TRYMBPIETM 145: When I went in the Past (27)

The shadow slowly walked up to the red-robed youth, pressing his head down and applying force.

The words he hadn’t spoken were pressed back, and a muffled groan of pain rolled out from his throat.

The shadow’s smile widened.

He lowered his head, lightly sniffing, and a look of delight sparked in his blood-red eyes.

“It smells so good, like spicy pork ribs and shrimp in a dry pot.” 

The red-robed youth’s facial muscles twitched, struggling like a madman, but he couldn’t break free from the shadow’s control.

He couldn’t even make a proper sound, only squeezing out a few muffled gasps from his throat.

Luo Huaiyu glanced at the red-robed youth pinned to the ground, quickly carrying the coffin to the center of the tomb, attempting to unlock the chains in mid-air.

Luo Ting noticed his movements were a bit difficult, and tried to help, but Luo Huaiyu pushed him away.

He muttered, “This coffin up there is a bit troublesome.”

Luo Ting furrowed his brows slightly, then reached out to steady Luo Huaiyu, helping him maintain balance.

Luo Huaiyu: “Thanks.”

With Luo Ting’s assistance, Luo Huaiyu finally unlocked the chains on the tomb master’s coffin.

Only then did he notice a few of the chains hanging from the dome had hooks, perfect for hanging onto the bottom of the tomb master’s coffin.

“So it’s fixed this way.”

Luo Huaiyu muttered, first wrapping the chain around Xing Su’s coffin, then proceeding to remove the iron hooks.

The moment his palm touched the bottom of the coffin, an intense pain shot through his fingertips, the tomb master’s death energy seeping from the wood. A faint sizzling sound persisted, like something was corroding the flesh.

Luo Huaiyu winced in pain, his hand shaking as he nearly toppled the tomb master’s coffin.

But he quickly steadied his mind, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain.

No wonder Zhou Zhou insisted on getting a flying zombie to handle these two coffins—such death energy would be unbearable for anyone weaker than a flying zombie!

Luo Huaiyu sighed inwardly.

His strength still wasn’t enough. If he could reach the level of the unmelting bones, he’d be able to handle these two coffins with ease and still help Zhou Zhou even more.

After taking a deep breath and removing the hook, Luo Huaiyu casually placed the coffin aside and hung Xing Su’s coffin up.

The soft whining noise behind him grew louder. Luo Huaiyu glanced back at the red-robed youth and looked at Chi Qingzhou questioningly.

Chi Qingzhou smiled at him, then, amidst the red-robed youth’s eyes filled with despair and hatred, he briskly walked to the coffin, reached out, and pushed aside the lid etched with the Zhulong.

In an instant, the Zhulong came to life, its totem beginning to move constantly.

The strange color made his skin look even paler.

He turned his head, smiling with delight: “Su-ge, you can lie down now.”

Xing Su gently responded, “Alright,” walked to his side, and reached out to gently squeeze his neck before turning and lying in the coffin.

The red-robed youth trembled, and a terrified “No!” finally escaped from his throat.

“Are you all crazy?! Xing Su is a ghost, with his identity, he can never merge with the dragon vein! Even if you forcefully strip the dragon vein from me, Xing Su won’t have a good end!”

Xing Su ignored him.

Although the red-robed youth spoke the truth, to Xing Su, Chi Qingzhou was the one he could always trust.

Chi Qingzhou blinked, a bit of softness added to his smile.

He spoke gently: “Su-ge, no matter what happens, you won’t forget me, right?”

Xing Su’s heart stirred, and he solemnly answered: “Yes. No matter what happens, I won’t forget you.”

Chi Qingzhou said: “Then it’s settled. No matter what you see, hear, or forget, you can’t forget me.”

Before Xing Su could respond, he continued, “If you forget me, I will personally send you on your way.”

Xing Su gazed at him in silence, his eyes filled with extreme tenderness.

Chi Qingzhou’s tone carried a bit of sweetness: “I’ll personally send you to eternal rest, so it’s a full circle, right?”

Xing Su didn’t hesitate and gently agreed: “Right.”

Chi Qingzhou reached out, took Xing Su’s hand, and kissed his palm. His eyes were filled with affection.

He softly asked for confirmation: “Is it settled?”

Xing Su touched his cheek gently, replying tenderly: “It’s settled.”

Chi Qingzhou smiled again, then raised his hand to close the coffin lid, pushing it slowly.

Darkness descended.

The massive shadow seemed to have been triggered by something, quickly enveloping the entire main tomb, blocking all light.

In the thick, pitch-black darkness, everyone lost their vision, but other senses became amplified.

Footsteps approached the red-robed youth’s location.

The shadow pressing on the red-robed youth grew stronger.

A faint peach blossom fragrance emanated from Chi Qingzhou, gradually filling everyone’s nostrils with the breeze he stirred.

The footsteps stopped, and the rustle of fabric filled the air.

Chi Qingzhou had bent down.

He extended his hand, resting it on the red-robed youth’s back, and overlapped it with the shadow’s hand.

An indescribable sense of weakness rose from deep within the red-robed youth’s soul, and as he felt his body gradually dissipate, his insides were torn with agony.

He instinctively screamed, “Chi Qingzhou, you want to devour me?! I’m the dragon vein, how can you devour me—”

Chi Qingzhou chuckled lightly, and the red-robed youth’s unfinished words were cut off abruptly.

