The next day, Xue Huai officially set off.
The journey to Shanhu Mountain was extremely complicated and long, with formations and immortal barriers everywhere. It took them a lot of time to reach the small village near the Phoenix Clan’s residence, even before they reached Shanhu Mountain.
There were not many people following Xue Huai, and they were all trustworthy soldiers selected by him from Yun Cuo’s command.
Among them, the little messenger who was driven out of the tent by Yun Cuo yesterday was also picked over by him.
The reason was that Xue Huai left Yun Cuo’s tent early yesterday morning and happened to see the soldier crying. When he came out, she cried to him with particular grievance: “Sir, I really didn’t spread rumors on purpose. I just told the Lord that the Crown Prince of the Phoenix Clan seemed to have bad intentions towards you, so he drove me out… wuwuwawa…”
Xue Huai thought about Yun Cuo’s personality and realized that he might misinterpret other people’s intentions. Seeing that the soldier was crying pitifully, he decided to take him along, just to make amends in front of Yun Cuo in the future.
As they got along together, Xue Huai learned that the soldier’s name was Hua Qing. He practiced swordsmanship and knew some advanced sound transmission techniques, such as the ability to locate a target over thousands of miles, so he came here as a scout.
Hua Qing told him many rumors about the Phoenix Clan that she had heard: “I heard that the Phoenix Clan has now split up. The group active in the heavens is no longer the same group as the group living in the mountains, and both sides look down on each other. For example, Bai Yi’s family in Fuli Palace thinks that the Phoenix Clan in the mountains is too old-fashioned and closed-minded, while the people in the mountains think that they are in line with the secular world, which insults the noble elegance of the Phoenix and lowers the style of the ancient gods… Anyway, who can tell the difference between these messes?”
The stories he told were very interesting, and Xue Huai listened with great interest.
At night, another scout came to report: “Sir, the demons and the Phoenix Clan have not been active recently, but someone saw that some demons have moved out of Shanhu Mountain.”
Xue Huai predicted: “The demon clan is likely to make another big move. At present, it seems that the Phoenix clan can be ruled out as a suspect, but it is still uncertain. It may be a means to confuse us. You should first bring this news to Yun Cuo and the Heavenly Court. We will know the truth when I go to test it.”
The more peaceful the time is, the more nervous and alarming it becomes.
Xue Huai was well aware of the logic behind this, and he personally stood guard for several nights in a row, sometimes not even having time to eat.
That day, he was on night duty when he saw Hua Qing coming to him to take over the shift: “Sir, we will reach Shanhu Mountain tomorrow. Let me take the night duty, and you can have a good rest.”
Xue Huai shook his head. “It is precisely because we will arrive tomorrow that we must be extra careful tonight.”
Hua Qing looked at his expression and didn’t force him. He just said, “Then I’ll stay here with you. I’ll roast a rabbit for you. With me here, you can also take a nap.”
After saying that, he went out for a while and came back with two fat rabbits.
The rabbit was held by him without any resistance. Hua Qing was a little happy: “So obedient, it was so easy to catch it.”
Hua Qing quickly peeled the skin and removed the internal organs, then roasted it over the campfire, humming an unknown little tune while roasting it.
Xue Huai leaned against the campfire. For some reason, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart, but he couldn’t figure out where this chill came from. It was like a lump in his throat.
As he was thinking, he felt sleepy and couldn’t control himself. He closed his eyes and dozed off for a while.
In this moment of heing half asleep and half awake, he had a dream.
In the dream, he went back to the time when he was ten years old and his mother was seriously ill.
He was walking with his short legs, trying to hold the food box, and tiptoeing to buy food for Murong Mi. After finally stuffing the heavy food box into the storage ring, he walked on the road happily, thinking that he could go back to make his mother happy, but he was stopped by someone.
That person came over to tell him the news and said in a low voice, “Aiya, so obedient, Young Master Xue. But what are you still doing here? Your mother is gone ah?”
He was too small, and that person was too tall, so he couldn’t see his face clearly.
Later, at some unknown time, he was carrying a little gluttonous that had just been killed back home and met another person on the way.
That person said, “How pitiful! Your mother is gone, and your father doesn’t want you anymore. He married another woman. How pitiful!”
That face changed continuously and finally turned into the face of his senior brother Shahua next door, then into the face of the prophet, and finally into the face of the soldier beside him.
“So obedient.”
“Just fell asleep like this ah? How pitiful.”
At this moment, Xue Huai used all his strength to open his eyes, and suddenly he was filled with endless hatred and anger, as if a sudden enlightenment had come over him, and it was like a hot cloud pouring down his head, shocking his whole body.
