Chapter 26 The Way Home
Hong Xiangwan looked at Huang Pinjie with a mixture of love and hate and said, "If I hadn't seen you back then, my brother wouldn't have died so young, and I would definitely have become a seven-tailed fox by now."
"Hmph! Did I force you to watch me? Don't disgust me anymore, and your brother too, ugh..."
"Xiao Jie, you don't have long to live, so please grant my wish."
"Then just kill me," Huang Pinjie said.
"If I could bring myself to do it, I would have killed you back when you killed my brother Hongjian!"
"hehe."
Negotiations failed again.
This life of leisure certainly didn't come for free. Hong Xiangwan didn't want to be taken advantage of, and she put in a lot of effort. Unable to bring herself to attack directly, she ordered her servants to use poison.
However, Huang Pinjie had practiced Gu poison, and Gu Qingqing herself was now a Gu poison, so she couldn't cure her and could only watch them continue to live a good life with resentment.
A few days later, Hong Xiangwan watched as the group of hungry people ate bowl after bowl of spiritual materials. Blood flowed from their nostrils, but they wiped it away and continued eating. Wu Buyu even taught the bird clan the "Devouring Heaven Technique" to help them digest.
Hong Xiangwan increasingly felt that Huang Pinjie was leading a swarm of locusts, determined to ruin her treasure.
So she extended the invitation again, saying, "Shall we talk?"
Huang Pinjie picked up a vermilion food and replied, "If you still want me to end my own life, then there's no point in talking!"
Hong Xiangwan: "...We still need to talk about it!"
So the two foxes went back to the courtyard and continued their conversation.
Originally, Hong Xiangwan was supposed to discuss such a private matter in a private room, but Huang Pinjie said, "I feel disgusted just looking at you. You want me to be in the same room with you? Do you want me to kill myself right now?"
Huang Pinjie refused to go, so Hong Xiangwan compromised and moved the negotiation to an open courtyard.
"Xiaojie, what exactly do you want..."
"Stop!" Huang Pinjie interrupted Hong Xiangwan: "It's absolutely impossible for me to kill myself or harm myself; instead of thinking nonsense, you should change your cultivation method."
Hong Xiangwan's eyes lit up, and she said, "Xiao Jie, you really understand me. You know that I have been working hard to rebuild the Path of Ruthlessness."
Huang Pinjie mocked her without hesitation, "So this is your reason for wanting me dead? Well, just you wait, I'm going to die eventually!"
"No, without the process of severing emotions, my Dao heart will not be perfected."
"What's it to me!"
The negotiations have failed again.
Ji Er and his group craned their necks inside, hearing everything clearly.
They knew more or less about Hong Xiangwan's obsession.
When someone becomes obsessed with something to the point of madness, it is difficult to break that obsession, but if it is just a matter of replacing it, it is often relatively easy.
That night, neither Ji Rong nor Huang Pinjie could sleep.
Ji Rong couldn't sleep no matter how many times she counted sheep, horses, chickens, or ducks; so she took a different approach and started memorizing books.
Of course, she had forgotten most of the book; she was just reciting it haphazardly.
"At birth, people are inherently good; their natures are similar, but their habits differ."
"Everyone has their own unique talents, and even if I spend all my money, it will come back again."
"The mighty Yangtze River flows eastward, just like a river of spring water flowing eastward."
"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name."
"Withered vines, old trees, and crows at dusk; a small bridge, flowing water, and a family home."
"Heaven creates all things to nourish me, and I still have something to give back to Heaven."
"When a whale falls, all things come to life..."
"Phoenix..."
While carrying her on his back, Ji Rong successfully lulled herself to sleep.
Huang Pinjie got an idea as well. Since they couldn't reach a stalemate, she would put aside her disgust and have a good talk with Hong Xiangwan, who was even more insane, to see who could fool whom.
The next day, having made up her mind, Huang Pinjie took the initiative to call out to Hong Xiangwan, who was about to leave, from a distance of about three zhang (approximately 10 meters), and said, "Let's talk."
Hong Xiangwan felt like the sun had risen in the west, but she was mostly excited.
In the courtyard, Huang Pinjie, standing three zhang away from Hong Xiangwan, said seriously, "Have you ever considered that your path was never going to work?"
Hong Xiangwan said confidently, "How do you know? Once you're dead, I'll care about nothing else in this world, and the Great Dao will be within my grasp."
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Huang Pinjie asked meaningfully, "Really? Are you sure you won't miss me even more after I die?"
Hong Xiangwan looked infatuated and said, "That's why I want to keep one of you by my side."
"So this isn't the path of ruthlessness; you're just trying to continue deceiving yourself."
After saying this, Huang Pinjie realized that since Hong Xiangwan could say she wanted to keep her by her side, it meant that she knew very well that she was just trying to deceive herself.
"How long are you going to keep playing this self-deceiving trick?! If you have the guts, kill me right now!" Huang Pinjie shouted.
"You dare to cultivate the Path of Ruthlessness? You were like this when Hong Jian died, and after all these years you haven't improved at all. Don't think I don't know that you've corrupted Hong Jian!"
Hong Xiangwan lowered her head and remained silent. This was no secret; even Hong Jian himself knew it. Before he died, he cried out, "Monster! Monster! You're finally going to kill me, or is it my turn to die..."
Back then, she realized that she had fallen for Huang Pinjie and gradually developed feelings for everything. Her Dao heart was about to break, so she pushed Hong Jian out in advance, wanting to suppress love with hatred.
Little did she know that hatred is the precursor to love. After Hongjian died, she not only could not give up her obsession with Huang Pinjie, but also felt guilty towards Hongjian.
Now, when she sees Huang Pinjie again, she still can't hide the initial flutter in her heart.
In this world, all her relatives who raised her as a tool are long dead, and her foolish younger brother who once cared about her is also dead; the only one she cares about is Huang Pinjie, but Huang Pinjie despises her.
Sometimes, she felt that life was extremely boring, cultivation was meaningless, and fox life was a stagnant pool.
The world is always full of strange things; the more you resist, the more you want to get. It's tragic that Hong Xiangwan could prove her Dao by killing her own family, yet she couldn't bring herself to kill Huang Pinjie.
That evening, unable to think of a solution, Huang Pinjie simply pulled Ji Rong up and asked her to come up with a solution for her.
After hearing about Hong Xiangwan's glorious deeds, Ji Rong opened her mouth wide in surprise and asked, "Auntie, is there really such a ruthless path as to slaughter one's own family?"
"Of course." Huang Pinjie was pleased that Ji Rong had learned to focus on the important matter, so he replied, "This is actually making a vow to heaven and earth. If it is fulfilled, heaven and earth will give back to you."
However, if the cultivator breaks their vow during this process, the bestowed cultivation will dissipate along with the collapse of that cultivator's Dao heart.
Ji Rong clicked her tongue and said, "This path is too narrow. We are all sentient beings. If you cultivate yourself to the point of losing all your relatives and friends, what is the point of living?"
Huang Pinjie wholeheartedly agreed, but if Hong Xiangwan could not firmly uphold her Dao heart, she would die very quickly.
She cherished her life so much; living a dull and tasteless life was better than dying completely.
The stalemate did not last as long as expected.
New and old injuries, coupled with days of travel, caused Huang Pinjie to suddenly collapse.
Hong Xiangwan was very happy, and she started to sing;
Ji Er and his group were very unhappy, but there was nothing they could do.
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