Chapter 133: As It Happens, I’m Quite Picky Too

At this moment, the lush tree began to disintegrate. Its leaves withered into a sickly yellow, resembling a tree ravaged by a severe blight, devoid of any remaining vitality.

Flames erupted from the black robes draped over the branches, igniting the towering ancient tree. The fire spread rapidly, fierce and relentless.

"Get out of here," Wen Jinge said, pulling the young girl along. "Your master is dead; you are free."

"No, he’s not!" the chicken spirit shook her head. "That connection hasn't been severed. It... it’s still there."

Suddenly, a hand clawed its way out of the earth, and a living man emerged from the tree.

Compared to a man, he was a collection of features.
Compared to a normal human, he was a creature of fire.
Compared to a dying soul, he possessed boundless vitality.

"Wen Xueshan?" Lu Wei tentatively called out his name, for the corpse of Wen Xueshan that had been on the ground was now gone.

*Only after the god dies can they live.* He hadn't been lying.

"Ancestor," the man of fire knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Wen Jinge. "Thank you for sparing my life."

"Was that you just now?" Wen Jinge’s brows furrowed tightly. "Are you the Wen Xueshan who slit his own throat, or the man I killed?"

"I am both." The flames on Wen Xueshan’s body showed no signs of subsiding. "I remember now. I was born from the heart of this tree. I was meant to perish on that stormy night, but you saved me, Ancestor. From then on, I became your messenger. As for those 'selves' in the sky, they were your eyes, watching over the mortal realm."

*I am not, I didn't, you’ve mistaken me for someone else.* Wen Jinge desperately wanted to deny everything.

"Is this fire of yours expensive?" she asked instead, her tongue tripping over her words.

Lu Wei: "..."

"Master, he... he is my new master!" the chicken spirit pointed at Wen Xueshan. "I... I still have to follow him."

"You don't want to follow him?"

"He’s so fierce and his brain is broken. I’m afraid if I keep following him, I’ll actually die."

Wen Xueshan flicked his finger, and the chicken spirit began to retch, spitting out a piece of paper shaped like meat. "It wasn't me who told you to follow him, and I have no intention of keeping a maid. Be off with you!"

"Hmph! Fine, I'm going! You! You’d better stop harming people. I’ve seen you kill so many."

"Killing..." Wen Xueshan murmured. He was not supposed to kill. Just as Wen Jinge bore the burdens of this place, he, too, had to carry the debts incurred by those "eyes." "You cannot leave."

"Why?" The young girl wanted to argue further, but Wen Jinge quickly covered her mouth. "Why can't she leave?"

"If she has killed, and the messenger arrives only to be slain, this place will be destroyed. At that time..." He looked at Wen Jinge, "The Ancestor will no longer need to bear the karmic debt of this place, and I shall fulfill my debt according to the Ancestor's original arrangements!"

"Debt?"

"The Soul Clan, the Demon Clan, and the Ghost Cultivators—many from these three races have perished beneath this Heaven-Reaching Tree. The man-eating houses on the wasteland, the carriages of the princess seeking her kin hovering on the borders of ancient kingdoms, and the sandstorms that carry away men—their final destination is always beneath this tree. And I am the price paid for those 'selves' in the sky to exist.

"Grandmaster, coming from the outside, you must have noticed, right? High-level Xuan masters are rare—not because Xuan energy is thin, but because they are too greedy and seek to 'ask the gods.' The four destinations of the gods—Qingqiu Lake, the Dian Mountains, Pingchuan Valley, and Mogan City—are all right here."

"You’re wrong," Wen Jinge interrupted. "The Dian Mountains are what is now the Seven Peaks of the Xuanyun Sect; Mogan City is the Qianyan Kingdom; Qingqiu Lake lies between the Mizang Sect and the Northern Demon Realm. Oh, and Pingchuan Valley..."

That name felt incredibly distant, but according to the plot, the time to head to Pingchuan Valley wasn't far off. It was a place where disciples of the Profound Sect practiced for demon-suppression missions, likely located near the Qinghe Mountains.

"There is a sect guarding it now, called the Qinghe Mountains. These things, if you spend a little time and use your brain to think, it’s easy to figure out. I can imagine your life these past years must have been bitter."

"..."

"If I were those people, I would never travel so far, spending such a long time in the desert searching for a randomly appearing scene, waiting to become a 'fated person' only to be led into a death trap. Isn't a formal institution better? Which of these four places doesn't have a history spanning hundreds, thousands, or even ten thousand years? Only the insatiably greedy would believe such legends.

"What is a legend? It’s just fragments of gossip pieced together. To believe such one-sided words—you deserve to be digested until not even a scrap of bone is left!"

Wen Xueshan stood there, scolded into silence. He had never imagined that the Ancestor he would face years later would be such a blunt and straightforward person. At this moment, he truly felt a profound sense of shame.

"Hahaha! Well said, young friend! You are truly the person I have been looking for."

"Hmm?" Wen Jinge frowned, realizing this wasn't as simple as it seemed. "You set this up?"

Unfortunately, what she received was a look from Wen Xueshan that mirrored her own confusion, which meant he wasn't acting.

"You're looking for me?" She stepped in front of Lu Wei. This aura was dense; he didn't seem like a Xuan master, but rather an enemy.

Lu Wei was still in soul form, and although he was stronger than her disciples, a woman's intuition told her that this old man had been aiming for her from the very beginning.

This person was arrogant, the kind who hadn't been taught a lesson in eight hundred years.

"Are you Wen Jinge?"

"Have you met me?"

"...No!"

"Then you've found the wrong person."

Lu Wei and Wen Xueshan: "..."

"...That shouldn't be..."

That phrase... Lu Wei’s mouth twitched. He was truly sick of hearing it. When you encounter Wen Jinge, say whatever you want, but saying "that shouldn't be" is just asking for a beating. The last one with that experience was currently burning inside the tree!

"Is there anything else?"

The old man: "..."

"If not, I’m leaving! I’m with a tour group, and there are many people waiting for me in a nearby city. Goodbye to you!"

"Hey?" The young girl was inexplicably dragged along by Wen Jinge. On the other side was Wen Xueshan, while Lu Wei had retreated into the depths of her sea of consciousness.

"No! You are Wen Jinge! I could not have calculated wrongly!"

Wen Jinge stopped in her tracks. "Calculated?"

There weren't many people in this world who could perform such calculations. Her cheap master, Bu Suanzi, was one, and she herself was barely another. As for others, she had never encountered any.

"You calculated that Wen Jinge was here?"

"Yes!" The old man looked up at the sky, where a full moon hung.

If one looked closely, they could see cracks in the space, like a broken eggshell. People residing inside the shell saw the sky and the moon as mere hollow shapes. This old man had jumped in through one of those holes.

"Then you..." Wen Jinge sighed. *In this day and age, is it wrong to cultivate one's character?* She truly didn't want to fight. Why couldn't these people just leave her alone?

"Do you have a grudge against her?"

"I simply wish to eat her."

A chill ran down Wen Jinge’s spine. She was genuinely offended. "Did you two hear what he said?"

"He... he said he wants to eat you," the chicken spirit squeaked tremulously. "A-am I next?"

"I have no interest in demons!"

"Oh! You're quite picky, aren't you!" Wen Jinge didn't know why, but she felt provoked by that statement. "Perfect, I'm quite picky too!"