84: Chapter 84 A Discovery of Conscience

Wu Xi stood there, his eight Tentacles drooping to the ground, motionless.

He had just tried every physical attack: tentacle lash, bone spur puncture, and even Void Realm tear. But hitting King Xianlian was like hitting cotton; it didn't even leave a mark. This skin was truly impervious to blades and spears.

"What? Nothing to say?" King Xianlian took two steps forward, his massive shadow completely engulfing Wu Xi. "Weren't you quite arrogant just now?"

Jiang Jiye, tied on the ground, let out an exclamation. Ling Muxue frowned, a trace of gravity appearing in her eyes for the first time. Qiu Chuanxing suddenly raised his head, his eyes almost spitting fire. Niu Fei roared and struggled desperately again, the iron chains rattling with a "clatter-clatter" sound.

King Xianlian looked back at them, smiling even more happily. "Don't rush, one by one. Once I'm done with Wu Xi, it'll be your turn. I will peel your skins off one by one, make them into lanterns, and hang them at the entrance of my cave, so everyone knows the fate of offending King Xianlian."

He turned his head back to look at Wu Xi, applying more force with his hand. "Wu Xi, tell me, where should I start peeling your skin? Should I start with your octopus head, or these Tentacles of yours?"

Wu Xi still didn't speak. His Tentacles were being pulled painfully, but his eyes remained unusually calm. He was observing, thinking. Physical attacks were ineffective, so what about mental attacks?

Whispers of the Ancient God could directly act on the depths of a creature's Soul, Awakening their most primitive fears, darkest memories, and most unbearable pasts.

"King Xianlian," Wu Xi's voice suddenly became calm, calm to the point of being terrifying. "Do you think you are truly invincible?"

King Xianlian paused for a moment, then burst into laughter. "What? What other abilities do you have? Go ahead and use them! I want to see what other tricks you have."

Wu Xi took a deep breath. His octopus head lifted slightly, and all eight Tentacles stopped moving. Then, he began to speak.

It was not a human language, nor any known language; it was a sound from the beginning of the Universe, a whisper from the depths of Chaos.

The sound was very low, very light, like a mosquito buzzing. Yet, it clearly entered the ears of everyone present, like an icy awl, piercing deeply into the depths of their Souls.

The five people tied on the ground shuddered simultaneously.

Niu Fei felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet to his crown, his hair standing on end. Qiu Chuanxing felt as if his heart were being gripped by an invisible hand, unable to catch his breath. The smile on Ling Muxue's face vanished; she bit her lip tightly, her eyes filled with shock. Jiang Jiye felt her Soul trembling; she subconsciously held Jiang Yuehong tighter. Jiang Yuehong, conversely, stopped trembling, staring blankly at Wu Xi with hollow eyes.

As for King Xianlian, who bore the brunt of it, his laughter suddenly stopped. The smile on his face froze. The ghost-head saber in his hand dropped to the ground with a "clatter." His body began to tremble slightly.

Wu Xi's voice changed, becoming a gentle and magnetic voice, like an old friend whispering in one's ear.

"You had a kind mother and a hardworking father. They scrimped and saved, leaving the best things in the house for you. Your father would go up the mountain to cut firewood before dawn every day, then carry it to a town dozens of miles away to sell. Your mother would mend clothes under an oil lamp every night until late. Their greatest wish was for you to study well, to get ahead in the future, and not have to suffer like them."

"You once had dreams too. You wanted to be a hero, to uphold justice, to rob the rich and help the poor. You wanted to marry a gentle and beautiful wife, have a cute child, and live a happy and fulfilling life. You often played hero games with the other children in the village, and you always played the most powerful hero, protecting everyone."

"But later, everything changed."

Wu Xi's voice grew lower and more magnetic. His Tentacles vibrated slightly, accompanying his words, emitting a strange ripple. This ripple, like water waves, spread out in circles, enveloping the entire Gualian Cave.

King Xianlian's eyes widened slowly. His gaze became confused, as if he had returned to a long, long time ago.

"The summer when you were fifteen, the weather was exceptionally hot. A group of bandits came to the village. They rode horses and carried blades, charging into the village. They burned houses, looted, killed, and set fires, stopping at nothing."

"Your father pushed you and your mother into the woodshed, then grabbed a hoe and rushed out. Through a crack in the woodshed, you saw a bandit slash a blade into your father's head. Your father fell to the ground without even a grunt. Fresh blood sprayed everywhere, staining the bluestone slab in front of the door red."

