The years I was in the human world

"You gods have never cared about the suffering of the world, so what right do you have to judge me so righteously now?"

"My mother protected so many people throughout her life, but she still ended up in a miserable way. Where were you when she was framed, wrongly killed, and in the midst of her lustful nirvana? Now I have finally resurrected her, but you want to kill her!"

"You so-called merciful gods are actually extremely hypocritical. You have never pitied her, let alone protected me. You treat the common people as a joke. How can you be called gods?!"

"No one is judging you." Xiao Jin interrupted Kong Que's unwilling accusation. He just stood there, his tone calm, his eyes showing all kinds of sorrow and joy, but he seemed to have seen all living things. "If it is a matter of punishment, you would not be regrettable if you died a hundred times, but you are still alive."

"As for your mother, you asked why we are gods. Then I will tell you that your mother became a god at the moment of Nirvana." Xiao Jin's words were like thunder exploding in Peacock's ears. She looked at Xiao Jin in horror: "What are you saying?"

Could it be that Qinghe is her mother, and she is for——

"Qinghe is just Qinghe." Xiao Jin interrupted Kongque's thoughts, "The way of heaven chooses the master. Zhu Huang was originally going to replace Xia Si, but it was the Snow God who died first. If you hadn't committed so many evil deeds in the human world, your mother would have been enjoying incense and offerings in Yuluan Palace now."

"Impossible... You lied to me..." Peacock's eyes trembled and tears rolled down.

"Where do you think the power that Heaven gave you came from? If it was so easy to give power to mortals, why would He go to so much trouble to select His confidants from the human world?" Xiao Jin looked at the distraught Peacock and sighed softly, "Think about it carefully."

"If mother's spirit is not in the human world, how will she explain it?" Peacock pointed at the woman in red who was slowly walking towards her, and said unwillingly.

"It's just an evil creature created by obsession under the influence of ghost energy." Xiao Jin said, "If you don't believe it, wait for her to come closer and take a closer look to see if it's alive or not."

……

"Zhu Huang Yu Zhao has colluded with evil spirits and brought disaster to the common people. His crime is unforgivable. Today, Lord Chen has put down his own family for the sake of justice. He has now captured him. I have ordered all Taoist friends to be witnesses and bring Yu Zhao back to the final court for trial and conviction."

Wen Huaixu suddenly heard these words in her ears. She looked up and saw an extremely arrogant woman throwing a piece of silk cloth with charges written all over it in front of her. She was saying something like "mortals are like ants" and "life is cheap", and someone next to her was actually whispering in agreement.

Instinctively, Wen Huaixu frowned and said, "Under the law of heaven, all beings are equal. Why are you so arrogant?"

"Yu Zhao, it has come to this, and you are still saying inappropriate things?" Yaoguang covered her lips and smiled, laughing at her for overestimating her own abilities. "How can the lives of ordinary people be compared with ours? What's the point of you protecting them?"

Wen Huaixu frowned as she listened to Yaoguang's words, and gradually found the events that corresponded to the scene in front of her from her memory. She had seen the Dongshan disaster in the files and had an impression of it: "The power of ordinary people can also shake mountains. You are noble cultivators, nourished by the heaven and earth, but you don't know how to give back. You are really useless."

“Yu Zhao, don’t you understand the current situation? You are a prisoner, and you dare to teach me a lesson?” Yaoguang squatted down, pinched Wen Huaixu’s jaw and said coldly, “From today on, there will no longer be Zhu Huang Yu Zhao, only——”

Yaoguang's voice suddenly stopped. Wen Huaixu suddenly cut her throat. Disbelief remained on her face until her death. Ye Yunzhou, who was standing next to her, was about to take action when he suddenly turned his head and said to him, "Kneel down!"

Ye Yunzhou immediately knelt down uncontrollably. He looked at the woman who should have lost her ability to move after being shot by his arrow in panic, and said hesitantly, "A Zhao."

Wen Huaixu ignored him and threw Yaoguang's body away. Her expression was calm, but her eyes were extremely cold. She directly summoned a magic weapon, which was a colorful seven-stringed harp. Her fingertips moved randomly on the harp, and the whole space shattered in an instant. The evil spirits outside rushed towards her like an overwhelming force.

Along with the evil spirit came the erosion of evil spirits. Countless voices called out "Yu Zhao" in her ears, recounting the woman's sad past with either compassion or mockery. They were constantly instilling in Wen Huaixu: "You are Yu Zhao."

"Ridiculous!" Wen Huaixu played the zither, and countless evil ghosts were shaken away. She walked out of the ghost fog with a zither in her hand, covered in blood. Tiandao saw that she was about to escape, so he put pressure on her personally regardless of the backlash. The woman was forced to kneel down immediately, and tried to support herself with the zither pestle.

