Chapter 1639: Life's Unintended Emptiness and Ignorance; Kui Lei Rescues His Son in Time

The Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion.

"Wangze Shengdi" on the divine throne watched Kong Yühen below with three subtle expressions.

Yes, right under his nose.

This person, who once said, "If I encounter injustice, I will help," had teleported someone out of the pavilion.

Chongyang remained silent.

But even Huang Quan could tell that he needed an explanation.

If the desired answer wasn't received, the consequences would likely be severe!

But...

What does this have to do with me?

Why did you blast the two of them out of the pavilion, but keep me here?

And why does this wooden door, which looks like a door, lead to an unknown space node rather than the Divine Remains when I try to push it open from the inside?

Huang Quan didn't dare to rashly step into the unknown outside the Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion; he couldn't even find this pavilion's spatial node!

He tried pushing it again.

The door was just a decoration, completely lacking the function a "door" should have—he was truly trapped!

"Friend..."

Kong Yühen stood quietly in place.

Facing the evil god Chongyang alone, he showed no fear, even daring to open his heart and say things that previously required circumlocution:

"I'm sure you can see it."

"Compared to you, who are new here, what I value more is my friendship with Xu Xiaoshou."

Very direct!

Chongyang seemed to smile without smiling.

He could already feel Kong Yühen's emotional resistance towards him, something he hadn't noticed before.

Perhaps this person was serious...

Of course, it was also due to his power strengthening after possessing the body.

Chongyang still said nothing.

He didn't explain that he wasn't new here, and Xu Xiaoshou wasn't necessarily the best choice for the current Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion.

Far away in the sky, yet close at hand.

Kong Yühen could totally consider the now outwardly and inwardly perfect "Rao Wangze" to be his most loyal "first friend."

He also didn't mention what would happen to a Divine Edict bearer, sworn under the witness of an evil god, if they truly defied the Divine Edict.

Things promised but not fulfilled couldn't be easily overlooked.

Chongyang also believed Kong Yühen would understand this, so he didn't need to say more.

As the two confronted each other, the Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion fell into a brief silence.

Huang Quan felt his pounding heartbeat becoming clearer, and the pressure intensified.

Suddenly, at a certain moment, as if a string had snapped, Kong Yühen took a step forward, easily shattering the heavy pressure, and calmly said:

"Sometimes, not acting is also a form of action."

"Silence is also a form of assistance."

That was all he said.

After speaking, Kong Yühen extended his hand towards the wooden door, as if... seeing off a guest?

Huang Quan's pupils dilated in shock, and he involuntarily glanced at Chongyang on the divine throne, surprisingly not seeing the evil god enraged.

Instead, the three heads and three eyeballs simultaneously converged towards the center, as if... acknowledging Kong Yühen's words?

"What does that mean?"

Huang Quan couldn't help but ponder deeply.

He had to analyze the situation because it likely concerned his safety.

He tried hard to grasp the meaning of Kong Yühen's words, but the only thing he could think of was the "critical moment" when Xu and Dao were still there.

At the critical moment, Chongyang possessed Rao Wangze.

At the critical moment, Xu and Dao killed Chongyang, who was wearing Rao Wangze's skin.

At the critical moment, Chongyang left behind a scapegoat straw doll and resurrected on the spot.

"That's it!"

Huang Quan suddenly realized that there must have been another "critical moment" missing.

For example, at that point in time, if Kong Yühen had also intervened in the battle...

He wouldn't even need to do much; he just needed to use the power of the Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion to prolong the wind-up time for Chongyang to use the scapegoat straw doll, or to extend his resurrection process.

Could Xu and Dao have reacted and annihilated the "resurrecting" Chongyang on the spot?

"Kong Yühen's 'not acting' refers to this 'not acting'?"

"He both helped his 'first friend' Xu Xiaoshou by not hindering him from killing Rao Wangze, and he spared Chongyang, which amounted to taking action for the 'injustice' he mentioned earlier."

"Neither helping nor hindering, but also equivalent to helping both sides?"

Huang Quan looked up, staring blankly at the slender back in front of him, feeling that this person's mysterious aura had become even more intense.

He wasn't sure if his thoughts were correct.

