The Black Iron Palace was silent. The only sound that could be heard was the dripping sound of blood from the hair onto the surface of the pool, like a death knell ringing in the evening.
A body specially prepared for myself
Zong Ci was shocked.
When he saw the blood-red soul-locking wick flashing on the waist of the Lord of the Ghost Realm, a look of vigilance emerged on his face, and he had some understanding of why the other party could use such means.
The Soul-Locking Lamp is the only evil object in the world that has a secret connection with the soul.
To activate this kind of evil thing, one must have blood, hair, birth data and other personal belongings. To be able to forcibly pull out a person's soul, it may even require other unknown costs.
In the Sunset Forest, Zong Ci was once trapped in a nightmare, dreaming that his neck was cut and he could not move. In fact, his neck was really cut by Li Chou, who forcibly took his blood, and finally confirmed that he was not Ling Yun's reincarnation but Ling Yun himself.
Later, Zong Ci cut off his hair in the square of Taiyan Sect and severed his friendship with his master Qingxu in front of everyone. Three thousand hairs were scattered all over the ground in the wind. It is not difficult to get a few strands if you are interested. Not to mention the birth date and eight characters. Since Li Chou and Ling Yun were brothers and close friends, it is not surprising that he knew them.
To sum up, if Li Chou paid attention, he could definitely achieve this.
After thinking about the reason clearly, Zong Ci couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.
He sneered, "Soul-locking Lamp, what a good trick."
Faced with Zong Ci's lukewarm attitude, Li Chou was not displeased at all. Instead, he stared at him closely.
Staring at the face that I have been thinking about for many years.
"Brother, I have been regretting all these years... regretting the misunderstanding back then, and I have always wanted to make amends. I don't want you to die like this."
His voice was very low, and his usually gloomy face was full of sadness and pain. "That's why I chose to rebuild my brother's body and apologize to him in person."
Zong Ci turned his head and closed his eyes.
"I think I made it very clear last time. Whether you forgive me or not, I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore."
Although he had figured out the truth of a thousand years ago, he and Li Chou did not have an irreconcilable conflict like Qingxuzi, nor was he like Rong Lian, who had already decided to go their separate ways and treat each other as meaningless strangers. But after all, the hatred for the country and the family, even if nothing was said, even if all the reasons were explained clearly, it would be difficult to resolve the past grudges.
"But Senior Brother clearly still has me in his heart."
For a moment, the dark color in the man's eyes suddenly became chaotic, but was suppressed in the next second and returned to normal.
"Last time outside Suzaku City, Senior Brother deliberately scolded me and told me to leave quickly. I know it all. Senior Brother was just caring about me."
Zong Ci's eyelashes moved imperceptibly.
That day, Li Chou confronted Qingxuzi outside Suzaku City. At that time, Li Chou was only at the Mahayana stage, and he would surely die against Qingxuzi, who was at the Tribulation Crossing stage.
There was indeed a very subtle twist in Zong Ci's actions.
No matter what, they were master and disciple and brothers, and he didn't want to see the other two people killing each other in front of him.
"Yes, we are brothers, I can't be so ruthless."
Since Li Chou was pressing him, Zong Ci simply laid his cards on the table, "You couldn't kill me with a deadly poison a thousand years ago because you were thinking of our friendship, and I did the same."
He hasn't spoken with this face for a long time, but his expression and tone now are no different from Ling Yun in Li Chou's memory.
Seeing his attitude soften, the ghost domain lord's eyes grew colder and stickier, like a predatory venomous snake lurking in the dark, bursting out with strands of ecstasy.
But Zong Ci's next words threw him back into the bone-chilling abyss.
"I know your sincerity, your apology, and your pain about this. But this doesn't mean I can forget everything that happened and go back to the time when we were so open and honest with each other."
Zong Ci stopped observing Li Chou's expression and closed his eyes. After a long while, he finally said tiredly, "It's all over, Li Chou."
"You are not a child anymore. It is difficult for me to be free of grudges... And you, as the former crown prince of Qi, can you really be free of grudges?"
"Brother, our fate has ended long ago. Who would care about something that happened thousands of years ago?"
The flickering candle flame on the top of the black iron lamppost suddenly jumped up, flickering on the blood-red surface of the pool, lighting up the empty black eye sockets of the skull opposite, as if hung with a string of horrifying blood and tears.
This is not just a minor fight between children playing house, this is national hatred and family feud.
For the Avengers, revenge is what they live for, what they move forward for, and what they are willing to give everything for.
It is the only purpose that has supported Li Chou through most of his life.
Even though there were some misunderstandings in the middle, even though Qingxuzi controlled Zong Ci, who was only a teenager at the time, to massacre everyone in the palace.
Li Chou's identity as the crown prince of Qi State cannot be changed. The fact that the king of Qi State died under Zong Ci's sword cannot be changed.
Zong Ci did not hate him, but he also said that they could not go back to the past and pointed out the facts.
—Can you really do it without any regrets
These words were like an unbreakable curse, tearing apart the saddest, darkest and most unwilling part of Li Chou's heart, and echoing in his ears forever.
Deathly silence pervaded under the high dome.
"The Soul-Locking Lamp was not born as a sacred object of the demon race, but was looted from the ghost realm by the demon race in ancient times."
The incomplete soul-locking lamp wick can still control the soul, identify the spirit, and control life and death. The complete soul-locking lamp is probably as powerful as a divine weapon. However, because it is an evil object, it is ultimately difficult for the Heavenly Dao to recognize it. It is said that the other half of the lamp was sealed by the Heavenly Dao behind the Yellow Spring Gate controlled by the Yellow Spring Dao, and no trace can be found.
