have been constantly observing the words and deeds of the formation guard Liu Guanlan, and I think you have also noticed it. I guess that if he sticks to the principle of "keeping to the text and preventing confusion", we can forge the "formation repair notes" left by the formation setter, and deliberately leave mistakes in the key steps. Because the formation guards abide by the rules, they will take the initiative to point out the loopholes and correct them. We should take the opportunity to restrain his actions instead of forcefully confronting him. I think we need to outsmart the formation guard and obtain the secret treasure box. Don't hold me, we have to cooperate, put me down," Yuanli said to Cha Suxun through telepathic communication, then patted his hands and immediately changed back to human form.
However, when Yuanli took the red thread of Yue Lao from the spiritual silver bell, the distance between them was rapidly widened in just a moment.
When she raised her eyes, Yuanli watched Cha Suxun's figure completely disappear from her sight. Even if she tried her best to teleport to him, she could not resist the space magic that had an absolute advantage in the Wang Zhen.
However, she was not panicked at all.
She immediately began to sense the location of the strand of her true body that she had given to Cha Suxun, and quickly locked onto his position.
But the faster she got closer, the farther Cha Suxun would be from her.
After thinking for a moment, Yuanli turned her back and did the opposite, teleporting at the fastest speed to increase the distance between them, but achieved the result she wanted most.
When she was about to get close to his back, it was as if an invisible force was pushing her away. Even if Yuanli tried her best, she could not shake the pushing feeling of this force.
Yuanli tied the red rope of Yue Lao into a lasso knot and aimed at Cha Suxun's wrist. After estimating the result, she changed her aim to Cha Suxun's head.
One set, that’s it.
This invisible force also disappeared, and the red line shrank. She and Cha Suxun finally stood together again.
"Is it okay? I had no choice...it's too hard to wrap your wrist from such a distance."
"It was a great fit. You found me so quickly, Ari. You didn't hurt me. Let's go, let's get through this quickly and get out of here. It seems that things are not going well outside."
"good."
Cha Suxun and Yuan Li collaborated, exploiting the "wen"-related mechanism within the formation to shift it. They falsely claimed to have discovered a shift in the formation's center, potentially damaging the treasure chest, and directed the guards to investigate.
When his attention was focused on adjusting the center of the formation, he took out the treasure box from the secret compartment on the side, avoiding a head-on conflict.
Every fork in the maze of confusion brings up the illusion of keeping to the right path: the past of the defenders adhering to the rules of the formation.
Soon, they met the pursuing defender, Liu Guanlan, in the center of the maze.
Yuanli immediately placed the treasure box at the center of the formation.
After the Book Guarding Seal senses the "breath of the person guarding the formation", it automatically releases "positive spiritual power" to bind the person guarding the formation.
Just as she guessed, because the person in the formation adheres to "keeping to the right path", he will be judged by the seal power as "an element in the formation that needs to return to its place."
While the person guarding the formation was tied up, Cha Suxun turned the eye of the formation according to the "formula for breaking the formation" on the stone wall of the maze, completely breaking the formation. At the same time, the "idea of staying in the formation" that the guarding seal had made him think of also disappeared as the formation was broken.
They successfully used the seal to break the formation and counterattack the defenders.
Afterwards, Yuanli found the flaw in the core illusion of the formation - a stone wall with the word "Wang" engraved on it at the end of the fork in the road.
Cha Suxun knocked the stone wall with the treasure box, and the illusion dissipated as the word "wang" shattered, revealing the real passage.
The moment Cha Suxun took her hand and ran away, Yuanli looked back and saw Liu Guanlan standing there, looking up at the formation bookshelf that was collapsing and breaking while automatically repairing itself, with a smile on his face.
Through the gap in the formation passage that was about to close completely, she vaguely saw that Liu Guanlan had once again put on Yun Yan's clothes at the beginning of the story, and happily ran towards Princess Huaifeng who was created by the formation illusion.
"What are you looking at, Ari?"
"I was watching Liu Guanlan. He deliberately didn't try his best to stop us and let us go. Maybe he really wanted to keep it."
"Don't look at it. We'd better not get too involved in other people's karma. Keep the secret box away. This is the Upper Heaven, and the eyes of the Heavenly Lord are everywhere."
