Chapter 509: The Warrior's Curtain Falls, the Young Girl's Confusion

Is he a Grudge Demon?

When these four words were truly spoken, the sound of the conversation outside suddenly stopped, leaving only the sound of heavy rain pouring down.

A moment later, the conversation suddenly became intense.

"That's right, that's right! One night I saw his eyes, and I only saw two red lanterns!"

"That's nothing. Sometimes he curls up in the darkness, it's just like there's a monster hiding there, scaring me out of my wits!"

"You all are just chasing shadows. Unlike me, when I went to deliver medicine to him before, I accidentally saw him eating raw meat in big mouthfuls, with two basins of fresh blood beside him!"

One by one, the definitive words flowed out, piercing deeply into the old warrior's heart.

Eventually, because someone shouted to stop them, this conversation came to an end.

He did not understand in his heart why things had become like this.

Although he was a bit stronger than the average person, he was still a mortal after all; he would grow old as he should, and now, riddled with chronic illnesses, they would flare up whenever the weather was bad.

He could not understand...

His obsession suddenly became intense, and his memories began to leap, arriving at a scene of entanglement.

At this time, the old warrior had already moved to a small house, or one could even say it was a cellar dungeon, dark and lightless, filled with dampness, and even his wrists were shackled, locking him here.

His hair was withered and gray, he looked on the verge of death, his once-burly body had become shriveled, and he was suffused with a thick, foul stench, naturally exuding a feeling of a heart dead as cold ash, yet also appearing as if he could spring up like a fierce beast to hurt someone at any moment.

Outside, it was raining again, cold and damp, making one feel truly unhappy, causing him to raise a pair of eyes that seemed to emit a red glow... then, they dimmed and softened, because the shutter of this cellar room was opened, and someone walked down dragging heavy, cumbersome clothes.

Through that plain and unadorned wooden mask, it was as if he could see the other person's guilt and sorrow.

It was Shaman Priest Qinglan who had come to see him.

"I am sorry to have disappointed you..."

The old warrior spoke first, but these words were interrupted.

"No, it is I who did not notice the situation here in time..."

"You do not need to say that..."

"Such rain, perhaps one day it will fall without stopping."

Qinglan's words took a sudden turn, her voice sounding distant and wavering; listening carefully, however, it was just pale and weak, lacking in vital energy.

"... It seems that the cumbersome and heavy layers of covering could not block people's malice, could they?"

The old warrior misunderstood slightly at this moment, but he also felt a sense of empathy, because looking at her cumbersome and heavy Shaman Priest robes, which she had not been able to shed for many years, he could not help but let his tone carry a sense of anger.

He wanted to stand up again, but found he could no longer do so, and finally, he just gave a bitter laugh, his voice becoming low, like a sigh, like a mournful cry: "Will even the 'Blue Heaven' grow old and collapse?"

"Do not worry, I will make everything end, I will cough, cough, cough..."

"You do not need to keep forcing yourself. Shaman Priest of the Divine Tree, ever since this old man shed the shackles of glory and spent these days lingering on in a steadily worsening condition, although I still cannot see everything clearly, I have realized that you alone cannot resolve all of this."

The old warrior recalled the past, his gaze becoming nostalgic and distant, and in the end, there was only a long sigh: "The dying words of our ancestors, this old man only now understands a little; it is truly too late..."

"Do not harbor regret..."

"Do you also think this old man will fall into corruption?"

"..."

"You truly do not know how to lie. This old man understands; will has always been a fragile thing."

"One cannot say it so. The persistence of the Dao lies only in following one's original heart."

"Haha, that is a saying that only has meaning for those who are correctly matched; it is not something a mortal like this old man can apply. If one day this old man truly falls into corruption, I would hope..."

The old warrior said this, his breath fading, as if he were about to die, and he could not finish his words.

But immediately after, he noticed something and suddenly raised his head.

Shaman Priest Qinglan was gone.

The cellar entrance was sealed tight.

"An illusion, a hallucination..."

He could not help but mutter this, and then he heard the pitter-patter sound outside.

The current pitter-patter sound.

The endless Grudge Demon rain...

He suddenly opened his eyes wide, only to see Wurei in the rain, currently in such pain that she was curling up, and the radiance of the Azure Sky was also tottering.

"The cycle of despair, has it begun again?"

The old warrior had not the slightest thought of release at this moment, only a faint sorrow and a thick despair.

