Chapter 758 – Complicated and Confusing
Chapter 758 – Complicated and Confusing
However, Lin Xuanzhi’s sword just now did have an effect. The nine evil dragons in the air that originally covered the sun dispersed a little. The sun finally shone through a gap in the thick evil Qi layer, bringing the first touch of sunshine to the Nine Lands today.
"Shit!" Yan Tianhen slammed the whip on the ground, making a gash in the land. He was so angry that his eyes were red. "How can he be Sheng Ren? How can the culprit be Sheng Ren!"
In Lingyu’s heart, Sheng Ren had always been a kind and benevolent person.
Although his Master seemed easygoing, in fact, he was the most inaccessible person in the world. No one knew what he was thinking, and no one was truly in his heart. Lingyu’s gentle impression of his Master only existed when Master held his hand when he first took Lingyu back from the dark abyss.
After that, Master threw him to Chang Sheng to be raised, and no matter how Lingyu took root or sprouted, Master just stood by like an observer.
But Sheng Ren was not.
Sheng Ren would hold him high and bring him small fruits from the foot of the mountain. When passing by during his sword practice, he would tell Lingyu that he needed to use a little more force at the waist for this move. He would also flick Lingyu’s head and say that if he was sincere, even gold and stone would open for him — "One day, Chang Sheng will return your feelings."
Sheng Ren disappeared shortly before Dao Zu’s death.
He once asked Dao Zu where Sheng Ren went, and everyone also asked where Sheng Ren went.
Dao Zu just looked at him with neither happiness nor sadness as he answered, "He has gone to where he should go and will never return."
For a while, Lingyu had hated his Master very much.
He felt that his Master was like a mountain pressed on his head, with an unshakable sense of authority as a father. He could get close to Chang Sheng and Sheng Ren, but he didn’t dare to get close to Master, whom he should be the most indebted and closest to.
Where did Sheng Ren go?
Could it be that Dao Zu never cared?
He was not only one of the most important leaders of Spirit Sect, but also Dao Zu’s own blood brother. If Dao Zu could even ignore his close relative and turn a deaf ear to Sheng Ren, then how cold and ruthless a person Dao Zu would be.
Lingyu’s feelings towards Dao Zu couldn’t really be called hate. Lingyu and Xi He had talked about him secretly together. They said bad things about Dao Zu behind his back, and then expressed the same kind of grudge against him, all the way until Dao Zu died.
Standing in front of Dao Zu’s dead body, Xi He was at a loss. He first cried and then vomited blood. Then he drove Lingyu down the mountain.
Lingyu felt his heart become empty. He suddenly realized that, in fact, he didn’t hate Dao Zu as much as he thought. But Dao Zu couldn’t come back anymore.
He couldn’t go back either.
Yan Tianhen recovered from his deep memories, and his face was unconsciously covered with tears. He looked at Lin Xuanzhi blankly, just like how Youshan Lingyu stared blankly at Dao Zu’s corpse in the past.
"So Sheng Ren is the culprit of all these terrible events. Then Sheng Ren’s disappearance in the past must also have been Dao Zu’s doing. I blamed Dao Zu for pushing all the sins onto me in order to preserve his reputation while dying as a martyr. I also blamed him for being a harsh and ruthless Master, but now… it seems like I didn’t know anything."
Who could tell him the truth?
He thought that as the person involved, he had already seen through everything. He saw through Dao Zu’s filthy heart and mind hidden under the appearance of compassion like a Buddha. He saw through Dao Zu’s hypocrisy and ruthlessness. However, the truth became blurred as Sheng Ren came back to life as a lunatic. Yan Tianhen became confused.
Lin Xuanzhi revealed, "I also asked Master about Sheng Ren back then."
Yan Tianhen’s eyes gradually focused.
"Master said that Sheng Ren had gone to the place where he should go." Lin Xuanzhi frowned and continued, "But I never thought that the so-called place where he should go was the dark abyss. Master must’ve already discovered that Sheng Ren had cultivated evil Qi and fought him, but for various reasons, he had to hide it and dared not make it public."
Yan Tianhen took a deep breath and asked,
Lin Xuanzhi shook his head. "No one can guess Dao Zu’s thoughts. He was too wise. He was born with a pair of eyes that could see through everything, but he also had to bear a burden that no one else could bear. His concerns are not what we can guess."
Yan Tianhen’s heart felt extremely heavy.
Those people were all his old friends and people he once loved and respected. No matter who betrayed Spirit Sect, he would always feel pain.
"He will make a comeback soon." Yan Tianhen looked up at the motionless dragon that finally dispersed a little and continued, "We don’t have much time."
The Nine Lands’ Divine Clans and all the sects tried all possible methods to break up the evil dragons that blocked the sky and the sun. However, although they used arrays, runes, and various magic weapons, none of them were effective.
Even though those evil dragons were dispersed a little, they soon condensed back together. As the evil dragons accumulated more and more evil Qi, Yan Tianhen soon realized that Tu Feng, who was seriously injured by Lin Xuanzhi’s sword, would soon make a comeback.
At the evil spirit extermination meeting, families and sects who originally held off on signing their names ran towards Myriad Dao Academy one after another, and vowed to join the war of evil spirits extermination.
