The Ghost Gate was breached, and the City of the Dead, which was only a few dozen miles away from the Ghost Gate, became a deserted city in an instant.
In the eyes of the monks, this tiny distance is no different from non-existence.
As early as when the Yin-Yang Realm War was restarted, most of the ghost cultivators in the City of the Dead had already left. After all, ordinary ghost cultivators were concerned about their own lives and were worried about being involved in the fall of the city. By the time the battle of Ghost Gate was decided, not even a ghost was left.
The Nineteen Continents occupied the City of the Dead without any effort.
After the first day's victory, although they had a rough guess of what the current situation in the City of the Dead was, to be on the safe side, after discussion among the leaders and elders of the major sects, they still sent several teams into the city to investigate and clean up in case of any ambush.
The Kunwu monks are, of course, also included in this list.
Originally, there was no need for cultivators with very high cultivation to go, but for some unknown reason, Xie Buchen volunteered to lead people there.
The nearly one hundred ordinary disciples of Kunwu were inevitably a little surprised. But Xie Buchen was not talkative, and he didn't talk to them much, and they didn't have the courage to approach him and talk to him, so they just guessed the reason in their hearts.
In the past two days after the battle at Ghost Gate, the cultivators from the Nineteen Continents were not as calm as they appeared.
I don't know how many people were discussing those seventeen people that day in private.
After all, there is no wall that is impenetrable. What's more, the Hermit Fudao of Yashan and the True Man Hengxu of Kunwu actually started a quarrel in front of nearly ten thousand monks. Although they only said a few words with ambiguous meanings, it was enough to make people tremble with fear and speculate a lot.
Eighty years ago in the hidden world of Qingfeng Temple, the genius of Kunwu, Xie Buchen, and the newcomer of Yashan, Jianchou, did not get along well. They fought each other, half of them died and one was missing, which led to resentment between the two sects of Kunwu and Yashan and a frozen relationship.
This is a rumor.
Although the rumors sound very real and are not groundless, no one has ever actually seen what this so-called "grudge" and "discord" look like.
now…
Who are Fudao Shanren and Hengxu Zhenren
The two most famous giants in the Nineteen Continents!
Even though the three Zen masters had strong abilities, they could never compare with these two in terms of reputation.
How many years have these two people been practicing
Not to mention that they never show their emotions, but at least if they want to, they can easily control their emotions and not let others see any clues.
But under the circumstances at that time, the situation was tense and tense, with angry glares on both sides!
The rumors of discord were undoubtedly confirmed in an instant.
and…
Is it really as simple as just a disagreement
We have just conquered the gates of hell and taken the first city, but already so many signs of contradictions have emerged. Who knows what the future will be like
It is also said that the seventeen puppet-like people who were slain by the swords of the Yashan monks that day were actually composed of the fragments of the old souls of the Yashan monks who died in the battle eleven generations ago...
If the emotions of the superiors are unstable, the hearts of the subordinates will surely be moved.
As everyone sighed, they couldn't help but feel worried about what they would have to face in the future and the cracks that were now appearing in the Nineteen Continents. Although no one dared to say it openly, the worry could not be dispelled.
Xie Buchen was very patient.
He seemed to be unaware of the worries and concerns of everyone around him. He just walked in front of everyone, came out of the original base near the Ghost Gate of the Extreme Domain, walked through the wasteland that was full of potholes after a previous battle, and soon saw the ruined Ghost Gate.
The ferocious and majestic momentum of the past has long disappeared.
Half of the door had collapsed to the ground.
Huge black stones, with all kinds of messy traces and painted with the vicissitudes of time, are scattered among the weeds. Some are still exposed on the ground, while others have been buried in the loess.
When passing this checkpoint, Xie Buchen naturally stopped.
Someone behind him asked him, "Brother Xie, what's wrong? Is there anything wrong?"
"No." He raised his head, his eyes fell on the half of the gate that was broken but still standing here, and replied calmly, "It's just that I suddenly remembered that there are some things. You go through this pass first and go into the City of the Dead to investigate, and I will follow."
"yes."
