Chapter 77 Chapter 77 The Fifth Wish
In the end, Chen Mu came up with a solution.
Hongzhu and Lanxin's goal was to pass down his swordsmanship. Actually, Chen Mu wanted to say it was completely unnecessary. The swordsmanship he had learned was called "Life and Death Sword Technique," and it was deeply murderous, with every move designed to kill. He used it for revenge and had no real regard for the technique itself. When Chen Mu left, he didn't compile his swordsmanship into a book for Hongzhu and the others. At the time, he felt the Twin Lotus didn't need to learn "Life and Death Sword Technique." Therefore, Hongzhu was merely imitating the techniques he had used during his training, unaware of the true nature of "Life and Death Sword Technique."
Chen Mu prepared to modify the "Life and Death Sword Technique" to make it more suitable for those with Water and Wood spiritual roots. System 05 provided a database of all sword techniques suitable for Water and Wood spiritual roots, while He Shile was responsible for testing the feasibility of the modified sword techniques. While the modified sword techniques superficially retained the moves and spiritual power operation of the "Life and Death Sword Technique," their core was completely different.
The "Sword of Life and Death" has a total of nine levels. Hongzhu has only practiced to the second level and has not yet grasped the secret. As long as the improvement is good, she will not be able to see it.
Even though Chen Mu was very familiar with swordsmanship, this was still a very challenging task for him. Creating a martial art or sword technique was closely tied to the creator's talent, experience, and temperament. Techniques related to the water and wood spiritual roots were mostly gentle, harmonious, and spontaneous. Given his past life, these qualities were completely unrelated to his own.
System 05 often saw Chen Mu deep in thought, wandering by the lake, in silence with the vegetation and water. He practiced swordplay with an ordinary branch, his expression sometimes fierce, sometimes melancholy, sometimes calm and gentle, revealing the complex fluctuations within him.
Chen Mu recalled his past experiences, just like picking up gravel from the river of memory, especially those memorable scenes, which he recalled over and over again. This process was like putting gravel into a closed clam shell, which secreted liquid under the torture of severe pain and wrapped it layer by layer, polishing it into a crystal clear and round pearl. For him, the earliest and most profound memory was the fire. His family was destroyed and his fate embarked on a bloody and cold road of revenge. The memories before that were already blurred. When he recalled them, all the scenes were covered with a layer of white light. At first, he tried to avoid recalling his childhood for self-protection, but later he really couldn't remember it. Then, for revenge, he devoted himself to training. Those twenty years were filled with hatred and urgency. The desire for revenge chased him closely, sticking to his heels, forcing him to move forward at all times. He always felt that if it weren't for revenge, there was no need to live this life at all.
For Chen Mu at that time, it was a period of time when he closed off his emotions. He went to many places, met many people, and did many things. At that time, he felt that everything he saw was bleak and irrelevant. He had no friends and did not leave any good stories. He had a narrow escape and was walking on thin ice. He passed by the crowd alone. He felt that he was just a dry skin supported by bones, with a heart burning with anger and grief. Apart from that, there was nothing.
"Actually, Linglong Tower is quite interesting, right?" Chen Mu suddenly asked.
System 05 calmly replied, "Indeed, although it was dangerous, many interesting things also happened."
"The Myriad Beasts Sect isn't that crazy."
"At least there are a lot of cute spirit beasts."
"The scenery of Xiyue Valley is also nice."
System 05: "The moonlight was just right the day you buried the master of Xiyue Valley."
The scene in Chen Mu's memory suddenly became brighter, like a ray of moonlight shining down, wiping away the mist and dark clouds.
Chen Mu spent most of his time reminiscing and thinking, only occasionally picking up his sword. He Shile occasionally couldn't help but ask about the progress, but System 05 never urged him.
After a while, Lan Xin came back. She talked with Hong Zhu all night and finally prepared to leave together.
Hong Zhu quickly found a time to say goodbye to He Shile and said, "Sister has obtained the necessary information, and we are leaving together this time. Your injuries haven't fully recovered yet, so you can stay here or leave if you want."
For a while now, He Shile had spent every day with Hongzhu. After their walks by the lake and their discussion of the sword technique, Hongzhu had more and more topics to talk about. Hongzhu told him about her past experiences and stories about her sister, and no matter how dire the circumstances, she managed to recount them with a lighthearted tone. Hongzhu explained that although her father had died young, she had always had good luck. While she hadn't encountered much good, she hadn't encountered anything too bad either, and her sister had always been by her side. A cultivator's experiences were often quite ordinary, but Hongzhu's stories were particularly captivating, like being warmed by the sun. He Shile listened so intently that he felt like he was melting with the sun, turning into a pool of water left to its own devices, then saturated with the boundless sweetness of honey and the bitterness of sour oranges. He memorized every word Hongzhu said, revisiting them at night, piecing together a fragmented account of his upbringing.
