The moonlight was once again obscured by dark clouds, and there was not a single twinkling star to be found in the night sky. The world was completely silent, and overlapping shadows of trees were spread on the ground, swaying in the direction of the wind.
Under the hem of the blue-shirted disciple’s clothes, the blood-red soul-locking lamp wick squirmed violently, emitting a strange and ominous light in the deep night.
As we all know, there is no way to identify the soul in the world of cultivation.
But few people know that there is one thing in the world that is the only exception.
That is the Soul-Locking Lamp, an object that is said to have been left behind by an ancient great being and can control the soul.
When Zong Ci was Lingyun Sword Master, the ghost realm was still in disarray. The Yellow Spring Gate stood in the depths of the ghost realm, with seven ghost towns scattered around.
According to legend, after death, the souls of all monks or mortals will return to the underworld, and after being judged by the Ten Kings of Hell, they will enter the reincarnation department, drink Mengpo soup at the door, walk across the Three Lives Stone and the Naihe Bridge on the Wangchuan River, forget their past lives, and reincarnate. Except for monks who are determined to enter the ghost world, normal people will never set foot there.
But the ghost realm outside the gate of Huangquan is an area that mortals can set foot in.
The power in the ghost realm is very complex and diverse. It is generally assumed that the seven city lords are in charge of their own jurisdictions and do not interfere with each other.
Seven hundred years ago, a ruthless character suddenly appeared in the ghost realm.
No one knows where this ruthless character came from, but what everyone knows is that he is a complete madman. He challenges all the big guys in the ghost domain to fight. During the battle, he never leaves himself any way to retreat, and every move he makes is filled with ruthless murderous intent.
This ruthless guy spent two hundred years to wipe out the ghost domain and crawled out on a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The seven city lords were completely subdued by his defeat, but fearing his ruthlessness, they all served him as their master.
From then on, the world of cultivation had a new title, the Lord of the Ghost Realm.
As everyone knows, just half a year ago, the Lord of the Ghost Realm led seven city lords to attack the demon clan, looted the demon clan's sacred object, the Soul-Locking Lamp, and severely injured the Demon King Rong Lian.
Nowadays, the only person who can wear the soul-locking wick and has the strength above the out-of-body stage is the Lord of the Ghost Realm, who is extremely mysterious and almost never appears in public.
But this was not what Zongci was thinking of.
What he thought of was the words of the storyteller in the teahouse.
"He rebelled against his master seven hundred years ago... That little disciple is extremely talented and thoughtful. No matter where he goes, he will be able to achieve great things. You might as well think about what great figures have emerged in the ghost domain in recent years..."
Why did Qingxuzi agree to the demon clan's request for an alliance and agree to send troops to the ghost realm; why is the Di Cave on the main peak uninhabited; why does Liu Yuan react so violently when Zong Ci accidentally reveals the little tricks he often did in his previous life.
He thought he might have guessed who this person was.
It was just that name, he didn't want to say it out loud, let alone speak it out loud.
The unspoken "why" has troubled him for thousands of years.
Often, Zong Ci was half asleep and half awake in his coffin. Whenever he recalled the past, he felt so sad that it was like being tortured with a knife.
He believed that he had done his best for Ling Chou. He, as the senior brother, had taken on all the duties that Qingxuzi, the master, had failed to fulfill, and Qingxuzi, the master, had not taught him.
He was the one who taught Ling Chou how to use sword.
Ling Chou's martial arts skills were perfected bit by bit by him from the Sutra Library.
When Ling Chou fell ill, he asked for some elixirs from Yaofeng and stayed by his bed all night with a lamp.
When Ling Chou went on a mission, he secretly hid his figure and followed behind him, fearing that the other party would encounter any unexpected danger.
Later, they were not only brothers in the same school, but also close friends.
They accompanied each other, entered the world together, spent spring, autumn, winter and summer, crossed mountains and rivers, and traveled through the four seas and eight wildernesses.
Zong Ci thought that they would continue like this, and was even prepared to meet in the fairyland.
After many twists and turns, what he got was a pot of wine mixed with Shen Hua San.
What is Huashen Powder
It was a terrifying poison made from countless rare medicinal materials. Although the method of making it had long been lost, it was still terrifying. As long as a large enough amount was taken, even a cultivator in the Tribulation Crossing Stage would have his spiritual power sealed and unable to break free.
A cultivator whose spiritual power is sealed is no different from an ordinary person and can be harmed easily by anyone.
If someone dug out his immortal bones and shattered his spiritual platform at this time, even Lingyun Sword Master would become a complete cripple.
And his junior fellow apprentice, with whom he had been living for so many years and whom he thought knew each other well, had exactly the same idea in mind.
The only flaw was that Ling Yun had a chance encounter in an ancient secret realm and took a plant of heavenly treasure. After taking the Hua Shen powder orally, it could indeed seal his spiritual power for a short period of time, but Ling Yun was able to resolve it earlier than others.
At the critical moment, Ling Yun suddenly woke up. Ling Chou was holding a sword in his hand, his face expressionless, and was about to pierce his spirit platform.
What did Ling Yun say at that time
He was so disappointed that he said nothing. He released all his spiritual power at the peak of the Tribulation Crossing Stage and walked away.
Around that day, the entire cultivation world knew about it, the day when Lingyun Sword Master transcended the tribulation and ascended to heaven.
Regardless of whether he succeeded in overcoming the tribulation or not, he would never meet this junior brother again.
Just one word "why".
Is it jealousy, resentment, or some other hidden secret
But now, a thousand years have passed.
