One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the ruins of the square a blood red.

Zhang Taichu led his men, stepping over the rubble and broken stones, toward the outside of the square.

Behind him, the temporary workers from the "All-Knowing" company looked at him with a mixture of awe and disbelief, their gazes extremely complex.

No one dared to stop them.

No one dared to speak.

Even Wang Zhenqiu, who is usually the most talkative, could only bite the lollipop loudly, but couldn't make a sound.

"etc……"

A cry, choked with sobs, shattered the eerie silence.

Old Meng staggered out.

He was running so fast that he tripped over a raised paving stone and almost fell.

But he couldn't care less about any of that; he just stared intently at Chen Duo's back, his cloudy eyes filled with pleading and guilt.

"Duo'er..."

Old Meng reached out, wanting to grab Chen Duo's clothes, but stopped abruptly a few meters away.

He dare not.

The purple bead hanging on the girl's chest shimmered with an eerie light in the setting sun.

That was more than just poison capable of destroying a city.

It was also an insurmountable barrier that completely separated him from Chen Duo.

Chen Duo stopped in her tracks.

She didn't turn around to look at Lao Meng, but just looked down at the bead that was still swaying slightly.

"I……"

Old Meng's throat felt dry and painful, as if something was blocking it.

"I'm so sorry..."

"If only I had been braver back then, if only I could have kept you by my side..."

"You want to lock me up too."

Chen Duo turned around.

Her voice was calm, so calm that it was completely still.

Old Meng trembled all over; in that instant, he felt as if his heart had been squeezed tightly.

"I...I'm doing this for your own good..."

Old Meng stammered, tears streaming down his wrinkled face:

"That place may not be free, but it's safe, and you can survive there..."

"But I'm not only alive now."

Chen Duo raised her hand, pointed to Zhang Taichu beside her, then to her white dress, and finally touched the necklace around her neck:

"And there was a gift too."

"Someone even took me to eat ice cream and to buy clothes."

"You also have to take me home."

Chen Duo looked at Lao Meng, her clear eyes showing neither hatred nor gratitude.

There is only one kind of alienation when looking at strangers.

"You're not a bad person."

"But you're really noisy."

Chen Duo shook her head, turned around, and stopped looking at the middle-aged man kneeling on the ground, weeping bitterly.

"Don't follow me."

I don't like the way you look at me.

"It's like...looking at a poor dog."

Old Meng opened his mouth wide, wanting to argue, but couldn't utter a sound.

He slumped to the ground, watching that resolute figure disappear into the distance, and finally understood something.

From beginning to end.

He moved himself, moved the company, and even moved Liao Zhong.

The only thing that didn't move the person involved was the person in question.

His sympathy, for Chen Duo, was perhaps just an even heavier burden.

"Oh dear, Master Taichu!"

Just when the atmosphere was at its most oppressive.

A yellow figure suddenly darted out, leaping nimbly like a monkey in front of Zhang Taichu.

Wang Zhenqiu's face was plastered with that smug grin, and he was holding up his phone with a WeChat QR code on the screen:

"Don't rush off!"

"We became friends through a fight."

"Can we add each other on WeChat?"

"If anything happens at the company in the future, or if they're targeting Duo'er again, I'll let you know immediately!"

Wang Zhenqiu blinked, his peach blossom eyes gleaming with a sharp light:

"So, what do you think? Was this a good deal?"

"Furthermore, I'm particularly interested in your Golden Light Mantra's ability to manifest. Perhaps you could...?"

boom!

A muffled thud.

Before Wang Zhenqiu could finish speaking, he was sent flying backward like a cannonball.

He traced a graceful parabola through the air and crashed directly into a decorative fountain dozens of meters away.

Whoosh!

Water splashed everywhere.

"Noisy."

Zhang Taichu withdrew his leg, patted off non-existent dust from the hem of his Taoist robe, and didn't even bother to glance at the drenched man.

"Want to learn the Golden Light Mantra?"

"May you be reborn in the Longhu Mountain queue in your next life."

The temporary workers around him had their mouths twitching uncontrollably.

Zhang Taichu continued walking forward.

But as he passed by Xiao Zizai, he paused slightly.

Xiao Zizai was standing next to a broken lamppost.

He had long since abandoned his bloodthirsty demeanor, and put his gold-rimmed glasses back on, looking refined and scholarly.

Only his slightly trembling fingertips betrayed the turmoil in his heart.

The two exchanged a glance.

There were no words spoken.

But in that instant, Xiao Zizai felt a pang of sadness for his proud illness, the demon that had tormented him for half his life and forced him to resort to killing to alleviate it.

He trembled under the young Taoist's gaze.

That was because I saw someone of my own kind... no.

That was the instinctive fear of encountering a higher level of existence.

If you say he's a pervert who kills for the sake of killing, then...

The person in front of you.

They are gods and demons who regard all living beings as worthless, yet possess a compassionate heart.

Xiao Zizai took a deep breath.

He straightened his slightly disheveled collar, then bowed deeply to Zhang Taichu.

Ninety degrees.

Extremely standard.

"Been taught a lesson."

Xiao Zizai lowered his head, his voice low:

"So... this is another way to travel."

