Since Yan Jiuge woke up from the illusion, other members of the Yan family have gradually regained consciousness. The disciples of the Bodhi Sect are trying to dispel the interference of illusions for them, so as to avoid the trouble of being possessed by demons in the future.
More than half a month passed in the dreamland, and when he came out, only one hour had passed in Qiucheng.
"After Junior Brother Chu helped Senior Brother Shouzuo enter the illusion, Qiucheng changed from the Golden City to its original appearance. The cultivator who was causing chaos in the city disappeared. As for the place used to refine weapons, it also became a gap. Senior Brother Liu just repaired it with his spiritual power."
As Luo Wuci was speaking, he suddenly patted his head, turned to Yan Jiuge and said, "First Senior Brother, when you fell into the illusion, we had already sent a message to the Sect Master. He said that if you are still not awake within two hours, he will come to Qiucheng in person. If you wake up within two hours, report back to the Sect Master."
"Okay, I understand." Yan Jiuge nodded.
He had no impression of this illusion and had many doubts in his mind, but there were still many things in the Tianxuan Sect that needed his attention, so he didn't have time to continue asking Chu Qi about the illusion.
And Chu Qi—
When Yan Jiuge turned his eyes, he met the emerald eyes of the young medical practitioner.
"… "
He didn't know if it was his illusion, but after the illusion, Aqi looked at him more often than usual.
Yan Jiuge's mood inexplicably improved, and he thought it wouldn't be a bad illusion.
Afterwards, Yan Jiuge sent a message to the head of the sect, reporting what he had seen and heard in Qiu Cheng.
The disciples of the Bodhi Sect were helping the people to get rid of the effects of the magic. The Buddhist disciples' mantra of purifying the mind was very effective, and the people of Qiucheng gradually recovered from their numbness and were no longer controlled by the magic.
Everything is moving in the right direction.
At this time, the sky was approaching dawn, with a hint of white. It was the time when day and night changed and the morning light was approaching.
A faint light fell from the clouds onto the walls of Autumn City. After the illusion disappeared, the city shed its false golden coat, revealing its original blue bricks and black tiles. Facing the bright morning light, it was quiet and peaceful.
Chu Qi stood at the edge of the city, quietly watching Yan Jiuge's busy figure, thinking about what he should do next.
After coming out of the illusion of the Tracing World Scroll, many of my previous doubts were answered.
The story is bound to change, but no one knows what will happen in the future. The scroll of the past interferes with the prediction. Gui Ya does not know Chu Qi's fate, and Chu Qi does not know Gui Ya's whereabouts.
The only thing that is certain is that Guiya is attacking Yan Jiuge, and believes that Yan Jiuge, who is born with immortal bones, is his biggest enemy.
Or maybe he also noticed Chu Qi.
—Because Yan Jiuge thinks Chu Qi is very important, he becomes his weak spot.
Thoughts flowed through Chu Qi's mind, and his ideas gradually became clear.
This time he would never become Yan Jiuge's weak spot. At the same time, he had to find Gui Ya and correct this ending that had been repeated many times.
When Chu Qi made up his mind, the golden morning light rising from the east fell on him, outlining a slender and handsome shadow on the bluestone slab.
Yan Jiuge stopped in the direction where the shadow was spreading.
"The headmaster asked us to rush back from Qiucheng as soon as possible. Other small forces affiliated with Tianxuan Sect have also encountered many problems recently."
"Okay." Chu Qi nodded and walked towards Yan Jiuge.
The Tianxuan Sect sent elite disciples to Qiucheng this time. If there are other things, it will be difficult to deal with them.
"Aqi."
Yan Jiuge suddenly called him.
"What's wrong?"
"What did you see in my illusion before?"
"… "
Chu Qi was slightly stunned. The image of Yan Jiuge holding a lantern in the night sky of Yancheng appeared in his mind. He suppressed the thought in his mind and immediately replied, "I saw someone who wanted to harm you."
"Perhaps we cannot call him a human being. He is full of dark evil energy, like an empty shell without a soul." Chu Qi added.
After hiding the lantern, Chu Qi told Yan Jiuge about the ghost tooth. Yan Jiuge's expression gradually became more serious. He was absent-minded, as if he remembered something. He said softly, "I know. If you encounter such a thing in real life, stay away from it. It is very dangerous."
