After Escaping From Death, He Went Even Crazier By Criticizing Black Lotus Chapter 44
byChapter 44: Dreaming Back
When he realized it, his fingertips had already touched that pair of…
Su Huan began to dream again.
Initially, the dream was a pleasant one.
He dreamed that an unprecedented catastrophe caused all the gods to return to the heavens and earth, and he, as the son of the Divine Venerable, grew up under the tutelage of the few Divine Monarchs who survived. He was young and accomplished, the youngest successor to the Divine Venerable in history.
The Divine Venerable was the head of all gods, governing all things in heaven and earth. To become a qualified Divine Venerable, he traveled through mountains, rivers, and snow valleys, experiencing the utmost suffering and joy of the mortal world. After the Divine Monarchs returned to the Heavenly Dao, he smoothly took over the authority from the previous Divine Venerable, managing the heavens and the mortal realm so that the weather was favorable, and peace and prosperity reigned.
The common people spontaneously built temples for him, devoutly enshrining his golden statue. Because he was born in Cangxuan, he took Cangxuan as his divine name. When the incense offerings were at their peak, all Seven Continents and Four Seas offered incense to him.
“Thanks to the Divine Venerable for driving away the man-eating evil demon, allowing us a place to live…”
“Thank you, Divine Venerable, for casting spells to improve the grain seeds and granting us a bountiful harvest. We will never go hungry again…”
“Divine Venerable above, if not for the immortal arts you taught, who knows how many people would have died in this plague…”
To acknowledge the faith of the world, he created thousands of spiritual methods. Centered around his temple, he opened up a blessed land and selected a portion of people from various continents to teach the Dao, instructing them to pass it on to the mortal world. He declared that those who benefited the world could enter the temple to serve.
The world spontaneously called this cultivation, thus giving rise to immortal arts and the Hundred Immortal Sects. People grew increasingly reverent and faithful toward him.
Everything was as beautiful as a golden age.
After an unknown period, he suddenly heard a clear voice amidst the numerous thoughts of faith, shouting:
“This world no longer needs gods!”
He opened his eyes, curiously projecting his divine sense toward the young man who dared to utter such blasphemous words.
The young man stood inside a magnificent, golden temple, a structure built for him by the aristocratic families.
High above the main hall, fine incense and candles burned, shrouded in mist. The altar, inlaid with countless precious gems—somehow knowing his preferences—was piled high with spiritual fruits and offerings. Above them were written documents of apology addressed to him.
The young man wore a simple white robe. Behind him stood a group of family elders in luxurious silk robes, forcefully pressing the young man’s head, compelling him to kneel and kowtow before the statue of the god, who was depicted with lowered eyes and forming a hand seal.
“I won’t bow!”
The young man struggled fiercely, his face turning red from being held down so tightly. The elders behind him could restrain his body, but they couldn’t silence his mouth.
The young man continuously shouted, “Why must I, born into the Helan family, believe in the Divine Venerable, while Alan, who comes from poverty, doesn’t even have the qualification to enter the temple! If the faith you constantly speak of is like this, then I would rather he disappear from the world!”
The imposing, richly dressed young man standing at the front, who seemed to be the family head, immediately turned pale with fury upon hearing the youth’s words. He slapped the young man hard across the face and reprimanded him in a low voice, “Silence! No disrespect is allowed before the Divine Venerable!”
The young man was stunned by the blow. When he recovered, he sneered, “Divine Venerable? I fear he has long become an excuse for you to pursue your own selfish interests!”
“Helan Yue!” The Helan Family Head was about to strike again, but his raised palm was blocked in mid-air by a gentle breeze, unable to advance an inch.
The Helan Family Head’s expression changed. Realizing something, he turned back to look at the statue. The crowd also showed nervous expressions, all looking toward the statue.
The perfectly sculpted statue, its eyes and brows concealed within the lingering incense smoke, was filled with divinity, unmoving, without the slightest change.
Everyone collectively sighed in relief, fearing that Helan Yue’s earlier disrespectful words had angered the Divine Venerable.
Cangxuan watched this scene. With a thought, he transformed into the appearance of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy and appeared in the main hall.
Helan Yue looked surprised to see him suddenly appear beside him. He opened his mouth and asked, “Just now, why did you say this world no longer needs gods?”
The Helan Family Head was startled by his sudden appearance. Before Helan Yue could answer, he scolded with a grim face, “Who are you? You are not from an aristocratic family. How did you get in?”
