Blood sprayed out, staining the pristine snow and the hem of Li Zhaoye’s robes.
The crazy woman fell, hitting the snow with a heavy thud, no longer moving.
Li Zhaoye slowly sheathed his sword, looking at the corpse on the ground with a furrowed brow and a sudden, inexplicable sense of annoyance.
"Senior Brother, are you alright?" a female sword cultivator hurriedly stepped forward.
"I'm fine."
Li Zhaoye shook his head. Looking at the corpse on the ground, for some reason, a sudden surge of inexplicable irritability and a stinging pain welled up in his heart.
It was a very strange feeling.
"What bad luck. This crazy old hag comes to seek death every single time."
"She can afford to die, but we cannot."
Another male disciple spat. "Let’s go, Senior Brother. Let’s not miss the hour. The people from the ghost fortress are all sinister."
"Mm."
Li Zhaoye suppressed the strange sensation in his heart and, taking the frightened child with him, hurriedly departed on his flying sword.
The wind and snow continued to howl.
A moment later, on the originally deserted snowy ground, a figure dressed in a black robe of karma-fire slowly manifested.
Chen Zhou looked at the corpse on the ground that was gradually being covered by the heavy snow, his face filled with boredom.
"Is this the 'good show' you were talking about?"
A nearby snowbank suddenly moved, and Wu Gou poked his head out, his hair a mess of tangled weeds.
"Heh, isn't this exciting enough?"
Chen Zhou critiqued, "I wouldn't call it exciting. I just feel like there are quite a lot of lunatics in the Northern Region."
"You’re one, she’s one. I wonder if there are more."
"Who knows," Wu Gou laughed heartily, completely unbothered by being called crazy. "In a place like the Northern Region, the living live like ghosts, and the dead die like jokes."
As they spoke...
The frozen corpse on the ground suddenly twitched.
A faint golden glow flashed, followed by the sound of grinding bones.
Under Chen Zhou's calm gaze, the crazy woman whom Li Zhaoye had pierced through the heart actually stood up, swaying unsteadily.
The wound in her chest hadn't healed; one could even see the drifting snowflakes through the hole.
But she acted as if nothing had happened, picking up the fragments of her broken sword and limping toward Frost-Snow Fortress.
Immortal and indestructible.
"Do you see it now?"
Wu Gou said, "This is the Northern Region."
"There is no life in the Northern Region—no vitality, and no death."
"As long as the vow in their hearts remains, and as long as the scheme of Ksitigarbha of Great Vows remains unbroken, the people here will crawl back up to continue this absurd play, even if they are chopped into mincemeat."
"The same goes for the Great Vow. If you can’t break his scheme, he is also immortal."
Wu Gou turned his head, his eyes peering through his messy hair to stare at Chen Zhou.
Chen Zhou watched that distant silhouette with great interest.
"Why have you been following me?"
"Do you want to use me as your sharpest blade to slice through the dead end of the Northern Region?"
"You’re really no fun," Wu Gou curled his lip. "I’m here to deliver salvation to a great fiend like you."
Chen Zhou smiled, indifferent. "Fine, I’m a great fiend."
Wu Gou pointed at the ground. "That old bald ass Ksitigarbha is sleeping deep underground, holding back his final Great Vow."
"Right now, the Northern Region is managed by that old Moon-Swallowing dog."
"That old dog is a lunatic too. Clearly a demon, yet he tries to learn from others by founding a sect and building a Wolf Court. He wants to be human, and he wants to practice Buddhism."
"If you want to break the stalemate, killing alone is useless."
"Even if you slaughter everyone in the Northern Region and their souls return to the Great Vow, as long as the vow power remains, Ksitigarbha of Great Vows can be resurrected again and again."
"You must find a way to make his cultivation fail."
Chen Zhou fell into thought.
