vrcanaries Chapter 159 Cause and Effect Still Rank Up
Chapter 159 Cause and Effect Still Rank Up
Chapter 159 Cause and Effect Still Build Up
If we trace the timeline of the illegal time travelers, it starts with only Lan Ying and Ying. These two didn't have these names back then, and their abilities were quite different from what they are now. They realized that openly causing destruction wouldn't work, as it would be easy for the natives to discover them. So they chose to stay behind the scenes and observe the actions of their fellow travelers.
It just so happens that the world was not at peace at that time, and there was more or less unrest in various places. Among them, the Sanbao Sect caught the government troops off guard when it debuted because its leader knew magic, and thus caught the eye of the time traveler.
So the two disguised themselves and joined the Three Treasures Sect. With the help of the system, they rose through the ranks and quickly became the leader's confidants. Then, through patient persuasion, they changed the mind of the man who originally wanted to be emperor. His pursuit changed from dominating the world to immortality and becoming a celestial being.
But these guys started out learning evil ways, and they did all sorts of things like murder and arson. It was basically impossible for them to go back to the right path. Plus, they had two "proud disciples" who spread heresies and misled the masses. All three leaders were fooled and crippled. Thus, the method of corpse refining for immortality began.
Everything was going well until the last minute when things suddenly went wrong. Each of the three sect leaders had a favorite disciple, but only two transmigrators had managed to sneak in. The other one was a native who had joined with great enthusiasm, only to find himself on the wrong path, Zhou Nian.
What happened next can be reconstructed by combining the cassock and books that Shuangxiu found in Jinling, as well as the words of the old monk in the capital. The fact that Zhou Nian was chosen shows that he was also very talented. Such promising talents have one thing in common: they are quick-witted, have good comprehension, and are also very proactive. Realizing that the Sanbao Sect was not a place that could lead people out of suffering, and that he had come into contact with something like corpse refining that could get him struck by lightning, he decisively fled, taking with him the secrets he had already come into contact with.
Given the circumstances at the time, Zhou Nian's status in the Sanbao Sect should have been equal to that of Lan Ying and Ying. How he managed to run to the capital right under the noses of his two fellow transmigrators is something that probably only the old monk who inherited his memories knows.
After arriving in the capital, he became a painter specializing in Buddhist paintings. He then fled south to build temples in the Jinling area. Over the decades, Zhou Nian went from being a boy to an old man. When he arrived in the south, he could still recognize his former White Lotus Sect colleagues. Apart from these two time travelers, no one else should have such good eyesight.
If Lan Ying and Ying were the ones who killed Zhou Nian, then Ying's subsequent trip to the temple ruins must have been to look for what Shuang Xiu and the others had found.
For various reasons, their plan to use the Three Treasures Sect not only failed, but it was also discovered that there were time travelers mixed in with the sect. The two of them must have gone into hiding for a while afterward to avoid the pursuit of the underworld.
Where they were hiding, Liu Qingyuan found out, and the answer still lay with Yan. Yan was not human to begin with; her soul was that of a monster, and a familiar one at that: a mountain demon.
Zombies, mandrills, a hiding place isolated from the outside world—damn, isn't this the place that Master Li and his group unexpectedly encountered? Even the telepathic messages of innate beings can't get in. A strange maze, and even different time flows inside and outside... How can every step be so coincidental, more coincidental than chocolate?
No, chocolate doesn't seem to exist in this era.
Knowing that in a world brimming with stream-of-consciousness elements, cause and effect and reincarnation are the main themes, and similar situations have occurred before, such as the blind demon monk and the dead monk.
There's also the Heavenly Dao helping from behind, with all sorts of causes and effects connected. But this is all too logical, so logical that Liu Qingyuan thought the concept of destiny was popular here too.
Judging from Yan's situation, he is not an illegal transmigrator. He was just a puppet that Lan Ying made from the body of a mandrill in this world after the collapse of the Three Treasures Sect. However, for some reason, the cursed insects only had external shells, but Yan's soul and independent consciousness were preserved, and he abandoned the characteristics of the mandrill.
Even when this guy was black smoke, the shape of the black smoke still resembled a human form, and his way of speaking was basically the same as that of the other transmigrators, so much so that Liu Qingyuan and the others always thought that smoke had once been a human male.
"You are not on the same side as them in essence, so why are you helping them like this?"
Liu Qingyuan couldn't understand why the other party wasn't a transmigrator at all, and why Lan Ying used him to create puppets. Judging from their previous actions, Yan's daily behavior was unrestricted, and Lan Ying had basically never given him any orders. To an uninformed person, the two just looked like companions with the same source of ability.
"What else could it be because of?"
