plumnovel Chapter 56 Shocking Melon Field: So, Senior Brother, you're this kind of person?
Chapter 56 Shocking Melon Field: So, Senior Brother, you're this kind of person?
"According to the rhythm of the heartbeat, the time is right."
Xiao Wufeng's voice was flat and monotone.
He didn't look at the arena; his fingers tapped lightly on the black sword case behind him.
Da, da, da.
Every sound was perfectly timed, coinciding with Yu Liang's heartbeats, so precise it was nauseating.
This is an open conspiracy.
Bai Lian'er pressed herself against him, her fingertips brushing against Yu Liang's chest through his robe.
Her eyes sparkled, and she said sweetly, "Senior Brother Yu, you seem to know the forbidden rules of the Ten Thousand Swords Tomb like the back of your hand. Could it be that you already have a thorough understanding of this place?"
A decisive goal.
The Iron Law of the Inner Demon Forest: Those who are sincere live, those who are deluded die.
To admit it would be a crime to possess a treasure, and one would inevitably be besieged and killed.
He denied it, but his strange behavior along the way would be deemed a lie by heaven and earth, and the rules would immediately come into play.
Yu Liang's eyelids twitched violently. Xiao Wufeng was silently driving him to his doom.
"Hmm!"
Yu Liang pulled out a piece of aged cured meat covered in Ah Tuo's saliva and roughly stuffed it into Bai Lian'er's mouth.
"Eat meat! Enough nonsense! Cultivators emphasize strengthening their foundation and nourishing their vital energy!"
Yu Liang's eyes were clear, and he spoke very quickly: "Junior sister overestimates me. I'm just a good-for-nothing street urchin who lives a life of idleness and complacency. What secrets do I know? I'm just guessing!"
Before he could finish speaking...
"Click."
Yu Liang felt a sharp, aching sound coming from his left leg.
Perception was instantly severed, and the flesh and blood visibly turned gray and withered, transforming into the grain of elm wood.
A tender green leaf bud sprouted from between the kneecaps.
The rules of the Inner Demon Forest state: This is a lie.
He is by no means a bad person; his will to survive and his ambition to turn things around are stronger than anyone else's, and his inner fire burns so brightly it could pierce the sky.
"The judgment has been made. The wood element has invaded the body, and the outcome is 15%."
Xiao Wufeng now had a jade slip for recording images, which he used for calibration.
"Yu Liang, your 'Meng' divination is too far off. According to my analysis, your statement just now is almost certainly false."
He turned around and gave orders to the people around him, his ruthlessness chilling:
"Do not make a move. Let him be devoured by the rules. The spiritual fire generated by the burning of a 'wooden carving of lies' containing the Dao of cause and effect is enough to support us to safely pass through the second half."
"Mo Yuan, prepare to gather the spiritual materials. Junior Brother Ye, prepare to start the fire."
As soon as she finished speaking, Bai Lian'er took the cured meat out of her mouth and threw it away. She immediately moved closer to Xiao Wufeng, put her soft hand on his arm, and said sweetly, "Senior Brother Xiao is so amazing. Your calculations are so accurate and ruthless. I knew you had a way~ There's no need for Junior Brother Ye to do such rough work as starting a fire. I just refined the Soul-Burning Incense, which burns wood the best and has the fragrance of orchids from the Forty-Nine Days. I guarantee it won't bother you at all."
Qian Duoduo rode over on his big white cat, swatting away Bai Lian'er's paw with his chubby little hand, and said disdainfully, "What kind of lousy incense do you dare to offer as a treasure? Senior Brother Xiao cultivates the Path of Ruthlessness. If he smells this and it disturbs his Dao heart, who will be responsible? I have a specially made Spirit Burning Talisman. One talisman can burn through completely. It has pure spiritual power. It costs ten low-grade spirit stones. I'm honest with you, and it can also accumulate merit for Senior Brother Xiao."