When he woke up, there was no one around him except a rabbit on the grill, sizzling with oil. It seemed as if it was just a dream. He roasted a rabbit by himself, and a soldier named Hua Qing had never appeared by his side.
Xue Huai’s whole body was tense. He looked around vigilantly and planned to go into other people’s tents to check.
However, just one glance made the blood in his body freeze, and he became cold and dead silent.
The twenty people he brought with him, walking, sitting, lying down, awake or asleep, with different expressions, had all turned into gray statues.
In that instant, it was burned to ashes, solidified, and motionless, but still maintained its human form. When the wind blew, it lightly collapsed and dispersed.
Xue Huai had only seen this kind of situation when Yun Cuo killed someone.
The sixteenth level of the demonic technique was unleashed, burning everything to ashes. It was the same situation at that time. The heavens and earth turned into dead smoke and dust, which were annihilated without a trace at the slightest touch.
That person came looking for him, and this time he found him clearly and killed everyone around him.
This is a silent provocation, mockery, and sarcasm.
Laugh at him for not knowing who his enemy is, laugh at him for not knowing his own capabilities.
After standing there for a long time, Xue Huai suddenly turned around and walked out, walking faster and faster, riding on the clouds and mist. Even the gluttonous ghost couldn’t catch up with him.
The gluttonous ghost sniffed around and detected the direction the murderer had left. He was eager to take him after him, but Xue Huai went in the opposite direction.
Shanhu Mountain
He used up almost all his strength to restrain himself from going back and chasing after him.
Even if he died, he had to suppress his urge to kill. The more that person provoked him, the less he could do what the other party wanted.
There must be some secret in Shanhu Mountain.
He rushed there overnight, his whole body burning with fever and trembling with intense and complex emotions, but his mind became clearer and clearer, as clear as the first ray of sunlight that penetrated the morning mist.
There is no one left on Shanhu Mountain.
There were no phoenixes nor demons. The demons disappeared overnight, migrating to some unknown place.
The green bird of Dongzhou chased after him with great difficulty and found him. It told him in panic, “Young Master! Young Master, it’s over. A big demon suddenly appeared outside, and no one could stop him! No one can stop him! We don’t know who he is or where he came from, but he is about to reach Dongzhou! Some people say that the man’s cultivation is not inferior to that of the Lord! What should we do? What should we do? What should we do?”
Xue Huai’s expression was very calm. “Where is Yun Cuo now?”
The green bird was about to cry: “He’s on his way! His Lord was originally in Fengzhou and is on his way to Dongzhou!”
Xue Huai interrupted him: “Connect him immediately, I want to talk to him.”
Yun Cuo’s voice sounded anxious and hoarse. “Xue Huai?”
Xue Huai calmly said, “Yun Cuo, gather yourself and don’t go back to Dongzhou. This is a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. That person is trying to attract your attention. The demons are no longer on Shanhu Mountain. According to my estimation, they are planning to occupy Fengzhou immediately after you leave.”
Yun Cuo said: “No, Dongzhou is almost——”
Xue Huai firmly said, “I will go. That person’s target is not Dongzhou, nor you, nor any inch of land in the Immortal Realm. I know who that person is, and his target is me.”
Yun Cuo was stunned, and the green bird that delivered the message was also stunned: “You…”
Xue Huai didn’t care about that. He whispered to the gluttonous ghost to go in a certain direction, patted its head, and went forward at full speed.
He said the place’s name very quietly.
But Yun Cuo still heard it.
Yun Cuo’s voice suddenly became furious, as if he had gone mad immediately: “Xue Huai, you are not allowed to go! Wait for me to come over. I won’t allow you to go, so come back! I order you, you——”
Xue Huai said, “Yun Cuo, please believe me. Don’t let me down.”
Yun Cuo’s voice was choked with sobs: “You are not allowed to go, Xue Huai, you are not allowed to go…”
Xue Huai waved his hand to signal the green bird to cut off the connection.
The gluttonous ghost hesitated a little, and Xue Huai emphasized and repeated: “Xiao Tao, Baifeng Xueyuan, go now.”
Xue Huai still remembers to this day that Baifeng Xueyuan is Yun Cuo’s hometown.
It is also the only place in the demon clan where it snows.
Yun Cuo had told him at the beginning that the reason his mother chose to live in Dongzhou was not only because Dongzhou was the closest place to the Demon Realm but also because it was the only immortal continent with snow.
Snow falls all year round, which Yun Cuo’s mother likes. Yun Cuo spent his childhood here, so in his previous life, when he conquered here, the entire demon world issued a supreme assassination order against him, vowing to kill Yun Cuo, the evildoer who betrayed the demon clan.
If he ignores all the other stuff, this is actually a beautiful place. The snow is falling quietly, and the horizon is endless.
But when the snow turned into ashes, the scene became lifeless.
