novelapdf Chapter 177 Knowing White and Guarding Black, Mo Huaisu
Chapter 177 Knowing White and Guarding Black, Mo Huaisu
The faded world is like a drop of ink suddenly falling.
In an instant, all the vitality and noise in the world were drained away, leaving only a desolate black and white color.
Inside the main tent of the demon clan's camp.
Wenhe stared at this scene, dumbfounded:
"Who...who is this?"
Nan Zhi, standing beside him, also had a complex expression as she gazed at the otherworldly figure standing atop the clouds, untouched by worldly dust, and slowly spoke:
"The Great Way is silent, only ink and ink remain. By guarding the black, one can know the white, and alone prove the stillness."
Wenhe was jolted, as if struck by lightning, and exclaimed in horror:
"It's Mo Huaisu!?"
There are many rumors about this mysterious and unpredictable leader of the Daoist sect, and very few people have actually seen him.
The world only knows that this woman is exceptionally gifted.
Before the age of sixteen, she was just an ordinary farm girl. However, after a chance encounter and joining the Daoist sect, she seemed to be possessed by a god and her life was full of extraordinary achievements. In just over ten years, she reached the pinnacle of the twelfth realm.
He became the most dazzling prodigy of his time.
She herself believed in an extremely strict "path of abstinence".
The Taoist school has a saying: Desire arises from lust, and lust confuses the mind.
Mo Huaisu's asceticism was not simply about severing his seven emotions and six desires, but about maintaining a pure heart amidst countless temptations.
Embrace simplicity and purity, and have few selfish desires.
She believed that all the splendor of the world is but an illusion of "white," and only by calming one's inner fervor and desires to the extreme of "black" can one cultivate the purest true sound of the Great Dao in a state of supreme detachment.
The insatiable thirst for desires can be filled by the absence of desires.
When worldly desires are disturbed, one should calm them with a heart of despair.
By guarding the darkness to know the light, by dwelling in turbidity to maintain purity, and by severing all emotions and desires, one can resonate with the Way of Heaven.
"It's over... The imperial court has actually invited Mo Huaisu."
Wenhe's face turned deathly pale, and he involuntarily took a half step back, with fine beads of cold sweat seeping from his forehead.
Nan Zhi recovered from her brief shock and snorted coldly:
"What do you mean? The Peacock Demon King possesses the power of the eleventh-tier peak, and may not be unable to fight against Mo Huaisu."
After all, no matter how strong Mo Huaisu is, she is only a sect cultivator, not a garrison commander. She cannot use the incense offerings and national fortune of Yan City. As she spoke, a thought suddenly struck her, and she raised her head as if sensing something.
Above Yancheng, a phantom red umbrella was seen floating silently.
The umbrella slowly rotated.
It emitted wisps of blood-red, glassy light, like a bloodthirsty demonic eye about to open.
Nan Zhiyan's lips curved into a smile: "It's starting."
"What?"
Wenhe was still immersed in his fear of Mo Huaisu and didn't react for a moment.
Nan Zhi turned to look at him, her once alluring eyes now filled only with coldness and chilling intent:
"Master Wenhe, now is the time for you to show your loyalty to your master."
Go, join the demon army, and kill those demon slayers.
The more you kill, the better. As long as you please your master, he will bestow upon you unparalleled fortune, allowing you to break through to the sixth realm, and even... guaranteeing you to reach the seventh realm and attain the true position of a star spirit!
Within Yancheng.
The Peacock Demon King looked up at the stunning figure amidst the clouds, his face twitching slightly.
"Whoosh!"
It let out a sharp cry and rose up from the ground.
Behind him, magnificent, multicolored wings suddenly unfurled, blotting out the sky.
The Peacock Demon King floated in mid-air.
The overwhelming demonic aura and Mo Huaisu's distinct black and white Dao Domain stood in stark contrast, splitting the sky into two worlds.
