TRYMBPIETM 141: When I went in the Past (23)

“I don’t really understand.”

Chi Qingzhou kicked aside the shirt next to his foot and stood in the cold light. The Zhulong totem on his smooth skin became increasingly vivid.

“My new friend has unparalleled talent in Star Divination. He should be able to see more details that others can’t, but he’s acting like a gambler.”

Those who peer into fate should revere it, yet he behaves like an arrogant gambler.

Chi Qingzhou tilted his head. “Isn’t he afraid?”

Xing Shuangzhan stared at Chi Qingzhou without responding.

It was Cheng Shang, standing in the corner, who scratched his head and answered irritably, “Maybe he thinks he’s already outside the three realms and not bound by the five elements. As long as he operates well, the Heavenly way can’t do anything to him.”

Chi Qingzhou’s gaze shifted to Cheng Shang. “Is that so?”

Then, does this new friend of his think he’s also part of the Heavenly way’s reckoning, so he’s not afraid?

“But he should… not be doing well right now,” Chi Qingzhou murmured. “He can see that all of this is arranged by me. Even so, he’s still this confident?”

Could it be that he’s prepared some particularly difficult trump card?

Chi Qingzhou gave Xing Shuangzhan a few more glances, still not understanding.

The only trouble he left behind should be the ghost energy that Su-Ge collected, right?

That’s nothing that can’t be dealt with. Where does his confidence come from?

Chi Qingzhou stared at Xing Shuangzhan, slowly blinking.

Xing Shuangzhan silently met Chi Qingzhou’s gaze, but his breath gradually became more rapid.

He couldn’t control the impulse in his heart. He knew he shouldn’t act, yet inexplicably took a step, crossing the dark red formation on the ground and walking towards Chi Qingzhou.

Cheng Shang, seeing his movement, froze for two seconds in shock before rushing up to grab him.

“Xing Su, what are you doing?! Zhou Zhou is purifying his bloodline. You can’t go over!”

Xing Shuangzhan slightly shifted his step, easily passing Cheng Shang, directly entering the center of the formation, and reaching out to grip Chi Qingzhou’s shoulder.

A slightly cold touch spread from his palm, and the fire in Xing Shuangzhan’s heart not only didn’t subside, but intensified.

He tightened his fingers slightly, his eyes deep and dark.

Cheng Shang, looking on, became even more irritated, but dared not enter the formation, so he could only shout at Xing Shuangzhan.

Xing Shuangzhan remained unmoved, even lowering his head slightly.

However, he soon stopped his movements, a look of struggle and hesitation appearing on his brow, his breath growing even more erratic.

Chi Qingzhou couldn’t help but laugh.

He didn’t leave the formation’s center, raising his hand and gently caressing Xing Shuangzhan’s cheek with his fingertips. His peach blossom eyes shimmered with mist.

“Su-Ge, there’s no need to hesitate like this. It’s fine.”

He tilted his head slightly, his tone filled with a hint of temptation.

“I know you’re a bit out of control right now, but it’s okay. You don’t need to hold back.”

Chi Qingzhou, of course, knew why Xing Shuangzhan was suddenly losing control, but he wasn’t worried at all.

His new friend could scheme, but could he not?

If his new friend only tampered with the ghost energy, there was really nothing to worry about.

After all, this was hardly a difficult issue to handle.

Xing Shuangzhan remained still.

He closed his eyes, trying to control himself.

Cheng Shang stood to the side, rolling his eyes at Xing Shuangzhan.

He had figured it out. Xing Su must have been schemed by that wild god.

Zhou Zhou had already anticipated this and made preparations in advance. Not only was he not worried about Xing Su running amok, but he even hoped that the ghost deity would do something.

This should have been a good thing, but now Zhou Zhou had said everything was fine, yet Xing Su still wasn’t listening.

What, does he not trust what Zhou Zhou said?

“Xing Su, are you okay?”

Cheng Shang clicked his tongue, his tone impatient.

