Chapter 1971: Night Watch

Whoosh!

The torrential rain poured down, forming water-stones in mid-air that fiercely struck the ground. When they hit the iron shanties, they made loud banging sounds, causing people's thoughts to reverberate and break apart.

“...Or did you truly forget who you are, Tianren Wushui?”

The corpse-binder, Bei Huai, advanced step by step, slowly approaching the figure prostrate in the water. A benevolent smile played on his lips. He knelt slightly, reaching out to caress the back of the person’s head on the ground. After a long silence in the heavy rain, he softly called out: “Xing Ye...”

Boom!

Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the entire crossroads.

The orange figure, submerged in muddy water on the street, was clearly exhausted. After a violent seizure, all resistance left him. He curled up in pain, half of his face submerged in the dark mud. At the sound, his body stiffened, and he suddenly lifted his head.

Splish!

Muddy water splattered. Drops landed on Bei Huai’s fair, clean face. Bei Huai’s slightly parted lips seemed to be tinged with a hint of madness, but it was an incredibly calm madness.

He calmly crushed the cracked orange Yanwang mask and gripped the chin of the aged face before him. He then gently called out again: “Or rather...”

“Hong Yi, Shou Ye.”

Crack—

Lightning flashed again across the void, illuminating the two faces opposite each other.

One was pure and flawless, though splattered with some mud. But with a wet cloth, it would surely reveal a handsome, untainted young master. The other face was covered in wrinkles, with deeply sunken eye sockets, puffy bags under the eyes, devoid of spirit, and with facial muscles that seemed to be sagging, presenting a withered, aged appearance.

“Shou...”

Tianren Wushui, whose mask had been removed, couldn’t stop his pupils from trembling. His remaining consciousness clearly couldn’t distinguish who Tianren Wushui, Xing Ye, or Shou Ye was from Bei Huai’s words. In a trance, following another clap of thunder, intricate memories and lives, like the scattered water splashes after water-stones hit the crossroads, suddenly exploded.

“You are Xing Ye, one of the original Liu Xu, the leader of the Five Great Absolute Forms, the Devouring Form?”

Xing Ye looked at the face of the white-robed youth illuminated by candlelight in the dark stone cave, a sudden pang in his heart. “What did you do to me?”

He couldn’t remember anything. All past memories seemed to have been wiped clean. Even the deepest impressions of the past and his companions remained only a blur. Apart from remembering “Xu Yue Hui Gong” and a few names like himself, Sha Sheng Luo, and Shi Jin, everything else was forgotten.

And...

“Why am I crying?” Xing Ye wiped away tears, though there was no sadness in his heart, and tears flowed like rain.

“You are the first Ghost Beast under my ability to remain so calm. I am very satisfied with you,” the white-robed youth paused. “My name is Bei Huai.”

Ghost Beast...

He took out two notebooks from behind his waist in front of Xing Ye. “A Yao’s gift this time, I really like it. I plan to dedicate a ‘Devouring Chapter’ just for you. I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

He dipped his pen and wrote something on the new pages of the notebook. From his kneeling position, Xing Ye looked up, vaguely seeing the title of the book, *Bei Huai's Records*.

Bei Huai...

Bei Huai's...

Xing Ye could see his own inner fear reflected by the candlelight on the notebook. This white-robed youth in front of him seemed to possess a thought process unusual for normal humans?

“Stay here for a while.”

Bei Huai only wrote the beginning, then bit his pen and gestured behind him, saying: “If you continue to resist and cause trouble, I will continue to break you and assemble you until you obey me. By the way, you’d better be self-aware and quickly transform into a Xu or Ghost Beast yourself, otherwise I’ll have to inject you with the life potion.”

He said, looking up at the mottled light and shadow on his face, cast by the half-open stone door of the cave. His expression was unusually expectant, and he licked his lips: “Soon, your first batch of Ghost Cultivators will be complete, all three hundred and sixty-five of them. They are all Five Domains’ talents, and they cost me a lot of effort.”