He then glared at the elders standing behind him and sternly commanded, “Why are you standing there stunned? Hurry and take this disrespectful brat out!”
Upon hearing this, Helan Yue’s eyes darted around. Cleverly grabbing his wrist, he tried to lead him out. “No need to trouble the elders. I’ll go out with him!”
The Helan Family Head was nearly driven mad with anger. “How dare you!”
Cangxuan remained motionless.
Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Helan Yue put more force into his grip and urged in a low voice, “Hurry up and leave! If you don’t, they’ll punish you. Last time, Alan was expelled from the sect just for entering here without permission…”
The Helan Family Head’s face darkened further. He rebuked, “Nonsense! That criminal dared to steal the Blazing Plume Fruit offered to the Divine Venerable. It was already merciful that I didn’t take his life…”
Cangxuan turned back to him. “Blazing Plume Fruit? Why steal it? Is this fruit very rare or delicious?”
The Helan Family Head was choked, the words caught in his throat.
Helan Yue couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing him. He explained, “You are truly interesting. The Blazing Plume Fruit is certainly not delicious, but eating it can resist the cold invading the body in the extreme cold of the Northern Abyss. Alan’s mother is sick and needs a spiritual fish from the Northern Abyss as medicine, which is why he needed the Blazing Plume Fruit.”
Cangxuan nodded in understanding but still had doubts. “If that’s the case, why didn’t he gather it himself? Why steal it from this temple?”
This time, before Helan Yue could speak, a person behind the Helan Family Head sneered first. “Where did this bumpkin come from, not even knowing this?”
This person wore a long robe, looking like an immortal with refined features. He first piously bowed to the statue before mockingly speaking, “The Divine Venerable bestowed upon us the spiritual methods of cultivation, which is why the cultivation world exists today. All spiritual fruits under heaven rightfully belong to the Divine Venerable. How could someone of such lowly bloodline use them!”
Lowly bloodline?
The people in the main hall nodded in agreement, their gazes toward him carrying a hint of disdain.
Cangxuan nodded. “Stealing offerings is indeed wrong.”
Helan Yue’s expression slightly changed upon hearing his words, and the hand holding his loosened.
Cangxuan glanced at him, then turned back to the Helan Family Head and said, “But bloodlines are not divided into noble and lowly. Since it concerns a human life, you should have shared the fruit with Alan.”
The Helan Family Head was cold and heartless. “It’s just an insignificant life. Not to mention the entire cultivation world, even within the Helan family’s territory, new mortals are born every moment.”
Cangxuan repeated softly, “Cultivation world? Mortals?”
He was somewhat puzzled. “They are mortals, so who are you people?”
The person who had mocked him earlier spoke again. “Of course, we are cultivators! Where exactly did you come from, boy, to be so ignorant!”
The Helan Family Head looked impatient and snapped, “Enough nonsense. Hurry and take him out.”
That person quickly and fearfully agreed, stepping briskly toward Cangxuan to seize him and take him out.
Cangxuan avoided him. With a light touch of his fingertip, the man with the thin eyebrows and small eyes became immobile.
Gasps of shock rose and fell around them:
“He actually restrained Elder Xue so easily?!”
“Elder Xue is at the Integration stage cultivation! This person is so young, could his cultivation have already surpassed the Integration stage?!”
“That’s impossible. He must have used some unknown spiritual method to achieve such an effect…”
“I wonder what kind of spiritual method it is, to be so powerful!”
Cangxuan felt the gazes falling upon him suddenly become much more fervent, mixed with a hint of greed.
His heart gradually sank. He turned to look at Helan Yue.
“Just now, why did you say this world no longer needs gods?”
Helan Yue was startled, looking at him with an expression hard to describe.
Cangxuan asked again, “Why?”
Helan Yue said speechlessly, “Are you a descendant of some reclusive cultivator? You couldn’t tell that was just a moment of angry words from me.”
When the Divine Venerable first spread the immortal Dao, the chosen people strictly followed the decree, spreading the Dao, teaching, and resolving doubts everywhere, establishing sects. But later, things changed. Some people acted selfishly, favoring their own families, rapidly expanding their influence. Others, who disliked such behavior but couldn’t defeat them, chose to live in seclusion, periodically selecting fated individuals to pass on the Dao.
He raised his hand, gesturing for Cangxuan to look at the Helan family members. He said, “As for why I cursed the Divine Venerable, isn’t what you see before you obvious? He spread the immortal Dao and taught immortal arts, and the mortal world did indeed become prosperous. But he taught and then ignored the consequences, nurturing more malignant tumors! The lives of the common people seem better, but in reality, they are more difficult than when there were no immortal arts!”
