Chapter 280: Chapter 4 Longing for Home and Urge to Kill
The doors of Iron Pillar Temple quietly cracked open, and two mischievous Daoist pages peeked out.
"Qingfeng, do you think he can pass the Heart Inquiry Array?" the livelier page asked in a low voice.
"The temple master said only those whose hearts are unobstructed can pass the Array and enter the temple," the page called Qingfeng replied, "The temple master also mentioned that recently, a person of destiny would come to inherit the Daoist Dao Fruit of Pure Yang True Man; he might just be that person, so he probably can pass."
"Does the temple master have the ability to calculate and predict as well?" the excited page exclaimed, "I’ll have to ask the temple master to foresee my future one of these days."
"No, it’s just that the temple master made an agreement with others and sold the Daoist Dao Fruit of Pure Yang True Man for a good price," Qingfeng the page brutally shattered his companion’s fanciful idea.
The page Mingyue’s mouth gaped in shock, exclaiming repeatedly, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! The temple master would never do such a thing."
"The temple master did it, and moreover, he collected money from two parties," Qingfeng the page stated emotionlessly, "It’s just that day you were being lazy and not by the temple master’s side, so you didn’t see it."
Judging by his somewhat pained expression, it seemed that Qingfeng the page had himself suffered an ideological shock at the time.
Meanwhile, Mingyue the page stood there with a vacant look on his face, clearly disillusioned by the shattering of his pristine image of the temple master, unable to adjust to the revelation.
It wasn’t until a thick white fog suddenly appeared outside the Daoist Temple that the two pages abruptly shivered and stared wide-eyed.
"How did the Heart Inquiry Array turn into the Illusion Spirit Captivating Heart Array?" Qingfeng’s small face was full of shock.
"There must be a problem with the Array Core. Which brother was stationed at the Array Core today?" Mingyue tried to recall.
"Forget about that, let’s quickly go call for help."
Qingfeng grabbed Mingyue, and they hurried off together.
Iron Pillar Temple was a place for quiet cultivation, rarely open to guests. Typically, only those who could pass through the Heart Inquiry Array with clear and unobstructed minds were allowed inside, for such individuals wouldn’t disturb the cultivation of others.
This was also why people from the surrounding area would say that Iron Pillar Temple forbade outsiders from entering.
However, the Illusion Spirit Captivating Heart Array was different; it actively evoked the dust and thoughts within the entrants’ hearts to interrogate their spirits and even attack their divine souls. It was a method used only when foreign enemies intruded.
In the present situation, it was clear that something had gone wrong.
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Amidst the haze, something seemed to be sprouting within Jiang Li’s heart.
Was it greed?
Jiang Li harbored greed for all things beneficial to himself, but he could restrain his own greed, especially when it concerned matters of life.
Or was it desire?
Recollecting his master and senior sister, Jiang Li felt as if there was a fire burning in his heart. But at this moment, he automatically entered the mental state of the Wise Man’s Heart.
After a long period of outwitting his senior sister and even after being on the receiving end of the Orchid Brushing Acupoint Hand from his master, Jiang Li utilized the Karma Collection to develop an automatic defense mechanism. Whenever a certain overzealous state emerged, he would automatically retreat into the realms of the Wise Man.
The flames of desire had barely ignited when they were extinguished once more.
He suddenly wanted to laugh; the warning of the jade ruyi was a belated indicator that danger was imminent.
Then, an emotion buried at the deepest part of Jiang Li’s heart was excavated, and the scenery before him transformed—the day turned to night, and Jiang Li found himself on the Observatory behind the Xuanji Palace.
In the sky hung a perfectly full moon.
"August fifteenth, Mid-Autumn Festival."
Jiang Li looked at the moon phase and automatically calculated what day it was today.
The Mid-Autumn Festival that had already passed once again emerged, and a wave of sorrow buried in his heart gradually took root and sprouted.
This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, Jiang Li did not have the leisure to celebrate, but he did not feel regret. However, aside from regret, there should still be other emotions lingering in his heart, even though the Mid-Autumn Festival was over, they had not dissolved.
That was nostalgia.
"Even today, I still haven’t forgotten this idea, have I? Indeed, it’s only been three and a half years."
Jiang Li gazed at the bright moon in the sky, and a deep melancholy surfaced in his heart.
Three and a half years were obviously not enough for Jiang Li to forget his original purpose and thoughts. It was just that recent experiences were too many, making him too busy, so busy that he thought he had forgotten.
Until now, this inexplicable change had awakened the nostalgia that had always been buried deep in his heart, causing the sorrow to continuously propagate, growing like seeds and spreading like a spider web.
Then, not long after Jiang Li looked at the bright moon, a familiar sound emerged once again.
That was the sound of bustling traffic.
The bright moon seemed to be about to undergo changes.
Tall, majestic steel jungles seemed to be materializing.
"Enough."
From Jiang Li’s eyes, a winged viper shot out, his Divine Sense transformed into a roaring Viper, shredding the sky, devouring the bright moon. His Innate Qi went berserk outside his body, like a roaring dragon, destroying everything around him.
Memories of a past life were Jiang Li’s biggest secret and an untouchable taboo. When there were signs of these memories being unearthed, the strongest feelings in Jiang Li’s heart were not nostalgia, but anger and the intent to kill.
This killing intent was so strong that it even gave the Divine Sense lethal power, almost instantaneously breaking through the Illusion Realm that had been woven.
Illusions, visual deceptions, and phantom sounds were all torn apart in a moment, replaced by the mist that had unknowingly enveloped the surroundings.
"The Illusion Spirit Captivating Heart Array, this array does not follow the Qi Veins but is a Secret Technique that acts on the Divine Soul, independent of the Qi Mechanism. You’ve been careless this time, and fell into the trap," the voice of Tianxuan timely spoke up, "Moreover, the person controlling the array can also see the evolved illusions of the array. Inside the Iron Pillar Temple, there are those who want to target you."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Li’s killing intent grew even stronger.
Although in theory, the controller of the array should only be able to see the full moon night of Dinghu and nothing else, Jiang Li still refused to let this person off.
Anger, killing intent, all of these eventually transformed into the expanding Eight Trigrams.
Eight qis circled back, dispersing and roaming with the Array Plate, sensing the surrounding land, and suddenly, the eight qis turned into Earth Qi, penetrating the ground.
"Kun Yuan."
Jiang Li’s arm rose, the ground rumbled, and in an instant, sand and rocks flew, and the soil waves surged. Bursts of Qi Force exploded underground, shattering the ground. The chaotic Innate Qi surged up, entwining the intangible Divine Sense, causing the surrounding thick mist to churn wildly, thrown into disarray.
Inside a hall in the Iron Pillar Temple, a white orb shook violently, and a Daoist nearly forty years old was shocked, staring directly at the scene displayed inside the orb.
He saw the ground lifting, sand and rocks scattering, and he also saw Jiang Li as if looking for something.
Then, Jiang Li’s figure suddenly disappeared.
"The Daoist Dao Fruit of the Pure Yang True Man Ji Lingguang was discovered by him, and even my teacher was unaware before the fact. Now, it has attracted people from the Daode Sect, obviously, the news has been leaked. You will have competitors, so after killing the person who acted against you, you need to claim justice to prevent the Iron Pillar Temple from making trouble."
Tianxuan instructed Jiang Li earnestly in his ear.
Because there were other competitors, it could not be ruled out that this was a deliberate provocation. So if Jiang Li had to kill, he had better not give the Iron Pillar Temple and himself a chance to become enemies.
In other words—
"If the person wasn’t killed by me, then nothing could be better," replied Jiang Li.