Because Yan wasn't an illegal transmigrator, the system couldn't lock him in the system space like the other three. When Xiao Wu was recruiting people, he thought the other side was going to run away again. After struggling for a long time, he found that Yan couldn't be locked in. It was at this moment that Liu Qingyuan tried Gu Chen on the other side and discovered Yan's true form.
He couldn't be locked inside the system space, so he could only be trapped outside with magic. Even if he was knocked unconscious, he would wake up due to various noises from the outside world. After a while, Yan woke up, and Liu Qingyuan naturally came to interrogate him.
"It's just a fairy repaying a debt of gratitude."
Yan spoke calmly and casually, giving an unexpected answer that was perfectly in line with the world he lived in.
Even if you're used as an experimental subject, and end up becoming neither human nor ghost?
“Our race is neither human nor ghost; without that physical body, we are actually more at ease.”
Mandrills are enormous and invulnerable to weapons. They are indeed very strong, but also very clumsy. Apart from remote mountain forests, there is nowhere that can accommodate mandrills.
"Besides, for demons to become human, they have to go through countless hardships, and some even lose their lives at the last moment. Living in this way is much better than asceticism."
Yan originally had no name; she was just an ordinary mountain demon. At first, she only had the mindset of a wild beast. She almost lost her life fighting with her kind for a place to live, but was found by Lan Ying, who was collecting materials for puppets.
The mountain demons that Cang and Master Li encountered in the maze were Yan's kin and their kind. Yan had abandoned the mountain demon's body, and her soul had merged with the black smoke Lan Ying used to create the puppet, resulting in her current form. Those other beings, however, were the true "cursed insect" creations, their self-awareness dead, leaving only a shell acting on instinct.
In a way, this is also a "zombie". Based on her experience with mandrills and other created zombies, Lan Ying transformed her own body into a zombie.
Using the "corpse refining" method on himself sounds incredible, but that's exactly what Lan Ying did. And because the zombie's appearance was so eye-catching, he had to add another layer of disguise.
Yan's reason for traveling with the illegal travelers was simple: Lan Ying had given him a second chance at life, and to repay that debt, the mountain demon became "Yan," joining the group. He felt he hadn't lost out too much; at least in the process, he was becoming more and more like a "person."
"Ying's ability was given to him by Yi Yang through the system in advance. Ha, that stinky sorcerer is really good at lying."
Thinking of Yi Yang, Yan couldn't help but sneer. Since he had already reverted to his mandrill appearance, if there were no sound, it would be impossible to tell that he was sneer.
Lan Ying and Ying's plan failed, and they had no clue what to do after killing Zhou Nian. In order to avoid the pursuit of the natives, they could only hide in that maze and use a few mandrills for research. The system felt that the two of them were not capable enough, so it found another contractor, Yi Yang.
Yi Yang tricked Ying into changing his abilities, allowing him and Yan to use their special abilities to infiltrate the underworld. Later, Hongmei, who transformed herself into a painted-skin ghost, joined the group. After that, the human skins used for disguise were basically made by Hongmei.
Compared to other invading illegal transmigrators, their team was the most stable. If it weren't for Liu Qingyuan, who was a variable, Yi Yang might have really been able to turn the tide.
"But now, you've all been arrested and brought to justice. You'll have to wait until your next life to turn things around."
In Yan's case, his soul ultimately belongs to the underworld of the Liaozhai world. He is not a transmigrator; at most, he is an object that Lan Ying, the transmigrator, accidentally obtained in the Liaozhai world.
"...That's fine."
Hearing this, Yan showed little anger; even in the final moments, these enemies were unusually calm.
"They're all a bunch of lunatics anyway, so it's good to be free."
"You're about the same."
Liu Qingyuan waved his whisk, and the bound mountain demon floated up. He planned to go to the underworld himself. He had lost count of how many times he had gone there. He never thought that he would become a regular visitor to the underworld one day.
But a madman?
Are all illegal transmigrators crazy?
Based on current observations, Liu Qingyuan is unsure whether the illegal transmigrators caught in this world are insane, but she is certain that their mental state is indeed quite abnormal.
[The so-called madmen are too unpredictable; an illegal system wouldn't specifically seek out bombs.]
Xiao Wu spoke up, though only Liu Qingyuan could hear him.
However, they do not adhere to the rule of one system per person, nor do they choose worlds based on host compatibility. They have no alternative path to choose to stay, and they do not care about the lives of their contracted members, even if it means mutual slaughter.
"So even if someone isn't crazy, they'll eventually become crazy."
Liu Qingyuan roughly understood what Xiao Wu meant. Because of all of the above, signing a contract with an illegal system would only lead down a dark path, and over time, no one's mental state would be in good condition.
Liu Qingyuan's side is legal; she's considered a worker. But the illegal transmigrators are basically raising poisonous insects.
