nyslfriends Chapter 34 Reincarnation is also obscure
Chapter 34 Reincarnation is also obscure
The traction force carried Zhang Nanfeng upwards, no longer allowing him to look down upon the ups and downs of the world.
Between heaven and earth, the majestic mountain shadow gradually became clear.
It's that mountain again...
Compared to the fleeting glimpse before, the mountains now appear even more majestic. The area above the mountainside remains hidden in the vastness, concealing its true face, while only the area below the mountainside is fully revealed.
The foot of the mountain seems to have been squeezed by the great power of heaven and earth for many years, or as if a giant hand from both sides was pressing down, which is why it has formed this majestic posture that stands tall and guards the primordial chaos.
The shape of this mountain... is remarkably similar to the crustal compression patterns described in geography books...
The moment the thought arises, the pulling force intensifies.
Zhang Nanfeng had no time to appreciate the magnificent mountain scenery before he was pulled down.
......
As the light and shadow shifted, Zhang Nanfeng opened his eyes again, only to find everything around him shrouded in twilight.
The space remained the same, the stone platform unchanged, but the scene below the platform was no longer as desolate and barren as before.
The once empty platform now holds countless soul shadows, stretching as far as the eye can see, like a desolate wasteland of soul reeds.
Zhang Nanfeng scanned the entire room, his spirits slightly trembling.
The dead were scattered everywhere, their limbs and skulls broken, their eyes lifeless, as if their minds had been ripped away, leaving only their souls, unaware and unresponsive.
The souls of the entire Meng family who had been wiped out were all among them. No one moved, no one spoke, and no one, like Su Chan had done before, voluntarily went to the cycle of reincarnation to be reborn.
Why is this so?
Could it be that they were all people who died violent deaths?
Could it be that those who die violently, with their souls incomplete, lose the spiritual ability to pass on to the afterlife on their own?
But... weren't Su Chan and he also killed violent deaths?
Puzzled, Zhang Nanfeng gracefully approached a ghostly figure and raised his limb to touch it.
When his webbed fingers touched the soul, the spirit did not react at all, remaining standing there blankly, letting him manipulate it like a puppet on strings.
He floated to Meng Cang's side.
The old man from the Meng family had a stiff face at this moment. His eyes, which had once held a warm smile, had turned into a pair of gray holes, devoid of any light.
He then floated to Meng Shi's side.
This man with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a robust physique still kept his head down.
Zhang Nanfeng waved his hand in front of Meng Shi's eyes, but Meng Shi didn't even blink.
A thought struck him, and he decided to wander among the ghostly figures, examining them one by one. Sometimes he would stop to scrutinize them, sometimes he would reach out to touch them. Familiar or unfamiliar faces flashed before his eyes, and a myriad of emotions inevitably surged within him.
The souls here, when they were alive, all spent their lives seeking and struggling.
In the end, they all ended up here, foolish and bewildered, not even knowing their own destiny.
Zhang Nanfeng withdrew his hand, gazing at this sea of souls, feeling both amused and pathetic. This desolation, like a clear mirror before his eyes, sent chills down his spine.
Aside from being clear-headed and autonomous, what difference is there between me, Zhang Nanfeng, and these dead souls?
He lowered his head, looking at his soul limbs, which were still in the shape of a rat-toad.
In these two lifetimes... what have I been pursuing with all my might?
When I first entered this world, my only obsession was to be reborn as a human.
Just because humans have dignity, can speak human language, can break free from their scaly, beastly bodies, and step back into the seemingly dignified human world.
But... is being a good person really that easy?
Memories flooded back, and he recalled his past life as a human on Earth.
At that time, he excelled academically, had harmonious parents, and came from a well-off family. To outsiders, he seemed to have no worries.
But... he never seemed truly at ease.
He was confined by societal norms, burdened by heavy academic workload, troubled by an unrequited love, and preoccupied with employment and all sorts of worries about the future.
At that time, he was like a puppet wound up tightly, rushing about year after year, yet unable to find relief... until his sudden death...
What good would it do to be that kind of "person"?