"Although the Soul-Locking Lamp is only incomplete, it is still the only way to heal the soul in this world. Even the powerful Heavenly Dao Spokesperson is helpless against the incomplete soul."
Li Chou begged Zong Ci to give him a chance to heal him, "Brother, only I can heal you. I can restore your broken soul and restore your cultivation and status that everyone admired. Please give me a chance to heal you."
"Since the fall of Qi, you have always been the best person to me. Brother... I have already tasted the pain of losing you once, I cannot lose you again."
He didn't want to answer Zong Ci's sharp question, and instead begged, "You can't be so cruel and let me watch you die."
"-Please."
The Lord of the Ghost Realm lowered his proud head, his brows full of humble pleading.
He was still half-kneeling on the ground, maintaining the action of wrapping a cloak around Zong Ci. His expression was so sad and sorrowful, just like a person who had been wandering in the darkness for many years and finally caught the last ray of light. He climbed up like crazy, not wanting to sink again and return to the endless darkness.
Zong Ci looked at him quietly, his eyes calm.
Li Chou could not see any expression on this face that was accustomed to being cold and indifferent.
In silence, the candlelight suddenly went out. The elongated shadows rushed to occupy the original territory, coating it with a bottomless darkness.
"... ..."
He opened his mouth, then suddenly closed his eyes, and his body fell down like a kite with a broken string.
This body, which Li Chou had spent countless days and nights refining and had been nurtured for thousands of years with the power of a pool of blood, had once again turned into an empty shell.
The soul within is gone.
The Lord of the Ghost Realm sighed, picked up the body, and immersed it in the blood pool again.
The Soul-Locking Lamp Wick is not a complete Soul-Locking Lamp after all. Even if the soul is pulled out and it is refined with the blood of the heart, it can only last for a short moment.
But even for a moment, it was enough to make Li Chou feel ecstatic.
The Lord of the Ghost Realm curled the corners of his mouth.
His senior brother asked such questions just to irritate him.
But senior brother, how could you know how many people’s hearts can be changed in these thousand years.
People in the world don't know that when Li Chou heard the news of that person's death a thousand years ago, he became a walking corpse and completely changed his ways to the ghost world. It was not until he broke up with Qingxuzi three hundred years later that he fell into the ghost world.
He had long wanted to revive Ling Yun. Even though he had deep hatred, he was shocked to hear the tragic news, and the surging emotions had already defeated the hatred and burst out of his chest.
Afterwards, Qingxuzi revealed the truth of that year, which was just to bring light to the darkness and candlelight, which further strengthened Li Chou's thoughts.
He wiped out the ghost realm, crawled out from the pile of corpses, turned into a Shura in the sea of blood, refined his body, and stood guard in front of the door for a thousand years, all for one person.
The pretense just now was just to make Li Chou sure that Ling Yun, the Crown Prince of Chu, did not hate his identity as the Crown Prince of Qi.
Can mere hatred quench the fire of love that has been burning for thousands of years and still cannot be extinguished
He lowered his brows, gently lifted the man's black hair, and placed a cold kiss on the end of his hair.
After all, there is still a long time to come. Since the soul-locking wick can pull the soul back once, there will definitely be a second time, a third time... ... until it stays in this body forever.
####
After experiencing another not-so-pleasant out-of-body experience, Zong Ci opened his eyes.
He had a vague premonition when his soul left his body. Now that he opened his eyes and saw the familiar window frame of the quiet room instead of a sea of blood, the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.
This is Tianjimen, and he is back.
I don’t know why, even though it’s only a short time from the time the soul leaves the body to the time it returns, Zong Ci still feels as if he’s in another world and that the days are passing by are like years.
Even after returning to Tianji Gate, I had the long-lost illusion of being "home".
The quiet room was very quiet, and everything was just like the last time Zong Ci woke up. The only difference was that there was no burning incense on the table this time. But even so, the precious agarwood in the quiet room still exuded a light fragrance, which dispelled some of Zong Ci's restlessness and refreshed his ears and ears.
The boy sat up from the couch, put on his shoes that were placed beside him, and jumped off the ground.
He suddenly lost consciousness while looking at the flowers. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that his soul had left his body, which must have scared Qian Yuexi.
I don’t know if the leader of Tianji Sect was scared.
Li Chou's words still left some traces in his heart.
Zong Ci half believed the words "Only the Soul Locking Lamp Master can heal a broken soul". After all, if Li Chou really wanted revenge, he wouldn't have told him the truth about his past, let alone betray his master. If he had evil intentions, he should have made some moves when Zong Ci said "You really have no grudges".
Fortunately, it didn't.
That's why Zong Ci wanted to tell Qian Yuexi about this matter and hear what he thought.
Thinking of this, Zong Ci unconsciously quickened his pace and walked through the deep and shallow screens surrounding the quiet room.
He didn't even notice how eager he was to see that person.
Zong Ci pushed open the door and hurried to find the man with black hair and white clothes, but he didn't expect to face the person standing guard at the door.
"Master Zong, you are awake."
The Tianji Sect child bowed deeply to him and said, "The Sect Master told me to wait for you here."
"Where is the Sect Master?"
Zong Ci keenly sensed that something was wrong.
Last time, he saw the other person when he just woke up. But this time, he walked to the door but still couldn't see Qian Yuexi's figure.
"The sect master has gone into seclusion to meditate."
Tianyi's tone was unfamiliar, without any familiarity from when they exchanged names before, "Before I went into seclusion, the Sect Master repeatedly told me—"
"I'll take you down the mountain right away."