"Why are you struggling? I Zhao is you and you are I Zhao. Why would you object?" Tian Dao put pressure on her while tempting her in her ears.

"I have objections!" Wen Huaixu shouted out this sentence despite the pressure, and then spat out a mouthful of blood. She gritted her teeth and showed a cruel look on her face, "You, a mere evil spirit, want to replace me? I won't allow it. Yu Zhao is not me. My name is - Wen Huaixu."

After Qinghe said this, the matter was a foregone conclusion. She could no longer be bewitched. Tiandao's plan completely collapsed, and the condensed ghost fog and the formation that enveloped the others completely dissipated.

When Peacock saw Wen Huaixu come out alive, her heart sank, and then she heard a sigh of failure in her ears. Then she realized that the will that had been pushing her forward had left her at this moment. She suddenly realized that she had really failed completely - no, maybe not yet.

She looked at the woman in red who was slowly approaching her. Even though Xiao Jin told her that it was an evil spirit, she still couldn't help but deceive herself. What if? She really had obtained her mother's residual soul, and there was no problem in repairing the formation of her soul. How could she fail?

The woman in red came up to her, looked at her intently, and then squatted down. Peacock's heart skipped a beat. She felt as if she was hit by some great joy. Unfortunately, the next moment, her joy was shattered by the sudden change.

The face of the woman in red, whom she mistook for her mother, suddenly became bloody and terrifying. Her mouth opened wide and she bit straight at Peacock's neck. In an instant, the blood in her body turned cold and seemed to freeze - she did not resurrect her mother, she resurrected a bloodthirsty monster.

There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. At this moment, she suddenly felt that all her persistence had become a joke. She pulled the corners of her mouth miserably and thought desperately, forget it, it seems that there is nothing wrong with dying like this. She slowly closed her eyes and waited quietly for her throat to be bitten through.

However, the expected pain did not come. Instead, warm blood splashed on his face. Peacock opened his eyes in confusion, only to see that the Zhaoyang sword was inserted horizontally into the neck of the woman in red in front of him, pressing her attack just an inch away from Peacock's throat.

The body of the woman in red fell to the ground, revealing the sword-wielding man behind her. Qinghe, who looked like Kong Que's mother, had a calm expression, but her cold eyes still contained murderous intent that had not yet subsided. Seeing Kong Que's pale face, she lightly scolded him, "Cowardice."

After Qinghe rescued Kongque, she threw away the Zhaoyang Sword and walked towards Xiao Jin, leaving Kongque staring at her back for a long time. At that moment, she saw the same spirit as Zhu Huang in her. Perhaps to some extent, her mother was indeed resurrected.

"This girl is brave. If she hadn't gone astray, she might have been able to become a god on her own." Qinghe patted Xiao Jin's shoulder, with regret in his tone.

"Heaven chooses the master. It's not entirely her fault that things have come to this. It's just that the law is unreasonable. If it's wrong, it's wrong." Xiao Jin also sighed.

"I can't forgive her, but you guys are so tolerant, it makes me look mean. Well, I'll give in and let this girl choose how to die." Xiao Fengzhuo said, and poked Lu Zhouxue again, "Mianmian, what do you think?"

"You decide. I am now a mortal and cannot be fair." Not expressing an opinion was Lu Zhouxue's last mercy to Kong Que.

Peacock suddenly felt extremely ashamed when she heard the four gods, whom she had once described as "nothing special," discussing how to deal with her.

"It is not your fault that you were involved in the Heavenly Dao Master Selection, but the wanton killings over the past hundred years are unforgivable. It is not that we do not pity your loneliness and poverty, but if we are partial, we will be ashamed of the lives that died in vain. Now we will take away your cultivation, strip off your immortal bones, and send you to the animal path to atone for your sins. Do you have any objection?"

Finally, Xiao Jin came to announce the result of the punishment. Kong Que looked at him and recalled Wei Ruge's countless advice in the past: karma will come back, and retribution will come. You should take care of yourself. She was really wrong. She deserved it for what she had done. There was nothing to refute.

But her mother, she really missed her. For two hundred years, she had betrayed her master and herself, but in the end, all her efforts were in vain.

The boy's eyes were clear and bright, naturally showing compassion for all living beings, unlike his sword, which was as ruthless as wind, frost and snow. Even when facing a person who had committed so many evil deeds, he remained calm and indifferent.

"You won't pursue my crime of killing gods?" Peacock couldn't help asking. She had never regretted anything along the way, but she knew that her crime was unforgivable.

"God forgives you." Xiao Jin said without turning his head.