"Uh-huh."
At this moment, outside the Wuxiang Hall, the entire Tianqi Hall was bustling with activity. Looking down, a dense crowd of immortal officials were collecting the papers scattered on the ground.
Cha Suxun landed on the ground holding Yuanli's original body, and picked up a few scattered papers in the corner.
The content of the paper was the same, written from Xingyi's perspective, a long and indignant accusation against the Emperor for abandoning his lover and his own son.
On the back of the paper, there is a family portrait of Xingyi, Qinghui and Tianjun.
On the way back to the Broom Star Lord's Mansion, the heavenly realm was littered with the same papers scattered everywhere. The gods and immortals from various families were picking them up and cleaning them up. The number of patrolling heavenly soldiers and generals was more than ten times that of usual.
The presence of Heng Jin and Tian Shu was no longer nearby, and Yuan Li did not detect their presence until she returned to the Xingjun Mansion.
Yuanli couldn't help but worry. Although there was Cha Suxun's netherworld power, even if Tianjun discovered that outsiders had broken into Wuxiang Palace, he should not have discovered their identities. However, Heng Jin and Tianjun had been near Tianqi Palace, which could not be hidden from Tianjun. Their duties should not have prevented them from appearing near Tianqi Palace at this time.
Could it be that they were summoned away by the Heavenly Emperor?
No, she believed that they were summoned to deal with the paper incident.
She first arranged a bedroom for Cha Suxun, right next to hers, and even moved the red spider lily he gave her from her bedside to the bedroom he had arranged for her.
“This way, it feels like home.”
"Your scent is more like the scent of home than Lycoris radiata, and it helps me sleep peacefully and sweetly."
Cha Suxun held her in his arms reluctantly, "Although I really want to stay and live in the bedroom you prepared for me, the number of souls in the Netherworld has increased dramatically, and I must go back. If you need me, feel free to come to the Netherworld to find me. Don't go alone and take risks. If necessary, even if you ask Heng Jin for help and ask him to protect you closely, it doesn't matter. I won't be jealous, I just want you to be safe. Ah Li, the world is starting to get into chaos again. Promise me, don't... don't..."
Cha Suxun choked with fear, blinking frequently to prevent the tears from falling. He was worried that even saying that word would be unlucky.
She moved closer to him and patted his back gently. She understood what he wanted to say but couldn't.
"I won't. We agreed to get married in three days. No matter what, I will rush to our wedding ceremony and become your first wife. Don't think too much. The ending of the previous life will not happen again. I will not die. A small character like me has no use for me. Ah Cha, don't let your imagination run wild. You and I must be safe."
Cha Suxun didn't want to think too much, but happiness came too quickly and too violently, so much so that it seemed unreal to him, and he felt uneasy that happiness might slip away at any time.
"Yes, I'll leave three of my Psylockes for you. You can use them to send a message to me once a day, okay? You can say anything, even just calling my name."
"I know. I'll let you know I'm safe."
"Yeah, well, I'm leaving."
The moment Cha Suxun kissed her forehead, he prayed sincerely to the heavens to bless her with safety.
After Cha Suxun left, Yuanli called Xiaobai.
"What happened in the heavens?"
"During the three days since you were away, Xie Yuan's teleportation arrays have appeared sporadically throughout the Celestial Realm, dropping papers accusing the Heavenly Monarch of abandoning his beloved and child. Simultaneously, all realms other than the Demonic Realm and the Celestial Realm have been attacked by Xie Yuan's poisonous miasma. The demons who follow him are slaughtering all living beings, with the human realm suffering the heaviest casualties. Currently, most of the immortals and gods have been dispatched by the Heavenly Monarch to unite the various realms to subdue Xie Yuan's followers. I strictly followed your orders and haven't set foot outside the Star Lord's Palace. This is all I know; I don't know the specific details. By the way, Emperor Heng Jin fabricated an avatar of yours to follow Tian Shu into the mortal realm to save and protect the people. No immortals or gods have yet aroused suspicion. They have instructed me to tell you not to show yourselves upon returning to the Star Lord's Palace, but to descend to the mortal realm immediately to rendezvous with Tian Shu."