But for this question to be valid, it must be based on the equality of both sides, right?

Only then would Kong Yühen's expression be recognized by the other party...

But who was the other party?

Chongyang!

The current Chongyang possessed an ancestral god's core and half an ancestral god's appearance, formed by the external body of a Shengdi plus various treasures.

Would he truly acknowledge Kong Yühen's words in such a way?

Huang Quan both hoped they would fight, thinking he might escape, and prayed they wouldn't, fearing he would likely be caught in the crossfire.

He looked at Chongyang again.

This time, Chongyang wasn't silent; he was visibly silent.

After another long period of silence lasting several tens of breaths in the Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion, Chongyang's three heads shook in unison, as if relieved.

Finally, he cast a deep, three-eyed gaze, then withdrew his eyes from Kong Yühen, saying nothing more, simply transforming into a wisp of purple smoke and disappearing from the pavilion:

"Take care."

He got away with it.

The subtle approach was somewhat useful; he learned something.

Kong Yühen let out a long sigh, and his mood lightened, making him seem to relax a bit.

Yes, he wasn't as confident as he appeared.

His confidence came entirely from Chongyang's unknown reverence for him—"I use the confidence you gave me to constrain you."

Kong Yühen tried this method for the first time.

He didn't know if it was successful or what would happen next, but as for the experience...

It was novel.

And a little exciting.

"He's gone!"

On the other side, by the wooden door, Huang Quan also relaxed, his unconsciously hunched shoulders finally able to drop.

Kong Yühen's initial words indeed made one feel pressure.

But after the verbal sparring in the pavilion just now, the comparatively too gentle and amiable Kong Yühen was simply too easy to deal with.

"Friend, may I go out?"

Huang Quan spoke first, standing up behind Kong Yühen, indicating he wanted to go out for some fresh air.

Kong Yühen turned around.

He didn't refuse immediately; after a moment of contemplation, he said:

"You may."

Huang Quan was delighted, pressing against the doorframe, just about to thank him and step out.

Kong Yühen spoke again: "But before that, could you grant me a wish and answer a question?"

Huang Quan paused: "Please ask."

"Why do you always hide from me?"

"...Do I?"

"You do."

"When..."

"From beginning to end."

"Nonsense..."

"Including now."

Hearing this, Huang Quan's body stiffened, his thoughts becoming jumbled, unable to form coherent ideas.

His breathing quickened slightly, and his eyes under the mask stared fixedly at Kong Yühen.

Kong Yühen seemed to grow larger and larger, his body rapidly swelling, becoming so colossal in a short while that he could be described as "sky-obscuring."

He stood upon the river of time, like the evil god Chongyang seated at the pinnacle of a divine throne, his condescending gaze filled with greed!

This look...

This look!

Huang Quan's pupils widened, widened, and widened again, his palms beginning to sweat.

This look, he was all too familiar with it!

It was like his own playful gaze towards Ye Xiaotian in the Yunlun Mountain Range back then.

This emotion, he also felt it keenly!

It was like his longing when he sensed Xu Xiaoshou's spatial profound diagram aura before the Judgement Hall traveled to the Blood Realm on Void Island.

No!

Cannot!

Absolutely not!

Huang Quan's body trembled, and unconsciously his hands reached for the saber and sword behind him, wanting to strike first.

Just then...

"Pat."

A hand gently rested on his shoulder, followed by a somewhat confused voice in his ear:

"Friend, you seem very anxious."

Huang Quan's body shook, and after a blur before his eyes, he realized that everything just now seemed to be an illusion.

Kong Yühen was still Kong Yühen.

He hadn't grown larger, nor was he looking down on him from the river of time.

He was still kind, standing casually beside him, one hand on his shoulder, looking at his face, and after a moment of thought, asked:

"Friend, can you take off your mask? I want to confirm something."

Do I have the right to refuse?

Huang Quan managed to calm himself.

He didn't know why he had such illusions just now.

However, overthinking was useless. After weighing it for a moment, he silently released his grip on the saber and sword, pressed his mask, and slowly took it off.

"Done."

Huang Quan put his mask back on.

He looked at Kong Yühen, his eyes gradually becoming hesitant, then bewildered.

