231: Specious

Tang Ku had always thought that this Fairy Yunyi was a woman with immense ambition.

Everything she did was to seize power over Shu Mountain, but now it seemed that this conclusion had to be overturned!

Love turning into hatred was the root of this grand drama!

"What are you saying? You are not my Junior Sister..."

The voice was low and hoarse, and the words were spoken firmly, leaving no room for doubt.

"'You are not my Junior Sister'... That is truly thought-provoking..."

Hiding behind the wall, Tang Ku narrowed his eyes to peer inside. "If I am not mistaken, this person should be the Master of Yao Muyun and the others, that guy named Xuanji Zi... Hmm, this Fairy Yunyi should not be fake, yet he says such things... Could there be some hidden secret in all this?"

"Heh, what are you still struggling for? I am your Junior Sister. I have done so much for you, and this is the only sentence I get in return?"

The emotions in Fairy Yunyi's voice were complex: helplessness, resentment, mockery, plus a trace of malice. All these emotions converged, creating a contradictory sense of contrast.

"On the surface, yes!"

Xuanji Zi's voice remained hoarse, yet firm. "But on the inside, you are no longer her. You do not need to lie to me. Ever since that thing invaded your Sea of Consciousness, your consciousness has been beyond your control. You are a demon, a monster, but the one thing you are not is my Junior Sister."

"My Junior Sister would not kill so many lives for her own selfish desires, nor would she imprison me here for a ridiculous reason. Although we have separated, we still treated each other with mutual respect. My Junior Sister's love would not be so selfish, and you will never understand the feelings I have for her!"

"Heh, Red Corpse merely amplified my desires. Is harboring human desire inherently evil or selfish?"

Fairy Yunyi's voice was full of allure, yet also carried a hint of unwillingness.

"My Shu Mountain has never preached 'preserving heavenly principles and extinguishing human desires.' All living beings have desires, which is unavoidable, but desires must have limits. My Junior Sister and I followed our feelings while staying within the bounds of propriety, thinking of each other. As long as the other was doing well, we were content. But you are different. Your desires are endless; you are never satisfied, always wanting more, hoping to have your cake and eat it too. That is why I say you are not my Junior Sister!"

Xuanji Zi said in a calm voice, "Before long, Red Corpse will completely take over your consciousness. You yourself will become a walking corpse, controlled like a marionette, completely losing your self. What you currently believe to be your own will is actually Red Corpse influencing you... Let go. As long as you abandon these desires, you can expel Red Corpse from your body and recover your true self!"

"Heh, what does it matter if I lose my self? If I cannot even obtain your heart, what is the point of keeping my self?"

Fairy Yunyi's words were filled with self-mockery. "As for you, do you have a self? You are single-mindedly devoted to Shu Mountain, yet you do not even know what kind of person that Baimei you serve really is."

Xuanji Zi's voice paused, then he replied: "At least he has not become selfish and driven only by desire like you!"

"Is that so?"

Fairy Yunyi laughed. "How amusing. It seems you really do not know what Baimei has done... Heh, do you know the origin of that Blood Demon? Hmm? Looking at your expression, it seems you have heard something? Heh, let me tell you the truth: the Youquan Blood Demon is Baimei!"

"...Those are just rumors, not to be fully believed!" Xuanji Zi snorted coldly.

"Not to be fully believed? Your pedantic head is truly stubborn... Once upon a time, our Shu Mountain had a brilliant Genius named Ding Yin. Among the outstanding talents of Shu Mountain at that time, both his martial arts talent and Dao Heart were top-notch. Yet, he later fell into the Demonic Path, was controlled by the Red Soul Stone, and became the Blood Demon of his generation!"

Fairy Yunyi said.

"This matter is known to everyone in our Shu Mountain and is not a secret."

Xuanji Zi said in a deep voice.

"Heh, then do you know what the relationship is between Ding Yin, the current Blood Demon, and Baimei? Looking at your expression, you really know nothing... Ding Yin, the Youquan Blood Demon, and the Immortal Master Baimei... they were originally one person!"

"..."

Xuanji Zi fell silent. He seemed not to know how to refute this.

Fairy Yunyi continued: "When Ding Yin fell into the Demonic Path, he controlled Shu Mountain Disciples to attack Yin Feng Valley, attempting to make both sides perish together. However, during the great battle, the Red Soul Stone was shattered by the True Immortal Changle of Yin Feng Valley. His benevolent thoughts then gained the upper hand. In the clash between benevolent and evil thoughts, the evil thoughts still prevailed. In utter desperation, he used the method of Corpse Severing to sever his benevolent thoughts..."

Behind the wall, Tang Ku could not help but be shocked. He thought to himself, "The 'Severing the Three Corpses' technique has always involved severing all three thoughts simultaneously. How could one sever only the benevolent thought? This is strange and bizarre indeed!"

Xuanji Zi also seemed extremely shocked. He said in a deep voice, "This statement is utterly absurd. Severing the Three Corpses is the orthodox Daoist method to achieve the supreme Dao of a Golden Immortal. One must completely sever benevolent thoughts, evil thoughts, and the self to succeed. Severing only the benevolent thought is unheard of!"

"Heh, that is true, but benevolence, evil, and self are actually all obsessions, and the obsession with benevolence is far less than that of evil... Therefore, with the evil thoughts dominating, the benevolent thoughts were treated as trash and severed outside the seven orifices of his Divine Soul. And this benevolent corpse, with a single thought becoming a spirit, Cultivated for a hundred years, and finally managed to see through the ways of the world, becoming the current sect leader of Shu Mountain—Immortal Master Baimei!"

Fairy Yunyi laughed. "And that evil corpse and the self were left in the original body. Over the years, it became increasingly evil and ruthless, killing countless people, and eventually turned into the current Blood Demon!"

"Heh, and so what? No wonder the sect leader is so selfless; it turns out he was born from benevolent thoughts..."

Xuanji Zi laughed.

"Is that so? Heh, then you are mistaken!"

Fairy Yunyi suddenly mocked, "Do you really think that the evil corpse was the one leading the Corpse Severing back then? That was just what the benevolent corpse wanted him to think. Because the benevolent corpse already had self-awareness at the time, he deliberately showed weakness just to have a pure space for survival. In other words, Baimei is also a guy who will stop at nothing for his own selfish interests. Moreover, he is cowardly and timid; he would not even dare to confront the evil corpse head-on, which is why he resorted to these petty tricks!"

"Impossible..." Xuanji Zi still did not believe it, saying calmly, "Someone who is cowardly and afraid of battle would not lead us personally to fight the Blood Demon. He severed himself out only as a measure of expediency, for the sake of one day fighting the Blood Demon to the death!"

"You really know how to make excuses for him. Since you think so... then let me ask you, why would he not dare to tell you his origin and background? You must have asked him, right? When he succeeded as sect leader, you asked him, did you not?"

Fairy Yunyi sneered. "You are so loyal; is he afraid that you would rebel against him because of it?"

"This..."

Xuanji Zi was stumped. Even Tang Ku could hear from those heavy breaths that his thoughts were in turmoil.

"...Is Shu Mountain the Shu Mountain I am familiar with? But the characters and stories here are seemingly so, yet not, like the Shu Mountain I know..."

Tang Ku frowned slightly. "It seems the Journey to the West world is indeed another world independent of history... completely different from the world I am familiar with..."