klisemfg Chapter 237 Past Memories
Chapter 237 Past Memories
"You, you...you really are...Senior Tao Li?"
"Yes."
This was the first time he had answered a question from a descendant of the Yan family, without the slightest hesitation.
"Tao Li, born with a spiritual embryo, a ten-tailed celestial fox, was extremely intelligent and precocious. Before the age of one hundred, he had cultivated to a level that others could hardly reach in a lifetime. His clan devoted all its efforts to nurturing him, and he even ascended to heaven on his three-hundredth birthday. His talent was unprecedented and unparalleled..."
Yan Zhong dared not continue. The legendary god, the immortal venerable, the pride of the Yan clan, was completely different from the lowly person before him. They could not possibly be associated with each other.
But despite such a drastically different appearance, someone told him that this was actually the same person!
The ten-tailed celestial fox, an innate spiritual embryo, possesses extraordinary talent. Tao Li, or rather Yan Tao Li, has never ascended to immortality.
Everything is real, except for the ascension!
why?
Why deceive future generations? How could the matter of ascension be faked?
That's what the old geezer told him: this is an enemy, a huge enemy, and he can never be let go.
Did those who came before us, before the immortals, also tell the next generation this?
But his name is Tao Li, Yan Tao Li!
Why is it?
Liu Jun sat cross-legged on the ground, and seeing Yan Chong's heavily pressured appearance, he became even less anxious.
“I’d love to hear this story. No rush, tell me slowly.”
After saying that, Liu Jun took a pebble and suddenly hit Tao Li's cheek acupoint, forcing him to open his mouth passively. He then flicked a pill into his throat, giving him no chance to react.
"Now you can speak smoothly."
Yan Zhong remained silent, and Yan Qifeng took the opportunity to sit down next to Liu Jun. Tao Li also remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking.
“I… don’t like telling stories, and this story isn’t long either.”
"It's been too long, I can't remember anymore. Yan Shang is a bad person, a very, very bad person. I don't know why I offended him. That day was my 300th birthday. He said he would take me to see the birthday surprise he had prepared for me."
“I agreed, but on that day, the lightning tribulation came suddenly. I thought it was mine, and others thought so too. It turns out that the lightning tribulation was actually his.”
"He's much older than me, and his talent is renowned. He's reached the same level of cultivation that I have. He asked me to be his protector, and I agreed. Later..."
"Later, it felt like I was struck by lightning and fainted. Then, I came here, where I was tied up and bled, until today."
Tao Li's eyes went from numb to gradually becoming filled with intense emotions, then hatred, and finally, love and hate vanished, leaving nothing but endless numbness.
"I don't know how much time passed. Besides the Yan family members, a petty thief also came here. He hit me, cursed me, and stepped on me, so I gave him a small gift."
Tao Li chuckled softly, a rare occurrence for her: "Seeing that you've all come, it must be that the little gifts I gave you worked."
"How long has this poison been forming in your body?"
"I don't know, maybe... ten or eight years? Anyway, I've never seen the sun."
Tao Li suddenly adopted an indifferent attitude, a stark contrast to her demeanor when she couldn't speak or when she had just started speaking.
"Do you still remember what that little thief looked like?"
"Oh, that's been so long, I forgot."
"You've forgotten? You remember things from the past so clearly, but how come you've forgotten things that happened recently?"
If he weren't still using the name Tao Li and wasn't covered in demonic poison, Yan Zhong would have already picked him up and given him a beating for his arrogant tone.
Liu Jun, who had been silent for a long time, moved at the opportune moment.
"Forgot? No problem. I have plenty of ways to make you remember. It's not good to speak too smoothly. The effects of the pill are about to wear off. You can understand me if I speak one word at a time."
Tao Li looked at Liu Jun, who was sitting cross-legged, and sized him up a few times.
"Time flies so fast. The younger generation these days is getting less and less able to count."
"Heh~"
"Ten thousand years ago, no matter how high your cultivation level was, you couldn't leap over the sky. Moreover, now you are useless except for this body full of demonic poison. The consequences of opposing me are not good."
Liu Jun slowly gathered flames in his hand, but showed no intention of getting up.
Tao Li stared at the flame in surprise: "Nine Nether Glazed Fire?"
