Chapter 1874: The Truth

"Is Xihe really Nuozu's true name?"

Xu Xiaoshou watched, dumbfounded, as Nuozu, who had been raging moments ago, calmed down after Yu Mian Shu Sheng Kong Yuhen's single sentence.

"This Venerable One, I have become attached to form..."

Nuozu lowered his head, muttering in a pained tone.

Then, as if remembering something, he hastily reached up and touched his face. Only after feeling the Nuo mask on his face did he let out a sigh of relief.

"It's still here."

Shizu watched as he adjusted the Nuo mask, his body gradually returning to normal human form with the movement. He sighed, "Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to come back and see you."

What did that mean?

Xu Xiaoshou was greatly surprised.

Could it be that this Nuo mask was a seal, suppressing Nuozu's power and rage?

"No way..."

If that were true, this mad Nuo would be a bit too strong!

When he was rampaging earlier, although Shizu had split into myriad forms and his state was already unstable, the display of utter helplessness also highlighted how terrifying mad Nuo was—it was thought that was his full power, but he was still "restricted"?

"How much is this restriction?"

"Does the Nuo mask seal one-tenth of his power, or nine-tenths?"

Judging from the trepidation in Shizu's tone, it was highly unlikely to be the former. But if it were the latter, it would be beyond comprehension.

However, recalling the previous white smoke scene, the twelve-parts arrogance mad Nuo displayed in his every move, his absolute confidence in his own strength, and his phrase, "I will not yield."

Under the Great Calamity, Mingzu chose to take a roundabout approach, Shizu chose to assist from the side, and the only one directly confronting it was mad Nuo.

From this perspective, among the three Ancestors—Ming, Shi, and Nuo—in terms of direct combat power, it might very well be mad Nuo who leads, and in an extreme way that leaves all others far behind?

"Kong Yuhen, tell me, what other methods do you have?"

"But you'd better think carefully before speaking. I can't guarantee what will happen if your words provoke us..."

Nuozu spoke, raising his head to look at the star-filled sky, permeated with the aura of decaying Grand Dao.

He clutched the Nuo mask on his face, as if only then did he feel safe. After a long pause, he spoke, his husky voice like the sawing of wood:

"The Great Calamity has affected me; I can't control us anymore."

Us...

Xu Xiaoshou was certain he hadn't misheard, after all, mad Nuo had said "us" twice.

When a single person refers to themselves as "us," it can only mean their composition is not singular.

But even when Xu Xiaoshou was bound by contract with Tan Shen, becoming one, in daily life and speech, he wouldn't use the word "us."

This indicated that compared to his relationship as a ghost beast and a ghost beast host, mad Nuo's composition was far more complex.

Shizu nodded in understanding.

He didn't approach but maintained a distance from mad Nuo that wasn't entirely safe but was perceived as such. Then, he pulled something from his embrace.

"What is this?" Nuozu glanced over.

Xu Xiaoshou's gaze followed, realizing the focus of the scene had arrived.

What Shizu pulled out was a wooden door pendant, radiating the same aura of Samsara that Xu Xiaoshou had seen before—the Door of Samsara!

Shizu Kong Yuhen held the small wooden door in one hand, looking at the unknown beyond the starry sky, and said in a deep voice:

"The Great Calamity is approaching; it cannot be directly resisted."

"Since the situation has evolved to this point, it proves you were right, and my persistence has lost its meaning."

"Why not dissolve the Realm of Time, cast the six doors into various planes, and seek another opportunity for resurgence?"

Nuozu responded with a cold laugh but said no more sarcastic words.

Xu Xiaoshou felt a slight pang of regret, understanding mad Nuo's current mood.

This one could probably be considered a mad version of Shen Yi, and without a "rear brain" like Aunt Xiang to coordinate and plan.

Even so, he was merely direct, not foolish.

Shizu's insistence, ignoring all advice, first transforming into nine forms, then further splitting into myriad avatars to protect Mingzu was bad enough, but he even exaggeratedly split into countless forms, leading to complete self-loss and utterly losing the power to resist the Great Calamity—a gambling addict who deserves a miserable end!

But if this had been done with mad Nuo's prior knowledge, perhaps he could have accepted it, as people like mad Nuo generally hold the belief of "if the sky falls, I'll hold it up."

Yet, to only admit that his decision was flawed when the truth came out, one could only say that mad Nuo at this moment could restrain himself from killing Kong Yuhen...

"Yes, how could he restrain himself?"

"Could a simple 'Master Xihe' have such power, such a great effect?"

Xu Xiaoshou didn't quite understand, but since he didn't know the past of the three Ancestors—Ming, Shi, and Nuo—it was useless to ponder more at this point. He simply continued to focus on the subsequent events related to the Door of Samsara.

Nuozu finished his cold laugh and continued listening.

Shizu was clearly accustomed to his high stance. After a pause, he said, "The other five doors, I have already arranged properly. But for this Door of Samsara, I have another idea."

"Speak."

