Do not die

The real appearance of the strange female cultivator has changed, and in the process, her self-perception seems to have also changed.

She just left the island where she once lived, came to the end of Baiyue Bay, and became Granny Bai.

Before going back to this step, Meng Zhou didn't realize that something was wrong.

But after tracing back to such changes, Meng Zhou immediately discovered many strange things.

The neighbors of Baiyue Bay almost immediately accepted the existence of Granny Bai.

Although there are some similarities in appearance between this Granny Bai and Bai Zhi who once lived here, it is easy to think of the close relationship between them.

But the speed of acceptance is still a bit too "silky".

This quiet, moistening and silent transformation reminded Meng Zhou of what happened to Yaya and Granny Bai after they woke up after discovering the inscriptions of "Hundred Rope Knots" recorded on the protruding stone wall. transformation.

In addition, Meng Zhou was very concerned about another change.

Before the strange female cultivator became "Grandma Bai", her understanding of knots was the same as that of other low-level cultivators.

Completely ignorant and clueless.

After she became "Grandma White", she naturally mastered some rudimentary rope-tying skills and barely reached the threshold of a first-level low-level rope knotter.

You can make a living by knitting some items suitable for monks in the early stages of Qi training.

Some of the skills related to the knot master seemed to have entered her heart when her true body changed.

"She woke up at that time and sat quietly on the bed for a long time. Maybe she was digesting the corresponding knowledge?"

Meng Zhou speculated in his mind.

Whether it's Yaya's line or Granny Bai's line, going back to the end, there are discoveries that surprise Meng Zhou.

But it failed to give him a clear answer to the answer he really wanted to pursue.

Instead, it let him know that tracing the two lines of Yaya and Granny Bai has come to an end.

Even if you pursue these two lines further, you will not gain anything.

"Well, it can't be said that there will be no more gains. If we can follow the two lines of Yaya's parents and the strange female cultivator.

If we pursue him more than 160 years ago, we should be able to trace him to Yanzhuang, the bloodline ancestor. "

Although he did not delve into the past of the strange female cultivator, Meng Zhou was basically certain that she was also a descendant of Yanzhuang's blood.

Although the doubts remain unresolved, Meng Zhou does not intend to continue digging along these two lines.

What's more, the quality of his current soul cannot support him to go back in time to such a long time in the past.

Yanzhuang's ability to achieve this with the sixth level of pill formation was not due to himself, but to the nearly two hundred years of soul power reserves stored in that special divine soul armor.

…

Tracing the two lines of Yaya and Granny Bai failed to solve some of the doubts in Meng Zhou's heart.

But this is not an answer.

After eliminating these two lines, Meng Zhou could basically determine where the most important line was.

"Angelica dahurica."

In the final analysis, the problem comes back to Bai Zhi.

And it is not difficult to find traces of Angelica dahurica.

After returning to the end of Baiyue Bay, Meng Zhou stared at the area where Granny Bai's grocery store was and continued to look back in time.

Soon, he caught the traces of Angelica dahurica.

And the first time he captured traces of Bai Zhi in this area - in the normal timeline, it was actually the last time Bai Zhi appeared here, which happened to be the day when Granny Bai moved in, and the time was offset by about half a day.

At that time, Granny Bai was not "Grandma Bai", she was still a strange female nun, and she was still living well on another small island that spanned most of the Jade Lake.

Then, Meng Zhou completely traced back and restored Bai Zhi's life trajectory in Baiyue Bay. Meng Zhou was shocked and surprised.

Finally, he collected all his thoughts and just watched and thought quietly.

…

When Bai Zhi first appeared at the end of Baiyue Bay, she seemed quite young.

In his early twenties, he was at the fourth level of Qi training, and with the label of "the remnant of the Yan family" on his head, he carefully and low-key took root at the end of Baiyue Bay.

At this time, apart from her excellent talent in cultivation, which seemed to be self-taught without a teacher, her mysterious inheritance as a painter, and her unique "talent" that could ignore any formation restrictions, she showed no other special features. .

And she also knew that as a "remnant of the Yan family", these were the sources of trouble.

Therefore, she never dared to make a living through these means.