“If they all fail, I will be very disappointed. And when I am disappointed, you will be in great pain, do you understand?”

Bei Huai looked down, seemingly seeing through the confusion of the prostrate figure below. He smiled: “Xing Ye, do you have any questions?”

Yes...

Xing Ye instinctively opened his mouth. But Bei Huai seemed to be accustomed to this routine. He patted his face, stood up, and walked out of the stone door, leaving only a few standardized answers: “In short, you can only become a Ghost Beast from now on, living as a form of power, and then influencing this world through parasitism.”

“Ghost Cultivators are your Ghost Beast hosts. You will work together to carry out my path of life and reincarnation.”

“As for the form of integration between Ghost Beast and host...”

Bei Huai’s voice trailed off, with no further words. As he left the stone cave, he closed the stone door, leaving only the flickering candlelight in the darkness. This, however, illuminated the scene inside the stone cave. Xing Ye looked over and saw precise cylindrical instruments filled with a special solution. Immersed in the solution were humanoid creatures, beast-like creatures, and some special hybridized creatures whose species he couldn’t identify under his current memory.

His chest inexplicably tightened, and a desire for destruction arose. Yet, fragmented memories rushed into his mind—those of Bei Huai’s stormy, destructive attacks. Xing Ye’s expression was terrified, lingering fear in his heart, and he suppressed the urge to destroy. He had forgotten whether his past was glorious or brilliant, only knowing that in the hands of that white-robed youth, his future fate was unknown.

He painstakingly dragged his mutilated body up and walked over, reaching out to touch the cage-like containers. Xing Ye didn’t know how to feel. “Who are they?”

“Who am I?”

“After the Ghost Cultivators arrive, will I also become... like this?”

“Ah Ye.”

“Here, Senior Wu Yue!”

“I remember, you’re from the Eastern Heaven Realm of the Eastern Domain, aren’t you?”

“Yes, do you have a new mission, Senior Wu Yue?”

“The name ‘Shou Ye Ren’ in Hong Yi has been quite prominent lately, well done... Another message just came, it’s the same as before, there’s another abnormality in Bai Ku. This time, it seems to be a confirmed detection of Ghost Beast aura. They need manpower there, so you go again.”

“You want to borrow me again?”

“Yes, this time they specifically asked for you, the ‘Shou Ye Ren.’ After all, you have the dark attribute, and your effectiveness against Ghost Beasts is much greater... And this time, after you go, your badge should also be changed. It should have been changed a long time ago. Just join Hong Yi directly.”

“Why?”

“No why... They need your power more than I do.”

“Yes!”

In the mountains, the white-robed Daoist gates were scattered in an orderly fashion. Wu Yue Jian Xian tidied his collar one last time for himself, then turned and walked away. In the pouring rain, Shou Ye looked up into the distance, bidding farewell once more to these comrades in his dream.

Everything was receding. The white-robed figures waved goodbye to him. “Senior Shou Ye, take care. When we meet again, I’ll be breaking through to Taixu and becoming a Vice Dominus. Don’t let your ‘dark’ attribute lose to my junior ‘light’!” Chang Yi’s smiling face also faded and disappeared.

The scene reassembled, arriving at Bai Ku. In reality, having been assigned to guard Bai Ku so many times over the years, he was almost more Hong Yi than actual Hong Yi. Compared to the annual debriefing at the Hong Yi headquarters in the Central Domain, Shou Ye had indeed grown accustomed to the daily routine of Hong Yi. Guarding the frontier and earning the renowned title of “Shou Ye Ren” in the Eastern Heaven Realm—these were his glorious achievements in recent years.

However...

Today, Bai Ku seemed a little different. The interdimensional rift appeared abruptly, and the power of the sealed Ghost Beast far exceeded comprehension, feeling even stronger than a Saint Realm being. Even though the opponent had no intention of harming, the Hong Yi team fought desperately but couldn't keep this Ghost Beast. Not only were they all severely injured and near death, but the beast also successfully slipped into a nearby village.

