We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 547: To Be So Cruel (2 in 1)

Inside the great hall, aside from Tushan Xinhua, the remaining nine elders had all arrived and were seated on either side.

Grand Elder Tushan Meng sat upright in the main seat, personally presiding over this clan assembly.

The assembly’s contents mainly had two parts.

The first was to summarize the great battle at the Flowing Sand City front.

The second was to organize all the intelligence gathered over this period concerning Phoenix-Bird Secret Realm.

Of course, among the matters related to Phoenix-Bird Secret Realm, the most crucial and most eye-catching was still that demon core that had been brought out of the secret realm, its whereabouts unknown.

For the moment, leaving aside whether that powerful Phoenix-Bird expert had truly been a cultivator of the legendary two lost realms, merely the demon core of an Ascension Realm great demon was already precious beyond measure.

After all, looking across the entire world, how many cultivators had truly stepped into the Ascension Realm?

Which one of them was not an ancestor-level figure who oversaw a region and looked down upon all living beings?

What was more, the Phoenix-Bird lineage had not been seen anywhere in the entire world for no one knew how many tens of thousands of years.

Therefore, even Tushan Meng herself had, in truth, developed some curiosity toward this demon core.

After these miscellaneous matters had been sorted through, Tushan Meng began deducing the future direction of the demon-race world’s situation together with the elders present.

Almost everyone believed the days ahead in the demon-race world would not be peaceful.

Every region was very likely to fall into chaos.

After all, the Heavenly Demon Alliance and the Sacred Demon Alliance had already fallen apart, and there were also faint signs of division on the Human Alliance’s side.

Next, the three forces would no longer hold together. Each fighting for itself was all but certain.

But for the Myriad Demon Alliance, which for now still counted as stable, this kind of chaotic situation could also be considered a good thing.

Throughout the entire meeting, Tushan Jingci did not say a single word from beginning to end.

She simply sat there quietly, listening wordlessly to everyone’s discussion and analysis. Her expression was calm as water, without the slightest fluctuation of emotion visible.

It was as if nothing in this world could stir even half a ripple in her heart anymore.

“Jingci.”

After the meeting ended, Tushan Meng spoke slowly, stopping Tushan Jingci just as she was about to leave.

“Master.” Tushan Jingci turned around and curtsied to Tushan Meng. Her expression remained indifferent, revealing no emotion.

“Regarding Xiao Mo’s matter, I ought to apologize to you,” Tushan Meng said slowly, her tone sounding full of self-reproach. “Perhaps, back then, I should not have let Xiao Mo go to Flowing Sand City.”

“Master does not need to apologize to me.”

Tushan Jingci shook her head calmly, her voice unhurried and even.

“At that time, going to Flowing Sand City was a decision Xiao Mo and I made together. No one expected such a thing to happen. If Master has no other instructions, I will take my leave first.”

“All right... Rest well these next few days. You need not worry too much over Tushan’s affairs either.” Tushan Meng nodded. Her gaze fell on Tushan Jingci’s face, which was so calm it was almost cold and hard. A strange look quietly flickered through the depths of her eyes, but she did not show it.

“I understand.” Tushan Jingci answered softly, then turned and prepared to leave the great hall.

However, just as Tushan Jingci had taken only a few steps, all at once, her mind and the minds of everyone present tightened.

An invisible pressure abruptly descended over them.

They all sensed at the same time that Tushan’s mountain-protecting formation had actually activated on its own.

And there was only one possibility for Tushan’s grand formation to react as if facing a great enemy.

An Ascension Realm cultivator had come to Tushan.

“May I ask whether Miss Tushan Jingci is here?”

A light, clear voice, like a spring breeze passing over mountain fields, drifted through all of Tushan.

Tushan Jingci stepped out, and her figure floated upward, arriving in midair.

Tushan Meng and the other nine elders naturally followed close behind.

What entered Tushan Jingci’s eyes were two women in Daoist robes, their sleeves fluttering as they stood in the sky.

Judging by appearance alone, one of the women looked to be only around thirty years old and was extremely beautiful.

However, her true age had likely long since exceeded a thousand.

The resonance of the Way emanating from her body was astonishingly dense. It was precisely she who had caused Tushan’s mountain-protecting formation to react so violently just now.

Beside her stood a young woman in her early twenties, her face covered by a thin veil, making her exact features impossible to see.

And yet, for some reason, the instant Tushan Jingci looked at that young woman, a strange feeling suddenly rose in her heart.

It was as if she were not looking at another person, but facing a bronze mirror and studying herself within it.