Xue Huai had seen the ashes along the way. Wherever that person said, the place was devastated, and not a single person was left alive.
The first step Xue Huai took here was to lowered his head to create a barrier, throw the gluttonous ghost in, throw it aside, and refuse to let it out no matter how it cries or makes a fuss.
He held the spiritual fire gun and walked forward, step by step.
It was dead silent here. No one had joined the team, no other living people, there was only a face he was familiar with.
This familiarity does not mean that he knows the person, because the face of the person standing in front of him and who has been waiting for him is pieced together.
He was a composite of all the people he knew—people he would often see and talk to—yet he was never noticed.
It was his senior brother living next door, a relative from his mother’s side whose name he couldn’t remember, and the soldiers around him.
It’s all those he knows or doesn’t know.
When the man saw him coming, he did not do anything and was even very kind. He seemed to be very relaxed and at ease. He stretched out his hands to pick up some of the ashes in the wind and put them into various shapes.
After a long while, this person spoke: “Xue Huai, in fact, you should know why you died in your previous life. At the same time, I was reborn and reached the seventeenth level of the demonic path. What about you? With your cultivation level, if you can use this thing in your hand to its full potential, you should be able to defeat me, but the question is, can you use it to it’s full potential?”
“No, because you are a waste ah.”
There was an eerie intimacy in his voice when he called his name, as if he was very close to him, which made people shudder.
Xue Huai seemed not to hear his insults. He just stared at him and asked softly, “Who are you?”
The man tilted his head and instantly transformed into Sha Hua’s appearance: “Xiao Huai, I am your Shixiong ah.”
Then he turned into Hua Qing once again and said with tears in her eyes in fear, “Sir, I am your soldier.”
Finally, he turned into the right protector, calmly and indifferently: “I am also your colleague.”
He seemed to be very intoxicated by this little joke and performed it with great enthusiasm, revealing hysterical madness, but his crazy immersion in the role came to an abrupt end the next moment.
Finally, a face that Xue Huai had never seen before appeared. Unexpectedly, it was the face of a scholar, full of bookish air, handsome, and elegant.
Xue Huai asked, “Is this you?”
“Yes, my original self. Not uglier than you, right, Young Master Xue?” The man smiled slightly, “Do you still want to know who I used to be?”
“I don’t want to listen.” Xue Huai showed the spiritual fire gun in his hand, “I already know who you are.”
That person seemed to find his words very interesting and tilted his head and said, “Oh, really? Young Master Xue, if you don’t know, then just say you don’t know. Why bother pretending—”
Before the question had even finished, the tiny starlight in Xue Huai’s hand had already pierced through his direction. It was no longer a healing spell but a concentrated attack, it’s just that it missed.
That person seemed to be startled, then laughed again: “How many things have you missed because of your temper? You really need to change, Xiao Huai. Now let me tell you—”
Another attack, he dodged it easily, and then a rune popped out with his backhand. Xue Huai blocked it with his spiritual fire gun in a hurry, but he fell back three or five feet and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
That person smiled gently: “Do you remember the first time you guys quarreled? You went out to discuss something and couldn’t have dinner with him. You asked a servant to tell him, but he still got mad at you the next day. Tell me, did the servant say it or not?”
Another rune, this time it missed. Xue Huai turned his head to avoid it, and half of his hair was cut off, leaving a blood mark on his face.
“That Phoenix Clan’s Crown Prince is also me. You only know that I wanted to recruit you, but you didn’t know that I also forged our affectionate correspondence records. Have you shown Yun Cuo?”
Xue Huai was slightly startled. At this moment, another powerful spell was cast, directly knocking him to the ground and slamming him into the snow.
That person seemed to find it very interesting and kept on talking: “This matter is very interesting. When everyone around you is trying to alienate you… the so-called unity of two people makes everything possible. Isn’t it still a joke? You and him are not suitable at all. You think he is stubborn and extreme, and he thinks you are cold and indifferent. This is your weakness. The two of you are the biggest hidden dangers of the Demon Realm, but I alone can separate you. Those who die just die, those who went crazy went crazy1In case it’s confusing, those who die just die was referred to XH and those who went crazy went crazy was referred to YC, who went crazy after XH’s death.. Tsk, how pitiful.”
Xue Huai was unable to crawl out of the snow, so he walked over and stepped hard on Xue Huai’s soft waist. Xue Huai was in so much pain that his whole body convulsed, but he gritted his teeth and sneered, “Then why did you still die? Since you followed me from the previous life, why did you still die?”
After he said this, it was as if he had touched some kind of reverse scale. A trace of anger flashed in that person’s eyes, and he stepped even harder, gritting his teeth and saying in hatred, “It was all because of that madman surnamed Yun. He killed everyone in that battle, including me. There were tens of thousands of people, and not a single one escaped. He is a madman! As a tyrant, he will get his retribution sooner or later!”