And it was impossible for her to delay her own cultivation progress.

Therefore, during that period, her biggest trouble was the lack of resources and spiritual stones.

Whenever she was in short supply of spiritual stones, she would use some secret channels to sell some insensitive practices, spells and other items for cash.

The "Water Nourishing Technique" that finally passed through the hands of the original owner of this body was the one that flowed out of Bai Zhi's hands during that period.

Such a peaceful and fulfilling life passed by for more than ten years.

Bai Zhi's cultivation has reached the ninth level of Qi training without her realizing it, and her career as a painter has also reached the peak of the first level.

Since Bai Zhi's cultivation reached the late stage of Qi training, her behavior has gradually become strange.

Baiyue Bay is not even considered top-notch among the first-order spiritual lands. The best spiritual land is at the head of the bay and is occupied by a cultivating family. It continues to lurk at the end of the bay, which is increasingly detrimental to the growth of Bai Zhi.

As a practitioner, in order to pursue a broader world, it is a natural choice to leave Baiyue Bay and go to a spiritual island with higher quality spiritual land, or simply leave Jade Lake.

What's more, even if they don't start from their own cultivation, they know that there are ulterior motives in Cuiyu Lake and have been sparing no effort to track down the "remnants of the Yan family".

Then, leaving Jade Lake and traveling to other spiritual veins seems to be an easy way to think of.

But Bai Zhi rarely has such thoughts.

Even if her cultivation reached the late stage of Qi training, it became increasingly difficult to stay in Baiyue Bay to practice. She occasionally had the idea of ​​"leaving this place and leaving Jade Lake" in her mind.

But after one night, this idea will disappear again.

The waves that arose in her heart were quietly smoothed away time and time again.

As Bai Zhi's cultivation level got higher and higher, the thoughts of leaving became more and more frequent.

Although, these thoughts will soon be quietly wiped away by some invisible force.

But Bai Zhi finally gradually realized that she was inappropriate.

Because she is a painter.

When her thoughts cross a certain limit, they will be corrected again and again by an invisible force, but she is able to convey certain emotions through the form of paintings.

Bai Zhi, who had been re-corrected, no longer knew that she had thought about leaving again and again, but when she looked at these paintings, the emotions contained in those paintings rushed into her heart instantly.

Objectively speaking, in the memories that have been corrected and updated time and time again, Bai Zhi is unable to see her true self.

Even though she was in the middle of the game, she couldn't see her true face.

But she relied on the magic of the painter's profession and the sensitive and unreasonable intuition of an art professional to feel the fact that she was in a special state of imprisonment.

Of course, at that time, she only felt psychologically and emotionally that the world was a cage and she was a prisoner.

She had no idea what the real reason was.

Moreover, because of regular "corrective grooming", this emotion is only intermittent.

Many times, she even attributes this irregular "depression" to her own sensitivity and pretentiousness, and laughs at herself about it.

This intermittent nervousness began to appear after her cultivation reached the late stage of Qi training.

And as her cultivation and career as a painter continued to progress, it became more and more frequent.

However, because of the existence of that invisible force, she could always be "corrected" again and again.

Until one day, Bai Zhi had another "nervous" attack.

At this moment, her attack symptoms were getting more and more serious. Not only was she restless and unable to control herself, but her hands and fingers were also twisting randomly uncontrollably.

During this attack, in order to distract herself, she picked up a bunch of string beside her.

As his hands came into contact with the string, the fingers that were twisting randomly suddenly became much calmer.

However, it didn't stop.

Instead, they tie one knot after another.

Meng Zhou clearly saw that as the dense knots were born between Bai Zhi's flexible and slender fingers, her mood became more and more peaceful.

It was as if her nervous, restless, and uncontrollable emotional changes flowed from her body, from her heart, along the fingers of her hands, and transferred to each of the knots.

When Bai Zhi's hands and fingers became calm again, her expression also became calm again.

His eyes became calm and peaceful.

It was a tranquility that had never appeared in Bai Zhi before.

Then, she strolled out of the room, stepped on the sparkling water of Jade Lake, and walked out of Baiyue Bay.

At this moment, it is the night before dawn.