That young woman, too, was quietly watching Tushan Jingci without blinking, her gaze carrying an indescribable meaning.

“So it is Daoist Yunxi who has come from afar. Tushan failed to welcome you properly. Please forgive us, Daoist.”

Tushan Meng cupped her hands in greeting, her face polite, her words respectful, yet in her heart, she had already raised her guard in secret.

“Might I ask what guidance Daoist Yunxi has come personally to give Tushan this time?”

“It cannot be called guidance. I merely came entrusted by a young friend, to deliver a letter to Miss Jingci and pass along a gift as well,” Yunxi said with a slight bow, her tone gentle and calm.

“Might I ask which young friend Daoist Yunxi is speaking of?” Tushan Jingci asked softly. Without realizing it, her voice tightened slightly.

“It is precisely young friend Xiao Mo,” Yunxi said frankly.

And the instant the two words “Xiao Mo” fell from Yunxi’s mouth, Tushan Jingci’s eyes suddenly trembled faintly. One small hand involuntarily clenched her sleeve, and her pearly teeth bit hard into her thin lower lip.

Yunxi quietly looked straight into Tushan Jingci’s faintly reddening eyes and spoke slowly.

“My disciple and I once met young friend Xiao Mo briefly. Previously, inside Phoenix-Bird Secret Realm, this disciple of mine happened to encounter him again, and even fought side by side with him.”

“Regrettably, young friend Xiao Mo was betrayed by the cultivators traveling with him, suffered serious injuries, and even his life source sustained irreparable damage.”

“At an extremely critical moment, young friend Xiao Mo covered my disciple and personally sent her out of Phoenix-Bird Secret Realm. At the same time, he asked Gui Junmeng to deliver a letter and an item to you.”

Tushan Jingci also slowly walked forward. Her hands trembled slightly as she carefully accepted the box.

The instant Tushan Jingci gently opened the box, a scorching wave of spiritual power suddenly burst outward, sweeping in every direction.

It was as if the temperature of heaven and earth within ten thousand li abruptly climbed at that moment, becoming hotter and harder to bear.

A massive illusion of a Phoenix-Bird circled and soared continuously above the firmament. Its cry rang out, high and clear, resounding through layer after layer of clouds and spreading ten thousand li away.

Within a radius of ten thousand li, although the cultivators did not know what had happened, they could all clearly sense an extremely tyrannical, soul-shaking bloodline suppression. That pressure was like a mountain, like a peak, crushing down until they could nearly no longer breathe.

“This... could this be...”

Tushan Hongxia and the others stared fixedly at the demon core inside the box, their eyes filled with unconcealable heat and shock.

How could they not know what this was?

Was this not the very Phoenix-Bird demon core the entire demon-race world had gone mad searching for?

“When Young Master Xiao was parting from me, he specifically entrusted me to pass a message to Miss Jingci.”

Gui Junmeng’s lips parted slightly. Each word she spoke was distinct and clear.

“He congratulates you on becoming Tushan’s holy daughter. He hopes you will like this gift.”

After speaking, Gui Junmeng took one step back and cupped her hands respectfully to Tushan Jingci. “Now, the item Young Master Xiao entrusted me to deliver and the words he asked me to pass on have both been brought to you. I hope Miss Jingci will take good care of herself.”

Gui Junmeng slowly turned and walked toward her master, Daoist Yunxi.

“We will take our leave here.” Seeing that the matter they had come to Tushan for had already been completed, Yunxi did not linger any longer. With a light sweep of the horsetail whisk in her hand, master and disciple vanished a hundred li away.

“Grand Elder... that demon core...”

“That is Jingci’s.” Tushan Meng waved her hand, her gaze sweeping over the elders present. Her tone brooked no argument. “All of you, leave.”

“Grand Elder...” The Fourth Elder stepped forward, as though still wanting to say something.

But Tushan Meng abruptly turned her head and glared fiercely at her, speaking in a low voice that was almost a command. “Withdraw!”

“Yes...” everyone answered in unison. They could only reluctantly withdraw their gazes from the Phoenix-Bird demon core and turn to leave.

After everyone had completely dispersed, only Tushan Jingci remained in the empty sky, standing there all alone.

She lowered her head blankly, looking at the Phoenix-Bird demon core lying quietly in the box, as well as the unopened envelope pressed beneath the demon core.

No one knew how long she stood there.

She still did not move, like a statue forgotten by time.

......

At the summit of Moon-Gazing Peak, within the courtyard.

Tushan Meng sat alone on a stone stool in the courtyard, quietly gazing toward the distant sky. Her expression was deep, as though she were thinking about something.