“Why not let his retribution start with you, Xiao Huai?” That person leaned over, pinched Xue Huai’s jaw, and strangled his throat. “Cut off each part of your torso, cut a few cuts on your pretty face, then put it in a box and give it to him. What do you think his reaction will be?”
The more Xue Huai moved, the tighter he suppressed him.
The tip of the knife was getting closer and closer. Xue Huai couldn’t make any sound, but a smile actually appeared in his eyes.
This little smile set off a warning bell in the other person’s heart: “What did you say?”
He loosened his hand.
Xue Huai coughed violently a few times, he coughed up some blood foam.
He just stared at him quietly, with no hatred or anger in his eyes, and his expression was completely different from how he looked just now—instead, there was a kind of pity in it.
“I said, I know who you are, I didn’t lie to you.”
Because of the pain, Xue Huai spoke word by word, but his voice was still clear and crisp.
“Firstly, you are easier to recognize than anyone else. Excessive disguise will reveal your true nature. You never use your real identity but use various false identities to sneak into the manor. So first of all, you should have been someone in the manor. You did this to avoid being discovered by an old friend.”
Xue Huai said, “And this old friend is my grandpa, right?”
He didn’t wait for an answer and continued. “Secondly, you have so many identities: illusionist, prophet, beast tamer… You are an expert in all of them, and you act very well. You are a natural spiritual person.”
The person in front of him was startled.
Xue Huai paused and took a few breaths, then slowly said, “I know that my grandfather had a disciple with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, who was his last personal disciple, but he was expelled from the sect because of his mean character. It seems that you are the one—although I still don’t know what I did wrong that made you not examine yourself but target me instead.”
“Heh, you’re quite clever.” The tip of the knife scratched his chin, blood seeping out slowly, and the man said, “So what? I just want to see what the old man’s true treasure and the so-called pure heart are like.”
“Nothing more than that? The Young Master of the Xue Family, your parents are in harmony, and you are the center of attention. You are someone who was born with everything. How can you be so demanding of others who have climbed out of the mire?”
His voice became sarcastic. “After a hundred years of hard study, the most outstanding spiritual roots were dismissed by the two words “character.” The person I worked so hard to assist was easily bewitched by you. I want to see how you can stay pure without these halos. How do you feel when you lose your parents, are laughed at, and are stepped on by others? For so many years, I have been with you day and night. Sometimes I think I have fallen in love with you—but I really don’t understand people like you. Sometimes you are so stupid that it suffocates me—”
“Thirdly,” Xue Huai spoke quietly, as if he hadn’t heard him.
There’s also the third one?
At this moment, the person who was interrupted couldn’t help but become suspicious.
“You went from being curious about me to hatred to wanting to destroy me—or as you said, love.”
Xue Huai laughed. “Let me put it another way. I am your dead spot. Is that not an exaggeration? Although Yun Cuo would probably be jealous if he heard that, but a dead spot means that you will do whatever it takes to disgust and torture me. At first, you alienated Yun Cuo and me in order to help the Demon Realm, but in the end, you could no longer control yourself. You just wanted to destroy me, right?”
“The most taboo thing in handling affairs is to be emotional. I have been gradually understanding this over the years, but I don’t think so from your perspective. Success comes with Xiao He, and failure also comes with Xiao He2That is, the success and failure of things are caused by the same person.. This… don’t you understand?”
The moment Xue Huai finished speaking, an unknown army quietly approached the surrounding snowfield.
It was overwhelming, like a tide. The leader were Bai Yi and Xue Zong, who had not been seen for many days.
This is the real game within a game.
He pretended to be frustrated, pretended to break with the Heavenly Court, pretended to be still that impulsive and irritable young man, and he was betting on this last moment.
He always comes prepared.
The moment that man sensed someone approaching, he had already used all his strength, wanting to directly destroy the army surrounding him, but he failed—because Xue Huai’s spiritual fire gun was aimed at him, and it was also another powerful star-shaped blast.
Xue Huai laughed softly and said, “Although it cannot be used to its full potential, it is more than enough if it is only used to restrain you.”
That person was caught off guard, and his cultivation could only be used to resist Xue Huai’s attack, and he had no time to think about other things. However, he almost failed to block this attack. When Xue Huai was testing him just now, he was just pretending.
At that moment, his eyes were bloodshot, and he said with a sad smile, “They are still dozens of feet away from me. This little time is enough for me to deal with you. You die—!!”
Xue Huai also flew up and used all his strength. There was nothing else on his mind. Facing the opponent’s extraordinary skills, there were only four words left in his mind: fight to the death.