“Inside and outside the Eight Palaces, the nearest village is Mo Jia Village...”

“Further out, besides Tian Sang City, Tian Feng City, Tian Yun City, and various Spirit Palaces, there are millions of innocent civilians in the mortal realm...”

“It's over, Hong Yi has failed in its duty. This will truly cause widespread devastation!”

As Shou Ye weakly closed his eyes, what he worried about most was still that unprecedented sealed Ghost Beast. When he opened his eyes again, candlelight flickered, and he found himself in a sealed stone cave.

“You’re dead.”

A voice came from ahead, a young man's voice. But he was lying on the ground, unable to see anything, even his spiritual senses had failed. Only from the corner of his eye did he see a pair of bare feet under white robes.

“I am very sorry to hear such news.”

“Among this batch of Ghost Cultivators, your aptitude is enough to rank in the top ten. Why did you die?”

Who is this guy... Is he crazy? I can clearly still hear voices, I’m still alive...

“I will save you.”

“But your companions are all dead, Hong Yi Lan Ling, Hong Yi Xin... Your resentment is strong, yet your will to survive is not. Have you been defeated?”

“Like this, you won’t survive the experiment.”

What experiment... And what are Ghost Cultivators... Lan Ling and Xin, aren't they just... Yes, they were unconscious from the sealing power in Bai Ku, no different from mortals. The signal couldn’t be sent out. By the time help arrived, they should all be rotting corpses, right?

“No need to get agitated, your spirit cannot withstand such turmoil.”

“I wouldn’t deceive you on such a matter. I can assure you, your friends will all come back to life.”

“And as a price, from now on, your life belongs to me. If you understand, move your finger.”

Shou Ye could already feel a life force flowing through his body that wasn’t his own. It was so vast, no less powerful than that of the sealed Ghost Beast. Shou Ye, using his last ounce of strength, managed to move his index finger, drawing a vertical line on the ground.

“Very good, you are mine. Remember your promise today.”

“My name is Bei Huai.”

Everything went dark before his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a sealed cylindrical container, his nostrils filled with solution. With a hiss, the instrument opened, and the discolored solution flowed onto the floor. Shou Ye barely opened his eyes.

Standing before him was a man in white robes with bare feet, his demeanor graceful. Behind him, several people holding paper and pens hastily retreated, only he stood still with bare feet, letting the solution from the instrument flow over his ankles.

“You’re awake.”

“My name is Bei Huai.”

“After the battle of Bai Ku, you died. It was I who saved you and bestowed upon you new abilities, allowing you to possess the power of Taixu—the Grand Righteousness—even during the Dao Severing period.”

Shou Ye looked around, his vision blurry, unable to see anything clearly. His ears buzzed, and his ability to receive information hadn't returned, but he remembered these words based on memory, though he couldn't comprehend them. He walked out of the instrument, hunched over, unsure where to go, only following the light towards the open stone door.

“Go.”

“Once you leave this door, you won't remember anything.”

“Return to your Hong Yi life. At necessary moments, your Grand Righteousness will assist you, and in more critical times...”

Shou Ye turned his head, looking at that subtle smile, but in the end, he remembered nothing.

Back in the Eight Palaces, the Hong Yi team was complete, with only normal personnel changes; no news of companions' deaths had arrived. The sealed Ghost Beast was gone. After escaping Bai Ku, it hadn't gone on a rampage, acting as if it had gained sentience, likely having hidden in nearby cities. But if this fiend wasn't eliminated, the future troubles would be endless.

“Guard for another month. If no Ghost Beast aura is detected, Lan Ling, you all stay here, I will search in the city. If we wait for Bai Ku to reopen and the Ghost Beast to re-emerge, everything will be too late.”

“Alright, but still be careful. That sealed Ghost Beast's ability is too bizarre... Shou Ye, where do you plan to go first?”

