Volume 5, Chapter 119 – Choice

What was that?

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes. Knowing this was a case of “future sight,” she did not react at once. Instead, she carefully observed the slender figure of light, recording its height, shoulder width, leg length, shoe size, and other data, then comparing them against the information in her memory bank.

The Jade Spirit had never let her down in matters like this. Very quickly, in less than a second, Bai Xiang identified it in her memory bank as a projection of Emperor Feng she had seen before, confirming that the bodily data of the two matched extremely closely.

And with that tone of voice, was this Emperor Feng?

Was Emperor Feng connected to the Golden Light Temple ruins? Had he also left an inheritance here?

A thought stirred in her mind, and Bai Xiang considered another possibility.

At this moment, the “future sight” was still continuing. Strange as it was, she used to count herself lucky if this thing showed her even two seconds, but now it was holding steady. Since that was the case, Bai Xiang had no intention of breaking it.

She wanted to hear how Li Wenyu would choose in a situation like this.

“I…”

Li Wenyu in the “future sight” hesitated. After a pause, she asked the figure of light, “May I ask if you are His Majesty Emperor Feng?”

“Who but I could grant you half a volume of the Xuandi Scripture?” the figure replied in a majestic voice. “You have already tested those methods. You know whether the scripture is genuine.”

“I would not dare doubt Your Majesty.” Li Wenyu hurriedly lowered her head.

But in the instant she lowered it, Bai Xiang saw her jaw muscles tense. At the same time, she noticed that Li Wenyu tilted her head ever so slightly at great speed and glanced in Bai Xiang’s direction.

That single glance contained an extremely complicated, restless emotion. Then Bai Xiang saw her suddenly raise her head. “May I ask, Your Majesty Emperor Feng, was the Buddhist kingdom arrangement here your handiwork?”

“As you have seen, it was naturally my handiwork.”

“Your Majesty said you need me to offer up my flesh and blood to manifest. Does that mean Your Majesty still persists in some form?”

“Many great powers of antiquity left traces behind, either by sealing themselves away or by falling to their enemies,” the golden light said blandly. “My continued existence follows the same principle.”

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“Then let me ask one more thing, Your Majesty. If you were to revive by this means, would you use this Buddhist kingdom as a foundation and spread the ‘Six Paths of Reincarnation’ outward, giving all living beings an equal chance?”

“This is Xuan Rite.” The golden light nodded without hesitation. “If I am reborn, I shall uphold the Xuan Dharma and use it to broadly enlighten all living beings under heaven.”

“…Then I refuse!”

Li Wenyu’s eyes flickered violently.

“Your answer does not match my understanding of Your Majesty. Perhaps you are connected to His Majesty in some way… but I do not believe His Majesty would do such a thing. If the ‘Six Paths of Reincarnation’ truly was your work, then the Xuandi I know would only sacrifice himself to the Dao to strengthen and perfect this theory and system… He would never become some lofty judge or ruler, speaking of the Xuan Dharma in that tone!”

“Willfully blind.”

The golden light paused for a moment, delivered that bland assessment, and shattered together with the scene in the “future sight.”

Returning to her normal perspective, Bai Xiang looked forward again and saw Li Wenyu plastered against the Buddha statue, drenched in sweat and still shaken, as if she had just had a nightmare while leaning against that thing.

It was rare that she had not been led astray.

Remembering her remarkable performance in the other world, Bai Xiang stepped forward and grabbed her by the arm.

“Hm?”

Li Wenyu looked over at her in a daze. When their gazes met, she felt something pour into her body through those golden pupils, rushing through her in a single sweep. Even her thoughts felt as though they had been washed clean.

“You hid it deeply… Is this Locking the Spirit and Stabilizing the Soul?”

Bai Xiang tried to use it to read the surface layer of her soul, but failed. Taking advantage of Li Wenyu still being badly shaken, with many thoughts floating uncontrollably to the surface, she only managed to read some vague, scattered images that had no real structure.

She temporarily gave up, pulled Li Wenyu away from the Buddha statue, and settled her in a place where she could sit.

“This strange business started the moment I touched the first Buddha statue…”

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Perhaps because she had made her choice, Li Wenyu no longer agonized over concealing things. She told Bai Xiang about all the strange events she had encountered along the way, then sighed at the end. “I never imagined I would run into something like this…”

Bai Xiang listened and mulled it over for a while. Then she looked up at her with a strange expression and asked, “Xuan Rite, great unity, the world governed as one… that is your ideal, isn’t it?”

