There were lucky spirit beasts that managed to hide themselves away, but those with true talent were few and far between.
And to ascend and become a god, both talent and hard work were indispensable.
For all these reasons, during the God-Demon War, only Zhiyi in the entire Divine Realm had managed to ascend to godhood while still in the form of a spirit beast.
At first, Xiyu was simply happy. On the day Zhiyi ascended, the sky outside the Lanxing Hall was filled with brilliant light. That was the gift he had given Zhiyi.
He watched Zhiyi go from a spirit beast that could not even freely maintain his human incarnation, step by step becoming an immortal, then a god, and finally ascending to godhood beneath eighty-one bolts of heavenly lightning.
But later, he would rather Zhiyi had never ascended.
He would rather Zhiyi had remained a wandering immortal, free and at ease.
The demon clan had already submitted their surrender document. It was he who insisted on fighting the demons to the bitter end.
Demons were cunning creatures. The moment they found an opportunity, they would seize it and tear up their surrender agreement.
His lifelong wish had been to slaughter the demon clan to extinction.
This was his only chance.
His obsession should not, and could not, cost Zhiyi his life.
“The ancient records cannot be false. But even if they are, I am still willing to die together with Master.”
Zhiyi grabbed Lanxing by the collar and pleaded with him. There seemed to be stars in the young man’s eyes, concealing a heart full of determination and courage.
As though there was nothing he feared.
Xiyu looked at his past self, and only then understood why Zhiyi had said that they would die together. His spiritual power had already been exhausted. Even though the Demon Lord was weak, if he wanted to destroy the demon clan, the only possible outcome was for them to perish together.
So he had already been this fragile back then.
Yet even though he could barely hold Zhuohua steady, he had still grabbed Zhiyi by the throat and uttered the cruelest words.
“I will not die. You are not worthy of dying with me.”
“From now on, there is no longer any relationship between master and disciple.”
Lanxing released him, as though throwing away a dog, and tossed Zhiyi onto the ground before turning around and leaving without mercy.
Leaving Zhiyi alone to sink into the Sea of Death.
What a boring illusion.
Xiyu took two steps forward and crouched in front of Zhiyi. Seeing the tears at the corners of his eyes, he reached out and touched them.
He could not touch them.
Late at night, the third layer of the dreamscape lingered for a long time. Xiyu followed Zhiyi around, bored out of his mind.
He knew what was going to happen, yet he had never viewed it from Zhiyi’s perspective.
This illusion allowed him to see certain things from the perspective of an outsider.
For example, Zhiyi was stopped outside Lanxing Hall, his expression dark and sinister.
Taking advantage of the fact that Zhiyi could not see him, Xiyu held a blade of foxtail grass between his teeth and teased, “I’ve really never seen you with this kind of expression before.”
Cold and gloomy, like a vengeful ghost from hell, yet his knees remained perfectly straight as he knelt.
Xiyu counted idly.
3… 2… 1…
The hall doors opened, and he turned his head to look.
What a dead man’s face.
“If you’re going to kneel, kneel farther away. Don’t dirty the floor of Lanxing Hall.”
Zhiyi’s eyelashes trembled. “Master truly doesn’t want this disciple anymore?”
“Get lost!”
Xiyu rolled his eyes.
What a hypocrite.
Sometimes, a person could not even empathize with his former self.
He clearly felt heartache, yet he had put on an expression as though he could not wait for his disciple to leave.
Xiyu rolled his eyes so hard they nearly flew out, thinking that no one could see him.
But within the Lost Forest, someone stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at Xiyu with infatuation.
A black mask covered most of his face. Only his slightly curved lips were visible, carrying an air of casual indifference, as though everything was well within his control.
The man observed Xiyu’s every movement. His gaze swept over Lanxing within the illusion before turning back to Xiyu. Only Zhiyi was completely ignored by him.
After an unknown amount of time, footsteps sounded from behind.
The man’s eyelashes lowered, looking somewhat disappointed, and he turned his head.
“Long time no see, Zhiyi.”
“Your Highness, Crown Prince,” Lu Zhixing said. “Or should I call you Heavenly Lord?”
“Just call me Huaixi, Demon Lord.”
The words “Demon Lord” were exceptionally grating. A dark glint flashed through Lu Zhixing’s eyes.
“The Heavenly Lord colluded with an ancient demon beast and wreaked havoc in the mortal realm. You are even worse than a demon like me.”
Huaixi smiled. “Is that so? But now the two of us are standing together. Guess whom Lanxing will choose?”
One was his closest friend.
The other was the lord of the demon realm.
If this had been in the past, Lu Zhixing would have found his question utterly beneath consideration.
But now, he could not be certain.
Lu Zhixing remained silent, his eyes cold as ice.
Seeing that Lu Zhixing did not answer, the delight in Huaixi’s eyes deepened. He walked behind Lu Zhixing and pointed at the scene within the water mirror.
“Is this illusion real? How long do you think it will take Lanxing to escape this illusion? In the past, he would rather die himself than hurt you in the slightest.”
Huaixi gritted his teeth, his tone turning venomous.
“Tell me, how did you get so lucky? A lowly spirit beast that should have been eaten alive by the demons long ago—how did you catch his eye and become his disciple?”
Huaixi’s hatred wrapped itself around Lu Zhixing like a bone-deep parasite.
He had clearly been the one who met Lanxing first. Clearly, he alone in the Three Realms was worthy of standing beside Lanxing.
But why Zhiyi… Zhiyi!
