Even as Na Lian arrived and Buhui struck out, injuring several people in succession, Zhou Mingzhong remained seated in his chair with an air of unruffled composure, slowly and methodically sipping his tea.
Only then did he speak up faintly, saying, "If you wanted our lives, a single Heavenly Thunder Talisman would have brought things to a swift end. Why, then, has Lord Na Lian gone to such great lengths to gather us here, wasting so many words on your enemies?"
Many others also noticed the contradiction in Na Lian’s words. Their gazes toward the massive nine-tailed fox were filled with wariness and hesitation.
Mingzhu spared him a cold glance and said, "Naturally, it is to make you wish you were dead."
Zhou Mingzhong replied with a half-smile, "I wasn't asking you."
Mingzhu snapped, "You—"
Everyone present was as silent as cicadas in winter. It seemed no one had expected Zhou Mingzhong to still dare speak to him in such a manner after witnessing Buhui’s overwhelming spiritual power.
Mingzhu gritted his teeth, thinking to himself that not a single person surnamed Zhou was any good. He was incensed, yet he forced himself to refrain from attacking. He said coldly, "To satisfy your own selfish desires, you drained the spiritual energy from the earth veins of Guifang City, causing Guifang to fall and leaving the demon cultivators with nowhere to go, wandering the Sun-Shielding Cliff for hundreds of years. Do you truly believe a mere life is enough to pay back all those sins? If so, then your lives are far too precious, aren't they? I—"
Before he could finish, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a figure in the crowd. He froze instantly. His hand, which was resting on Na Lian’s body, tightened unconsciously, nearly plucking out a tuft of Na Lian’s fur.
Na Lian endured the pain, forcing himself not to cry out in embarrassment before his enemies. He turned his head to look at Mingzhu and realized that the man had seen something; his face was deathly pale, and he had suddenly lost the ability to speak.
A dead silence fell over the surroundings.
Seeing this, Na Lian immediately took over. "It is true that I want your lives, but before that, I require the spiritual power of you great masters to cleanse and fill the Spirit-Suppressing Lamp of its deathly energy."
Zhou Mingzhong raised an eyebrow and was the first to ask, "Is that all?"
Although Na Lian was currently in his demon form and no expression could be discerned on the fox's face, everyone could sense his mocking sneer. "Do you think the Spirit-Suppressing Lamp only requires spiritual power?"
Lu Qingkong and Zhou Fuxue’s expressions tightened as they recalled the scene of Ye Weiyang casting human souls into the lamp.
Mingzhu finally regained his senses. His expression was hideous, and his words were forced out one by one through clenched teeth. "In the hands of demon cultivators, the Spirit-Suppressing Lamp will not consume your souls. However, it will utterly destroy the cultivation you have built over hundreds of years. In this life, you will never be able to cultivate again. Instead, the deathly energy and malice the lamp has absorbed over these centuries will enter your meridians... leaving you unable to live, yet unable to die..."
He suddenly found himself unable to continue. His body swayed slightly, and he nearly toppled over.
Na Lian quickly leaned toward him, allowing Mingzhu to use him for support so he wouldn't fall.
The expressions of the crowd were unreadable. If it were truly as Mingzhu said—losing their cultivation and having their meridians ravaged by malice and deathly energy—it would truly be a fate worse than death.
For a moment, no one could speak. Even Zhou Mingzhong touched his chin and frowned.
Seeing that Mingzhu was not in a good state, Na Lian wanted to settle matters quickly. He said directly, "You may all consider this within the Moon-Snatching Pavilion. In three days, I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer."
Having said that, he transformed back into his human form. With one hand, he supported Mingzhu, whose head was bowed and whose body was trembling. He suppressed his demonic aura and, without sparing the others a single glance, turned and left.
Seeing this, Zhou Fuxue frowned, intending to follow them silently. Suddenly, he heard Lu Qingkong call out, "Third Senior Brother?!"
Zhou Fuxue looked back and saw a person standing in the corner. It was Yan Xueyu, though no one knew when he had arrived.
***
Na Lian supported Mingzhu back to the Moon-Snatching Pavilion’s side courtyard. The moment they entered the room, Mingzhu violently pushed Na Lian away, his face full of severity. "Why was Yan Xueyu there?! Didn't you say you were only looking for the people who besieged the Moon-Snatching Pavilion back then? Yan Xueyu is younger than me; there is no way he was involved in that incident! What is going on? Give me an explanation!"
Na Lian looked at him steadily and said, "Gui Ning is among them, yet I don't see you caring much about that. Why does a mere Yan Xueyu provoke such great anger from you?"
"Gui Ning... he was the one who discarded me first." Mingzhu’s serpentine pupils were filled with gloom. "But Yan Xueyu... Xueyu is my junior brother..."
Na Lian asked, "Then how do you know that once he learns your true identity, he won't distance himself from you in disgust?"
Mingzhu roared, "Na Lian!"
Na Lian remained unmoved.
The two stood in a cold confrontation for a moment before Mingzhu finally yielded. He said weakly, "Then at least let me understand why I'm dying. What exactly did Yan Xueyu do that makes you want to kill him?"
Na Lian said, "Sit down first."
Mingzhu insisted on being contrary. "I won't sit!"
Na Lian shrugged. "What I mean is, if you don't sit down, you won't be able to stay standing."
Mingzhu was dazed with anger, and only then did he realize his body was swaying and his legs were shaking uncontrollably. If Na Lian hadn't been holding one of his arms, he would have collapsed to the floor.
