Exorcism

He remembered everything about himself, including of course his real name: his name was Jin Cu, and he was once the leader of a large group of monsters, known as the "Food King". Under his leadership, this group of monsters saved many of their own kind. In the end, they all became slaves of the demon species and needed the amnesty of the Taoist ancestors in order to save their lives.

Jin Cuo was ashamed to return to the land of monsters and face his former subordinates. He turned around and walked into the forest, not allowing any monsters to follow him. At that time, he was not sure what he wanted to do, and just wanted to wander alone for a while.

The north of the forest is the land of monsters, and the south is the kingdom of humans. Jin Cu wanders aimlessly in the forest for several days, thirsty for spring water in the forest, hungry for nameless wild fruits, and even eats grass directly.

On the fifth day, he finally put aside the self-blame and shame in his heart and returned to the form of a golden-tailed horse. He galloped in the forest, raced with the deer, and fought with tigers and wolves, without thinking about anything.

He never counted time, so he didn't know how many days had passed. He suddenly fell to the ground, turned into a human form again, and leaned tightly against a tree. He kept vomiting and was too weak to stand up. He was thrown away by himself. Responsibility and shame came back with a stronger attitude, looking down at him coldly, without saying a word, and making him unable to lift his head just by looking at him.

All the rich clothes were gone, and he was lying naked under the tree. The animals in the forest licked his body, insects crawled on him, and the leaves covered him. He did not move until a human voice sounded above his head, He barely raised his eyes and looked up.

"Do you want to use it as food for the ants? Your skin is too hard. They have been biting it for several days, but they haven't gotten a piece off."

Through the leaves blocking his eyes, Jin Cuo saw a haggard old man smiling at him, his face vaguely familiar. After thinking for a while, he uttered two words: "Go away."

The old man didn't understand, "Since you don't avoid insects and beasts, why do you want to drive me away?"

Because you can talk, you are noisier than the most noisy flying insects. Jin Cui is too lazy to speak, so he looks back, and no longer even thinks about who this person is.

The old man probably felt bored, so he turned away and came back after a while. He brought a dead wood pile and placed it next to Jin Cui. Then he slowly sat down and said, "I used to be strong. In order to stay strong, I have done I did a lot of things that I shouldn’t have done, but aging still came, and it came suddenly, defeating me all at once. One moment I thought I was at the top, and the next moment I was already old, even my arms and legs were gone. It's hard for children to control.

The old man sighed and looked up at the tree crown above his head, as if he was envious of the tree's vitality.

"I had lofty ideals, thinking that I could transcend all the battles in the world and bridge the hatred and killings that had lasted for hundreds of thousands of years. However, a small spell made me lose my way, and my ideals disappeared into thin air. A leaf. So I joined the fight, used hatred as a weapon, used killing as a method, and practiced all the ugly things I once despised."

"But what's the use? Another spell woke me up again, so I understood that what once existed in my heart was not the ideal, but the glory and status gained after realizing the ideal. I longed for the kneeling and reverence of all living beings, But my strength was not enough, so I made up an ideal, refused to compete with the strong, and kept myself in an invincible position. When I finally gained some strength, I showed my true face and couldn't wait to join the fight and seize the opportunity. Territory, recruit disciples.”

"But the power was thrown away from me, and I lost the qualification to fight. I was wondering, is there any so-called ideal in this world? Is it just the self-comfort of the weak? In this way, simplicity means that there is nothing to fight for. Greatness is just because there is no opponent, nobility is just blocking the lowliness with walls and guards, kindness is just because disaster happens to others..."

Jin Cuo slowly raised his head, brushed the leaves from his face, and looked at the old man in surprise, thinking it was his hallucination, because the old man's words were almost exactly the same as what he had been thinking these days.

"I continued to reason like this, looking for excuses for my momentary weakness and huge mistakes. I almost convinced myself." The old man lowered his head and looked at the gray face on the ground.

"Isn't it like this?" Jin Cu couldn't help but say, "All living beings act according to their own strength and wisdom. Some eat grass, some eat meat, some kill, some are killed. Those who can fly will not be here. Walking on the earth, those who can live on the top must try their best to maintain their status. Is it an ideal? There are also people who are heartless and abandon their desires, but their lifespan and magic are far beyond that of ordinary people, and they no longer even regard themselves as one of the living beings. When I have a certain power, I have its instinct, and I am just one. A bearer, I can do nothing, nothing is right, nothing is wrong, it is all power that works through me, isn’t it?”

Jin Cu didn't speak for a long time, and she could feel her blood flowing faster with every word she spat out.

"If so, why are you lying here? Your power has not completely disappeared. You are not carrion, but you would rather rot like carrion. What about the instinct of power? Why can't you continue to control you?"

Jin Cuo slowly sat up, "Because... I feel ashamed. I failed to lead the demons to victory, but instead led them into a desperate situation... No, no, that's not what I really think. I feel ashamed because of my own strength. Too weak to be worth mentioning in front of the strong, I am no different from carrion in front of them, so I lie here and would rather rot, I am ashamed of myself.”