Whether it is with Lingyun Sword Master or Zongci's pride, there is no need to ask any more questions, and there is no need.
He no longer cares.
Zong Ci put down his hand and pulled out an iron sword from his storage bag.
He had no time to take out his sword along the way, but instead fought directly with sword energy. Now that he took out the sword, his whole aura seemed to change.
Since the swordsmanship was perfected and the Heavenly Question was broken, Zong Ci had not taken up the sword so seriously for a long time. First, his life was peaceful; second, his strength was there, so there was no need.
But this time—
"Brother Zong, you..."
Liu Meng was suddenly pushed away and was a little confused for a moment. Just as she opened her mouth, she saw the young man holding her firmly behind him. The lines of his profile were as cold and hard as if carved by a knife under the moonlight.
She realized that something unexpected had happened that she hadn't noticed, so she immediately shut her mouth and looked ahead worriedly.
After holding the sword, the lazy boy took on a cold and sharp aura, the light in his black eyes was enough to cut through the long night, and his robe fluttered in the evening breeze. His beautiful face was cut in half by the shadow of the tree under the moonlight, so dazzling that people dared not look directly at him.
The young man's expression was very cold, as cold as the ice that had been buried in the polar regions for ten thousand years.
On the contrary, Liu Yuan's expression became brighter and brighter, his burning gaze seemed to penetrate Zong Ci, and the expectation on his face turned into vague ecstasy.
Facing this scene, Zong Ci was unmoved, he didn't even ask "Who are you?" The sword in the young man's hand flashed a beautiful light, stabbed straight forward, stopped accurately in front of the blue shirt disciple's neck, and then moved forward a few points.
Liu Yuan stood still, ignoring the sword that was pressed against his neck. Instead, he tilted his head and laughed like crazy.
"hahahahahahahaha-"
He laughed so hard that he doubled over, and tears were almost coming out of his eyes, as if he was putting all the thousands of years of coldness and millennia of persistence into it.
The blue-shirted disciple stretched out his hand and slowly grasped the sharp tip of the sword, not shying away from the cold sword energy. He clenched his five pale fingers one by one and exerted force until scarlet blood seeped out from between his fingers, meandering down the back of his hand and gathering into several small streams on his skin.
His voice was very soft, ecstatic, and it went low between his lips and teeth, like the whisper between lovers.
"Your blood caused the Soul Locking Lamp to react. I originally thought you were his reincarnation..."
"I didn't expect that you are not his reincarnation... You are him."
As soon as he finished speaking, black energy spread wildly from the blue-shirted disciple's body.
Liu Yuan's facial features began to bleed, and the skin on his face seemed to melt and fall off piece by piece, and his body fell apart. In just a few seconds, the disciple who was originally standing well turned into a bloody man, and his face could no longer be seen. All that could be heard was the cold and passionate laughter echoing in the forest.
The black air spread, sweeping the land with a thick aura of death. Wherever it passed, all the green plants withered and died. Liu Meng, who was protected by Zong Ci, fell to the ground silently and stopped breathing.
Everything was shrouded in darkness, but the black mist had no intention of harming the boy.
Hundreds of ghosts and evil spirits roared in the forest. The space was cut open by an invisible hand, and a huge water mirror rose from the ground.
Half of the water mirror was covered with dead yellow leaves and black soil, while the other half was covered with countless eerie white bones.
The palace made of black iron stood majestically, and the sky was darker than the night of the sunset forest, an eternal night without a single ray of light. Under the towering sky, the vast blood pool was surging and rolling, as if someone had lit a fire at the bottom, causing the entire pool to gurgle and stir up sticky red waves.
At the end of the field of vision, the master of the ghost realm sat on the throne of bones, supporting his head with one hand.
The moment Liu Yuan died, the man opened his eyes from the throne and looked towards this side from afar.
At just one glance, Zong Ci's pupils suddenly contracted and he clenched his palms.
It was a face that he was very familiar with.
The man had sharp eyebrows, cunning eyes, and a dark and fierce temperament. He overturned the impression of a well-behaved man in Zong Ci's memory, and instead became cold and gloomy to the point of being outrageous.
Liu Yuan, no, now he should be called Ling Chou.
Ling Chou stood up from the throne, his heavy black robe hanging down along with the black mist, the corners of his robe outlining the night sky.
He stared at the young man on the other side of the water mirror and slowly walked down from the throne. The vast ghost energy of the Mahayana monk swept across the entire black iron palace, and in one step he crossed the long road piled with thousands of bones and came to the front of the water mirror.
He stared blankly at Zong Ci on the other side of the water mirror, his gaze sweeping across the corners of the boy's face inch by inch, his deep eyes filled with ecstasy.
In a trance, Ling Chou seemed to see the shadow of the Sword Master in white clothes on the thin body of the young man, like a lonely and cold moon, unfettered by all things.
The Lord of the Ghost Realm stretched out his hand, as if he wanted to reach across the water mirror and rub this person whom he had not seen for a thousand years into his own bones and blood.
But he can't.
There was a water mirror between them, but that brief encounter was gained by Ling Chou sacrificing Liu Yuan's human body.
The person he had been thinking about day and night was right in front of him, but he couldn't touch her.
"Brother... you're back."
The man's voice was hoarse, and his fingertips created ripples on the water mirror, as if he couldn't bear to shatter the dream he had been looking forward to for a thousand years.
"Don't call me Senior Brother."
The boy's voice was extremely cold. He took two steps back, his expression cold and indifferent: "I don't have a junior brother like you."