Bai Lian'er's eyes reddened with anger. She put her hands on her hips and glared at her: "Are you obsessed with money? You want to pay for things for Senior Brother Xiao? Don't you know what it means to show your appreciation?"
"Can one's heart's intention be used as a spiritual fire? Or as a spirit stone flower?"
Qian Duoduo rolled her eyes. "Besides, Senior Brother Xiao is the most disciplined. Setting a price clearly is the only way to show respect to him. Unlike some people who try to take advantage of Senior Brother by touching him inappropriately, they should take a good look at themselves and see if they are worthy."
The two argued fiercely, and the hairpin was askew, but Xiao Wufeng didn't even flinch. His gaze remained fixed on Yu Liang, waiting for him to completely turn into firewood.
A chill ran through everyone.
In Xiao Wufeng's calculations, Yu Liang was never a companion, not even a stepping stone, but merely firewood to start a fire.
They treat living people as inanimate objects, and cause and effect as fuel.
Ye Aotian looked at Yu Liang's wooden legs, a look of pleasure flashing in his eyes. He drew his longsword, his spiritual energy surging forth, eager to try.
Yu Liang was unable to move.
The deathly aura, hardened by wood, surged upwards from the thighs; the sensation of the flesh turning into a lifeless object was enough to drive someone with a weak will to madness.
Not far away, Xiao Wufeng tapped on the sword box: "I suggest you give up struggling and strike a more presentable pose so as not to affect your image after death."
The six prodigies, except for Mo Yuan, all looked on with glee at Yu Liang's misfortune.
The previous "soldier against soldier, general against general" rule is fading away.
If Yu Liang, the biggest variable, were to become Wood, this game would be much easier.
Yu Liang tried to move, but the lignification had already spread to his waist, like countless ants gnawing at his nerves.
Pigsy was so anxious that he circled around Yu Liang's feet, grunting as he bit Yu Liang's buttocks hard, breaking his teeth, which were as hard as ironwood.
Yu Liang's throat began to tighten, and the woody texture climbed up his neck, trying to seal off his vocal cords.
He can't speak. The moment he opens his mouth, it's a lie; it's a liar's instinct, his way of doing things.
In the realm of absolute honesty, he is the greatest heretic.
A certain death trap?
Yu Liang stared at the back of his hand, which had turned into tree bark, and the song "Everything Can Be Plated" played automatically in his mind without any wind.
"Neither take initiative nor refuse, and takes no responsibility."
This is the mantra of a scumbag, and also the ultimate principle for dealing with all things.
Who defines what is true and what is false? God?
What if... I can even deceive myself?
If I truly believe that the biggest lie I tell is the only truth in the world?
The so-called "truth" is nothing more than a projection of subjective consciousness onto the objective world.
If my subjectivity is strong enough to distort cause and effect, what's wrong with calling a deer a horse?
Yu Liang stared at Xiao Wufeng's unwavering eyes.
Those were eyes that could see through the rules and calculate the secrets of heaven, but had no humanity.
You want to use this Taoist priest as firewood?
"Exquisite".
Yu Liang's lips twitched, revealing gleaming white teeth. "Young Master Xiao, you can calculate everything, accurately predicting the wickedness of people's hearts and the rules of heaven. But can you accurately predict... whether you're a monster?"
Xiao Wufeng frowned: "The divination result is unclear and cannot be interpreted."
Yu Liang's left little finger disappeared out of thin air, the cut was smooth and there was no blood.
Causal deception, initiated.
This time, he wasn't trying to deceive the rules; he was trying to forcibly distort the perception of this world.
Yu Liang suddenly looked up, gathered his strength in his dantian, and roared at Ye Aotian, who was about to come up and start a fire:
"Ye Aotian! You've always been deeply in love with Xiao Wufeng!!"
This shout was hoarse and desperate, filled with the grief and indignation of "it's not worth it for you to be so devoted to me."
Dead silence.
The wind stopped.
The leaves stopped shaking.
Xiao Wufeng, who was calculating the timing of the firewood burning, suddenly froze in mid-air.
