Chapter 197: Life and Death of Heaven and Earth

[“Goddess! Let them go!”]

[“Goddess! There are ten people in my family, except for two babies who are less than one month old, and we can all offer our souls to you!”]

[“Supreme Immortal…”]

[Amid the cries of hundreds of thousands of people in the city, the blood-red light in your eyes gradually faded away, and your state of mind seemed to have been stabbed...]

[“Fellow Daoist, please speak properly…”]

[The helpless exhortation of Taoist Jingxin became the last straw that broke the camel's back! ]

[You closed your eyes for a long time, and finally landed with those frightened monks... Amid the sincere thanks of the people, you silently said to these frightened guys: "Let's find a place. I want to ask you something."]

[Then, you are respectfully invited by the monks into a blessed cave.]

……

"My [Youxian Cave Heaven] is honored to have the presence of two great immortals today!"

In the beautiful cave with mountains and rivers, an old man bowed and nodded to salute two "strong dragons" passing by.

Xue Xiaohei didn't say anything, he just sat there quietly with his eyes closed, obviously he still couldn't get over his cleanliness obsession:

Everything here, from the people to the objects, to the rich spiritual energy, and even the cave itself, made Xue Xiaohei feel uncomfortable all over, so he simply decided to out of sight and out of mind...

His silence made the old man opposite very embarrassed, fortunately Jingxin came to the rescue in time!

With a cough, Taoist Jingxin spoke to the old man in a friendly manner as a true immortal:
"We are the True Immortals from the Western Wasteland. We came here to find the Immortal Realm. We are new here and don't know the customs. Please don't blame us."

"Don't dare!"

The old man lowered his posture again and again and tried to put on a smile:
"The two immortals hate evil as much as they hate evil, which can be said to be quite a legacy of the ancient immortals. This is a good thing! A good thing!"

"But we have no choice but to do this..."

The old man sighed:

"We are all cultivators of the Tao, how many of us are born to be evil?"

"The reason why everyone has taken this evil path is very simple: in this age of the Dharma Ending Age, who can stay out of it?"

"In order to continue the immortal tradition and to live a long and healthy life, we can only focus on the souls of mortals..."

The old man said bitterly:

"We all know what kind of situation the Four Wastelands have fallen into now, and Zhongzhou was the same before... But we can't stand this barbaric way of cultivating immortals by cannibalizing people, so we started to discuss it."

"The result of the discussion is that we monks should use magic and power to let ordinary people live a relatively happy life as much as possible. After they die naturally, we can use their souls to transform them into spiritual energy."

"Mortals are not blinded. They learn all this when they are in school. Whether or not to agree to have their souls taken away is a choice made by each of them."

"If they don't want to, we won't make it difficult for them. They just need to be self-reliant... But basically no one would choose to be self-reliant. They all want to enjoy their lives comfortably and then die..."

After listening to the old man's helpless explanation, Xue Xiaohei's eyelids moved, but still did not open.

Because although he had been mentally prepared for this, it did not mean that he could accept this kind of behavior. After all, even if cannibalism was something that both parties agreed to, it was still wrong in essence, and this had challenged his three views.

The more the old man wanted to prove how happy and blessed the mortals were before they were eaten, the more Xue Xiaohei felt uncomfortable both mentally and physically...

Only Jing Xin had been trying to smooth things over for him. Seeing his reaction, Jing Xin quickly took over the conversation:
"Although you still eat people, you can still do it willingly, which means you have some kindness... Unlike us in the Western Wilds, the righteous ones trick people into eating, and the evil ones slaughter people wantonly..."

Upon hearing this compliment, the old man smiled repeatedly:

"You are too kind, Immortal! Too kind!"

The two sides chatted for a while, and the atmosphere gradually became more lively...

After a long time, Jing Xin finally asked the main question:

"We are here for the fairyland. I wonder how far away it is from here?"

The old man shook his head:
"So that the Immortals know... Buzhou Mountain is the center of Zhongzhou, and this place is only the outer ring of Zhongzhou... If you two want to go to Buzhou Mountain, you still have a long way to go. Zhongzhou is not smaller than the Western Wasteland..."

This means that we will have to fly for at least a few thousand more years? !
Jing Xin was stunned. To be honest, he almost vomited. Now he had to continue...

"But don't worry, Immortal, we have a shortcut here!"

Seeing Jing Xin in a daze, the old man was afraid that he had misunderstood, so he quickly added:
"Every cave in Zhongzhou is connected by a teleportation array. Billions of caves are connected to the Buzhou land. The array was built by the ancient heaven to facilitate people from all over Zhongzhou to go to the heaven so as not to waste time on the road."

"If you two want to go to the fairyland, you can use the magic circle to teleport to Buzhou Mountain, which can greatly reduce the time!"

[You two immortals from the wilds of the West have finally gained some experience in the Central Plains!] [There is a strange thing here where the monks take the initiative to serve the mortals. The two sides have reached an agreement that the monks are responsible for using their power to "feed" countless mortals, so that the local mortals can live a happy life in the Dharma Ending Age.]