And just before Bai Zhi was about to leave Baiyue Bay, she did one last thing.

She destroyed all the paintings she had made since she became "neurotic", as well as the string of knots that helped her quickly get out of her neurotic state.

The moment she destroyed these items, Bai Zhi looked unchanged.

But in the eyes of Meng Zhou, the bystander, Bai Zhi, who once briefly jumped out of the water and saw himself, fell into the "river" again, and became the "remnant of the Yan family" Bai Zhi again.

However, this time, she seemed to have untied some invisible chain on her body.

No longer trapped in Baiyue Bay, no longer trapped in Jade Lake.

She stepped into the water and walked away without any obstruction.

Meng Zhou, who had traced all the way back to this point, did not continue to follow Bai Zhi's rapidly disappearing traces.

Instead, he looked around carefully and confirmed one more thing:

"Yan Zhuang controlled a spiritual bird that day and traced the traces of Angelica dahurica.

The direction it leaves Baiyue Bay is here. "

Meng Zhou did not follow Bai Zhi's retreating figure, but Meng Zhou did not stop looking back in time.

He stopped looking back at this moment.

His eyes looked at the pile of ashes on the shore that was quickly being blown away by the wind.

Among the ashes, there were paintings that could put her into a "neurotic" state, as well as a large string of knots made of ordinary ropes.

Now, they all turned into ashes, blended together, and quickly dissipated between the sky and the earth under the blowing of the lake breeze in the middle of the night.

Meng Zhou felt very interesting.

Yanzhuang's search for Bai Zhi started from the source after he left more than a hundred years ago, and he searched downwards from generation to generation.

When the soul power was precious and he had clearly found Bai Zhi, the "true spirit of ancient paintings", the natural choice he made was to follow Bai Zhi's departure trajectory.

He no longer has any reason to stay in Baiyue Bay and look back on the situation of Baiyue Bay after Bai Zhi left.

Therefore, he naturally wouldn't know that just during the day after Bai Zhi left Baiyue Bay, "Mother Bai" came to Baiyue Bay and stayed in the room where Bai Zhi had lived.

Even if some of Bai Zhi's behaviors before leaving were a bit strange, from Yan Zhuang's perspective, his attention would basically be focused on those paintings.

After all, it is precisely because of these destroyed paintings that Bai Zhi becomes "nervous" again and again and more frequently.

Every time she was "nervous", it was like a person showing signs of waking up from a sweet sleep.

As for those knots, although they were strange, as Bai Zhi's "neurotic" symptoms became more and more severe, in order to calm her mood and distract her attention during each attack, she would do some strange actions.

This method of playing with knots to soothe your heart is a bit eye-catching.

But among the many strange behaviors, it is not so eye-catching.

Of course, more importantly, Yan Zhuang did not associate it with the Knot Master at all.

"Oh, what a pity."

Meng Zhou looked at the knots that turned into ashes and drifted away, and his heart was filled with regret.

He had a feeling that there was a lot of precious information contained in those knots.

Unfortunately, he could not read what information was recorded in these knots just by looking at them with the naked eye.

Only by using your hands in person, running your fingers through the knots, and feeling their touch and ups and downs, and every subtle change and fluctuation of spirituality contained in them, can you accurately interpret the information.

However, although he could not clearly interpret the information contained in the knots, Meng Zhou still understood a lot with his mastery of all the information and his attainments as a third-level knot master.

Let’s talk about time first, the moment when these knots burn into ashes.

Across more than half of the Jade Lake, on another small island, the strange female cultivator, who also had Yanzhuang's blood flowing in her body, quietly began to change at the bloodline level in her sleep.

She became "White Granny" and she acquired the rudimentary skills of a knotter.

After Bai Zhi left, she took the initiative to come to Baiyue Bay, saying that she was "serving on behalf of others" or "taking the blame for others". Many of the shackles that should have fallen on Bai Zhi were transferred to her.

And it was also at the moment when these knots were destroyed by Bai Zhi along with a large number of paintings.

Meng Zhou looked at the place where the stone wall once stood.

Just after the knot was destroyed, carvings appeared silently on the stone wall.