After speaking, Helan Yue couldn’t help but complain, “He is completely unqualified as a Divine Venerable.”
Cangxuan looked at the people before him, whose eyes held both fear of him and a subtle greed, and fell silent.
He thought, he was indeed unqualified.
Later, he and Helan Yue escaped from the Helan family’s temple.
The nightmare began.
*
Following Helan Yue, he saw similar situations everywhere. Even with the spiritual elixirs he taught, the common people no longer suffered from hunger, but the light in their eyes had vanished.
Helan Yue led him to a place where medicinal pills were sold.
He gestured toward the manager leisurely eating watermelon and cooling off inside the shop. “Do you know his surname?”
Cangxuan: “No.”
Helan Yue said, “His surname is Helan.”
At that moment, a mother, looking emaciated, approached the sales counter holding her child. She tremblingly pulled out a spiritual stone from her bosom and pleaded, “Sir, please, give me some Satiety Pills. My child hasn’t eaten for three days…”
The manager lifted his eyelids, glanced at the spiritual stone in her hand—though pure, it was only the size of a fingernail—and closed his eyes again. “That little bit isn’t even enough to buy the peel. No sale, no sale!”
Cangxuan remained silent. He walked over, fed the child a Satiety Pill, and slipped a bag of spiritual elixirs to the woman.
The manager saw this, jumped up in a fit of rage, and tried to hit him. “Where did this brat come from? Do you understand the rules! The elixirs here can only flow out from the Helan family. Hand over all the elixirs you have immediately!”
Helan Yue grabbed him and ran, praising him for his audacity, daring to pull out so many spiritual elixirs in front of the manager without any family crest on him.
Afterward, he lamented that the two of them would now be wanted by the Helan family and forced to flee for their lives.
Cangxuan was puzzled. “Why?”
Even if he truly obstructed the Helan family’s business, the Seven Continents and Four Seas were vast. Could the Helan family really control everything?
Helan Yue said, “The Helan family can’t control such a large area, but the Hundred Immortal Sects can.”
They arrived at a place selling magical artifacts. Helan Yue motioned for him to look at the manager in the shop. “He is from the Lan family.”
Across the street was a mineral sales place. “That one is from the Ji family.”
Almost everything related to cultivation was monopolized by the aristocratic families; outsiders couldn’t touch any of it.
Of course, mortals without family backgrounds could still cultivate, but they could never achieve true immortality, because those who ascended could only come from the aristocratic families.
Cangxuan watched the scene before him, his divine sense sweeping across every corner of the Seven Continents and Four Seas. The situation was the same everywhere.
The numbness in the eyes of the common people seemed to say that he had made a mistake.
Sure enough. Soon, a team of cultivators arrived with swords, holding a wanted poster with the likenesses of the two of them, searching the streets.
They couldn’t stay in the city. Helan Yue led him through a hidden gap in the city wall and came to a dilapidated temple to rest.
Cangxuan looked at the dust-covered, cobweb-filled beams and the broken golden statue. He asked, “Why is there a statue of the Divine Venerable here, yet it is so dilapidated?”
Helan Yue: “Because there are no people here anymore.”
He explained, “This used to be a town inhabited by thousands of people. Because they refused to submit to the Helan family, they were all massacred.”
Cangxuan was speechless. “…I didn’t know.”
Helan Yue looked at him strangely. “Of course, you wouldn’t know.”
“Do you know the pretext they used to cleanse this place? It was to purge demons for the Divine Venerable.”
Cangxuan was confused. “But demons couldn’t possibly appear here.”
“Demons certainly wouldn’t appear here. However, the fact is, the Helan family claimed externally that the people here were infected by evil spirits and had turned into incurable demons. Under the banner of eliminating demons for the god, they burned this place to the ground.”
“Didn’t the divine envoys find any anomalies during their inspection?”
Helan Yue gathered dry firewood and lit a fire.
He sneered, “Of course, they didn’t find anything, because the Helan family killed were all real demons.”
Cangxuan was shocked. “How is that possible?”
Helan Yue didn’t answer. Instead, he brought up another matter. “You should know that there is an immortal clan that believes in the Divine Venerable, called the Purple Gold Spirits. They coexist with demonic energy and collect all the evil thoughts in the world for the Divine Venerable.”
