Chapter 1973: Bloodbath

The dart casually thrown in the past flew back again tonight, coincidentally hitting him square in the forehead.

Bei Huai's turbulent thoughts ceased. His attention shifted from the Heaven's Secret Array as he carefully scrutinized the young man in black amidst the rain curtain.

When they first met, this person still seemed immature.

If Bei Huai hadn't underestimated his opponent, only sending out an insignificant wisp of thought and controlling that feeble Qilin, Xu Xiaoshou would have died prematurely.

Along with that, the fluffy white kitten in his arms should have also long ago taken the surname Bei.

"Meow!"

Greedy God's fur bristled, and it jumped out of its owner's arms. It darted away extremely quickly, scurrying to a corner behind them, hiding and only daring to peek out half its head.

The pill-refining cat was not inherently very brave.

"I no longer need you," Bei Huai suddenly spoke. "I once told you that I lost a very important test subject. Fortunately, I successfully found it today."

He watched Greedy God leave, his eyes devoid of any trace of his former desire.

"Your cat, Greedy God, could serve as a substitute, but it is not, after all, a child I personally nurtured. It is no longer important."

"Just like this..."

Saying this, Bei Huai bent down and picked up half of an orange Yama mask from the accumulated water. He held it up, examining it back and forth. Finally, he gently pressed it to his face, allowing the dirty muddy water to coat his skin, then flow from his chin, through the gaps between his fingers, and into the sleeves under his wrists.

"A familiar scent lingers," he said in the voice of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man.

"But it doesn't belong to me," the voice then changed to the Night Owl's.

"It can be discarded," Shouye said.

"Crush it..."

With a squeeze of his five fingers, fragments and rainwater burst open together. Along with this faceless mask, a life and past whose true owner remained unclear, seemed to be forcibly brought to an end at this moment.

"Or it can be," he added.

A melon forced to ripen isn't sweet, yet life would continue.

As the mask was placed and then removed, the withered, aged face beneath was revitalized with youth. Bei Huai gently lowered his hand. The mud on his clean face was quickly washed away by the rain, and his tone remained calm from beginning to end.

"Pat-a-tat..."

The heavy rain lashed down on the long street, and the rainy night was peaceful.

Xu Xiaoshou likewise scrutinized the "person" before him. Bei Huai's features were delicate, his amber-like eyes pure and flawless, carrying an innate indifference and arrogance that set him apart from ordinary people. It was as if, from birth, he had been superior. Any living being before him was completely insignificant, life and death all at his whim.

Along the way, he had seen all sorts of bizarre characters. There were those like Yue Gongli, who put on airs, an "A-Oh Brother" who would exclaim "A-Oh" when facing danger. There were those like Dao Qiongcang, a bionic human who hid behind the scenes, full of schemes and tricks, creating avatars to experience carnal desires. And the "Anxiety Brother" who lived in a daze, the "Emperor of All Beings" who set rules to constrain himself, and countless other prodigies whose thoughts differed from ordinary people... Too many. Each with their own characteristics. But someone like Bei Huai, who, on a cognitive level, did not seem like a "human," was truly unique.

This was a true madman!

He was like a child raised by wolves; he had his own logic. Others might be mad, and even if they studied life, like Dao Qiongcang, they could at least communicate. They didn't have this eerie feeling.

Bei Huai... was not like a person.

Xu Xiaoshou stared at him. "I'm very curious," he said. "Typically, someone like you—a mad... person—has self-consistent logic, acts by a set of principles, and has an incredibly firm goal. What is your goal?"

Return to zero? For a high-level madman like Bei Huai, doesn't that seem a bit shallow?

Bei Huai's lips twitched, and he said a little sadly, "A-Yao deceived me."

That's it? Nothing more? A-Yao... Medicine Ancestor, Shennong Baicao?

Xu Xiaoshou deliberately waited for a moment. When Bei Huai truly had nothing more to add, he spoke again, "A-Yao raised you and then kicked you aside. Do you want revenge?"

Bei Huai smiled. "You seem to be teasing a child," he said.

"Do you want to or not?"

"Yes."

"How do you want to get revenge on Him?"

"Revenge."

Xu Xiaoshou almost couldn't keep up with Bei Huai's leaps in conversation. When he saw the mockery in the other's eyes, he realized he was being teased in return. Bei Huai's method of seeking the Dao was merely strange, and his behavioral logic differed from ordinary people, but his intelligence was not low. Previously, during the battle with his spiritual avatar in the Four Symbols Secret Realm, although it wasn't his main body, he still experienced joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, very much like a person.