These carvings don't look like they were newly carved. Instead, they reveal traces of years of vicissitudes and erosion by wind, frost, rain, and snow.

"Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why Granny Bai and Yaya have such different attitudes towards Bai Zhi."

"On the one hand, in order to escape smoothly, Granny Bai really suffered for Bai Zhi."

"On the other hand, before leaving, before 'falling into the water again,' Bai Zhi left some hope.

And Yaya was born in response to this hope.

If Yaya continues to grow up smoothly, when her Knotting Master reaches the peak of the first level, she may be able to be like Bai Zhi, with the ability to temporarily jump out of the "water" and see herself. "

In order to truly clarify the inner trajectory, we need to first see one thing clearly, that is, whether Bai Zhi, Yaya or Bai Po Po, there are "two".

One is three people in the form of flesh and blood with Yanzhuang's blood flowing in their bodies.

They all have origins and parents. If one traces the line between the three of them, they can all be traced back to Yan Zhuang.

When Meng Zhou went back in time, all he saw were traces of them.

But in fact, they are all "shells".

"After using the secret method of blood heir cleansing in Yanzhuang, the first Yan family bloodline was born. All the descendants with Yan family blood flowing in their bodies became tool men."

The other "Bai Zhi", "Ya Ya" and "Bai Po" came from the shabby ancient paintings that Yanzhuang brought out from Xingxiu Kelp, which he thought were "the true spirit of ancient paintings".

"Baizhi", "Yaya", and "Bai Po Po" may all be derived from this "true spirit of ancient paintings";

It is also possible that the "true spirit of ancient paintings" that Yan Zhuang believed to be a chaotic collection of "Baizhi", "Yaya" and "Bai Po Po".

Due to the lack of more clues, Meng Zhou could not confirm which situation it was, so he just called it "the true spirit of ancient paintings".

Ever since Yan Zhuang used the secret method of blood purification, this "true spirit of ancient paintings" has been circulating and washing in the Yan family's bloodline from generation to generation.

And finally, here at Bai Zhi, there was a phased result.

However, in the eyes of Yan Zhuang, who has only a little knowledge, this is all the result.

From this, a new doubt arose in Meng Zhou's heart.

"The person who is hiding behind Yanzhuang and leading all of this, how much does he know about the situation?

Like Yan Zhuang, he didn't know much about the true situation of this 'true spirit of ancient paintings'.

He simply didn't want to pay the price himself, so he borrowed Yan Zhuang's hands to do all this so he could pick a ready-made fruit? "

"And all kinds of weird phenomena happened to Bai Zhi, Yaya, and Granny Bai.

It might be some kind of ability hidden in the secret method of 'Blood Inherited Spirit Cleansing'.

If all the Yan family's bloodline is regarded as a special 'pond' that confines and washes the 'true spirit of ancient paintings', then the Emerald Jade Lake is its boundary.

Once the 'Ancient Painting True Spirit' shows a desire to 'climb out', the secret method will make a timely counterattack and kick it back into the 'pond'. "

"However, it is also possible that this has nothing to do with the secret method of soul-cleansing by blood, but another layer of countermeasures done by the people behind the scenes.

If so, this back-up plan already existed when Yan Zhuang got the scroll of broken ancient paintings. "

Meng Zhou analyzed in his mind.

"Of course, there is another possibility, that is, the weird behavior that happened to them may not come from the outside world, but from themselves.

They are likely to be subject to certain restrictions due to the particularity of their existence.

For example, ‘Can’t jump out of the water, can’t see myself’.

It's like no matter how strong a person is, he can't pull his hair and lift himself off the ground. "

"..."

Although there are still many doubts in his heart, and as some old doubts are answered, some new doubts arise in Meng Zhou's mind.

But overall, during this trip to Baiyue Bay, Meng Zhou basically got all the answers he wanted.

After getting these answers, the next thing to do is, of course, to tear them up.

"As long as I know these things."

However, before the official action, Meng Zhou once again dived deep underground and had a good sleep first.

After his soul and mental strength were fully recovered, he sneaked back to near the surface.

Meng Zhou felt a little lucky.

"Fortunately, the longest period of time, more than fifty years ago, did not exceed the limit of the Time Flowing Water Sword."

