It is obvious to the naked eye that the relationship between Li Chou and his senior brother is getting better and better.
Li Chou originally thought that Ling Yun was as cold-hearted and aloof as Qingxuzi, but he did not expect that after that night, Ling Yun would occasionally take time out to teach him in person. Although the white-clothed swordsman still looked cold and indifferent, if you were patient and got along with him, you would find that hidden under that cold shell was a kind heart.
Since his father's death, Li Chou hasn't felt this kind of pure kindness for a long time. Or maybe, this world is originally cold, kindness is just a drop in the ocean, it's hard to ask for too much. Li Chou has been rolling around in the mortal world, and has seen too many sinister hearts. He has shed his pride and become the treacherous and deep-minded person he is now.
Apart from other things, the ghost cultivator didn't fancy his talent and wanted to teach him a disciple. They just wanted to get what they wanted and had ulterior motives.
Li Chou was originally full of resistance, but after he thought that building a good relationship with Ling Yun would be beneficial to his revenge, he became proactive.
What could be more convenient and interesting than having your enemies kept in the dark and willing to get close to you
Originally, Li Chou became a disciple of Qingxuzi, and endured humiliation and knelt before his enemies, also to get closer to them. He lay dormant like a poisonous snake, slowly attacking, and then jumping out at the most fatal moment to kill with one blow.
The young man in black had originally revealed some gentleness unconsciously, but after thinking of this, all of it was suppressed back into his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
The white-robed swordsman standing in front of him seemed to have noticed something and glanced over.
"No."
Li Chou responded subconsciously, tightening his grip on the sword, "This move seems to be a little sluggish when I use it..."
"Your thumb is not in the right place."
Ling Yun did not doubt him, but reached out his hand, wanting to help his junior brother adjust to the correct posture.
The young man's cold and slender hand suddenly rested on the boy's knuckles. The latter trembled violently and subconsciously wanted to counterattack. Fortunately, he reacted in time and suppressed his impulse, and he broke out in a cold sweat.
All this happened in a flash, and the sword cultivator's attention was focused on the boy's hands, and he did not pay much attention to these abnormalities.
"This posture... When using the sword, use the tiger's mouth to exert force and attach the spiritual energy to it..."
In a state of doubt and uncertainty, Li Chou smelled a very faint scent of plum blossoms from the sword cultivator's lowered sleeves, like a snow lotus blooming on a towering iceberg, so high and unattainable.
Li Chou received a mission from the office and went down the mountain. He had no habit of teaming up with others to carry out missions, and even every breakthrough was a desperate one, gaining insights in the midst of life and death, hoping to gain a chance of enlightenment.
This time too, he specially picked a spirit beast that was almost as powerful as him, or even higher. In the end, after paying the price of numerous wounds, he finally killed it with his sword, achieving a breakthrough at the moment of life and death.
In the last second before fainting, Li Chou bit the pill in his mouth and suddenly smelled that extremely familiar fragrance again.
He was stunned for a moment and fell into a coma.
In order to verify this conjecture, Li Chou deliberately put himself in a deadly situation several times and fainted on purpose. Sure enough, he saw the familiar white corner of the clothes. It was not until then that he knew. It turned out that every time he went down the mountain to take a mission and challenged various desperate situations in secret, Ling Yun was silently following him and protecting him.
Li Chou sat under the tree, stroking the rough branches, and he couldn't tell what he felt in his heart.
Ling Yun's kindness was not intended to ask for anything in return. He was simply being nice to his junior fellow apprentice.
He didn't even say a word. He did everything silently in his own way, in a way that no one could notice.
Qingxuzi is the leader of the Taoist sect, and every move of his disciples is the focus of the entire cultivation world. Li Chou, the new disciple who just joined the sect, is often compared with Lingyun. So he practiced harder and harder, day and night, hoping to master the power in his hands.