"Your mother screamed and rushed out, throwing herself onto your father's corpse. The bandits caught her and dragged her away."

"You hid in the woodshed, covering your mouth tightly, not daring to make a sound. You were trembling all over, your teeth chattering non-stop. You watched those bandits burning, killing, and looting in the village, watching your fellow villagers fall into pools of blood one by one. You wanted to rush out, but your legs were as soft as noodles; you simply couldn't stand up."

"After the bandits left, you crawled out of the woodshed. The entire village had turned into ruins. The air was filled with the smell of blood and burning. You saw your father's corpse, his eyes still open, staring fixedly at the sky. You found your mother on a crooked tree outside the village; she had hanged herself."

"You didn't cry, and you didn't scream. You just silently dug two pits and buried them. You knelt before their graves for three days and three nights, without eating or drinking. On the morning of the fourth day, you stood up, turned around, and left the village."

"From that day on, you changed."

There was a trace of imperceptible sorrow in Wu Xi's voice. "You swore you would never be a good person again. You swore you would become worse than everyone else, more shameless than everyone else. Because only then could you survive, and only then could you avoid being bullied."

"You began to steal, to rob, to cheat. You did all sorts of evil deeds. For a bite of food, you would betray your friends; for an ounce of silver, you would kill your benefactor. You learned to lie, learned to flatter, learned to be brazenly shameless."

"Gradually, you became more and more shameless, with less and less of a bottom line. Your skin became thicker and thicker, eventually reaching the point of being impervious to blades and spears."

"You gave yourself a name: King Xianlian. You occupied this Shameless Mountain and dug this Gualian Cave. You gathered a group of people as shameless as you, reigning supreme here."

"You thought that in this way, you could forget the past, forget those painful memories. You thought that as long as you were shameless enough, cruel enough, those memories wouldn't come to torture you again."

"But you were wrong."

Wu Xi's voice suddenly became stern, exploding in King Xianlian's ears.

"Those memories have never disappeared. They have always been hidden in the depths of your Soul, like poisonous thorns, pricking your heart every moment."

"You have nightmares every night. You dream of your father, dream of your mother. They look at you with disappointed eyes, asking why you have become what you are now. You want to tell them you just wanted to survive, but you cannot open your mouth."

"You dare not answer them. You can only use even more shameless actions to cover up your guilt, using even more cruel means to numb your conscience. The more people you kill, the more evil deeds you do, the more painful your heart becomes. And the more painful you are, the more evil deeds you must do to numb yourself."

"Do you think you have no conscience?"

"No, you still do."

"Your conscience has always been there. It is just wrapped by your thick skin, covered by your endless shamelessness. It is in the depths of your Soul, silently bleeding, silently weeping."

The entire Gualian Cave was deathly silent. King Xianlian stood there, motionless.

On his fake face, that bright smile still hung. However, his body was trembling violently. Bean-sized beads of sweat rolled down from his forehead, flowing down along his fake face, gathering into a drop at the chin, then dripping onto the ground.

His hands were tightly clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white. His nails were deeply embedded into his palms, and fresh blood flowed out from between his fingers.

"No... that's not it..." King Xianlian muttered to himself, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper were rubbing.

"I am not wrong... I just wanted to survive..."

"This world is inherently a world where the strong prey on the weak... good people get no good rewards... only bad people can live long..."

"I am not wrong... I am not wrong..."

He seemed to be persuading himself, or perhaps refuting Wu Xi, but his voice grew smaller and smaller, with less and less conviction.

Wu Xi watched him quietly without speaking. He knew that now was the most critical moment.

Whispers of the Ancient God had already planted a seed in the depths of King Xianlian's Soul. Now, this seed was taking root and sprouting, destroying his psychological defenses bit by bit. As long as he added a little more fire, he would collapse completely.

"Do you still remember Wang Zhong?" Wu Xi suddenly spoke, his voice remaining calm.

King Xianlian's body jolted violently. It was as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

"That companion who grew up with you from a young age. You went up the mountain to cut firewood together, went down to the river to catch fish together, and stole peaches from the neighbor's house together. He treated you as his best brother, always giving you the best things to eat first. Once, when you were sick, he carried you over dozens of miles of mountain roads to see a doctor, while he himself fainted from exhaustion."

