Chen Zhou couldn’t understand Li Bushuo’s drawing, so he turned to look at Cheng Jingbai and Lin Xiao. Cheng Jingbai silently raised his hand and crossed out Li Bushuo’s drawing, grabbing a large chunk of black mud and handing it to Li Bushuo: “You’d better stick to mining jade.”
Even if Ye Yuanqing saw this plan targeting him, he absolutely wouldn’t be able to figure out what it was about.
“It seems Xu Liangzhi will be more difficult to deal with than Wang Geng. Does he have any weaknesses, or rather, hobbies?” Lin Xiao asked. “Wang Geng’s hobby is easy to guess—torturing people, whether physically or mentally.”
Wang Geng was happy when he saw others suffering, completely enjoying the feeling of controlling others’ lives and deaths.
As for Xu Liangzhi’s hobby, it was also quite obvious.
Chen Zhou paused briefly and said, “Women.”
To be precise, female earth ghosts.
This answer was within Lin Xiao’s expectations.
Lin Xiao pondered: “So that female earth ghost who helped the Zhou family escape… I saw that after she resurrected herself, she immediately went to find guards to let her out of the pit. If there wasn’t some special significance, the guards wouldn’t have allowed her to leave and move about freely.”
After listening, Cheng Jingbai turned to look at Lin Xiao. He had long known that his companion was clever, but hadn’t expected him to be this sharp—how could he observe so many details and make such deductions without the power of Star Meridians?
He couldn’t help saying, “Lin Xiao, you should occasionally pretend to be foolish. Being a fool is quite nice.”
Lin Xiao smiled back at him: “Since it’s so nice, you should continue being a fool then.”
Cheng Jingbai turned to Li Bushuo: “I’m talking to you, did you hear that?”
Li Bushuo took out a firestone jade and handed it to Chen Zhou.
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow, silently asking what he meant.
Li Bushuo said, “For you to eat.”
Chen Zhou: “…”
Cheng Jingbai said with a hesitant expression: “I don’t know if I should tell you this, but the black mud in this pit’s fire cave is very similar to the flesh and blood that earth ghosts turn into after death.”
He grabbed a handful of black mud and said, “So I now feel like I’m digging through human remains.”
Chen Zhou looked at him expressionlessly, reached out to take the fire stone jade that Li Bushuo handed over, and ate it right in front of Cheng Jingbai.
Cheng Jingbai: “…”
Truly worthy of being the senior brother of the Pilgrim—he’s a tough one.
“Are you familiar with that girl?” Lin Xiao asked Chen Zhou. Although he guessed they must be familiar, he didn’t jump to conclusions.
Chen Zhou said, “Her name is Wen Su. I don’t want her to do this kind of thing.”
Lin Xiao smiled: “As long as you can successfully control Xu Liangzhi, she won’t be in danger. Besides, I can see she has already mastered the ability to resurrect as an earth ghost. This couldn’t have been taught by you.”
He could see Chen Zhou’s protection toward Wen Su, but Lin Xiao believed that birds with fully developed wings don’t need excessive protection. Moreover, in a place like this, relying on oneself was always better than relying on others.
As an earth ghost, Wen Su needed to learn how to protect herself even more.
Because even if she escaped from the pit, in the outside world, she would merely be entering another cage—one that was bigger and more dangerous.
Chen Zhou glanced at Lin Xiao without refuting, only saying: “When the time comes, I’ll talk to her about it.”
Lin Xiao nodded and looked at Cheng Jingbai: “We’re responsible for finding a way to make the earth ghosts cause trouble. With so many earth ghosts here, there should be others like Wen Su who are inwardly trying to rebel.”
Chen Zhou thought deeply and said, “There are also some earth ghosts who won’t be threatened by the supervisors and just want to kill people. Those kinds of earth ghosts are all thrown into the cremation pit and can’t get out.”
Lin Xiao and Cheng Jingbai exchanged glances, not expecting that even in a place that devours Star Power, they couldn’t escape this fate.
Chen Zhou looked at the two of them and added, “Those in the cremation pit fit the appearance of earth ghosts as I know them on the Tonggu Continent.”
They were bloodthirsty, emotionless, without self-awareness—unlike Wen Su, unlike his junior brother, and unlike the three people before him.
“It’s quite simple. There are many people in this pit, too. They are ignorant, unaware, brutal, and bloodthirsty—unlike you,” Lin Xiao smiled and said. “So in this world, there are good people and bad people, different kinds of people, but this doesn’t prevent them all from having human form.”
Cheng Jingbai also said: “Wang Geng is brutal and bloodthirsty. In his eyes, human lives aren’t lives at all. He’s killed so many people that he can’t even remember or count them all. Does that mean he has emotions? To put it another way, you’ve also killed people—does that make you an earth ghost?”
“Don’t use emotions, thoughts, or killing to distinguish earth ghosts. Many of those are lies. What distinguishes Earth ghosts is only immortality.”
He paused, then raised his head with a smiling, seemingly joking tone: “But I do want to kill all the non-earth ghost existences on the continent.”
For some reason, Chen Zhou felt he wasn’t joking.
