Chapter 122

Before the disaster, Ding Kan was just an ordinary child. He was naughty, got scolded, and was forgetful. But when the disaster struck, his memory became astonishingly good. Every detail of the tragic deaths of his family and villagers, every person in Qin Tianming's team, every face, every expression, he remembered them all clearly, and couldn't forget them for more than a decade.

At first, Ding Kan thought it was because the event was too terrifying and had too great an impact on him, which was why he remembered all the details. But later, Ding Kan discovered that it wasn't. His brain seemed to have been strengthened after the stimulation, and his memory had indeed improved, to the point of being photographic. Not only were the details of the disaster etched in his mind, but he could also remember everything he read, and he could understand many difficult and obscure things.

Ding Kan felt that this was Heaven's way of making him avenge the villagers, that these talents were the embodiment of the villagers' unwillingness and resentment. Since he had these talents, he had to use them to avenge the innocent victims in the village.

Then came the difficult cultivation process. Ding Kan described this stage very briefly. The disaster in the village was etched in his memory, but he wasn't very willing to talk about the hardships he had experienced himself. He just gave a general account, saying that he left the village after the disaster, and because of his photographic memory, he was quickly noticed by the Xiu Fa Ren (Cultivation Law Enforcers). After several transfers of apprenticeship and personally killing two masters, he finally achieved his current cultivation.

In order to take revenge, Ding Kan carefully laid out a plan. In order to maximize the energy of the Cold Nether Formation, and to prevent any mistakes in the revenge process, he even went to a tomb to retrieve a lot of yin materials to set up the formation.

It's laughable to say that the dignified Tianshi Mansion, where everyone is a Feng Shui expert, and there's even a Feng Shui genius like Qin Tianming, but no one noticed that Ding Kan had set up a formation around the Tianshi Mansion. It goes without saying that Ding Kan's cultivation and scheming were several streets ahead of them.

Then came the apprenticeship, arranging challenges, helping Qin Tianming gain experience, throwing himself into acting, and gaining Qin Tianming's trust.

"Wait, there's something I've always been curious about. Is Qin Tianming really a Feng Shui genius? If he's not a Feng Shui genius, then who chased the Rakshasa Woman to your village and ultimately killed her? If he's a genius, then how could he have fallen to the point where he needs someone else to carry him through leveling up?"

Ding Kan was silent for a long time before saying, "Once, he really was a genius. Very few people could kill a Rakshasa Woman at the age of nineteen, but later... after the disaster in our village, all his talents seemed to have been taken away.

In that disaster, not only was I frightened, but so was he. Moreover, he not only suffered a fright, but also suffered tremendous psychological pressure. He's not a person without conscience. He was once kind and upright, and was a true rising star in the Feng Shui world, but after the Stone Prison Village incident, he could never go back to the way he was before. He didn't even know what he was learning so much for.

He was depressed and decadent, but he was burdened with such an identity, a banner erected by his family, and he couldn't just fall like that. So, for the next ten years, he was controlled by his family like a puppet, touring around like an actor. Thinking about it, it's quite sad. Death may be a relief for him."

"Then have you let go of your hatred now?"

"Everyone's dead, so what's there to let go of or not? A total of three hundred and nine people died in the Underworld Cold Formation today. I carefully investigated each one of them. Less than ten could be directly defined as bad guys. Most of them were ordinary people. Some were even great philanthropists with a lot of merit. But I still did what I said I would do and sent them all to the west. Tell me, shouldn't I be buried with them too?"

I looked at the evil spirits that were temporarily blocked outside the barrier, "Do you think that after a long time, someone will notice that something's wrong here, rush to rescue us, and dismantle your Underworld Cold Formation from the outside?"

"No," Ding Kan said very firmly. "My formation isn't that easy to destroy, and my plan isn't that easy to fail. There's also a layer of illusion outside the formation, and a wave of fake news online. As long as there are still living people here, no one will notice that something has happened to the Tianshi Mansion. I spent thirteen years completing this, and my plan is very thorough.

Don't expect anyone to come and save you. It's impossible. I have to be buried with these three hundred and nine lives, and you have to be buried with me too. There won't be a second outcome."

Ding Kan's words weren't intense, and his tone was always calm, so calm that there was no emotion or vitality. He always looked like he was ready to die.

But I knew that deep down, this man still held a glimmer of hope for life.

"Get up!" I got up from the ground, and also pulled Ding Kan up from the ground.

Ding Kan didn't resist, and let me pull him up, asking me what I was getting up for.

I smiled, didn't speak, and didn't let go of his hand, even touching his palm hard.

Ding Kan seemed to realize something, and suddenly pulled his hand out of mine, looking at me with a wary expression.

"Where's your knife? Even the calluses on your palm carry such a heavy chill. You should be using a White Bone Knife, made from the bones of an old zombie that's been around for hundreds of years, right? With such a knife, no wonder you dare to fight against a horde of corpses single-handedly. But where's your knife now? You couldn't have left such a good treasure behind when you were escaping, right? Could it be that your knife is busy right now, and you can't use it?"

Ding Kan's face immediately changed: "Whether I use a White Bone Knife or not is none of your business. Even if I'm using a White Bone Knife that's been sharpened and stained with blood, it's none of your business."

"At any other time, it really wouldn't be any of my business. I can use an abacus to calculate Feng Shui, so why can't other people use a White Bone Knife to fight? However, the location of this White Bone Knife now concerns my life, so of course I have to think about it carefully."

Ding Kan didn't speak, and looked up at me once, but never looked at me again, as if he was worried that his eyes would reveal some information.

But it was that one glance that allowed me to see a hint of hope hidden deep in his eyes, a hint of joy. He had already made up his mind to be buried with these three hundred and nine lives, and he had sealed off all paths to survival for himself, but he hoped that a miracle would really happen.

And I, was that miracle.

Everything was in Ding Kan's plan. I was the only accident in his revenge plan, and the only variable. If the ending was really going to change, then only I could change it.