Inside Bai Xuanling's Sea of Consciousness.
Perhaps because both Chu Xingchen and Xuan Le had now been punched by Bai Xuanling, they shared something in common. Combined with Bai Xuanling's deterrence, their attitudes toward each other seemed fine for now.
Chu Xingchen and Xuan Le each wore mild expressions as they strolled through this barren Sea of Consciousness, making casual conversation.
Whether Bai Xuanling was secretly on guard was hard to say, but there were clearly things she did not want to discuss. The answers Chu Xingchen sought might very well lie within those unwilling topics.
His natural target shifted to Xuan Le — this Inner Demon who possessed roughly the same memories but was perpetually at odds with Bai Xuanling.
Chu Xingchen pointed at a cluster of dark-red ruins where cultivators fought endlessly in the sky above, and asked:
"Has it always looked like this — all this endless fighting — for all these years?"
"My sister's heart is filled with violence. This place naturally reflects nothing but that."
"Ah, no wonder you were so quick-tempered when we first met. If I had to watch this for hundreds of years, I would be impatient too."
"You do have a human word or two in you after all. I was wrong before." Xuan Le's tone remained as gentle as ever.
Chu Xingchen put on a grateful face. "It takes a big person like Sister Xuan Le to say that."
"By the way, can you really not control it at all? Let them fight if they want to fight — could you not change the scenery into something more pleasant to look at?"
"Green hills and clear waters may not be as fascinating or refined as all this, but would it not be a better choice to relax once in a while?"
Xuan Le cast a glance at Bai Xuanling, who followed behind them with an icy expression, and chuckled lightly:
"My sister simply is not generous enough. If she let me borrow some of her emotional energy, I could probably change things. But she does not trust me, that is all."
Chu Xingchen asked curiously, "Can you perceive what Xuan Ling sees and remembers in the outside world?"
Xuan Le withdrew her gaze, her tone growing cold:
"You would have to ask my sister about that. I have no desire to be sealed away for years again."
Seeing Xuan Le's attitude grow frosty, Chu Xingchen stopped probing further. Instead, he turned his questions toward the various scenes playing out around them.
According to Xuan Le's answers, most of these scenes were from the great calamity that befell the Tianyan Sect. The clearer a person's appearance, the closer their relationship had been and the more vivid the memories.
Xuan Le pointed to a refined-looking middle-aged man wielding a Spirit Treasure sword with a wine gourd at his waist. At this moment, he was charging toward over a dozen enemy cultivators:
"That is the Peak Master of Haijing Peak. His title was the Drunken Peak Master — Zhang Miao. He had Mahayana-level cultivation."
"Normally, whenever you met him, he was a drunkard who could barely speak clearly, spending every day in a haze of wine."
"Half the time, he would pass out somewhere random and his disciples would have to carry him back. But on that day, he sobered up — and never got drunk again."
"His purpose was simply to cover his disciples' retreat while sealing a gap in the grand formation."
"The Tianyan Sect's most famous spirit wine, Chun Nuan, was a formula and brewing method that this drunkard spent time researching."
"But later, even with the original recipe, no one could produce the most authentic Chun Nuan anymore. Perhaps it was missing the drunkard's personal touch. The remaining stock of genuine Chun Nuan is running dangerously low."
As Xuan Le spoke, she turned her head to look at Bai Xuanling and said:
"I remember you still have a jar of it, do you not, Sister? You still cannot bear to drink it?"
Bai Xuanling did not answer this question. She did not even glance at Xuan Yue. Instead, her eyes were fixed on the lone figure charging forward — the moment he was pierced by multiple beams of light and his soul scattered, he did not take a single step back.
A drunkard, facing death without fear. Who could say whether the alcohol had addled his brain?
Seeing that Bai Xuanling had not responded, Xuan Le's gentle smile only deepened. She then pointed to a white-bearded old man on the other side and said:
"Quanyong Peak. His title was the Stubborn Old Codger — Qi Zhimu. Mahayana cultivation."
"A rigid old man whose disciples were just as dull as he was, always going on about ethereal and abstract matters. He would insist on being absolutely meticulous about even the smallest of things."
"This stubborn old codger was also quite extraordinary. He survived being active on the front lines throughout that cataclysm in the shattered heavens, yet ultimately died on that day."
"His disciples followed the old codger's teachings — that bonds between sect siblings came first — and voluntarily stayed behind to hold the rear. Most of them perished alongside him."
"The disciples who remained had such low cultivation that they could not even rebuild Quanyong Peak afterward. In the end, all that was left was a half-ruined minor peak sitting within the Tianyan Sect, with virtually no trace of them remaining."
"This kind of devotion, with nearly all traces being erased — who would even remember them? Truly, as stubborn and foolish as they come."
Bai Xuanling watched the white-bearded elder wielding a staff of wood a zhang long, his form gradually being battered to pieces. Even at the end, all he did was cast a worried gaze toward the rear — toward the disciples he had so carefully nurtured.
His disciples were gone. His traces were nearly gone too.
It was as if... none of it had been worth it.
Xuan Le seemed to sense something, and her words grew even more spirited.
"Longliu Peak — Zhang Pingyun."
"Beiyao Peak — Chen Gu."
"Chiming Peak — Zhou Youlai."
"..."
"Every single one of them was an absolute fool. With Mahayana-level cultivation, how could any of them die so easily?"
"Dying a heroic martyr's death is easy enough for the one who dies. But who is left to pick up the pieces?"
Xuan Le looked at Bai Xuanling and said:
"Why not just abandon the Tianyan Sect back then and cultivate in carefree solitude? Then you would not have to suffer this Inner Demon torment."
"With your aptitude for cultivation and mine, immortality was truly within reach. We could have proven the Grand Dao itself!"
Bai Xuanling withdrew her gaze and answered in a calm tone:
"You could have walked away too, back then."
Xuan Le's smile turned strange:
"Was I not as foolishly pure back then?"
Bai Xuanling's eyes narrowed, and a wild grin spread across her face:
"There will always be fools in this world who do things that seem utterly stupid to ordinary people. They make others laugh. They make others think it is not worth it."
"But it is precisely because there are more of these kinds of fools that the world is interesting."
"Because they cannot bear to let go, because they refuse to accept it, because of their anger, because of their joy — they do those foolish things."
"If everyone hid, if everyone dodged, if everyone weighed every pro and con before acting — then this world would be incredibly boring."
"That is also what makes people interesting."
"The same goes for feelings. It is just a pity that you are only an Inner Demon. You understand nothing but yourself."
Xuan Le tilted her head slightly, her demeanor suddenly relaxing:
"If you say so, then so be it."
Chu Xingchen glanced between the two of them. He naturally understood that Xuan Le's provocative words had a very clear purpose — to stir Bai Xuanling's emotions.
Whether the goal was simply to vent or to serve some other agenda, he could not say.
But the fact that she could get Bai Xuanling to respond with words rather than a sword strike meant that Xuan Le's remarks were having an effect.
Bai Xuanling did not just want to win through force. She wanted to win in her heart as well.
This, however, was also an opportunity.
Chu Xingchen played the fool, pretending not to notice the two of them locked in their secret battle. He continued to ask Xuan Le with apparent curiosity:
"Were all of these people former friends of yours?"
Xuan Le answered:
"The ones with faces are. The ones without faces are not."
Chu Xingchen swept his gaze across the area and asked curiously:
"Are they all here?"
Bai Xuanling sensed Chu Xingchen's intent and reached out to grab him.
But Xuan Le raised a hand to block Bai Xuanling's grasp and said naturally:
"Good question. Of course they are not."
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