"I never expected that the imperial court would even invite someone like Master Mo."
A hint of mockery flashed in the Peacock Demon King's narrow eyes as he laughed loudly.
"It is said that the world only sees his ink, but Master Mo alone guards his purity. All things rush about as white, Master Mo is serene as black."
What? The Mo Sect Leader, who always prided himself on being detached from worldly desires and indifferent to worldly affairs, has now become greedy for worldly power and become a lackey of the Great Qing court?
Mo Huaisu looked at it quietly.
His eyes were like a bottomless, icy pool, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
The black and white yin-yang diagram behind her slowly rotated, as if two enormous yin-yang fish were silently intertwining and evolving in the void.
"All opportunities in this world are determined by fate."
What belongs to you, Heaven will bestow upon you. What is not yours, you will not obtain by force.
Mo Huaisu's voice was clear and ethereal, as if it were coming from all directions at the same time.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The Peacock Demon King seemed to have heard the most outrageous joke, and burst into wild laughter, his face suddenly turning ferocious and terrifying.
"Don't try to fool me with your pedantic Taoist rhetoric!"
What is destiny and fate?
The struggle for the Great Way is inherently a matter of the survival of the fittest.
Mo Huaisu, you've cultivated that ascetic path to the point where you dare not even have a human heart? I think you're not guarding purity, you're guarding stupidity!
Since you insist on standing up for the imperial court, then let's see what you're capable of!
Before he could finish speaking, the Peacock Demon King made a sudden attack.
Its five-colored wings flapped, and five-colored divine light poured out like a waterfall.
The left wing surged with a thousand layers of turbulent blue sea, while the right wing ignited with raging flames that burned the heavens. Water and fire merged, transforming into dazzling feather-like blades of light.
Each one contained terrifying power, sweeping towards Mo Huaisu in an overwhelming manner.
Wherever it passed, space collapsed inch by inch.
Mo Huaisu's expression remained unchanged. He gently raised his wrist, which was as white as frost and snow, and waved the whisk in his hand.
"Buzz"
A rich aura of black and white emanated from the tip of the whisk, transforming into a massive yin-yang millstone in mid-air.
The five-colored divine light struck the millstone without making any explosion.
Instead, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, silently crushed and swallowed by the flowing black and white Pisces, turning into nothingness.
Then, she waved her whisk again.
The dust transformed into countless black and white threads, like a net covering the sky and earth, or like splashed ink landscape, enveloping the Peacock Demon King.
Black represents Yin, and white represents Yang. Yin and Yang flow and interact endlessly, creating a continuous cycle of life.
After the two started fighting, the black and white world below gradually began to change.
The countless ink-black raindrops, suspended in the air, began to tinge with a faint crimson, as if someone had splashed cinnabar onto this ink painting. At first, it was just a tiny wisp.
Then the red color became more and more vibrant, like fresh blood spreading on rice paper.
In a daze, an enormous, phantom-like red umbrella appeared high in the sky above Yan City, like a blood-dripping dome, blotting out the sun. Shui Miaozheng, regaining her senses, paled, her beautiful eyes flashing with horror: "It's an illusion! This place was actually set up with an array long ago?!" An illusion?
Before Jiang Mu could even think about it, the scenery in front of her suddenly twisted.
Everything in sight was swallowed up by blood red.
Shui Miaozheng, who was just standing next to me, vanished without a trace.
It was completely empty all around.
Only a red umbrella hovered overhead, casting streaks of blood-red light that trapped him within it.
"Master Jiang, how have you been?"
A charming, seductive laugh suddenly came from behind, carrying a hint of languor and a touch of mockery.
Jiang Mu turned around.
From within the crimson mist, a stunningly beautiful woman smiled and gazed at him, her eyes sparkling, her figure half-hidden in the fog. "Do you know who I am?"
The woman asked with a charming laugh.
Jiang Mu narrowed his eyes, gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist, and spoke calmly:
"I did see you once in a brothel. It seems I was fooled by your superb acting skills back then."
