dmims Chapter 172 doesn't tell a story about sesame cakes, but it does tell a story about grilled fis
Chapter 172 doesn't tell a story about sesame cakes, but it does tell a story about grilled fis
Chapter 172 doesn't tell a story about sesame cakes, but it does tell a story about grilled fish.
"Only part of it, but our country is trying hard to make it available for civilian use, but you guys are always resisting this process."
Kong Tianxu ate very elegantly, but very quickly, so much so that his voice was somewhat muffled.
Zhang Lexuan was amused by his somewhat direct way of eating, and the corners of her mouth curved slightly, but the smile quickly disappeared.
"Is it necessary to draw such a line? We are classmates now, and even more so, teammates." She tried to steer the conversation back on a more relaxed track.
Kong Tianxu pulled out a small thorn, held the tip with two fingers, and slowly broke it off, making a soft, crisp sound.
"That's what you might think, but I've been targeted more than once, and you should know that we have different positions. I'm not here simply as a student."
Zhang Lexuan was speechless for a moment. She couldn't deny the subtle attitude within Shrek Academy towards the exchange students from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, or the extreme incidents like Dai Huabin's.
"Senior Brother Jin isn't very good with words, but he's a kind person. I hope you won't take what happened during the day to heart. As for Dai Huabin, I apologize for what happened to him. However, I can at least guarantee that such a problem will not happen again at Shrek Academy. I will do my best, and I believe time will prove everything."
When she said the last sentence, a deeper meaning also appeared in Zhang Lexuan's eyes.
Kong Tianxu smiled slightly, "You can only represent yourself."
"And—ha, time, time is the least valuable thing. Many things can't be changed by time alone. Don't say I'll only stay at Shrek for three years at most, even if it's five, ten, or twenty years—"
Kong Tianxu crushed the thorns into powder and met Zhang Lexuan's slightly stunned gaze directly. "That's all meaningless."
"Perhaps you are right, some things really can't be forced."
A numb corner in her heart was slightly stung, and Zhang Lexuan sighed softly, but then her gaze sharpened again.
"But as long as you are sincere and continue to make efforts and communicate, you can always gradually resolve the barriers. Just like—"
She paused slightly, her gaze drifting as if she had traveled through time and space to see the figure in Shrek Academy who was gradually growing up.
"Like many things, as long as you persist long enough and put in enough effort, time will always give you an answer, or at least allow you to have a clear conscience."
Her words seemed to be addressed to Kong Tianxu, yet also to convince herself.
Kong Tianxu raised his eyes and looked at Zhang Lexuan. In the moonlight, her profile carried a gentle yet stubborn quality, as if she were immersed in the past.
"It sounds like some kind of self-comforting excuse. If you're sure something has no meaning for yourself or others, cutting your losses is the most important thing; otherwise, so-called persistence is just numbing yourself."
"That's because there are some things you haven't experienced. Once something becomes a habit, or even an instinct, it's not so easy to give up."
Zhang Lexuan's already fair face appeared even paler under the moonlight. Her slender hands gripped the grilled fish skewers tightly, and her smile seemed somewhat forced.
The moonlight was bright, but the sky was gray and hazy, and even the surrounding branches and leaves had changed color. Kong Tianxu seemed to have discovered something and became unusually aggressive: "When you realize that it is instinct, it is no longer instinct. Forgive me for being blunt, but to still indulge in it after understanding this is just a continuation of a mistake."
"What if this is measured in ten years?" Zhang Lexuan's lips trembled slightly, her words carrying obvious repression, her eyes shifting rapidly.
Kong Tianxu retorted without backing down, "I said, twenty years is the same, it's meaningless. A mistake doesn't become correct just because it lasts a long time."
"Clatter".
With a soft thud, unexpectedly, Zhang Lexuan threw the grilled fish in her hand onto the ground.
She suddenly raised her head, her gaze turning icy and sharp, all her previous gentleness vanished, and a chilling hostility pressed down on Kong Tianxu almost tangibly.
The peace and reminiscence she had just felt shattered instantly. Her face was frighteningly pale in the moonlight, and her chest rose and fell slightly with her rapid breathing.
"You have no idea what ten years means. It might have become a part of someone else's life." Zhang Lexuan's voice was very low, but it was trembling with suppressed emotion.
"You have absolutely no right to condescendingly judge other people's lives."
