Chapter 14: The True Daoist Ziyang
“Who’s there!”
With this thunderous shout, Luo Xue felt a jolt in her head.
It was as if she had been stuffed into a bronze bell and struck repeatedly.
A warm liquid trickled between her lips and teeth. If Luo Xue could see herself, she would find that blood was flowing from her seven orifices.
This was just a sharp shout from Daoist Ziyang, not even an actual attack, yet it had already severely injured Luo Xue.
“Discovered?”
Luo Xue ignored her dire condition. Despite the ringing in her ears and her inability to stand steady, she immediately steadied herself.
No, don’t panic…
Luo Xue leaned against the corner, adjusting her posture and calming her ragged breathing.
She didn’t lose her composure because of Daoist Ziyang’s shout. The more dangerous the situation, the calmer she became.
Because in the post-apocalyptic world, Luo Xue had experienced life-or-death crises more than once.
“Thump…”
“Thump… Thump…”
Footsteps…
The footsteps reaching Luo Xue’s ears grew clearer.
Daoist Ziyang… was approaching her.
“I wonder who it could be… It turns out a disobedient little mouse has wandered over.” Daoist Ziyang’s cold laughter rang out. “I presume… you heard everything I just said?”
Luo Xue forced her eyes open, thick blood blurring her vision. Everything she saw was covered in a bloody haze.
And the tall, thin figure in front of her was exactly the same as the one from the carriage.
“It seems I really should correct my habit of talking to myself when I’m alone.”
Daoist Ziyang looked at the ugly girl leaning against the corner, unable to even stand steady, a hint of disdain flashing through his eyes.
He had thought his secret had been discovered by another cultivator, but it turned out to be just a caged little mouse escaping its cage.
As for whether the little mouse had stumbled upon his secret… Daoist Ziyang didn’t care.
Moreover…
“I was already planning to capture you directly and implant the ‘Xuanyin Gu Seed.’ Now that you’ve delivered yourself to me… you’ve saved me the trouble.”
Daoist Ziyang glanced at Luo Xue with disgust and reached out to grab her.
Luo Xue tried to struggle, but a heavy pressure immediately bore down on her, immobilizing her and causing her intense pain.
Foundation Establishment cultivator… Foundation Establishment cultivator… Immortal…
This was the difference between immortals and mortals.
A shout, a glance, and Luo Xue was rendered powerless to resist.
Before an immortal, a mortal could only be treated like an ant.
If not for the fact that Post-Heaven cultivation, the entry point to the immortal path, required one’s own talent and comprehension, Daoist Ziyang probably wouldn’t have bothered with the initial pretense.
Luo Xue’s entire body was icy cold, her blood seemingly frozen, but…
There was still no panic or fear in her eyes.
Facing imminent death, Luo Xue became completely calm.
She struggled, slightly raising her head, her slightly open eyes staring directly at Daoist Ziyang without a trace of fear.
Immortal… so what?
Surrendering was never something Luo Xue would do.
Being stared at like this, Daoist Ziyang suddenly felt a pang in his heart, an inexplicable fear surging within him.
This gaze… he had seen it before.
It was this gaze that had forced him to flee to this remote place, seeking a breakthrough opportunity through evil cultivation methods.
It was… the gaze of someone who wanted to kill him.
The fear that had brought him countless nightmares, a fear he couldn’t forget.
But Daoist Ziyang quickly recovered, followed by uncontrollable rage.
“I was actually frightened by a lowly mortal who can’t even cultivate… Shameful!”
The enraged immortal standing so close caused another spurt of blood to gush from Luo Xue’s seven orifices. Her consciousness was on the verge of collapsing.
But her murderous gaze… remained unchanged.
“What… do you… want to do… to us…”
Luo Xue’s hoarse voice rasped out, yet it was a question, a challenge.
Faced with this, Daoist Ziyang laughed in fury, his voice chillingly low.
“No, I’ve changed my mind. I won’t bestow the Xuanyin Gu Seed upon you, you wretch. I won’t let you die so easily. I… will make you wish you were dead!”
“I will refine you into a Yin Puppet, your soul eternally trapped within your flesh, watching yourself being controlled by me, forever unable to enter reincarnation, never to be reborn!”
He extended his claw-like hand, pinching Luo Xue’s chin, leaning closer, a chilling smile on his face.
“This look in your eyes… I truly hate it… I only hope you can still maintain this gaze after becoming a Yin Puppet.”
“What… do you… want to do…”
Luo Xue mechanically repeated her question, her consciousness fading, but her instinctive obsession drove her to continue questioning Daoist Ziyang.
“What do I want to do? I… might as well tell you.”
Daoist Ziyang sneered. He raised his hand slightly, and Li Zining’s body flew towards him.
“Little wretch, do you know what the Xuanyin Gu Seed is? Do you know why I need it?”
In Luo Xue’s blurry vision, she saw the once arrogant little girl, her eyes now bulging, her pale face filled with shock and disbelief.
Li Zining was dead.
As Luo Xue watched, Daoist Ziyang plunged his hand into Li Zining’s chest, brutally ripping out her heart, then crushing it.
The exploding heart fragments scattered, some of them splattering onto Luo Xue’s face.
Finally, Luo Xue’s eyes changed slightly.
But it still wasn’t the fear Daoist Ziyang wanted to see. Amidst her defiance and rage, there was now a hint of sorrow.
Daoist Ziyang opened his palm, revealing a small, purple glowing sphere amidst the crushed heart fragments.
“This is the Xuanyin Gu Seed, and also… my Master.”
Daoist Ziyang seemed to have put on his usual mask again, his soft voice narrating to Luo Xue,
“She was the last cultivator in the world to practice the evil cultivation method ‘Xuanyin Phoenix Transformation Scripture.’ She died, leaving behind only this peerless inheritance.”
“Why… why is this happening? Why is such a heaven-defying inheritance right in front of me, yet I can’t cultivate it!”
Daoist Ziyang’s face suddenly twisted, and he roared in frustration… the truth he had buried deep in his heart for so many years, a truth he dared not speak.
He had bottled up these words for too long, and they had become a burden on his heart.
Only in front of these mortals, whom he usually wouldn’t even glance at, did Daoist Ziyang dare to be so unrestrained.
“No matter what I do, I can’t cultivate the Xuanyin Phoenix Transformation Scripture. I’ve tried everything, but I’ve failed every single time, even…”
Daoist Ziyang suddenly let out a strange laugh.
“I even severed my own manhood, and I still couldn’t succeed.”
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