“Tian Sang City. I have some connections with Fu Zhi. I'll use Tian Sang City as a base and radiate outwards in all directions, to see if I can find any clues.”

“Approved. Be careful if you're acting alone.”

“You too.”

Leaving the Hong Yi team and stepping back into the densely populated city from the mountains felt like an eternity. It was as if he had forgotten something. Yet, it also seemed that everything was no different from the past.

“Living...”

“Just keep moving forward.”

“Put on this mask, forget Shu Jin Men, forget the painful past. From now on, you are no longer a solitary star of misfortune. You are a person of this seat, Huang Quan, you are Yanwang’s Tianren Wushui.”

“Yanwang...”

“Indeed, your life is given new meaning by this seat, and your decaying body will also be used by this seat.”

“Anyone who comes near me will be tainted with ill fortune, and will all die...”

“This seat will not.”

“This seat needs your power, needs you to help me collect ‘Lei Jia Tong.’ As long as you agree, Yanwang will be your next home.”

Tianren Wushui then donned the mask, bid farewell to Shu Jin Men, where he had lived for thirteen years, and followed Huang Quan. He could probably foresee Yanwang's future, but the youth craved companionship, longed for recognition, and his real life was as intoxicating as a dream. Tianren Wushui was unwilling to wake up.

Over the years, he had successively obtained some Lei Jia Tong for Yanwang, and of course, witnessed the changes in generations of people under Yanwang’s unchanging mask. It was truly as Huang Quan had said. Only he, the Head, and himself had not changed. Under the influence of the "Tianren Wushui" power, Yanwang members changed every few years; not a single one lived long.

Living in a daze was also a life. Finally, on this day, Tianren Wushui once again received instructions from Head Huang Quan: “You and Meng Po go on a trip. The Shen Mo Tong has appeared in the Yun Lun Mountains. It’s best if you can retrieve it; if not, wait for another opportunity.”

Head Huang Quan’s desire to collect Lei Jia Tong was very strong in the early stages. In the middle and late stages, he seemed to be affected by his own abilities and began to lose his way. He seemed to have forgotten the essence of collecting Lei Jia Tong, what it was for, and perhaps he never knew from the beginning, merely collecting blindly.

Tianren Wushui didn't care about these things. Having lived half his life, he had witnessed too much prosperity and nothingness, knowing that existence itself held little meaning. The meaning of "collecting Lei Jia Tong" itself outweighed the meaning of "what is collecting Lei Jia Tong for," as it gave his life purpose.

Who would have thought that this time, he would encounter a tough opponent? He who hunts geese all day eventually gets pecked by one. The young girl with the small bronze stove in her hand was inexperienced, but the monster on her body was terrifying. Fate, it seemed, was so unpredictable.

Years ago, Tianren Wushui had heard rumors of a sealed Ghost Beast appearing somewhere, but he hadn't investigated, as it was irrelevant to him, given his travels. Today, he actually ran into this Sealed Form and was captured in just two or three moves. When sealed in the “Feng Shen Guan,” all signs of life ceased, but through the forbidden arts of Shu Jin Men, Tianren Wushui managed to retain a sliver of consciousness. However, he was powerless to resist! That guy was so strong, he seemed to have surpassed the realm of a Half-Saint! He watched helplessly as he was taken from the coffin by a Water Ghost and then brought into the deep sea beneath Gu Yin Ya.

His first half of life was lived seeking companions, who all died. His latter half was lived seeking Lei Jia Tong, and in the end, he was drawn into the deep sea because the Water Ghost intended to use Lei Jia Tong to lure the Half-Saint Jiang Bu Yi of the Jiang Clan from the Northern Domain’s Pu Xuan.

Beneath the deep sea, all spiritual essence was lost. However, this could not trap Tianren Wushui, who possessed the forbidden arts of Shu Jin Men; he just needed some time to regain some strength. At the cost of expending his lifespan, Tianren Wushui was confident he could escape within moments. After all, most of Shu Jin Men’s arts originated from the Malevolent Yin Evil Gods and could be unleashed not only by spiritual essence but also through sacrifice.