This outburst of control lasted only a moment before she abruptly turned around, walked to the edge of the camp, turned her back to Kong Tianxu, her shoulders slightly tense, and her hands tightly gripping her arms, as if she was trying her best to restrain something.
It was as if she would shatter under the moonlight if she didn't do this.
Oops, I accidentally danced in someone's minefield.
Kong Tianxu squinted at her back as he tore off the last bit of fish and chewed it slowly.
The night breeze swept through the woods, bringing a touch of coolness and slightly dispersing the intense emotions that lingered between the two.
Kong Tianxu picked up the grilled fish that had fallen to the ground, his gaze still fixed on Zhang Lexuan's tense back, but his tone was unexpectedly calm, no longer carrying the sharpness of before.
"These two grilled fish were a gift from a couple," he suddenly said, his voice unusually clear in the quiet night. "They run a grilled fish stall in the city; they're very skilled and their business is good. They have a daughter whom they cherish dearly."
Zhang Lexuan's back moved almost imperceptibly, but she didn't turn around, as if she was listening silently.
"Later, an epidemic struck, and the couple fell ill for a long time. Their meager savings couldn't afford a healing-type Soul Master, and after a while, they couldn't even afford medicine." Kong Tianxu's voice was calm. "How old was their daughter back then? Five or six? I can't remember. Since they didn't have money for medicine, she carried a basket on her back to the Tianling Mountains to collect herbs, and then went to the pharmacy to exchange them for some cheap medicinal materials."
Zhang Lexuan had her back to him, and the trembling in her shoulders seemed to have subsided slightly, as if she were listening silently.
"When she comes home at night, she stands on a small stool and cooks for herself and her parents at the stove. She keeps saying that she must cook it well so that her parents will have an appetite."
Kong Tianxu carefully cleaned the surface dirt and small pebbles off the grilled fish, while Zhang Lexuan turned slightly to the side, her eyes red.
"More than two months passed like this, and perhaps God took pity on them, because the elderly couple's illness actually gradually improved."
""
Zhang Lexuan's lips tightened involuntarily, and Kong Tianxu's voice trembled slightly: "But then the girl collapsed. She was even more ill than her parents."
"The elderly couple exhausted all their resources, begged everyone they could, and desperately tried to save her, but—it was too late."
In the darkness, his words were like a blunt knife, slowly cutting through the air.
"When the girl passed away, she was very quiet, so thin that she was just skin and bones. Her mother held her gradually cooling little body, without wailing or crying, but just repeatedly muttering one sentence."
Kong Tianxu mimicked that hollow and desperate tone, and said softly, "How could there be such a good child in the world? And how could he just happen to be my child?"
The story was over, and the night returned to silence, with only the rustling of the wind through the leaves and Zhang Lexuan's slightly trembling breath.
"And then?"
Yes, and then what happened? A story like this should have an ending.
Kong Tianxu stood up and walked behind her. His expression was clear and calm in the moonlight: "Later, not long ago, when I saw them, the stall was open as usual, and the grilled fish still tasted very good."
They may have been utterly defeated, trapped in the abyss of the past, struggling, just like you. But they survived, carrying that burden, but no longer merely living in sorrow.
So that's how it happened.
Tonight, Zhang Lexuan's sensitive side seemed to be fully unleashed; her own pain and the pain of others surged forth, almost overwhelming her.
Kong Tianxu handed the skewer of grilled fish to Zhang Lexuan. She seemed to sense Kong Tianxu's movement, her body stiffened slightly, and she finally turned around completely.
The agitation and hostility on her face had faded, replaced by a deep weariness and confusion, with lingering moisture in the corners of her eyes.
In just a short while, Kong Tianxu had carefully removed the dust from the grilled fish, leaving little damage to the skin except for the parts she had bitten. The fish still retained a faint aroma.
She looked at the grilled fish in Kong Tianxu's hand, and instinctively wanted to take it. Her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something.
However, in the instant she hesitated—
Kong Tianxu didn't even look at her. Between his palms holding the bamboo skewer, an indescribable deep purple light cut a crack in the impenetrable night.
The next moment, the skewer of grilled fish, along with the bamboo stick, vanished completely in his hand, as if it had never existed in this world.
The real moonlight enveloped his figure, not so bright, but even more breathtaking.
"Some people might feel it's a pity, pick it up, wipe it clean, and tell themselves it's still edible, as if that could salvage something."
Kong Tianxu's tone was calm and even, as if he had just done something perfectly natural, and his words were as cold and hard as if they had been forged from cast iron.
