Chapter 51 Recreating the True Self

Few people can endure the agonizing pain of being struck by heavenly lightning.

Chi Yuan passed out from the pain three times before gradually growing accustomed to the sensation and barely managing to recover his wits.

His memory stopped at being locked in an elbow strike and choked, followed by being struck by the heavenly lightning he had summoned himself.

Barring any accidents, he should be dead.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Wu Chang looking just as disheveled as him, sitting not far away and roasting meat.

This fellow possessed an enviably relaxed composure; even in death, he refused to become a starved ghost.

"Hah, did we both die together in the end?"

Hearing Chi Yuan's voice, Wu Chang turned his head and shot him a sidelong glance.

"I am still living quite well, but you won't be alive much longer."

Enduring the pain, Chi Yuan forced out a smile that was uglier than crying. "If I'm not dead, it's only because the pain jolted me back to life. You aren't killing me just to let me experience this, are you?"

Wu Chang said with dissatisfaction, "I was struck three times and didn't say a word, yet you've only suffered it once and already you're complaining."

"The meat is roasted. Care for a piece?"

"I do. One shouldn't die as a starved ghost, after all."

Needless to say, the source of the meat on the rack was still the sacrificial offerings from the Year-End Festival.

What they sacrificed to and appeased were evil spirits, but since Wu Chang had shown kindness to the evil spirits, eating a few of their offerings was nothing excessive.

While the two of them ate, Wu Chang spoke up, "I have a few questions I can't figure out."

Chi Yuan was very cooperative. "Ask away."

"Since you are a survivor of Huagu Village and supported the evil spirits in seeking revenge against the bandits of Mount Hei, why did you lend me the Soul-Purifying Command Flag and let me suppress the spirits?"

The Soul-Purifying Command Flag could be said to be the bane of resentful ghosts and evil spirits.

Without it, even if Wu Chang could have found a way to clear the instance, it would not have been so effortless.

Chi Yuan remained silent for a moment before saying, "Perhaps it was just a passing whim."

"Four years ago, I discovered that Huagu Village had been seized by the bandits of Mount Hei. My friends, family, and neighbors had been utterly slaughtered, and under evil sorcery, they were transformed into evil spirits. At that time, spiritual energy's resurgence was only a year away, and my cultivation was too low to resist the bandits. To rapidly gain power, I had no choice but to walk the evil path."

Wu Chang asked, "To transform into a demon?"

Chi Yuan nodded. "To transform into a demon."

"At first, I wanted to transform myself into a demon and use demonic power to exact revenge. I lay dormant in the mountains, observing the demonic entities there, only to find that hidden cultivators were emerging like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, and their target was also Huagu Village."

"The strength of these cultivators varied, but they were all utterly clueless. Their understanding of demonic entities was even inferior to mine, and they easily died in the mountains. So I changed my objective: I deceived and ambushed these cultivators, turning them into transformed demons."

Wu Chang: "..."

You look down on players, don't you? Today, I will let you witness what a true mastermind is.

***

Chi Yuan seemed to sense something as a trickle of nosebleed emerged. He wiped it away and asked, "What martial art was that elbow strike of yours? It actually left one with no way to evade it."

Wu Chang shrugged. "Want to learn? I can teach you."

Chi Yuan shook his head and replied, "Unfortunately, I have no time left."

"The evil path is a path of no return. Even if one numbs themselves with the excuse of having no other choice, the heart remains unsettled."

"Our meeting that day was an accident. The Mountain-Blocking Ghosts were demonic entities under my control, not yet refined into proper artifacts. They were roaming and hunting freely when they happened to encounter you. Seeing that your bearing was extraordinary, I wanted to test your caliber with them. If you passed, I would have refined the two of you into a pair of Yin-Yang jade pendants."

"You easily dispatched a Mountain-Blocking Ghost, which made me change my plan and desire to refine you into an even stronger magical artifact."

Wu Chang shrugged. "To be so highly regarded by you, I am truly flattered."

"Your state at that time reminded me of myself before I stepped onto the evil path. Had the events of Huagu Village never happened, I too could have been like you, openly declaring my sect and taking pride in it. At that time, I thought to myself that perhaps allowing the evil spirits to seek revenge wasn't granting them release, but rather making their souls—just like mine—grow heavy and twisted through vengeance."

"So I chose you, hoping you would take my place in granting them release."

Wu Chang nodded noncommittally. Aside from a passing whim, Chi Yuan asking him to perform the rites of passage was likely also due to the effect of his title.

