Exorcism

"Why don't you go into the valley?" Mu Xingqiu asked.

"I'm afraid of watching him die." Shou Que has gotten older, and her emotional loss has affected her remaining soul, which is directly reflected in her appearance. "I'm also afraid that I can't help but eat his soul."

"you like him?"

Shou Que blinked his tear-filled eyes, "Does this mean I like him? I don't know, I just... just want to listen to him, accept his instructions, and then work together. He has what I lack most."

"A complete soul?"

"No, your soul smells more delicious than his. He has...faith, the strongest faith I have ever seen. I hope to be as firm as him. Don't you think so? I I feel that we are in the same boat, others know what we are living for, we are happy about it, and we are sad and afraid about it. You and I have nothing. Others are down to earth, we are floating in the air, others are awake, and only the two of us are still dreaming. But why is it us? Whose dream is this? "

Shou Que stared at Mu Xingqiu, as if he thought he was General Mu, hoping to get something firm from him.

This is exactly what Mu Xingqiu cannot give her, "You are right, we are both the same. This is the punishment for losing memory."

Mu Xingqiu walked into the valley, and Shou Que started crying again in disappointment. After waiting for a while, he followed him into the valley from a distance.

Two people drifting with the current naturally drift towards the only solid land.

The sound of whispers spread from the middle of the valley to the surroundings, like groups of green silkworms eating mulberry leaves. Due to the damage to his inner elixir, Mu Xingqiu's third eye was not as sharp as before, and he could only see shadowy crowds in the night. They were chatting in low voices, and some were praying intently.

Most people were holding statues of gods in their hands. These were not things conjured by General Mu's magic. They were made by themselves out of mud and wood. They looked rougher, and some were just a branch.

"The ancient gods have blessed General Mu with immortality. Let me take his place. It doesn't matter how much a useless old guy like me dies. General Mu doesn't deserve to die. The old woman held the little grandson's hand tightly with one hand and the statue of the god with the other. , begging to the ancient gods in a low voice.

The little grandson's eyes were rolling around, but he didn't dare to say a word. Until he saw the person coming towards him, he couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, but he still didn't dare to speak and kept shaking his grandma's arm.

The old woman opened her dim eyes and took a closer look under the light of the stars and the moon. She was also shocked, "This is not... you are not..."

Mu Xingqiu's appearance caused many misunderstandings, and the crowd came and retreated, because this "General Mu" was different from the other one. Not only did his hair be shorter, his clothes more tattered, his expression did not have so much compassion, but a kind of detachment. Despite his indifference, the mortals in front still gave way.

There was a circle of people kneeling around the platform. They were all General Mu's original followers. When they heard the noise behind them, they turned around and saw Mu Xingqiu walking towards them. They were all surprised. They had forbidden others to approach General Mu. , but at this time, he automatically got out of the way.

General Mu was sitting on the earthen platform. He didn't seem to be seriously injured, but his face was frighteningly white. When he saw Mu Xingqiu, a smile appeared on his face, "When I heard about the loss of memory, I guessed it would be you."

"Do you recognize me?" Mu Xingqiu walked closer.

General Mu nodded and said to Shou Que, who followed him: "Please set up a ban. I want to talk to him alone."

Shou Que set up nine levels of restrictions one after another, all of which were mental illusions. He still had some unfinished ideas, so he tinkered with them for a while, thought about it, quit the restrictions, and gave up the place.

More and more mortals gathered around. They could see two "General Mu" who looked almost exactly the same, but they couldn't hear what they were saying. Those who arrived later had not seen Mu Xingqiu approaching before, so they thought This was General Mu's magic, so he couldn't help but ask around, so the sounds in the valley changed from silkworms chewing leaves to rain hitting banana trees.

"My name is Jin Cu, and you are the real General Mu. Do you want to hear your past?"

"It's better...not to listen. Zuo Liuying once reminded Mu Xingqiu that it's best to know less about his own affairs. Although Mu Xingqiu didn't like this gesticulating Taoist priest at all, he felt that his words made some sense and pretended A mind that is too full may have trouble accepting lost memories.

"Do you want to hear my past?"

"Um."

"I am not a descendant of the demon clan. My mother is a brocade-tailed horse from Pangshan. My father is from Yelin Town. He is an ordinary bay-red horse. He has some connections with you, so when I transform into a demon, I will not I have become like you consciously. Other than that, we have no relationship. You and I are not brothers. I was once the king of spirit demons and the king of demons. Even before I transformed into a demon, I could still be with the horse king. Compete with each other. I believe that I am a born king. This is my belief, so no matter where I go, I will consciously and voluntarily shoulder the heaviest responsibility, and everyone is willing to follow me, because I always go wherever I go. It’s a dangerous situation.”

"Is this why you came to the imperial capital? Did you expect that there would be a catastrophe of the Five Elements?"

