The evil spirit behind Yin Wudao was using him to take advantage of the Golden Buddha's descent.
Its ultimate goal was likely to destroy some kind of balance or gather enough power to open the god's tomb in the Western Region.
However, being able to figure out the opponent's background so as not to be caught off guard was good news for Chen Zhou.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.
Chen Zhou looked at Tuoba Feng, who was kneeling on the ground, and asked again.
"So, you brought a coffin full of malevolent ghosts and went as far as violating your ancestral teachings to leave the Yellow Spring Crossing just to seize the Golden Buddha?"
"Do you want to use the Golden Buddha's power to purify the black spots overflowing from the god's tomb and re-seal the divine remains?"
Hearing the words "malevolent ghosts," the dull-eyed Tuoba Feng suddenly raised his head and said stubbornly.
"Not malevolent ghosts..."
He pursed his dry, cracked lips. "They are heroic spirits."
"They are my clansmen, the heroes of the Western Region who shed their last drop of blood over the past thousand years to suppress the divine remains."
"They are not malevolent ghosts."
Chen Zhou was slightly taken aback, then nodded. "Fine, fine. They are heroic spirits."
If they were the martyrs of the Grave-keeper clan who suppressed evil spirits during their lives and whose souls still protected their descendants after death, they truly deserved the title of heroic spirits.
"Since they are heroic spirits, all the more reason they should rest in peace."
"The living do not enter the Western Region, and the dead do not leave."
"You brought them out and even let their souls be scattered in battle, preventing your ancestors from resting."
"Is it because those divine remains have some special function that makes you so wary that you would risk the heroic spirits of your entire clan just to prevent them from emerging?"
Chen Zhou tried to dig out more secrets about the divine remains from him.
However, Tuoba Feng fell into a long silence this time.
His scattered consciousness began to fluctuate violently. The 【Seed of Resentment】 implanted in his sea of consciousness was frantically releasing hatred, trying to completely take over his reason.
"Ah..."
Tuoba Feng clutched his head in pain and let out a low wail.
He was resisting.
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow in surprise.
It was his first time seeing someone whose psychological defenses had collapsed and who was deeply bewitched by the Evil God Whispers still manage to generate the thought of resistance through sheer willpower.
"It seems the secret of those divine remains is truly important, or rather... truly extraordinary."
"No wonder the evil spirit behind Yin Wudao is plotting for them."
As Chen Zhou thought this, Tuoba Feng's newly gathered will eventually proved no match for the suppression of divine power.
The roots of the Seed of Resentment dug deep into his soul, and the bewitching voice of the Evil God Whispers submerged him once more.
His eyes became vacant again, and the look of struggle on his face slowly subsided. He looked exhausted and somewhat sorrowful.
Tuoba Feng spoke with difficulty, his voice faint, but every word felt like it was dripping with blood.
"No, it's not for the divine remains."
"I'm not... that great, either."
Tuoba Feng lowered his eyes, looking at his empty pant legs, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"I was originally the descendant of a disgraced official, bearing the sins of my ancestors. I was born to atone."
"Guarding the tomb is a responsibility, but also a curse."
"My death would not be a loss; even if I were struck by lightning and my soul was scattered, it wouldn't matter..."
"But Xiaoyun."
"My daughter, she's been infected by the black spots."
"I want to save her."
His voice suddenly became tender.
"She grew up in the sand sea and has never seen green trees or red flowers. The Western Region is too barren; it has nothing."
"She's only seven years old. She's very good. Even when it's her turn to shed blood, she never cries out in pain."
Tuoba Feng raised his hand and gently touched the stone coffin behind him as if stroking his daughter's cheek through the thick stone walls.
"Our ancestors passed down a legend that the Golden Buddha can purify all filth in the world."
"I want to save her."
"Xiaoyun is right behind me, sleeping."
"It's too noisy outside; it will wake her up."
When speaking of his daughter, Tuoba Feng suddenly became talkative.
Even in his controlled state, he began to ramble about the time he spent with his daughter in the Western Region.
"It's very dark inside the coffin. Actually, Xiaoyun has always been afraid of the dark."
"The nights in the Western Region are long, the wind and sand are heavy, and the howling sounds like ghosts crying. She always huddles in my arms and asks me to tell her stories."
"But I'm clumsy with words. I've never left the Western Region in my life, and I haven't seen anything novel, so I can never tell them well."
"She likes eating sand jujubes; they're very sweet..."
"But there are few sand jujube trees in the Western Region, and they bear even less fruit."
"Once, I searched for three days before I found a small handful. Her eyes lit up with joy."
"But she couldn't bear to eat a single one, saying she wanted to share them with me, with her grandfather, with... with her mother and uncles who are no longer here..."
"She has a weak constitution, and the sins in her bloodline are too heavy. She gets tired more easily than other children."
"But she's truly well-behaved and never complains."
"I taught her blade techniques, wanting her to have the power to protect herself."
"She always gets out of breath after practicing for a while, but she grits her teeth and refuses to stop."
"She said, 'Daddy, when I get strong, I can help share your burden, and you won't have to be so tired.'"
As he spoke, Tuoba Feng's spirit became more stable.
In his sea of consciousness, the Seed of Resentment was actually suppressed by a force of pure obsession.
Tuoba Feng showed signs of breaking free from the control.
The Seed of Resentment was an extension of the divinity of resentment, capable of evoking intense hatred in the one it was planted in.
But it found that Tuoba Feng did not harbor deep hatred.
Even though he was exiled to a death trap like the Western Region, where his entire clan lived like ascetic monks in a dark, tomb-guarding existence until only he remained, he didn't have much hostility.
It was as if he had long since accepted his fate.
Hatred might exist, but the hatred for the divine remains and the injustice of fate that the Seed of Resentment forced upon him seemed pale and weak in the face of his obsession to save his daughter.
Hatred was quickly washed away by obsession.
Perhaps this was what it meant to be a parent.
One's own suffering could be endured in silence, and the shackles of fate could be carried with gritted teeth.
But when it came to their children, the softness and strength hidden deep within the soul would erupt with incredible power.
As Tuoba Feng's obsession erupted, the effect of the Seed of Resentment gradually faded.
The chaos in Tuoba Feng's eyes vanished completely, replaced by clarity.
He suddenly snapped out of it, realizing what he had just said, and his face instantly turned ashen.
This was his greatest weakness and the secret he would die to protect.
He instinctively moved backward, using his broken body to block the stone coffin, shielding the lid with his hands as he looked at Chen Zhou warily.
Looking at his state as if facing a great enemy, Chen Zhou sighed and simply put away the horsetail whisk in his hand.
"I'll give you one more chance."
Chen Zhou held up two fingers. "Surrender, or die?"
Tuoba Feng gritted his teeth and remained silent, the veins on the hand gripping his blade hilt bulging.
He didn't want to surrender, nor could he.
The Golden Buddha was his only hope to save his daughter.
If he surrendered and became someone else's subordinate, how could he seize the Golden Buddha? What would happen to Xiaoyun's black spots?
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