On the Lantern Festival, there was a knock on his cave door. The swordsman in white stood outside the door and pulled him to release the lanterns for blessing. That night, Ling Yun, who used to be very quiet, also said that his master had also taken him in this way to let him take advantage of the good fortune. Since the senior brother was lucky, he also took advantage of the junior brother and wished that his cultivation would be smooth in the coming year.
During the Lantern Festival, Ling Yun placed several exquisitely crafted robes in front of his cave. Li Chou was only a teenager when he entered the sect. He practiced in seclusion on the main peak for only half a year, and he grew like a bamboo shoot. The disciple robes that were previously long to his ankles now only reach his calves. Li Chou was so absorbed in his practice that he didn't notice it, but Ling Yun saw it.
During the Lantern Festival, they set up a small wine table in the courtyard, put rice dumplings and wine on it, and watched the moon and the sunrise, which was quite interesting.
Li Chou has always been good at reading people's expressions. He is very cunning and thoughtful, so as long as he wants to get close to someone, it is easy for him to get him.
There is no time limit in cultivation, Qingxuzi travels around, and there are only two of them on the main peak. After Lingyun took care of this junior brother and Li Chou wanted to get close to him, the relationship between the two of them progressed rapidly. I don't know when it started, but they would talk to each other more or less about their inner thoughts.
But countless nights, Li Chou would still wake up from that bloody night.
He remembered his father's blurred voice, appearance and smile, and the smiling eyes of the White-Robed Sword Master.
He asked himself this question countless times.
Why would such a bright and beautiful person do such a cruel thing
But the facts are irrefutable, Li Chou could not forget the face of the young man in white that night. When Ling Yun was drunk, he also talked about the fact that he was once the crown prince of Chu.
The Chu State and the Qi State were truly a national and family feud.
On this road of revenge, Li Chou is destined to fall into the abyss.
Then... ...when did it change
Perhaps in many, many details, in many, many unnoticed companionships, everything changes quietly and inadvertently.
They went into the world together to gain experience and visited countless towns. The mortal world built temples for them, saying that they were immortals who came to the world to save the people.
One day, they rented a pleasure boat by the East Lake and happened to see the princess of Yan holding a martial arts competition to find a husband. The princess, wearing pink clothes, threw a ball from the embroidery building, and whoever got the ball could marry the princess.
Li Chou also grew from a boy to a young man. When cultivators reach this age, their youth will remain unchanged and they will never grow old.
The young man in black looked gloomy and indifferent. He leaned his head against the side of the boat with his eyes slightly closed, but he was actually paying attention to the man's every move at the bow.
Ling Yun was not wearing a crown today, holding a folding fan in his hand, with a cold expression, lying on his side at the bow. Anyone who saw him would have praised him as a beauty like jade and unparalleled in the world. The princess saw him from a distance and was so shocked that she could not take her eyes away.
In the midst of fireworks, Jian Zun turned his head slightly, and the hem of his long black hair swept across Li Chou's palm, as if scratching his heart.
Li Chou watched the hydrangea fall into Ling Yun's arms. At that moment, he almost couldn't control his violent impulse.
He knew that something had changed forever.
This feeling certainly cannot be achieved overnight, because it is deeply hidden under painful hatred, with undercurrents and twists and turns.
Only when they can no longer be ignored or suppressed, those passionate, unwilling, irrational emotions filled with hatred will break through the ice, like erupting molten metal, dragging everything to destruction.
From then on, it became both his chain and his salvation.
Ling Yun and he were close friends, and Li Chou could kill Ling Yun in a thousand ways without making a sound. He considered himself a ruthless person, but he kept making excuses for himself, delaying the time for revenge, and quietly kept the expressions of the White-robed Sword Master in his heart.
Until... ... the night before Ling Yun ascended to heaven.
After tonight, no matter he ascends or fails, it will be difficult for Li Chou to see him again.
"But... why is it you? Why, it has to be you."
Li Chou gently supported the body of the White-robed Sword Master as he fell backwards. His cold fingers brushed across the man's eyebrows, as if he wanted to engrave this touch and this outline forever in his sea of consciousness, his expression was full of pain.