Cangxuan nodded. “That’s right. They are the most loyal believers.”
Helan Yue leaned back and collapsed onto the dry straw pile, scoffing, “Yes, it is precisely because of this clan, the Divine Venerable’s most devout followers, that the people here turned into demons.”
He continued, “They coexist with demonic energy without being affected, but the human race cannot resist the erosion of demonic energy. When the demonic energy on their bodies leaked out, just one Purple Gold Spirit person could contaminate the entire town. That’s how the people here were killed.”
Cangxuan: “Such inhumane evil deeds, why did no one report them to the Divine Venerable?”
Helan Yue laughed at his naivety. “Do you think Cangxuan is some kind of good god?”
Cangxuan argued, “Perhaps he didn’t know.”
Helan Yue sneered, “How could he not know? He governs all things under heaven. Hundreds of years ago, he already knew, and even personally took action to kill such innocent people… It is precisely because of this that reclusive immortals like you chose to avoid the world.”
Cangxuan’s first reaction was disbelief. The next second, he suddenly recalled something he had noticed before—something strange, but which he hadn’t paid much attention to—
There was a period when he swept his divine sense across the Seven Continents and Four Seas, sensing an abnormal increase in places infected by demonic energy. He only thought it was because he had just ascended to the divine throne and was not as steady as his divine father, and his divine power couldn’t suppress the demonic energy, causing it to surge. He even manifested his divine form and personally intervened in a few locations where the demonic energy was unusually vast.
Suddenly, his face turned pale.
He looked up at the statue on the high platform, feeling that the benevolent gaze was truly the height of irony.
Helan Yue noticed his expression and comforted him, “Don’t worry. This place hasn’t had incense offerings for many years. The statue is broken, the god won’t descend, and the aristocratic families won’t come in to search. It is actually the safest place. It’s one of our strongholds.”
He then pulled out a small booklet and handed it to him, saying mysteriously, “How about it? Disappointed in Divine Venerable Cangxuan? Do you want to join our Anti-God Cult! By the way, what is your name, and which line of reclusive immortals are you descended from? Your news is far too delayed…”
Anti-God…
After a long moment, Cangxuan made a decision in his heart. He said, “Such a god should indeed no longer exist.”
He accepted the small booklet, looked at the bright, radiant young man in the firelight, and slowly added a name to it—Feng Qing.
He had officially joined the Anti-God Cult.
The Anti-God Cult had a total of seven people: cultivators, mortals, aristocratic descendants like Helan Yue, and common people persecuted by the aristocratic families. Named Anti-God, they were merely trying to carve out a living in this world.
Cangxuan, in the guise of the young man Feng Qing, worked with Helan Yue, guiding the members of the Anti-God Cult to rapidly expand their influence, driving the Purple Gold Spirit clan to the Barren Realm, overthrowing the aristocratic families, and personally leading people to attack the temple.
He brought Helan Yue into the temple, removed his disguise, and smiled at him. “From now on, there will be no more gods in the world.”
Helan Yue was greatly shocked. Initially wary, he only realized the truth when he personally witnessed him committing suicide with a divine sword upon the divine throne.
His voice was strained. “…Why go to such lengths?”
Cangxuan sat on the divine throne, the blood-stained sword falling to the ground with a clear clang.
He learned for the first time that gods could also bleed, and it hurt immensely.
“You were right. This world no longer needs gods.”
He softly called Helan Yue. “I have no strength left. Can you help me burn the temple? I feel a little cold…”
Helan Yue shed tears.
He added, “Erase me and the temple… from the world. Go and welcome the era of peace that belongs to you.”
But Helan Yue did not listen to him.
After his death, he instead vindicated him, ensuring that Cangxuan’s pure reputation lived on forever.
*
Suicide by the sword was truly painful. Su Huan was half-awake from the pain. He thought the dream would end here, but for some reason, he couldn’t wake up and began dreaming again.
He dreamed that after Cangxuan died, his divine soul spontaneously entered the cycle of reincarnation.
With each reincarnation, Cangxuan would lose a bit of memory until he completely became an ordinary being.
In the first life, Cangxuan was reborn into a cultivation sect.
Since he hadn’t lost much memory through reincarnation, he carried the memories of his previous life and chose to travel the mortal world. He wanted to see the peaceful and prosperous era after his death.
Halfway through his journey, he unexpectedly found a newborn divine spirit, naturally nurtured by heaven and earth.
Cangxuan looked at the pair of innocent, curious, and vibrant black eyes and couldn’t help but feel the urge to guide and raise him.