The evil spirits will pollute the souls of the monks, and the polluted monks will eventually become one of the evil spirits. In essence, the evil spirit is the evil spirit itself, but the evil spirit has thoughts, but the evil spirit does not.
"Okay, A'Yan too, don't get too close to it." Chu Qi said.
Yan Jiuge: “…”
His identity is special, and it is the Yan family's duty to kill evil spirits, so it is impossible for him to be too far away from evil spirits. But he couldn't say this to Chu Qi.
Facing Chu Qi's concerned gaze, Yan Jiuge opened his lips and said, "I will pay attention."
In order not to go deeper into this topic, Yan Jiuge looked away a little, "After returning from Qiucheng, Yan Chi will start to refine the mustard seed space for you. He lives in the town at the foot of Tianxuan Sect Mountain. You can go to him if you have any problems."
The matter of refining mustard seed space has been mentioned long ago.
However, this matter was brought up separately, which made Chu Qi keenly aware of the deep meaning behind Yan Jiuge's words, "What about you, Yan?"
At this juncture, it was not appropriate to use the excuse of going out on a mission, so Yan Jiuge said frankly, "I have to go home soon, and there are some things at home that I need to take care of."
"… "
Yan family, Yunyin world.
Chu Qi's eyes moved slightly, "When will you be back?"
"It shouldn't take a few days, half a month at most." Crossing the two worlds, plus dealing with matters concerning the Yan family's sacrificial ceremony, Yan Jiuge usually only needs half a month to return.
"Okay, won't Yan Chi go back with you?" As a direct disciple of the Yan family, Yan Chi is still staying in the Yunhua Realm, so the problems Yan Jiuge faces should not be too big.
Chu Qi was guessing in his heart.
"Well, he doesn't have to go back. It's very troublesome to go back and forth, so he should stay near Tianxuan Sect." If there is any accident in Yunhua Realm, Yan Chi can continue to help deal with it.
"Let's go, we are going to prepare to return to Tianxuan Sect." No matter what, Yan Jiuge planned to send Chu Qi back to Tianxuan Sect safely first, and then set off back to the Yan family.
The Longyin Sword sensed something, expanded its size, and landed at Chu Qi's feet. Obviously, it was very familiar with the fact that Yan Jiuge was going to take Chu Qi on a flying sword flight.
Some habits have already been deeply ingrained, but the person involved has not noticed it at the time.
Chu Qi raised his foot and stood on the Long Yin Sword. His fingers gently stroked the Gui Yin Sword worn on his waist. Unlike the illusion, the touch of the Gui Yin Sword was real.
It was once the same sword as the Long Yin Sword.
These were all given to him by Yan Jiuge himself. No matter which reincarnation, which beginning, even if the ending is different, their meeting is always the same.
*
After bidding farewell to the disciples of Bodhi Sect, Tianxuan Sect and others flew on their swords and returned to the sect.
Among the Yan family, only Yan Chi chose to travel with Tianxuan Zong and others. The other four secret guards said they wanted to return to the Yan family first.
Having encountered a strange evil spirit in Qiu City this time, the Yan family will definitely be on high alert.
I just don’t know where Guiya, who planned all this, is hiding.
***
Yunyin Realm, the Ling family’s sky tower.
Dusk brings about nightfall, the setting sun shines through the windows, and the whole house is shrouded in twilight.
"boom!"
In the quiet attic, there was a sudden sound of collapse.
I saw a magnificent golden city on the stage placed on the table. It was this golden city that collapsed from the bottom, causing the puppets on it to flee in panic.
Ling Congwu, who was sitting in front of the desk, raised ten fingers with a blank and unfocused gaze, as if his soul had not yet returned to its place.
"Snapped!"
The silk thread wrapped around her index finger broke at this moment, losing contact with the puppet. The remaining half of the puppet thread tightly squeezed her finger, leaving a circle of thin red marks on her finger, almost dripping with blood.
Ling Congwu blinked, and the light in his pupils moved slightly, as if he was about to regain consciousness.
“Pah, pah, pah!”
The sudden sound of the silk threads snapping was heard again. It was more intense than the last time. Except for the silk thread connected to the ring finger and leading to the heart meridian, all the other silk threads were snapped.
One by one, the puppets escaped from her control and fell to the ground from the collapsing golden city, their bodies shattered into pieces.
