Chapter 51: Recreating the True Self

Few can endure the pain of being struck by heavenly lightning.

Chiyuan fainted three times from the pain before gradually adapting, barely regaining his strength.

His last memory was being elbowed into a throat lock, then struck by the heavenly lightning he himself had summoned.

If nothing went wrong, he should be dead.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Wu Chang, equally battered, sitting not far away roasting meat.

This guy, that enviable calmness—even in death, he won't become a starving ghost.

"Heh, so we're dying together in the end?"

Hearing Chiyuan's voice, Wu Chang turned his head and glared at him.

"I'm doing just fine, but you won't live much longer."

Chiyuan gritted his teeth, forcing out a smile uglier than crying, "If I'm not dead, it's only because the pain kept me alive—so you didn't kill me just to make me suffer this?"

Wu Chang grumbled, "I took three strikes and didn't complain—what's your excuse for whining after one?"

"The meat's ready. Want a piece?"

"Yes, I can't die as a starving ghost, can I?"

Without needing to be told, the meat on the grill came from the Three Sacrificial Offerings of the Sui Festival.

They sacrificed and appeased malevolent spirits, and Wu Chang had done them a favor—eating their offerings wasn't unreasonable.

While they ate, Wu Chang said, "I have a few questions I can't figure out."

Chiyuan understood immediately. "Ask."

"You're a survivor of Huai Valley Village, supporting the malevolent spirits' revenge against the Heishan bandits—so why lend me the Earth Soul Flag to suppress the demons?"

The Earth Soul Flag is the bane of ghost minions and malevolent spirits.

Without the Earth Soul Flag, even if Wu Chang could find a way through, it wouldn't have been this easy.

Chiyuan fell silent for a moment, then said, "Maybe it was just a whim."

"Four years ago, I discovered Huai Valley Village had been seized by the Heishan bandits—my family and neighbors slaughtered, their corpses turned into malevolent spirits through dark arts. With spiritual energy returning in just a year, my cultivation was too low to resist them. To gain power quickly, I turned to the dark path."

Wu Chang asked, "Becoming a demon?"

Chiyuan nodded. "Becoming a demon."

"At first, I planned to transform myself, using demonic power for revenge. I hid in the mountains, observing the demons there—only to find hidden cultivators sprouting like mushrooms after rain, all targeting Huai Valley Village."

"These cultivators varied in strength, but all were clueless, knowing less about demons than I did—they died easily in the mountains. So I changed targets: I lured and ambushed them, turning them into demons."

Wu Chang: "…"

Looking down on players, huh? Today you'll see what a black hand really is.

Chiyuan seemed to sense something—a nosebleed gushed. He wiped it away and asked, "What technique was that elbow strike? How could anyone avoid it?"

Wu Chang shrugged. "Want to learn? I'll teach you."

Chiyuan shook his head. "Too bad I don't have time."

"The dark path is a one-way road. Even if I fool myself with excuses of necessity, my heart still aches."

"That meeting was accidental. The Mountain Blockers were demons I controlled, not yet forged into artifacts. They roamed freely, hunting—and happened upon you. I saw your bearing and thought to test you with them. If you passed, I'd forge you into a Yin-Yang Jade Pendant."

"You killed one Mountain Blocker so easily, I changed my plan—I wanted to forge you into a stronger artifact."

Wu Chang shrugged. "To be so highly regarded by you—I'm truly honored."

"Your state reminded me of myself before I walked the dark path. Had Huai Valley Village never happened, I could've announced my sect proudly, just like you. At that moment, I realized: letting the malevolent spirits seek revenge isn't freeing them—it's making their souls heavier and twisted, just like mine."

"So I chose you—to let you free them."

Wu Chang nodded noncommittally. Chiyuan asking him to perform rites wasn't just a whim—it must've been tied to his title effect.

"Second question: if you wanted the malevolent spirits to seek revenge, why help the villagers restore the Sui Festival Array and place the Four Directions' Sui Fire Lanterns?"

Chiyuan's answer surprised him.

"Those lanterns weren't placed by me—they were set up by an outsider while I was away gathering materials for artifact forging." Outsider?