If I'm not mistaken, you're Nan Zhi, the one who tried to seduce me in Huzhou City and got her clone's head chopped off by me, right?
"You woman are really persistent, daring to show up in front of me at a time like this."
Nan Zhi wasn't annoyed at all; instead, she laughed even harder.
She covered her red lips and said in a sweet voice:
"I have come here at great risk this time simply to show my sincerity once again and to win over Hall Master Jiang."
While Nan Zhi was trying to win over Jiang Mu, everyone else outside was also trapped in the illusion array.
However, unlike Jiang Mu's privileged isolation, most of them were trapped in separate areas. For example, Xu Fu and Yan Fenghuo were gathered together with their brothers from the Huzhou Demon Slayer Division.
The monster then launched attacks continuously.
Sometimes they would leap out of the blood mist, and sometimes they would disappear again, causing several members to be seriously injured or killed by this sneak attack tactic.
"Damn, how insidious! These bastards actually set up such a huge magic array in secret to launch a sneak attack. Shameless!"
Xu Fu cleaved back a demon that lunged out of the mist with a single slash, cursing loudly.
Yan Fenghuo, on the other hand, appeared much calmer.
He wielded his broadsword with incredible speed, cleaving a monster that was trying to sneak up on him from the side in two from head to toe.
"Don't panic, everyone! This kind of large-scale illusion array consumes a lot of resources and definitely can't last long!"
Yan Fenghuo wiped the demonic blood splattered from the corner of his eye, and shouted sharply to bolster the morale of his troops.
"Otherwise, they would have brought out this formation long ago, instead of waiting until now. Everyone should try to stay together, back to back, in a formation, and make sure no one gets separated!"
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately tightened their formation and moved closer together.
However, the frequency of the monster's attacks increased, wave after wave like a tide.
"what!"
A cry of pain rang out.
On the outer edge of the defensive line, a young demon slayer was slashed in the abdomen by a weasel demon invisible in the mist, collapsing in agony at Yan Fenghuo's feet. Yan Fenghuo roared and forced back the surrounding demons with a single strike.
He grabbed the injured member by the collar with his left hand and pulled him behind him to protect him.
"Does anyone have any healing pills? Quickly take them out and give them to the injured brothers. Don't hide them. If we don't save lives now, what are we going to do with them!" Yan Fenghu shouted anxiously at the top of his lungs as he swung his sword.
However, the next moment, something unexpected happened!
Yan Fenghuo suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Years of life-and-death battles had honed his instincts, causing him to subconsciously twist his body half an inch to the right.
"puff!"
Even though he reacted very quickly, he still felt a sharp pain in his back.
A blade grazed his shoulder blade and pierced his flesh.
Yan Fenghuo's eyes widened in fury as he turned to look.
He never expected that the young member he had just protected behind him was now pale-faced, his eyes fierce, his hands tightly gripping the short knife that was stabbed into his back.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Yan Fenghuo was both shocked and furious, and roared out.
The member gritted his teeth and even tried to pull out the knife to stab again.
Yan Fenghuo endured the pain and grabbed the blade with his other hand.
Blood gushed from his palm instantly.
He roared and snapped the other man's short knife in half with his bare hands. Then, with his other hand, he gripped the man's neck like an iron clamp and lifted him up.
Just then, Yan Fenghuo's gaze suddenly froze.
He saw an umbrella-shaped mark flashing on the side of the other person's neck.
"This is·……"
Yan Fenghuo suddenly realized, then roared in horror, "You're a spy planted within us by the Red Umbrella Cult?!"
The member whose neck was being choked had a flushed face, and his eyes were filled with apology and despair.
He opened his mouth with difficulty, his voice broken and intermittent:
"I'm so sorry... Master Yan... there's no turning back for me..."
"If I don't take action... not only will I die... but my entire family will also perish..."