But Chen Zhou also felt that these two were right.
He had seen people outside the pit and people inside the pit—they were two extreme contrasts. Under certain circumstances, people were changeable and could never achieve “uniformity.”
Chen Zhou couldn’t and wouldn’t demand that everyone be the same. Before having such thoughts, he first had to determine whether he could achieve this.
He always remembered what his master, Dong Yeshou, had taught him about self-restraint.
Chen Zhou searched for fire stone jade in the black mud and casually asked: “If the only way to distinguish earth ghosts is immortality, then how do earth ghosts end their lives if not killed by non-Pilgrims or other earth ghosts?”
Cheng Jingbai burst into laughter upon hearing this.
Lin Xiao also casually answered: “Birth, aging, illness, death.”
Cheng Jingbai smiled playfully: “If one’s life is smooth without disasters or difficulties, then one simply dies of old age.”
Chen Zhou also laughed at this.
Birth, aging, illness, death—it turned out everyone was the same.
*
The bell signaling the end of work was rung, and the supervisors came to the fire cave and lowered ladders for the slaves to climb up.
Chen Zhou looked up toward the glowing cave entrance. The fire lines on the stone walls flickered with light, and he could feel the Star Power slowly circulating within his body.
When it was his turn to climb the ladder, with each step forward, Chen Zhou recalled scenes from his time at Bei Dou.
From following Dong Yeshou through Bei Dou’s gate to entering Yaoguang Academy, watching Ming Li grow up year by year from childhood, enjoying carefree moments with fellow disciples at Bei Dou, accompanying two unfortunate fellows as they got drunk and rambled during the Qiqiao Festival, catching Qing Ying for training—, like Ming Li, he had deeply enjoyed the daily life at Bei Dou.
Chen Zhou climbed out of the fire cave entrance and, amidst the densely packed crowd of slaves, raised his head to look at the dome above for the first time in ages, then looked past the crowd to see Wen Su and Gu San standing in the distance.
Wen Su spotted him immediately but froze in place, reaching out to tug on Gu San’s sleeve.
Gu San asked: “What is it?”
Wen Su directed him to look at Chen Zhou in the distance: “He seems to be… smiling.”
Gu San looked in the direction she indicated. The person standing in the distance gazed back at them from afar. Even though he was filthy all over, his brow was sharp, unlike his usual numb calmness.
Gu San didn’t think Chen Zhou in the distance was smiling, but he could be certain that he finally seemed to be done “waiting.”
*
After nightfall, the market street next to the tavern grew increasingly lively. Red lanterns lit up the streets, various businesses opened, crowds of people mingled, and the intoxicating scenery appeared dazzling.
The Zhou family head, upon learning of Zhou Yi’s return home, hurriedly rushed back from the merchant association. On the way, he had already heard about Zhou Yi’s condition, and his brow grew increasingly furrowed.
When he returned to the mansion and heard that Zhou Yi had already left, he became furious: “Who let him go? Where did he go?”
Could he have returned to Tai Yi again?
The steward said with a bitter face, “Family Head, nobody dared to stop the Young Master in his condition. The security team is secretly following him just in case. Judging by the direction the Young Master was heading, I’m afraid he’s going back to Tai Yi.”
This unfilial son!
The Zhou family head personally led people to pursue him.
*
Zhou Yi staggered down the street. He was thinking about going back to find Ming Li, but a little voice in his heart pulled at him, angrily jumping up and down, asking what he would do if Ye Yuanqing discovered him when he went back to find her. He would certainly lock him up again immediately. He was a Pilgrim—how could Zhou Yi resist him?
But I have no other choice.
As long as I tell Ming Li before Ye Yuanqing locks me up again, won’t that be enough?
Isn’t she the most talented Pilgrim on the Tonggu Continent? She even came back alive after being dead for five years. She can resist Ye Yuanqing to save the people in the pit. What I can’t do, surely she can!
Zhou Yi’s pace quickened. He couldn’t give himself a chance to regret.
The merchant association’s security team, because the young master had threatened suicide, didn’t dare to rashly step forward to stop him. They could only follow him secretly to prevent accidents while anxiously waiting for the Zhou family head to arrive.
Zhou Yi’s mind was in chaos. Looking only at his feet as he walked, he bumped into someone. The person cursed at him to watch where he was going, which made him finally look up. Suddenly, he realized something was wrong.
His feet kept moving, but his gaze involuntarily scanned his surroundings.
People from Tai Yi—
They filled the entire street.
Those who seemed to be strolling and playing around, or drinking tea and chatting on the upper floors, were all familiar yet strange Tai Yi cultivators.
Zhou Yi’s back was already soaked with cold sweat. His previously hurried steps gradually slowed down, and an intangible fear spread from all directions, enveloping him.
The commander of the security team sensed something was wrong and appeared beside Zhou Yi, stepping forward: “Young Master!”
Zhou Yi’s whole body trembled. He was about to turn around when he saw that the pedestrians around had dispersed somewhat, revealing three people approaching from ahead. A young woman waved to him and called out: “Zhou Yi!”
Who?