"Okay, let's keep this a secret from them for now. Xiaobai, promise me that no matter what happens, you won't show up in human form, okay?"
Although Xiaobai still didn't understand, he still obeyed Yuanli's words unconditionally.
When Yuanli descended from the clouds, the clouds beneath her feet had not yet dissipated, but the stench of rancid blood had already pierced the clear light of heaven.
She stood on the charred mountaintop. As far as her eyes could see, the fertile fields had turned to red soil, and dark red bloodstains had solidified on the cracked ground, like a wound torn in the earth.
The remains of the village whimpered in the wind. Among the broken walls, dry bones and unburned firewood were entangled into hideous totems.
A few crows were perched on the tilted millstone, pecking at the half of a human hand sticking out of the crack in the stone. They did not fly away in fright when they saw the god coming, but just looked back indifferently with their blood-red eyes, as if this purgatory had become the norm in the world.
The river had long since dried up, its exposed bed littered with piles of corpses. Some bodies curled like shrimps, their withered fingers digging deep into the mud, as if grasping for something before their death. Mothers clutched babies in their arms, their blood-drenched hair draping over their ashen faces. The children's eyes, still wide open, were nothing but two bottomless black holes. The stench of decay and the scorching smell of burning mingled, transforming into a tangible black mist that slowly drifted between the broken walls.
The city in the distance looked like a human slaughterhouse. The city gates lay in a pool of blood, bloated corpses floated in the moat, and several headless corpses hung from the flagpoles on the city walls, their tattered robes rustling in the wind.
The streets in the city were covered in blood and mud, which was as sticky as paste when stepped on. Occasionally, a person who was not completely dead would make a gasping sound, half of his body sunk in the pile of corpses, and his hollowed-out abdominal cavity was crawling with maggots.
On the shore, starving wild dogs were tearing at the corpses wearing official uniforms. Occasionally, vultures swooped down and snatched away the dead person's eyeballs, which were still warm.
Her robe fluttered slightly in the filthy air, the hem of her sleeve stained not with earthly dust but with congealed blood. She bent over and picked up a broken child's arm. Teeth marks still lingered on the delicate wrist bone, and between her fingers clutched half a moldy grain cake.
She lowered her eyes and looked down, the trace of compassion and mercy between her brows was heavily stained by the purgatory on earth.
She cast a spell to become a god, entering the eyes of the countless statues of her in the world and looking at every corner of the world.
She saw a white-haired old woman holding her grandson with a broken halberd, her withered fingers stroking the still warm cheek again and again until the evil wind blew away the last bit of life; she saw a young child curled up under a broken wall, holding his fingers and looking at his mother who had turned into dry bones, with a fear colder than the abyss in his clear eyes; she saw the monks burning their golden elixirs to deliver a final blow, and where the spiritual light exploded, the demon's claws were still tearing their tattered Taoist robes.
As night fell, the southwestern village transformed into a living hell. An old man had just gathered the last handful of rice into the rice jar when a green-faced, fanged mandrill kicked open the wooden door. The monster stretched out its long arms and lifted the old man into the air. Its bony fingers easily crushed his throat, and blood, mixed with unswallowed bran, gushed from the corners of his mouth.
The clay pot on the stove was overturned, and the brown rice that rolled out was covered with the child's brains. The little granddaughter in the red coat didn't even have time to cry out before she was bitten in half by another snake demon that was spitting out its tongue.
Beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance, more than twenty villagers were tangled up in a ball of demonic fire. The green flames licked at their clothes, burning their skin without burning through, only causing their muscles and bones to spasm in searing pain.
"Shut up!" the black-robed demon twirled his beard and sneered. He tapped the ground with his bone staff, and several pitch-black vines burst forth, engulfing the wailing woman and dragging her underground. Blood seeped from the cracks in the vines, flowing along the gullies, gleaming an eerie silver in the moonlight, ultimately converging into the ancient well west of the village, long since filled with corpses.
Even more terrifying are those monsters that can transform.
The fox demon, claiming to be a savior, lured seven children away with food transformed from mud. Now he was sitting on the altar in the ancestral hall, slowly pulling out the children's nails.
The young man in coarse cloth had his limbs twisted off by the civet cat demon and was hung on the archway like a rag doll. The torn abdomen revealed his internal organs entangled with maggots.