"Ling... Ling Congwu..." She opened her lips, but her voice was no longer as ethereal as the yellow warbler in the valley, but extremely hoarse and strange like a roar.
Next to the girl, a puppet that looked just like her was trying hard to escape from the collapsed golden city.
The puppet was trying hard to escape. It was in the best condition among all the puppets. At least it did not fall directly off the stage and be smashed to pieces.
It ran towards the city gate, following the cracks.
It was just a little bit away from escaping from the stage.
However, a slender and elegant hand descended from outside the stage, pressed the escaping puppet to the spot, and then clasped its five fingers together.
"Crack!" A crisp sound suddenly rang out. Even against the backdrop of the collapsing stage, the sound was particularly loud.
The girl broke the joints of the doll that looked like her with her own hands.
The puppet could no longer walk, and it fell to the edge of the stage like a broken wooden frame. The palm was only an inch away from the stage.
If only it were a step faster.
One step faster and it would be able to escape from this place.
But unfortunately, it didn’t work this time.
"You are so damn naive that you almost ruined my years of hard work." The girl stared at the doll, her mouth opening and closing as she whispered strangely, "In order to make up for this loss, you have to perform another show for me."
"When someone takes the stage, someone else has to leave."
"Ling Congwu, after your mother died, you were the one who opened the show. Now it's your turn to close the show for me."
"How is it? By borrowing the body of this sacred tree, you have become a cultivator of the Mahayana stage. Your talent has changed, and you no longer have to suffer from the pain of mediocre talent. For so many years, you have been respected by the tribe. It is only right that you repay this debt now."
"… "
On the stage, the puppet's face became even more sad and resentful after hearing the girl's words, and the light in its eyes faded little by little.
Just like the setting sun outside the window, its light eventually disappears in the darkness.
***
The Hidden Cloud Realm, the abyss of all monsters.
Ever since Fox Wine's soul last traveled to the Yunhua Realm, he consumed a lot of spiritual energy. It took him three months of meditation and cultivation to restore his spiritual energy.
It just so happened that Yun Jiangmiao, the human cultivator who had a contract with his clone from Yunhua Realm, was in seclusion for cultivation. Hu Jiu transferred his soul back to his original body from Yunyin Realm so that he could inform the elder of the demon clan about the pure body and ask her to predict whether the pure body he was looking for was the chosen one who could revive the sacred tree.
Such an important matter could not be delayed, and after recovering from the weak period, Hu Jiu immediately went to visit the great elder of their demon clan.
This elder, like Fox Wine, was born from the bloodline of the Nine-tailed Fox and was once the former demon king of the demon race. Later, because she fell in love with a human cultivator, she was opposed by other traditional demons, who believed that this was an irresponsible act of the demon king towards the demon race.
So under great pressure, the former demon king abdicated and was succeeded by Fox Wine, who was also a pure-blooded nine-tailed demon fox.
Later, the former demon king severed his relationship with the human cultivator and returned to the demon clan. Because she possessed both excellent strength and extraordinary wisdom, she became the great elder of the demon clan again and still had a place in the demon clan.
As for Hu Jiu, he naturally wanted to trust this demon elder who was from the same clan. When he was young, Hu Jiu often consulted the former demon king about the art of illusion pupils.
The previous demon king was a gentle woman who was good at listening, as attentive as a mother.
It is said that she once had a child, but after breaking up with the human cultivators, she did not keep the child. It was from then on that the former demon king's personality changed slightly.
But when people are overjoyed or sad, their temperaments will change suddenly, let alone the demon race whose emotions are straightforward and pure. This change is within reason.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
Fox Wine stood in front of the tree house and knocked on the wooden door three times.
"Who is coming?"
A calm voice came from inside the house.
"I am Hu Jiu, a junior, and I have come to visit you, my Lord." In front of the former demon king, Hu Jiu's attitude was respectful enough, and he would not be disrespectful to her just because he was already a demon king.
After hearing Fox Wine's voice, a calm reply came from inside the room, "Master Demon King, there is no need to be so polite. Please come in."
Although she said this, the people in the house did not move to the door to greet her. She was seen sitting in front of the table against the light, spreading out an ancient scroll, looking like she was reading.
Hu Jiu was accustomed to this scene. Ever since she came back to become the great elder of the demon clan, Hu Jiu had visited the former demon king many times, and almost every time he came to study the ancient books of the clan.