"No, I didn't know anything about this disaster before I came. I wanted to challenge my own abilities. It was too easy to be the king in the past. I used the fear and expectations of the demons to easily gain support. This made it easy for me to gain support. I became more and more arrogant, thinking I was different, but the facts proved that I was just an ordinary monster, or even worse. Because of my arrogance, I refused to correct my shortcomings, so I walked into the human territory. I came to the Imperial Capital because this is the least likely place to accept me. I think if I can get support here, I will be considered a true king."

"I see." Mu Xingqiu felt Jin Cu's frankness and understood why he wanted to talk in private. These words were not pleasant to mortal ears, "What is the way of the weak? Did you make it up yourself?"

"Are the spells you taught me wrong?" Mu Xingqiu was a little confused. Zhao Chuye and others thought Jin Cu was a liar, but he believed in "General Mu" just like Shouchi.

"The spell is correct, but it is not the original intention of the weak." Jin Cu paused for a while and began to talk about his experience of enlightenment in the forest.

Mu Xingqiu listened silently and found that he agreed more and more with Zhao Chuye's point of view, "Don't you think you have been deceived? The old man Hong Futian and those women from the Zhibu State were probably transformed by magic to deceive you. Accept the so-called 'Way of the Weak'."

"It is said that when children are sick, parents will make up lies to trick them into taking medicine. In the forest, I was the sick child. I knew the medicine was a good thing, but refused to take it because I was afraid of the pain, so he took... He took a roundabout way to get me to take medicine."

"who is he?"

Jin Cu opened his collar, revealing the tree-shaped pattern on his chest. It had grown a bit, but it was still a small tree. "Have you ever heard of the sacred tree in Zhibu Bangli? Oh, you have heard of it and you don't remember it either. . It was once the source of all spiritual methods in the world, and was later killed by Taoism and the demon clan."

"Did you get the soul of the sacred tree?"

"The sacred tree has no soul. It is itself. The external shape and internal quality are indistinguishable. There is no place for such a thing as a soul. Let me ask you, what will the tree become after it dies?"

Mu Xingqiu was stunned, "It will rot and then...become food for insects and nutrients for other plants and trees."

"What happens after death?"

"Absolutely like a tree."

"Where's the sacred tree?"

If Mu Xingqiu had some realization, he thought for a moment, "It will nourish the new tree... Are you that new tree?"

"I'm not. At most, I'm just a little insect that eats part of the sacred tree and then spreads it."

"I don't understand, if the sacred tree is dead, why can it still transform old men and women? Why can you still be chosen?"

"It didn't choose me, I chose him." Jin Cu's eyes shone because he was about to talk about the core of the way of the weak, "Some things will only appear in front of the seeker, such as a puzzling problem, a new Practice methods, such as your memories, will not be recognized even if they appear in the eyes of unrelated people. In the forest, I was a sick person, struggling to find a cure, so it appeared. Do you understand? It was there, but I found it. If anyone lied to me, it was me. I lied to myself about taking the bitter medicine and learning the way of the weak."

Mu Xingqiu seemed to understand something, but when he thought about it carefully, he became even more confused, "Then what is the way of the weak?"

"The way of the weak is the vanity and ambition of the strong. There are many people like me in this world. Please allow me to reveal a little bit. In the past, you were just like me. You were born to want to be a leader. For this reason, you were even willing to walk into the world. Dangerous places, because only dangerous places have more opportunities to stand out. The weak and the strong are not two completely isolated creatures. There are many things that connect them. The weak attract the strong to throw their lives and blood. In this process, strength is just. Means. Even the most indifferent Taoist priests are unknowingly used by the weak. The competition, fighting and fear between them cut down the big trees so that the grass below can see the sun. "

"Even so?" Mu Xingqiu pointed to the broken scene around him. The damage caused by the Five Elements Tribulation was right in front of him, and not a single mortal survived.

"This is just the beginning. Only after seeing the results will you know who wins and who loses between the strong and the weak. Kun Chao is the biggest strong man, so he is also the biggest scourge. He has aroused public anger and eventually fell. It will be him."

"Then what's the point of everything you're doing now?"

"All this is to satisfy my own vanity. I have been satisfied, Mu Xingqiu, it's time for you to continue."

"I?"

"I borrowed your appearance and name. From this point of view, we are indeed brothers. I suspect that I even learned my vanity and ambition from you, so you should continue. There is no need to gather mortals together , once the situation is calm, they will soon split, let them go, the more scattered the better, they will spread the weak way to the world, inspiring more vanity and ambition. "

Jin Cu stood up, came to Mu Xingqiu, and motioned for him to walk out of the restriction together.

Nearly ten thousand mortals looked at the earth platform. They saw Mu Feidian fell and General Mu walked out alone.