Zhang Nanfeng stared at his own transparent soul, and the obsession in his heart wavered. For the first time, his pursuit of "reincarnation as a human" in both his lives was shrouded in doubt, and he couldn't quite understand what he was seeking.
With no solution, he continued to drift forward.
Ghostly figures loomed, like a forest or a tomb.
He saw Meng Lie.
The once imposing Meng clan chief, clad in a black robe, was now in a daze, his snake scales gone, leaving only an ordinary, bitter face, no different from that of an old farmer in the fields.
As his gaze fell upon this person, the cultivation technique imprinted on his soul surfaced in Zhang Nanfeng's mind.
Damn it, how could I have forgotten the cultivation technique!
Zhang Nanfeng hurriedly examined his inner soul.
A complete immortal technique silently floated deep within his consciousness—
The Great Blood Creation Technique
Upon sensing this, Zhang Nanfeng's mind cleared instantly, and he suddenly understood.
Yes.
I possess immortal powers and hold the opportunity to transcend, so why should I be attached to a mere human body?
What he seeks is the power to surpass all living beings and break free from constraints, the power to trample the rules of heaven and earth underfoot.
A single thought brings sudden enlightenment, like finding a lamp in a dark room, dispelling all confusion in the heart.
He couldn't wait to gather his spiritual senses, wanting to delve into the profound mysteries of the technique and thoroughly understand the details of its cultivation.
But the moment his divine sense touched the text of the cultivation technique, the clear words within it slowly faded away, like ink dissolving in water.
Zhang Nanfeng was startled and stopped exploring.
How could this be?
Is it a restriction left by Meng Lie before his death, or is it caused by this chaos?
He had only caught a fleeting glimpse of the technique, yet he had already discerned much of it.
This technique is both tedious and lengthy. If you force yourself to comprehend it now, you will only seek a superficial understanding and not a thorough memorization. After reincarnation, you will forget it completely, and what will be the point of cultivating it in the next life?
Rather than hastily wasting it, it is better to save it and wait until the next life when you find writing tools to copy it down word by word and study it slowly. That is the prudent way.
He suppressed his anxiety, withdrew his consciousness, and no longer touched the technique in the slightest.
Zhang Nanfeng continued to drift away, and Meng Yuanshan came into view.
The boy's soul was as thin as paper. His left eye was empty, with only a bloody hole remaining. His right eye was hollow, staring into the depths of chaos. On his neck, a scar was conspicuous, all marks left by the severe injuries he suffered before his death.
Seeing him brought back the horrific scene of the massacre of his entire family on a rainy night.
The scene of Meng Jinchuan accidentally kicking his brother's head away, then, holding a broken knife, stabbing himself repeatedly in the cold rain, and his subsequent cries of pain—
"You brought this sacred altar here! You killed my brother! You killed my father! You killed Uncle Stone! You killed everyone!"
……
Memories of the past are vividly recalled and linger in my mind.
What the child said... wasn't wrong.
Although he didn't know what the final fate of the Meng family would have been if he hadn't intervened, he had indeed aided and abetted the evildoer by bestowing the "Zhaodan" poison upon Meng Cang.
However, if Meng Cang hadn't used this opportunity to launch an attack, Meng Lie wouldn't have revealed his immortal destiny in advance, and thus wouldn't have triggered the killing intent at the sacred altar.
Zhang Nanfeng was the one who fueled this bloody storm; it was he who caused the tragedy that befell his entire family.
His gaze swept over the countless souls of the Meng family scattered across the land once more, and a sense of shame welled up within him.
This feeling of guilt came abruptly, catching Zhang Nanfeng quite off guard, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
It seems that even though I have been influenced by the toad's nature, the fundamental humanity within me has never been extinguished; it has simply been buried.
As he gazed at the group of idiotic, dead souls before him, a thought suddenly formed in his mind.
Although these spirits have lost all their intelligence, they can still be touched and moved by him. Perhaps, he can send these departed souls of the Meng family to their next life.
