Chapter 1125: If You Were Chu Su
The starlight was exceptionally bright tonight. After being shattered by the sword intent, it scattered in all directions, making the grassland even brighter, as if day had arrived, illuminating everything clearly.
The blood was black. As it fell on the grass, it made a hissing sound, giving rise to a pungent mist. The green grass turned charred black at a visible rate.
Wailing howls and fierce winds were unceasing, and the terrifying aura disturbed heaven and earth.
Countless clods of earth shot up toward the sky like an inverted waterfall, only to be crushed down by the immensely grim sword intent.
No one knew how much time had passed before it finally fell silent.
Chu Su stood still with his head lowered.
He was born short and hunchbacked. At this moment, with his head down, he looked even more pitiful and wretched.
His black robe was even more tattered, covered in bloodstains and dust, especially with two large tears in the front.
Those were wounds left by the sword, piercing directly through the scales and black fur covering his body, cutting through his ribs, with blood ceaselessly flowing out.
His gray fleshy wings flapped feebly a couple of times, spattering several streams of black blood. The old wounds had directly torn open.
His severed shoulder was stuck with some grass stems, and his false arm had already been chopped into fragments by the sword qi.
Centered on where he stood, the grassland within about twenty zhang in radius was covered in blood, and the blood was full of poison.
The demonic beasts had been affected, but not many died. The vast majority of demonic beasts, led by the Earth Monkey, had already fled far away.
Starlight shone on the night sky, but no sword appeared. Those swords had already been sheathed.
The scabbards were tied to the belt of the robe.
Chen Changsheng said nothing, just looked at him.
"It's all fake."
Chu Su raised his head and said in a hoarse voice, "Invincibility is fake, inheritance is fake, defying heaven to attain the Dao is fake, even depending on each other for survival is fake. I just wanted to live, but my existence has no meaning, so even living is fake. I was born merely as a tool for killing."
As he spoke, he did not look at the Earth Monkey, nor did he look south.
The Longevity Sect was in the south.
Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment, then said, "I was also born as a tool, but I think, since we exist, there must naturally be meaning to it."
In a sense, his background and origins were very similar to Chu Su's.
Chu Su shook his head and said, "That's because you met people who could give meaning to your existence."
Chen Changsheng thought it over and said, "You're right."
Chu Su said, "So you are luckier than me, and happier than me."
Chen Changsheng said, "Yes, but that cannot be an excuse."
An excuse for what? Naturally, an excuse for doing evil.
A tragic life experience can be spiritual wealth, but it cannot be a debt that is casually transferred to others' heads.
No matter how pitiable one's childhood experiences are, if you grow up to become a murderous maniac, you still have to bear the responsibility.
In recent years, Chu Su had not committed any great evils on the grassland, but the blood on his hands in the past was considerable.
Chu Su understood his meaning. Knowing that he could not escape this calamity, he laughed softly.
"If you were me, would you now become Chu Su or Chen Changsheng?"
This was his last sentence left in this world.
His body split into more than a dozen pieces, scattering on the ground like collapsing building blocks.
Black blood splattered everywhere, and a foul, cold aura spread in all directions.
Xu Yourong reached out and waved a flame.
The flame was tinged with a holy gold, burning continuously on the surface, even seeping through the cracks into the ground.
When the black blood met the flame, it turned into green smoke, constantly making a hissing sound.
The foul, cold aura was gradually purified. Vaguely, it seemed as if resentful souls were wailing within, extremely venomous and utterly terrified.
Watching the traces growing fewer in the golden flame, Chen Changsheng said, "Or perhaps this is liberation for him."
"Still unyielding even at death, how can the soul find peace?"
Xu Yourong raised her right hand and aimed it at him.
There was a very small wound on his neck, and embedded in the wound were a few tiny black crystals.
Given his level of cultivation and strength, and with Xu Yourong watching by his side, to completely kill a monster like Chu Su still required paying some price, or taking a risk.
A pale green light, filled with a sense of holiness, emerged from Xu Yourong's palm and landed on Chen Changsheng's neck.
Those few black crystals, like snowflakes meeting the scorching sun, instantly melted away, while the wound also healed at a visible rate.
Xu Yourong said, "In principle, you are not afraid of the erosion of the Yellow Springs technique, but it's still better to be careful."
Chen Changsheng said, "Thank you."
Xu Yourong said, "May the holy light be with you."
Chen Changsheng said seriously, "Then I must always stay by your side."
This was a love confession. Although he was not good at sweet talk, his seriousness made it seem somewhat clumsy, but even more touching.
Xu Yourong, however, showed no reaction, appearing somewhat indifferent.
Chen Changsheng didn't understand why. When he wanted to ask, he was interrupted.
The Earth Monkey had somehow come before him, kneeling on the ground and incessantly kissing the earth at his feet, appearing both reverent and fervent.
Chen Changsheng suddenly realized a truth.
Although the Earth Monkey was the most famously cunning, treacherous, and fearsome demonic beast, figuring out what it was thinking was much simpler than figuring out what a girl was thinking.
"I stopped you from continuing to strike just now, not because I didn't trust you, nor because I had any objection to you."
Chen Changsheng glanced at Xu Yourong and said, "Nor was it out of sympathy for him. I just felt it was unnecessary."
Back then, he hadn't particularly liked Hu Sanshi'er's arrangement.
Chu Su indeed deserved to die, but why must he die by betrayal?
He said this to the Earth Monkey, but in fact, he was also explaining to Xu Yourong.
He wasn't sure if Xu Yourong's calmness (indifference) at this moment was related to this matter.
The fire on the ground gradually died out, but the fire in the earth still burned. The flames seeped out through the cracks, looking like solidified lightning, with a breathtaking beauty.
Xu Yourong's gaze crossed the ground fire and landed in the distance. She asked, "Are you sure he will come this way?"
Chen Changsheng said, "That year, before he left Yonglan Pass, he met with Chen Chou. The agreed mark was the same as this time."
As the Songshan Military Prefecture's divine general, forcibly elevated by the State Religion, the meaning of that person meeting Chen Chou was naturally very clear.
Xu Yourong said, "That person has such a terrible temper. Why does he trust you so much?"
Chen Changsheng said, "That year, when you were in seclusion, I met with him."
Xu Yourong knew about this matter, but she hadn't expected it to have such a great impact on that person.
A slight night breeze stirred, and a white crane landed beside her.
She leaned against the crane's back, closing her eyes to rest.
A few days ago, she had left the Holy Maiden Peak after receiving news. Tonight, she had rushed over after receiving a divine sense transmission from the Golden-Winged Roc, and she was already very tired.
Chen Changsheng had returned from a farther place and was even more exhausted than she was, but he couldn't sleep.
He looked at the desolate rocky mountain in the distance, waiting in silence.
Beyond that desolate rocky mountain lay the world of the demon race.
Who would return from there tonight?
……
……
(Chu Su officially bids farewell to everyone. When I first conceived such a character, I wanted to write a counterpart to Chen Changsheng, not the kind like Ning Que or Long Qing, but more to highlight pure, unprovoked evil. But I must admit, it wasn't written very well. The biggest reason is insufficient length, making it impossible to delve deeper. I vaguely recall that in *Hero's Ambition*, there was a purely evil character written very well, but that required a lot of text. If I did that, this story would become unbalanced, so it's indeed a dilemma. In the next book, I want to design a plot that is more convenient to develop, to try this aspect. Please don't get your hopes up, serious face.)