"Later, you fled from famine together. On the road, you encountered robbers; he hid his only two ounces of silver in your bosom, then lured the robbers away. You took those two ounces of silver and ran. You didn't look back. You didn't even know if he was dead or alive."

"Three years later, you met him in a small town. He wasn't dead, but a robber had severed one of his arms, and he had become a beggar. He recognized you and ran over happily, calling your name. He said he had searched for you for a long time, thinking you were already dead."

"And you? To avoid feeling guilty, you pushed him off a cliff."

"Do you still remember Widow Li?"

Wu Xi's voice continued, every word like a hammer, smashing hard into King Xianlian's heart.

"That poor woman, whose husband died early, was raising her three-year-old child alone. She saw you were pitiful and often sent you food. In winter, she made you a cotton coat; in summer, she boiled mung bean soup for you. She treated you like her own younger brother."

"Yet, while she was working in the fields, you stole her only meager savings, money she had prepared for her child's medical treatment, and you set fire to her house."

"When she returned from the fields, the house had burned to ashes. Her child had been burned alive inside. She held her child's corpse and wept for three days and three nights. She ran barefoot through the streets, screaming the child's name as she ran. Later, she fell into the river and drowned."

"Do you remember..."

"Stop talking!" King Xianlian suddenly let out a shrill roar. This roar didn't sound like a human voice, but more like the wail of an injured beast before death.

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot.

"Stop talking! I beg you, stop talking!"

He held his head in pain, crouching on the ground. His massive body curled into a ball, like a child who had been wronged.

"I was wrong... I was truly wrong..."

"I am sorry to my parents... sorry... sorry to Widow Li... sorry to that child... I am sorry to everyone..."

Dark green tears flowed out from behind his fake face. This number one shameless villain, this impervious King Xianlian, was actually crying.

His fake face still wore that bright smile, but tears kept flowing from the edges of the fake face, mixed with sweat and blood, soaking the front of his clothes. What a bizarre, what an absurd scene. A face that was always smiling was shedding the most painful tears. The five people tied on the ground were stunned.

Wu Xi watched him quietly, feeling no joy in his heart, only an inexplicable sorrow. He had used Whispers of the Ancient God to awaken King Xianlian's long-dormant conscience.

How much pain, how much despair must a person endure to turn themselves into a shameless villain? How much sin, how much guilt must a person carry to completely collapse the moment their conscience awakens?

"I am a sinner..." King Xianlian muttered to himself, his voice filled with despair.

"I am guilty of heinous crimes... I deserve to die... My living only brings disaster to this world..."

"I should die... I should have died long ago..."

He slowly stood up. On his face, that bright smile still hung. But his eyes had become incredibly calm, incredibly clear.

It was a calmness that saw through life and death, saw through everything. He bent down and picked up the ghost-head saber that had fallen to the ground.

Wu Xi did not move. He knew what King Xianlian was about to do. The five people tied on the ground also held their breath, watching him quietly.

King Xianlian raised the ghost-head saber. The cold blade flickered with a chilling light in the reflection of the torches. He aimed the blade at his own neck.

"Father, Mother, I am sorry to you."

"Brother Wang, Sister-in-law Li, and that child, I am sorry to you."

"Everyone I have harmed to death, I am sorry to you."

"I am coming now to apologize to you."

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then suddenly swung the blade!

Just then, a sudden change occurred! King Xianlian's movement of swinging the blade suddenly stopped. He opened his eyes wide, a glimmer of clarity flashing in them.

"No..." He muttered to himself. "I cannot die just like this..."

His fake face began to melt. Bit by bit, like wax melted by the sun. That fake face that always wore a bright smile slowly fell off, revealing the real face underneath. It was a face weathered by time. The face was full of wrinkles, and a long scar extended from the forehead all the way to the chin.

Just then! Wu Xi moved! His eight Tentacles erupted simultaneously, like eight black bolts of lightning, instantly piercing King Xianlian's body!

"Puchi!" Dark green blood sprayed out and splattered all over the ground, King Xianlian's smile froze.

He looked at Wu Xi in disbelief. "...How could it be..." He asked with difficulty, dark green blood constantly gushing from his mouth.

Wu Xi slowly retracted his Tentacles. His eyes were cold, without a trace of emotion.

"Because some sins cannot be atoned for."

"Your living is the greatest blasphemy against them."

"Therefore, you must die."

King Xianlian opened his mouth, wanting to say something more. But he couldn't say anything. His body swayed, and then, with a "bang," he fell to the ground.