And... there's no need to do much more. Just push them to the forefront, under the Six Paths Wheel, and leave the rest to the Wheel of Reincarnation to decide.
Having made up his mind, he began to look for suitable candidates.
He looked around and saw that the ground was covered with souls like ears of wheat waiting to be harvested.
Who should we push first?
As his gaze shifted, a strangely shaped spirit caught his eye.
The three souls were stuck together, as if they had been cast in boiling wax, intertwined and twisted, indistinguishable from one another.
Zhang Nanfeng recognized them at a glance as the three snake messengers from the sacred altar.
Even in death they could not be separated?
He drifted closer, gazing at the clump of sticky souls, a pang of pity rising in his heart.
These three are also pawns, monsters nurtured by the altar. They could not maintain their human form in life, and they will remain entangled in one place even after death.
Zhang Nanfeng stepped forward and tried to separate the three of them.
The three were stuck together tightly, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't budge them. Even when he bent down to bite, he still couldn't separate them.
Very well, then I'll send you all to the afterlife together.
He raised his hand to touch the back of the soul, and his hand felt sticky, as if he were touching a lump of grease that had not yet solidified.
With a push from Zhang Nanfeng, the three souls that were stuck together slid forward and floated straight toward the edge of the Reincarnation Platform.
Zhang Nanfeng dared not get too close to the platform, fearing that the Reincarnation Platform would arrest him as well and put him on trial.
As the three souls slid to the edge of the platform, he leaped into the air and pushed off with both feet.
The twisted soul staggered forward and fell into the ancient mirror in the center of the Reincarnation Platform.
The mirror's eerie light suddenly intensified, and the interplay of light and shadow revealed the ups and downs, good and evil encounters of the three people's lives.
Zhang Nanfeng watched from afar.
He saw three young children with identical features; they were twin brothers born in a mountain village in Dongzhou. Their family was poor but stable.
Until one day, the blood-robed figures from the altar shattered the tranquility of the mountain village and forcibly abducted them from their parents' arms.
For decades afterward, the three were kept in a snake pit, fed with Gu poison, and bathed in human blood. Eventually, they were transformed into skinless, bloodless beings by the altar and turned into weapons of slaughter.
All the bitterness of my life is reflected in the mirror.
As light and shadow overlapped and intertwined, clarity gradually emerged in three pairs of dull and numb eyes, as if they had just awakened for a moment from a nightmare that had haunted their entire lives.
In an instant, a ray of human light appeared, and the souls of the three were sucked in together and entered the cycle of reincarnation.
Zhang Nanfeng stood below the stage, utterly astonished.
Has he entered...the human realm?
Although these three individuals may have some mitigating circumstances, they have still committed countless murders throughout their lives, acting as accomplices to evil and staining their hands with blood. How can they be allowed to enter the human realm? What is the basis for the judgment of the Reincarnation Platform?
At this moment, he could no longer see through the standards of judgment on this dilapidated platform.
He was curious about the three people's pronouncements, but pronouncements were reserved for those who were reincarnated, and not a single word reached his ears.
Zhang Nanfeng simply stopped thinking about it and turned his attention to the other dead souls.
He then selected several ordinary members of the Mongol family and sent them one by one to the cycle of reincarnation.
The ancient mirror shines repeatedly, its spiritual light flickering uncertainly. Some, through good deeds, atone for their sins and are reborn as humans. Others, burdened by karmic debts, are reborn as animals.
The souls of the dead dissipate one by one, going through cycles of rebirth, seemingly as if everything were normal.
After sending the message to several people, Zhang Nanfeng realized something was wrong.
He took a few steps back and looked up at the six-wheeled wheel hanging high above.
The entire roulette wheel remains dilapidated, its jagged cracks crisscrossing like a tattered spiderweb.
However, after several souls passed away, a tiny crack had disappeared from the location corresponding to the animal realm.
Has it healed?
Zhang Nanfeng's soul tightened, wondering if it was just his imagination.
He immediately pushed another soul of the Meng family forward.
This person was reborn into the animal realm upon birth.
