Chapter 712: Zhengyang's Identity (Part 2)

Chapter 712: Chapter 339: Zhengyang’s Identity (Part 2)

“Is this what’s called the Chosen One by the Mandate of Heaven?” Zi Yiyi didn’t understand, but she envied such people.

The disfigured man chuckled bitterly, shaking his head, “Not at all, not at all, it’s just because these people have some remarkable backing…”

“Backing?”

Hearing this, Zi Yiyi became even more puzzled. After becoming a disciple under her mentor, she gained a deeper understanding of the entire Five Continents.

The Snake Race has declined now, and this small Clan Leader lost her mother in childhood, with her enemy being her own father. Such a pitiable person can only rely on herself, and her ability to lead the Snake Race to prosperity indeed relies on her own skills.

Such a person, what kind of backing could she possibly have?

“Yes, her backing is quite unusual…” the disfigured man said, looking lost as he stared at the sky.

In the sky?!

Zi Yiyi felt even more shocked. Her first thought was that it referred to Ji Xueruo’s deceased mother, but the intelligent Zi Yiyi immediately recalled the story her mentor had told her before the mission, a story about the origin of the Snake Race.

Zi Yiyi didn’t know if the dead could truly ascend to the sky, but she knew there were indeed people up there, and five of them!

Star Shining Immortal Ancestor, to punish the Qi Serpent for colluding with the Celestial Demon from another realm, stripped it of its bloodline gained through illicit means, and then used it to create the Snake Race.

Could the immensely powerful Immortal Ancestor have predicted that the Qi Serpent was not truly dead? And thus left behind a contingency?

And that contingency was the Snake Race, which inherited the sinful blood!

“But if she devours the Qi Serpent… wouldn’t that make her another Qi Serpent?”

Zi Yiyi couldn’t hide the shock in her heart. Facing this seemingly omniscient mentor, she chose to express her doubt.

“Shh…”

The disfigured man raised his index finger as a gesture for silence, then quietly reminded:

“Three feet above the head, there are gods.”

This phrase usually meant to encourage self-reflection, but Zi Yiyi understood her mentor meant it literally. To speak rashly of the Immortal Ancestor was to invite divine retribution, a heavenly principle all cultivators tacitly acknowledged.

The disfigured man gazed fondly at Zi Yiyi. It was clear he was quite fond of this newly accepted disciple, as if he saw his reflection in her.

“In the future, follow your senior brother well and become a true Evil Cultivator. You won’t need me for your cultivation journey ahead.”

Who calls themselves an Evil Cultivator? It’s like telling someone to be a good bad person…

Zi Yiyi’s internal complaint quickly dissipated, immediately captivated by the latter part of the disfigured man’s words.

It didn’t sound like he was expelling accomplished disciples out of the sect. Rather, it resembled an elderly mentor bidding farewell to his disciples.

In the half year since joining the sect, she had spent it in awe, deeply admiring her almost omniscient and omnipotent mentor with reverence only surpassed by her first encounter with Hua Jing.

Strictly speaking, this was Zi Yiyi’s first official sect to study under a mentor, even if it was an evil sect. Hearing the farewell words from the disfigured man, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of reluctance for the Evil Cultivators she despised the most.

“Mentor… I don’t have a senior brother, only a senior sister. My senior brother died under the Lotus Sword Venerable’s blade a year ago.” Zi Yiyi replied.

The disfigured man, hearing this, bowed apologetically, chuckled twice, and said:

“I’ve had too many disciples in this lifetime, I forgot who’s who. Then follow your senior sister and learn well, she’s also a good child.”

Zi Yiyi didn’t plan to ask further. She wasn’t even sure if her mentor truly remembered who her senior sister was. Mistaking Senior Sister Cailing’s name for Shuhua’s had happened more than once or twice; her senior sister had gotten used to it, but Zi Yiyi still found it puzzling.

A person who could remember so many things, yet couldn’t remember the names of his own disciples.

The reason her mentor gave was also absurd, ‘too many disciples in this lifetime,’ yet the sect only had her and her senior sister left.

“Does Mentor remember my name?” Zi Yiyi boldly asked, as the man had never called her by name.

“Zi Yiyi,” the disfigured man replied gently, “my last disciple in this lifetime, of course, I must remember your name.”

This statement gave Zi Yiyi a sense of honored surprise, but she sensed an underlying sadness in those words.

“Does Mentor intentionally not remember the names of your own disciples?”

After half a year of interaction, Zi Yiyi knew the disfigured man rarely spoke of anything unrelated to tasks with his disciples, but today he seemed different, like a farewell before parting, which gave her the courage to ask more.

“I’ve sent away so many disciples, if I remembered each one, the weight of that sorrow would crush my will. How could I have lived until this day of atonement?” The disfigured man closed his eyes; they were the only intact part of his face.

Zi Yiyi contemplated. Her mentor’s physique was well-proportioned, and his voice was righteous; aside from this face, he didn’t appear to be an old man. But she knew he must have lived a very long time, or how else could he know so many secrets?

It seemed her mentor’s reason was not baseless; he truly had taught many disciples, perhaps without using an Evil Cultivator’s identity at all.

“Is Mentor leaving?” Zi Yiyi asked softly.

“Yes… this world no longer needs me,” the disfigured man sighed deeply, “I am merely a sinner seeking to make amends for my unforgivable crimes. It’s time for me to face my own judgment.”

Zi Yiyi felt somewhat enlightened. She didn’t know the sins her mentor bore, nor the nature of his impending judgment, but she knew that after tonight, this world would indeed undergo a tremendous change.

The disfigured man looked towards the two giant serpents entwined in combat, allowing himself a slight smile, then vanishing into the wind like smoke and dust.

Zi Yiyi did not try to stop him, for she was too amazed to even think of doing so.

She had seen the eyes of this departing man so clearly before he left; they burned like the sun.

She had only seen such sacred eyes on one person, the revered Zhengyang True Immortal.

The confusion of identities left her deeply puzzled. She thought she was risking everything, sneaking under the eye of the True Immortal to carry out sinister plots, only to discover that the very Zhengyang True Immortal she was wary of was the one giving her missions?

The disfigured man’s face reappeared in her mind, the charred flesh twisting together, resembling a swirling vortex.

Zi Yiyi suddenly had a strong intuition that this face could change into anything, and Zhengyang True Immortal was not his true identity either.

“Who… are you really…?”

…

In the center of the ruins, two giant serpents fought like battling dragons, with the raging storm sweeping across the land.

The evil tide surging from the north was no longer human but true malevolence. Each one was like a monster beyond imagination, exuding the stench of the sea depths.

The evil puppets, who previously besieged the survivors, now became their protectors, engaging in fierce battles with these malicious entities filled with overwhelming evil.

Fu Heng acted decisively, immediately leading all the survivors to evacuate. This was not a place they could stay; retreating south was their only path to survival.

This was the true hell.

You Su was a monster with pitch-black eyes, and Ji Xueruo was a giant snake with a pure white body. They hadn’t spoken a word, yet worked together with perfect understanding.

One fought against the rolling tide from the north, while the other battled their ancestor from millennia past.

They extended absolute trust to each other, completely exposing their backs to the other.

You Su had descended into madness, finding a tangible pleasure in slicing through these fleshy incarnations of malevolence.

Ji Xueruo responded to the roar of the bloodline within, realizing that no one was ever destined to be anyone’s prey.

This contest between them seemed destined to last until the heavens darkened and the earth dimmed, with no one else but these two monsters to keep each other company in the vast world.