He watched Kong Yühen pull out a palm-sized bronze mirror, aim it at himself, and start adjusting his fringe.

What does that mean?

Huang Quan's heart skipped a beat.

"I feel like you look a lot like me..." Kong Yühen paused.

Huang Quan was greatly alarmed.

I look like you?

What does that mean!

"A friend," Kong Yühen finally finished.

"Please phrase your sentences properly..." Huang Quan breathed a sigh of relief, realizing something was off: "You feel?"

"Mm." Kong Yühen looked melancholic, "I've forgotten many things, including my friends, and..." He stopped.

"And?" Huang Quan could only repeat.

Kong Yühen didn't speak again, just held the small bronze mirror, constantly adjusting his face.

"What are you doing?"

Huang Quan felt inexplicably nervous.

As the head of the Yanluo, he rarely felt this way, except when facing the Five Signs of Decay.

Kong Yühen still didn't answer.

"What does my looking like your friend have to do with you looking at yourself in the mirror?" Huang Quan chose to speak directly.

Kong Yühen paused at his words. After a long time, he slowly lowered the hand holding the mirror and said softly:

"I can't see my face."

The Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion suddenly fell silent.

Huang Quan stiffly turned his head, looking at the wooden door, then at the shattered window nearby.

Light streamed in from outside the door, falling on Kong Yühen, who was so blurry.

And he, hidden behind Kong Yühen, felt even more insignificant, like an unremarkable shadow.

I want to go out...

Huang Quan made no attempt to conceal the longing in his eyes.

This damned Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion, the longer one stayed, the more anxious one would feel!

"Can I go out now?"

Just as Huang Quan was about to ask this, Kong Yühen spoke, his eyes filled with boundless bewilderment:

"Friend, what is your life's mission?"

Huang Quan closed his eyes heavily.

He didn't want to answer, but he didn't dare to defy the person in front of him.

He could only try to act as a reply machine that answered every question, completely giving up on thought, to combat the unknown fear:

"To collect the Lei family's pupils."

"This is my mission, and it's our Yanluo's mission."

A mission he was born with, huh... Kong Yühen showed no confusion, prejudice, or other emotions.

He simply seemed to have heard a normal answer that any normal person would give, not asking why, just continuing:

"And then?"

Then?

Huang Quan paused, then shook his head: "I don't know."

Kong Yühen seemed to have received another perfectly normal answer, and Huang Quan seemed to have stated a commonplace, ordinary response.

Their eyes met.

Both silent.

In the silence, Huang Quan touched the wooden door of the Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion, gazing at the diffused light outside the shattered window.

The light was too ethereal, too elusive.

He couldn't see what the world outside was like, couldn't imagine what kind of people or things existed there.

"And you, what is your life's mission?" Huang Quan asked back.

"To find, me?" Kong Yühen hesitated, "I'm not sure..."

"And then?"

"I don't know either."

"Xu Xiaoshou, what do you say, what is the meaning of life?"

"Go to the dock and get some mimi?"

"What is mimi?"

"Crunchy, salty, delicious."

Upon this response, Dao Qiongcang fell silent.

In the vast, desolate Divine Remains, the master of the ruins stood beside him, holding the Heavenly Realm Core, and the tree-gate was wide open in the void.

Purple evil energy still clung to the gate.

It was still the same saying: as long as Chongyang lived, no one dared to rashly enter this gate.

There was light inside the gate.

The light was very ethereal.

So much so that the world behind the gate was so elusive.

Xu and Dao stood side by side, not moving an inch, clearly having been there for some time.

Since there was only one "escape" path, but it was a dead end.

They both tacitly chose to ignore Shen Yi's suggestion, only chatting idly:

"I asked, what is the ultimate meaning of life?"

"Go get some mimi."

"Besides mimi?"

"Still mimi."

Xu Xiaoshou's answer was still very direct.

After speaking, he looked at the divine throne above the tree-gate, gazing at Wangze Shengdi sitting on it, head tilted, fist propped against his chin, pretending to be profound, and loudly said:

"Chongyang, do you have mimi? I suddenly want to eat some."

Mi... mi...?

Chongyang didn't know what mimi was.