He could put lethal poison in the wine and thus avenge his great hatred, but in the end, he still hesitated.
Li Chou brought the unconscious Ling Yun back to Zhuque City and knelt in the cold wind beside the former site of the Qi Imperial Palace for half the night before returning to the inn.
Since he was seven years old, Li Chou's purpose of living and his goal in life was revenge.
Blood feud, national hatred and family feud, I still burst into tears when I wake up in the middle of the night.
Enduring humiliation and sleeping on straw to taste gall are all for this moment.
He had to take revenge, but he couldn't do it.
"Father... forgive me."
For the first time in his life, Li Chou's hands, which had killed countless people, were trembling so much that the tip of the knife was shaking and leaving a shadow.
He gave up his hatred. He wanted this person to stay with him forever, even if he hated him for the rest of his life.
Then, he met the clear and disappointed eyes of the White-Robed Sword Master.
Ling Yun did not kill him. He walked away without saying a word.
Later, Li Chou, who was in a daze, heard that Ling Yun had died in the Dragon Bone Abyss, and his soul was destroyed.
He searched frantically, digging his fingers in the mud until they were bleeding, but he couldn't find even a trace of the body.
The rain that fell from the sky that day seemed to have no end.
Three hundred years later, he took advantage of Qingxuzi's mental disorder and suddenly attacked him while he was in seclusion.
Li Chou left himself enough escape routes. However, he did not expect that even after revealing all his cards, he still underestimated Qingxuzi and the power of the great Tribulation Crossing Stage masters.
The Taoist priest in green sneered, "It's all because Ling Yun was kind-hearted that he left you behind."
Li Chou suddenly opened his eyes wide, "... ...what did you say?"
The person in front of me is broken inside and has one foot at the gate of hell.
The Crown Prince of Qi, huh.
Ling Yun would probably never know that his momentary kindness turned out to be a disaster for him. He even didn't know until his death that his beloved junior brother had a blood feud with him.
He is probably a dying man, Qingxuzi thought casually.
"You should have died that night long ago. When Ling Yun was manipulated by me, I failed to kill you, and later I even gave up my sword to plead for you."
He said sarcastically, "Your life was saved by him. The prince of Chu repays evil with kindness, but you repay kindness with evil. It's really interesting."
He begged for your life.
The man in black knelt on the ground and suddenly laughed softly.
“Hahahaha… Senior Brother… ahhahahahaha…”
He laughed very loudly, and vomited blood mixed with broken internal organs.
The laughter was cut off by the sword light.
The living dead behind the gate of Hades opened their eyes.
From then on, there was no more Ling Chou in this world, and the only one who survived was Li Chou.
He spent hundreds of years ruling the ghost realm and built his palace at the entrance to the Yellow Springs Gate.
Behind the gate of Huangquan there is a Sansheng Stone, and behind the Sansheng Stone there is a dangerous secret place that no one dares to set foot in.
Ling Yun's soul was scattered in his previous life. If he has a chance to reincarnate, he must first come before the Three Lives Stone.
Li Chou couldn't find him, so he sat on the throne of bones every day, guarding the gate of the underworld, and he did so for many years.
He thought that in this way, the first person his senior brother would see after reincarnation would be him.
If the senior brother comes back, he will apologize sincerely.
It doesn’t matter even if the senior brother forgets the past. That’s better, they can start over.
Li Chou waited for many, many years, but never saw that person's reincarnation.
The demon tribe has a sacred object that can distinguish souls, but it requires its owner to provide flesh and blood. So Li Chou infiltrated the demon tribe and looted the sacred object.
Although the demon tribe is not as strong as before, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. When the underground demon tower tried to take away the holy object, Li Chou was severely rejected. A powerful spell was imposed on the soul-locking lamp, causing one of his hands to gradually decay, and the white bones could be seen through the broken flesh.
"you-"
The Demon King fell to the ground seriously injured and looked at him in disbelief.
