When the Ancient Castle Evil God began to burn, the entire villa heated up, and the sky above the villa turned a deep red.
Master Tingyi suddenly increased the speed of his chanting.
Old Madam Bai Feng said in a trembling voice, "It's not safe outside the door either. We need to move further away."
So the group of old men, escorting Jing Jiujiu, retreated another ten meters outside the villa. They surrounded the outer wall, took out what looked like peach wood talismans from their pockets, stuck them into the flower beds around the villa, and began chanting some incantations.
"Heaven and Earth, mysterious origin, the root of all energy."
"Recite it ten thousand times, and your body will be filled with light."
Jing Jiujiu couldn't make out what they were chanting or what its purpose was. If Bai Yuhuai had been standing nearby, he probably could have explained it to him.
Jing Jiujiu glanced around and suddenly had a flash of memory.
Outside the mine factory, when Bai Yuhuai had lifted him down from the tree branch and then took out something to deal with Yama - it was this peach wood talisman. He recognized it.
Peach wood wards off evil.
Were they trying to completely encircle the evil god inside, not letting even a wisp of impure energy escape?
"You've gone mad."
"If there's no more impure energy in this world to bear your resentment, hatred, and desire, aren't you afraid of the demons in your own heart?"
"Save me..."
The Ancient Castle Evil God's tone kept changing, alternating between screaming, cursing, and begging. Its voice echoed softly in everyone's ears.
This was a typical skill of evil gods.
They used this method to bewitch humans into becoming their new followers.
But soon it could no longer say anything more.
Even its screams were completely sealed off, leaving only unconscious gasps from its throat, like a human on the verge of death.
No one knew how much time had passed.
Everything around them fell into complete silence, and even the clouds above the villa seemed to have been burned through, leaving only a golden-red color, with no trace of blue or white remaining.
"After a thousand years, the Master has still killed his own impure energy with his own hands," Bai Feng sighed deeply.
Jing Jiujiu didn't remember what he looked like when he died, but he thought for a moment and figured it was probably similar to this?
A great fire rising up, seeming to dye even the sky.
He looked up and asked softly, "Is it over?"
The members of the Cloud Return Sect looked at him with even more reverence in their eyes and responded, "It should be finished."
Jing Jiujiu crossed the main gate again and saw that all the glass in the villa had shattered, scattered on the ground beneath the walls.
He lowered his gaze and walked into the living room.
Behind him, Master Tingyi let out a long sigh of relief: "The power within Mr. Bai is truly terrifying. If those little ghosts hadn't been taken out early by Master Zhou, I'm afraid they would have been instantly scattered."
Bai Feng followed behind, speaking in a low voice: "With the collapse of the divine court and the non-existence of gods, only the Master retains his divine power, which has even increased over time. If not restrained, it could potentially destroy heaven and earth."
Master Tingyi listened with a solemn expression.
He couldn't help but mutter, "I wonder how Mr. Bai managed to retain his divine power, not only maintaining it but increasing it..."
Xu Sanyu stood there, his lips trembling, and after a long moment, he only managed to squeeze out one sentence: "Bro Bai is... a bit too fierce."
He had already been stunned beyond belief today.
By this time, Jing Jiujiu had walked into the living room.
On the floor of the living room, only fragments of the god statues remained.
And there was... well, Bai Yuhuai standing there. His figure was tall and straight, unwavering.
Jing Jiujiu turned his head to look behind him.
Most of the other god statues that hadn't been refined yet were shattered, and even the Yama statue had developed small cracks. The fake four-faced Buddha statue had even lost one of its heads.
Perhaps it was because he saw Jing Jiujiu, but a golden light flashed on the Yama statue, and he finally walked out from inside it.
To say he walked... well, it didn't really look like walking.
Because as soon as he took a step, he stumbled, and his tall frame nearly knocked over the sofa and table together.
Bai Yuhuai heard the commotion, and the blood in his body suddenly calmed.
He slowly turned around.
Yama immediately sat down and didn't move, seemingly terribly afraid of Bai Yuhuai.
Bai Yuhuai's expression was icy, but his gaze passed right over Yama, finally landing on Jing Jiujiu.
Jing Jiujiu unconsciously held his breath, an instinctive tension arising from facing a powerful being. But soon, that feeling was suppressed. Bai Yuhuai stared at him intently and walked towards him.
He said in a deep voice, "Jiujiu, open your mouth."
Jing Jiujiu opened his mouth, and in just the space of a breath, he inexplicably hiccupped.
Jing Jiujiu: ?