“Zhou Zhou already told you it’s fine. Why are you still frozen? Are you not feeling well lately?”

Xing Shuangzhan: “…”

Chi Qingzhou: “…”

The two turned to look at Cheng Shang. A moment later, Chi Qingzhou showed a subtle smile to Xing Shuangzhan.

The sound of water bubbling, as though boiling, grew louder.

Xing Shuangzhan silently looked at Chi Qingzhou for a moment before lowering his head and kissing Chi Qingzhou’s lips.

Cheng Shang let out a disgusted sound, turned around, and pretended he saw and heard nothing.

He looked at the tomb that was gradually illuminated by the Great Star Array. A smile slowly spread across his lips.

Haha, that god wouldn’t really believe Zhou Zhou’s words about “not being good at face-reading,” “not being good at divination,” “not being good at formations and talismans,” right?

It is well known that the most untrustworthy phrases among Chinese people are “a little knowledge” and “not very good at.”

Compared to Zhou Zhou’s combat power, he is indeed “not very good at face reading” and “not very good at divination.”

But when it is needed, Zhou Zhou always has “extraordinary performance.”

Hahaha.

That ghost deity surely can’t be overly confident in his methods, right?

…

The young man in the red robe vigorously waved away a mist that couldn’t be reversed by “time,” trying to pull the resentment out of the dragon vein’s illusion. But no matter how he tried, it was all in vain.

Countless negative things, following the connection between the dragon vein and him, continuously surged toward him. In just a few minutes, a layer of gloomy gray covered his body.

The young man in the red robe became restless, always feeling that the gray mist on his body was somewhat familiar, yet unable to recall where he had seen it before.

Frowning, he moved away from the dragon vein. Before he could think of the next method, he suddenly felt that the mark he left on Xing Su was triggered.

He raised his eyebrows instinctively, asking in disbelief, “So soon? Did Xing Su see something that stirred his mind?”

Could it be that Chi Qingzhou had difficulty purifying his bloodline, or was the scene of transforming from human to zombie too horrifying?

The young man in the red robe glanced at the dripping stalactites and casually adjusted his sleeve.

Ah, I didn’t notice earlier; my sleeve got wet.

He was in a good mood as he dried the water stains, and the tension in his nerves gradually loosened.

It seems that Chi Qingzhou is not as difficult to deal with as the divination predicted.

Even if his strength is on par with Xing Shuangzhan, so what?

As long as the arrangement is in place, he will follow the plan sooner or later.

Closing his eyes to sense Xing Su’s condition, the young man in the red robe became somewhat dissatisfied.

“However, it’s not unexpected. Given Xing Su’s regard for Chi Qingzhou, being able to withstand a certain degree of loss of control is normal.”

If Xing Su had lost control and gone mad, what would have awaited him would probably have been a trap.

The young man in the red robe retreated to the corner of the cave, trying to avoid the mist filling the cave, and concentrated on agitating Xing Su’s emotions.

The resistance from the emotion briefly came through the mark. It was unclear whether Xing Su had seen something that further provoked him, but it quickly dissipated.

A faint wave of power once again triggered the mark, and the young man in the red robe couldn’t help but smile, quietly drawing on the power feedback from the formation.

It felt somewhat familiar.

Had he encountered it somewhere before?

Was it Xing Su’s own ghostly aura?

The young man in the red robe felt the naturally accelerating fusion process, and before the joy could rise, the growing doubt buried it.

He hesitated for only half a second and decided to be cautious.

There would be future opportunities to draw power; as long as he dealt with Chi Qingzhou, there was no rush.

He quickly stopped the communication with the mark and sighed in relief. Just as he did, a thick ghostly aura abruptly surged into the cave, attacking him head-on!

His expression changed sharply. He immediately threw down a defensive array plate, activating it just before the ghostly aura hit.

A faint blue light lit up in the cave, casting a cold, eerie glow.

The ghostly aura surged, passing through the light as if it were unimpeded, continuously eroding his body.