In the eyes of this Tushan Grand Elder, who had lived for several thousand years and experienced countless storms and vicissitudes, there was now, faintly, a nearly imperceptible trace of guilt and sighing emotion.

“Grand Elder.” Tushan Hongxia appeared outside the courtyard and bowed respectfully.

Tushan Meng was slightly startled. She drew back her distant thoughts, turned her head, glanced at Tushan Hongxia, and said calmly, “Come in and sit.”

“Yes, Grand Elder...” Tushan Hongxia obeyed, walking into the courtyard and slowly sitting down beside Tushan Meng.

However, just as Tushan Hongxia had finished organizing her words in her heart and was about to say something, Tushan Meng spoke first, blocking those words back into her mouth.

“Hongxia, I know what you want to say.”

Tushan Meng’s voice was neither high nor low, yet it struck straight into Tushan Hongxia’s heart.

“All these years, you have remained by my side and considered everything on my behalf. I understand it all.”

“Perhaps you feel that since the Phoenix-Bird’s innate divine ability is rebirth through fire, that demon core ought to be able to help me repair my old injuries, and perhaps even let me take another step upward.”

When Tushan Hongxia heard this, her lips moved slightly as if she wanted to explain, but in the end, she still fell silent.

Tushan Meng did not look at her. She merely lifted her eyes toward the distant, layered sea of clouds, a complex look rising in their depths that could not be clearly described.

“But Hongxia, I am already very old. In the battle to defend Tushan back then, I was severely wounded. Being able to drag out this life until today has not been easy.”

“Over this past thousand years, my dao foundation has long since been damaged. To me, no rare cultivation treasure has any use anymore.”

Tushan Meng’s voice held traces of bleakness and exhaustion, like falling leaves in autumn.

“And besides, leaving aside whether a single demon core truly could repair my old injuries,” she paused slightly, then continued, “even if it truly did repair them, what then? The realm I can reach in this lifetime has most likely already ended here.”

“But Jingci is different. She is only in her early twenties. Her talent is the highest I have ever seen in my life. There is no one else. She possesses a brighter and broader future. She is Tushan’s true hope.”

Tushan Hongxia was incomparably shocked.

She knew the Grand Elder had always valued Jingci, but she had not expected her evaluation to be so high.

“Grand Elder, is that child Jingci’s talent... truly so remarkable?” Tushan Hongxia asked.

“Heh...” Tushan Meng smiled faintly, her smile carrying a trace of emotion. “Let me put it plainly. If my talent is compared with Jingci’s, it is like the light of a firefly or a candle trying to compare itself with the radiance of the bright moon in the sky.”

“Even without this Phoenix-Bird demon core, Jingci’s future achievements would not be lower than that Lord of the Four Seas. If she has this demon core...”

Tushan Meng’s gaze became deep and distant.

“Together with the support of the fortune of the entire demon-race world, perhaps... she will be able to look upon scenery no one has set foot in since ancient times.”

“Even so, the holy daughter’s future achievements will certainly include no small share of your credit, Grand Elder!” Tushan Hongxia’s tone was urgent and sincere. “Everything is within your plans. The holy daughter will follow your guidance and climb step by step onto the throne of ruler of the demon-race world!”

“Within my plans?” Tushan Meng gathered her sleeves and slowly turned her head, her heavy gaze falling on Tushan Hongxia.

“Hongxia, perhaps in your eyes, Xiao Mo dying in Phoenix-Bird Secret Realm means everything was within my plans. But today, I suddenly feel that I was the one who was being plotted against.”

“What does Grand Elder mean?” Tushan Hongxia was deeply puzzled, her brows drawing together slightly.

“In Tushan’s Library Pavilion, the last person to read that Record of Testifying Through Emotion was Xiao Mo.”

Tushan Meng shook her head and cast her gaze toward the boundless sky in the distance, her voice low and slow.

“It was also only today that I learned Yunxi and Gui Junmeng had already met Xiao Mo long ago. Then tell me... could Yunxi have told Xiao Mo about Jingci’s lifespan?”

Listening to the Grand Elder’s words, Tushan Hongxia seemed to suddenly think of something, and her eyes trembled faintly.

“Perhaps Xiao Mo had already guessed what I intended to do.”

“Perhaps, from the very beginning, he never planned to come back alive from Phoenix-Bird Secret Realm.”

Tushan Meng sighed softly. That sigh held indescribable complexity and melancholy.

“So in this world... there truly are still men like him.”

“For the woman he loves, he could be so fearless and unhesitating.”

“And also be so...”

“cruel.”