Yang Che found it incredibly hard to believe that Wu Qingxuan possessed such astonishing cultivation.
At the same time, he gained a deeper understanding of the explanation of 'Good and Evil' he had seen in one of the ancient texts in the Wulong Valley library.
In the Cultivation World, whether it was a prestigious righteous sect or an evil Demonic Path, what they pursued was Heaven-Defying actions, where the strong preyed on the weak.
The so-called 'righteous path' merely emphasized a gradual and natural progression in Cultivation Technique.
The 'Demonic Path,' on the other hand, took a radical approach, striving for rapid advancement in magical power, blindly pursuing powerful Cultivation Techniques, cultivating as they pleased, resorting to all means, and having a tendency to take shortcuts.
Because the Demonic Path blindly pursued speed and strength, as their Cultivation Technique advanced, their behavior would gradually become extreme, even losing their human nature, thereby becoming extremely bloodthirsty and cruel.
At this moment, Wu Qingxuan, before his eyes, had already 'entered the Demonic Path.'
In Yang Che's opinion, Wu Qingxuan must have paid an unimaginable price to achieve such powerful 'cultivation' in a short period.
The Taiyan Pagoda was right before them.
Numerous thick chains, like coiling Dragons, extended from the rocky ground all around, firmly binding the pagoda.
At the entrance to the pagoda, several Great Masters chanted mysterious scriptures in unison, and golden characters floated out from before them, enveloping Wu Qingxuan and Yang Che.
Wu Qingxuan snorted coldly, waving her jade hand, and countless demonic mists surged out, heading straight for these golden runes.
Gold and black colors intertwined and clashed in mid-air, creating a powerful momentum.
These Great Masters soon spat out blood and fell to the ground, unable to rise.
"Demonic obstruction, do not be so arrogant."
The old monk behind them finally caught up; he threw out a staff, which rapidly grew against the wind, becoming like a pillar supporting the sky, rumbling with ancient thunder as it fiercely smashed towards Wu Qingxuan.
Wu Qingxuan's hair was disheveled, and she let out a sharp shriek; the demonic mist around her transformed into countless evil ghosts and skeletons, forming a blood cloud that directly collided with the sky-supporting staff.
With a 'boom,' the heavens and earth changed color.
The staff was knocked down.
The old monk retreated several hundred feet, an expression of disbelief appearing in his eyes.
Not far away, several Buddhist monks radiating golden light had already arrived.
Each of them looked solemn, uttering true words, like divine Buddhas descended to the world.
The true words formed terrifying thunderous Buddhist texts, transforming into a giant golden bell in mid-air, directly covering Wu Qingxuan and Yang Che.
Wu Qingxuan's face slightly changed; she swiftly waved her jade hand, and the countless evil ghosts and skeletons formed by the demonic mist fiercely crashed into the giant bell.
With a 'hum,' the golden bell emitted a thunderous roar, deafeningly loud.
Wu Qingxuan was injured by the bell's sound; after spitting out a mouthful of blood, she pulled Yang Che and forcibly broke through the pagoda door, rushing into the Taiyan Pagoda.
Inside the pagoda, the temperature was scorching.
Upon entering the pagoda, Yang Che immediately felt as if he had entered an Alchemy furnace, the heat unbearable.
Wu Qingxuan paused for a moment, but sensing more and more Great Masters gathering outside, she could only continue pressing forward.
This pagoda was very strange; there was no upward path, only a downward one.
The two quickly reached the bottom of the pagoda.
It grew hotter and hotter, Yang Che was drenched in sweat, and he increasingly felt the terror of this high temperature.
He had a very absurd and strange feeling, always thinking that Wu Qingxuan seemed to have deliberately led him to this place.
The bottom of the pagoda was incredibly spacious, with a bronze cauldron several feet high in the center.
The cauldron was red-hot, emitting white smoke, obviously scorching hot.
At this moment, Wu Qingxuan finally withdrew the black mist; after Yang Che stood firm, he noticed her face was pale, with a trace of crimson blood at the corner of her mouth.
"Yang Che, how did you figure out it was me?"
A bitter smile appeared on Wu Qingxuan's tired face.
Yang Che stared at Wu Qingxuan, an incomparably complex emotion surging within him.
Is obsession really so terrifying? Can it completely change a person?
"You are no longer you."
