After Escaping From Death, He Went Even Crazier By Criticizing Black Lotus Chapter 17

Su Huan’s consciousness was hazy and confused when he heard someone calling him—

“Junior Brother… Fourth Junior Brother!”

“Listen, you must wake up quickly… once… it will be too late…”

…It seemed to be Eldest Senior Sister Feng Jiangyue’s voice.

But wasn’t Senior Sister Feng Jiangyue out on a training excursion? Why would she be in the Trial Secret Realm… The Secret Realm!

Su Huan abruptly opened his eyes.

He found himself having been taken away from the Spirit Nurturing Immortal Palace, lying under a tree so thick it took two people to hug it. He saw strands of faint light filtering through the gaps, hitting the grass shoots, glowing brightly, like a fairyland.

“Awake?” A voice came from beside him.

He subconsciously gripped his sword and jumped up, only to see Xiao Jianming leaning against the tree, holding his sword, feigning sleep.

He looked around, but saw no one else.

Su Huan tightened his grip on the sword and asked, “Eldest Senior Brother, where are the others?”

Xiao Jianming kept his eyes closed, his tone flat. “Dead.”

The taut string in Su Huan’s mind snapped instantly. He subconsciously blurted out, “Why did you only save me?”

Before Xiao Jianming could answer, Su Huan suddenly recalled his earlier suspicion. Staring at Xiao Jianming, his eyes couldn’t help but redden. “…You were the one who rescued Yin Rong.”

And he was also the one who betrayed the immortal sects.

That was why he stood by and watched as Nangong Yi and the others died. Saving him was perhaps only because… he wanted him as a captive, as always, to drain his cultivation!

Xiao Jianming was unaware of the thousands of thoughts swirling in his mind. He raised an eyebrow, opened his eyes, and admitted, “So what?”

It was that same attitude again, treating something extremely important as a trivial thing to toss around in his hand, as if nothing in the world mattered to him.

A hint of anger surfaced in Su Huan’s clear eyes. He couldn’t help but say, “You claimed your clansmen died by the blade of the demon race, and you passed the Path of Seeking Immortality smoothly. But why would you collude with the demon race, trapping the disciples of the immortal sects in a deadly situation! Aren’t you afraid of having your cultivation completely destroyed and suffering the thousand agonies brought by the curse?!”

Any disciple who walked the Path of Seeking Immortality received the blessing of the Immortal Lord. Their path would be smooth, but they were forbidden from having any close association with the demon race in this life. Otherwise, the blessing would turn into a curse, their previous cultivation would be utterly destroyed, and they would suffer the thousand agonies for the rest of their lives, unable to find relief, unable to live or die.

After speaking, Su Huan couldn’t help but close his eyes, which were wet with tears.

Xiao Jianming had a slight smile playing on his lips, but with every word Su Huan spoke, the smile faded a little. By the end, all traces of amusement vanished from his face, leaving only the chill of flying frost. He said, “You resent me?”

He suddenly grew angry, jumped down, and frowned deeply. “I’m telling you, I don’t care what others think of me, but you,” a cold sword hilt pressed against Su Huan’s throat, and Xiao Jianming sneered, “you can only feel gratitude towards me.”

Xiao Jianming slightly raised his wrist, and the pommel of the sword pressed against Su Huan’s porcelain-white chin, leaving a red mark that made the redness at the corner of his eye seem even more pitiful and moving. Yet, Xiao Jianming showed no trace of pity. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have gone to such lengths.”

Seeing the confused look in Su Huan’s clear eyes, Xiao Jianming suddenly found it pointless. He withdrew his sword, feeling a surge of irritation. “Forget it, why am I talking to an idiot who has lost all his memories.”

Although he had not betrayed the immortal sects, nor did he know who the real internal traitor was, as long as he went with the flow and provoked a great war between immortals and demons, he could seize the opportunity to disrupt the spiritual energy circulation of the illusion. Then, if he grasped the chance, he could easily break the illusion and escape.

If he missed this opportunity, he didn’t know how long he would be stuck in this illusion.

He could afford to wait, but Su Huan might not.

After all, the real Su Huan was in critical danger. Every moment they waited, his vitality weakened. If Su Huan died, the one in the illusion would also die.

It was precisely because of this that Su Huan, whose soul was weaker compared to his own, was more susceptible to believing the people and things within the illusion. Even if there were glaring flaws, if he noticed something was wrong, he would be assimilated by the illusion and unable to awaken his true memories.

Xiao Jianming saving Su Huan was not out of kindness. The key to his escape from the illusion lay with Su Huan. If Su Huan died, he would also be trapped and die in the illusion.

And all of this was the fault of that pig-headed beast!