Zhou Yi looked up. When Ye Yiyi waved and called his name, for the first time, he didn’t look at her first but at Zhong Anqi standing between the Ye siblings.
Zhong Anqi also seemed to be shrouded in shadows, looking at him from within the bustling crowd with a complex, indescribable expression.
Zhou Yi felt as if he had been struck on the head, his face turning deathly pale.
Ye Fengming saw his expression and felt something was wrong. Something must have happened during Zhou Yi’s five-day disappearance that he didn’t know about. And this reaction—could it have something to do with Zhong Anqi?
Ye Yiyi hadn’t thought that much. She ran toward Zhou Yi: “I came with Senior Brother to see you. Shouldn’t you be at home? How did you…”
“Stop! Don’t come any closer!” Zhou Yi shouted harshly. Ye Yiyi had never been treated so fiercely by him before and froze in place.
“Yiyi.” Zhong Anqi also spoke up, “Step back first.”
“What do you mean?” Ye Yiyi turned to look back, confused, and asked, “What’s wrong with both of you?”
As Zhong Anqi walked toward Zhou Yi, Ye Fengming suddenly blocked him and asked: “Did you beat him?”
Zhong Anqi ignored his question, his gaze passing over Ye Fengming to the pale-faced Zhou Yi behind him. It was hard to describe his feelings at that moment. Looking at the injuries on Zhou Yi’s face and his haggard, fearful expression, he vaguely saw himself as he had been when he first came out of the pit.
Looking on, he suddenly smiled.
Finally, someone could understand how he had felt back then.
Zhong Anqi smiled and asked Zhou Yi, “Zhou Yi, who are you going to find?”
The Ye siblings looked at Zhong Anqi now, and both felt that the person before them was suddenly so unfamiliar.
After these words, Zhou Yi’s feet seemed nailed to the ground, unable to move an inch further. The sweat on his forehead became increasingly evident, and his bloodshot eyes looked around.
The question wasn’t where he was going, but who he was going to find.
Ye Yuanqing hadn’t trusted him from the beginning, or perhaps like Wang Geng, he enjoyed toying with people’s hearts, watching them struggle painfully in the abyss he created.
Zhou Yi clutched his aching heart. Blood seeped through his clothes in large patches. His strength failing, he fell to his knees. The commander beside him stepped forward to support him: “Young Master, you can’t go on like this. Let’s go back first!”
Ye Yiyi wanted to go over, but was blocked by Zhong Anqi’s outstretched hand and pushed toward Ye Fengming. “Watch your sister.”
Both Ye Fengming and Ye Yiyi were shocked by the coldness in his tone.
Zhou Yi clutched his chest, his head bowed low. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that the street had been cleared in the short span of a few sentences. Thinking of Ye Yuanqing’s intentions, he couldn’t help but laugh softly.
Whether he spoke or not, he was part of Ye Yuanqing’s plan.
Perhaps even if he didn’t speak, Ye Yuanqing would find a way to force him to speak. It had nothing to do with anything else—it was purely malicious, wanting to see him suffer and struggle.
When you control someone’s life and death, you become obsessed with controlling everything about them. Whether they suffer or rejoice is all up to you.
“The person I want to find… do you dare to meet them?” Zhou Yi, sweating profusely from the pain in his chest, waved away the commander trying to pull him away. Trembling, he stood up, looking mockingly at Zhong Anqi in front of him.
The lanterns on this street swayed, but in an instant, they had become empty, with only them remaining.
Zhou Yi frowned, laughing softly, but his tone was fierce as he said to Zhong Anqi: “I’m going to find the Pilgrim from Bei Dou, the junior sister of Bei Dou Yaoguang Academy’s Senior Brother Chen Zhou. Do you dare to meet her?”
Zhong Anqi’s hands tightened into fists inside his sleeves, but his face remained expressionless as he said calmly: “There’s nothing I don’t dare to face.”
Zhou Yi was stunned, then began to laugh and cough up blood. Suddenly, someone fell from above and crashed to the ground, creating a large crater in front of Zhong Anqi. Covered in blood, the person lay in the crater, unable to get up.
Both the Zhou family and Tai Yi people were startled, each taking defensive positions and looking up.
As the dust settled, Zhong Anqi’s pupils contracted as he looked at the person in the crater.
“What a coincidence, you two,” Fu Yuan, standing on top of the tavern with his sword, looked down at the people below. Black Fox Mask was on the rooftop opposite, his gaze shifting from Zhou Yi to Zhong Anqi. “My junior sister is also looking for you.”
The person in the crater, with one eye open and a hand covering his shoulder, looked up, and his gaze collided with Zhong Anqi’s.
Night mist permeated both ends of the street. In an instant, the cultivators who had been hiding in the buildings watching the excitement appeared on the street. Fu Yuan and Black Fox Mask raised their eyebrows at the sight but gripped their weapons tightly.
Not too many, not too few—exactly seven people. But these seven were all at the Life and Death Realm.
Ming Li passed through the night mist, emerging from behind Zhou Yi, and looked toward Ye Yuanqing standing behind Zhong Anqi.