Chapter 280. Unveiling The Truth (IV)

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Fan Jialuo stopped there and did not continue.

He looked at Lin Nianci, who was still lying on the ground, and said slowly with a smile, “Song Enci! If you don’t show yourself right now, I am going to expose everything you’ve done over the years! Are you sure you want to keep hiding?”

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the ‘mummy’ with suspicion and uncertainty.

Xuan Chengzi shook his head and said in a hoarse voice, “No, she isn’t——”

However, he couldn’t continue speaking, because Lin Nianci, who had been on the verge of death, suddenly sat up and began to unwrap the gauze wrapped around her body. Her actions proved Fan Jialuo’s earlier judgment that she was indeed the long-lost Song Enci.

In that instant, the last trace of color drained from Xuan Chengzi’s face. He simply couldn’t believe that his beloved and cherished little disciple had even lied to him. Why?

“Want to know why?” Fan Jialuo had already heard his thoughts, so he chuckled and said, “Then, I’ll continue.”

Realizing that her junior brother would increasingly expose her, Song Enci quickened her pace in removing the gauze. Her head soon emerged, but her face was a bloody mess, there were no eyeballs, no nostrils, no mouth. All her features had been shattered into bare bones by bomb shrapnel.

Upon seeing such a terrifying head, the members of Taoist sects couldn’t help but gasp and exclaim in shock. At the same time, they realized that Song Enci was indeed the holder of that treasure, she was still alive despite being injured like that.

Then, something even stranger happened. Song Enci wasn’t just immortal, she was practically a monster capable of infinite regeneration. Pink buds slowly sprouted from her bloodied and mangled face, filling in the mottled wounds and coalescing into new facial features.

Eyeballs, nose, and mouth gradually began to take shape. This process was comparable to a demon being reborn in chaos, which was disgusting and shocking.

Chang Sheng and Chang Zhen turned their heads away, not daring to look at her. Taoist Zhi Fei pointed at her with trembling fingertips, saying a series of, you, you, you, but couldn’t make sense of it.

Lin Nian’en was the one most affected, he was now curled up in a corner, sobbing uncontrollably. His beloved senior sister had died in his heart at this moment.

Xuan Chengzi’s dark eyes were tinged with crimson fury at this sight.

Fan Jialuo stared at Song Enci, whose movements were becoming increasingly hurried, and chuckled, “Where was I? Oh right, I mentioned the secret of this double fish pendant. Now, everyone, please look, what was its original form?”

Everyone’s eyes were involuntarily drawn to the jade pendant that Fan Jialuo was holding in his hands.

Fan Jialuo drew a circle with his fingertip and slowly said, “It was originally one piece, but after being broken apart, it became two halves, yin and yang. And then what?”

The crowd’s gazes grew increasingly intense, and their curiosity reached its peak.

“The Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things. This simple and true Taoist scripture should be understandable to everyone, right? And that is the ultimate mystery of this jade pendant.” As Fan Jialuo spoke, he reached into the dragon’s mouth and took out one gray jade pendant after another. Their shapes were exactly the same as the black jade, only smaller in size, and the fish heads were facing the opposite direction.

In just a few minutes, a large number of small jade pendants had piled up at Fan Jialuo’s feet. He gathered them together and, to the disbelief of the crowd, slowly kneaded them into a larger gray jade pendant. He then pieced it together with the black jade pendant, only to find that the joint was still slightly too small and did not match.

So he took the gray jade pendant and kneaded it into small jade pendants, scattering them casually at his feet.

“Did you all see clearly? This is the principle of “Three Begetting All Things.” This double fish pendant can be divided in two, and the white half can be divided into three, four, five, or even thousands upon thousands of pieces.

“Why is it divided into so many small pieces, and even the color has changed?” A top cultivator of the Taoist alliance couldn’t help but ask.

This issue not only attracted the attention of others, but even Song Enci, who was removing her bandages, stopped what she was doing. Her mouth was not fully grown and she could not speak, and her eyes were just two small black dots, unable to see, but her eardrums could still receive the vibrations of sound waves.

She tilted her head to the side, remaining motionless.

Fan Jialuo glanced at her, his smile mocking, “Didn’t I just say that? Song Enci thinks she’s doing good deeds, but in reality, she’s sowing the seeds of evil. Every time she saves someone she shouldn’t have, a bit of the power of that Yang Jade will be diverted and lie dormant within that person. Do you remember how she became famous?”

“The Holy Maiden of Zezhou!” Someone blurted out.

“Yes, she saved the entire population of Zezhou. So, the Yang Jade she carried with her unknowingly split into countless smaller pieces. Saving lives requires power, and once this power is separated from the jade pendant, it lies dormant within these people who should have died long ago, until a strong desire awakens them. They were originally pure white, but once tainted by the desire, they turn gray, and then manifest strange phenomena, driving people insane.”

“What is the true nature of evil? I find that Western theology captures it perfectly—— pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, lust, and gluttony. These Seven Deadly Sins are humanity’s original sins, the very wellspring from which all human malice flows.”

