章節 36: A Change
Xukong sensed the abnormality that was happening instantly. He could feel that a change had happened within Lin Mu's mind which he was not clear about. He could sense the mysterious ring responding to Lin Mu in someway.
"What!?" Xukong suddenly exclaimed as he felt the environment within the mysterious ring change.
Xukong could see that the mysterious ring had become active once again as a beam of light was being emanated by the ethereal altar. He rushed towards the ethereal altar to observe what exactly was happening with it.
*****
While this was happening in the mysterious ring, Lin Mu was clueless about it in the real world. Right now his mind seemed to have entered a strange state where he felt as if he couldn't think straight and a myriad of thoughts were going rushing through it. He didn't notice that the people in the office were staring at him either.
"Lin Mu?" Lu Xiao called out but received no response.
Then, the sound of a door opening could be heard, and footsteps approached them.
"What did that boy say? This is wrong?" An approaching voice said.
Lu Xiao and the vice captain saw the Town head entering from another room that was attached to the office. He came in and saw the three people standing in his office. The town head recognized the new vice captain, Han Lei, but did not know who the other two people were.
Lin Mu had his head down the entire time, as if he was lost in thinking. The town head could not see Lin Mu's clearly, thus he came even closer.
"Who's this, Han Lei?" The Town head questioned.
The annoyed expression that Han Lei had on his face was still there and showed no signs of dissipating. He looked at the town head and spoke,
"They are the remaining people from the Night Vigil." Han Lei spoke in a curt tone paying no heed to the status of the Town head.
Lu Xiao was shocked upon seeing the manner in which Han Lei had spoken with the town head. All the people from the Northern town were usually respectful in talking with the town head and seldom did they behave like this. Even the Captain of the Town's guards was very respectful of the town head.
The only other person who could speak with the Town head on the same level was the Supervisor of the Spirit apple orchards Li Peng, and even that was only because he was appointed by the mayor of Wu Lim city.
The Town head paid no heed to Han Lei's tone and just looked at Lin Mu.
"What was this boy saying again?" The town head asked as if he had not heard the previous words clearly.
"He said something about this being wrong." Han Lei answered.
The Town head stroked his beard a couple of times before speaking.
"And what is this thing that's wrong?"
"Everything..." Lin Mu lightly muttered in response.
"Look at me and speak, boy. Do not disrespect me." The town head spoke in a grim tone.
The Vice captain too was feeling furious after seeing Lin Mu act like this. He was already annoyed after being ordered to do such a measly task, and now even a kid like Lin Mu was ignoring his presence and was behaving insolently.
~Thwack~
"Look up, boy!" Han Lei shouted as he slapped Lin Mu's back in anger.
Han Lei had expected for Lin Mu to stumble ahead after getting hit, but in a surprise to him, he didn't react at all. Even when he had hit Lin Mu, Han Lei felt as if he had hit a stiff surface.
'Is he... is he wearing armor beneath his clothes?' Han Lei thought.
Lin Mu finally looked up and glared at the eyes of the town head. But when the town head looked at his face and his eyes, alarm bells rang through his mind. A furious expression could be seen on Lin Mu's face, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"I SAID EVERYTHING!!!!" Lin Mu spat out.
*****
Back in the mysterious ring, Xukong was traveling at a great speed towards the glowing ethereal altar in the distance. The altar was currently glowing with a white light, and waves of energy could be felt emanating from it.
"What is happening this time?" Xukong muttered.
"Is he going to have another bout of enlightenment?" Xukong wondered.
Soon Xukong reached the altar and saw the changes in it. The altar was no longer ethereal but had instead turned corporeal now, and even its size seemed to have increased. Large and complex runes could be seen rising from the altar and spreading around it.
Xukong looked at the runes and for the first time, found himself stumped at them. He could not recognize these runes at all. In all the tens of millions of years that he had lived, Xukong had seen countless runes and even more languages. He could say that he knew most of what there was to know about them.
"What are these runes? Wait... No! This... this can't be!" Xukong shouted as he suddenly realized something.
The runes had now stopped arising from the altar and were now moving around. Soon they had arranged themselves into multiple concentric formation arrays. The formation array was vast and the complexity of it could be seldom seen, even in the myriad of worlds.
"A True Grand Formation Array!" Xukong uttered in shock.
Xukong could not determine the function of this formation array as he could not read the runes at all. The characters which were used to write the runes were not from the Dao script and seemed to be completely different.
Unable to determine the use of the formation array, Xukong focused his attention on Lin Mu. He forced his own spirit sense to leave the mysterious ring and observed the outside world. In another surprise to Xukong, his spirit sense was easily able to leave the mysterious ring. He had expected a backlash from the world's restrictions, but somehow it did not arrive.
Suppressing his surprise for now, Xukong scanned Lin Mu's surroundings and got a grasp of the situation. While Xukong would roughly know what was in Lin Mu's environment, this was because of Lin Mu thinking about it in his mind and not because of his own spirit sense.