Even this person’s name had been given to him by Lanxing!
A lowly spirit beast—from the moment Lanxing brought him back, everything had changed!
This person occupied half of Lanxing Hall, had Lanxing’s name hanging before his own, and became the Divine Venerable’s disciple whom everyone in the Three Realms envied.
But why?
Why did he deserve it?
Lu Zhixing stared at Xiyu within the water mirror, paying no attention to the hatred rising within Huaixi. He merely murmured in a low voice:
“Time it by one incense stick.”
One incense stick’s worth of time was enough for Master to escape the illusion.
Within the illusion, Xiyu watched the scene of “master and disciple turning against each other.”
Zhiyi held the Life Arrow, committing an act of great defiance. Taking advantage of his weakness, he used an Immortal-Binding Lock to restrain him.
“How dare you!”
Zhiyi paid no attention to him and summoned Zhuohua.
As a natal divine weapon, Zhuohua recognized only its master, and ordinarily no one else could summon it.
But Lanxing had indulged Zhiyi far too much. He had once infused Zhuohua with his spiritual power, allowing Zhiyi to use it as well.
And so, Lanxing could only watch helplessly as Zhuohua fell into Zhiyi’s palm without the slightest hesitation.
The baleful aura throughout Lanxing’s body surged violently.
“What are you doing?!”
“What am I doing?” Zhiyi said softly. “I told Master long ago.”
“If I cannot help Master, then I am willing to die together with Master.”
The golden light on the Immortal-Binding Lock was too intense. Lanxing struggled desperately, but the thin chains only tightened around his body.
Xiyu stood to the side watching, yet he too felt his chest tighten with panic. A sense of helplessness rose from the depths of his heart.
The next second, an intense pain suddenly swept through his body.
“Zhiyi!” Xiyu roared.
He merged into Lanxing’s body, replacing him and continuing everything that followed.
The pain of the Immortal-Binding Lock tightening around him was no longer something he experienced as a bystander.
He truly felt it for the second time.
Once was at this very moment a thousand years ago.
The other was now.
He shared the emotions and pain of his counterpart within the illusion, yet he had no way to control this body.
Zhiyi looked at Xiyu almost obsessively, his brows and eyes blood-red, carrying the resolve of a final farewell.
“Master, from now on, I am your weapon.”
After Zhiyi finished speaking, he pointed a finger between his brows.
His divine soul, belonging to an ascended god, left his body. Spiritual energy surged wildly, illuminating Lanxing Hall with dazzling brilliance.
Xiyu’s heartbeat stopped.
Even after seeing it again, he still found it unbearable.
The uncontrollable terror suddenly caused an astonishing power to erupt from him, shattering the Immortal-Binding Lock.
He shouted furiously:
“Zhuohua, get back here!”
……………………..
Zhuohua had originally been lying quietly in Zhiyi’s hand. Upon hearing the summons, its bowstring gave a hum, as though seized by extreme fear, and it hurriedly returned to Xiyu’s hand.
Xiyu put Zhuohua away, then flew forward and kicked Zhiyi in the chest, forcing his divine soul back into his body.
Immediately afterward, he stepped forward, grabbed Zhiyi by the throat, and slammed him against the wall.
“Who gave you the courage to think you could make decisions for me?!”
Xiyu could not restrain his strength this time. He could not control his own body.
He had merged with the person inside the illusion, yet he had no way to control this body.
Xiyu’s hand tightened more and more. The veins on Zhiyi’s forehead bulged, and he could not even speak.
Did I really squeeze that hard back then? Xiyu wondered.
His disciple wasn’t even pretty anymore.
Xiyu tried to seize control of the body, but it was useless. He felt his own lips move, then watched as he threw Zhiyi onto the ground, restored the broken Immortal-Binding Lock, and wrapped it around Zhiyi’s body.
“Looks like you truly did not take my words to heart.”
Lanxing looked down at Zhiyi from above and extended his hand.
“Since you are being so rebellious, I need not be polite with you anymore.”
“It isn’t that this disciple is rebellious. It is that Master is stubbornly refusing to see the truth.”
Zhiyi held onto Xiyu’s hand. His throat hurt from being choked, and his speech came out in broken fragments.
“My life was given to me by Master… Let me sacrifice myself to the arrow. Then all these difficulties will be resolved.”
“They are nothing more than some false ancient records. You are so foolish that you actually believed them. Rather than watch you provoke me again and again because of this nonsense, I might as well erase your memories now, wipe away everything you have in Lanxing Hall, and save you from committing a grave mistake!”
After saying this, Xiyu condensed spiritual power into his palm and was about to send it directly toward Zhiyi.
But the next moment, Xiyu abruptly stopped.
At the final moment, control of this body suddenly returned to him.
Xiyu was stunned for a moment.
But in that brief moment of daze, he met Zhiyi’s pale, terrified face.
At some point, a piece of skin on the back of Zhiyi’s hand had broken open, and blood kept seeping out. Bound by the Immortal-Binding Lock, he could not move at all and could only keep retreating.
But his body was already pressed against the stone wall.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
He looked as though he had been struck by lightning.
Zhiyi had imagined countless possibilities.
Perhaps Master would agree to let him sacrifice himself to the arrow.
Perhaps Master would lock him away and forbid him from putting himself in danger.
No matter which it was, he had already thought of a way to deal with it.
But this possibility—
Zhiyi had never once considered it.
What did it mean to erase his memories of everything inside Lanxing Hall?
Who was there inside Lanxing Hall…?
There was only Master and him.