The hunters who tried to resist were skinned and their tendons were pulled out. Their white skeletons were arched by the demonic power, with a few strands of flesh hanging between their ribs. From a distance, they looked like a bloody lantern.
"It's time to go to the neighboring village to 'borrow' some brides tomorrow night." The mandrill threw the head, which had been gnawed to the point that only the skull was left, into the air, causing the monsters to burst into shrill laughter.
The flames dyed half the night sky red, and the smell of burnt flesh mixed with demonic energy formed a sickening stench that even startled the circling night owls and made them flee in all directions.
And in the center of this wailing land, the black-robed demon was refining pills with the hearts of living people. The gurgling blood in the furnace reflected the undisguised cruelty and greed in his eyes.
She couldn't save him at all...
She wept bitterly, her fingertips curled unconsciously, leaving a shallow crescent mark. A drop of almost transparent divine tear fell to the earth, and before it touched the flames of war, it turned into a light rain all over the sky, but it could not wash away the blood on the scorched earth, nor could it extinguish the wails of the resentful spirits.
Faintly, she heard the cries of countless souls in the evil fog, and those broken wishes were like needles piercing the clouds and piercing her heart densely.
The soul, which should have been neither sad nor happy, felt a subtle pain, like a glass cup thrown into the hot mortal world. Although he knew that he could not interfere with the will of heaven, he still couldn't help but press his palms on the cold wall of clouds, as if this could catch the falling creatures.
The wind blew up his sleeves, revealing a string of silent Bodhi seeds on his wrist. Each seed was engraved with the mantra of rebirth, but at this moment it was slightly hot amid the wailing of the human world.
She closed her eyes and let out an almost inaudible sigh from her throat. In that sigh was the heaviness of looking down on the world but being unable to survive the catastrophe, as if she was carrying the entire sinking earth on her back.
Faced with this purgatory on earth, the iron law of heaven that one cannot interfere with the cause and effect of mortals is like a mountain pressing down on her head, but she cannot ignore it.
She randomly went to a temple she had built, where Tianshu and Hengjin were enshrined. She prayed to their statues about her destination and plans, and then summoned the Tianfan Lantern.
That day, a Brahma lantern appeared in her hand, its light illuminating the darkness within a hundred meters. Evil spirits retreated, and the miniatures on the lamp wall began to shift and transform. The souls of those who had died tragically at the hands of demons and evil spirits appeared in the areas illuminated by the lantern's light.
Yuanli walked slowly forward while chanting the Sanskrit mantra to liberate them.
These dead souls became earthbound spirits, trapped in the same place, repeating the tragic experience of their death over and over again. Unable to go to the underworld, they were in great pain. Many earthbound spirits even didn't know they were dead.
The awake people around were lulled to sleep by the warmth of the light as it touched everything they could see.
As more and more earthbound souls were liberated, more miniature murals appeared on the walls of her Tianfan lantern. The tears from the dead souls, like icy gems, gathered together and condensed under her lantern, forming a tassel.
Gradually, she began to feel tired.
In her mind, the symptoms of her first use of the Tianfan Roulette began to vaguely appear: countless different voices whispering in her ears, severe tinnitus, and dizziness.
These sounds seemed to have a powerful attraction. Although Yuanli felt very uncomfortable, she could not resist it.
As she listened, she felt as if every step she took forward was like countless forces pulling and dragging her back. Her light body seemed to be carrying a heavy burden, preventing her from moving forward.
It was like being stuck in a swamp, and even though the soil under her feet was extremely hard, it seemed like it was about to swallow her up.
Only now did Yuanli truly understand what Chihuang had said:
If you forcefully liberate earthbound spirits, their resentment, anger, ignorance, greed, and evil will linger on you like sins, never to dissipate... until they devour you and turn you into the next earthbound spirit to be forever trapped.
She didn't dare to stop and forced herself to continue reciting.
Chi Huang appeared behind her, and her invisible hand touched her warmly for the first time, holding her hand and giving her strength.
She suddenly felt a lot more relaxed.
Chihuang supported her like this and, together with her, performed the ritual of liberating the earthbound spirits for the entire night.