Xukong refrained from using his spirit sense as he knew that it would cause a backlash. This was the first time that Xukong was looking around in the world after arriving here.
Xukong saw the changes in Lin Mu's expression, but could no longer see what was happening in his mind. It was as if a barrier had been erected around his mind, which shielded his thoughts and prevented him from observing them.
In the next moment, Xukong could feel a violent presence arising within Lin Mu. The others around him could not feel it, but since Xukong was the closest he could.
"Could it be? But it's not possible, he's not even at that stage now." Xukong spoke to himself.
Xukong then directed his spirit sense towards Lin Mu's Dantian to observe the situation within it. His spirit sense passed through his abdomen and entered the dantian. At first, he felt a little obstruction upon entering, but his superior spirit sense was able to successfully enter it.
Xukong looked around the dantian, which had more than a thousand wisps of spirit qi floating around in it. These wisps of spirit qi seem to be moving in a haphazard manner, as if they were being scared by something.
Then finally, in a corner of the dantian, Xukong saw it.
There was a vague figure floating in the expanse, the spirit qi wisps were running away from it. Xukong observed closely and found that the figure was wearing some commoners clothes and its face was just a mass of shifting darkness.
The mass of darkness would sometimes morph into a masculine face and sometimes into a feminine face. The presence of Xukong's spirit sense seemed to have disturbed the figure, and it awakened.
~Screech~
A piercing sound could suddenly be heard coming from the figure's head. The sound was more close to a screech rather than a cry as it resounded in the dantian and affected the spirit qi wisps.
The spirit Qi wisps that were once running away from the figure were now going towards it with blinding speed. The figure then started absorbing the spirit qi at an immense pace, and the spirit qi in the dantian started reducing at a visible rate.
'Oh no... it is what I thought it was.' Xukong thought.
The more the figure absorbed the spirit qi, the more its features became clear. The mass of darkness that faintly resembled masculine and feminine features was now changing to get more apparent. Soon the mass of darkness turned to become actual faces.
One of the faces belonged to a rough and brawny looking man, while the other belonged to a gentle and motherly looking woman. Both the faces had certain features that resembled Lin Mu himself. The figure kept on absorbing the spirit qi, and the faces alternated between the man and woman.
"Are these... Lin Mu's parents?"
章節 37: The Burning Heart Sutra
Xukong was a little shocked upon seeing the faces of Lin Mu's parents appearing on the dark figure's face.
"Why did Lin Mu never speak to me about this?" Xukong questioned himself.
'Has he been suppressing this in his mind all long, such that it has now turned into his Heart Demon?' Xukong thought to himself.
Indeed, the figure that was alternating between the two faces was none other than a Heart Demon. A Heart Demon is the product of the cultivator's emotions, memories, and guilt. They combine together and give birth to an entity that eventually becomes a Heart Demon.
A Heart Demon can gravely harm a cultivator if they don't deal with it or suppress it. Every cultivator that exists will one day develop a Heart Demon, the only difference is when. Even the most staunch, just, righteous, and willful of cultivators develop Heart Demons when they undergo their tribulations, not to say about the other common or unorthodox cultivators.
Though the reason why Xukong was so shocked was because Lin Mu was simply not at the cultivation stage where he could develop a Heart Demon. A Heart Demon also required a large quantity of spirit qi to be born, thus the earliest a cultivator could develop a heart demon was at the Core Condensation realm.
Lin Mu developing one at the Mid-stage of the Qi refining realm simply did not make sense. This was apparent since looking at the heart demon, Xukong could tell that it was not fully developed and was thus forcibly absorbing the spirit qi in Lin Mu's dantian.
"Even if it absorbs the entirety of Lin Mu's Spirit Qi stores, it still won't be able to live. Nevertheless, I have to do something." Xukong spoke inwardly.
Xukong was just about to act when suddenly, his spirit sense was pushed back because of an immense pressure.
"Wha... What?" Xukong spoke after recoiling.
He looked around and saw that the True Grand Formation Array had activated. The runes on it started shifting and showed a myriad of changes. It was as if the workings of the heavens were hidden within the formation and gave one a slight glance into it.
Xukong could not help but be lost within the mysteries of the True Grand Formation Array. A moment later he forcibly snapped out of his daze, as a chill went down his body.
"This is truly fearsome. It can even pull someone like me into it." Xukong spoke with a little fear in his voice.
~screech~
Xukong then heard a loud echoing screech and saw an oval mass appear over the formation array. The oval mass was making shrieking and crying noises which made one's ears hurt and hair stand on the end.
The oval mass dissipated and revealed the heart demon that was hidden within. The heart demon was floating above the formation array and seemed to be greatly distressed. It seemed to have stabilized its form temporarily after absorbing the spirit qi from Lin Mu's dantian, but probably could not maintain it for much longer.
