Chapter 169: Unable to Figure It Out
“That is why I said, you should thank me,” the Acacia Flower Demon burst into a fit of laughter.
The illusion receded, and that bank of red clouds vanished as if it had never existed.
Lu Yingqi’s expression was dazed; he had clearly not yet recovered from the vision he had just witnessed.
The piercing laughter of the Acacia Flower Demon drew his attention back. “When I met him, he was often distressed because his magical power wouldn’t manifest, but you never noticed. It was because he didn’t want to leave you that he used my power to endure until today. Otherwise, he would have aged long ago due to the backlash of the Heavenly Dao. Even if he were lucky, he wouldn’t have passed the Foundation Establishment assessment and would have been expelled from the outer sect sooner or later…”
Lu Yingqi seemed to wake from a dream, staring blankly at the Acacia Flower Demon.
“I am the one who allowed him to reach Foundation Establishment. I am the one who let him deceive his way through the inner sect assessment. Did you think it was only natural for him to stand by your side and keep his position as your pageboy for so long? No, that was an impossible task for him. I was the one who provided him with strength. Therefore, you should thank me!”
The Acacia Flower Demon spoke with absolute conviction. Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi stood at a distance; although they hadn’t seen the illusion Lu Yingqi saw, they understood the sequence of events from the demon’s words.
“However, it doesn’t matter whether you thank me or not. Xiao Zhi has already thanked me. According to our agreement, he gave his spirit body to me, completing our Life-and-Death Covenant. Now he has become a part of me—I am very satisfied,” the Acacia Flower Demon laughed.
“It was you,” Rong Xie said loudly. “You forced him to sign such an unequal contract with you!”
“Master Rong, those words are incorrect,” the flower disk turned toward the speaker like a human face. “We demons have always advocated for voluntary autonomy; we never do things by force. This Life-and-Death Covenant was signed by Xiao Zhi willingly; otherwise, it would not have taken effect. Regarding this information, Master Rong can ask the Great Arbiter Shen. If even he does not know, you can ask that witness of your Heavenly Dao—the Sky Mirror.”
Rong Xie looked at Shen Bingsi. Shen Bingsi had always fought on the front lines of slaying demons and understood them far better than someone who only studied from books.
Shen Bingsi nodded slightly and added, “However, demons are the best at deception. Not forcing him doesn’t mean they used any honorable methods.”
“Hahahahaha! Demons are the best at deception?” The Acacia Flower Demon laughed again, as if hearing an extremely ridiculous joke. “The ones best at deception are clearly humans, aren’t they? The Lu family deceives others to steal their children; Madam Mei deceives the world about a Spirit Spring Well; Elder Bai and his generation of fellow disciples deceive others’ feelings. They clearly say things like ascending together during dual cultivation, but once it’s over, they discard the other like a worn-out shoe. Even someone as taciturn as Lu Yingqi uses actions to deceive—deceiving others into giving their true hearts, only to use that heart to prove his own Path in the end!”
“…” Rong Xie was momentarily speechless, and Shen Bingsi also remained silent.
“Xiao Zhi, why didn’t you tell me…” Lu Yingqi murmured. “If he had told me—”
“Would you have given up using him to prove your Path?” The Acacia Flower Demon pointed out sharply.
Lu Yingqi felt as if he had been thrown into a place even more terrifying than the Gorge of Questioning the Heart. With one word, the Acacia Flower Demon had sent him into a state of eternal damnation.
“When you used him to prove your Path, you didn’t know Elder Bai had the trick of the Spirit-Locking Array, did you? At that time, did you think he would die? If he died, he would have no consciousness, no awareness, and no knowledge of where he would be reincarnated or what he would become. You only thought that after you ascended, you could perceive the Heavenly Dao and find him easily. But did you ever think about him?”
He would lose everything, passively waiting for someone to find him. Having lost everything, would he still be himself?
“When you were proving your Path, you made a choice. Him being assimilated by me now is just a predictable outcome of your choice. Everything is proceeding according to your plan—what are you still dissatisfied with?” the Acacia Flower Demon laughed.