In contrast, he said very little to Hongzhu. He also wanted to confide in her and believed that Hongzhu would listen, but he found that his past was mediocre and what he said was boring enough. Moreover, he did not want to reveal his identity as a member of the Xiancao Sect.
He Shile had been looking for an opportunity to bring up the idea of going with them, but he kept putting it off. He didn't expect that they were about to leave.
"This place is quite secretive and difficult for others to break in. If you need to heal your wounds in the future, you can come back here." Hongzhu spoke again, and she smiled: "But I still hope you won't get hurt so badly again."
He Shile calmed himself down. Although now was not a good time, he had to speak out: "Where are you planning to go? The secret realm is dangerous. Maybe we can go together. Don't worry, I won't hold you back."
Hongzhu pretended to think and shook her head. "We are looking for something, and you have your own goals. Let's part ways. If we are destined to be together, we will meet again."
She refused very bluntly. He Shile was anxious and asked the two people in his sea of consciousness in a hurry: "What should we do now? After we separate, the chances of us meeting again will be very small."
System 05 said, "I think your own affairs are also very important. How about going to get the sword now? I think you haven't forgotten your purpose yet."
He Shile: "But, the sword technique hasn't been improved yet..."
Chen Mu: "Don't you have a tracking talisman? Just put it on her."
System 05 glared at Chen Mu, who spread his hands. He didn't see anything wrong with this method at all. But He Shile clearly had a higher sense of morality than he did. After a long moment of deliberation, he decided not to use the tracking talisman on the red bead.
Chen Mu sighed regretfully, and System 05's evaluation of He Shile quietly improved.
In the world of cultivation, doing whatever it takes will certainly lead to a better life, but he really prefers principled people like He Shile.
Hongzhu and Lanxin left, while He Shile stayed to recuperate. He didn't need to rush his mission; recovering was more important. Every time he looked out at the lake, Hongzhu's charming eyes would resurface in his mind.
This place is indeed very secretive. In order to improve his swordsmanship, Chen Mu proposed to leave the sea of consciousness to test his sword. System 05 used the model to create a physical entity for him. Later, Chen Mu asked, "Have you ever tried to create a physical entity for yourself?"
He Shile opened his eyes and circulated his spiritual energy for a cycle. He felt that his injuries had basically recovered. He was sure to meet He Shiqing again when he went out, so he had prepared many talismans specifically for dealing with his cousin. He was busy drawing talismans, and when he looked up, he saw two figures by the lake.
He had seen System 05 and his predecessors many times in his sea of consciousness, but this was the first time he'd seen them in reality. He recognized their appearance and figures immediately, but there was something strange about their physical form, as if they had always been there. The scenery within the secret realm remained unchanged. Chen Mu and System 05 often walked side by side by the lake, but unlike He Shile and Hong Zhu, they spoke more in silence, a hidden undercurrent between them. They would wander far away, disappearing from He Shile's sight, only to return silently at some point.
He Shile had seen Chen Mu use a sword before, and it was still the same sword technique, but his temperament was completely different from Hong Zhu's. To his surprise, Chen Mu's sword technique was very calm, without any murderous aura, but like a dark abyss, forever silent.
This sword technique was given to Chen Mu by System 05, promising the fastest possible increase in strength and the fastest possible revenge. That very night, Patriarch Hongde destroyed his family. In the ruined temple, System 05 granted his wish, and that same night, his fate took two turns. The memory of revenge wasn't limited to him; System 05 remembered everything and everyone he experienced. His life was so inextricably linked to System 05 that System 05 was involved in every single event within his memory. If System 05's involvement were severed, his life would be reduced to a brief, hasty, and terrified escape, a blank before and after.
So when he used System 05 as an anchor point to sort and polish the pearls of his memory again, he discovered that his past was not blank, and System 05 was always by his side.
After leaving this world, he has always been with System 05.
This was his fate, the fate he had chosen. The existence of System 05 was like flesh and blood being put into that shriveled human skin, and then embedded with soul and emotions, and he became a living person.
Chen Mu put away his sword and looked back. System 05 was standing there waiting for him.
System 05's gaze remained the same as before, waiting for his response, just like at the beginning.
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