In the instant that the animal realm's inspiration flashed through his mind, he stared intently at the roulette wheel.
The cracks in the animal realm closed up again. Although it was only a repair that was like filling the gaps with dust, it was incredibly real and unmistakable.
The Reincarnation Platform... borrows the power of all beings' rebirth to repair itself!
This discovery nearly scared Zhang Nanfeng out of his wits.
He retreated rapidly, away from the platform, his soul trembling with fear.
If he continues to push souls to be reborn, allowing the Reincarnation Platform to absorb the power of rebirth to repair itself, then the Hell Realm and the Hungry Ghost Realm will reopen.
Given the karmic burdens he accumulated in his two lifetimes, there is absolutely no possibility that he will be reborn as an animal or a human.
What awaits him is only to sink into the realms of hungry ghosts and hell, never to be reborn.
At that time, all talk of becoming an immortal, of power, of transcendence will become empty words and bubbles.
Zhang Nanfeng stood frozen in place, gazing at the bewildered and ignorant souls scattered on the ground, then looking at the treacherous, silently operating Reincarnation Platform. He felt as if he were standing before an abyss, having almost sent himself to his own death.
Thank goodness... thank goodness, I realized it in time.
He dared not touch any of the dead again.
Bypassing the countless souls of the Meng family's dead, Zhang Nanfeng drifted alone toward the Reincarnation Platform.
This time, he had no illusions whatsoever.
He dared not hope for rebirth in the human realm. He only prayed that the Reincarnation Platform would allow him to be reborn as a slightly larger animal, rather than as some dark, crawling insect or beast.
He floated to the six realms of reincarnation, and the ancient mirror before him seemed to respond to his call, its surface slowly illuminating with a faint light, reflecting back all his experiences, good and evil deeds, and karmic debts throughout his life—
...He accepted Meng Jinchuan's three kneelings and nine kowtows, readily accepting the offerings of the Five Poisons, feeling perfectly at ease... He used the "Discovering the Gallbladder" technique to break down Meng Cang's defenses... He observed Meng Lie revealing his pseudo-immortal potential, watching the conflict unfold, waiting to reap the benefits... Finally, he ambushed Meng Lie on a rainy night, poisoning him to seize the jade piece, but also died under Meng Jinchuan's broken blade...
The myriad images, vivid and distinct, coalesced into a beam of light, pinning him firmly to the spot.
The judgment, like a divine decree descending, resounded with every word, reaching Zhang Nanfeng's ears:
"Deceiving the innocent and virtuous, refusing to repay kindness. Indulging in wickedness and causing calamity, ruining the entire family. Reborn as an animal in two lifetimes, acting without conscience, owing debts from the past and adding new sins. At the end of life, there is no repentance or remorse, the more steadfast the obsession, the deeper the karmic obstacles."
"To be reborn as an animal, in order to repay unfinished karma."
Zhang Nanfeng listened quietly to the verdict, having already anticipated it, and remained calm and unperturbed.
No repentance? What right do I have to regret? To regret the immortal destiny I finally obtained?
He looked up at the ancient mirror and the broken wheel, and a sense of absurdity suddenly arose in his mind.
It was only after he intervened and sent the souls of the three brothers from the Holy Altar and several members of the Meng family back to their rightful place that the Reincarnation Platform was able to repair its cracks.
Although I did not do it intentionally, it can still be considered a meritorious deed.
However, the Reincarnation Platform, despite his favor, did not change his judgment and still sentenced him to be reborn as an animal.
This broken platform itself... isn't it a case of failing to repay a debt of gratitude?
Zhang Nanfeng felt a surge of disgust and arrogance.
In his next life, he will definitely live well. He will cultivate that technique, absorb the essence, transform into human form, and ascend to the path of immortality.
I will never again be controlled by the cycle of reincarnation, never again enter this animal realm, and never again set foot in this hellish place.
I want to transcend the six realms of existence!
Before he could finish his thought, the Reincarnation Platform seemed to have already seen through his mind.
Pulled by the suction, Zhang Nanfeng was once again drawn to the beast.