Although they were somewhat curious about what he was talking about, on the one hand, there was a strict hierarchical barrier between ordinary disciples and true disciples of Kunwu, and on the other hand, Xie Buchen's brilliant strategy in the previous battle had already established enough prestige for him among the cultivators of the Nineteen Continents. Therefore, the cultivators of Kunwu passed through the ruined Ghost Gate and headed for the City of the Dead without asking a single question.
Xie Buchen stood there and watched everyone walk away.
Not until all the figures disappeared did he raise his head again and look at the badly damaged door. The mysterious feeling he had when passing by this place several times before finally reappeared in his mind.
He took slow steps and walked to the right.
Overgrown with weeds, the muddy black rock at the bottom of Ghost Gate was covered. He brushed away the thick mud, and the strange and hideous skull ghost head pattern gradually emerged.
Also slowly emerging...
There is also another strange mark hidden under this pattern.
Xie Buchen's finger gently reached out, and the moment it touched the mark, the mark turned into a tiny gray-white light as thin as a needle tip, which sank into his fingertips...
The cold wind blew across the wasteland, and the gloomy clouds were like demons, whistling past from the sky along with the wind. ωＷＷ.166xs.cc
In the Nineteen Continents’ base near the Ghost Gate, Jianchou suddenly opened his eyes.
But his slightly furrowed brows did not relax.
The red robe he had worn during the battle at Ghost Gate that day had been replaced. He was now dressed in moon-white clothes, and had used the elixir jointly refined by Medicine King Yiming and Baiyue Valley's medicine girl Lu Xiangleng. His injuries had completely healed, and even his cultivation had increased a lot, climbing to and stabilizing at the middle stage of Return to Void.
only…
After all, it didn't feel right.
She sat cross-legged, raised her hand and touched the corner of her eyes, but a hint of deep thought flashed across her eyes.
She knew without looking that her eyes had recovered.
Originally, during the surprise attack on the Snow Region, in order to break the formation of the gods that was who knows how old, she took risks and went deep into a pit that led to nowhere. When her mind was wandering and she could vaguely see the huge ancient corpse sleeping in the galaxy, she was suddenly attacked by a black gas and injured her eyes. From then on, she saw things with her naked eyes covered with a layer of shadow.
Even after her injuries recovered, the shadow remained.
However, the cultivators have already cultivated their spiritual awareness, and the physical eyes are no longer of much use. And precisely because of her poor eyesight, she could only achieve twice the result with half the effort when she comprehended the Line of Sky in the armory. So after finding that she could not eliminate this layer of darkness no matter what, she gave up temporarily and waited for an opportunity to ask Lu Xiangleng or Mr. Yiming for help.
But I didn’t expect…
Before I knew it, that layer of shadow had disappeared.
Jianchou looked around himself, but had no idea how the shadow disappeared or where it went. He just vaguely felt that it might have happened during the previous battle with the King of Taishan.
Only at that time, her attention was completely focused on the battle and she had no time to be distracted. In addition, her spiritual consciousness replaced her eyes, so even if her eyes recovered, she would not notice it.
"But it's still very strange..."
Jianchou recalled every detail of his battle with King Taishan. Everything else didn't matter except the look of horror and disbelief in King Taishan's eyes, which kept flashing in his mind.
That was the moment when she raised her sword and pressed it against his brow!
She was sure that at that moment, King Taishan was not looking at the sword in her hand, but at her eyes!
Open your eyes and close them again.
After a long while, Jianchou opened his eyes again.
She stood up, opened the door and walked out of the room.
Outside is a vast wasteland in the polar region.
Most of the caves and houses that the cultivators from the Nineteen Continents had built when they were in a stalemate with the ghost cultivators from the Extreme Region have been moved away, so the place looks a bit scattered and desolate.
She had only taken two steps outside when she heard the voice of the person she was looking for.
"Damn salted fish!"
"Time is merciless. I am old and still despised. I was trying to persuade you with good intentions, but I didn't expect you, a lifeless gnat with a bright mind but little wisdom, to not know what is good for you! I was so blind at the beginning, why did I follow you?"
"Didn't you say you thought your life was too long?"
“… is loneliness.”
“What is loneliness?”
