Estranged - CH 132

Faced with this overwhelming pressure, Changming could feel the specter of death drawing closer to him than ever before.

He knew that he could not hold on any longer and there was nothing that could save him, yet he felt strangely at ease. His consciousness seemed to have entered some kind of indescribable state and left his body, freely floating above it. He watched his enemy’s attack impassively. Every movement that took place had slowed down to a speed that allowed him to see everything clearly. His physical body could not escape the attack, but his conscious mind saw right through his enemy’s plan—

The young master was not only going to kill him, but would also destroy his consciousness itself and scatter away his souls so that he would never be able to recover.

Changming knew this, but his body was not quick enough to catch up with his thoughts, so he already knew how this would end.

He was neither sad nor happy—it was just as if he was looking at someone else’s death from the sidelines.

As he was looking back at his life, he realized that he had no other attachments except for Yun Weisi.

Every single thing of this world, every destination was in utter chaos to him.

Every place, every destination, whether it was the Heavenly Abode of True Immortals or the streets full of peddlers and carriers—they were all the same.

The so-called ascension to immortality, which meant breaking free from the shackles of this realm to reach the other one, or achieving eternal life, did not matter either.

The world had been changing over the course of thousands of years. Despite this length of time, it was akin to a flick of the finger for the world, a mere ephemeral moment. Meanwhile, for Changming, he had been living an entire lifetime.

Cultivators had always been working on themselves, and their lives were far longer than those of the common people. But many cultivators established their sects just for power and profit, and their desires were not actually much different from those of mortals. Cultivators only used different means. They also killed each other for treasures and had internal conflict just like in the imperial palaces, but theirs were more direct and they could lose their lives in this turmoil far more easily.

What was the point of cultivating at all?

Nature had countless unsolvable mysteries in store for a cultivator to unravel. Even talented people like Luomei could never find all the answers over the course of their lives.

Acts of murder and people being saved from murder repeated in circles. Cultivators, just like the common people, were all tiny, powerless individuals that were like insects. They were wandering in circles cluelessly and could never break free from this trap.

What if ascension was not the final destination?

At this moment, his mind was in turmoil, but this thought suddenly appeared there clearly.

The enemy, the whirlpool of spiritual powers, the approaching death, the violent storm, Hua-Shan, A-Rong, and even the buildings around him were washed away by a wave. There was now only one person.

He was standing alone in the nothingness, looking up at the sky from far below, as if standing in the midst of primal chaos. He could neither move forward nor retreat—instead, he had been left at the very edge of an abyss. An ordinary person would have been afraid to move at all, but Changming had no fear whatsoever. Even if he closed his eyes, he could still clearly see the chaos around him, the clouds flying up above, and the water droplets falling in the distance.

The air around him was silent but he could feel a fresh breeze blowing around him. He saw Dubhe and Alkaid of the Big Dipper above his head and the moon rising in the blue sky. Clouds were scattered all over the sky.

The Daoist sects preached quietness and inaction. Inaction meant absence of an individual “self”, and this “self” meant any living creature.

The Buddhist sects said that bodhi originally was no tree, and one’s heart should be as clear as a mirror. If a kind heart was tranquil, the entire world would be motionless too.

Bodhi originally was no tree: (c) Hui Neng, famous Buddhist. Essentially means that one should clear their mind to attain enlightenment

In the end, “self” meant the absence of “self”, and this “self” was also every living creature—this was what Daoism and Buddhism were. The dark skies and the yellow ground were “self”, the boundless cosmos was “self”, the sun and the moon were “self”, the wilderness was also “self”. “Self” could fill either the primal chaos, or grains of wheat. The bright stars illuminated the deities, and soon everything would return to their destined locations.

Jiufang Changming took a step forward.

And at this moment, a light suddenly ignited in front of his eyes!

It had been many years since he last lost control of his expressions, but at this moment, Changming was so surprised that he even widened his eyes slightly.

His eyes reflected a scene that no other cultivator had ever seen up to this day.

The young master only saw Jiufang Changming pause for a moment.

Pausing at this moment meant revealing a weakness that could lead to his death.

Even if it was just a short moment, it was enough!

He smiled slightly, for once certain in his chances of winning. Having gathered all his earth-shattering spiritual powers in a single blow, he moved towards the frozen Jiufang Changming.

Even though Luomei did not know where this man had come from and what his motives were, he already considered Jiufang Changming and Yun Weisi a threat. His plan had been progressing smoothly. Hongluo had been just a tiny link in his plan—he would have even called it insignificant. His painstaking efforts could absolutely not go to waste because of these two people who had appeared out of nowhere!

In a flash, his spiritual powers almost reached his opponent. With his own eyes, he saw that Jiufang Changming was about to fall dead on the ground—

A black dog suddenly bounced up to them!

