Chapter 17: Saving Him, Ruining Him
Fang Jiuhe took a sip of tea, then another, his expression was so solemn, one might think he was about to preside over Ming Chen's funeral rites. After silently finishing the bamboo tube of tea, he finally spoke, "What exactly happened with your love tribulation?"
"He cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness."
Upon hearing the words "Path of ruthlessness," coupled with the love tribulation, Fang Jiuhe roughly understood: "He killed you to prove his Dao?"
"Yes."
Fang Jiuhe's brows furrowed even more, he muttered a curse under his breath before looking up, saying, "You realize how serious this is, right?"
"No." Ming Chen said frankly, "That's why I'm asking you. You've gotten into plenty of troubles yourself , so you are quite experienced in these matters."
"..."
"It's alright, take your time." He had recovered from the chaos of his avatar's death and was quite energetic, even having the energy to comfort him. "Would you like some more bamboo tube tea?"
Fang Jiuhe wanted to roll his eyes.
The two had known each other for a thousand years. Ming Chen had always been this calm and gentle, while Fang Jiuhe was the complete opposite—flamboyant, impulsive, and impatient, often driving Ming Chen, who seemed oblivious to impatience, to exasperation.
Nowadays, apart from his sharp tongue and fondness for teasing Shan Yin, he could be described as having a good temper, a trait forged by three hundred years of illness.
Only when facing Ming Chen does Fang Jiuhe reveal a bit of his former temper.
"Yes, yes, you're not worried, but I am." He tapped the table. "The most troublesome thing in the Heavenly Sea Realm is karma. Now your tribulation of love is on him, and yet he attained his Dao and ascended to immortality because of your descent to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation. His Dao and your tribulation are both of great importance, and the entanglement of karma is so chaotic that it cannot be severed. Just watch, in less than three days, the Heavenly Dao will cause trouble for you two."
"I know that." Ming Chen poured himself a cup of tea. "I want to ask you, what kind of trouble will the Heavenly Dao cause for him?"
"For him..." Fang Jiuhe paused, finally unable to resist taking another bamboo tube of tea, opening it and taking a couple of sips to calm down. "You only ask about him, not about yourself?"
"I should be fine on my end. At most, the tribulation of love tied to him is a bit troublesome to deal with, but there's no need to ask you." Ming Chen took a sip of tea, the bitter tea sliding down his throat, inexplicably reminding him of the cave amidst the thunder and lightning, and Rong Zhao's reddened eyes. "But Rong Zhao... has Shan Yin mentioned Rong Zhao to you?"
“Yes, he has.” Fang Jiuhe smiled. “He descended to the mortal realm to find you, and when he discovered that Rong Zhao had taken you as a Dao companion, he was so frightened he nearly burst into tears. Later, he even puzzled over it with me, wondering how you were still alive after two years.”
“…” Ming Chen couldn’t help but chuckle. “Shan Yin really is…”
“Don’t change the subject. Let’s not talk about him, let’s talk about you.” Fang Jiuhe looked Ming Chen up and down. “Rong Zhao killed you to prove his Dao, clearly using you. Yet here you are, still worrying about him?”
“It’s not necessarily a worry,” Ming Chen’s smile faded. “Maybe I just want to know what his fate will be.”
Fang Jiuhe scoffed. “You think I don't know you?”
“…” Ming Chen looked away.
Fang Jiuhe was utterly exasperated: "Immortal Ming Chen, isn't it bad enough that your tribulation of love is tied to someone on the path of ruthlessness? Instead of trying to remove it, you're clinging to it? He's already attained the Dao of ruthlessness; he might have already forgotten about you."
"That's possible," Ming Chen didn't deny it, after all, when Rong Zhao killed him, he couldn't see any lingering affection. "Anyway, tell me first, what kind of trouble will he encounter?"
Fang Jiuhe took a deep breath, and after a moment, he surrendered: "Let me think... After he attains the Dao, he'll be considered an Immortal Lord in the Heavenly Dao's eyes, but he'll still be bound by your tribulation of love. Immortal Lords can't interfere with the key aspects of other people's tribulations, such as the 'love' in a tribulation of love, or the 'life' or 'death' in a tribulation of life and death; that's the rule. He broke the rule, and with such heavy karma on his body, the Heavenly Dao won't show mercy."
"For instance? Ending up like you?"
Fang Jiuhe choked slightly, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean by ending up like me? Do you think he'll even survive? When I accidentally broke the rules back then, I was already a High Immortal who had undergone nine tribulations."
Ming Chen frowned slightly.
"I guess his first hundred-year tribulation will come early." Fang Jiuhe liked to eat sweets when pondering things, so he pulled out a packet of sugar from his Qiankun sleeve and added it all to his bamboo tube tea. "Moreover, the Heavenly Dao will send him for a life-and-death tribulation."
The life-and-death tribulation was a trial where the risk of death is extremely high, especially for a newly ascended immortal lord; it's almost a one-way trip.
The so-called life-and-death tribulation is a journey to a filthy place to slay evil thoughts.
All the evil thoughts that arise in the world are imprisoned there. Within the body of these evil thoughts, a black round stone condenses. The stronger the evil thought, the purer and blacker the resulting stone.
It is precisely these stones that the Heavenly Dao weeks.