[As a price, the souls of ordinary people after death will be transformed into the spiritual energy needed by the monks. They are willing to exchange infinite life for a short life of happiness! ]

[This makes you feel deeply uncomfortable, but there is nothing you can do about it. After all, in a sense, this is the best way to coexist. Both parties are willing, and it is not your turn as a monster to confront...]

[Although you are extreme and are not afraid of killing, the current problem is obviously not something that can be solved by killing. If you kill the monks for their freedom, their lives will only be worse than they are now. That kind of freedom is of no benefit at all.]

[And you can't work like a slave for mortals for free all your life. The only result after you take action is to turn Zhongzhou into the same model as the Western Wasteland after your massacre, so that they can stop being "fed" and become self-reliant.]

[This is unacceptable to ordinary people. It is impossible for them to give up this utopian life and return to self-reliance... You can say they are lazy, or you can say they are "domesticated."]

[But they have essentially understood: what does it matter if the soul is immortal? For those who have not practiced cultivation, their souls will only drift between heaven and earth in a daze after leaving their bodies, or wait for the opportunity to awaken their wisdom and become spirits again, or their spirits will dissipate in this Dharma Ending Age...]

【What? Reincarnation?】

[What a joke. Even the saints and the heaven are gone. The Houtu Samsara Palace attached to the heaven is also long gone. Without the help of the immortals, the eternal life of mortal souls is almost non-existent.]

【What kind of eternal life is this? 】

[Since this is the case, it is better to use the meaningless "eternal life" to exchange for a life of true happiness and contentment! ]

[After all, you are not Chaos Evil. Facing this life transaction that you and I both agree on, you can only give up this useless slaughter while feeling extremely uncomfortable.]

[Besides, you can't even finish slaughtering the people in the Western Wasteland, and you still want to slaughter the people in the Central Plains? ]

[So, despite all your complicated feelings, you can only embark on the teleportation array to the fairyland with Taoist Jingxin. With the farewell of the old man from Fudi, the array begins to operate...]

[This teleportation array built in the mythological era has gone through countless years of erosion and has actually stopped working very early on. Without the maintenance of a dedicated person from the Heavenly Court, the array has become rigid and sluggish.]

[But it is a product of Heaven after all, so the quality is definitely excellent. With a hoarse and stagnant sound, the golden light of the teleportation array enveloped the two of you...]

[This is the first time in your life that you have seen and used a relic from heaven, and you can’t help but feel a little curious and excited: you only feel your eyes blur, and the next moment the scene has changed! ]

[But this is not Mount Buzhou, but another cave in Zhongzhou... According to the old man, this is because the teleportation array is too old and can no longer directly reach the distant Mount Buzhou, so it can only jump one by one at each cave node and gradually approach Mount Buzhou.]

[The aging teleportation array in heaven, the mortals who are willing to be raised, the heaven-defying deal that is consensual, the hopeless Dharma-ending era, the old and speechless eternal world...]

[These things keep coming up in your mind, pieced together to form a true picture of the present situation: it is like a decaying old father, with a sense of decadence and even death! ]

[You suddenly have a terrible guess: "Is it...going to die?"]

【"What's going to die?"】

[Jing Xin was amazed at how the ancient antique in the Heaven Palace could still be activated. Suddenly, he heard you talking to yourself and couldn't help but feel confused.]

[“Honghuang… Daoist friend, do you think Honghuang can really continue?”]

【You murmured. 】

【"this……"】

[Jing Xin had never expected you to ask this question, but after a moment of hesitation, he burst into laughter: You are really worrying about nothing! ]

[“Honghuang was created by Pangu. Who is Pangu? How could he have the concept of death? I think your Taoism has been ruined by the things happening in Zhongzhou recently…”]

[Besides, even if the heaven and earth do perish one day, we won’t be able to catch up! Even the saints and emperors of ancient times are gone, how long can we linger? ]

[Jingxin Taoist said with a smile: Instead of worrying about the death of heaven and earth, it is better to worry about ourselves. The goal of our trip is to explore the fairyland. If the fairyland is really a place where the great immortals eat the small immortals, I am afraid we can only think of ways to survive first...]

[You have to admit that his advice makes sense: whether the world dies or not, it has nothing to do with a mere Xuanxian like you. If the sky collapses, there are tall people to hold it up. The worst that can happen is that you will die!]

[But... you are still worried about the life and death of the heaven and earth, because everything in the world is revealing this trend: the heaven and earth may really not live long...]

[In all legends from ancient times to the present, the mighty always boast: "I will live as long as the heaven and earth, and as old as the sun and the moon!" This is to show that they are indestructible. ]

[But now, these ancient immortals who claimed to be able to live as long as the heaven and earth have completely disappeared without a trace... Then, what about the heaven and earth? ]

[If the heaven and earth really have an upper limit to their lifespan, will the sun and moon really fall? ]

[Also, you always remember that you are the protagonist, and you always remember that you are shouldering the high hopes of "your other self"... A transcendent existence will not randomly choose a useless protagonist...]

[As the protagonist, will you ever really meet that last day? ]

[You are afraid, but also looking forward to it...]

……

(End of this chapter)