Seven days later, when one-seventh of the sparrow spirits accumulated at the Royal Heavenly Capital disappeared out of thin air, dead beasts and withered spiritual plants could be seen everywhere in the Nine Lands. Even people whose cultivation levels weren’t high enough were also contaminated by the evil Qi and forcibly turned into evil Qi cultivators.
However, not everyone’s body could withstand the erosion of evil Qi. The vast majority of people died when their bodies exploded, unable to bear the evil Qi. Within a few days, there were sorrows everywhere and corpses everywhere.
However, people still didn’t know how to deal with these evil Qi. After all, during the Myriad Dao Era under Spirit Sect’s rule ten thousand years ago, although Earth Realm cultivators walked everywhere, they weren’t able to find a solution either.
The situation was getting out of control, The Nine Lands’ Divine Clans joined hands to open the protective array hidden in the Nine Lands for many years in an attempt to block all the evil Qi outside and leave a glimmer of vitality for the people of the Nine Lands.
However, the effect was very small, and bad news still came every day. If it went on like this, only death awaited everyone.
However, at this time, under various considerations, the astrological platform of Myriad Dao Academy was finally activated. A strong light carried through the sky and pierced a great hole in the dark sky. The holy light swept through the gap of Heaven’s Wail.
The astrolabe turned to the northernmost part of the North Land and the easternmost part of the East Land. In an instant, the sky was illuminated by holy light. Thousands of sect disciples protected the ceremony as Esteemed Lan Yue and all the prophet family members above Profound Realm stepped onto the astrological platform that had only been activated ten thousand years ago and turned towards the sky. They sincerely used the honor of the prophet family for tens of thousands of years to implore the Heavenly Dao to give hope to tens of thousands of people.
Three days later, when the Nine Lands almost entered the severe winter, finally, Esteemed Lan Yue sent a letter to the Royal Heavenly Capital.
"Master is asking us to go to Myriad Dao Academy." Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi and said, "Everything is pointing to the evil spirit array — that is, Myriad Dao’s Twelve Evil Spirit Temples, and they’re even pointing to the most difficult evil spirit array."
Yan Tianhen almost guessed what he would see in the evil array. He couldn’t wait to enter and see the truth from ten thousand years ago.
Lin Xuanzhi stared at Yan Tianhen’s eyes, as if he had already seen through everything, and only slowly said, "Maybe it’s not entering the evil spirit array, but returning to Hidden Spirit Holy Sect from ten thousand years ago."
He also wanted to see with his own eyes what the person he had always loved looked like at that time. He wanted to see whether Lingyu was the same as in his memory, still so wanton and unrestrained.
Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen soon said goodbye to King Ye and the others.
King Ye must stay and defend the Royal Heavenly Capital. He couldn’t leave at this time of crisis. He had thousands of words to say to Yan Tianhen, but in the end, he only said one sentence.
"Take care, and return quickly."
Yan Tianhen nodded and smiled. "Dage and I will come back safely."
You Ming was a little nervous. "Don’t be away too long, otherwise, when you come out, maybe the Nine Lands will be gone, and there will be no trace left of me."
"Dad, don’t jinx yourself like that." Yan Tianhen didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. "Time flows differently inside the evil spirit array compared to outside. Even if a year passes inside the array, perhaps only a day will have passed outside."
You Ming waved his hand. "Get lost, get lost. Does Laozi need you guys to comfort me?"
After the two left, You Ming said sadly to Yan Zhonghua, "In fact, it’s also good if he just stays in the evil spirit array. At least he won’t have to experience these hopeless things."
Yan Zhonghua just hugged You Ming and kissed the top of his head.
This time, when they went to Myriad Dao Academy, Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen burned a large number of sparrow spirits. They were reluctant to use them before. Now, even if they didn’t use them, it would go to waste. It was better to make the best use of everything. Instead of saving them for Tu Feng to absorb, they might as well use them first.
A few hours later, they arrived at Myriad Dao Academy.
"I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. You guys finally arrived." Yin Chongyue was the first to meet them. He sighed in relief and spoke rapidly, "The evil spirit array has already been activated and is just waiting for you two to enter."
Yan Tianhen blinked and asked, "Weren’t you living in seclusion at the bottom of the cliff?"
Yin Chongyue rolled his eyes. "Living in seclusion, yeah right. My family’s little ancestor couldn’t see the sun for a few days and was about to torment me to death. He cried and threw tantrums, insisting that he wanted to see the sun. Where can Laozi find a sun for him?"
Lin Xuanzhi asked, "Did someone already enter the evil spirit array?"
Yin Chongyue took a deep breath. "It’s precisely because everyone has already tried and couldn’t enter that I had to hurry to ask you two to come and try. This evil spirit array has its own ideas — only Spirit Sect’s descendants can enter. The little ancestor said that one of you is a descendant of Spirit Sect, so you guys are the only hope."
Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen looked at each other and smiled. This evil array really was created for them.
Yin Chongyue said, "Don’t flirt right now. Esteemed Lan Yue is about to go crazy."
Yan Tianhen became focused. "We’ll go in right now."
They followed Yin Chongyue to the Twelve Evil Spirit Temples.
Along the way, the disciples of Myriad Dao Academy stared at them silently. Their eyes were full of hope. Among the faint lights, their eyes looked particularly bright, like starlight.