His sword strikes missed Huan Changming, and the newly built wooden house was soon riddled with wounds.
With a loud crash, the wooden beam supporting the house broke, and the entire wooden house collapsed, crushing Lu Pianpian. He swung his sword and slashed at it, emerging from the ruins of the house.
Suddenly, the rain poured down. Lu Pianpian stood on the ruins of the wooden house, his white hair soaked. He looked up at the sky, the cold rain soaking his body, but it still couldn't extinguish the turbulent emotions within him.
Like a fire that only grows stronger the more he tries to extinguish it, the more it burns.
Lu Pianpian stood in the heavy rain all night until dawn broke, and only then did he calm down.
The thorn forest was not a good place; he could not stay there any longer. He needed to find a more secluded place, a place where few people would venture out and he wouldn't have any ulterior motives.
Lu Pianpian left the thorn forest and came across a stream. The stream was covered with strange black flowers, and dark red butterflies perched on the flowers, fluttering their wings as if they were sucking the essence from the flowers.
He followed the flower's stem downwards and smelled an extremely strong stench of blood. The scent of blood reached upstream, and as he walked along it, he saw a dying dragon lying on the bank.
The dragon was covered in wounds, its tail had been severed at the root, and it was missing one of its horns, indicating that it had been through a great battle.
Lu Pianpian walked up to the dragon and felt that it still had a faint breath. She reached out and touched its broken horn, which elicited a weak groan from the dragon.
Mu Lingzi and the demon dragon narrowly escaped death from Huan Juntian's clutches, but the demon dragon was already at its limit, having flown this far. Mu Lingzi then ran to the nearby forest to pick some medicinal herbs for healing.
Upon returning, he saw an extra person in front of the demon dragon and assumed it was Huan Juntian's pursuer. He immediately launched an attack, shouting, "If you dare touch this dragon, I will definitely not let you go!"
Lu Pianpian turned around at the sound. Mu Lingzi saw his appearance—white hair and red eyes—and was stunned for a moment before recognizing him. "You are... Lu Pianpian?"
Lu Pianpian was a divine child of the Heavenly Realm, and was of the same ilk as Huan Juntian. Even though Mu Lingzi recognized him, she only regarded him as an enemy at this moment. "I knew you people wouldn't let us go easily! Lang Xu was right. You people of the Heavenly Realm are indeed a bunch of hypocritical people. You presumptuously claim to be the rulers of the world, and your actions are even worse than those of us demons!"
Lu Pianpian attributed Mu Lingzi's hostility towards him to the battle of the Floating Pagoda, in which the demon and monster races were defeated. "It was you who launched the night attack on the Floating Pagoda. The Heavenly Realm's actions were merely self-preservation."
"Was the attack on the Floating Pagoda solely the work of Langxu? What does it have to do with the demon race?" Mu Lingzi said indignantly. "Instead of suppressing the leading demon race, Huan Juntian came to our demon race's territory and wantonly harmed and humiliated the demons. Isn't he settling a personal score?"
"And this dragon, he has never been involved in the matter of the Pagoda of Floating Pagoda. He has stayed quietly in the Demon Realm without ever leaving! If you and Huan Juntian are seeking revenge for a past life, then this dragon deserves it. But if you implicate him in the matter of the Pagoda of Floating Pagoda, then that is a fabrication. If you want to find fault, you can always find a reason!"
The attack on the Floating Pagoda was clearly carried out by people from both the demon and monster races, but Mu Lingzi attributed it to Lang Xu leading a single demon.
Lu Pianpian said, "I witnessed the demon and monster races joining forces to attack the Floating Pagoda, intending to steal the Buddha-Slaying Pestle."
"This is absolutely impossible!" Mu Lingzi exclaimed in disbelief. "It's true that Lang Xucun harbors ambitions to conquer the Heavenly Realm, but ever since Huan Changming learned of your divine son identity, he has never harbored any ill intentions towards the Heavenly Realm!"
Hearing this, Lu Pianpian felt only mockery and grating. "Huan Changming led the demons to attack the Heavenly Realm and even killed the immortal guarding the Buddha-slaying pestle inside the Floating Pagoda. That person was my master, Qu Fuyi."
Upon hearing this, Mu Lingzi's expression became even more peculiar. "So you killed Huan Changming to avenge your master?"
"yes."
Upon hearing this, Mu Lingzi's lips curled into a sarcastic smile, "Hahaha..."
Lu Pianpian frowned, not understanding why Mu Lingzi was laughing.
"Lu Pianpian, Huan Changming's love for you is so humble that even a petty person like me feels sorry for him."
What are you trying to say?