The young girl before his eyes was just like Shaman Priest Qinglan back then.

Clearly so slender and small, yet she needed to shoulder a heavy burden.

He subconsciously wanted to stand up and do something again, but discovered that the situation was even worse than before, and that his own movements would only cause the young girl before him even greater pain, so he immediately let out a long, mournful sigh.

"Truly, I did not expect that this would be the end... but so be it, at least you do not need to carry heavy burdens like she did..."

The old warrior sighed with emotion; the purification was complete, and Wurei let out a sigh of relief, finally unable to hold on any longer and falling backward.

Du'en manifested and caught her.

His appearance startled the old warrior.

"You are..."

Just as he was about to say something, he met those calm eyes.

The persistence of the Dao lies only in following one's original heart...

This sentence suddenly echoed in his mind, and he suddenly understood something, so he forced himself to say in one breath: "This old man is ashamed, always unable to fight until the end. Even now, I do not know her whereabouts or actions, but if you wish to pursue her trail, then go to the Research Association and the Asura Secret Land. The former is a place for studying the items left behind by our ancestors, and she had relatively close dealings with that side before and would always find time to go there. As for the latter, there should be guardian warriors staying there; perhaps they have not yet fallen into corruption, because there are extra arrangements there. Finally, I hope..."

He actually had many more words to say; it was impossible to explain everything he wanted to say in just a few short sentences.

However, there was no time left.

Under the gloomy rain, his body was turning to stone, just like the ancestors of the past.

"Go first, to the Research Association; they are nearby, right at..."

He struggled to point out a direction with his gaze, and then his eyeballs were also covered in a dull, stony gray.

Du En watched silently until he had completely petrified and died.

He calmly pulled out the Azure Sky Burning Sword, put it away, and turned his head to look in the direction the other had pointed out before dying.

The Research Association, an organization that studies cultivators and the legacy of the ancestors of the Qing Kingdom people.

"Those senior cultivators, do they look like people from our sect?"

"So you're saying, our sect sent troops to invade this place, triggering a fierce battle that even extinguished the sun and severed the spirit veins, eventually breeding Grudge Demons, causing the Star Realm to lose its value, to the point where the living cultivators were abandoned, which in turn led to the breeding of a massive population?"

According to the style of the Falling Feather Immortal Sect, those sent to attack the Star Realm were likely not kind-hearted, so if that were the case, their procreation clearly didn't stem from good intentions. With little spiritual energy left, they just switched paths to follow the pure Demonic Dao.

In the past, during his trials, he had encountered guys who ate their own children to strengthen themselves...

"Of course, it's also possible that our sect dispatched ignorant people here; someone like True Monarch Buyi would do that kind of thing, conducting a Star Realm experiment. But overall, it doesn't quite look like it; if it were a structured experiment, it wouldn't be at the point where people are stopped outside the heavens."

True Monarch Huiqing is the type with a very strong desire for control, unlike True Monarch Buyi who would "free-range" things. If she were the one leading it, this situation clearly wouldn't make sense; the whole thing lacks her interference too much.

Of course, it could also be an experiment by the Falling Feather Supreme... Thinking of this possibility, Du En glanced at Wurei, who was gradually recovering, his gaze shifting slightly.

In short, one must first go to that Research Association to see the specific situation and gather more information and evidence before a definite, practical conclusion can be reached.

"But before that, there's still a delay."

Because there are still people and beasts to help find release.

"I also happen to recover a bit more; actually, it doesn't count as much of a delay, at most it just means she will lie in the carriage for the rest of the way..."

Thinking this, he determined the general plan for subsequent actions.

First, clear the inside and outside of the post-village, then head all the way to find the base of the Research Association.

Although there is only a general direction, since it is an association that studies relics and magical techniques, as long as he gets close, he will certainly be able to notice the clues and thus find the specific location.

"Mm..."

Wurei quickly eased her pain, looking at the hand in her eyes, as if she could see gray-black diseased veins gradually proliferating and growing inside.

However, this was not the reason for her low spirits at this moment.

What made her look silent was the old warrior's experience before his death.

"Go purify the others."

She just spoke in a somewhat muffled voice.

Du En didn't say anything at this time, just pinched a seal to create a mobile shielding earth armor, blocking the rain and soaking of the Grudge Demons, allowing her state to ease and recover relatively well.