Mingzhu completely lost his temper. With trembling legs, he sat on the soft couch nearby and slammed the table, shouting, "Speak!"
Na Lian poured him a cup of water and said calmly, "Because a few days ago, I discovered some things regarding Yan Xueyu."
Mingzhu’s hands shook so much he nearly spilled the water all over himself.
"Yan Xueyu’s mother was surnamed Su."
Mingzhu froze, incredulous. "Su?"
"The Su Clan can calculate destiny and peer into heavenly secrets. But correspondingly, they must pay a certain price. Thus, the Su Clan is often short-lived and cursed with ill fortune, forced to live in seclusion in the mountains, detached from worldly affairs." Na Lian smiled as he spoke. "Speaking of which, you and Yan Xueyu could be considered of the same kin. You have a trace of spiritual power in your blood that can predict destiny, while he... well..."
Na Lian changed his phrasing. "Hundreds of years ago, he peered into a heavenly secret."
Mingzhu felt a headache coming on. "Wait a moment. If I heard correctly, are you saying my junior brother is several hundred years old?"
Na Lian replied, "Yes."
Mingzhu immediately denied it. "Impossible. I remember clearly when Xueyu arrived at Rizhao. He was only ten years old then, just a child."
"That was because he peered into a heavenly secret back then," Na Lian said. "And as for why so many great cultivators attacked Guifang City... he was the primary culprit."
Mingzhu’s breath hitched.
The bloodline of the Su Clan was extremely unique. A thousand years ago, a person appeared in a branch of the family who could peer into heavenly secrets. However, Yan Xueyu only peered into a heavenly secret once in his life, and his eyes were destroyed. Along with his eyes, the entirety of Guifang City was also destroyed.
"Back then, Yan Xueyu peered into a heavenly secret: within a hundred years, the spiritual energy of the entire Five Continents would rapidly deplete, the mountains and rivers would shatter, and the great peaks would collapse. Only the earth veins of Guifang could save it." Na Lian let out a cold laugh. "It was that one sentence of his that nearly severed the Guifang bloodline. The earth veins were destroyed and stripped from Guifang, turning it into that fallen land where not a blade of grass grows."
Mingzhu was stunned for a long time, his face full of disbelief. After a long while, he asked hoarsely, "Then... then why did he..."
Na Lian knew what he wanted to ask and said coldly, "Peering into heavenly secrets results in the destruction of one's eyes. It was simply the retribution for speaking of the future he saw. I found out that he fell into a coma immediately back then and was hidden away by the Su Clan for a hundred years. It wasn't until a few decades ago that Gui Ning rescued and woke him. Since the Su Clan no longer existed in the world, Gui Ning brought him back to Rizhao to raise him."
Mingzhu took a deep breath, his very respiration trembling.
Na Lian said coldly, "Therefore, I can spare anyone else today, but not him. You promised me you would not interfere with my revenge against anyone. You must keep your word. Once I have killed the people and repaired the earth veins, I will take my clansmen back to Guifang and have nothing more to do with the Five Continents."
Mingzhu’s lips were trembling. "You..."
Na Lian stepped forward and gently stroked Mingzhu’s forehead, whispering, "Buhui, are you going to stop me?"
Mingzhu was dazed.
Na Lian said, "I can spare Gui Ning, I can spare Zhou Mingzhong, I can spare anyone else you want to save. But Yan Xueyu—he must die."
Mingzhu murmured, "But I don't want to save anyone else... I... I only want to save him..."
Na Lian’s expression did not change. He said softly, "Are you going to stand on the opposite side from me?"
Mingzhu said hoarsely, "I just..."
Na Lian interrupted him. "If you try to stop me, I will no longer insist on not involving the innocent. At that time, I will drag everyone in the Five Continents into this muddy water. Since all humans say that the Guifang demon cultivators are capable of every evil, then I shall show them."
He touched the side of Mingzhu’s face and said in a gentle voice, "Are you really going to involve so many innocent people for the sake of one person?"
Mingzhu remained wavering and undecided.
Looking at the struggle on Mingzhu’s face, Na Lian seemed to think of something and laughed softly. He said tenderly, "In your eyes, the lives of thousands cannot compare to a single hair on any of your junior brothers. Oh, Mingzhu, should I say you are heartless, or that you are far too sentimental?"
No, he was only sentimental toward those he cared about; he was heartless toward all living beings.
Mingzhu pleaded, "Spare his life. I will give you everything."
Na Lian laughed. "What do you have?"
Mingzhu was speechless.
"Be good," Na Lian said softly. "If you want to interfere, then interfere. If you want to stand by and watch, then watch. You know that even if I kill everyone else, I won't touch you."
Na Lian said with a smile, "You have the privilege to do as you please."
Mingzhu had never seen such a calm expression on him and stared at him blankly.
Only then did Na Lian straighten up and say indifferently, "Zhou Fuxue should be arriving soon. I'll have him come and accompany you."
Just as Mingzhu was about to call out to him, Na Lian pushed open the door and walked out, leaving behind only a somewhat somber silhouette.
Soon, Zhou Fuxue hurried in. Seeing Mingzhu’s deathly pale face, he immediately cursed himself in his heart for being a beast. He rushed forward and said, "Senior Brother, are you alright?"
Mingzhu’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, though it was unclear if it was from fear or physical discomfort. He stared blankly at Zhou Fuxue. In a daze, he seemed to remember the same sense of powerlessness he felt years ago when everyone said Shen Hongchuan was doomed to die.
Mingzhu thought vacantly, *I possess spiritual power that can shake the heavens and earth, yet I still cannot save a single person I care about.*
***
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