Wanxi Rebirth - Chapter 93

“Ha… you say this is supposed to help us improve?”

The voice of Lin Fengqing, amplified with the help of the 7364 System and the gray moth, rang out with disdain. “The task assigners seize the lives of innocent people, ruin their reputations, stir up conflicts and wars everywhere, and cause countless tragedies… and you call this help?! I lost my family, my friends, my home, and yet you expect me to say ‘thank you’?”

“All I see are self-righteous, high-and-mighty puppet masters!” she said coldly. “The world’s resources are completely depleted, right? As the World Consciousness, can’t you release the ‘whale fall’ yourself? And what about the mortals after World Consciousness dies? Shouldn’t they be left to figure it out themselves? Or do you think that without a goddess holding the reins, they have no names, no futures, and are just licking your boots?”

“Even with so many righteous paths available, you insist on the evil path, cloaking your crimes in noble-sounding excuses… And if I were to say it’s ‘all personal motives,’ would you dare admit it?!”

If it weren’t for her lower cultivation, and the risk of holding them back, Lin Fengqing might have directly manifested Jianmu to impale this evil god.

[You insist on condemning me, so of course I’ll admit it. But you… you’ve killed so many task assigners along the way, and now you want to eradicate me, the very lynchpin of all mortal karma… Don’t forget, killing requires payment—karma will always linger in your bodies until your death!]

[Once it is released, it will be an even greater disaster than the task assigners’ invasions!]

“This really isn’t easy,” Qin Suoliu squinted and transmitted her thoughts to Yue Tingxi. “We initially thought the Book-Crossing Administration was a filthy place like Hongchen Pavilion. Just eliminate the mastermind and disband the organization, problem solved. But the mastermind is the very World Consciousness, which complicates the karmic repercussions.”

“The Core seems to have no intention of escaping. Even if we don’t kill it, we certainly can’t let it continue running the Administration. We’ll have to take over its work and clean up its mess. If we do kill it, it might even be a relief for it—no more worrying about depleted world resources or maintaining the normal operation of the world.”

“…I’m starting to think it deliberately let us in,” Yue Tingxi said with a frown, sarcastically. “Sounds almost like a win-win! Can’t we punish it as brutally as we did with Shuo Han Hua?”

No sooner had she thought this than she felt a gaze on her. She instinctively turned her face and met Xi Sheng’s eyes—one gold, one blue.

Then, in front of everyone, Xi Sheng strode toward the Core, even sheathing her long sword along the way.

The young girl did not dodge or flinch. She lifted the corners of her lips in a radiant, almost conspiratorial smile.

Under Xi Sheng’s gaze, she folded the gray moth’s wings and stood before the Core. Then she bent forward and opened her arms, embracing it with a gesture of mercy.

Yue Tingxi, unsurprisingly, heard Qiongqi click its tongue heavily, clearly displeased. The tiger’s fur bristled from head to wing.

Meanwhile, Lin Fengqing in the inner chamber smashed the small wooden table with a punch, clearly furious.

In the next instant, the Core screamed in anguish.

[What did you do to me?! Get off!! It hurts! It’s killing me!!]

It was only an ordinary embrace, yet the girl moved as if burned by talismans and fire, shrieking and struggling to break free from Xi Sheng’s arms.

But Xi Sheng’s slender arms became shackles. She didn’t loosen her hold; instead, she embraced the girl tighter, like a scorpion clamping down on prey.

Seeing the Core shrinking in size, trying to escape, Yue Tingxi immediately threw the talismans given by the five elders of the Star-Picking Pavilion, enhanced with the power of laws, forming the “Star Blossom Cage” around the two World Consciousnesses in an instant.

The Star-Picking Pavilion, in its calculations of destiny, sought life for the mortal realm, tirelessly accumulating merit. Blessed by Heaven, it bestowed protective treasures. The talismans from the five elders contained power from the Celestial Realm.

Originally, the Star Blossom Cage was meant to protect the sect during major disasters, turning the pavilion into a ark amid floods. Now, Yue Tingxi used it to trap a god.

The Core continuously bit at Xi Sheng. Its arms and hands emerging from black sleeves burned as if branded with red-hot iron, and the wounds multiplied.

During this, Xi Sheng’s form subtly shifted. She no longer remained human but reverted to her original body, imprisoned deep in the Xuanshui Secret Realm.

Countless crimson tendrils wrapped the Core tightly, preventing escape. A dark, unknown liquid dripped ceaselessly from its orifices, its screams growing louder and more hoarse.

[Xi Sheng is transferring millennia of accumulated resentment, along with the severed karmic energy from artifacts, to the Core.] the 7364 System tried to analyze. [Compared to Xi Sheng, the World Consciousness in this small world is young. Even at divine level, it cannot withstand such immense negative emotions over such a long time.]