"Guessed it right, but unfortunately there is no reward."
Tao Li chuckled, but instead became even more at ease.
"Are you going to burn me alive? Well, then I really have to thank you."
"You want to die?"
Tao Li said with remarkable calmness, "Isn't death better than this?"
"Well, that makes sense."
After putting out the fire, Liu Jun stood up and took a step closer to examine the demonic poison on his body with great interest.
"Why don't you tell me where the 'cumulonimbus snow dust' mixed into this demonic poison came from? Then I might consider letting you go, how about that?"
"Cumulus clouds and snowflakes, what are those?"
Yan Zhong was the one who asked the question, but Tao Li's expression changed drastically upon hearing the name, and his eyes were fixed on Liu Jun.
"How...did you know that?"
Liu Jun smiled slightly: "It seems you knew. Tell me, how did you summon it to yourself?"
"Who are you exactly?"
"Liu Jun is a member of the Xuanshan Sect."
Tao Li was silent for a moment: "Xuanshan Sect? Never heard of it. How would you, a junior, know about such a thing?"
"Why don't you tell me how you summoned it?"
Liu Jun did not intend to answer him.
Tao Li fell silent again, and it seemed he didn't want to answer the question.
"Since you won't tell me, I won't mind asking myself."
Liu Jun began by forming hand seals: "Purify the Spirit Platform, Cleanse the Sea of Life, Brighten the Soul!"
Once the Soul-Enlightening Technique was activated, all the past events had nowhere to hide. However, since he was a person from ten thousand years ago, even though he no longer had any cultivation, it was still difficult for him to see into the past. Liu Jun then applied several layers of suppression to him before he was finally able to see everything.
As he said, apart from those three hundred years, he had been imprisoned here for the rest of his life, and he was not lying.
Over the long years, Tao Li went from desperately wanting to leave to gradually becoming numb and indifferent, even starting to study random things to pass the time.
The ten-tailed celestial fox was born extraordinary, with extremely high comprehension and a quick understanding of many things. However, the thick crystal mine here blocked out most of the outside world.
As his blood seeped into the crystal ore, and further underground, he suddenly "communicated" with something interesting.
This "thing" is very special; it looks like a wisp of air, or like a slimy substance that grows in the dark.
The moment Tao Li made contact with it, it burrowed onto her body, making Tao Li aware of its presence.
It turns out that it is a kind of thing called "cumulus snow flakes". It's not accurate to call it a thing, because it has no physical form, but it can be seen by people.
It was born in a place I'd never heard of before, a place that seemed to float in the sky.
To be precise, it doesn't belong here; it was brought here, just as it told Tao Li that, given his status, he shouldn't be here either.
It has no attributes and can merge with anything to become what the subject desires.
Tao Li wanted to protect herself and become stronger so she could leave this place, so it turned into a demonic poison, a kind of incurable demonic poison that would slowly kill anyone who touched it except the person who touched it.
Unfortunately, the demonic poison couldn't melt the golden rope; it was just demonic poison.
But why hasn't the little demon who first encountered this demonic poison died yet, and has even managed to replicate the same demonic poison?
Liu Jun couldn't get any more answers from Tao Li. He was then subjected to the Soul-Brightening Technique, and Tao Li's already frail body was now like a dead person, with even his breathing becoming intermittent.
"Immortal Qingjun, how is he?"
Liu Jun stared silently at the bound man in front of him for a long time before turning to look at Yan Zhong.
"The demonic poison in his body has become one with him and cannot be removed unless you kill him as well. As for the demon causing trouble outside, why don't you ask the people who did it back then?"
Yan Zhong looked at Tao Li: "Then he..."
"This is a feud between your Yan family, and I will not interfere."
Yan Zhong remained silent, while Yan Qifeng, standing to the side, remained completely oblivious, like an outsider.
"Qingjun, are you leaving already? Won't you go and visit Ligu Palace?"
Seeing Yan Qifeng's desperate attempt to persuade him to stay, Liu Jun opened his mouth, paused, and finally spoke:
"Our goals are aligned, so there's no harm in staying a little longer."
Yan Qifeng's eyes lit up instantly, and a smile appeared on his face: "Qingjun, does that mean you've agreed?"