The thought made Xiao Jianming grit his teeth in anger. If that stupid beast hadn’t acted on its own, things wouldn’t have come to this. He snapped irritably, “You just need to remember not to run off to deadly places like the Spirit Nurturing Immortal Palace again. I saved you once, but I won’t be able to save you a second time.”

Speaking of which, the reason this illusion was so volatile was that his Lingxi bloodline could sense the Heavenly Dao. The events unfolding now were a mix of false and true, half-real and half-fake.

Therefore, he couldn’t predict what would happen in the illusion.

There were only two ways to get out: one was to fulfill his wish and gain a heart completely devoted to him; the second was to disrupt the stable spiritual energy circulation within the illusion, then strike while it was weak, breaking the illusion from the inside out.

Since he had deceived Su Huan first, Su Huan would not fall in love with him, making the former impossible. The opportunity for the latter was right before them.

Xiao Jianming let out a cold snort, about to warn the idiot not to mess up his plan, when he unexpectedly saw a tear suddenly fall from Su Huan’s eye.

He froze. He thought, I haven’t even hit or scolded this idiot, what is there to cry about?

Su Huan’s eyes were brimming with tears. With a clang, he drew his sword and said mournfully, “If what Eldest Senior Brother says is true, even if you truly colluded with the demon race for my sake, I would rather have never met you!”

As soon as his voice fell, the chilling sword light flashed toward Xiao Jianming!

Xiao Jianming raised his sword to block. He couldn’t help but recall that this sword technique of Su Huan’s was one he had taught him before he recovered his memories. He laughed in anger. “You’re using what I taught you to fight me? That truly is repaying kindness with enmity.”

But for some reason, he was unable to capture Su Huan.

Could it be that this idiot’s cultivation had actually improved within the illusion?

Xiao Jianming found this person incredibly difficult to deal with. At times, he was as slippery as an eel, and at other times, his sword strikes were lethal. Yet, while the opponent’s killing intent was clear and his moves were fatal, Xiao Jianming had to hold back his strength, lest he accidentally kill him.

Su Huan was subtly gaining the upper hand.

A moment of carelessness, and Xiao Jianming’s face was grazed.

A hint of pain registered, and Xiao Jianming’s face darkened.

His offensive suddenly became fierce, faster and more ruthless than Su Huan’s.

“Clang!”

The sword in Su Huan’s hand was knocked flying to the ground.

At the same time, Su Huan felt a cold, stinging sensation at his neck.

Su Huan showed no fear. He said, “In swordsmanship, I am not your match. But in array formations and spiritual spells, you are not mine.”

As soon as he spoke, Xiao Jianming suddenly felt a sense of weightlessness beneath his feet. A massive vortex had appeared beneath the ground, unnoticed until now!

Xiao Jianming was startled and tried to escape, but a huge suction force wrapped around his legs, instantly swallowing him up to his waist, making it impossible to break free.

Su Huan silently formed a spell with his fingers, and soon nothing could be seen on the ground.

A gentle breeze rustled through the silent tree canopy.

Su Huan’s eyelashes trembled slightly. He swallowed a few Spirit Recovery Pills and walked away without hesitation.

*

Su Huan quickly darted through the forest, rushing toward the Spirit Nurturing Immortal Palace.

He needed to see them alive or see their corpses. He refused to believe that Nangong Yi and the others had simply died.

Halfway there, in the dense forest not far ahead, Su Huan happened upon a female cultivator fighting several demons. The female cultivator seemed to have just gone through a fierce battle. Her hair was disheveled, her body was covered in blood, and she was riddled with wounds, a truly gruesome sight.

The young woman was quickly overwhelmed and fell to the ground with a knife wound to her abdomen. Su Huan rushed forward and rescued her just in time from the demons’ blades.

Su Huan swiftly arrived, killed all the demons, and turned to ask the young woman about her condition. However, as soon as he approached to help her up, he was met with a dagger she had hidden!

Su Huan was astonished and greatly confused. He seized the girl’s wrist, only to see that the face beneath the scattered hair was very familiar—it was Meng Qinghui, Fellow Daoist Meng, who had entered the Spirit Nurturing Immortal Palace with him!

“Fellow Daoist Meng, it’s me, Su Huan!” Su Huan quickly dodged a strike and hurried to say.

Unexpectedly, Meng Qinghui did not lessen her strength. Her voice was weak but icy cold. “I’m here to kill you Xuanji Sect dogs!”

“The dignified number one sect in the world… colluding with the demon race to deceive and murder the elite disciples of the major immortal sects! I will surely expose your wicked deeds to the world!”

Su Huan was shocked. “Fellow Daoist Meng, you misunderstand. I am not a traitor!”