"I wonder what the Demon King wants to talk to me about?" she asked.
"It's like this. Last time I heard you, the Great Elder, predict that the sacred tree will wither. This will be a huge disaster for our demon race." Fox Jiu explained his purpose.
"Yes." She spoke briefly, but her gaze shifted from the scroll to Fox Wine because of the topic of Fox Wine.
With the help of the candlelight in the tree house, Hu Jiu could clearly see the current situation of the great elder of the demon clan.
He seemed to be much older than the last time I saw him.
This is not a good sign. The lifespan of demons is longer than that of humans. Even when they reach middle age or old age, they will not show signs of aging. Only when her time is up and she is about to die, she will gradually show signs of old age like a candle burning out.
Seeing this, Fox Wine paused and asked worriedly, "How is your health recently? If necessary, you can go to the monster clan's treasury to get some treasures that can prolong your life."
"Thank you, Lord Demon King, for taking care of my rotten body."
"How could that be? The Great Elder is the think tank of our demon race. You are extremely important to the demon race."
Hu Jiu's words were spoken sincerely. He was wholeheartedly planning for the demon clan and had great respect for the great elder who could predict the future.
However, the elder sitting at the table said self-deprecatingly, "But those natural treasures have long been useless to me."
"How could this be?" Fox Jiu suddenly couldn't say any more words. He couldn't continue to prolong his life, and any words of comfort would be in vain.
"Don't worry, Master Demon King. The cycle of life and death is the norm for all things. Even demons like us cannot avoid it."
Her words made Hu Jiu agree in his heart, and at the same time, he also felt that the state of mind of this great elder was so high that it was even more insightful than his.
At this time, she changed the subject and asked about the previous matter, "So, Lord Demon King, do you want to ask about the sacred tree?"
Hearing what he came for, Fox Wine regained his focus and nodded, "Yes. I heard from a friend that there is a doctor who has a pure body. He is not disturbed by the demonic obstacles in the world. His medical skills are also very good and he can cure the demonic obstacles of others. Do you think he can become the person who successfully awakened the sacred tree as mentioned in the ancient books?"
"Click!" After the words fell, a muffled sound was heard.
Hu Jiu concentrated his attention and saw that the ancient scroll held in the hands of the great elder suddenly fell on the table, making a rather long noise.
Noticing Fox Wine's gaze, she moved the corners of her mouth, her expression apologetic, "I was a little emotional, so I lost my composure a little."
It's normal to get excited and lose your composure after hearing such a major event that concerns the future of the demon race.
After all, Hu Jiu himself was very surprised at the beginning, so he wanted to test Chu Qi again and again.
Fox Wine: "I understand."
"Is this true? Do pure bodies really exist in this world? This is a statement that only appears in ancient books. Has the Demon King confirmed it?"
"My..." Hu Jiu wanted to say that his demon eyes could see Chu Qi's uniqueness, but then he changed his words and said, "My friend has confirmed it, but I haven't been there in person. And I also need to get the will of the Pure Body himself, so that I can invite him over to try to revive the sacred tree."
"Yes, such an important matter naturally needs to be carefully confirmed." She nodded, as if she agreed with Hu Jiu's words, but then she said, "I wonder where the cultivator who looks like a pure body is? I am willing to share the worries of the demon clan."
"This... I still need to ask my friend." Hu Jiu didn't want to tell the elder about the Yunhua Realm at this time. After all, the shame of a demon king becoming a contracted beast for the human race was no less than the elder's love for a human race.
Even though the contract was only for one clone of Fox Wine, he still cared about it.
"Okay, I hope to get the Demon King's reply as soon as possible." The Great Elder responded.
"I'll go over and confirm as soon as possible." Hu Jiu touched his nose, then remembered his purpose and said quickly, "By the way, I came here this time to ask you, the Great Elder, to predict again whether the sacred tree can be revived in the future?"
“…Okay.” The elder’s voice was a little low. She turned around to get the astrolabe, intending to cast a divination and predict the future.
"Then let's do it again." Her voice sounded a little hoarse. I don't know if it was because of her aging and approaching death.
As long as she can figure it out, regardless of whether Fox Wine's "friend" has found the right pure body, there is still a pure body in this world - that is, the hope for the revival of the sacred tree.
This is a wonderful hope indeed.
Hu Jiu thought to himself that he was willing to keep searching for it.
(End of this chapter)