Xu Xiaoshou exhaled. Cang Ku pointed towards his chest from a distance—not an attack, but rather pointing to where his heart would be.

"Inside you, there are multiple wills," he said. "You haven't fully refined them."

"Soon," Bei Huai replied calmly.

"No," Xu Xiaoshou denied him. "I've seen A-Yao. I originally thought that life and reincarnation still lacked a fusion process, but unexpectedly, He has already passed this stage. You, on the other hand, are still lacking."

"Correct."

"You still need to go through another reincarnation to refine Shouye away, integrate yourself, and distinguish me."

"Incorrect," Bei Huai said, shaking his head and touching his chest. "You don't respect them. They are not called 'Shouye'; they are called 'Heiye'."

Xu Xiaoshou opened his mouth, his expression freezing. Rain poured in with a gurgling sound. He turned his head and spat, then said, "'Reincarnation' is a process of removing dross, just like how the 'Art Seed' outside evolves into a 'Life Seed'. And even A-Yao, in returning to zero, had to temporarily carry the Mourning Emperor Realm far away. You also need an environment where you can focus without distraction. Am I right?"

"Correct."

"How long will that take?"

"Not long."

"Reincarnate then, right here," Xu Xiaoshou urged. "The crossroads are very quiet. I've set up the grand array for you; no one will disturb you."

Bei Huai fell silent. Only Xu Xiaoshou, with righteous indignation, vigilantly scanned his surroundings after speaking, as if he truly wanted to eliminate threats for himself. This caused confusion. Bei Huai's head slowly tilted to one side, then straightened after a short while, and he said, "Oh."

"You want to observe Bei Huai to better deal with A-Yao's reincarnation technique," he said.

Wow! You're truly a clever baby! Then you must also know that this pile of dog shit, meaning you, is only useful for smearing Shennong Baicao's face with filth, right?

"Cultivate, quickly," Xu Xiaoshou commanded, his pretense of weariness fading, as Cang Ku pointed at him. "Don't waste time."

"You will disturb me," Bei Huai said with a serious expression.

"Then kill me," Xu Xiaoshou replied with an innocent expression.

The crossroads immediately fell silent again, with only the sound of the heavy rain pouring down. They remained silent for a full six or seven breaths before Bei Huai nodded.

"Alright."

With a bang, killing intent erupted. The power of decay burst from behind Bei Huai's waist, transforming into a giant hand that directly squeezed towards Xu Xiaoshou opposite him.

"Good move."

Xu Xiaoshou casually tossed Cang Ku to the side of the street. He didn't even use his sword; instead, nine rings of moonlight glowed behind him as he unleashed the "Great Feast" technique. The power of decay transformed into pure energy, swallowed by the Taotie beast head into the Boundless Solitude Pearl, stored up to be used against Bei Huai.

"Bang!"

But at the same time, as Bei Huai made his move, countless pagoda tree branches shot out from beneath his feet. He had merely said "Alright," with no intention of prolonged battle. The pagoda tree branches propelled him upwards, directly pushing him towards the top of the grand array.

"Devour!"

What did the Heaven's Secret Array matter? Under the power of devouring, all energy and matter would be absorbed into his body, directly melting a hole through it. But before he could reach the invisible barrier wall high in the sky, a golden light exploded in the corner of his eye. What he heard was Xu Xiaoshou's utterly bewildered mumble: "What are you thinking, Brother Boiling?"

Bei Huai turned his head.

The Mourning Saint Emperor, high atop the Heavenly Stairway, at this moment only saw that golden ant swelling and growing at a visible speed. Its speed was too fast; it traversed not only space but also an entire era of the Ten Venerable Seats, from insignificance to standing shoulder to shoulder with the heavens, and shoulder to shoulder with him, Bei Huai.

"I told you to cultivate, not to run."

Under the bursting golden light of that posture, an ancient, unremarkable, ordinary fist swung out, landing a direct punch on Bei Huai's delicate face. A shockwave exploded in mid-air. The rain ceased abruptly, as if a waterfall had been severed, splashing sideways.