“How could this happen!”

The young man in the red robe was greatly startled, hastily throwing down more magic arrays. One after another, prohibitions lit up, but they could not resist the ghostly aura at all.

His face turned pale. As his mind raced, he flew toward the nearby dragon vein illusion, attempting to use it to share the ghostly aura that was almost deadly to him.

But it didn’t work.

The familiar ghostly aura seemed to have locked onto him. No matter how he dodged or where he tried to escape, it couldn’t be avoided and kept eroding and polluting him.

What is going on?

Why is this happening?

In the chaos, his peripheral vision caught the karmic gray mist tangled in the dragon vein illusion, and his mind went blank.

It was unclear how much time passed—maybe just a few seconds, or maybe minutes—but without realizing it, he stopped moving. Eventually, in the wave after wave of weakness, he came back to his senses.

He stared intently at the gray mist on the dragon vein that was beginning to fade and slowly clenched his fist, letting out a strange laugh from his throat.

“So that’s it. So that’s it.”

His voice was extremely hoarse, like sandpaper scraping glass—sharp and ear-piercing.

“No wonder this ghostly aura is so familiar. It’s you, Chi Qingzhou.”

His eyes were filled with blood, as if soaked in ice water, making his whole body feel cold.

“No wonder you’re using that variety show to collect negative emotions. The so-called healing was just a cover-up. What you really want to do is infect me with this stuff!”

The young man in the red robe was enraged. With a flick of his sleeve, he smashed a chunk of rock from the cave wall.

The broken stones fell on him, shaking his robe, but he paid no attention.

“Crazy!”

“Chi Qingzhou, you crazy person!”

The hatred, resentment, jealousy, and baseless malice were like venomous poison, constantly eroding his body.

He desperately wanted to stop these things from flowing into him, but he couldn’t sever the karmic connection with Chi Qingzhou and could only watch as his body gradually collapsed.

“How dare you do this!”

“This thing is poisonous to me. Isn’t it to you too?!”

“Talks about only being able to refine a certain amount of power, talks about only intense emotions healing soul wounds… Lies, all lies, you fraud!”

At this moment, the young man in the red robe finally understood.

Chi Qingzhou’s amnesia might indeed be to save Xing Su, or perhaps it was to avoid his surveillance, but the most real purpose was always to prevent him from discovering the true purpose for collecting negative emotions!

Yes, every time Chi Qingzhou absorbed those emotions, the wounds seemed to heal, but that wasn’t the effect of the emotions at all.

Did Chi Qingzhou absorb the moonlight for nothing?

With that much power, wasn’t it enough to heal a wound?

His soul had always been injured for one reason—

He had stored the moonlight.

The so-called unrefinable power was actually used to counterbalance those emotions!

He used the moonlight, the fresh mountain air, and the essence of ghosts and gods to block the emotions and created the illusion of being healed by emotions when necessary.

Chi Qingzhou’s method wasn’t particularly clever, but he trusted his divination ability too much, and Xing Su trusted Chi Qingzhou too much.

He had been deceived!

In order to deceive him, Chi Qingzhou had even prepared a self-consistent explanation early on!

The young man in the red robe couldn’t help but breakdown, letting out a long, painful scream.

He had no way out.

If he hadn’t triggered the mark on Xing Su, Chi Qingzhou might not have poured the emotions into him so quickly.

But if he hadn’t triggered the mark, he would have been gradually eroded by the resentment and death energy transferred from No. 16594.

To avoid his divine body collapsing, he had to abandon the plan of transferring karma to Chi Qingzhou.

Because as long as the karma was in place, Chi Qingzhou could forcibly pour the emotions into him.

But if he didn’t transfer the karma, was he supposed to wait for heaven’s law to judge him?

By then, he would be surrounded by calamities and reduced to ashes.

“Death, only death.”

A wheezing sound escaped from his throat. He raised his head, his delicate brows twisting.

“Since you won’t give me a way out, let’s die together!”