“The arrogant desire supreme status, the envious desire to suppress all competitors, the angry desire the power to vent their anger, the lazy desire to gain without effort, the greedy desire unparalleled wealth, and lust and gluttony will lead one to utter depravity in the abyss of depravity.”

“These differentiated jade pendants lie dormant within human bodies, and humans are the aggregate of all desires. Once these desires are awakened, they will cause these hosts to mutate, thus stirring up trouble in this world. Perhaps some people awaken those jade pendants because of the allure of desire, but how many of them can there be? Once desire is amplified infinitely, the result will only be disastrous.”

“Ma You, Su Fengxi, Zhang Yang, Xiao Yanling, do you still remember these people?” Fan Jialuo raised his head and looked around at everyone.

After gradually understanding what kind of evil things Song Enci had scattered among the people, these cultivators all turned pale.

“This jade pendant belongs to Ma You, this jade pendant belongs to Su Fengxi, this jade pendant belongs to Zhang Yang, and this jade pendant belongs to Xiao Yanling. They inherited these jade pendants from their ancestors or others. They activated the jade pendants with strong desire, gaining bizarre abilities that are unimaginable to ordinary people.”

Fan Jialuo flicked out four gray jade pendants of different sizes with his fingertips and sighed, “Song Enci, take a good look at the kind of monsters you have created.”

“Now you understand why you suddenly suffered a backlash when Ma You went on a killing spree, right?”

Lin Nianci’s body had stiffened, and the growth rate of her facial features seemed to have stagnated.

Chang Sheng, Chang Zhen, and Lin Nian’en, who had personally experienced this incident, all looked at her with disbelief and anger.

So, the serial killer Ma You was actually created by Lin Nianci herself! No wonder all those evil deeds ended up on her! This is karma!

Fan Jialuo continued, “Having saved the entire population of Zezhou, you became a being close to deity walking among humans, gaining fame, followers, and temples, and beginning to enjoy the offerings of mortals. For the first few years, you indeed saw hope of becoming a god, you regained your youth, gained an ageless appearance, and your power reached a level unimaginable to ordinary people. But——”

Fan Jialuo’s tone was laced with sarcasm, “Suddenly, one day, the nightmare returned. Your body began to rot from the inside out, and with each passing day, you were closer to your doom. You didn’t understand why. You had saved countless lives, accumulated unparalleled merit, and stepped into the threshold of godhood, yet why did all your efforts crumble? In countless days and nights, you racked your brains, but you probably still couldn’t understand, right?”

He looked at Lin Nianci, who was sitting motionless.

Lin Nianci’s toothless mouth opened rapidly, and she asked in a hoarse voice, “Why?”

Why, why, why…… These words had echoed in her mind countless times, and had tormented her heart countless times. The heavens and the divinity were clearly only a step away from her, so why did they suddenly knock her down?

Why?!

“Because what you’re accumulating wasn’t merit, but bad karma, what you’re creating wasn’t beauty, but sin. Have you ever gone back to visit those you casually saved, to see what became of them?”

Lin Nianci thought of Ma You and the others, and her heart clenched involuntarily.

But Fan Jialu shook his head and sneered, “People like Ma You, Xiao Yanling, Su Fengxi, and Young Master Zhang are just insignificant stains on your path to godhood, far from enough to ruin your chance to become a god.”

Lin Nianci’s eyeballs finally grew back, and began to dart around in their eye sockets without eyelids. Her eerie and sinister appearance startled everyone. Now, she was no longer the Holy Maiden of Zezhou, she was a living demon.

Xuan Chengzi looked at her with his fiery red eyes, which made her shiver involuntarily, and then she lowered her head deeply.

But Fan Jialuo’s words made her suddenly look up, her face contorted.

“This Yang Jade, with its dull grayish-green tint, is something I pulled straight from the core of the demonic Bodhi tree. A monster like that, capable of forcefully binding karmic ties, upending the cycle of reincarnation, and nearly bringing about the end of the world, was your masterpiece too. And the boundless bad karma it accumulated will, in the end, fall entirely on your head.”

Everyone stared in horror at the gray-green jade pendant that Fan Jialuo was holding between his fingers.

“How is this possible!” Lin Nianci shouted hoarsely.

Fan Jialuo said with a half-smile, “How is it impossible? You are the Holy Maiden of Zezhou who saves people from suffering, you are a deity walking among humans. How many impossible things have you done to demonstrate your miracles? That Bodhi tree was struck by lightning and should have withered and died long ago. You saw how terrified and helpless the believers kneeling on the ground were, so on a whim, you touched its charred branches with your fingertips.”

“And so, the lifeless branches sprouted tender green buds and regained their vitality. The crowd was awestruck by your miracle and knelt at your feet, calling you Holy Maiden. You flicked your sleeves and left gracefully, while that Bodhi tree eventually became the demon tree we see today.”

“If I hadn’t awakened, it would have destroyed this city, and then this country. All these sins are placed upon your head. How can you become a god? How can you avoid the backlash? How can you not fall from the clouds and become this pile of mud before you? What was the purpose of you reviving that Bodhi tree?”

Lin Nianci’s teeth chattered, and she was too timid to answer.

