Survival [End Times]

After jumping into the well, Yu Heng immediately hugged Zhang Zhizhi. The Taoist priest who heard him shouting from outside the yard rushed in and helped him drop the rope. After he grabbed him, he pulled him up.

"Are you guys okay?"

Yu Heng shook the water on his face and replied: "It's okay." After checking Zhang Zhizhi's body to make sure there were no serious internal or external injuries, he was relieved. The child was fine, but he was too frightened. Now he fell into a coma as soon as he relaxed.

"Let's go."

After entrusting the child to the care of the female Taoist priest, Yu Heng continued to be busy. Those who have been able to fight until now are all powerful Taoist priests. On the main peak of Qingsui Mountain, he saw four old Taoist priests sitting cross-legged in meditation, and behind them lay a Taoist priest on the ground.

The Taoist priest who brought Yu Heng over bowed respectfully and called him his great uncle. Yu Heng understood that these four people were from the previous generation who were nearing the end of their lifespan. They usually did not come out in public. I heard they only stayed in seclusion in the backyard of the main peak and were not disturbed except for major events.

"Master, master's uncle?"

The four old Taoist priests remained motionless, "Uncle Master!" They seemed to have realized something. The Taoist priests knelt down and were about to walk over. Suddenly, an old Taoist priest opened his eyes, his eyes sharp and wise: "Why are you crying so much? Look up! Stand up!" Chest! Su Rong! What’s wrong, come and report it!”

"Uncle Cong Lin!" His disciples and disciples were overjoyed and hurriedly reported the situation. They saw their fellow apprentices lying in the square. They knew that this was probably stopped by their uncle who came out of seclusion. They were suddenly confused: why did they not leave the main peak? What about helping somewhere else? But after all, I respected my uncle from the bottom of my heart. Such a question was a little too presumptuous to ask, so I asked for instructions, "What should I do next? The leader is on his way back."

"Where is Tianhe?"

"Uncle Tianhe has passed away."

Old Taoist Cong Lin read a few more names, but without exception they were all deceased. He lowered his eyes and asked the next generation: "Where is Zou Ning?"

"Senior Sister Zou also passed away."

"Where's Zou Ling?"

"Junior brother Zou is seriously injured and is in Xinglin Hall."

"Alas." Old Taoist Cong Lin finally sighed, showing a hint of dejection, "Why are they all gone all of a sudden? Forget it, tell me, who are there on the mountain now?"

Finally, the old Taoist Cong Lin ordered a dozen people including Xun Chuan: "That's fine, let them practice. Okay, let's go get to work."

"Uncle-Master, then you——"

Cong Lin looked at the brothers and sisters beside him. They had their eyes closed and looked peaceful, with the gray aura of death on their faces. He smiled and said, "Me? I'm going to follow my brothers and sisters. You can put this away and look at it as you like, and then give it to the leader when he comes back. Okay, don't cry, I'm going right away. If you are doing well, I will be relieved.”

After saying that, he closed his eyes and lowered his head. The disciple choked with sobs and walked forward to check his breathing. All four masters and uncles left without exception.

"Uncle Master!" A cry of pain rang out in the square, and a sad atmosphere enveloped everyone on the left and right. When the leader was gone and the other uncles were injured and had no backbone, the few uncles were the spiritual support. They were all gone at once, and no one could bear it.

Yu Heng went to check the lying Taoist priests. There were more than thirty Taoist priests, nine were dead and the others were alive. He reminded the weeping Taoist priests to heal these people first. Then he asked: "Can you lend me this booklet?"

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, please take a look. My uncle also said that we can look at it as we wish."

"Don't worry, I will take good care of it and return it to you after reading it."

He opened the book and looked at it. This book was actually a meditation mantra, with several lines of words covered with cinnabar.

"When the illusion arises, don't have the desire to kill or be greedy. Death is not death, and life is not necessarily life."

He flipped through the entire book, and there was only this new sentence added by Cinnabar. When he saw this sentence, his first reaction was how he felt when Yosuke fell into a fantasy on his way to Qingxi Town.

Bewitch, do whatever it takes to arouse your emotions and make your blood ignite! Fire it up! In order to survive and win, pick up the knife! Step by step, he will penetrate your deepest desire, and he even saw his parents in the fantasy.