And as the immortal lord's rank increases, the required round stone becomes purer in color, making the life-and-death tribulation even more difficult to overcome.
In addition, whether they are Immortal Lords or High Immortals, they must submit a certain number of round stones every thirty years. Therefore, these round stones function like copper coins used in the mortal world, they can be used as currency for trade.
The evil thoughts of the filthy land are endless, and the Heavenly Dao can only use this method to drive the Immortal Lords to suppress the evil thoughts of the filthy land. Otherwise, once the seal of the filthy land can no longer withstand it, the mortal world will face annihilation.
Ming Chen naturally knew the formidable nature of the tribulation of life and death.
He pondered for a moment and said, "If I interfere with his tribulation of life and death, will the Heavenly Dao strike me down along with him?"
"Yes." Fang Jiuhe took a sip of the cloyingly sweet tea in his hand and said coldly, "If you have a death wish, go ahead and try, but don't expect me to collect your corpse."
Although his friend was gentle in nature, sometimes his actions were no less crazy than his own, otherwise the two of them would not have gotten together back then.
He really meant it when he said he would interfere with other people's tribulations.
-
At that time, Fang Jiuhe had only been an immortal for less than a hundred years.
He had attained the Dao through slaughter, a path which was intolerable to the Heavenly Dao, and he was always subjected to the tribulation of life and death.
Fang Jiuhe was skilled and resilient. He had lost an arm and an eye in the filthy land, his body covered in wounds. Yet, he gritted his teeth and crawled to the vicinity of the exit, his knees and palms bleeding from the rough stones.
Although his life-or-death tribulation was over, the blessings of Heavenly Dao only came within the Heavenly Sea Realm; healing was out of the question. If he continued to lie there, the evil thoughts from afar would soon be drawn to him and tear him to pieces.
Fang Jiuhe moved forward another inch.
He didn't want to die.
Behind him was a trail of dark red blood, winding its way back.
Suddenly, a corner of a snow-white garment fluttered gently before his eyes.
Pure and clean, it stood out starkly against the dark, filthy land. Before he could even look up, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him up.
"Has your tribulation passed?" the person asked gently. "May I take you away now?"
Fang Jiuhe saw a pair of bright, star-like eyes.
He was dazed for a moment, it took a long while for him to remember who it was.
He was a newly ascended immortal lord he'd met at Heavenly Gate last month. He'd taken a liking to him and chatted for a while. They'd met a few more times since, so they were considered acquaintances.
… But not close enough for him to enter the filthy land to rescue someone.
“Ming…Chen?” Fang Jiuhe rummaged through the corners of his memory for the young immortal lord's name, finding his appearance utterly baffling. He asked in a low voice, “Do you know what kind of place this is? You've only just ascended, how dare you just come here to rescue someone?”
“I rescued you because I wanted to.” Ming Chen helped him walk out, calmly saying, “I took a liking to you.”
Fang Jiuhe: “…”
Who would come to a place like this to rescue someone just because they took a liking to them?
"Or would you prefer to stay here?” Ming Chen stopped and politely inquired, “In that case, I'll put you back, we can just pretend I came here for a casual stroll.”
…Wait, who goes for a casual stroll in a filthy, tainted land for no reason? Fang Jiuhe felt this guy was a bit off, clearly no ordinary person, and cautiously remained silent.
To his shock, Ming Chen actually began dragging him back a few steps, intending to dump him back to where he was. Startled, Feng Jiuhe quickly spoke up, wisely saying, "I don't want to stay. Please save me, fellow Immortal."
"Alright."
So Ming Chen took him out of there.
From then on, whenever each life-or-death tribulation struck, Ming Chen would personally go to the filthy land to retrieve his dear friend, who would be lying there, battered and half dead, looking for all the world like a dying dog, and bring him back to his immortal mansion.
However, three hundred years ago, a small accident occurred.
Ming Chen found two dying dogs.
-
Let's leave that aside for now.
Fang Jiuhe was somewhat irritated.
He proceeded to add another packet of sugar to his bamboo tube tea.
Ming Chen said, "If you add any more, it'll become sugar water."
"Then I'll offer it at your grave and let you drink it every day," Fang Jiuhe said irritably. After a moment, he asked again, unwilling to give up, "Are you really going to interfere with his life-or-death tribulation? No offense, but..."
"No," Ming Chen slowly sipped his bitter tea in his hand as a plan took shape in his mind. "Even if I were to interfere, I wouldn't be foolish enough to directly disrupt his tribulation."
"Then what do you plan to do?"
Ming Chen remained silent for a moment, then drank the bitter tea in one gulp, put down the cup, and said calmly, "Since the rule of Heaven is that 'Immortal Lords' cannot interfere with the tribulations of others, then I will strip him of his immortal essence, turning him into a crippled immortal; since karmic entanglements are related to the path of enlightenment, then I will destroy his Dao heart, extinguishing all karma completely."
Fang Jiuhe: "...?"
Fang Jiuhe finally spoke after a long while: "Tell me, are you trying to save him, or ruin him?"
"Both." Ming Chen stood up, lowered his eyes, and dusted off his sleeves. "He saved me, killed me, and deceived me. Taking my sincere feelings to forge his own path to enlightenment; in return, I save him, ruin him, and make sure he would never forget me for the rest of his life."