"Ming cannot be left unsaved, but he is trapped in Samsara, unable to transcend. I plan to bind the Door of Samsara to your black disc, to try again for him, to change his fate of decline with external force, to change his fate of falling into oblivion!" Shizu took out the black disc he had protected at the time.

"...External force?" Nuozu seemed not to understand.

"Precisely!" Shizu nodded emphatically, but looked towards the void, his eyes somewhat evasive, speaking vaguely, changing the subject:

"Humans, favored by heaven and earth, embodying the essence of the Grand Dao, are born with spiritual intelligence, skilled in planning, and capable of cultivating the Dao."

"Humans are born with talents, each different. Therefore, achieving the Dao is not about talent, nor about effort, but about whether one can discover their own talents and whether their will towards the Dao is firm."

"After nine lifetimes, Ming has fallen, fundamentally deprived of abilities and qualities like 'discovery' and 'firmness.' Thus, his path to the Dao is hopeless, and we can focus on this aspect."

Nuozu thought for a while, then nodded slightly, signaling Shizu to continue.

The latter then turned the conversation back, his gaze falling upon the black disc and the Door of Time and Space in his hand, hesitating slightly:

"My idea is to cast these two into the myriad planes, seeking discoverers, those with firm resolve, or even those who possess both, to reincarnate into Ming's fallen body."

"Your black disc, using Ming's power, assists their early growth; my Door of Samsara protects their qualities of 'discovery' and 'firmness,' consolidating their fundamental Dao nature..."

Shizu hadn't finished speaking when Nuozu on the opposite side seemed to change drastically. Vicious purple light shot from the eyes beneath his Nuo mask, and he roared sharply:

"Kong Yuhen! This is 'borrowing power'?"

Shizu fell silent for a moment, utterly speechless.

Nuozu went completely mad, murderous intent erupting from him, almost ready to strike:

"You are borrowing people!"

"You are borrowing lives!"

"Such a person, after several reincarnations, will naturally achieve the Mandate of Heaven."

"You are borrowing people who were destined to achieve the Mandate of Heaven, returning their souls to sacrifice to Ming, stripping away others' Dao foundations to augment us—is this your desperate plan, Kong Yuhen?"

Nuozu nearly failed to hold the Nuo mask to his face.

He suppressed his trembling voice and body, trying to calm himself: "You'd better have a 'but'..."

"But!" Shizu blurted out, waving his hands urgently:

"I know what you think of me now, but my plan aims to borrow the Mandate of Heaven of others to recreate Mingzu's glory, and thus resist the Great Calamity."

"You also said, after nine generations, Ming may or may not be Ming. He can have his own will; he can choose to become Mingzu, or not to become Mingzu."

"He wouldn't be Ming in the first place; I'm merely giving him a boost. Perhaps his true heart yearns for Ming, and he is willing to achieve Ming!"

Mad Nuo looked at Shizu, shaking his head repeatedly.

This mad fellow, at this moment, seemed to be more human-like than the calm and collected Shizu, who had proposed a ruthless plan.

"So, have you become lost to this extent, that even your true nature has changed..." Nuozu looked at the starry sky corrupted by the Great Calamity, as if seeing human hearts corrupted by it.

"I am lucid!" Shizu spoke up.

"Growing by borrowing Ming's power will inevitably be influenced by Ming. What if, at that time, Ming's will revives within his body..."

"Ming cannot seize another's body; you know his character!" Shizu interrupted.

Nuozu, however, looked at him, pondered for a long while, then suppressed all the killing intent from his body, sighing faintly:

"But I no longer know if you will secretly influence him..."

The scene returned to quiet.

Both fell silent.

The invisible force pushed Xu Xiaoshou, as if to make him leave the scene.

Xu Xiaoshou no longer resisted.

Because upon hearing this, he too fell silent, having understood everything:

His previous self, Xu Xiaoshou, was the reincarnated body of Mingzu, and his growth indeed matched the signs of "decline" after nine lifetimes.

After his own reincarnation, his body successfully defied fate and changed it, progressing unimpeded, gaining everything he encountered, which indeed matched the protected qualities of "discovery" and "firmness."

"So, the cultivation qualities cultivated by my past life's suffering were for the next reincarnation, to become a sacrifice to awaken Mingzu..."

What else could Xu Xiaoshou do but smile bitterly?

His connection with Mingzu was not, as he had thought, him being Mingzu, or Mingzu being him, but forcibly intertwined by the two backup plans of Nuozu and Shizu.

At this moment, Xu Xiaoshou felt a little relieved.

He was glad that he was still himself, and in the future, he wouldn't have to ponder questions like "Am I or am I not?"

But along with the relief, he also felt fear.

Because in the scene, until the very end, mad Nuo did not strike down Shizu. On the contrary, he reined in his murderous intent.

"Mad Nuo, ah..."

Undoubtedly, Nuozu was an upright fellow.

After watching the two scenes, what Xu Xiaoshou admired most was this madman.