"Second question: since you wanted the evil spirits to have their revenge, why did you help the villagers complete the Year-End Array and place the Four-Directions Year-Fire Lamps?"

Chi Yuan's answer was somewhat beyond his expectations.

"I did not place those palace lanterns. An outsider cultivator took advantage of when I was away gathering artifact-refining materials to set them up."

An outsider cultivator?

Were they a native of the instance's realm, or another player?

As a Grade-C instance, if one did not explore the plot as thoroughly as he had and merely cleared it normally, the value of the reward might not necessarily be higher than the Four-Directions Year-Fire Lamps.

However, if the other party was a native of this realm, how could someone capable of producing the Four-Directions Year-Fire Lamps fail to completely suppress the evil spirits?

He couldn't figure it out.

Chi Yuan coughed twice, interrupting Wu Chang's thoughts.

"Young Hero Wu, I do not have much time left. While I can still move, please give me the two halves of the mask you obtained from the Ghost-Weeping Forest."

Chi Yuan's request made Wu Chang hesitate.

At this moment, Chi Yuan's vital energy, spirit, and spiritual power were leaking away like a breached dam, unable to be stopped.

Once his vital energy, spirit, and spiritual power were completely dissipated, death would claim him.

Logically speaking, the words of the dying are wise, but Wu Chang didn't quite dare to gamble.

After all, the Shadow-Reflection Mask had once belonged to Chi Yuan. If this fellow obtained the mask and used some unknown method to kill him in return, that would be a huge joke.

If he ran into other players later and Chi Yuan happened to mention how clueless outsider cultivators were, he would probably emphasize him specifically.

"There was an idiot who clearly had already won against me, yet foolishly handed the magical artifact right into my hands and stretched out his neck for me to cut. He was so stupid I felt embarrassed for him."

If the players at that time added, "The guy was already stupid enough, and you actually tricked him too?!" that would be an absolute killing blow.

***

Yet, what if Chi Yuan harbored no malicious intent and caused him to miss a fortuitous opportunity? What should he do then?

"Daoist Chi Yuan, please wait a moment."

"Go ahead, but be quick. I can't hold on much longer."

Chi Yuan yawned. His increasingly cold body and numbed senses made it harder and harder for him to maintain consciousness.

Wu Chang walked a short distance away, took out the Goddess of Fortune's Favor, and activated the Weighted Dice.

After rolling three ones to trigger Great Fortune, he took out a copper coin and flipped it into the air.

"Characters mean give, blank means keep."

The coin landed in his palm—it was the side with characters.

Hah!

Trust the guidance of the Goddess of Fortune.

He took out the two halves of the mask and handed them to Chi Yuan. "Is the Daoist priest going to offer some pointers on artifact-refining techniques?"

Chi Yuan drew a curved golden thread from his bosom. The thread was embedded into the two halves of the mask, astonishingly causing them to merge into one.

The black and white regions began to spin, transforming into a flowing Taiji symbol.

"Young Hero Wu, your method of re-refining hit right on my initial conception. Have you guessed my arrangement in the forest?"

Wu Chang shook his head. "It was just a coincidence. I didn't think too much about it."

Chi Yuan smiled, neither confirming nor denying the truth, and continued speaking to himself.

"My innate foundation and talent are poor, far inferior to cultivators like you who come from secluded, major sects. My body is frail, unable to even withstand the lightning of my own cultivation. I fell into the evil path, damaging my Dao heart; the deeper my cultivation, the heavier my inner demons, leaving me forever severed from the Great Dao."

"If I wish to defy the heavens and change my fate, Young Hero Wu, how should I go about it?"

Wu Chang said, "Max out stats with Deep Blue."

Chi Yuan: "?"

Wu Chang gave a dry cough and rephrased it: "What I mean is, use brute force to prove the Dao. All fear stems from a lack of spiritual power."

Chi Yuan smiled and shook his head. "That is the mindset of disciples from prestigious sects. How could rogue cultivators like us ever dare to contend with the heavens?"

"Having the fortune to acquire the demonic transformation technique, I thought of a method. Using the demonic transformation method as a guide, shed humanity to become a demon and cultivate freely; use the 'self-forgetting' bandits of Mount Hei as souls to forget inner demons and mend the Dao heart; and use the phantom ghosts of outside cultivators as flesh, bones, skin, and blood to reconstruct a physical body, innate foundation, and constitution."

"Since I am beyond saving, I shall plunder the mortal world and recreate a true self."

"Young Hero Wu, this fortuitous opportunity, this poor Daoist shall gift it to you."

With that, Chi Yuan flicked his wrist and tossed the unified mask to Wu Chang.