It appeared just at the right moment in front of Jiufang Changming, blocking the fatal blow for him.

The dog was sent flying by this massive wave of spiritual powers!

The dog was in pain all over, as if every muscle of his body had been cut through and his skin had been torn from his bones.

He had never experienced this feeling that he would rather die than stay alive. Even when he had been detained in the Wanlian Buddhist Temple with chains piercing his bones, to be used by the monks to lure Jiufang Changming out, the pain he had felt was not as bad as it was now.

It hurt so much. It was as if his souls had been extracted from his still living body, before being ripped into small pieces, which were then thrown into a millstone that was grinding them up repeatedly for eternity.

He suddenly recalled that there had once been a person who was crying their heart out, asking Zhou Keyi to kill them quickly, even begging him to do so.

Who was that?

Zhou Keyi could not recall that person’s face anymore, let alone what their background was or their name. However, their voice was still clear in his memories. At this moment, he was no different from that person who had produced painful cries and uttered words through their tears.

That person… They had been captured by Zhou Keyi to be used as a cultivation furnace. At that time, he had a deviation and needed to drink human blood every now and then. Using people’s souls as pills somewhat alleviated his suffering and strengthened his cultivation base.

The small sects that were the Jianxue Clan’s vassals were forced to send him their disciples. Zhou Keyi disdained common people and was even quite fastidious—in fact, he insisted that the face of the disciple in question should be pretty and they should have rare spiritual roots.

For these small sects, the disciples that matched his tastes were also the most precious resource that they had as these sects’ dreams and hopes of future improvement rested on the shoulders of these disciples. Thus, some sects had refused to cooperate and were immediately exterminated by Zhou Keyi. Sometimes not even a single person survived this purge—that was what might have happened to the Qixing Sect. When the sect master, Zhang Qin, heard Xu Jingxian’s demand to hand over Liu Xiyu, he had hated her with all his heart, but in the end, had no other choice except compliance.

These were the reasons for the consequences he suffered later on.

Zhou Keyi never believed in karma. He disregarded Jiufang Changming’s warnings and stayed firm on his path of demonic cultivation even to the end. Many people had been slaughtered for him to achieve success, and he could not even recall their names. Yet now, he clearly heard the pained wailing of these dying people.

Not only had he lost his right to be human and was forced to live as a dog—even the cultivation he had built on these corpses had disappeared without a trace. He was even dying just like one of those people he had killed.

Was this karma?

This thought had been lingering in his mind. He saw the body of the dog he had been occupying being torn into pieces by the overwhelming gust of spiritual power, and the strips of flesh scattering all over the place. The words “torn into pieces” might have been an understatement in this situation—even his blood itself had been completely decimated and evaporated.

It was extremely painful. His spiritual consciousness still existed. He wished he could escape from this suffering into death with every moment, but he was not in control of his fate and continued going through the torture.

Heat. He felt hot, but it was not painful. On the contrary, it was a pleasant type of warmth.

He felt a warm hand catch him lightly.

The warm feeling was more real now.

The pain, meanwhile, went away.

Was it Jiufang Changming?

Jiufang Changming?!

Zhou Keyi thought that Changming would not be able to escape his fate. Even though Zhou Keyi protected him, there was no guarantee that Jiufang Changming would be willing to revive him again.

If Zhou Keyi died, then he died. He had lived long enough. As he spent his days in the dog’s body, he could not even speak—he could only wail. Moreover, Yun Weisi was always ridiculing him. Zhou Keyi had had enough of that.

But why was Jiufang Changming still alive?

Jiufang Changming had yet to die. Instead, he was swathed in potent energy that not only made Zhou Keyi’s pain disappear, but he even felt his spiritual consciousness restored by a bit.

He heard Jiufang Changming’s voice.

It was weak but cheerful, as if he had been relieved from a great burden.

“Thank you.”

Thank whom? Zhou Keyi frowned.

“Had you not put me in a tight spot, I would not have had this moment of enlightenment.”

This time, Zhou Keyi understood. Jiufang Changming was thanking the person in front of them.

The young master could not believe that there was a person who would not die under such an attack.

There was not even a corpse left of that dog, so why was this man fine?

“Who on earth are you?” he squinted, as if he was facing a mortal enemy.

The young master had never had to repeat the same question twice. If someone refused to answer, the young master would just use another method to extract an answer.

Despite that, these incomprehensible techniques of his enemy presently left him completely clueless for the first time.

“Jiufang Changming.”

The name was not common, but the young master had never heard of it.

It seemed that the man noticed his bafflement.

“Of course, you haven’t heard this name. In fact, no one in this world has. But the reason I’m standing here now is closely connected to you.”

“Why?”

“Because I came here to kill you.”

Before he finished speaking, he already leaped up into the air!