“…”
Lu Yingqi remained silent, his cheeks tense, his expression more terrifying than ever before. Upon closer inspection, fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, and his hands hanging at his sides were shaking unnaturally.
If he had known in advance that if Xiao Zhi died, he would be eaten by the Flower Demon, would he still have used Xiao Zhi to prove his Path?
If he had known in advance that if Xiao Zhi died, the person ‘Xiao Zhi’ would cease to exist in this world—that even if he ascended, he would never find Xiao Zhi, never speak to him again, never see his smile, and never find another person who treated him so wholeheartedly—would he still have used Xiao Zhi to prove his Path?
But… if he didn’t use Xiao Zhi to prove his Path, he would be expelled from the sect and have his cultivation base destroyed. Life is finite; he would never be able to ascend in this lifetime.
Then the meaning of his existence would be gone.
“So that’s how it is,” Lu Yingqi muttered to himself. “The final trial is actually like this… a game where one must die for the other to live.”
While Lu Yingqi was lost in thought, the Acacia Flower Demon laughed while quietly moving away from the cliff.
“Watch out, it’s trying to escape!” Shen Bingsi was the first to notice the Acacia Flower Demon’s intentions.
“Hehe, until we meet again!” Golden demonic runes flashed, and the Acacia Flower Demon turned into a phantom, disappearing beyond the cliff.
“Damn it!” Shen Bingsi raised the Shengxie Sword, but his strength failed him. He gasped in pain, and the sword tip slammed back into the ground.
Rong Xie hurried to support him. Shen Bingsi said exasperatedly, “Lu Yingqi, what are you doing? You just let the demon run away?!”
However, Lu Yingqi acted as if he hadn’t heard anything, standing there and chanting under his breath.
“Scoundrel! That demon ate Xiao Zhi, understands demonic runes, and has made great progress in power this time—letting it escape like this, who knows what disasters it will cause in the future!” Shen Bingsi was fuming.
Rong Xie soothingly rubbed Shen Bingsi’s back to calm him down, then looked worryingly at Lu Yingqi standing by the cliff edge.
Rong Xie had once seen a high-cultivation old Taoist at the Lingjing Sect who worked as a general laborer in the inner sect, chopping wood and tending fires. While working, he would constantly mutter to himself and never look anyone in the eye. An uncle-master familiar with the sect’s history told Rong Xie that the man had hit a dead end while trying to break through to a higher realm. He had focused entirely on one single question until his mind became abnormal. He would likely remain that way for the rest of his life.
“Lu Yingqi’s state doesn’t look right…” Rong Xie’s heart sank. “We should go get someone.”
Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi returned to the Dao Palace and explained Lu Yingqi’s situation to Elder Bai. Elder Bai fainted on the spot and only slowly woke up under the combined efforts of two medical cultivators.
“Sins, they are all sins!” Elder Bai sighed toward the heavens, appearing ten years older in an instant. He originally had a transcendent, immortal-like appearance, but now he looked like he was in his twilight years. Having experienced such massive ups and downs in a single day, it was no wonder he looked so haggard.
Elder Bai ordered a disciple to report to the Sect Master, and the guide went with Rong Xie to bring Lu Yingqi back. After assigning the tasks, Elder Bai collapsed back onto his bedding, and the two medical cultivators hurriedly stepped up to continue their rescue.
By the time Rong Xie and the guide brought Lu Yingqi back, the Sect Master and sect elders had also arrived at the Dao Palace. It was a rare night where the Dao Palace was brightly lit so late.
“How did things turn out like this when everything was fine?” the Sect Master frowned while looking at Lu Yingqi.
The latter still looked possessed, muttering unknown words, his eyes dull as he stared straight at the air in the corner of the room, as if talking to an invisible person.
“Bad luck. He originally had hope of breaking into the Integration Realm, but unexpectedly encountered a question he couldn’t answer. Alas.”
“Cultivation eventually boils down to a matter of state of mind. Even we old-timers are at risk of getting stuck in a rut, let alone a young junior like Martial Nephew Lu. What a pity, what a pity.”
The elders gathered around Lu Yingqi, sighing and lamenting.