Jing Jiujiu suddenly became nervous: "Huh? Did I eat the Ancient Castle Evil God?"
"No. It has completely vanished from heaven and earth."
Jing Jiujiu quickly realized and turned his head to look at those evil god statues: "...Then what I ate was the divine consciousness contained in the shattered statues?"
"Yes," Bai Yuhuai responded.
After answering, he suddenly remembered that his response was too brief, so he quickly added: "Jiujiu is so clever."
Jing Jiujiu didn't notice Bai Yuhuai's unusually talkative behavior. He was so shocked that his expression froze slightly: "...So much, what will happen to me after I eat all of that?"
But come to think of it.
The divine consciousness did taste quite nice as it went down.
Behind them, Master Tingyi and Bai Feng and the others, sensing that there was no more major disturbance inside, finally relaxed and hurried in.
Tingyi heard this and exclaimed in shock: "Young friend, you ate all these divine consciousnesses?"
Jing Jiujiu unconsciously licked his lips, still a bit shocked himself: "Yes."
Tingyi was stunned: "The books... have never written about what consequences this might have."
After all, since ancient times, there had never been a person, let alone a ghost, who could swallow so many things at once!
These were all divine consciousnesses that had fallen thousands or tens of thousands of years ago!
He had just learned from Master Zhou a few days ago that Jing Jiujiu had even eaten chaos!
The energy of heaven and earth was all in his stomach!
If Jing Jiujiu were to truly become a god, what kind of terrifying god would he become?
Bai Feng and the others were all slightly dumbfounded, their old faces filled with bewilderment. They hurriedly looked towards Bai Yuhuai: "Master, this..."
Bai Yuhuai's expression remained indifferent. Although he was standing on the same level as everyone else, he gave off an aura of being high above, inspiring awe and making people unable to look at him directly. He raised his hand and gently wiped Jing Jiujiu's lips. In fact, he didn't really wipe anything off, after all, divine consciousness isn't something like soup that would leave a trace. But he still stubbornly and unhurriedly wiped across, or rather than wiping, it seemed more like an intimate caress.
Jing Jiujiu was slightly stunned.
Bai Feng and the others watching were also taken aback.
Only Xu Sanyu, upon seeing this, let out a huge sigh of relief.
Oh, he still remembers to please the young master... so Bro Bai is still clear-headed, he won't go crazy in a while and burn us all along with him.
Bai Yuhuai said calmly: "There might be a slight indigestion reaction."
Cloud Return Sect members: ?
Tingyi: ?
Just a "slight" "indigestion"?
That was divine consciousness he ate!!!
"If Jiujiu feels uncomfortable, I can resolve it," Bai Yuhuai slowly added.
This... is this really the issue at hand?
Isn't the problem that Jing Jiujiu might turn into an unimaginably terrifying god because of this?
However, Bai Yuhuai didn't even glance at them, clearly not caring about their doubts and shock.
"This place needs to be cleaned up," Bai Yuhuai spoke.
Well, of course it does!
You're too terrifying.
Look at the state you've left this place in.
Xu Sanyu secretly swallowed, still not quite recovered from the shock.
"First, have someone clean up the place where I used to stay," Bai Yuhuai finally looked at Xu Sanyu.
"Ah! Yes!" Xu Sanyu quickly responded, hurriedly taking out his phone as he walked out.
As he took it out, his hand was still shaking.
Bai Yuhuai walked to a nearby cabinet, took out an incense stick, and lit it. The stick was entirely golden, completely different from the incense lit earlier.
He placed it in front of the Yama statue.
Only then did Yama lose the last trace of wariness in his eyes and return to the statue. The incense suddenly emitted a wisp of green smoke, which floated, neither too much nor too little, right to the nose of the Yama statue, one strand after another, without interruption.
The members of the Cloud Return Sect exchanged glances and hurriedly began to clean up the fragments of the god statues.
These things couldn't be allowed to be taken away by outsiders.
Bai Yuhuai turned around and looked at Master Tingyi again: "Master, you said you discovered the skeleton with Zhuo Wu's inscribed message. Where is that skeleton?"
Tingyi met his eyes and instinctively blurted out: "In the box."
"Please hand it over to me." Bai Yuhuai's words were polite, but they carried an air that made one instinctively unable to resist his will.
By the time Tingyi came to his senses, he had already pushed a huge box in front of Bai Yuhuai.
Bai Yuhuai glanced at it and responded with a simple "Mm."
Then he loaded the thing into the car.
Soon after, Xu Sanyu returned, saying that the house over there had been tidied up.
Bai Yuhuai turned back and reached out his hand to Jing Jiujiu: "Jiujiu, we'll stay over there tonight."