Although some key points were still unclear—such as why the snake demons and members of the Heavenly Sword Sect would die, while the villagers, the crazy woman, and Wu Gou would not—Chen Zhou wasn't afraid of being used by Wu Gou.
This fellow knew the Northern Region like the back of his hand and knew more secrets than anyone, though he always spoke in half-truths and riddles. A damn riddle-monger.
"Ultimately, being unable to die still relies on vow power."
Wu Gou tucked away his playful smile and said seriously, "Ksitigarbha of Great Vows cultivates the Aspect of All Beings. He has bound the wishes of all sentient beings to his own golden body."
"Can you change the vows of the masses?"
"As long as there is even one person in this Northern Region who believes in him and wishes for him, he stands in an invincible position."
Chen Zhou laughed upon hearing this.
A laugh that was both disdainful and arrogant.
He lightly flicked the fallen snow off Eternal Calamity Karma-Fire, and faint black flames rose behind him.
"Change the vows of the masses?"
"How hard can that be?"
"What the masses seek is nothing more than fortune, prosperity, longevity, and joy. It is nothing more than avoiding calamity and living like a human being."
"And this seat just happens to specialize in this path."
Chen Zhou turned around and strode toward Jiuquan Village.
Since Wu Gou had given such a reminder, Chen Zhou naturally knew what to do.
The wind and snow continued. In a hidden snowbank outside Jiuquan Village...
Chen Zhou did not have to wait long before the teams he had sent out to scout began to return one after another.
Poison-Wing was shivering from the cold. As soon as he returned, he huddled close to the karma-fire beside Chen Zhou, hoping to use the residual warmth of the Hatred Fire to thaw his newly grown poisonous feathers.
Su Xue brushed the snow from her clothes and bowed to Chen Zhou.
"Lord, it has been observed."
"Poison-Wing and I covered several offering points within a hundred-mile radius. The items collected by the Heavenly Sword Sect are merely ordinary goods."
"Oh? What are they?" Chen Zhou asked casually.
"Incense, paper money, coarse rice, as well as some home-spun cloth and dried meat."
Su Xue shook her head. "Although the Northern Region is cold and resources are scarce, these items are barely enough to fill the gaps between a cultivation sect's teeth. They collect very little."
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow. "Cheap offerings in exchange for full protection? Is the Heavenly Sword Sect running a charity?"
"Ancestor, it’s more than that."
Zen Master Wu Hai thumped his monk staff onto the ground, the soul fire in his eye sockets flickering. "This disciple spent the entire night traveling across the outer reaches of the Northern Region, and it’s like this everywhere."
"Everyone is a living dead?"
"Yes, everyone," Zen Master Wu Hai said with certainty.
"Whether they are woodcutters, farmers, or newborn infants, there is a golden thread inside their bodies dangling onto their lives. They cannot die, but they cannot live happily either."
Chen Zhou fell deep into thought.
As he spoke, Zen Master Wu Hai suddenly twitched his nasal bone, even though he didn't have a nose.
"Ancestor, this disciple has something to confirm."
Zen Master Wu Hai pointed deep into the ground, his tone becoming somewhat excited. "When I was running that circuit just now, I smelled a familiar scorched stench."
"A scorched stench?"
"It’s Huo Dou. It’s absolutely that stupid dog," Zen Master Wu Hai's teeth chattered with excitement.
"Though it’s very faint and mixed with the scent of earth fire, I would recognize our Bone Temple's sect-protecting divine beast even if it were turned to ash."
"The stupid dog is deep underground here. It seems to be trapped by something."
Chen Zhou nodded upon hearing this. "Since it’s our own lost dog, go and bring it back."
"There aren't many things that interest you besides fighting and killing; this divine beast is one of them."
"Understood!" Zen Master Wu Hai let out an excited cackle. "Please wait a moment, Ancestor. This disciple will go dig that stupid dog out to guard the house for you right now."
With that, Zen Master Wu Hai transformed into a streak of white light and vanished in the blink of an eye.
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