"Why is the heart demon here?" Xukong questioned.
The heart demon's movements were being restricted by something invisible which even Xukong could not determine. Suddenly the altar that was glowing with white light started to thrum with power. Even more intense waves of energy started being released from it. Xukong was just about to brace for its impact when he discovered that the energy waves never reached him.
Xukong gazed at the altar and saw that the waves of energy were only targeting the heart demon. The energy waves would be released by the altar and then surround the heart demon into a certain kind of a shell.
"The altar is sealing the Heart Demon? No! This is something else..." Xukong uttered.
After the heart demon was completely encased within the energy shell it started floating towards the altar. It came to a halt right above the beam of white light and was veiled within it.
And then it happened...
The entire environment within the ring changed. The beam of light that was being emanated by the altar was no longer white. Instead, it had turned into a crimson shade of red. The light kept on being intensified until finally; it became blood red.
"This aura... how can it be here..." Xukong uttered in between breaths.
A violent and oppressive aura spread inside the ring and made Xukong recoil.
"There's no doubt... It is the aura of the Demonic Path!" Xukong stated before he was pushed back a large distance away.
*****
Back in the real world. A stream of memories were currently flashing in Lin Mu's mind.
A young teenage boy was standing in the door frame while crying. He was looking at a rough and brawny man that was currently sharpening a blade with a whetstone.
"Please don't go, father." The boy requested.
"We don't have a choice, my son. I need to go hunt, we don't have any more money left." The man spoke.
Evidently, the man and the boy were a pair of father and son.
"But what if you fall sick like mother as well?" The boy spoke.
"I just have to take that risk. The town head can't offer anyone aid, and this is the middle of the winter as well. I don't know what else to do, I have to buy medicine for your mother." The man spoke with determination in his eyes.
The memories soon changed and a different scene appeared in Lin Mu's mind.
The boy was now standing over two graves alone. He fell on his knees and was kowtowing while crying.
"Why... why did this happen? If we had waited for a few more days, the medicine would have arrived." The boy yelled.
"What am I supposed to do, now that you two are gone?" The boy uttered between sobs.
The boy stayed in that position for a while before standing up. He then walked out of the courtyard and saw the scenes outside. Many other people could be seen crying and mourning. The boy then understood that he wasn't the only one in this situation, and there were others in the same condition as well.
These memories kept on replaying in Lin Mu's mind over and over again. Each time he would think what if, it didn't happen? What if they did something different? Or what if they had chosen to wait? But every time he thought about each 'What if?', the fury within Lin Mu's heart grew.
He remembered the conditions in the past and then how the town head had rejected everyone's calls for aid. He would then recall all the luxuries that the Town head was enjoying and could not help but wonder, what it was all for?
Lin Mu was unaware of the events happening within the mysterious ring. He did not even react when the spirit qi within his body started depleting rapidly. The only thing that mattered to him right now was his thoughts.
It was then that he heard a voice call out to him. The voice asked him what was so wrong, to which he could barely reply and could only whisper.
Lin Mu then heard someone slap his back and yell at him. This did not help his condition much and only helped to infuriate him more.
It was now that he looked up to glare at the voice that was calling out to him. He wanted to give a fitting response to the person who was disturbing his thoughts, disturbing his memories.
But when Lin Mu looked up, he saw the person who was currently the main target of his hate. It was the person he was pinning his previous sorrow and tragedy upon. He saw the Town Head standing in front of him looking at him with eyes that were intending to make him feel lowly.
The fury in his heart was at its peak, when Lin Mu finally mustered enough will to yell out his answer,
"I SAID EVERYTHING!!!!"
And then, it was as if the fury within his heart could no longer be contained. Lin Mu heard something beckoning him, calling him to come to it. He chose to respond to it and saw everything slowdown. The movements of the Town head in front of him froze, and even the dust particles that were floating around in the air became still.
It was as if the world itself had stopped.
Lin Mu then felt it. Something was pulling on his mind. He let go of his inhibitions and let it happen.
He found himself in a vast empty expanse. The ground was red, as if stained by blood and even the sky seemed to be filled with crimson red clouds. A moment later Lin Mu could even smell the metallic stench of blood.
Then he saw them appear in the sky. Thousands of vague figures started appearing. They kept on increasing in number until finally they became uncountable and the sky was blotted out by them. The figures were but a dark red silhouette, though they all had different shapes and sizes.
Some were as big as mountains while others were as small as bulls. Still, even the smallest silhouette was many times bigger than Lin Mu. Some silhouettes had multiple hands and legs, some had horns, some had tails, while others had wings. There were a myriad combinations of such, and these figures were surrounding Lin Mu.
Then finally he heard them talk.
Thundering chants started echoing in the vast expanse, as the voices of all the figures melded together into an inhuman, demonic voice.
"Ignite thy heart as a furnace, let your rage fuel your strength and unleash rampage upon the worlds - Behold The Burning Heart Sutra."
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