When the first rays of morning sun illuminated the earth and the earthbound spirits disappeared from their sight, they stopped to rest.
She found a nearby temple, immersed herself in her own statue, and concentrated her mind to eliminate the remaining resentment, anger, ignorance, greed, and evil thoughts in the lantern.
The Blazing Phoenix appeared in her spiritual realm and showed her the worst outcome of Xiao Yan'an's calamity, which he had not been able to show her last time.
What Chihuang showed her were scenes from her memories, because the worst outcome of Xiao Yan'an's calamity was what Chihuang experienced for her. Therefore, it was not what Chihuang said. It was like a kaleidoscope, like an extremely real nightmare, and she felt the pain and suffering that countless lives had endured when the calamity occurred.
With this, Chihuang completed the rest of her teaching.
The shadow of the Blazing Phoenix began to dissipate into golden starlight, slowly merging into the lantern in Yuanli's hand, and the light of the lantern became brighter and brighter.
Yuanli realized that Chihuang was about to disappear.
"Yuanli, I have completed my mission. I am very glad that I did not fail this time."
As soon as Chi Huang finished speaking, she completely dispersed into tiny starlights and completely merged into her Tianfan Lantern.
Yuanli could sense that the Blazing Phoenix had completely dissipated, and her power had completely merged with the Tianfan Lantern.
There was no time to indulge in sadness, she had to save more lives, even if it would violate the iron law of heaven that one should not interfere with the cause and effect of the human world.
As the night went by, more and more believers came to her temple to pray to God and seek protection.
She clearly felt that her strength was increasing at an astonishing rate due to this ever-increasing willpower.
After carefully listening to all the prayers in front of her statue, I found that the reason why the number of believers increased so rapidly overnight was because many mortals saw the light when she was saving the souls of the dead last night.
They believed that it was the appearance of the God of Broom.
In this chaotic world where no matter how much you pray to God, he will not show his power, she is immediately regarded as the savior.
Tianshu soon came to meet him, and together they subdued many of Xieyuan's followers.
She wanted to explore the memories of these evil demons, but found that once she explored the memories, there would be white spots, like resurrected worms, rapidly dividing and frantically gnawing at the memories until the memories were eaten into blanks.
These evil demons and goblins then turned into innocent and stupid little demons that had just transformed, retaining their original habits and cognition, and could not even use magic.
He could only kneel on the ground and beg for mercy in fear.
"Chang Mei's memory-devouring skills have been further improved and enhanced. How abominable! We should have focused on capturing her from the beginning!"
Yuanli remembered Yan Ye's unique tracking ability, and she immediately cast a spell to send a message to the demon world, summoning Yan Ye to come for help.
She suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to ask about the relationship between Yan Ye and Si Xi, which was her dereliction of duty as a godmother.
Therefore, she didn't send a message to Si Xi to come along. She didn't know what their current relationship was like...
"These days, the monsters and demons we've captured are all like this. As soon as we delve into their memories, they become like this, with blank memories and stupid expressions."
"Being this stupid won't be of much use. Evil spirits are rampant. The human world is so vast that even if we create more clones, we can't kill them all. These difficult-to-eliminate living dead alone are enough to exhaust our energy. Ultimately, we have to break into their lair to be more effective."
"Chang Mei destroyed their memories because she was afraid we'd find the Xie Yuan's lair. I've been to Yuemang Mountain, and there's no Xie Yuan, just some exploding corpses concocted by the poisonous miasma. Using the aura of these evil spirits to locate their whereabouts is impossible. The miasma and resentment from all walks of life are becoming increasingly dense, acting as a barrier."
"Chang Mei must be a key protected target now. Finding her, not to mention her lair, at least killing her would solve a big problem."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Ye arrived.
As soon as he appeared, he kowtowed three times to Yuanli. "Yan Ye greets the Star Lord."
"That's not necessary. Hurry up. Yan Ye, I need you to track Chang Mei's scent and find her location. These stupid monsters have been under Chang Mei's spell and must have come into contact with her. See if your smell works. If that doesn't work, I'll continue to capture them for you."
Yan Ye transformed into a wolf and approached to sniff them. These evil demons were frightened so much that they foamed at the mouth and fainted immediately.
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