"I'm suddenly feeling a bit fortunate that it was a legitimate company like yours that contacted me."
He carried a mandrill and entered the passage to the underworld with practiced ease. If it were just a matter of smoke, he wouldn't have needed to come in person. He had come to the underworld for something else.
The brothers Shang Chen and Shang Li came to the south because of news about their sister, but the person in the White Lotus Sect was not the real one, but Lan Ying who was wearing the skin of Shang Sanguan. This was a huge blow to the two brothers.
Lan Ying is a time traveler, while the two brothers, being mortals, cannot seek revenge in a painful way. Even the human skin that Shang Sanguan was thrown away was tattered.
If this matter isn't resolved, these two brothers, who are prone to acting on their emotions, will never let it go. To prevent them from doing anything irrational again, Liu Qingyuan plans to go to the underworld and use the underworld's methods, namely the classic method of sending a message in a dream.
Shang Sanguan lay low for half a year, and her story of avenging her father became very famous in the area. According to Shang Chen, people in their hometown admired Shang Sanguan's deeds. In addition to the stories being sung everywhere, some people even worshipped her portrait.
Such a heroine is indeed worthy of worship. Humans have a lifespan in the mortal realm, and ghosts also have a lifespan in the underworld. Not everyone can be reincarnated immediately after death; some will live in the underworld for a period of time.
Someone like Shang Sanguan, whose life story is somewhat legendary, must have a long lifespan in the underworld. In addition, since he is worshipped by people, he might even become a ghost immortal in the future.
He came to the underworld hoping to use some connections to find Shang Sanguan. If she was still in the underworld, he could ask her to visit his family in their dreams, thus fulfilling the two brothers' wishes.
……
"What happened? Where are the two young men?"
When Zhao Wang returned to the sect, he found it in complete disarray. Not only were more than half of the members gone, but all the high-ranking and powerful figures he usually saw had disappeared. Even his daughter was nowhere to be found. After wandering around, he only saw his son, Zhao Changchun.
His daughter was one of the most valued disciples, and was strictly forbidden from going out. Why was she nowhere to be seen? Not only Xiao Er, but all the disciples like her had disappeared!
"Father, about this matter..."
Knowing that Zhao Wang had missed a lot while he was away, Zhao Changchun quickly pulled him aside and told him everything that had happened before, including that Yi Yang and a large group of people had not returned yet, as well as the several blond and white-haired people who later barged in, looking like gods descending to earth.
Where is that person?
"They haven't come back yet."
Zhao Changchun himself didn't have much confidence in what he said. The people above him had left and hadn't returned yet. The three who had broken in earlier had also suddenly disappeared. The Asura King was also not there. It was just a coincidence that Zhao Wang returned, right when the sect was leaderless.
Just as Zhao Wang was racking his brains trying to understand, a peach-colored paper kite flew down from the sky. It was Xiao Er who had come back by riding the kite.
Her kites weren't just for communication; some could even carry people. These were larger, and she didn't usually take them out.
Having witnessed so much, Xiao Er knew she could no longer stay in the White Lotus Sect and that leaving was the best option. However, she couldn't leave immediately because her parents, brothers, and all her family members were in the White Lotus Sect. She had to come back and tell them everything that had happened.
The biggest challenge is her father. Although Zhao Wang is not a bad person and does not particularly want to be a bandit, he can be quite stubborn at times. Now, Zhao Wang firmly believes that following Yi Yang will bring wealth and prosperity to the whole family. Convincing him is a major challenge.
She was still following him? She didn't even know if her cheap master was alive or dead. Thinking this, Xiao Er controlled the kite to fall. Zhao Wang and Zhao Changchun, who were on the ground, saw it was her and immediately ran over.
Xiao Er came back alone. Apart from her, the two of them didn't see anyone else. They had left in a large group. Why did Xiao Er come back by herself?
"Father, elder brother, listen to me."
The situation was urgent, so Xiao Er took a deep breath and decided to get straight to the point.
"Master and Asura King don't care. Our sect is about to collapse, and the officials of the imperial court are about to attack. Let's run away before the government issues any arrest warrants!"
But then again, this girl was a bit too blunt; look, she stunned her father and brother.
"What do the officials who are about to attack think?"
Shu Longqin, who had returned with her, said this to Ding Zimo, who had also flown over on a paper kite.
"Mr. Shulong, please don't tease me. I am just a scholar now."
Ding Ziming was also taken aback by Xiao Er's directness. Although what she said was true, this was the White Lotus Sect's territory, and Xiao Er was now considered one of them. She came back and immediately said that her own power was about to collapse and that the leader was gone, urging her family to run away quickly. This girl really knew how to talk.