After saying this, he quietly stared at Jing Jiujiu.
His expression didn't change, but the air around them seemed to tighten suddenly. It was as if he was worried Jing Jiujiu would push his hand away.
Jing Jiujiu responded dryly: "Oh."
He looked down and saw that Bai Yuhuai had put the bracelet back on.
Jing Jiujiu placed his hand on it, and was immediately gripped tightly by Bai Yuhuai, who led him out like this and into the car.
Tingyi opened his mouth behind them: "...Eh?"
Weren't they supposed to sit together and discuss what great deed Zhuo Wu had done back then? How did they just... leave like this?
In the end, Tingyi didn't chase after them.
"Mr. Bai is too formidable," Tingyi said, pressing his palms together. "Amitabha."
Half an hour later, Master Zhou returned to this place.
He stared in bewilderment: "...I just went out to resolve one matter, how did it become like this when I came back???"
Jing Jiujiu and Bai Yuhuai quickly arrived at his former residence.
Even though Jing Jiujiu was no longer afraid now, Bai Yuhuai still entered first, wiping away the incantations, removing the talismans, and various other magical implements, storing them all in a box.
Jing Jiujiu pressed his lips together, watching Bai Yuhuai's figure, and asked softly: "Can I come in now?"
"Yes," Bai Yuhuai responded, walking forward to wrap his arm around Jing Jiujiu's waist, carrying him from the first floor to the second.
This villa was situated by a lake.
Large floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded the house, allowing for excellent lighting.
There were few other buildings nearby, with the closest villa being five hundred meters away.
It could be said that this place was extremely quiet and private.
Jing Jiujiu didn't pay attention to the surroundings. Bai Yuhuai set him down on a small sofa on the second floor: "Jiujiu will become stronger, and nothing will ever be able to harm you in the slightest again."
Jing Jiujiu moved his lips but didn't respond to this statement.
He looked at Bai Yuhuai's face and asked in a soft voice: "Why does your complexion seem... white?"
Bai Yuhuai paused.
Since he had personally extinguished his own turbid energy, no one else had noticed this point, only marveling at the terrifying power Bai Yuhuai had released.
But it turned out Jiujiu had seen it.
The frustration and hatred tangled in Bai Yuhuai's heart suddenly dissipated by half.
"Mm, maybe a little," Bai Yuhuai said softly, half-squatting, half-kneeling in front of Jing Jiujiu.
The turbid energy was, after all, of the same origin as him. Destroying it was equivalent to destroying a part of himself.
If it weren't for this, all the cultivators in the world who attained immortality would be able to happily destroy turbid energy without leaving any troubles behind.
Before Jing Jiujiu could speak again, Bai Yuhuai quickly followed up with a question: "Has Jiujiu digested well?"
Jing Jiujiu wrinkled his nose: "No."
He kept feeling stuffed and wanted to burp.
It was as if he had swallowed a large fireball in his abdomen, with that fireball continuously sending nourishing heat to his limbs and body. It felt indescribably comfortable, yet also indescribably choking.
What on earth have I been eating these days?
Bai Yuhuai placed his hand on his belly and repeated what he had said to the Cloud Return Sect people and Master Tingyi: "I have a solution."
Jing Jiujiu had originally wanted to be a tiny bit fiercer.
After all, the turbid energy belonged to Bai Yuhuai, didn't it?
But he licked his lips, looking at Bai Yuhuai who had moved closer, his face looking even paler... Ah. Jing Jiujiu secretly sighed wistfully in his heart.
How could he think that Bai Yuhuai looked pitiful?
Bai Yuhuai's expression hadn't changed at all.
Jing Jiujiu picked up on his words and asked: "What solution?"
Bai Yuhuai raised his hand to undo a button, his face still that cold and ascetic expression, his tone matter-of-fact: "You absorb a bit of my energy."
...
Sunlight shone in through the floor-to-ceiling windows as Bai Yuhuai held Jing Jiujiu in his arms.
Jing Jiujiu's voice gradually became broken and incoherent: "...It seems like... I've absorbed a bit too much?"
Why did he feel even more stuffed now?
He suspected Bai Yuhuai was fooling him.
Ah.
But it felt so good.
"Not too much," Bai Yuhuai lowered his head, kissing Jing Jiujiu's collarbone, then caressing and kissing every inch of skin.
What did it matter if he had extinguished the turbid energy?
He still wished he could return to the Sleeping Beauty castle and experience the agony of being burned alive and having no part of his body left unscathed in Jiujiu's place.