A meaningful smile curved at the corner of Zhang Taichu's lips.

He didn't return the gift, but simply left behind a sentence:

"If the illness can't be cured, then don't bother with treatment."

"Sometimes, being a little crazy makes you live longer."

After saying that, Zhang Taichu didn't linger and strode out.

Xiao Zizai straightened up and looked at that figure from behind; the eyes behind his glasses were frighteningly bright.

He pushed up his glasses, and a long-lost, genuine smile slowly spread across his face.

"Want to be a little crazier...?"

"That's interesting."

at this time.

The group had reached the edge of the square.

Outside, police cars rushed to the scene and onlookers gathered, their flashing lights illuminating the night sky with a kaleidoscope of colors.

"Uncle-Master, what should we do?"

Looking at the massive crowd outside, Zhang Chulan shrank back.

"With so many people, if we just walk out like this, tomorrow's headlines will definitely be about a mysterious Taoist priest and a bio-engineered girl sneaking into the downtown area at night."

"Isn't this a bad influence?"

Wang Ye also pressed down the brim of his hat with a helpless expression:

"How about I set up a divination formation and we escape?"

"Too much trouble."

Zhang Taichu looked up at the sky.

It was getting late, and the Milky Way was beginning to appear.

"If you're going to leave, then leave with dignity."

Zhang Taichu made a hand seal with one hand, and golden light burst forth from his fingertips.

Rumble—!!!

The earth began to tremble.

Under the horrified gazes of everyone.

Countless streams of golden Qi gushed forth from beneath Zhang Taichu's feet, like a river bursting its banks, instantly covering the entire ground.

Followed by.

The golden light began to converge, shape, and solidify wildly.

In the blink of an eye.

A massive ship, over ten meters long and entirely formed of golden light, suddenly appeared in everyone's sight.

The ship's hull shimmered with light, and every deck, every mast, and even the patterns on the hull were clearly visible.

lifelike.

It is as real as the physical object.

Zhang Taichu leaped into the air and landed lightly on the bow of the boat.

"Come up."

Chen Duo stared at the glowing golden ship, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

She carefully stretched out her foot and stepped on the deck where the golden light was concentrated.

Hard.

Very stable.

A smile played on her lips as she jumped up.

Zhang Chulan and Wang Ye exchanged a glance and quickly climbed up using both hands and feet.

"rise."

Zhang Taichu put one hand behind his back and gave a soft shout.

Om-! ! !

The enormous golden cloud boat emitted a deep hum and slowly rose into the air.

The wind howled.

The cloud boat broke through the air currents, carrying a dazzling golden light, and flew towards the deep night sky.

"Look! What's that?!"

"UFO! It's a UFO!"

"Mommy, look! There's a boat flying in the sky!"

On the ground, the crowd that had been watching instantly erupted into chaos.

Countless people raised their phones and frantically took pictures of the golden cloud boat.

The sounds of sirens, screams, and shouts filled the air.

Zhang Chulan lay on the ship's railing, looking down at the panicked crowd below, who resembled ants.

The frustration of being hunted and schemed against in daily life vanished at this moment.

He took a deep breath, made an extremely irritating face at the group of jack-of-all-trades temporary workers below, and shouted:

Goodbye!

"You bunch of wage earners!"

"Go back and tell Fatty Zhao that I'm not playing with him anymore!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The strong wind scattered his laughter into the night sky, making it sound particularly arrogant.

Chen Duo did not speak.

She simply lay quietly at the stern, watching the brightly lit city grow smaller and smaller into the distance.

Watching the square turn into a tiny black dot.

She watched as those who had once wanted to imprison and kill her completely disappeared from sight.

The wind tousled her hair.

She reached out and pressed her hand against the bead on her chest that swayed with the airflow.

"goodbye."

Chen Duo said softly.

It was addressed to that city.

This was also said to his past self, the one known as the Gu-body Saint Child.

Zhang Taichu stood at the bow of the boat.

He didn't turn around.

The white robe fluttered in the wind, like an immortal about to ride the wind and return home.

He gazed at the endless sea of ​​clouds before him, at the newly risen moon, and his voice, clear and resonant, echoed across the heavens:

"Everyone."

"The road of life is long and arduous."

"It's fate..."

"Let's never meet again."

Whoosh!

The golden light flourishes.

The cloud boat transformed into a golden shooting star, instantly piercing the sky and disappearing into the vast night.

Only a long, golden tail of flame remained, lingering for a long time.

on the ground.

The clarinet tilted its head back, watching the disappearing golden light, its neck feeling a little sore.

He took a cigarette out of his pocket and tried to light it several times before he finally succeeded.

"This is fucking..."

The clarinet exhaled a smoke ring, its eyes glazed over.

"Which deity has descended to earth to experience life?"

"Our meager skills are no match for theirs..."

"They've really wasted their lives."

next to.

Wang Zhenqiu climbed out of the fountain pool, soaked to the bone, looking like a drowned rat.

But the smile on his face didn't diminish in the slightest.

He wiped the water from his face, looked up at the sky, and his eyes gleamed with an almost fanatical light:

"interesting."

"This is so interesting."

"Zhang Taichu...Longhu Mountain..."

"This world is finally not so boring anymore."