The time in Baiyue Bay once again goes back to more than fifty years ago.

That day, Bai Zhi, who was in her twenties, had already reached the fourth level of Qi training, could not be called extremely beautiful, and still had a green aura on her face, appeared in Baiyue Bay.

And at this moment, a long sword that seemed to be bright and dark, in between being invisible and invisible, passed over her head.

But it didn't stop.

Keep going back.

Going back all the way to sixty-four years ago, this is also the ultimate distance that Meng Zhou can attack with the "Time Flowing Water Sword".

The long sword, unable to go back any further, hung quietly over the street.

In an instant, a strange power spread.

With it as the center, there seemed to be ripples like water ripples.

And there seems to be an unyielding light that can pierce everything and shine in all directions.

Covered by this ripple-like and ray-like magical power, the bustling streets with people coming and going are like a bubble burst by a needle, or like a mirage that disappears without a trace in the blink of an eye.

All that's left is empty whiteness.

At this moment, if anyone comes here to look back on this period of time, they will not be able to see anything.

And this "Time Sword" that was "sent" by Meng Zhou sixty-four years ago did not stop after the sword was slashed out. Instead, it seemed like it was being slowly lifted to the top of a waterfall. Long sword.

After splitting the top layer of water, he didn't stop at all and slashed all the way down.

The sixty-four years of time traces from top to bottom were scattered one by one by this rapidly "falling" sword.

While slashing downwards at a rapid speed, this strange long sword was still flashing and moving around the area, encompassing all the people, things, and objects in the two streets at the end of the bay.

Everything touched by this sword light was easily destroyed one by one.

When this "Sword of Time and Flowing Water" cuts to the end, time also "falls" all the way to the present.

After sheathing his sword, Meng Zhou inspected the results.

"No."

"No."

"Nothing at all."

Looking back in time again, all traces of the past sixty-four years in this area have completely disappeared, leaving only a clean expanse of white.

Of course, what Meng Zhou erased was only the old scenes within the two streets.

As for the practitioners living in this area, their activity areas naturally extend far beyond this small street.

But Meng Zhou had no idea of ​​further expanding the scope of his attack.

It was impossible for him to continue to expand the scope of his attack, nor to eliminate all traces of the past of the practitioners who had lived in this area in the past sixty-four years.

Can't do it.

Moreover, it is not necessary.

Through backtracking, it was confirmed that most of the sensitive content took place in the "White Granny Grocery Store".

Now that he has destroyed both streets, what else does he want?

However, some necessary "refinement" work still needs to be done.

The first thing Meng Zhou refined was the knotted mark left on the raised stone wall by Bai Zhi before she left.

Under the precise control of the Perfect Time Flowing Water Sword, Meng Zhou erased those scratches without damaging the protruding stone wall.

At the same time, all traces of Yaya playing here will be eliminated.

Then, all traces of Granny Bai taking Yaya back and the traces of the strange female cultivator becoming Granny Bai were all erased by Meng Zhou.

"Unless someone can go back in time for the entire Jade Lake, it will be impossible to find these traces and clues."

"However, even if some traces are found all the way down from the source of the bloodline in Yanzhuang, it is impossible to draw any useful information in the face of a blank slate of information that lasts for more than sixty years."

Meng Zhou reviewed it in his mind. Although some "sword wounds" were inevitably left behind, he no longer planned to do more.

After doing all this, Meng Zhou left Baiyue Bay quietly.

After leaving Baiyue Bay, Meng Zhou spent some time to erase all traces of Bai Zhi leaving Cuiyu Lake and himself entering and exiting Cuiyu Lake.

"So be it."

Meng Zhou stood on the shore outside the Emerald Lake. He did not continue to track and erase the traces of his own entry and exit from the Emerald Lake or Bai Zhi's departure.

This location is remote enough and hidden enough.

Without a clear time and place, Meng Zhou really couldn't imagine that anyone could find this "thread" buried in the long river of time.

If you really have this ability, there is really no need to do more.

…

After doing this, Meng Zhou left Jade Lake without stopping.

When leaving, Meng Zhou deliberately passed Maple Forest Island.