However, Heaven’s will is unfathomable. Fate seemed to enjoy playing jokes, making one experience heaven one moment and hell the next. Before he could recover much strength, following the ocean currents, Tianren Wushui drifted into someone’s Nine Deaths Thunder Tribulation. Even if an ordinary Dao Severing cultivator passed this tribulation, it would be difficult to kill Tianren Wushui.

Strange... At Gu Yin Ya, he encountered a Ghost Beast host that displayed the Sealed Form, one of the Five Great Absolute Forms, and without a word, sealed him. Beneath Gu Yin Ya, he encountered a Hong Yi, a righteous Hong Yi whose mission was to fight Ghost Beasts, yet he was also a Ghost Beast host. And when his power was fully unleashed, he too was one of the Five Great Absolute Forms, and furthermore, the foremost Devouring Form!

“Hong Yi?”

“Ghost Beast?”

Tianren Wushui had experienced how absurd this world was. He never imagined that his final death would be at the mouth of this crazed, scarlet-eyed Hong Yi, becoming his blood meal.

Tianren Wushui recovered some strength. He did not offer any meaningless resistance until his death. As his flesh and blood were torn and devoured, he sank into the deep sea, his thoughts boundless, finally traversing his life, only to find himself in the four-character cage of "Cause and Effect": “My life, full of evil deeds, can be considered to have come to an end here.”

Boom!

Memories shattered, like the torrential rain. Shou Ye’s eyes trembled, staring disbelievingly at the corpse-binder before him, at Bei Huai, the orchestrator of everything.

What flashed through his mind next were scenes of himself later shedding the Hong Yi, donning a new mask, installing the San Yan Tong Mu, becoming the next Tianren Wushui of Yanwang, and also gaining initial control over Huang Quan. There were also scenes of ascending the Void Island, devouring Ye Xiao, the Head of the Dark Division, becoming a Saint with the Blood World Pearl, and completely abandoning past, future, and faith, solely to better seek revenge on the Sacred Temple. There were also scenes of him losing his mind in a daze, controlling Huang Quan, obtaining the San Jie Nan Yan, confronting Ai Cang Sheng and asking about the Dao, and now, realizing that Bei Huai was the true instigator of everything.

Past, broken, tragic... All the answers that the Great Emperor Cang Sheng had avoided discussing were now brought to him by Bei Huai, who walked directly to him.

“You...”

With a boom, the power of decay exploded. Tianren Wushui stared intently at the white-robed, barefoot Bei Huai before him.

“Yes, it’s me.”

Bei Huai smiled, gently stroking his head. “Everything is me, including yours. Do you remember your promise?”

Shou Ye’s memories exploded, recalling the vertical line he had drawn on the ground when he woke up in Bai Ku. The person before him was clearly the one he had been searching for, yet he had given the Hong Yi team a new life. Not seeking revenge would mean wasting this journey, but seeking revenge would mean denying his past self...

“No, no, no...”

Shou Ye’s mind became chaotic again, different selves leaping out, vying for control of his body. There was Xing Ye, Tianren Wushui, Ye Xiao, and every important and unimportant human and non-human he had devoured.

“He lied to me...”

“Impossible...”

“This is absolutely...”

Bei Huai slammed a palm onto his crown, and the Huai branch pierced his tough body, beginning its invasion. All the bandages on his body continually unwound, and he began to fade, becoming translucent... This was Xu-ification! And also Ghost Beast-ification!

“I know you won’t accept it, and you can’t accept it. But from the beginning, I never intended for you to accept it.”

“Your body, from head to toe, was prepared for me at this moment. End your chaotic past!”

“From today onwards, we have only one name...”

The corpse-binder’s bandages completely unraveled, and his life force exploded into a grinning mist that seeped into Shou Ye through his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth:

“Bei! Huai!”