Li Chou gave him a cold look, grabbed the Soul-Locking Lamp with a hand that had turned into bones, and turned and left.
Behind him, the seven ghost town lords dared not utter a word and were extremely humble.
He didn't care whether he would get hurt or not. No matter how painful it was, it would never be as painful as the moment he learned the truth.
Li Chou had gone crazy a long time ago.
The lords of the ghost towns know it, the people in the ghost realm know it, and everyone knows it.
Only he himself doesn't know.
"Brother, I know that there is something wrong with your soul. The Soul Locking Lamp was originally my master's thing. Only the Soul Locking Lamp in the whole world can save you. The ghost domain has prepared the medicinal herbs for treatment. As long as you come back with me, I can help you with the treatment immediately."
The man in black stood in front of the earth slope, his cold brows turned into a low pleading, "Brother, I have never thought of killing you. So... .. give me a chance, okay?"
He was not the crown prince of Qi, and his senior brother was not the crown prince of Chu, so there was no longer any grudge between them.
Is it possible to start over again
"... ..."
The young man in white stood in front of him, and seemed to have not yet recovered from the news that Ling Chou was the prince of Qi.
At this moment, Zong Ci thought of a lot.
He recalled that he had occasionally talked to his junior brother about his experiences in Chu. Whenever he talked about this topic, Li Chou would listen quietly, but he would not mention his past, and he was very secretive about it. He recalled the dark expression on his junior brother's face when he was young, and the borders he would deliberately avoid during his training.
So... that's the reason.
After a long while, Zong Ci finally laughed at himself and said, "So... that's it."
For no reason, looking at the boy's expression, Li Chou suddenly felt extremely anxious.
In the past, whenever he showed such a pleading expression, his senior brother would always be soft-hearted, but this time—
"I'm tired."
Zong Ci said, his face showing deep fatigue, "Now that I have lost all my cultivation, my soul is broken, and I won't live for more than three years."
When he said that he would not live more than three years, Li Chou's body trembled violently and he revealed an expression of disbelief.
Zong Ci, however, seemed not to notice and continued to talk to himself, "I don't care about the grudges in my previous life anymore."
"I appreciate your kindness, but even if there is a chance to survive, I don't want to have anything to do with my past life anymore."
"It would be nice if I could live a carefree and happy life for three years."
The words of the young man in white stabbed into Li Chou's heart like a knife, leaving the Lord of the Ghost Realm stunned.
After a moment, his expression suddenly became a little more crazy, "No, three years—"
However, before Li Chou could finish his words, a powerful pressure that could crush everything in its path suddenly came down from the air.
This sudden pressure was extremely terrifying, and contained a strong rage. In just a moment, all the trees within a hundred miles were broken, crushed to the ground, and turned into dust and mud.
Farther away, a section of the city gate of Suzaku City collapsed with a loud bang, and the loess under Li Chou's feet began to crack inch by inch. He was pressed into a pit several meters deep with him as the center, unable to move.
Li Chou is only at the Mahayana stage now, and facing the wrath of the Tribulation Crossing stage, he is also unable to resist as he is one major realm behind.
This time, not only Li Chou, but Zong Ci's expression changed as well.
They were all very familiar with the owner of this pressure.
The boy looked up in shock, an electric current of fear running down his spine subconsciously.
The next second, an unquestionable force had locked his wrist tightly, leaving him no chance of escape.
The man was dressed in blue, without a crown, and his three thousand black hair were scattered. He had changed from a childish appearance back to the cold, ruthless, handsome and indifferent appearance in Zong Ci's memory.
His expression was very cold, and his pale eyes were like a cold pond without a glimmer of light. When Zong Ci looked at him, he could only feel that he was being pulled into an endless darkness.
"Zongci, huh."
Qingxuzi's voice was very soft. He sneered in anger, and his eyes were strange and unfathomable.
"Ling Yun... My good disciple, how long do you want to keep this secret from me?"