But if the question in the Ancient and Modern Forgetful Pavilion received this answer, and the dying wish was also this.

He understood what to do.

Wangze Shengdi on the divine throne brushed his lower robe and calmly rose.

Just as Chongyang had thought before possessing him, the Rao Wangze after this would be a completely different Rao Wangze.

His radiance would shine eternally!

"Hoo..."

A fierce wind suddenly arose.

Wangze Shengdi stood with his arms crossed in the void, calm and composed.

Behind him, his four arms held: one presented the Fengli Sutra, one unfolded the Canglong Yinyue Chart, one gripped the White Night Feather Fan, and one held the Xiangdao Spear.

"Death is not the end of life."

"You all shall coexist with Chongyang!"

After a low chuckle, his three large purple eyes simultaneously glowed with blinding light.

White Night Feather Fan!

Wangze Shengdi first waved this black-and-white feathered fan.

"Dao divides into yin and yang, two realms run parallel."

"Yang is called: Walking Dead."

"Yin is called: Resting Soul,驻魄."

"Art!"

With a snap, one hand was drawn from his embrace and snapped his fingers in the air.

Without needing to master any previous spells, just based on his understanding of the great Dao of day and night, yin and yang.

Chongyang created art with a thought.

When the White Night Feather Fan gently fanned downwards, a subtle breeze came through the void, then abruptly shifted.

"Boom!"

A deafening roar exploded in the ears of both Dao Qiongcang and Xu Xiaoshou.

They saw time and space intersect into two before their eyes; the Yang Realm and Yin Realm were suddenly separated. Under the effect of Chongyang's spell, spirit and flesh seemed completely severed.

The physical body remained in the Yang Realm, while the soul remained in the underworld, intersecting yet distinct, tangible yet unreachable.

"My body..."

Xu Xiaoshou completely lost control and couldn't find his body anymore.

His soul and consciousness were in one world, but the physical body he wanted to control had gone to another parallel world.

Looking to the side, Dao Qiongcang's situation was even more exaggerated:

His physical body remained in place.

His soul, however, suddenly split, lining up as three on his physical body:

Cao Erzhù's, Shen Yi's, and Dao Qiongcang's own.

"Are kings, nobles, and generals born?"

"Born?"

Erzhù seemed completely unable to suppress his fear. His soul body roared, bowing, and snarled ferociously at Chongyang.

"Noisy."

Wangze Shengdi, holding the fan, shook his head. He first targeted the weaker one, rubbed his fingertips, and threw something over.

—A golden rope.

"Immortal Binding Rope!"

The rope quickly bound Erzhù's soul body and pulled it towards Wangze Shengdi.

"Mine."

"Give it to me first."

"Stop fighting, let me have the first one."

Wangze Shengdi's three heads and three mouths suddenly made sounds that didn't seem to be his own, but each opened wide towards Erzhù's soul body, drooling.

"Are kings, nobles, and generals born?"

Cao Erzhù's eyes were bloodshot, and he roared frantically, until his soul body was about to be absorbed into the central mouth of Wangze Shengdi.

Sizzle...

Purple lightning flickered between the pupils of his soul body.

It wasn't a lightning-element profound art, nor the Punishment God Tribulation; it was simply a projection summoned in his dying moments.

The power of Taixu, unleash!

With lightning, shatter the darkness!

"Old man! Save me quick—"

Boom!

As Cao Erzhù's soul body was sucked into the mouth, the void boomed with a startling sound.

The thunder was so loud that it directly shattered the separation of the Yin and Yang Realms, broke Chongyang's spell, returned Shen Yi and Dao Qiongcang to Cao Erzhù's body, and returned Xu Xiaoshou to Xu Xiaoshou.

Immediately, an ethereal, dim, burly figure slowly rose before Wangze Shengdi.

He was at least a head taller than the human-form Rao Wangze, several times thicker than Shen Yi, with a large cloak over his shoulders, a wine barrel in his hand, an iron ring around his neck, and nine tokens hanging from it.

As soon as he appeared, his other arm, entwined with purple lightning, plunged into "Wangze Shengdi's" mouth, forcibly pulling his almost digested son from his throat.

"Who dares to harm my son?"