As for himself, the shared pain had absolutely no impact on him; it was all like a thin stream quietly flowing into an ancient well, just silently accommodated.

The two walked back; the Grudge Demon villagers who could still make noise or move were scattered in pieces all over the village, all of which were their previous battle results.

There were other scattered Grudge Demons that had gathered, and Du En immediately erupted slightly, quickly clearing them out and turning them into scattered pieces as well.

As the Azure Sky light shone, each villager revealed an expression of relief and peace before their release.

"Divine Tree, above!"

"Azure Sky, boundless!"

"It is your light..."

Gaze after gaze of enthusiasm and kindness, pair after pair of relieved and wishing eyes.

Even if there were attachments and obsessions, they were all creeds they had firmly believed in from childhood to adulthood.

The Aid and Diligence Teaching Hall, resisting enemy invasion from the outside, and when necessary, using oneself as a campfire to warn the Divine Tree Teaching Hall in the rear! Men, women, old, and young, were basically all like this.

Even the few exceptions were simple and honest, thinking of their own family and friends, and there were even sincere people like the nameless youth...

"I don't understand."

Wurei stopped in front of the village; Dahuang was standing proudly in the distance on guard, its eight eyes looking in eight directions, one of which was exactly her side.

Clearly the rain was blocked, clearly the purifying light shone again.

Yet she looked even more disheveled and low-spirited than a drowned rat, a thick sense of confusion flowing in her eyes, as she asked the person beside her: "These villagers are clearly so enthusiastic and simple, why did that old warrior end up in such a state?"

Regarding such words, Du En's gaze did not change at all, and he didn't even manifest a human form, still just that small ball of light, hiding under his own earth-armor umbrella.

He just calmly replied: "Because the human heart is hard to fathom, and the world is impermanent."

"Specifically?"

"People's hearts are always surging and changing at every moment, just like everything in the world seems to be, but it is already different from the previous moment. Time is moving, the human heart is changing; even if the same base point is retained, the extending branches will be different. No, it should be said that precisely because there is a base point of stance and persistence, different branches are created."

"A bit hard to understand, can you say it simply?"

"You have already heard the simple answer."

"... Just because he wasn't a guardian warrior?"

"Piety implies exclusion; the more pious one is, the more one eventually loathes the 'other,' to the point of being unable to restrain suspicion and panic regarding the sanctity of the 'other'."

"Is that so? Then, why didn't Qinglan help save him? Even if she didn't notice at first, she discovered it later, and she clearly could have done it!"

"Her, heh."

Du En's sudden light laugh sounded somewhat strange.

The tone was as calm as ever; a single sound seemed like mockery, but added together before and after, it seemed like some emotion, and if savored carefully, it seemed like disdain and loathing...

Wurei felt it at this moment and discovered that his emotions could actually have so many layers!

"I am just calm, not heartless. It is like still water; it looks like it is stopped, but the movement in the subtle parts is actually not lacking at all. In fact, to maintain the stillness, one needs to spend extra effort."

"... You love speaking in riddles!"

"Likewise."

"Hmph!"

Wurei snorted unhappily, then kicked her feet and ran toward Dahuang.

She seemed to no longer think about these various things.

Actually, there is no need to think too much about it.

"After all, everyone is already dead; everything now, when it comes down to it, is just a way for those who came later to look back at the past."

Du En followed calmly.

"Woof woof!"

Da Huang pulled the cart and moved, beginning to drive away from the post village.

The destination was naturally the direction of the Research Assembly.

But what the old warrior wanted to express at the end of his life was actually not just this one thing.

Therefore, before Wu Rui, who was actually just holding on, could have a good sleep to recover, a desolate place quickly appeared in their eyes.

A graveyard.

In the persistence of some old villagers, they had also seen this place.

In the past, the Qing Kingdom favored burial, believing that returning to the earth would bring peace and could protect future generations.

With the appearance of the Grudge Demons and the corruption of the cultivator ancestors, the Qing Kingdom imperial court had to consider the possibility of the dead rising again, so the custom of burial was abolished, and the intervention of the Divine Tree Sect made the promotion of this policy proceed without any obstacles.

In other words, in the current Qing Kingdom, or rather, in the period before the Grudge Demon rain fell, the only people who would still be laid to rest in the form of burial were a very small number of sinners! To be despised and buried in the earth was to declare to the world that they were in the same category as the Grudge Demons, truly unforgivable!

(End of this chapter)