"But to me, it stopped mattering the moment it fell to the ground and got covered in dust."
The last thing the couple said to me was…
He raised his eyes and looked at Zhang Lexuan, who was standing there stunned. His gaze was clear and resolute, as if what he had just destroyed was not a skewer of grilled fish, but a symbol of the past.
"Keep moving forward, don't look back."
He opened his palm, and after losing the grilled fish, what flowed in his palm was a moonlight as smooth as water.
"The path to salvation lies not in the illusions of the past, but in every step we take toward the future."
Zhang Lexuan was completely stunned. She stared at Kong Tianxu's eyes, which seemed to see through everything yet were cold and cruel, and her mind went blank.
Throughout her life, she had met countless wise and powerful individuals, but they were often bound by their own attachments and indulgences. She had never imagined that there could be such a pure, unyielding, and rational being, almost to the point of being cold-blooded, yet which made them incredibly powerful and free.
The moonlight bathed Kong Tianxu, making him look like a god statue that had shed all weakness and shackles.
A mixture of shock, confusion, and even a faint envy began to grow in Zhang Lexuan's heart. Unconsciously, she raised her hand slightly, as if wanting to touch that seemingly cold moonlight, which might contain the source of her long-awaited belief.
The night breeze blew again, carrying a chill, and seemed to stir something that had been frozen for too long.
On the ground, Jin Yehuan, who had been listening for a long time, finally turned over. His eyes were wide open, his teeth were clenched, and he was full of entanglement and heartache.
"Of course, the choice is always in your own hands. I'm just stating my understanding. Seeing clearly and doing it are two different things."
As Kong Tianxu watched the gradually fading gray colors, he saw that the future senior sister of the inner courtyard, who had a dazed look on her face, was still roaming over his body with her hands. He had no choice but to retaliate by patting Zhang Lexuan's still slightly damp face.
"We've got a job, silly girl."
Before the words were even finished, the hazy grayness in the surrounding space vanished completely, and the real world gradually appeared. Almost instantly, a chilling mental fluctuation gripped everyone's hearts.
Zhang Lexuan suddenly realized that Kong Tianxu's sword of judgment was already in his hand, and Jin Yehuan immediately got up.
"A soul beast?" Apart from Kong Tianxu, almost all the inner court students knew that this senior brother of the inner court had a crush on Zhang Lexuan. After listening to the late-night talk for more than half an hour, he was holding back his anger.
Everyone snapped out of their daze, and Zhang Lexuan quickly wiped away her tears so as not to reveal her secret to everyone.
Kong Tianxu pointed his sword tip, and a wisp of gray smoke flashed through the air before being trapped in an even thicker darkness.
"Nightmare Demon".
Momo is a type of soul beast with weak actual combat power but exceptionally strong illusion abilities.
Whether it's a Soul Master or a Soul Beast, once it enters a Nightmare state under its illusionary attack, it can not only control their life and death, but also use the Nightmare to drive them into battle.
Ultimately, those who fall into the nightmare will surely die, and the terrified resentment after death is the best way for the demonic spirit to improve its cultivation.
This demon's illusion magic was extremely powerful; he hadn't even fully noticed it at first. Of course, this was also directly related to the fact that the demon's power was not being used on him.
In that case, not to mention the backlash caused by the difference in spiritual power and martial soul, even the Myriad Origins Domain would be enough to give this demon a hard time.
The one attacked by the illusion was Zhang Lexuan.
From the moment Zhang Lexuan began to show some unusual behavior, Kong Tianxu had a vague feeling that something was wrong. Tonight, her emotional fluctuations seemed a bit too blatant. Even if he intentionally or unintentionally ignited her sensitive spots, Zhang Lexuan's reaction shouldn't have been this strong.
The illusions created by the demons are all based on the experiences of the person under their spell. Once someone is truly trapped in one of them, unless they realize something is wrong or forcibly break free under external stimulation, they will eventually fall into a nightmare state.
After several attempts, Kong Tianxu finally confirmed that they had been attacked, and then used his destructive power to directly destroy the demon's innate ability.
It was Momo! A look of horror flashed across Zhang Lexuan's eyes. The events that had just happened were still vivid in her mind. She broke out in a cold sweat, but as more memories flooded back, her face flushed red instantly. It was only because of the darkness that it was not very noticeable.
She was secretly ashamed and annoyed at what she had done.
However, Kong Tianxu's words were deeply etched in her heart.