He admitted that he was wavered by such temptation for a moment, but he understood that it was all fake. If he followed its temptation, he would step into a deeper vortex. It tempted him to kill with a knife, but he refused to go.

That time, he "died", but he returned to reality and was conscious.

He guessed that this sentence probably meant this. He would look for opportunities to ask other people later. Only by knowing what they encountered in the illusion could he figure out the rules.

The day passed in a hectic and heavy way. Only after all the Taoist priests were uniformed could Yu Heng rest. He was so tired that he fell into a deep sleep as soon as he lay down. In his sleep, he heard the thin, suppressed cries of a child. The cries made his heart soften, and he continued to sleep in a daze. When he woke up, Yu Heng saw Zhang Zhizhi squeezing in his arms, squeezing him. Her face turned red but she still didn't let go and hugged him tightly.

He rubbed the child's hair to make sure she didn't have a fever and her body temperature was normal. He tried to get up carefully. Zhang Zhizhi suddenly woke up. Her big eyes were like fine black grapes. She looked for him in panic. Her eyes turned red the moment she saw him. .

"Dad! Daddy, daddy, woo woo woo..."

"Don't cry, don't cry." Yu Heng coaxed her. Seeing that she was really excited, he was afraid that she would be too sad and hurt her body, so he had no choice but to press her sleeping point.

He went out to wash his face and brush his teeth, and heard a little Taoist boy knocking on the door and saying, "Brother Zhang, Senior Brother Xunchuan asked me to inform you that our headmaster has returned to the mountain. If there is any progress on that matter, he will tell you."

"Okay, thank you for your help."

After packing up, Yu Heng went to the cafeteria to get food, and woke up Zhang Zhizhi after coming back. "Don't cry like this anymore, it's not good for your health, otherwise Dad will knock you out again." He coaxed her to eat a bowl of porridge and a boiled egg. "Dad is here, don't be afraid. Here is this for you. Dad bought it at work. There was originally a cake, which was very beautiful, but it's gone bad. I'll buy you a new cake next time, okay?"

Zhang Zhizhi hugged the doll box, her eyes wet: "I don't want cake, I want mom."

"Mom went to heaven, just like grandma and grandpa."

Zhang Zhizhi sniffed: "I want to go too, dad, let's go together."

Yu Heng touched her hair: "We'll go later. If you go now, mom will definitely be unhappy."

He took Zhang Zhizhi to live on the main peak. Now there are not many people alive on the mountain and even in the town, so they all gathered on the main peak. He also found that the survivors are divided into two extremes, either strong or weak.

Only those with strong abilities can succeed in killing and not be killed by others.

And those with weak abilities refer to those little Taoist children and children like Zhang Zhizhi. They seem to be too weak to kill in the illusion, and they accidentally avoid the temptation of the illusion and return to reality. If you are lucky enough to hide, you can survive in the end.

For example, the little Taoist boy who hid in the secret room, and Zhang Zhizhi who hid in the well before Ge Xiaohui lost her mind.

Zhang Zhizhi later told Yu Heng that her mother ran away with her in her arms at first, but she never came back. Yu Heng guessed that Ge Xiaohui's heart to protect her child gave her a source of desire, so she was tempted again, and she began to fight, fighting all the monsters around her who wanted to hurt her child. She never left the well, and died beside the well.

This guess was confirmed after Taoist Xunchuan counted the contents of the illusions encountered by the survivors.

Zou Ling said: "In the illusion, I saw countless ghosts surrounding my sister, and my sister asked me for help. I was so happy at the time that I hugged her and cried, and then I was eaten by those ghosts. I didn't expect that after being eaten, my feet were empty, and I suddenly woke up from the illusion."

His injuries recovered well, and he lived next door to Yu Heng.

"Thank you for saving me. I'm not afraid of death, but Senior Brother Song Li has always felt bad. Alas, he killed Senior Brother Lu and has been kneeling in Mingli Hall. He said he would wait for my father to come back and reopen Mingli Hall. He wanted to take the blame and refused to listen to any persuasion."

