Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1123 – If You Were Chusu

The starlight was magnificent tonight. After being sliced apart by the sword intent and scattered over the area, it only made the grassland brighter. It was like daytime had come early, starkly illuminating everything.

The blood was black, and as it splashed it against the grass, it hissed and let out a pungent smoke. The green grass quickly turned black.

Amidst fierce howls and violent winds, a monstrous Qi disturbed the world.

Dirt shot up into the air like a waterfall in reverse before swiftly being crushed down by those awe-inspiring sword intents.

After some time, everything finally fell quiet.

Chusu remained at his original position, his head lowered.

He had been born short and with a hunchback, so with his head lowered, he seemed rather meek and pitiful.

His black robe had become even more tattered, its surface covered in blood and dust. Two massive tears had been torn through its front.

Those were tears left by swords as they had pierced through his scales and fur, cleaving apart his bones and muscles and letting his blood flow freely.

The gray wings of flesh weakly flapped twice, sprinkling black blood, his old wounds now completely torn open.

His severed arm stuck out from the grass while his fake arm had already been rendered into dust by sword Qi.

With the place he was standing as the center, a circle of twenty zhang around him was covered in poisonous blood.

The monsters had been caught up in this assault, but not many had died. The vast majority of the monsters had been led far away by the Earth Monkey.

There were no swords in that starlit sky, as all the swords had already returned to their sheath.

The sheath was tied to a belt.

Chen Changsheng said nothing, only looked at him.

“All of it was fake.”

Chusu raised his head and spoke in his raspy voice, “The invincibility was fake, the legacy was fake, and defying the heavens and obtaining the Dao was also fake. Even relying upon each other for survival was fake. I only wanted to live, but there was no meaning in my existence, so even living was fake. I was born just to be a tool to kill people.”

He was not looking at the Earth Monkey as he said this, but at the south.

The Longevity Sect was to the south.

There was silence for a while, then Chen Changsheng said, “I was also born as a tool, but I think that since we exist, there’s naturally a meaning to it.”

From a certain perspective, he and Chusu had very similar backgrounds.

Chusu shook his head. “That’s because you met a few people who could grant meaning to your existence.”

Chen Changsheng thought this over, then he said, “You’re right.”

Chusu said, “So you are luckier than me, and more blessed than me.”

Chen Changsheng replied, “Yes, but this cannot become a reason.”

What reason? Of course, a reason to do evil.

A tragic life experience could be a fortune for the mind, but it could not be a debt that could be randomly transferred to others.

The bitter encounters of one’s childhood could engender much sympathy, but if one grew up to become a murderous and mad devil, that was still one’s own responsibility to bear.

Chusu had not committed any monstrously evil deeds over the last few years in the grassland, but his hands had still bathed in no small amount of blood.

Chusu understood what he meant and knew that it would be difficult to escape this disaster. He began to softly laugh.

“If you were me, would you become Chusu or Chen Changsheng?”

These were his last words for the world.

His body crumbled into ten-some pieces, dropping to the ground like a pile of blocks.

Black blood splashed everywhere, a pungent and insidious Qi spreading everywhere.

Xu Yourong stretched out her hand, igniting a flame.

This flame was suffused with holy golden luster. It blazed on the earth, even traveling underground through the cracks.

The black blood transformed into smoke upon meeting the flames, crackling and hissing.

As the pungent and insidious Qi was gradually purified, it sounded like some ghost was wailing, its howls filled with both extreme loathing and fear.

As the golden flames gradually dissipated, Chen Changsheng said, “Perhaps this is a sort of release to him.”

“If one is dissatisfied on the verge of death, how can the soul rest easy?”

Xu Yourong raised her right hand and pointed at him.

There was a very small wound at his neck, and several tiny black crystals in the wound.

Even with his cultivation level and Xu Yourong at his side, completely killing a freak like Chusu still required paying a price, taking certain risks.

A faint light, bursting with divine aura, emerged from Xu Yourong’s palm and fell onto Chen Changsheng’s neck.

The black crystals melted away like snowflakes before the blazing sun. At the same time, the wound quickly closed up.

Xu Yourong cautioned, “Logically speaking, there’s no need for you to fear the corrosion of the Yellow Springs art, but it’s best for you to be careful.”

Chen Changsheng replied, “Thank you.”

Xu Yourong said, “May the Sacred Light be with you.”

Chen Changsheng sincerely said, “Then I want you to always remain at my side.”

He was making a romantic remark, even though he wasn’t that good at saying them. He spoke too seriously, so it made him look rather silly, but this made his actions only more touching.

Yet Xu Yourong had no reaction. She seemed cold and indifferent.

Chen Changsheng didn’t understand why and wanted to ask, but he was interrupted.

At some point, the Earth Monkey had come before him. It was now kneeling and kissing the ground at his feet, appearing extremely respectful and fervent.

Chen Changsheng suddenly understood a principle.

Although the Earth Monkey was a monster most renowned for its cunning and insidiousness, it was much easier to tell what it was thinking than it was to tell what a woman was thinking.

“I stopped you from doing anything just now not because I didn’t trust you, and not because I had any objections about you.”

Chen Changsheng glanced at Xu Yourong and then continued, “I also wasn’t sympathizing with him. I just didn’t think it was necessary.”

He had never much liked Hu Thirty-Two’s plan.

Chusu truly had a reason to die, but did he have to die to a betrayal?

He was talking to the Earth Monkey, but he was also explaining to Xu Yourong.

He was not sure if Xu Yourong’s cold indifference had anything to do with this matter.

As the flames on the ground gradually extinguished, the flames in the ground intensified. Fiery light burst out from the cracks, appearing like solidified lightning, imbued with a terrifying beauty.

Xu Yourong’s gaze flitted past the flames and into the distance. She asked, “You’re sure that he’ll come through here?”

Chen Changsheng said, “Before he left Blue Pass back then, he met with Chen Chou. The sign they agreed on is the same as this time.”

Chen Chou was the Divine General of the Mount Song Army headquarters forcefully promoted by the Orthodoxy, so the meaning in that person meeting with him was crystal-clear.

Xu Yourong asked, “That person has such a terrible temper, so why does he trust you so much?”

Chen Changsheng explained, “In that year when you were in seclusion, I met with him once.”

Xu Yourong knew of this matter, but she had not expected it to have such a massive influence on that person.

The wind stirred as the White Crane landed at her side.

She mounted the crane and closed her eyes to rest.

A few days ago, she had left Holy Maiden Peak after receiving some news, and tonight, she had hurried over after receiving the message from the Golden-winged Great Peng’s spiritual sense. She was already deeply exhausted.

Chen Changsheng had come from even further, so he was even more tired, but he could not sleep.

He gazed at those desolate stone mountains in the distance, silently waiting.

On the other side of those mountains was the world of the demons.

Who would return from there tonight?