Yue Tingxi couldn’t help but look at the Core, still in the form of a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl, and at Xi Sheng, who seemed much older.

It was as if she would share the Core’s destruction, both engulfed by the resentment.

[Do you have any ideas?] Xi Sheng’s voice suddenly appeared directly in everyone’s consciousness.

She naturally referred to punishing the Core.

The accompanying supporters could vaguely guess what she was about to do and concentrated on their thoughts.

Yue Tingxi closed her eyes and made a wish.

—“Throw the Core into the Myriad Snake Pit. Let every snake bite it, leave it battered and broken.”

The Core, already unable to make a sound, twitched within the crimson tendrils. Each twitch corresponded to the fulfillment of one person’s wish.

Yue Tingxi soon “saw” her share.

The Core, reduced to a brain mass, writhed in the pit like fish on a chopping board. Yue Tingxi herself mixed among the countless participants, biting at it with all her strength.

[Spare me… spare… spare me…]

[Kill… me… I beg you…]

Outside came the girl’s tearful cries, as if she could no longer endure the mortal resentment, her very existence collapsing.

“I can’t help but think this bastard deliberately took the form of a child to gain sympathy,” Qiongqi sneered. “At least a thousand years old, yet pretending to be young!”

If not for the Star Blossom Cage isolating outside interference, Yue Tingxi felt she might have rushed in herself to personally thrash the Core.

Time passed—perhaps moments, perhaps hours—until the Core was thoroughly broken and silent. A supporter finally asked, “So… how should we deal with this calamity?”

The person then listed the concerns Yue Tingxi and Qin Suoliu had voiced.

“Follow my successor back. I will remain here until all karma is repaid,” Xi Sheng answered. The crimson tendrils attached to the Star Blossom Cage, sucking away tangible karmic energy and resentment.

Looking inward, Yue Tingxi saw that the karmic energy she had absorbed earlier had all been drawn away toward Xi Sheng, except for the residual karma from clearing resentment in the Task Hall, which she hadn’t yet observed.

Soon, she saw this karma slowly settle into her own inner chamber, but strangely, it entered Lin Fengqing’s consciousness.

Without even looking directly, she could sense from Lin Fengqing’s sudden expression that this karma and memory originated from someone important.

“What about the karma owed to the original world?” Qiongqi asked. “How will it be repaid? Surely it can’t fall on your successor?”

“I will repay it,” Xie Zhi’s voice suddenly rang out. Everyone turned to see her fly onto the platform. “I am her creation, and I observed coldly with her as a puppet master for many years. In that sense, I share her guilt.”

She and Xi Sheng shared the same origin; even her body could change positions freely. Once their state in this world was stabilized, Xie Zhi moved Xi Sheng’s altered body from the Xuanshui Secret Realm and swapped positions with her own body.

Upon hearing this, the supporters, who had been berating the Core, fell silent.

Naturally, only those aware of the truth could understand it fully; outsiders, though dissatisfied, had no grounds to comment due to Xi Sheng’s indirect assistance.

“Is that so… then perfect!”

As soon as Qiongqi finished speaking, the tiger suddenly lunged at Xie Zhi!

She had only sought to reclaim Qingning City’s past, serving Xi Sheng as her dog for thousands of years, enduring grievances, assisting multiple times, and now—away from the original world—she finally took revenge on the detested puppet master!

“…Should I step in too?” Qin Suoliu murmured.

The Ghost Realm Secret had claimed the lives of her blood relatives. She had thought the illness was caused by ghosts and demons in the realm, but now knew even they were manipulated by the World Consciousness.

“Follow your heart,” Yue Tingxi said. “If you feel the puppet masters deserve death, fight alongside Chuiyin City’s Lord.”

She herself felt slightly eager but restrained herself, needing to conserve her strength for more important matters.

After some thought, she recounted the incident’s details to Lin Fengqing, observed her reactions, and then sent her to the platform.

In an instant, Xie Zhi faced a triple assault from Qiongqi, Qin Suoliu, and Lin Fengqing.

Thanks to the blood pact with Yue Tingxi, who had now succeeded as the new World Consciousness, the initiative naturally shifted.

The intruder, once at the mercy of the Ghost Realm Secret, now endured a taste of her own medicine.

—Every time she thought she might faint, the divine power flowing through the blood pact kept her conscious, allowing her to be repeatedly beaten to near-death by the three.

The supporters were trapped in indecision—leave, or stay. Leaving risked accidents; staying, it was awkward to watch the creation of their benefactor being beaten by those who knew the truth.

Finally, weighing the pros and cons, they remained on the platform, awaiting the final outcome.

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