TRYMBPIETM 140: When I went in the Past (22)

The young man in the red robe returned to the underground stone chamber. His gaze swept across the area and immediately fixed on one point.

It was a round cavern, about 3.6 meters in diameter, and it was clear that it was naturally formed, with stone stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

There was no conventional entrance here; both sides of the stone chamber were sealed by soil and rocks. Only beings like him could enter.

For others to enter, they would at least have to follow the path he had taken.

He took advantage of this and trapped the weak dragon vein from Linxi Village here, effectively preventing anyone from taking it away under his nose.

He had not thought that this would guarantee complete success, but he was extremely confident in his ability.

In his view, even if Chi Qingzhou could find the dragon vein, there would definitely be a big struggle along the way. It was impossible for him to take action on the dragon vein without anyone noticing.

However, now, the stone chamber, which originally only held a dragon-shaped illusory image, had been filled with gray mist at some point.

The mist swirled and roamed through the air, almost filling the entire stone chamber.

The dense resentment mixed with the mist, almost solidifying into chains, binding the dragon-shaped illusion tightly.

Was this the resentment that Shen Wenxu had poured in?

He hesitated for a moment.

Rationality told him this was the only possibility, but his instincts screamed that he had been tricked.

“Chi Qingzhou.”

The young man in the red robe looked up at the mist, softly uttering this name, with a faint blood color appearing in his eyes.

How many years had it been since he had encountered such a situation?

It seemed that since he used the Wan Ying Temples and incense to elevate himself to the status of a deity, he had never been pushed to such a situation again.

He could no longer remember the last time he was this embarrassed, perhaps it was hundreds of years ago, or perhaps even earlier.

“Chi Qingzhou.”

He repeated the name again, slowly lowering his head to look at the gray mist that was gradually spreading over him.

Resentment, pain, love and hate… A mixture of emotions was woven together by a curse, forming strange markings on his wrist and chest.

—Those were markings left by Chi Qingzhou.

He couldn’t help but sneer, raising the corner of his mouth in a smile that seemed half-sarcastic, half-sighing.

“Isn’t it enough to just use Shen Wenxu’s resentment to infect the dragon vein? You took the opportunity when Qing Zhi borrowed my power to leave me another mark… Chi Qingzhou, you truly are the greatest obstacle to me.”

He had wanted to shift the responsibility onto Chi Qingzhou, but wasn’t Chi Qingzhou also trying to use him to solve his own problems?

This mark was something he hadn’t even noticed before, so one could imagine that this was no simple plan.

Even with his divination ability, he had been deceived. Chi Qingzhou must have put in a lot of effort.

He extended his hand, grasping the formless mist, his eyes growing darker with blood.

“Is this what you call helping each other? Friends? Fine, let’s see who outdoes the other.”

A faint blue light bloomed from his fingertips. It seemed unremarkable, but when one looked at it, it inexplicably reminded them of spring.

Thump, thump.

The sound of a heartbeat, very faint, came from the dragon-shaped illusory image, perfectly out of sync with the young man’s heartbeat, like the final struggle at the moment of death.

The young man in the red robe remained indifferent, as if he hadn’t heard the heartbeat that came from the stone chamber besides his own. He raised his hand and pulled more mist toward himself.

The sticky mist, when illuminated by the light, seemed at first like dew exposed to the sun, evaporating little by little under his gaze.

But if one looked closely at the mist, they would see that this mixed smoke wasn’t dissipating. Instead, it was slowly dispersing outside the cavern.

The young man in the red robe stared deeply at the mist that was gradually disappearing, letting out a soft sigh.

“The time I gathered with such difficulty, who would have thought it would be used in such a place… Chi Qingzhou.”

He clenched the mist in his hand, completely ignoring the burning pain in his palm.

“I thought I could use this time to speed up the integration. What a pity.”

Chi Qingzhou was truly the craziest living person he had ever encountered.

The young man in the red robe looked at the increasingly transparent dragon vein illusion and raised the corner of his lips.

But thanks to Chi Qingzhou’s madness, daring to use resentment to erode the dragon vein, it has had become this weak.

“However…” He muttered to himself. “Chi Qingzhou must have another plan. Why isn’t he in a hurry to deal with my connection to the dragon vein?”

Could it be that he didn’t know the location of the dragon vein?

But clearly, a mark had been placed on him, and only now had it been exposed.

Or perhaps, like him, Chi Qingzhou was also delaying time on purpose?

But Chi Qingzhou knew that once he succeeded in integrating the dragon vein, anything he did afterward would be a meaningless struggle. Wasn’t he at all anxious?

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The young man in the red robe frowned, staring fixedly at the slowly dissipating mist. After more than ten minutes, the originally relaxed expression gradually hardened.