His sword was as bright as the light cast by the sun and the moon—it could almost illuminate the entire world, reaching every mountain and river with its imposing aura!

As swift as lightning, it shot towards the young master!

The young master had been ready. Just as the light erupted, he also jumped up.

Two formidable spiritual powers clashed in the air just like two hurricanes and subsequently ended in a deadlock.

Even more formidable qi rushed from both opponents, filling the area all around them. A-Rong had already been thrown far away by the wind. Despite that, she was still not safe as a mix of sand and ice started falling around her like a rain of arrows, piercing through the walls of a building and breaking the fence. Soon, the entire house collapsed with a loud noise, trapping A-Rong underneath.

The skies and the earth darkened, and neither the sun nor the moon shone.

The sky that had been gloomy up to this point was lit up by violet rays of light, and in the center of these rays, the two men fought. An unending mist and qi swirled around them rapidly, tightly enveloping them with violet rays. Even the gathering clouds had turned red, which looked beautiful yet surreal.

The entirety of Hongluo was engulfed by the storm that had been conjured by Jiufang Changming and the young master. Many people did not understand what was going on and ran out to take a look, but were immediately swept away by the winds and flung into the distance. The rest of them shut their doors and silently prayed for this calamity to pass quickly.

Not one quite knew what had happened. Strange phenomena were happening in the sky, as if immortals had been angered. Only Zhou Keyi, who happened to be right in the eye of the storm, understood the situation fully.

Their opponent was infinitely powerful, one of the rarest talents among cultivators. His cultivation had long since surpassed the realm of grandmaster, and it was unusual of him to show it off. It was not until he met Jiufang Changming was he forced to reveal his true powers!

Not only that, demonic qi was constantly oozing from him too, as if it was limitless. Even though at this moment Zhou Keyi was only a soul, he could still feel the suffocating pressure from it, and even had difficulty breathing. Subconsciously, he only wanted to beg for mercy.

Since his situation was so bad, Jiufang Changming, who had been wounded before, could only have it worse.

Zhou Keyi had vaguely sensed that Jiufang Changming had had an epiphany, so his skills and powers had received a boost, but Zhou Keyi doubted that it was enough to defeat this fellow. Their enemy was indeed too strong and controlled both human and demonic powers in perfect harmony. Even if the demons sealed under the Wanshen Mountain suddenly broke free, they would probably not be able to defeat him.

Despite having broken through to the next level, Jiufang Changming, when compared to him, was still lacking.

The situation was akin to when a person was moving towards the peak of a mountain, but there already was someone standing there. Even though they looked as if they were close in standing, the difference was actually immense.

As Zhou Keyi predicted, Jiufang Changming’s breathing soon slowed down. Even if it was not obvious, while one person’s condition was in decline, the other was growing ever more powerful, as; the young master’s spiritual powers surged forwards with renewed vigor!

One could observe that the purple rays had darkened, and the storm gathered by their spiritual powers was drifting towards Hongluo. Wherever it went, the grass withered, and all animals dropped dead.

This scene was similar to what happened in the future when the world was being destroyed.

The young master’s hood had already been blown down by the wind, and his face had been revealed.

His face was very pale, and his eyes were red. While his strength was admirable, he did not look like a normal human anymore, and rather resembled some evil spirit from legends.

Was it the reason why he had taken over Jiang Li’s body?

Jiufang Changming furrowed his brows slightly.

He had truly comprehended an elusive and inexplicable realm just now, which was something that Luomei would probably not realize in his entire life. However, his body could not bear this kind of strength right now. The fox poison was still clouding his spiritual consciousness, and the pain had reached the sea of his consciousness, bathing it with waves of pain. He could not wield his powers freely.

There was no doubt that his opponent had noticed this as well. Suddenly, the dark purple rays hovered over Changming’s head.

In the eye of the storm created by their two gathered powers, it was quiet, but the pressure on Jiufang Changming only grew greater. No matter how much energy he used, his opponent would take it all for himself, and there was no telling how long it would continue like this.

In the darkness, a voice rang out.

“I’m here.”

It was Yun Weisi.

Changming was startled.

In a moment, his hand was grabbed, and Yun Weisi transferred some spiritual energy to him, which even sent away his fox poison.

The intense pain disappeared, and the barrier in front of him strengthened a bit.

Yun Weisi was absorbing the fox poison?!

Or rather, Yun Weisi had taken part of it into himself.

Even though there were dark purple rays of light rolling around, the light of Jiufang Changming’s sword shone brighter!

Suddenly, the pressure against them disappeared too, and in a flash, not a fragment of it was left behind.

Tn:

I hope in a couple of months I’ll be able to ask someone on Shenshang’s official Weibo to help me with the philosophy, but for now, I’ll leave this without comment…