But he ultimately reined in his killing intent!

He chose to turn a blind eye!

Xu Xiaoshou no longer knew if this was tacit approval or another plan, but he also knew that listening further would be meaningless.

Clearly, in the scene, the two ancestors harbored resentment towards each other, and what they said next would have low credibility.

"Under the Great Calamity, Shizu Kong Yuhen split into myriad forms, even his character became lost."

"Mad Nuo is already so mad; can he endure?"

"Or rather, under normal circumstances, who would abandon their closest friend for someone they've never met, or even someone who hasn't been born yet?"

His vision blurred, and the scene receded.

Xu Xiaoshou was pushed away, thrown dizzy by that invisible force, as if about to fall into an abyss.

"Buzz..."

A bothersome, mosquito-like hum returned to his ears, making him lose his sense of self and location.

Xu Xiaoshou had another dream, a nightmare.

This time, there were no mosquitoes in the dream. He lay quietly on rusted tracks, paralyzed, like a terminal patient in a hospital room.

"Whoosh—"

A train, spewing black smoke, sped down the tracks, about to crush him.

Xu Xiaoshou struggled to turn his head and looked to his side.

The tracks ahead split into two. He was on the side track, alone, while on the main track to his right, similarly paralyzed and lying down, were five people.

"Hahaha..."

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly laughed.

He recognized this dream; it was a dilemma.

On the runaway train, there should be a button that allows one to choose whether to derail from the main track, meaning one can choose to kill one or five people.

If the answer was the latter, the dream would likely evolve into a more intense and terrifying dream within a dream: that is, to kill one, or to kill the whole world.

"Bang!"

Pain struck.

Without any consideration, Xu Xiaoshou knew he had been crushed.

Like a cockroach stepped on, his entire body was run over by an immense weight, flesh and blood splattering, leaving no complete corpse.

"Hiss!"

He shot upright in bed, gasping for air.

He pinched his left and right arms, realizing his body was still intact, and that it had truly just been a dream. Xu Xiaoshou reached up to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Scaring myself..."

He was back!

The scene of the Door of Samsara ended, the nightmare concluded, and he was back in the hospital room.

But the taste of knowing the truth was not as exhilarating as he had imagined; instead, it was somewhat oppressive.

"Kong Yuhen is truly a piece of work."

"Mad Nuo..."

This person was somewhat difficult to evaluate.

In the white smoke scene, Mingzu had a simple evaluation of Shizu and Nuozu:

"The Dao of you two is too absolute; one is overly Dao-oriented, the other overly self-oriented."

Clearly, Nuozu was the one who was overly self-oriented.

A... hybrid who referred to himself as "us"?

Perhaps such a term was disrespectful to mad Nuo, but Xu Xiaoshou was too lazy to bother with respect behind his back.

He just felt that mad Nuo was a composite, with many "entities" inside, and the core of their release depended on whether the Nuo mask was removed.

Such a person, yet overly self-oriented.

Clearly, his persistence in the Dao, his self-awareness, must have reached an extreme, terrifying level.

"Perhaps, even stronger than me..."

Xu Xiaoushou stroked his chin, his eyes slightly narrowed, lost in thought.

After all, in the scene, he was the person whose qualities of "discovery" and "firmness" were recognized by Shizu, so he was very confident now.

But his confidence lasted only a moment, soon defeated by reality.

Now Mingzu had fallen, his self-awareness failed; Shizu had fragmented, his self-awareness failed.

Throughout the Five Regions of the Continent, the Ten Ancestors were the same, whether Saint-Demon, Medicine-Ghost, or Life-Death, all their self-awareness had failed.

If there was still one Ancestor whose self-awareness succeeded...

Xu Xiaoshou felt it should be the overly self-oriented Nuozu.

But the Great Calamity could even affect Shizu; he truly dared not jump to conclusions that in the face of this calamity, mad Nuo could still maintain his true self and not collude with Shizu—he already showed signs of madness!

"Meaning, if things develop to the worst-case scenario..."

"Even if I ascend to godhood and become an Ancestor, I will have to contend with Mingzu's will reviving within my body, and also contend with Nuozu and Shizu's distortion and influence on my will to resist?"

As he pondered in distress, the hospital room scene gradually shattered.

Xu Xiaoshou returned to the chaos he had entered after the Time Dao Disc's super-Dao transformation. Before him were three doors; the first two had become indistinct, leaving only the third.

The third door glowed, still radiating a fatal allure, making one instinctively want to reach out and push it open.

Yet, for the first time, Xu Xiaoshou hesitated so much about exploring the unknown.

If his guess was correct, beyond the third door lay not "truth," but "influence."

At this moment, he even had a picture in his mind:

After pushing open the third door, he didn't go to another world but saw Shizu and Nuozu again.

Shizu was cackling, and Nuozu had also removed his Nuo mask and was cackling. The two ancestors joined hands, reaching out to cast a light of will distortion upon him, shouting:

"Revive, my Ming!"