Yang Che said faintly, "From the Black Wu Pond, after you were possessed by that old Demonic Path woman, even though I destroyed her remaining Primordial Spirit, I vaguely discovered that you seemed to be no longer yourself."
Wu Qingxuan's face showed a hint of shock upon hearing this, but it quickly turned bitter.
At this point, Yang Che continued, "In the prison on Chaoyin Peak, you told me a lot. You inadvertently said many terms I had never heard of. For example, you said 'Great Master Ming Pu' was a great Buddhist cultivator, a 'Primary Buddhist' comparable to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, especially that sentence where you said the people of Taiyan Temple claimed 'True Word Art' could never be wrong, so they concluded you were the one who killed Great Master Ming Pu."
Wu Qingxuan's face changed when she heard this, and she also seemed to realize something.
"I later secretly asked that old monk; he said no one had ever mentioned 'True Word Art' to you, and he could guarantee that. Even if I mentioned True Word Art after seeing you, I never said anything like 'True Word Art can never be wrong.'"
Wu Qingxuan gazed steadily at Yang Che, as if she had never truly understood him, gaining a new understanding of him.
"Later, I found Miaocui again. I probed her and confirmed that she had never been possessed. From her incoherent words, I could also infer that she must have seen a terrifying scene like a fierce ghost at the time, and just now you used a 'Demonic Technique' that transformed into a fierce ghost..."
Yang Che did not continue speaking, because he noticed that Wu Qingxuan's condition seemed very poor.
Wu Qingxuan's expression returned to a blank state, and she sneered, "That's right, I deliberately used a Demonic Technique to confuse Miaocui's mind, thereby scaring her. Your judgment is basically correct; Great Master Ming Pu was indeed killed by me."
After a brief pause, she continued, "Are you disappointed? Just as you said, I am no longer myself."
"Miss Wu, I don't understand. Since you could hide your Demonic Technique and prevent others from seeing it, why did you still kill Great Master Ming Pu? And after killing Great Master Ming Pu, why didn't you kill Miaocui?"
A hint of self-mockery appeared at the corner of Wu Qingxuan's mouth, and she said faintly, "Yang Che, you are very right. Do you know? From the moment I was possessed by that old woman from the Heavenly Ghost Sect, I shared memories with her. I learned too much, especially the secret of the 'Extreme Yin Body.' At first, I was very afraid, but my obsession with the Immortal Path allowed me to overcome this fear, and it was this obsession that led me completely down this path of no return."
Wu Qingxuan continued with a bitter smile, "The Heavenly Ghost Sect has a secret technique that sacrifices a large amount of Lifespan, using the 'Extreme Yin Body' as a special Immortal Root, thereby directly devouring other people's Primordial Spirits to gain powerful ghost Dao power."
"But doing so resulted in a huge backlash for me. Not only is my Lifespan almost depleted, but every so often I also have to kill a cultivator and devour their Primordial Spirit to sustain myself."
"Great Master Ming Pu was a good person; I never wanted to kill him, but precisely on that day during the scripture listening, I suffered a backlash, which aroused Great Master Ming Pu's suspicion. I had no choice but to strike him down ruthlessly."
"As for Miaocui, she is also a pitiful person, even more pitiful than me. I have had no friends, no confidants since I was little, and Miaocui, she is the only one I, Wu Qingxuan, consider a true confidante."
After Wu Qingxuan finished speaking, her expression became listless, and her eyes gradually showed emptiness.
Yang Che was silent for a long time.
"Miss Wu, is it worth it? Decades of Lifespan, only exchanged for such a short journey of cultivation, do you really think it's worth it?"
Yang Che recalled Wu Qingxuan's experiences: poisoning and disfigurement, her father's death, betrayal, being possessed by the old Demonic Path woman... he felt a great sense of melancholy.
Wu Qingxuan suddenly laughed.
And she laughed so brightly.
For a moment, Yang Che even forgot that they were as if in a furnace, their clothes long since soaked through again and again.
"I think... it's worth it."
After Wu Qingxuan said this, she felt as if a great burden had been lifted, never having smiled so happily before.
After laughing, she grabbed Yang Che's arm, walked to the bronze cauldron, and then suddenly stomped her foot fiercely.
With a rumbling sound, the ground beneath her feet collapsed, and then a mass of pale white flames suddenly shot out from within, which Wu Qingxuan abruptly grabbed.