“You… what is the use of saying these things now? Weren’t you the ones who forced Yingqi to prove his Path?” Elder Bai pounded the bed in anger. “Now look at what’s happened! Yingqi has been driven mad by you, yet you are helpless and can only stand around him nagging.”
The elders looked at each other; they wouldn’t take the blame for this. “The method of ‘killing the wife to prove the Path’ was suggested by you, Elder Bai, wasn’t it? What does it have to do with us? Furthermore, if he couldn’t pass the trial, it shows his Dao heart wasn’t firm enough. Again, what does that have to do with us?”
“You—” Elder Bai was so choked with rage that he fainted again on the spot.
Seeing this, the elders hurriedly surrounded him once more—some performing rescues, others nagging. Finally, the Sect Master settled the matter with one sentence:
“Lu Yingqi did pass the Ascension Array after all. He’s just momentarily unable to figure things out. There’s no need to expel him. We’ll keep him in the Dao Palace. Once he wakes up, he will still be a great expert of our Xuantian Sect with the potential to reach the Integration Realm.”
The Xuantian Sect could afford to support one person, even an invalid. Until Lu Yingqi regained his senses, they didn’t even need to provide him with spirit stones, so it wouldn’t cost much. Once he woke up—he would be a powerful asset that would only bring glory to the Xuantian Sect, so there was nothing to worry about.
The matter thus came to a close. The Sect Master and elders left with sighs. Elder Bai remained bedridden, and the wood-chopping shed in the back of the Dao Palace gained another muttering young madman. The person known as Xiao Zhi no longer existed in this world.
The ending could be described as tragic.
Inside the carriage leaving the Xuantian Sect, Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi sat opposite each other. The atmosphere in the carriage was somewhat heavy.
For Shen Bingsi, Lu Yingqi was a fellow cultivator he had known for a long time; seeing him suddenly go mad left him with a sense of lingering sorrow.
For Rong Xie, however, it was much more serious. Xiao Zhi’s death, the failure of the trial… everything pointed in the same direction: the ending in the Book of Fate.
He had tried everything to avoid the events that led to Lu Yingqi’s early demise, even uncovering the major scandal of the former Acacia Sect disciple marrying into the Lu family and kidnapping children to raise as cauldrons. It seemed he had resolved Lu Yingqi’s final worry.
Who would have known that this was only the first step in prying open the shackles of fate? Once fate was completely released, it ran uncontrollably toward its conclusion. Rong Xie didn’t even know if he had accelerated Lu Yingqi’s ending. Was Xiao Zhi’s end in the Book of Fate just as tragic? He carried a deep sense of guilt and the suffocation of being unable to escape destiny. For a moment, his spirits were low and his feelings difficult to describe.
“It’s a good thing you’re smart. You urged that old man Bai to reveal Elder Red’s whereabouts before he collapsed,” Shen Bingsi said, attempting to lighten the mood in the carriage. “Otherwise, with his ability to play rogue, he probably would have used his disciple’s madness as an excuse to refuse to introduce us to Elder Red.”
The carriage they were in was currently heading toward the Acacia Sect. Strangely enough, the branch of the Acacia Sect was actually located inside Liujin City—a place right under Lu Yinglin’s nose. Yet Lu Yinglin insisted he knew nothing about the Acacia Sect… regardless, Rong Xie didn’t believe him.
“Was it me who asked?” Rong Xie’s mind was still a muddle.
“It was you, of course it was you.” Shen Bingsi grabbed Rong Xie’s hands. He couldn’t catch his breath and started coughing again.
Rong Xie immediately pulled his hands away. The scabbard of the Lightning White Orchid appeared in his hand, expertly pressing against Shen Bingsi’s shoulder to push him back into his seat. “Keep your distance! Until we find Elder Red, behave yourself.”
Shen Bingsi gripped the scabbard, laughing even as he coughed. “Can I misbehave once we find him?”
“You dare!” Rong Xie exerted force with his hand, and Shen Bingsi repeatedly begged for mercy. The commotion in the carriage temporarily swept away the gloomy atmosphere of fate.
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