Zanxing (Retranslated)

Chapter 302 - The Shattered Jie Xin Bell (1)

The wind brushed through the dense forest, and when it reached the two before them, it suddenly turned gentle.

The pale-faced girl looked at the person before her, her voice as cheerful as in the past.

“It seems that I really am dead,” she said softly, nodding slightly with some regret. “I didn’t even get to live a good life before I died.”

Gui Yansheng’s gaze momentarily blanked. He instinctively tightened his grip on Xiao Chun’s hand. “No, you won’t die.”

Xiao Chun smiled. “Yansheng, are you here to save me?”

She seemed gentle and unassuming, but she was perceptive and intelligent. During the years they lived together in a strange town after fleeing their small village, Xiao Chun had always taken care of him. She knew how to buy the most food with the least money and how to navigate the scheming neighbors. She was especially sensitive to Gui Yansheng’s matters and could instantly sense any anomaly.

“Yes,” Gui Yansheng said softly. “I came back to save you.”

Xiao Chun smiled, a hint of satisfaction in her expression. “You really haven’t forgotten our bond through hardship.”

“Have you become so impressive now?” she asked lightly and casually, as if they were just chatting rather than facing a life-and-death moment. “Tell me about what happened later. How have you been? You seem to be doing well. Your clothes look quite expensive. Did you ever go back to our village? Has the town where we lived changed? Is that tavern we used to crave still open? Have you been there to eat?”

Gui Yansheng was about to answer each of her questions when he looked up and saw the wound on Xiao Chun’s chest growing larger. His brow twitched, and he was about to activate the Two-Life Buddha Wheel again when a pair of hands grabbed him.

“Yansheng, I’m already dead,” Xiao Chun said with a calm gaze.

“No,” he replied urgently and softly, unsure if he was trying to convince himself or others. “Don’t listen to them.”

“To save me, you must pay with lives, right? How long can a single life keep me here? A cup of tea? A stick of incense? Even if you kill everyone in the world, in the end, I will still have to leave, won’t I?”

Gui Yansheng was taken aback.

“You and I are destined to part,” Xiao Chun said with a smile, reaching out to touch his face. “I know you don’t want to let me go, but Yansheng, don’t waste your effort.”

“This isn’t a waste of effort, as long as it can save you,” he insisted, his gaze fixed on the girl in his arms.

“But I don’t want that.”

Gui Yansheng froze.

“If you use the lives of everyone in the world to exchange for a moment of peace for me, I wouldn’t want it. Yansheng, you are from the demon clan, and I am from the human clan. Our lifespans are different. Even without these events, someday, I would still leave before you.” After a pause, Xiao Chun continued, “In fact, I thought about this a long time ago. I don’t know what happened later, but you must have been very sad.”

She looked at Gui Yansheng with a trace of pain in her eyes. “You’ve become so powerful. You must have endured a lot and suffered many grievances.”

Gui Yansheng held her hand, his eyes reddening. “No.”

The bloodstains on Xiao Chun’s chest had soaked her clothes completely, but she seemed oblivious. “Seeing you so strong now, I feel relieved. If you’re worried about leaving regrets, go back to the village and check on my mother. Then visit the old town we lived in and try the pastries from the tavern next door for me. Yansheng,” she gazed deeply at him, as if trying to imprint his current appearance in her heart, and smiled at him. “I’m really glad to see you like this.”

Her smile gradually turned to one of contentment. The bloodstains on her chest spread like blooming red flowers. Her body began to dissipate, turning into drifting willow fluff in the wind, slowly slipping away from his embrace, and floating up to the dark river above, swallowed by the black river.

Nothing was left behind.

“Xiao Chun!” Gui Yansheng reached out helplessly, only catching the cold, thin wind.

He stared at the empty space in his arms, and for a moment, it felt as if he had traveled back many years to when he first left Heishi City and saw Xiao Chun’s lifeless body in the dense forest.

Years had passed, and he thought he had become strong enough that nothing could bewilder him. Yet now, he felt like a shattered porcelain vase, covered in wounds, ready to crumble into dust with the slightest touch.

In this world, the ones he hated were already dead, their presence beyond reach. The one he loved, even defying fate, could not alter the irreversible outcome. The Buddha Wheel felt like a grand deception, a web of destiny woven to manipulate the fleeting life of a mayfly.

Why is it so?

Why can’t the outcome be changed?

The golden light in his eyes suddenly blazed intensely. From Gui Yansheng’s body erupted a dazzling golden radiance, intertwined with dense black mist. Where the black mist and golden light intersected, countless ghostly figures seemed to manifest before him. These figures howled and cried in agony, emerging from his body and rising into the air. For a moment, the world was filled with the wails of demonic spirits.

“Ten Thousand Ghosts Devour the Sun?” Gu Baiying abruptly turned his silver spear and charged directly at Gui Yansheng. “He’s going to destroy all of Yue Mountain!”

Ten Thousand Ghosts Devour the Sun was a top-tier cultivation technique in the Path of Asura. To practice this technique, one must endure the torment of countless ghosts. While gaining immense power, one also suffers endless pain. Zanxing suddenly understood why she felt such pain every time Gui Yansheng used his powers. As a fellow demon with the same bloodline, whether she wanted to or not, she could feel Gui Yansheng’s suffering. And the pain he endured was many times greater than what Zanxing experienced.

He was a madman!

Outside the Five-Wheel Pagoda, the spiritual energy in Yue Mountain rapidly diminished. The white tower seemed like a giant beast with its mouth wide open, greedily devouring the essence of heaven and earth. Flowers and plants turned to ashes in an instant. On the mountain peak in Sui You Village, men and women in white and black robes stood, gazing with grave expressions toward the distant white tower.

“The Buddha Tower is consuming people.”

In the palm of the monk’s skeletal hand, the small Buddha Wheel no longer continued its rotation, as if someone had forcibly stopped it. The Buddha Wheel trembled slightly. From the Buddha Wheel, black and gold light mist began to seep out, a mist that seemed capable of devouring everything, spreading wails and cries wherever it touched.

Creeeak—

A faint sound came from the rotating wheel.

Meng Ying’s heart skipped a beat. She shouted urgently, “Get out of the way—”

As soon as the words were spoken, the small Buddha Wheel, which had been slowly spinning in the monk’s skeletal hand, finally could no longer withstand the strain. With a deafening roar, a surge of violent demonic energy enveloped Yue Mountain, spreading over it completely.

The golden Buddha Wheel shattered into dust, and from its remains flowed a torrent of fierce light. People were thrown out from the surging radiance.

“Seventh Martial Uncle!”

“Junior Sister!”

“Young Princess—”

Zanxing gripped the Wuyou Staff tightly, looking at Gui Yansheng, who was rising from the ground.

He began to smile slowly.