Fan Jialuo answered for her, “You’re only doing this to satisfy your own vanity. You enjoy seeing others grovel at your feet. So you see, even the smallest human desire is so ridiculous and filthy.”

Lin Nianci covered her face and began to tremble violently.

Xuan Chengzi finally understood—— That world-destroying demon tree and those inhuman monsters, ruthless killers who unleashed carnage and bloodshed, treating ordinary people as mere sustenance, turned out to be the handiwork of his beloved disciple. No wonder her backlash was so devastating when she returned to the sect. It had nearly taken her life, leaving her completely beyond all help. Having committed such monstrous sins and accumulated such heavy karmic debt, how could Heaven possibly tolerate her?

Xuan Chengzi’s sword tip trembled slightly and slowly pointed at Lin Nianci, whose body was still wrapped in bandages.

Lin Nianci called out Shifu plaintively, wanting to say something conciliatory, but was interrupted again by Fan Jialuo, “Having heard so many secrets, shouldn’t you show yourself now?”

What? Someone else is here? The cultivators immediately raised their weapons and assumed a defensive posture.

Strange things began to happen. Many vines squeezed out from the cracks in the basement bricks and slowly twisted into a human shape, forming a face that was completely unfamiliar to others but very familiar to Fan Jialuo. Who else could it be but Duan Xiaoyun, who had already transformed into a treant?

“Duan Xiaoyun, now you should know who caused the tragedy of your life, right?” Fan Jialuo was not surprised by the person’s resurrection. In fact, he had known all along that this person was nothing more than a trap.

She assumed that Fan Jialuo would inevitably die at the hands of that Bodhi tree once he entered the forest of the demon tree, so she made no effort to conceal the flaws in her actions. Why was it that while everyone else’s mobile phones and communication devices ceased to function upon entering the forest, she alone was able to send so many videos and photos?

Dr. Song had already figured out these obvious doubts the moment he entered the forest. So, when Fan Jialuo took the initiative to touch the demon tree, Dr. Song told him a sentence with his mind—be careful of Duan Xiaoyun.

Having obtained the jade pendant from the demon tree and learned about its life story, Fan Jialuo naturally knew very well what kind of tragic fate Duan Xiaoyun had with this tree.

However, those around them were unaware of the inside story, so they looked at each other in bewilderment and were greatly surprised.

Even the culprit, Lin Nianci, looked completely bewildered, as innocent as a child.

Duan Xiaoyun looked at her and chuckled, “Holy Maiden, we meet again. Back then, everyone in our village was infected with the plague. You saved us and took us to a dilapidated temple. That day, lightning struck down from the sky and killed the Bodhi tree in front of the temple. Everyone said it was a terrible omen and knelt down to apologize to the heavens. Only you said it didn’t matter and with a flick of your finger, you brought the tree back to life.”

“Before you left, you casually pointed among the kneeling crowd and said in a melodious voice, ‘From now on, you will be my temple keeper, managing this temple of the Holy Maiden and taking care of this sacred tree for me.’ The person immediately knelt down, trembling with fear, and then you gracefully departed.”

“You’ve never really looked at that person properly, have you? Otherwise you would remember that I am her.”

Lin Nianci was stunned.

The others gasped in astonishment. This was yet another ancient monster, one or two hundred years old!

Duan Xiaoyun walked over to Lin Nianci, bent down to look at her, and sneered, “The Holy Maiden is indeed prone to forgetting things, or perhaps it is only natural. After all, that was the height of your glory, when temples dedicated to you were scattered across the entire Qing state. How could you possibly remember such an insignificant nobody?”

“Holy Maiden, would you like to hear my story?” Duan Xiaoyun knelt down, poised to have a long talk.

Lin Nianci shook her head repeatedly, her gaze frantically sweeping over her master standing beside her. She only wished that in her Shifu’s eyes, she would always be the most adorable, the purest, the kindest, and the most trustworthy and beloved one. So seriously, don’t say another word!

But the more terrified she was, the more exhilarated Duan Xiaoyun felt.

“It seems you’re eager to hear more, so I’ll continue.” Duan Xiaoyun knelt down, her eyes vacant, and began to speak slowly and deliberately, “Back then, I was really naive. I always felt that being chosen by you was the greatest fortune, so I took good care of that tree and talked to it all the time. I always felt that it had been enlightened by you and had a spirit. As it turns out, my guess was right. One day, I actually felt some special emotions from it, such as joy, loneliness, sadness, and so on.”

“I was overjoyed and never treated it as different again, but as another child of mine. I even had my son become XiongDi with it. My husband, son, the tree, and I lived a carefree and happy life in the temple of the Holy Maiden”

“However, the tragedy of my life was already destined the moment I met you. If I hadn’t heard Teacher Fan’s explanation just now, I might never have found the culprit who harmed me. It was you! It turns out that the one who ruined my family was the infamous Holy Maiden of Zezhou. Ha, what Holy Maiden? I think she’s just a demon……”

As Duan Xiaoyun spoke, two lines of bloody tears streamed down her face, and her once beautiful face was now contorted into a grotesque ghost.

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