Mu Lingzi laughed as she walked up to the demon dragon, using her spiritual power to turn the herbs in her hand into powder and apply it to the dragon's wounds. "What do I want to say? I want to say that Huan Changming is a complete idiot! He was shrewd all his life, but he was defeated by you! He didn't even know why he died!"
"Huan Changming, Huan Changming, you are so stupid that it breaks my heart!"
The inner demon suppressed within Lu Pianpian sensed the fluctuation in her host's emotions and tried to break free, but Lu Pianpian desperately suppressed it back.
"Lu Pianpian, when the Pagoda was attacked, do you think Huan Changming was there?" Mu Lingzi suddenly looked into Lu Pianpian's eyes, wanting to imprint this answer firmly into Lu Pianpian's bones. "He was in the River Styx, being devoured by the vengeful spirits and ghosts at the bottom of the river, and almost perished in the mouths of those little devils."
Lu Pianpian wouldn't be easily fooled again. "I don't believe it."
Huan Changming was no longer an ordinary person; he had cultivated into a demon, so how could ordinary ghosts possibly harm him?
“At that time, he was poisoned and had no ability to protect himself.” Mu Lingzi paused and then added, “The wings of the Lingxi Butterfly were the antidote for his poison, but in the past two hundred years, he has been in excruciating pain every time, but he has never thought of using your wings as an antidote.”
How much pain would he experience when the poison took effect?
Lu Pianpian had seen it; the pain was so intense that she wished she could hang herself, the pain was so intense that she could only curl up her body and shrink herself into a small corner to slowly endure it.
Huan Changming endured this pain for two hundred years, and at the same time, he sealed the antidote that could relieve his pain within his body for two hundred years.
He could have obtained it so easily, and using it would have freed him from this torment, but he refused.
He was stubborn, and it was unclear what he was holding onto.
What was he holding onto? He was holding onto the only memory Lu Pianpian left him. Even though it hurt him to the core, he couldn't let go of what Lu Pianpian had left him.
The wings were medicine, but more importantly, they were the hope that allowed Huan Changming to endure the pain time and time again and survive.
But now the wings of the Spirit Rhinoceros Butterfly have been returned to their rightful owner.
Huan Changming could no longer keep it to himself.
Lu Pianpian's eyelashes fluttered, and after a long while, he spoke in a calm voice: "He killed my master, there is no room for argument."
"It was definitely not Huan Changming who killed your master," Mu Lingzi said confidently. "On the night the Floating Pagoda was attacked, I learned from the pig demon A Fen that Lang Xu was leading troops to attack the Heavenly Realm. At that time, I felt something was wrong and wanted to tell Huan Changming about it, but I found that Huan Changming was not in the Demon Realm..."
Lu Pianpian interrupted him, "That's because he had already led troops to attack the Heavenly Realm with Langxu at that time!"
“Lu Pianpian! He was in the River Styx at that time! I pulled him out! He learned from me that the Heavenly Realm had been attacked by Langxu. He was worried about your safety, and despite his own injuries, he rushed to the Heavenly Realm alone! There was no way he could have killed your master!”
"He did something that hurt your dearest and most beloved person, but it backfired and pushed him into eternal damnation! For the past two hundred years, he has been suffering greatly in repentance. Anyone could kill your master, but Huan Changming would never kill your master! He values you more than his own life, so how could he be so foolish as to repeat the same mistake?"
Mu Lingzi's account was completely different from what Lu Pianpian had heard and seen. His brows furrowed, his inner demons were at work again. "My senior sister saw him kill my master with her own eyes. My senior sister would not slander him for no reason."
"Fine, you believe your senior sister, but have you listened to a single explanation from Huan Changming?"
Huan Changming's dying words suddenly echoed in Lu Pianpian's ears, "You wouldn't even give me a chance to explain..."
Did he listen to Huan Changming's explanation?
Lu Pianpian's mind was in chaos. He covered his forehead and vaguely remembered that he had answered Huan Changming with just two words.
Which two characters?
He said, "No need."
Huan Changming wanted to explain, but he refused to listen to a single word more.
Seeing Lu Pianpian's pained expression, Mu Lingzi said self-deprecatingly, "I've become just as stupid as Huan Changming. If he had a chance to explain, he wouldn't have been killed by your own hands."
"I heard that you crushed him to dust, leaving not even a single bone behind."
"The Divine Child's revenge for the past was indeed resolute; he and Huan Juntian are truly worthy of being fellow disciples..."
"I don't believe you." Lu Pianpian's head was throbbing, and Huan Changming's voice kept echoing in her ears, "Your story is full of holes, I don't believe a single word you say!"