Was he a native of this realm, or another player?

As a C-rank instance, unless someone like him explored the plot thoroughly, a normal clear reward wouldn't surpass the value of the Four Directions' Sui Fire Lanterns.

But if he's a realm native, how could he possess the Four Directions' Sui Fire Lanterns yet fail to fully suppress the malevolent spirits?

Impossible to understand.

Chiyuan coughed twice, interrupting Wu Chang's thoughts.

"Young Master Wu, I don't have much time left. While I can still move, give me the two halves of the Mirror Mask you took from Ghost Wailing Forest."

Chiyuan's request made Wu Chang hesitate.

Chiyuan's essence, spirit, and spiritual power were leaking out like a breached dam, unstoppable.

When his essence, spirit, and spiritual power were gone, he would die.

Normally, a dying man speaks kindly—but Wu Chang dared not gamble.

!

After all, the Mirror Mask had once been Chiyuan's. If this bastard reclaimed it and used some unknown method to kill him in return, things would get messy.

Later, when Chiyuan told other players about clueless outsiders, he'd surely single out Wu Chang.

"There was this idiot—he'd already beaten me, yet stupidly handed me his artifact, stuck his neck out for me to cut. So dumb I felt bad for him."

If the player then added, "He was already an idiot, and you tricked him?!"—that'd be the final blow.

But what if Chiyuan meant no harm, and Wu Chang missed a chance because of his suspicion?

"Master Chiyuan, please wait a moment."

"Go ahead—but hurry. I can't hold on much longer."

Chiyuan yawned. His body grew colder, his senses numb from pain—his consciousness slipping further away.

Wu Chang backed away some distance, took out the Lucky Goddess's Favor, and activated the Loaded Dice.

After rolling three 1s to trigger Great Fortune, he took out a copper coin and flipped it upward.

"The character side gives, the blank side doesn't."

The coin landed in his palm on the character side.

Hoo!

Trusting in the Lucky Goddess's guidance.

He took out the two halves of the mask and handed them to Seeing Chiyuan, "Daoist, are you going to give me some pointers on artifact-refining techniques?"

Seeing Chiyuan took a curved golden thread from his robe; the golden thread was embedded into the two halves of the mask, and astonishingly caused the two halves of the reflective mask to reunite as one.

The black and white regions began to rotate, transforming into a flowing taiji.

"Young Hero Wu, the path you took to re-refine it matches exactly what I had in mind back then. But did you guess the arrangement I set up in the forest?"

Wu Chang shook his head, "Just a coincidence, I didn't think too much about it."

Seeing Chiyuan smiled, not bothering to discern truth from falsehood, and went on speaking on his own.

"My root bone and talent are very poor, far inferior to you cultivators who come from hidden great sects; my body is frail, it can't even withstand the thunder and lightning I myself cultivate; I've fallen into the unorthodox path, my Dao heart is damaged, the deeper I cultivate the heavier my inner demons become, and in this life I have no fate with the Great Dao."

"If I want to defy fate and change my destiny, Young Hero Wu, what should I do?"

Wu Chang said: "Dump points into Deep Blue."

Seeing Chiyuan: "?"

Wu Chang dry-coughed once and changed his phrasing: "What I mean is, prove the Dao through strength; all fear stems from insufficient spiritual power."

Seeing Chiyuan smiled and shook his head, saying: "That's the way of thinking for disciples of famous sects. For loose cultivators like us, how would we dare to struggle against Heaven and Earth?"

"By fortunate chance I obtained the art of transforming into a yao, and I came up with a plan. Use the yao-transformation method as the guide, shed humanity and become a yao, cultivate freely; use the Heishan bandits who can 'forget the self' as the soul, forget the inner demons, and mend the Dao heart; use the chang-ghosts of outside cultivators as flesh, blood, and skin, to reshape the body, root bone, and physique."

"Since I am beyond saving, I shall plunder the masses and forge a new true self."

"Young Hero Wu, this opportunity, this poor Daoist gives it to you."

Having said that, Seeing Chiyuan waved his hand and tossed the reunited mask to Wu Chang.

(End of chapter)