"Loneliness is the reason why you came to Dameng Reef to join me."
"I don't understand."
"You don't understand it, but it's because you haven't realized its existence yet."
"But I have old friends."
“…Get lost.”
"Brother Kun told me before that I have an old friend."
"Yes, now you not only have an old friend, but you also swallowed half of your heart alive. Don't you think there's anything wrong with that?"
"It disappears after swallowing it, which is also strange."
"Hey, your life is over!"
"Why?"
"Mayflies are innocent, but if you eat half of one, it's a big deal..."
"You—Daoyou Jianchou?"
It turned out to be a mayfly and a Kunpeng, walking over from the wasteland outside. Fu Chaosheng's old robe, which seemed to be covered with moss, remained unchanged, but the fish-shaped hairpin on his head had turned into a black jade ring, which he wore on his thumb and turned around and around.
The pair of dead fish eyes on the ring were obviously a little dizzy.
At this moment, he walked over and happened to see Jianchou. He immediately forgot what he wanted to ask Kun. He was stunned for a moment before he called her.
The feeling at this moment is really weird.
Fu Chaosheng felt like something was wrong with him, but he couldn't quite tell what it was.
He just stopped and looked at Jianchou.
There were not many monks walking around.
Very quiet.
Jianchou looked at his face, which was still naturally pale and his eyes were hiding a bit of evil as before, but he felt that there was an indescribable directness and frankness in this big demon. He couldn't help but think of the straightforward and terrifying words he said when he first met him.
She stared at him for a long while before walking over and saying hello in the same way: "Daoist Fellow Chaosheng."
Fu Chaosheng could tell at a glance that her cultivation had fully recovered and even improved a little. He thought that according to human habit, he should be happy for her, but when he looked at her, he felt that her expression seemed too indifferent.
This gave rise to a feeling that was extremely difficult to describe.
He didn't frown, but just asked, "Old friend, do you want to ask me something?"
“…Yes.”
Now it was Jianchou's turn to be slightly stunned. She actually felt that Fu Chaosheng was much more perceptive than before. Or maybe her thoughts were already revealed, or she did not hide it from this big demon who was supposed to be "not of my kind"
Yes.
She came here to ask for advice, so why would she cover it up
The scenes at the Ghost Gate battlefield that day all flashed through her mind, the shocked look in King Taishan's eyes when she thrust out her sword, the hesitation in swinging her sword when the Coroner King came to save King Taishan, and the seventeen soul puppets that appeared at the Ghost Gate at the end...
Sort out all the thoughts one by one.
Jianchou smiled slowly, and stood close to Fu Chaosheng. He raised his eyes slightly and looked at him, and asked, "Daoyou Chaosheng was born by heaven and earth. Although people call you the 'greatest evil demon', you may not be the spiritual one of heaven and earth. I want to know, how does Daoyou Chaosheng view the cycle of life and death?"
Reincarnation
These four words may seem simple, but they are actually very important.
Fu Chaosheng should not have understood what she was saying, but at this moment, he recalled her figure going against the crowd when countless monks on Yashan fell with their swords.
Then it suddenly became clear.
He said: "My old friend is still brooding over those ghost puppets."
How can I not feel resentful about it
Jianchou took a step to the side and placed his clean palm under the cloudy sky of the Jiyu. He looked at the unique lines on his palm that were different from those of others, and then murmured, "At that moment, a very rebellious thought came to my mind..."
A very perverse idea.
She put down her hand, turned around, and stared at Fu Chaosheng: "You said, in these six reincarnations, if you lost all your memories of your life and only your soul remained the same, then - you, would you still be you?"
Memory, soul.
you-
Still you
This is by no means an easy question to answer, or rather, different people will have different answers.
But for Fu Chaosheng, this question is very simple.
He lowered his eyebrows and eyes, pondered for a moment, then smiled and answered her: "Of course not. If only the soul is the same, without all memories, then I am no different from the mayflies in the world. I have not heard the words of my old friend, and I have not known my old friend since I was born. The soul is equivalent to a blank piece of paper. The blank paper in the world has different materials, but it is just an empty piece of paper. Memory is the painting on the paper, which varies from person to person. 'I' should be a painting, not just a piece of paper."