He had spent a lot of “time” successfully dispelling most of the gray mist, but to his surprise, some of the mist had not been reversed by “time.”

This meant that the mixed power didn’t come from the resentment Shen Wenxu had poured in, but from the karmic debt he himself had accumulated.

The red-robed youth’s breathing became rapid.

The karma owed…

The karma He owed had accumulated, and any one of them would be deadly for Him.

But the ones that could appear here without His awareness would only have to do with Chi Qingzhou and Xing Su.

No wonder.

No wonder Chi Qingzhou wasn’t in a hurry.

With such calculations, of course, it couldn’t be Chi Qingzhou who was anxious.

He closed his eyes.

“Chi Qingzhou. You really… surprise me.”

…

The red-robed youth had long forgotten His name.

Once, when He was still a person, He was someone very ambitious;

Later, He became a vengeful spirit, and He was still very ambitious.

But just like most people throughout history who sought power, once money and power reached their limits, what He desired became eternal life.

However, unlike ordinary people who pursued the elusive notion of immortality, He understood Star Divination, and by becoming a ghostly entity, this was enough to grant Him a kind of longevity.

Clearly, this was not enough for Him.

Because He knew very well that the heavens and earth had been changing in an orderly manner. He could live well in the end times relying on Star Divination, but He couldn’t survive the great calamity and enter the next era.

As a spirit with normal thinking, He had no interest in exploring the laws of heaven and earth’s alternation.

He also didn’t want to be the only god in the new era; He simply wanted to survive the great calamity and stand firm in the next era.

But unfortunately, as a remnant of this era, no matter what, He would have no natural advantage in the next.

If He wanted to live better in the next era, He needed to accumulate enough strength and change into an identity that wouldn’t carry the stigma of being a remnant.

He made many plans and experimented with many identities, eventually choosing the dragon vein path, which naturally led Him to focus on Xing Su, who was deeply connected to the dragon vein.

Xing Su, at his peak, was very powerful, and many righteous gods were no match for him, let alone a wild god like Him who was forcibly built up with incense and offerings.

He could only say, luckily, He followed the Star Divination path, and through divination, He determined that Xing Su would get entangled with a sacrificial offering in the future. So, He created a network of connections using someone with blood ties to Chi Qingzhou, successfully dispersing Xing Su’s power.

But Xing Su became a vengeful spirit due to the erosion of many negative elements, and his power was carried by ghostly energy, naturally mixed with resentment, death energy, and other things.

These, for the red-robed youth, were all poisons that corroded the bones.

So, He had to find a suitable vessel to carry and purify these ghostly energies before using them for Himself.

His plan had no issues, but Xing Su’s strength exceeded His expectations.

Most of the people He chose couldn’t withstand Xing Su’s ghostly energy, and even if they barely managed the purification, the energy still caused problems when it gathered in Him.

Yet, He still had to rely on Xing Su’s ghostly energy for disguise, so naturally, He couldn’t avoid the backlash.

He wasn’t in a hurry to take action against Chi Qingzhou because He wanted to drag out the weak period caused by the backlash.

Quite a coincidence, right?

Chi Qingzhou guessed He would be backlashed and also guessed that He wouldn’t want to appear weak, so He seized the opportunity to have his friends give him a little help.

The red-robed youth smiled oddly, “Quite accurate. That young man named Cheng Shang might be my junior? But asking others isn’t as good as relying on oneself. No matter how good Cheng Shang’s talent, he is just an human.”

Can the divination ability of a human compare to that of a god?

Even if it’s a wild god.

The red-robed youth reached out and grabbed a wisp of ghostly energy swirling in the stone chamber.

“Chi Qingzhou, my only friend, have you ever thought that the ghostly energy you found actually passed through my hands long ago?”

His pupils were unusually deep, and the whites of his eyes had turned dark blue.

The corner of His lips curled into a sarcastic and strange arc, and it was unclear whom He was mocking.

“You can leave a mark on me, but can’t I do something in return? The ghostly energy that carries my power is naturally my mark.”

And as long as Xing Su dares to reclaim this ghostly energy, he will inevitably be tainted by His power.

With Xing Su’s strength, He indeed couldn’t control him, but simply amplifying certain emotions, He could still do that.

At that time, what would happen would no longer be in Xing Su’s hands.

This was the contingency He had prepared from the start.

It was also the reason why He dared to stand here after realizing something was wrong and not rushing to confront Chi Qingzhou.

The red-robed youth raised his gaze and muttered, “In Linghe Village, so many lives, and Xing Su’s safety, which one will you choose? My only friend, I look forward to your choice.”