This body of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man had swallowed too many Void Attendants and was already incredibly tough. Yet this sudden punch—or rather, this punch that arrived first despite being thrown later—still shattered Bei Huai's cheekbone, splattering blood and sending his head uncontrollably tilting sideways.

"Like tilting your head?"

Xu Xiaoshou pressed his advantage, actually pulling his elbow back and raising his fist in mid-air. It looked as if he was enjoying himself and wanted to throw another punch, not treating his opponent as a person at all.

Annoying...

A hint of displeasure colored Bei Huai's brow. But before his move could fully form to strike back, as the person in front pulled his elbow back, an invisible giant seemed to appear behind him, holding a massive blade capable of cutting through space and time, and swept away the rain curtain.

Blade Bearer of Liquo!

Bei Huai's thoughts halted. Past, present, and future were severed by a single blade. By the time he instantly regained his senses, that sandbag-sized fist, accompanied by dazzling golden light, reappeared before his eyes. Void force waves swept around, splashing rainwater everywhere. Space shattered in an instant, and was restored as if new in the blink of an eye. As if no malice had ever occurred, everything that happened inside the intact crossroads, under the grand array's cover, would remain completely unknown to the outside world.

"Pfft!"

Bei Huai, however, opened his mouth and spurted blood. The pain was excruciating, enough to make one's thoughts convulse. This punch had at least double the force of the previous one. One of his teeth was knocked out, the left side of his face was completely caved in, and shattered bones pierced into his mouth. Yet the person was not sent flying. Xu Xiaoshou's control over his strength was too perfect.

The one who liked tilting his head merely tilted his head again, dragging his entire body as if stuck to an invisible turntable in mid-air, spinning once, and then sent his head right back under the other's fist.

"Cultivate! Why are you tilting your head?"

This time, Blade Bearer of Liquo was not needed. As soon as the "Divine Agility Moment" opened, the third punch directly broke through space and slammed straight into Bei Huai's turned nasal bone.

"If you don't cultivate after completing possession and don't consolidate, your Dao heart and realm will be unstable, and you're bound to make a mistake."

"I'm doing this for your own good, why are you running?"

With a cracking sound, Bei Huai's entire skull caved in, his teeth scattered everywhere, and his eyeballs popped out. His body was still in mid-air, but when his head reappeared, it was already embedded in the ground at the crossroads, having "run away from home."

"Hiss!"

Head and body, in an instant, atomized again. Two masses of pure life energy appeared and began piecing themselves together in the center. At that time, green sprouts began to emerge from various corners of the broken crossroads.

"A great living transformation," Xu Xiaoshou mused. "You can also do magic."

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes lit up. Staring at the two masses of life mist and glancing at the vitality emerging from various corners, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Poof-poof—

Inside and out, near and far, strange noises were generated. Immediately after, Blazing White Flame rose from all directions, from the ground and from the air, clinging to the grand array's barrier wall and creating another layer over this battlefield.

Dragon Fusion Realm!

As this realm opened, the green sprouts emerging from various parts of the crossroads had nowhere to hide and were all scorched to ashes. Along with this, the rain-stones falling from the sky could no longer reach the ground. At their inception, they transformed into rain mist, evaporated back to their origin, continued to fall, only to be forced back again, beginning an endless cycle of reincarnation.

The void life mist finally gathered together, but seeing this, couldn't help but tremble. It seemed that Xu Xiaoshou had completely anticipated all of his backup plans, and even...

"Let me think."

In front of this mass of life mist, Xu Xiaoshou formed a slightly unfamiliar pill-refining hand seal. The hand seal was unfamiliar, but the speed was not slow. Furthermore, as for the pill-refining art of the Blazing branch, Xu Xiaoshou later finally grasped its ultimate meaning: not taking pride in forming pills, but only seeking instant explosive destruction.

"Refine!"

He shouted in mid-air.

From Bei Huai's perspective, the world transformed again. The Dragon Fusion Realm, which covered heaven and earth, transformed into a gigantic pill furnace sealed by a cauldron lid. His wriggling mass of life mist became the raw pill liquid, skipping the herb refining step and directly entering the pill-forming process.

"Indeed, heaven and earth are the furnace, creation is the craftsman, Yin and Yang are the charcoal, and all things are the copper..."

This voice sounded again, but it was no longer Xu Xiaoshou drawing on his culinary mastery; it had manifested in Bei Huai's eyes.

He became the medicine! The world became the furnace!