"Hahaha… "
As soon as he finished speaking, Jianchou couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh!
It was enjoyable at the beginning, but it was so funny that I couldn't help but feel tears in my eyes at the end.
I couldn't control the tears that welled up in my eyes!
What a great sentence: “'I' should be a painting, not just a piece of paper”!
She didn't know what to say, whether it was Fu Chaosheng's words that suddenly made her see the light, or whether she should say that his words were exactly what she was thinking.
I just want to laugh at the absurdity that arises from the bottom of my heart at this moment.
That's all!
Fu Chaosheng looked at her without saying anything.
Jianchou gradually became tired of laughing, so he just waved to him and went towards the gates of hell alone.
Fu Chaosheng wanted to chase after him, but was stopped by Kun's words.
He only said: "You, my old friend, should be alone at this moment."
Jianchou really wanted to be alone and quiet.
It was just because a certain idea had been lingering in her mind for too long. It had only been vaguely floating in her mind in the past. However, when she saw that the "monster" composed of the remaining souls of Yashan was about to be killed by Yashan's disciples, this idea grew like a wildly growing vine, completely revealing its rebellious form to the world.
Because it is too real, it looks hideous.
She was sure—
As long as she dared to stand up and tell others what she thought, I'm afraid everyone would stand up and angrily accuse her of having wild imaginations and ill intentions!
There may even be fellow disciples from Yashan here.
Closing his eyes filled with turbulent emotions, Jianchou walked past the ruined Ghost Gate, through the broken black stones, and across the wasteland in between. Soon he saw the City of the Dead standing at the end of his sight.
The city gates were opened and a drawbridge was placed over the moat.
However, the mirror hanging at the city gate no longer had the brilliance it once had. There was a big hole on the mirror. I didn't know if it was forcibly broken by the monks stationed in the city, or if it was accidentally hit by scattered attacks in the previous battle...
There are monks from other sects guarding the city gate.
Everyone was already familiar with Jianchou's clothes and face by now, and when she stepped onto the suspension bridge, no one came out to stop her.
The monks on both sides just bowed to her.
When Jianchou walked over and passed in front of the mirror reflecting me, he raised his hand to touch the rough mirror surface covered with dust, and couldn't help but think of what he saw in the mirror that year.
She stayed for a moment and then went into the city.
At this time, she didn't want to ask anyone, she just wanted to go back to the old house in the City of the Dead and take another look at those shocking words she had seen back then!
The streets remained the same as before, but there was no trace of the ghost cultivators. Only a few teams of cultivators were walking through the streets in a hurry.
After Jianchou entered the city, he followed the road he remembered.
Soon I saw the familiar round building, the wide street, and the old house in the corner where I once lived.
But she didn't expect that when she walked up the steps and wanted to use the soul mark that was connected to the house protection formation in the past to open the door, she found out -
The two doors were ajar!
I reached out and pushed gently, and then I heard a teeth-grinding "creak" sound, and the door slowly opened...
At this moment, Jianchou only felt a chill rising from the soles of his feet and attacking his heart!
The courtyard has not been changed at all.
Only the two tangerine trees planted in the courtyard, with their charred trunks and dark green crowns, grew thicker and more luxuriant.
It seemed like no one had cleaned the floor for a long time, and old dead leaves were scattered all over the ground.
On the window sill of the open carved window behind it, there was a plum vase with three plum branches inserted diagonally in the vase, and the branches were already in full bloom with bright red flowers.
The plum petals, which had reached their prime and were then withering, fell on the windowsill.
A few slender jade-like fingers gently brushed over the line of words carved on the window sill, and finally touched the fallen plum petals. They then naturally picked up the petals and placed them in the palm of their hands.
When he looked up again, he saw Jianchou standing at the gate of the mansion.
Jianchou's pupils shrank drastically and he looked at him without saying anything.
It seemed that Xie Buchen had not expected to see her here. After a slight pause, he calmly loosened his hand and let the bright red plum petals fall.
He smiled at her and asked, "Daoist friend Jianchou, why are you here?"