Meng Zhou once again saw the girl who looked exactly like Yaya, but was a few years older than her.

Their family has moved to this island.

At this moment, she is practicing in the Baijiang Gang's Dharma Teaching Hall.

Meng Zhou's eyes did not stay on her for long, but looked at another person.

It was a calm and majestic figure who looked in his forties. At this moment, he was silently watching a group of young juniors.

This person is none other than the current leader of the Baijiang Gang, Xu Lei, the third child who once lived with his original owner along the Baijiang River.

"You can be regarded as reaping the dividends of the great era."

Meng Zhou sighed in his heart.

At this moment, he was still integrating into the water next to Maple Forest Island using Five Elements Escape. He had no intention of showing up to talk to him. He paid attention to his situation by the way, and Meng Zhou left quietly.

In the massive information collected by the Changle Chamber of Commerce, Meng Zhou had also seen the name of the Baijiang Gang several times.

However, the information content is very brief, and they all appear in the form of vassal forces of the Xu family.

The Xu family is also a veteran force in Cuiyu Lake. When the Mo family dominated Cuiyu Lake, they had a place in Cuiyu Lake.

Later, the Mo family was destroyed and Cuiyu Lake underwent great changes. The Xu family took advantage of the situation and became one of the small shareholders of the main palace of Cuiyu Lake City. Within a few years, they successfully supported a man who, although not from the Xu family, was closely related to the Xu family. The alchemy monks with deep connections in the Xu family have finally established a foothold in Cuiyu Lake.

Because of this history, the Xu family is very happy to train and make friends with monks with foreign surnames who show potential.

The family style is quite open.

Xu Lei was able to get in touch with the Xu family because he used the tiger skin of the Mo family and his identity as the leader of the Baijiang clan to marry a man with poor cultivation qualifications but all other abilities. She is the most chosen concubine of the Xu family.

After the collapse of the Mo family, all the forces affiliated with the Mo family were immediately purged and divided.

Xu Lei, a fringe figure who is nominally labeled as both the Mo family and the son-in-law of the Xu family, successfully escaped from the whirlpool of the Mo family and embraced the Xu family with the help of his wife.

When a force is on the rise, it will often open more channels for growth.

Xu Lei's wife, who is not good at cultivation, but is the best choice in other aspects, especially in business and life, has become more and more important in the Xu family. Now she is a member of a certain chamber of commerce of the Xu family. actual person in charge.

Xu Lei's husband valued his wife, and although the Baijiang Gang was not high-level, it was still a healthy, sustainably profitable organization that could continuously train new Qi practitioners.

Although he himself is relatively marginalized in the Xu family due to his shortcomings in cultivation, the life of the small family is very nourishing.

…

[Brother, I’ve thought about it all.

When I broke through to the middle stage of Qi training, the Baijiang Clan was gaining momentum. As the leader of the Baijiang Clan, my reputation and status would be much higher.

Maybe I can deceive a good Taoist companion who I like, and then I can seize the time to give birth to a son with her.

When I step down from the position of leader of this gang, she won’t be able to run away even if she wants to. 】

In his mind, Meng Zhou couldn't help but think of what Xu Lei said when he said goodbye to him.

Meng Zhou couldn't help but smile in his heart:

"Xu Laosan, you didn't think of this situation at the time, right?"

Not only are the husband and wife loving and have children, but their cultivation has also reached the seventh level of Qi training from the third level of Qi training back then.

Even though he just glanced at it, Meng Zhou could tell that this guy's foundation was very solid.

Although his cultivation qualifications are not outstanding, they are definitely not bad either.

Back then, he was selected by his predecessor to become the third-in-command of the gang, the top thug in the gang, and received a double bonus.

Now he has a better opportunity. Although his cultivation is growing rapidly, it is not vain. Every step he takes is taken step by step, not by piling up resources and pills.

He is now at the peak of the seventh level of Qi training, and will be able to break through to the eighth level of Qi training within this year.

Within ten years at the latest, it is expected to reach the peak of the ninth level of Qi training and hit the foundation.

With his own opportunities and the trend of the times, he didn't need to do anything on his own. He already had the foundation to slowly take off.