Chapter 2458: This is fate!

Shangguan Biao looked at his pocket, then at the wave drum, his gaze shifting uneasily.

Until tonight, he had hated himself for being poor-spirited and weak-influence, only able to be trapped in the lowly places, with no way to escape.

But the dawn of escaping his current life, and another chance to rise rapidly, lay before him, and he hesitated.

Taking the profound crystal would force him to leave Changfeng Valley, but also distance him from perilous lands.

Taking the wave drum, he would still have to deal with the environment and people he once hated most, still have to flatter and fawn, still have to learn to read faces and act accordingly… still have to keep wallowing in the mud pit. In short, it was no different from before the Red Ghost was slain.

The choice "Fate" gave him, picking any one, all seemed insufficient.

"Hurry up." He Lingchuan glanced sideways at the surroundings, urging him, "You have no time left."

The surrounding forests were shadowy and vague, all stone men, but none had stepped into the area of the three rows of houses.

This place was like having an invisible barrier, which even the Secret Realm's master could not destroy.

But not far away, the pursuers from Changfeng Valley seemed to sense something, and were coming this way.

Shangguan Biao raised his hand, but could not bring it down decisively, the veins on his forehead jumping several times, showing his inner struggle.

He closed his eyes, gritted his cheekbones, as if making some final severance and farewell, then opened his eyes and pointed——

"This, I choose this!"

He chose opportunity, the chance to rise rapidly in Changfeng Valley and climb upward.

The wave drum.

"Are you sure?"

"I have given everything for Changfeng Valley, endured humiliation, exclusion, and framing, and nearly faced family ruin and death! If I just left like this, wouldn't all the suffering and hardship of so many years be in vain?" Shangguan Biao spoke with growing firmness, his back teeth grinding with a click-click sound, "No, I want to take back what is mine!"

"Good." He Lingchuan said no more, pointing to the medicine cliff, "You pick the wind-dew golden lotus for me, and this wave drum is yours."

Zhu Xiuer and Dong Rui, who had been secretly eavesdropping, finally understood.

So He Lingchuan was calculating this!

Dong Rui even clapped his hands, praising:

"Excellent!"

He believed the Secret Realm's master was hidden within the wind-dew golden lotus, but the lotus had a barrier, and once an outsider touched it, they would be immediately kicked out of the Secret Realm.

This seemed like a deadlock at first glance, but actually there was one person who could solve it:

The miscellaneous servant of Duzhishan, Shangguan Biao.

He was not an outsider, usually tending the golden lotus, having touched it so often he no longer cared to. Having him take the lotus would certainly pose no problem.

"Ah?" Shangguan Biao glanced at the golden lotus, never expecting the other party to want this, "This is a sect object..."

He actually understood clearly in his heart, if there were no added conditions, who would help him for nothing?

"Now, is it more important to you, or to your sect?" He Lingchuan interrupted him, "It has been nurtured here day by day, has anyone else ever looked at it more?"

Changfeng Valley has countless strange flowers and herbs, this wind-dew golden lotus is not particularly remarkable. The valley's most important spiritual plant greenhouse, it cannot even enter. For years, no one has come to take or use the wind-dew golden lotus.

Now that the Earth Mother has also awakened, the dew of the golden lotus is temporarily useless. Besides, as long as you take the golden lotus you can exchange it for a future, this is fundamentally not a multiple-choice question for Shangguan Biao at this moment.

What can he give up, how could it be just this small plant?

"Good."

Shangguan Biao strode toward the medicine cliff.

Zhu Xiuer's voice sounded in He Lingchuan's ear: "I still thought he would choose that bag of profound crystals."

Shangguan Biao clearly had been suffering in Changfeng Valley, Zhu Xiuer couldn't understand him. If it were me, I would definitely choose the profound crystals, and leave this demon's den at the first opportunity.

"He simply cannot let go. Changfeng Valley does make him suffer daily, but in fact he does not wish to escape." He Lingchuan saw clearly, "Not everyone can be redeemed, nor can everyone's fate be changed. In the end, he is still drawn by himself, returning to his original track."

"This is obsession." He lightly exhaled a breath, "This is fate!"

This is the helplessness of fate.

Some directions of fate are not necessarily heaven toying with people, not necessarily unpredictable worldly affairs, not necessarily objective influences.

It is decided by the human heart.

It is decided by character.

It is decided by obsession.

He Lingchuan's wrist had a gold snake biting its tail bracelet quietly appear, the ruby eyeballs glowing faintly with his words.

His last sentence even caused echoes to ripple in this valley.

Dong Rui was outside Yujing City, did not see this bracelet appear, but: "Your manner of speaking, it's becoming more and more like that godman Zhao Man Dazha Man."

By now Shangguan Biao had already approached the medicine cliff, reaching out to pluck the wind-dew golden lotus.

He had received the dew of this lotus countless times, could be called adept, but this time as soon as he reached out, the golden lotus before him suddenly whooshed into the water!

On the water surface, only a few lotus leaves remained.

Shangguan Biao was stunned. He had served this golden lotus for years, yet still this was the first time he knew it could do this!

And He Lingchuan finally confirmed, the Secret Realm's master was indeed hidden within the lotus.

Immediately, the entire medicine cliff emitted red light, began to deform.

He Lingchuan knew, it was about to turn into a stone man under the control of the Secret Realm's master.

Shangguan Biao had just moved back a step when he heard urgent drumming. He looked back, He Lingchuan was shaking that wave drum, dong dong dong dong.

Instantly, a pair of huge stone hands stretched out from the ground, left and right firmly pressing the medicine cliff, taking advantage of it not yet fully deformed, he suddenly used force to pull outward— one pull, two pulls, three pulls—

This motion was like a person pulling a pomelo, pulling an apple.

He Lingchuan did not use a blade, fearing he would cut the petals outside the barrier, causing him to be sent out of the Secret Realm. At the same time, this was also to let Shangguan Biao inspect the goods, to let him see that the wave drum really works, and works well.

He Lingchuan simultaneously urged: "Go pick the golden lotus, hurry!"

The towering solid rock had been split into several pieces, revealing a point of gold-red at the center.

The golden lotus could no longer hide.

Shangguan Biao took a quick step forward and lunged to pick the flower, but here a furious voice rang out:

"You dare help the foreign invaders and betray your master's sect?"

"Foreign, foreign invaders?"

Shangguan Biao suddenly recalled the wave drum in He Lingchuan's hand. This small drum originally belonged to Uncle Li, so how did it end up in an outsider's hands?

Moreover, there are bloodstains on the drum handle.

Combined with the various anomalies occurring in Duzhi Mountain, how could he not know that He Lingchuan is also an external invader?

But...

This voice then shouted: "Get back, this is none of your business!"

The medicine rock kept shifting and breaking apart, showing that both sides were locked in a struggle.

"Don't worry, he can't hurt you." He Lingchuan's voice then sounded from behind, "Things have come to this—if you don't help me, you won't pass your own trial; if you don't quickly pick the flower, when Li Yun arrives, he will surely brand you a traitor, and no matter how you argue, it will be useless. Don't you know the ways of Changfeng Valley?"

(End of chapter)