His brain, as intricate as a celestial compass, suddenly experienced a fatal freeze.
Ye Aotian's posture of gazing at the sky at a 45-degree angle instantly collapsed, his handsome face turned ashen, and his natal spirit sword clattered to the ground of rubble.
Bai Lian'er and Qian Duoduo froze instantly, then erupted in chaos.
Bai Lian'er shrieked, "Bullshit! Ye Aotian, you dare to covet Senior Brother Xiao? I saw you stealing the sword tassel from his sword hut last time!"
Qian Duoduo's abacus beads flew off two at once. Hands on her hips, she jumped up and down: "Exactly! Senior Brother Xiao's Daoist partner must earn eight million spirit stones! What can you do besides showing off? You owe me three hundred spirit stones from last month and haven't paid them back, yet you act like a haughty swordsman? Didn't you deliberately lose to him in the last competition just to get his attention?"
"You're talking nonsense!" Ye Aotian screamed, his voice cracking.
The wood grain on Yu Liang's leg suddenly stopped spreading, slowly receded, and the blood color reappeared.
The rules of the Inner Demon Forest state: This is the truth.
Yu Liang sacrificed a finger to forcibly alter cause and effect, making the rules of heaven and earth acknowledge this nonsense.
Lei Hu, who was under Tuoba Ye's crotch, was so frightened that he squeezed his legs together and looked at Ye Aotian with fear and disgust.
"impossible!"
Ye Aotian's heart was breaking. Pointing at Yu Liang and then at Xiao Wufeng, he stammered, "I'm attracted to stunning beauties! How could I possibly have homosexual tendencies towards this expressionless, calculating shrew?!"
With a snap, Ye Aotian's right arm, which he had been pointing at Xiao Wufeng, instantly turned into a withered tree.
Rule of law: Ye Aotian is lying.
The entire audience gasped in shock.
Mo Yuan's empty eyes suddenly lit up, staring intently at Ye Aotian's wooden arm before turning to Xiao Wufeng. Her cheeks flushed a sickly red, and her breathing became rapid.
"So that's why Senior Brother Xiao kept Senior Brother Ye by his side? A forbidden love hidden beneath cold calculation? To conceal the brokenness of their love, they hurt each other—it's practically a swan song from a storybook!"
"I didn't! I'm not! Help!"
Ye Aotian looked at his wooden arm and nearly went mad, tears streaming down his face.
The more he denied it, the faster the lignification spread—the rules determined that he was lying to cover up the truth.
Xiao Wufeng finally moved, taking three steps back—this was the first time he had retreated since entering the Ten Thousand Swords Tomb.
He looked at the weeping Ye Aotian, then at Yu Liang who had a "I understand you" look on his face, his eyes flashing with a fierce light, which eventually turned into confusion.
"The divination results are disordered, the causal chain is broken, and it defies common sense..."
Xiao Wufeng murmured softly, his fingers trembling slightly as he focused on intense mental calculations.
A few breaths later, his gaze towards Ye Aotian changed. It was no longer that of someone looking at a consumable, but rather a strange, scrutinizing, and disdainful look.
"Junior Brother Ye," Xiao Wufeng said coldly, "the balance of Yin and Yang is the orthodox way of Heaven, which is not conducive to the continuation of the sect's bloodline. However, in order to maintain the stability of the formation, I can reluctantly cooperate with your inner demon healing."
He paused and added, "Please keep a distance of at least three zhang (approximately 10 meters), and do not approach."
Ye Aotian spat out a mouthful of blood three zhang high, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted from anger.
Yu Liang rubbed his thigh, which had regained sensation, and grinned as he looked at his missing little finger.
This finger was well worth the money.
But it's not over yet.
From the mist ahead, the faint sound of synchronized footsteps could be heard, accompanied by the grating sound of metal scraping against metal.
Was that the guardian of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Swords? Or... something even more terrifying that was attracted by that shocking revelation?