He hadn't finished speaking.
The member's body exploded.
Blood splattered all over Yan Fenghuo, turning him into a blood-soaked figure.
Yan Fenghuo stood there, stunned, his mind buzzing.
He looked around blankly, only to see that there were four or five demon slayers who suddenly drew their swords without warning and stabbed their comrades who had been fighting side by side with him just a second before!
Amidst the flashing swords and clashing blades, screams of agony rose and fell.
Those brothers who were fighting side by side just a second ago turned on each other and stabbed each other in the back the next.
"Watch out! There's a mole among us!"
Xu Fu roared, swinging his sword to deflect an attack from a sneak attacker, his face turning ashen.
The same thing happened not only in the Demon Slaying Division of Huzhou, but in other divisions as well.
The Red Umbrella Cult's methods truly came into play at this moment.
Let everyone fight the monster first, until they are exhausted, trust each other more, and relax their vigilance, then start stabbing each other in the back.
Let's strike while the iron is hot!
This caused the morale that everyone had worked so hard to build to crumble once again.
They had to fight monsters while also guarding against their former comrades who had shared life and death with them, resulting in heavy casualties.
Nan Zhi smiled and stared at Jiang Mu: "Would you like to reconsider?"
"Wenhe?"
Jiang Mu suddenly asked out of the blue.
Nan Zhi stood with her hands behind her back, her figure shimmering and shifting in the red mist. Clearly, this was just a phantom projected from the array.
She smiled casually:
"Master Wen is naturally treated well by our Red Umbrella Sect. Oh, right, I suddenly remembered, it seems that Master Jiang has a personal grudge against Master Wen?"
"Alright then, as long as Hall Master Jiang agrees to join us, Wen He will be entirely under your control. Kill him or keep him, it's all up to you." "Oh?"
Jiang Mu's lips curled into a smile. "He's under my control. What about you? Are you also at my disposal?"
Nan Zhi giggled.
Her ethereal hand reached out and ambiguously rested on Jiang Mu's shoulder:
"If Master Jiang wants to punish me, then so be it. I guarantee I'll cooperate completely. Do whatever you want with me, and I'll play along. 'Even your life?'"
Jiang Mu's voice was as cold as frost, and his eyes revealed a murderous intent.
Nan Zhi's charming smile slowly faded, and she said in a cold voice:
"Jiang Mu, aren't you really afraid of death? Aren't you overestimating yourself?"
Have you ever considered that your life has always been in my hands? I've been showing you mercy, giving you chances, but with the slightest thought from me, you'd be a corpse right now!
Jiang Mu met her gaze and sneered:
"I don't know if my life is in your hands, all I know is... you're getting desperate now."
Nan Zhi's eye twitched twice.
After a long pause, she suddenly laughed again, but the smile was devoid of warmth.
"Fine! Very well! Since you're going to refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit, it's fine, you can stay in this illusion array for now."
In a little while, you will see lots and lots of corpses.
Some you don't know, some you do. I'll make you watch them die one by one right before your eyes!
As the words fell, the woman's figure vanished into the red mist.
Jiang Mu gripped the knife, surveyed the surrounding crimson mist, and murmured, "This woman's cultivation is probably on par with Aunt Shui's. I underestimated her before."
As for why the other party didn't kill him?
After all, it's just an illusion; it doesn't have the ability to kill people here.
Jiang Mu attempted to teleport, directly escaping the isolated area.
However, the surrounding space seemed to be filled with molten iron, and the supernatural power of teleportation was rendered useless here.
"Since we can't get out, let's find a way out."
Jiang Mu's eyes darkened, and he immediately activated the Spiritual Divination.
His eyes shimmered with starlight, and the red mist gradually became transparent in his eyes.
He vaguely saw a blurry "凶" (ominous) character flashing to his right.
Jiang Mu, carrying the knife, headed towards the direction where the character "凶" (ominous) was flashing.