Mu Lingzi spoke up for Huan Changming, "If you think my words are full of loopholes, then I could easily make up a more plausible lie to tell you, but unfortunately what I said is all true. In any case, Huan Changming is already dead at your hands, and even if I tell you the truth, Huan Changming won't come back to life. I'm just feeling indignant on his behalf."
The demon dragon couldn't even maintain its original size, and under Mu Lingzi's healing, it shrunk back to the size of an ordinary child.
Mu Lingzi picked up the demonic dragon and said, "Since the divine child will not kill us, then we will take our leave."
After saying that, he was about to leave with the demon dragon. The demon realm was already full of Huan Juntian's henchmen, and if they stayed here, they would be discovered sooner or later.
As he was about to leave, he noticed that Lu Pianpian was still standing in the same spot, and suddenly remembered something.
When he left the Demon Palace, he not only took Lan Jun's true form with him, but also took out the box that Huan Changming treasured.
It wasn't that Mu Lingzi was overly protective of his master; it was simply that he had a very deep impression of Huan Changming's box.
When Huan Changming first became the Demon Lord, some demons, enamored with his handsome face and powerful abilities, secretly entered his palace in an attempt to curry favor with him.
Demons are naturally free-spirited and have little regard for etiquette. While waiting, they made a mess of Huan Changming's bedroom.
When Huan Changming returned to his bedchamber, he saw the mess in the entire palace. Unexpectedly, he did not immediately punish the audacious demon, but instead searched for the box that Mu Lingzi had brought out.
Mu Lingzi still remembers Huan Changming's expression when he was looking for the box. He was like a madman, not listening to anyone, only desperately searching for the box. He was also like a child in the mortal world who had lost his most precious thing, absent-minded, pitiful and miserable.
Finally, Huan Changming found the box in a corner of the bedroom. He hugged it tightly to his chest. The recovery of what he had lost brought him not joy, but a more insane obsession.
The fate of that demon is self-evident.
From then on, everyone who stayed by the Demon Lord's side knew that the box was the Demon Lord's forbidden zone, his lifeline.
Touching it will surely lead to death.
But the owner of this box is already dead, so there's no use for the Wood Spirit.
He didn't need to think too much to guess that the box was probably related to Lu Pianpian, and now he could just return it to her.
“This is Huan Changming’s most treasured box. Now that he’s dead, I’m entrusting it to you.” Mu Lingzi handed the box to Lu Pianpian. “I believe that if Huan Changming could know this in the afterlife, he would be at peace seeing this box in your hands.”
After he finished speaking, he deliberately changed his words, "I forgot again, he doesn't even have any bones, so how could he rest in peace?"
Lu Pianpian was deathly pale, tormented by his inner demons. He trembled as he reached out to take the box, but the moment his fingers touched it, he suddenly knocked it to the ground. "I am irreconcilably mortal with Huan Changming!"
The box broke in two, and the contents inside were thrown out and landed at Mu Lingzi's feet.
"You've gone too far!"
Mu Lingzi quickly bent down to pick up the fallen object, blew off the dust, and Lu Pianpian suddenly snatched it back from his hand.
"Huan Changming is dead, why are you taking his things to vent your anger!"
Lu Pianpian could no longer hear Huan Changming's voice demanding his life and causing him pain.
He opened his eyes wide and stared intently at the pair of earrings in his hands.
The material is black jade, the shape is like a water droplet, and every stroke was carved by his own hands.
Lu Pianpian was met with utter silence.
Chapter 67
The Celestial Lord Juntian is in charge of the celestial phenomena of the stars and moon, and resides at the Star River Moon-Falling Terrace.
The Starry Moon Terrace has its own unique space, and no matter how the outside world changes, the Starry Moon Terrace will always be brightly lit by the stars, unaffected in the slightest.
Juntian Shenjun is aloof and prefers quiet. While Lu Pianpian has a celestial book as her attendant, he always lives alone.
Lu Pianpian concealed her aura and ascended to the Heavenly Realm, arriving at the Star River Moon-Falling Platform.
Few people know how to break the barrier at the entrance, but Lu Pianpian does, because the method was told to her by the Divine Lord Juntian.
He entered the Star River Moon-Falling Platform. The bright moon and stars hung high in the night sky, but the Celestial Lord was not there. Lu Pianpian ventured deeper and came to the foot of the star chart. Suddenly, he sensed a strange feeling. He looked up based on this feeling and saw a star frozen in the night sky.
It emitted a flickering red light amidst the frost.
Lu Pianpian stared at the star in silence for a moment, then suddenly leaped into the night sky, weaving through the stars as if searching for a particular one.
The night sky was full of stars, and after searching for a long time, he finally found the star he was looking for.