Xu Xiaoshou stood on the Life Dao Disc and struck a pill-forming hand seal. Bei Huai's self began to wriggle uncontrollably, actually collapsing inwards according to the pill-refiner's will. Even his life patterns twisted. Was he going to be compressed into a human pill?

"Ughhh—"

He had taken three punches without making a sound. This time, within the life mist, under the torture of his distorted life form, Bei Huai finally let out a shrill scream.

"Boom!"

A beam of white light erupted, shooting towards the sky. No pill fragrance condensed; instead, there was a scorched, foul smell. The light of pill condensation merged into Bei Huai's opportune push. He infused it with surging life force, trying to open an escape hole. This failed to lift the lid of the "Dragon Fusion Realm" furnace, because a golden raging giant suddenly appeared above. He pressed down with one palm, firmly pressing down the trembling lid of the furnace, as the power of the Heavenly Ancestor surged from his body. The giant looked down disdainfully, seeing everyone below as ants.

Not only did Bei Huai fail to succeed, but the pill condensation's explosion also blasted his life mist form back to its original shape, forcing him back into human form. His disintegrating flesh and blood scattered in all directions. There was no path to heaven, no door to the earth. That shattered flesh and blood instantly divided even finer, penetrating into the cracks all over the crossroads, like tiny pangolins frantically burrowing downwards.

But the golden raging giant, tens of feet tall, was not actually raging. It elegantly spread its hands in the air, with countless spiritual threads hanging from its fingertips, like a puppeteer behind a shadow play screen.

"Mmm-hmm-hmm."

These were puppet strings, mastered through weaving. Plus the life screening from the Life Dao Disc. Xu Xiaoshou knew every piece of flesh and blood, every tiny Bei Huai, intimately. He waited until they were exhausted from running, just about to successfully reach the barriers of the Dragon Fusion Realm and the Heaven's Secret Array. With a lift of his ten fingers, the spiritual threads floated up. Those countless small Bei Huai's were immediately pulled from the ground and reassembled in front of him into one large Bei Huai.

"Cultivate."

The large Bei Huai's features were scrambled. His hands were on his abdomen and back, his knees connected to his shoulders, his ankles and feet raised high above his head, and his toes curled tightly, as if demonstrating his inner turmoil. His face suddenly wriggled, his skin and flesh splitting open to reveal a Three Abhorrence Eye that shot out killing intent. The grey three-petal pattern spun, as if rage was stirring along with it, converging towards the central pupil and forming a black dot...

"Bang!"

Xu Xiaoshou deactivated his raging giant form and poked a finger into Bei Huai's eye socket. With a tearing sound, Bei Huai's abdominal skin and flesh also split open, and the same three-point speckled pattern flowed. Clearly, only the blood-red color of the Three Tribulation Eye represented killing intent, but this time, it rotated with a tremor. Of course, he also failed to succeed. This time, his eye had barely opened when Xu Xiaoshou's finger also plunged into the monster's eye socket.

"Hah..."

At Bei Huai's mouth area, one of the few mouths still in its correct position opened, and a trembling sound was just about to emerge.

"Bad breath."

Xu Xiaoshou punched him, directly punching through the back of his head, leaving him suspended in mid-air.

"Uh-uh-uh..."

Bei Huai's body twitched twice, his limbs flailing wildly. The interrupted rain fell from the sky once again, but before it could land, it was incinerated back up to the sky.

"Uh-uh-uh..."

Bei Huai seemed to be playing dead. Clearly still having life, he hung on Xu Xiaoshou's forearm, unwilling to move again. Xu Xiaoshou didn't bother arguing with this wolf-child who was throwing a tantrum and didn't want to do his homework. He had his own ideas, his own rhythm.

Thought stripping.

As the domain unfolded, the quiet world suddenly became noisy. Inside Bei Huai, countless hoarse voices, all speaking at once, sounded: some angry, some torn, some despondent, some pleading...

"No..."

"I'm... sorry..."

"You think you've won? Dream on!"

"It's rather beautiful, Blazing White Flame..."

"I'm tired..."

"Again! Again! So good! So good!"

"Wuwu, don't hit me, don't hit me..."

It was too chaotic. It was hard to imagine how complex this person's composition was. Xu Xiaoshou searched for quite a while before he finally heard a familiar voice—Shouye's voice, weak yet seeming to laugh:

"Don't worry..."

"This old man, it doesn't hurt..."