Meng Qinghui sneered. “Jiang Fei told me before he passed out that he saw the one surnamed Xiao take only you away. Do you dare say you aren’t working together?”

Su Huan froze, feeling powerless to refute, yet he still tried to explain. “I didn’t. It was Eldest Senior… Xiao Jianming who colluded with the enemy, and he was the one who rescued Yin Rong.”

He thought Meng Qinghui wouldn’t believe him, but after a few more moves, Meng Qinghui actually relaxed her grip and asked him, “…Where is your Senior Brother?”

Su Huan fell silent. He said, “I killed him.”

Meng Qinghui’s hand holding the dagger finally dropped. She actually laughed, a desolate, sarcastic laugh.

She said, “Good, very good. Fellow disciples killing each other, enemies protecting each other. I never expected this Immortal Sect Grand Assembly to be so exciting!”

In her emotional state, two more lines of bloody tears flowed from beneath the blindfold, and blood gushed from her abdomen.

Su Huan urgently channeled spiritual energy to heal her wounds. “Fellow Daoist Meng, stop talking!”

Meng Qinghui pressed his hand down. “Don’t waste your energy. Don’t tell me you can’t see I’m dying…”

Su Huan paused, continuing to channel spiritual energy, his fingertips trembling. “You won’t die. None of you will die…”

Meng Qinghui, however, pushed his hand away with all her might. “Self-deception…”

“No wonder your reputation isn’t prominent among the Four Great Sects… A person as indecisive as you will be burdened by emotions wherever you go, and you won’t go far… Cough, cough, cough!”

“Listen…” Meng Qinghui coughed up a mouthful of blood foam. She used all her strength to tear off the entire headband covering her eyes, revealing her missing eyes. “Jiang Fei has a unique bloodline, and the pill poison of the Spirit Nurturing Immortal Palace couldn’t fully poison him. He was the first to wake up and alert everyone…”

“However, after we escaped, we encountered the guardian spirit of the Immortal Palace… It was a fruit spirit covered in green leaves, but it possessed the cultivation of the Soul Transformation stage and was not restricted by the prohibitions… To distract it, we split up… So I don’t know if Nangong Yi and the others are alive or dead… Wuyou, Qi Zi, and Jiang Fei, who were with me… they are all dead.”

A look of profound loss crossed Meng Qinghui’s face. At the same time, a bizarre scene unfolded: the flesh within her eye sockets slowly regenerated, instantly growing a pair of perfectly intact eyes!

Su Huan was utterly stunned, his mind reeling.

The newly grown eyes were more vivid and beautiful than the previous glazed prosthetic eyes, yet they were beautiful in a way that inspired awe.

Meng Qinghui’s fingertip reached for his spiritual platform. The touch was cold. Su Huan couldn’t help but flinch. “Fellow Daoist Meng, you…”

“Hush.”

A cool spiritual energy, like a mountain stream, surged into his spiritual platform. At the same time, Meng Qinghui slowly recounted the story of these eyes—

“You know, I mentioned before… these eyes of mine have brought me much misfortune… My mother, Jiang Wu, was heartless and tried to kill me several times…”

“To escape Jiang Wu’s pursuit, I destroyed my own eyes and, with the help of my maternal uncle, Ji Huai, I managed to flee Yixian…”

“Jiang Wu let me go because my eyes were destroyed, but she didn’t know that these eyes of mine can regenerate… I also swore that I would never use these eyes again in this life… Cough, cough!”

Su Huan’s eyes showed anxiety, but his entire body seemed to be restrained by an invisible force, unable to move. He could only watch as Meng Qinghui struggled to speak:

“But the key to getting out is on that fruit spirit… Now I give these eyes to you. You will be able to see its vital spot, and then… then kill it and escape. Before the demon race gathers its forces, you must announce this matter to the world…”

Su Huan’s eyes turned red, but Meng Qinghui smiled, gently wiping away his tears. “You are just like Wuyou, like a child… always crying so much.”

“My eyes are not given to you for free. I need you to do something for me… Go to Cangxuan Continent and take a message to my master. Tell him, tell him that I am ashamed of Wuyou’s affection and can only repay it in the next life… Then go to Yixian and tell Jiang Wu, tell her…”

“Her own son… Jiang Fei, Jiang Fei died to save me. A life for a life…”

“She owes me nothing anymore…”

Meng Qinghui’s voice gradually faded, and she slowly stopped breathing.

Su Huan felt his body regain its freedom, and his eyes had changed.

He couldn’t help but close his eyes, his heart twisted with sorrow.

A moment later, Su Huan placed Meng Qinghui into his storage bag.

He thought that if he had enough Glazed Immortal Grass, he would return the eyes to Fellow Daoist Meng.