Chapter 2806 - 75: Lost in Time_2

"We were talking about being bewitched by beauty on the road! Brother Ghost Chai, did you encounter anything like that on your way here?" Chai Asi was still energetically smoothing things over, using the chance to get acquainted with all the powerful figures.

The great Ancient God of the Mirror World held his breath.

If the scene just now was a reversal of time, then under the same circumstances, the behavior of each demon should not change much. Except for the few fillers like Yuan Mengji and Chai Asi—anyone who could reach this place was a notable figure in their own region, and the choices they made would usually be, under present conditions, what they themselves judged as the optimal choice.

No matter how many times it’s replayed, it would be the same.

Just like back when he faced Yellow Sheri on Guanhe Platform—no matter how many times it repeated, he would still choose to pour everything into a single sword to decide victory. Allowing Yellow Sheri to reverse time, yet unable to reverse the outcome.

As for what just happened, Chai Asi’s words, though not identical word for word, carried roughly the same attitude. Xiong Sansi’s attitude, however, had changed drastically, enough to trigger a whole chain of reactions among the other demons afterward.

Chai Asi was definitely not the problem.

Can it be said that Xiong Sansi likewise was not drawn along by the time reversal—that his thoughts and memories had leapt out of time?

Of course, even now it can’t be confirmed that this scene is certainly a temporal change. The Land of Shenxiao is so bizarre and unfathomable that other types of rules would not be surprising.

If one wishes to judge what is peculiar about the scene before their eyes...

Then Shujia Lan, who ought to be appearing next, is the key.

Jiang Wang watched in silence...

"Benefactor, please go first!"

"Lord Buddha, you go first!"

Yuan Mengji was animatedly describing how he had been lured, and how he had resisted the temptation. In the same sequence as before, Shujia Lan and Lu Qilang appeared again!

The Black Lotus Temple monk, who had utterly withered away in the previous scene, once more manifested before them, flesh and blood vivid.

To Jiang Wang, this too was an experience that shattered existing understanding.

At the very least, it showed that the change that had just occurred was not an illusion, nor merely a crude editing of the other demons’ memories. It truly involved time...

Who is it, then, manipulating all this in secret—thrusting a bar into the struggle between Black Lotus Temple and Ancient Nan Mountain—and what are they seeking?

Jiang Wang had intended to direct Pig Dali or Chai Asi to make some kind of move and observe the subsequent changes, so as to track the source of this disturbance. But as the Thought turned, he kept his restraint, and continued to wait quietly.

On the narrow path through the woods, Shujia Lan and Lu Qilang were still wary of each other, neither willing to go first.

But this time, before they could continue their back-and-forth, and before the Peaceful Ghost Messenger’s attempt to dissuade them...

Zhu Zheng, standing by the Eternal Youth Spring, had already spoken: "Master Rat, fall back a few steps and let Brother Deer go first—wouldn’t that make everyone happy? What’s the point in all this polite pushing?"

Zhu Lanruo, seated beside the spring with fingers pressing the zither strings, also said leisurely: "Brother Deer, why not take the lead? The Sky Sloth Wilderness and Divine Fragrance Flower Sea are close neighbors, and Lan Ruo, in her Freedom here, will hold the line for you... Master Rat’s Buddhist Law is profound; I don’t think he’d do anything untoward."

So it was Zhu Zheng—yet his attitude had shifted as well!

Had his memory also leapt out of time? Was he likewise probing something?

Or is it that, whether human or demon, intelligent beings are by nature One Heart of a thousand Thoughts; within the same span of time, all manner of ideas and events may arise. His judgment of Xiong Sansi might well be inaccurate.

In his heart, Jiang Wang kept building frameworks of understanding, then overturning, supplementing, and replaying them.

He distinctly felt a kind of painful confusion.

In the Mingming beyond perception, it was as if he had overlooked something.

Where, exactly, lay the crux of the problem?

"Since Miss Lan Ruo has spoken, I shall go first!" Lu Qilang laughed briskly, and truly was the first to step out of the woods.

This time Jiang Wang observed clearly that when he saw that eye of spring water, a strange light flashed in his eyes.

Golden light reflecting on water, the ripples on the spring’s surface like golden scales.

Lu Qilang walked naturally two steps toward the spring, and chuckled: "I wonder, among you geniuses, who arrived here first?"

Yuan Mengji, who took himself for a genius, said: "We were the third group to arrive—mainly because we had to look after Chai Asi, which wasted quite a bit of time!"

Lu Qilang only glanced at Chai Asi, his eyes asking: We’ve come all this way, and you’re still using this fool as your cover?

Chai Asi grinned brightly: "All thanks to my lord’s compassion!"

"We got lucky; we didn’t run into much danger on the way." Zhu Lanruo smiled and said, "We were only a few breaths faster than Brother Xiong."

Shujia Lan happened just then to step out of the woods; hearing this, he looked at Xiong Sansi’s blade and said with meaningful tone: "The knife of the new eighth-ranked king on the Heavenly List truly is fast!"

He was, of course, referring to the fact that Yu Xin had already disappeared.

Xiong Sansi’s voice was utterly calm: "I, for one, think it still isn’t fast enough! Monk, do you mind lending me that bald head of yours, so I can hone my blade a bit?"

He did not say that Yu Xin had struck first, using a hidden misfortune Divine Skills to trigger danger repeatedly and drain his strength... nor that, in the end, under the onslaught of a sky full of straw men, Yu Xin had tried to assassinate him. He did not speak of any doctrine of the strong preying on the weak, each relying on their own means.

None of that was necessary.

Anyone who wants to make an issue of Yu Xin, can come test the blade.

Shujia Lan laughed: "This poor monk has always been stingy, so of course I mind! That flock of baldheads on Ancient Nan Mountain always like to put on an air of kindness and generosity—Yang Yu might not mind!"

Whether Yu Xin lived or died—what was that to him?

Because a segment of tug-of-war had gone missing.

In the present scene, Shujia Lan had stepped out of the woods ahead of time, while Yang Yu and Ken Xihua were the last group to arrive at the spring.

Ken Xihua, covered in wounds, and Yang Yu, with a gentle expression, happened to walk out at this moment, just in time to hear that line.