His body once again turned into smoke, but unlike when he tried to escape before, he could no longer reassemble his body.

The essence extracted from the incense offerings was purified and stripped by Chi Qingzhou, finally transforming into a pure energy mass, which Chi Qingzhou took for himself.

Just like what Chi Qingzhou did with Qu Feng back then.

The sound of gnawing and chewing echoed in the darkness.

Chi Qingzhou vaguely murmured, “My new friend, I should thank you for arranging for Qu Feng to help you delay.”

If it wasn’t for practicing with Qu Feng, he wouldn’t be so skilled now.

He released the red-robed youth, stood up, and leisurely walked back to the bottom of the coffin.

A new magic circle lit up on the ground, illuminating the main tomb chamber again.

The breath that had been stripped from the red-robed youth surged towards Chi Qingzhou through the magic circle, being refined and then flowing towards the coffin above his head along the Zhulong totem.

The Zhulong’s eyes on the coffin grew even brighter, and its body, engraved with fine scales, trembled and slowly turned over.

Inside the coffin, a bubbling sound like boiling water echoed.

The red-robed youth felt a chill.

He stared blankly, his eyes wide, gazing at the darkness above his head, not even noticing when the shadow released him.

He had already realized that all his power had been stripped away, and the breath of the dragon vein that had been on him was constantly dissipating.

He had lost the way to draw power from the dragon vein to sustain his life and was growing weaker and weaker.

Perhaps in a few minutes, or maybe in a few hours, he would meet his end.

This was his fate.

The huge shadow on the dome swayed idly, and through the gaps, a faint light from the broken stars formation leaked out.

The dim greenish light formed a pattern resembling an eye, flickering like a candle flame in the wind, its brightness threatening to extinguish at any moment.

The red-robed youth was completely frozen.

He stared at the faint light that formed the pattern and recalled the most terrifying scene of his life.

He had looked down upon the rules left by his predecessors, thinking they were just afraid to act because their strength was too weak.

But he was different.

He was the only genius in thousands of years to have mastered Star Divination, and he had no reason to fear what others called fate.

So, he arrogantly peered into the flow of heaven and earth and his own future, feeling smug about his uniqueness.

Then, he saw the scene that terrified him.

It was his future.

In a rolling darkness, his soul, almost dispersed, lay on the ground, staring blankly at the greenish light above.

A soul as weak as an ordinary human’s, in stark contrast with the giant eye-like light above, drove him to madness right there.

He could hardly believe that someone as talented as him in the Star Divination would one day lose all his power!

How could this happen?

How could this happen to him?

He could not accept this future!

After repeatedly divining the same result, he quickly made up his mind to resist fate.

He was the descendant of the Feng clan, and even if he had to die, he would never accept dying quietly!

If he must die, he would die in a grand and spectacular way.

If he could survive, that would be even better.

In his divination, he noticed that when he died, his power would dissipate, which meant that the one in the prediction wasn’t strong enough yet.

As long as no one in this world was stronger than him, no one could kill him!

As for karma?

That was nothing in the face of death.

He didn’t care about others’ lives and would never sacrifice his own life for a bunch of useless people.

He might consider killing fewer people, but to save someone at the cost of his life…

That was out of the question.

To prolong his life, after his body perished, he did not hesitate to become a ghost.

To gain greater power, relying on his long life, he traveled across rivers and mountains, setting up universal temples wherever he thought appropriate.

His goals slowly came to fruition, but karma had unknowingly entwined itself with him deeply.

He had put in so much effort to become a god, how could he bear to be discarded by the heavenly way and not enter the next era?

So, he chose to find a scapegoat.

The giant eye-like pattern above his head flickered, and the red-robed youth, lost in thought, gazed at the light and shadow. His soul, turning into smoke, trembled uncontrollably.

He finally realized.

What he had done in the past, rather than rebelling against fate, had been to escape from it.

He had never thought of facing this danger head-on, only relying on his foresight to avoid this scene from coming.

And the more he did, the closer he got to this outcome.

He feared fate, so in the end, he walked straight into it.

The stars in the formation reflected in his eyes, which had not yet fully lost their light, flickered. The faint light trembled and shattered like broken pieces in the falling water drops.

He wanted to close his eyes, but his soul felt like it had been frozen by the harsh winter, losing all strength.

At the last moment before his consciousness faded, only one thought lingered in his mind.

He was wrong.

He regretted it.

…

The smoke of his soul scattered in the main tomb chamber.

The thick darkness faded, gradually outlining the swaying shadows.

The shadow opened its arms and walked directly towards the direction of the shadows, its blood-red pupils full of expectation.

It passed through the operating magic formation, through the body standing at the center of the formation, and all the way to the stone wall, gradually merging with the shadow.

The shadow solidified, growing taller.

Long, slender tendrils pushed against the dome, and the beads on the star formation suddenly brightened.

With a deafening crack, the entire dome was pushed open by the shadow. Crumbled stones and dirt fell in a shower, causing the entire Linghe Village to tremble.

Cheng Shang, Luo Huaiyu, and Luo Ting were stunned for a few seconds before their attention was drawn away by the surrounding flames.

In the torrential rain, the entire Linghe Village burned against all odds.

The rainwater did not extinguish the fierce fire; instead, it only made the villagers, who were no longer human, suffer more. Each of them let out howls like wild beasts.

Chi Qingzhou curled his lips and slowly walked out of the stone door.

Behind him, the enormous shadow opened its arms and smiled broadly.