Zou Chengguang finally came back after much anticipation. His return made the entire Qingsui Mountain run efficiently again. However, after he came back, he seemed to focus on the resettlement of post-disaster reconstruction personnel, and there was no progress on Zhuang Yi's matter for the time being.

Collection, registration, rituals, funerals, each one is very complicated, and there is a shortage of manpower, so it is very slow. I heard that the Qilian Mountain next door will go to Qingxi Town with part of the local garrison to help deal with subsequent matters.

While Yu Heng was nursing his wounds, he coaxed and accompanied Zhang Zhizhi, allowing her to slowly walk out of the shadow of that day, and at the same time handled the funeral of Zhang Dagu and Xu Lu. After sending so many people away at one time, even though Yu Heng had long been accustomed to separation and death, he still felt blocked in his heart and depressed.

He wanted revenge.

Therefore, he took advantage of some of his free time to practice and recuperate, and he didn't leave the yard until the monks from Qilian Mountain arrived at Qingsui Mountain and Taoist Master Xunchuan came to invite him in person.

"What's the matter?" He didn't think he had the qualifications to be received by the head of Qingsui and the acting head of Qilian Mountain at the same time. It's not that they looked down on him, but they had almost no intersection due to their different status. "Didn't I tell you everything I know about Zhuang Yi?" Was he going to confront him?

"The headmaster seems to have reached a conclusion about the Zhuang Yi incident, but I'm not sure. This time, it's Brother Huaiyu who wants to see you."

"Master Huaiyu?"

The door closed behind him, and Yu Heng saw Zou Chengguang and Huaiyu sitting on his left and right. He bowed in turn, and Monk Huaiyu stood up and returned the greeting, pointing to the side: "Fellow Daoist Zhang, please sit down."

"Okay." Yu Heng found a chair and sat down casually, and asked, "I heard that the master wanted to see me, but I don't know what it is?"

"Then I'll be frank, I want to exchange something with you. I once heard from Sister Zou Ning that you used a strange magic weapon in the ghost cave, called Ni Yin Yang? That magic weapon can absorb all the evil spirits and finally transform them into bright light and positive energy, but it will affect the lifespan of the user, is that true?"

Yu Heng nodded: "That's true. Master wants to borrow Ni Yin Yang? You should know that the sequelae of using that thing are quite serious."

"No." Huaiyu shook his head and said, "I want to borrow the elixir of immortality from you."

Elixir of immortality

From ancient times to the present, any topic related to longevity is stained with blood. Yu Heng instinctively raised his vigilance. He had taken the elixir of longevity in the ghost cave before. After a year of recuperation in Qingsui Mountain, his aging symptoms had subsided a lot, and his hair had all turned black. No one could connect him with the old man in the ghost cave at that time.

He saw the suppressed fluctuations in Master Huaiyu's eyes, which had always been calm.

It was normal. After seeing him in these two appearances, everyone would think that he would have a treasure that could prolong his life, and it couldn't be concealed.

"Master Zou came to visit my Qilian Mountain. I asked about you. It happened that the master had an impression of you. I just learned that Fellow Daoist Zhang has returned to his prime. I am very happy for Fellow Daoist Zhang. At the same time, I guessed that you have the elixir of immortality, and I became greedy." Monk Huaiyu chanted a Buddhist name, "My master is suffering from old illnesses and will not live long. If Fellow Daoist Zhang still has the elixir of immortality, can you give it up? I am willing to exchange it with you for a treasure from the Jingming Sect of Qilian Mountain."

He took out a string of ordinary-looking prayer beads. The prayer beads circled several times in his hand. The brilliance was restrained. There was nothing special when you just look at it. But Zou Chengguang stood up and said in a lost voice: "Is this the Tianbao Relic Bead?! Master Huaiyu really took it out?" Zou Chengguang got the nod of Monk Huaiyu, sat down again, and glanced at Yu Heng with complicated eyes. His performance made Yu Heng understand that this bead was really not an ordinary item. Just hearing the word "relic" was precious enough.

With an idea in mind, Yu Heng nodded and said, "I do have an elixir of immortality, but I only have one. I ate half of it when I was in the ghost cave. Now I only have the other half. If you want this half, you can take it. You don't have to exchange it for anything."