"So power once dominated you, but now you are dominating power. You have defeated the instinct given to you by power in another way: you would rather rot than use the remaining power to do evil." The old man stood up and picked up the dead wood. Zhuang, "Then weakness is sometimes very useful. Only weakness can restrain strength. I find peace with my decaying body. You overwhelm strength with your ambition of carrion. The strong in the world climb higher and higher. They are the power of this world. It’s also the madness of this world. Only the weak can pull them down a little and maintain the balance of the world. Look, my ideal is still there.”

The old man walked away carrying the wooden stake and disappeared after passing a few trees.

Jin Cui raised his hand and touched his forehead. He was really feverish. As a big demon who was not too weak, he was actually sick. "Is this all my hallucination?" he asked himself softly, and suddenly remembered who the old man was. He said, "Hong Futian, you are Hong Futian. I heard you teach the Ancient God Religion. Later, you occupied Duanliu City and founded the Hong Xiu Society - you were also controlled by the demon species."

But Jin Cu has never seen Hong Futian after aging, so he can't tell whether the person he just met is a real illusion. Everything in front of him has not changed. Where the dead wood piles lay, the roots of weeds stand upright, as if they have never been oppressed. .

Jin Cu regained his sense of shame, picked leaves to make clothes, and walked in the direction where Hong Futian disappeared. He pondered a question in his mind: If the weak is a constraint on strength, then how should it be constrained? He was born with demonic power. Since then, he has practiced all kinds of demonic arts and Taoism. During the period when he was controlled by demons, he was also exposed to some demonic spells, but he did not go deep into them. If added to some, they would be like a shallow pond. At a glance, there is no room for big things. fish.

He kept walking forward and did not see Hong Futian again. In fact, he had forgotten about Hong Futian and concentrated on thinking about his own problems. He did not stop. When he was thirsty or hungry, he would just grab something and stuff it in. In the mouth, be it a leaf, a fruit, or an unlucky insect or lizard.

After three nights and two days, Jin Cuo heard a strange singing sound, sometimes like a strong wind and rain, sometimes like gurgling spring water, full of sadness, but mixed with the joy of new life.

He followed the sound and saw a group of women, forty or fifty, old and young, walking slowly in a circle around a newly piled grave in a forest with sparse trees, weeping and singing. Everyone took turns to go up. In front of the grave, the old man took a water jug ​​and poured some water on the grave.

Their steps were like dancing, soothing sadness, yet reserved and elegant, which matched the singing. When the last woman had poured water, they changed their appearance and took out various kinds of water from their arms. Wine pots and wine bags were passed to each other to drink. From then on, crying was a loud cry and laughter was a big laugh. Everyone made no secret of their emotions.

Jin Cu felt indescribably shocked. He had seen countless dead people and buried some of them with his own hands, but he had never seen such a funeral.

He asked a woman passing by him: "Who is the deceased?"

The woman glanced at the man covered in leaves and branches, and showed no particular surprise. She seemed to know him, "That was a child who didn't even have a name after he was born. We buried him in the hope that his soul would not be found in time." A new place to live.”

“What does watering at the grave mean?”

"We bury a handful of tree seeds. If the seeds can grow, it means that the child's soul has a destination. When the tree grows up and then withers, the soul will have a chance to become a child of a certain mother again."

Jin Cu had never heard such a statement before, "Where is this place? Are you... humans or monsters?"

The woman walking in front shouted, and the woman who spoke hurriedly left, "This is Yelin Town, we can be considered human beings."

Jin Cu understood where these strange women came from. They were the rumored residents of Zhiba State.

The last woman, the mother of the child, also walked away, with tears and a smile on her face. She could finally let go of the baby who died young and the grief in her heart, and continue her normal life.

Jin Cu walked to the grave and looked at the small patch of land that had been watered. A few seeds were struggling to grow underneath, he thought.

He sat down and stared there unblinkingly, as the sun set and the sun rose, his mind unmoved. Three days later in the morning, he saw the buds emerging from the ground. Seven days later, the buds had grown to nearly a foot long. It was stormy and stormy that night, and when dawn broke, the buds had disappeared without a trace. Except for the graves in front of them, there was no sign of the women's existence in the brocade.

They were also as vague as an illusion, and were not surprised by the appearance of the strange man.

Jin Cu stood up and felt dizzy. Instead of going to Yelin Town, he walked out of the forest and meandered all the way to a densely populated area. Facing the people who came up to him, he raised his skinny arms and said, "Please listen to me. Tell you the ways of the weak."

Soon after, he was mistaken for General Mu in Duanliu City. Jin Cu accepted the title because the two of them had the same appearance. He believed that it was easier to perpetuate a belief than to create one.

Almost three months later, he was in an unknown valley near the imperial capital, preparing to accept the first test of life and death in the way of the weak.