"Let's go, Axue." Xiao Fengzhuo said.

"At the end of the year, you are much thinner than you were before." Qinghe looked at Lu Zhouxue and suddenly said this.

Peacock stared at the backs of the four people leaving, and she suddenly thought of a sentence: God loves all living things. She also suddenly understood the difference between the gods in the Ninth Heaven and these cultivators.

So she knelt down willingly for the first time, bowed her head deeply in worship towards the direction where the four people left: "Peacock, I bid you farewell."

"We are born in the fertile land of heaven and earth, with mountains and rivers changing from one to another, the vast stars flickering, the sun and the moon shining forever, the mountains and rivers this night; riding the wind to count the stars and lights, the sky palace is full of splendor and clouds, but the fate of the mortal world is the most difficult to understand. The vast world is far away - the hometown is silent."

Unlike his sword, the chanting that Xiao Jin sang before mobilizing his magic power was filled with the melancholy of seeing through the world. After he finished singing a line of lyrics, the world changed in an instant. The entire Dongshan formation disappeared along with the miasma that had lingered for years, leaving only the Moon-Slaying Sword emitting an evil aura stuck alone in the ground.

After converting the ghost of Dongshan, Xiao Jin stared at the sword for a long time, as if he could see through it into a distant time, through countless spring, summer, autumn, winter, and four seasons, until Xiao Fengzhuo called softly in his ear: "Axue?"

"I'm fine." Xiao Jin shook his head, retracting his wandering thoughts, walked forward, grasped the hilt of the Moon-Slaying Sword, and pulled it out gently. The evil energy lingering around the sword was obediently gathered back into the sword. He looked very cautious, fearing that he would be hurt in the slightest.

Seeing this, Xiao Jin's expression softened, and he said with some emotion: "His sword is the same as him."

"Although Peacock has been dealt with, the mess caused by Tiandao Zezhu has not been cleaned up yet. What are you going to do next? Go find your brother, or deal with Tiandao who has developed worldly desires first?" Xiao Fengzhuo was used to his occasional longing for his brother, so he ignored it and asked about business instead.

Hearing this, Xiao Jin's expression turned cold, and his words were a little solemn. He said, "If Xiao Ling wants to play, let him play in the human world. What's important is the way of heaven. Human desires have caused so many disturbances. You and I should eliminate the evils and replace them."

The Way of Heaven, like the gods, are things that can be changed. For thousands of years, they have been ascetic and self-disciplined, abiding by the law, and only seeking to be fair to all people. The gods are merciful and tolerant, and they use worldly affection to make up for the overly cold and harsh rules of Heaven. However, the Way of Heaven, which should be the most rigorous and intolerant of partiality, has become selfish.

"Do you want to pursue the way of heaven?" Lu Zhouxue suddenly asked. He looked at Xiao Jin, trying to see the same thing in the latter's eyes as in his own - the ambition to pursue power, but he failed. Xiao Jin's eyes were empty, with nothing in them.

"Why not?" Xiao Jin asked back. He wanted to replace the Way of Heaven. Unlike ordinary people who pursue selfish desires, he gave up his emotions and compassion and was willing to become a heartless and ruthless sky to protect the people. What he carried on his shoulders was responsibility. "When the Way of Heaven is out of order, someone has to correct it and take responsibility."

"If someone else wants to pursue the Heavenly Dao, will Lord Cangwu give way?" Lu Zhouxue asked, but he calmly hid his ambition in this question.

Xiao Jin had not noticed the desire to fight for the Heavenly Dao hidden in his words. He just thought it was just a common question. He smiled and said casually, "If someone is willing to take the initiative to shoulder this responsibility, why not let others take it?" After all, he was chasing the Heavenly Dao not to fulfill his ambition, but just to take the initiative to take responsibility.

"Are you willing to be the master of all living beings?" As the four of them were on their way back, such a voice suddenly sounded in Xiao Fengzhuo's mind.

"After this incident, the vitality of the Heavenly Dao was severely damaged. It is the best time for renewal. Axue, if you are determined, no one can compete with you." Xiao Fengzhuo paused in his walking, then pretended not to hear, and continued to pat Xiao Jin's shoulder as if nothing had happened.

Lu Zhouxue beside him had a flash of eyes, as if he had different thoughts, but he kept his mouth shut and said nothing more.

"The change of the heavenly way is no small matter. If Cangwu wants to chase it, he must first return to Buzhou Mountain and inform the gods." Qinghe, who had not yet finished dealing with trivial matters, held a scroll in his hand and recorded the items on it. "Although the situation in the human world has settled, there are still aftershocks. We need to send someone to carefully clean up the mess."