Li Wenyu froze, then nodded. “That’s right!”

“This method has never had a real chance to be achieved in all these years. Even when Emperor Feng was alive, there were many regions in the eight wilds of the main world that were beyond his control. This so-called ‘all under heaven’ was nothing more than boasting.”

Bai Xiang first gave Emperor Feng’s achievements a merciless assessment, then asked, “Now that such an opportunity has been placed before you, even if it might be false, why did you choose to throw it away?”

That was right. Why?

At that question, Li Wenyu herself was stunned.

She had once been such a resolute person. For the sake of this ideal, she could abandon even her own biological daughter without the slightest hesitation. And over the years, she had abandoned even more people for similar reasons, including the girl’s father…

She tried to come up with a conventional explanation, but when the words reached her lips, they all felt shallow, as though they did not come from her heart.

It was as if another voice were murmuring in her ear, whispering to her: [It must be because you have seen the results of Emperor Xiang’s governance, and your understanding and insight into Xuan Rite have shifted.]

Was that the reason?

[Of course! What is Emperor Feng supposed to be? His fantasy was never truly realized!] the voice said again. [Void Tribulation and Loss of Order are the great enemies of living beings. The demon race was born in response to Void Tribulation. Those not of our kind must have different hearts. If they are not killed or transformed, are we supposed to comply with them and let them be?]

[But Emperor Xiang gave them a chance to wash away their sins!]

[Emperor Xiang’s Dao is the orthodox Xuan Rite!]

Her face pale and ashen, Li Wenyu stammered, “Naturally… it is because I felt that thing did not seem like a good person, so its wish also… could not be a good thing…”

Bai Xiang looked at her deeply, but did not dwell too much on the subject.

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She only said to Li Wenyu, “Then did you notice the trick in all this?”

A trick?

What trick?

Li Wenyu looked up at her again.

“Don’t you find your earlier assassination attempt suspicious?” Bai Xiang said bluntly. “You are nothing more than a discarded pawn of the Feathering Sect, a consumable used to test my attitude. Yet you were taken away midway and targeted for assassination… and then lured here as well. There must be some kind of value hidden in you.”

That was indeed true.

Recalling that the golden light wanted her to “offer up her flesh and blood,” Li Wenyu agreed, but she could not understand what value she could still possess.

But for Bai Xiang, the logic had already been mostly sorted out.

Clearly, Meng Wanyu had pledged herself to the Demon Lord. She had sold the coordinates of the ruins to him, allowing the Demon Lord to make arrangements here.

Those brass statues were proof enough of that.

As for abducting Li Wenyu and attempting to kill her, that was likely because one plan had failed and another was set in motion. Once the “soul gu” inside Li Wenyu had been destroyed, her significance in Zhennan was gone. The Demon Lord likely had a new plan that required her flesh and blood, so he had Meng Wanyu summon her here.

Yes.

“Flesh and blood.”

Those people had not intended to capture her alive because this plan did not require her alive.

As for the strange events Li Wenyu encountered afterward, the Demon Lord had clearly realized that Bai Xiang might be protecting her at her side, and that there was no way to break through by force. So he could only resort to deception, and the target was still Li Wenyu’s flesh and blood.

But what use was her flesh and blood?

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The question sounded absurd, but under the Jade Spirit’s analysis, a line of clues had already been drawn out.

Bai Xiang recalled her battle with the Demon God “Jiuli.”

I see…

He had clearly obtained the coordinates of this place from Meng Wanyu long ago, yet he had not devoured the source of power here. That was why, when he appeared before me, he was still in such a weak state, not even worthy of being called a true great power… So it was not that he did not want to. It was that he could not.

He was waiting for an opportunity, or rather, waiting and scheming for a certain ability.

An ability, a talent, that would let him easily devour immortals, Buddhas, and demon gods.

…So this was why he was plotting over Jiuli’s fleshly body!

“Demon God Jiuli has nine divine abilities.”

“The strongest of them is the ‘fusion’ divine ability that allows it to continuously replace its other talents. This power lets it discard the parts it does not need, devour other living beings, and then grow the parts it does need, thereby swapping in a new innate divine ability…”

Li Wenyu suddenly heard Bai Xiang talking to herself, but she could not understand the content very well.

What Demon God Jiuli…

What new divine ability?

“You did well, but time is even tighter for us now.”

“Let’s go.”

“Let’s clean this place out.”

Bai Xiang seized Li Wenyu with one hand, then carried her westward through the air.