He named him Wuwang.
No disaster, no calamity, just smooth sailing and happiness.
Cangxuan traveled everywhere with Wuwang, punishing evil and promoting good, teaching him what was good and what was evil.
He learned very well, becoming the “Young Immortal Lord” in the mouths of the people.
When Wuwang turned seventeen, he returned from listening to stories at a teahouse one day and suddenly experienced the awakening of romantic feelings. He spoke constantly of liking him, wanting to be his husband and wife for all eternity.
Cangxuan naturally didn’t take it seriously, only thinking that he hadn’t fully grown up yet, and shook his head with a smile.
“Brother A-Qing, when will you agree to be my Dao companion?”
Wuwang always chased him, asking this question.
Cangxuan always refused.
He thought, he had watched Wuwang grow up little by little, like a biological father. What would it look like if they became Dao companions?
It was simply too absurd.
He would always give Wuwang a flick on the forehead and say, “What are you talking about? I’m your father. Come on, call me Daddy and let me hear it.”
Wuwang pouted, refusing to call him that.
Unable to withstand Cangxuan’s constant nagging, he reluctantly called out, “Daddy.”
Cangxuan was finally satisfied, laughing heartily in response.
The next second, Wuwang burst into tears. “I can’t be Dao companions with Brother A-Qing anymore!”
He cried miserably, utterly heartbreaking.
Although Cangxuan spoke comforting words, he thought to himself that Wuwang surely wouldn’t like him anymore now.
Unexpectedly, Wuwang met Helan Yue.
Helan Yue found Cangxuan and followed him everywhere from then on, refusing to leave.
After learning about the situation from Wuwang, he laughed until he bent over, then secretly slipped Wuwang a few storybooks, telling him to study them carefully.
Wuwang secretly finished reading the storybooks, hiding them from Cangxuan. In the middle of the night, he found Cangxuan and called him with a flushed face, “Daddy…”
He usually refused to open his mouth, so why was he so eager today?
Cangxuan found it novel and let him into the room.
Wuwang entered shyly, but what he said was, “Daddy, the book said that even father and son can be husband and wife…”
Cangxuan’s veins throbbed.
What to do if the child went astray?
Naturally, correction by the rod was necessary.
So, he went out and picked up a rattan cane.
Wuwang’s flushed face instantly turned pale. While frantically dodging, he confessed that Helan Yue was also involved. He thought his little scheme could divert the anger, but he still received a beating from Cangxuan.
Fortunately, Helan Yue didn’t escape either.
Helan Yue hopped around, clutching his injuries, but still stubbornly insisted, “I didn’t do anything wrong. I saw that he was devoted to you, and since he is a god just like you, he is barely worthy of you.”
He paused, then tentatively asked, “If you had a Dao companion, would you stop reincarnating and returning to that position?”
As he spoke, his eyes couldn’t help but turn red. “You clearly know… that wasn’t your fault.”
Cangxuan avoided answering.
Helan Yue brought it up a few more times afterward, but Cangxuan gently dismissed him each time.
A hundred years passed in a flash. Before Cangxuan entered the cycle of reincarnation again, he entrusted Wuwang to Helan Yue.
He felt a sense of relief when he left, thinking he could finally get away from the two of them.
He didn’t expect Wuwang to jump into the cycle of reincarnation with him.
This following lasted for a hundred lifetimes.
During the hundred lifetimes of reincarnation, Helan Yue felt guilty toward him and became so stubborn that he entered the demonic path, stopping at nothing to force him back to the divine throne.
Cangxuan was heartbroken and sent him to be reborn again.
Wuwang still hadn’t given up on loving him.
He even managed to obtain a prayer scroll from somewhere and secretly changed it into a marriage contract behind his back. With every reincarnation, he would add a prayer to it, hoping that they could fall in love in the next life.
He hid it close to his heart, thinking Cangxuan didn’t know.
Little did he know that whenever he got drunk, he couldn’t hide anything.
Cangxuan gradually grew accustomed to Wuwang’s presence by his side, starting from an unknown point in time.
When he realized it, his fingertips had already touched that pair of sleeping eyes.
Cangxuan quickly withdrew his hand in alarm, but when he looked up, he met a pair of brilliant black eyes.
Wuwang smiled and grabbed his hand, kissing it.
Cangxuan didn’t refuse.
Alas.
He admitted defeat.
However, in the 101st life, both he and Wuwang forgot who they were, and they also forgot the love between them.