One person: He secluded himself for eighty years and cured Tian Jinzhong.

Chapter 90 Zhang Huaiyi's Red Undergarment

Everyone fell silent.

These words suddenly made the seemingly broken and shabby items feel heavy.

They bear witness to a magnificent era buried by history.

"Master..."

Zhang Chulan looked at Su Wuxian with a newfound respect in his eyes:

"Are any of my grandfather's things in here?"

"have."

Su Wuxian walked to a corner and took out something from an inconspicuous box...

Red bellyband.

Zhang Chulan: "???"

"This should belong to your grandfather."

Su Wuxian suppressed a laugh:

"When your grandfather first practiced martial arts, he went into a qi deviation and burned all his clothes, leaving only this. Wugensheng thought it was quite auspicious, so he kept it."

"puff!!!!"

The whole place burst into laughter.

Zhang Chulan's face turned a deep shade of liver, and he wished he could disappear into the ground.

"Grandpa! Your illustrious reputation is truly admirable!!"

In this joyful yet nostalgic atmosphere.

Feng Baobao, who hadn't spoken a word, seemed to be drawn by something and walked alone to the deepest part of the cave.

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There, a painting hangs.

A painting covered by a cloth.

Feng Baobao reached out and tore off the piece of cloth.

Splash!

The portrait was displayed to the public.

It was a strange humanoid figure, its body twisted, as if struggling, or perhaps dancing.

At the very bottom of the painting are four large characters written in wild cursive script—

Standing tall and upright

The moment I saw this painting.

Suddenly, a deep ripple appeared in Feng Baobao's usually calm eyes.

She clutched her head and let out a muffled groan of pain.

"Hmm..."

"Sister Bao'er?" Zhang Chulan exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't touch her."

Su Wuxian teleported behind Feng Baobao and touched her forehead with a finger, stabilizing her soul.

He looked up at the painting, his eyes becoming incredibly deep:

"Finally... we found it."

"Wu Gensheng's ultimate understanding of 'humanity'."

......

Deep within the treasure cave.

Feng Baobao was still trembling slightly, but under Su Wuxian's soothing touch, her eyes gradually returned to calm from their unfocused state.

But those eyes, which were usually calm and expressionless, were now filled with an indescribable sadness.

"Bao'er, are you alright?"

Zhang Chulan leaned closer, anxiously checking on Feng Baobao's condition, afraid that she might lose her temper again at any moment.

"It's nothing."

Feng Baobao shook her head, pointed to the painting, and said with a rare hint of hesitation:

"This painting...it makes me want to cry."

"That person...it hurts so much."

"pain?"

Wang Ye moved closer and examined the painting titled "Standing Tall and Firm."

The style is extremely abstract, with distorted lines. The figure in the painting has feet deeply embedded in the mud, hands reaching out to pierce the sky, and a body stretched thin and grotesque, as if enduring some kind of torture.

"Is this what you call standing tall and upright?"

Wang Ye frowned and said:

"This looks like being torn apart by five horses, doesn't it? Senior Wugensheng's aesthetic sense... is quite unique."

"What do you know!"

Although Granny Jin Feng couldn't understand it either, she wouldn't tolerate anyone saying a bad word about the sect leader:

"This is the realm of a sect leader! Connecting heaven and earth, serving as a bridge—what a magnificent feat!"

"Heroic my foot!"

Su Wuxian withdrew his hand from Feng Baobao's brow, turned around, looked at the painting, and a trace of pity appeared in his eyes:

"Bao'er is right."

"What this painting depicts... is pain, pain worse than death."

Everyone was taken aback and looked at Su Wuxian.

Su Wuxian reached out and traced the distorted lines of the human body in the painting:

"Wugensheng was born with a spirit."

"His divine spirit was born with the ability to see through the flow of all things. He went too far on the path, so far that he felt he was no longer human."

"But he just... wanted to be a human being."

Su Wuxian's deep voice echoed in the empty cave:

"The so-called 'standing tall and upright' is not an honor, but a punishment."

"Heaven will oppress you, earth will bind you."

"If you want to carve out a space for 'humanity' between heaven and earth, you must withstand the crushing force of heaven and earth closing in."

"He didn't want to conform to the will of Heaven and become a god, nor did he want to conform to his desires and become a beast."

"He wanted to be that fourth type of person, someone with an independent will, not someone who is swept along by the world."

"So he was in pain, he was tormented, he struggled."

Su Wuxian pointed to the rock wall above his head, then to the ground beneath his feet:

"For someone like Wugensheng, the sky is too low and the earth is too narrow."

"When a soul too enormous tries to squeeze into this tiny box called 'the mundane'..."

Su Wuxian made a squeezing gesture:

"He could only squeeze himself in by breaking, twisting, and deforming himself."

"This painting does not depict a majestic hero, but rather... a prisoner struggling in the cracks between heaven and earth."

The entire room fell silent.

Wang Ye got goosebumps all over his body from listening.

This explanation... is so insightful!

Wu Gensheng's so-called "fourth type of person" and his so-called "unrestrained" nature are actually because he is out of place in this world!

"so......"

Su Wuxian looked at Feng Baobao, his gaze becoming extremely complex:

"The reason this girl reacted to the painting is because..."

"She has also experienced this kind of 'squeeze' before."

Zhang Chulan was deeply shocked.

Looking at Bao'er's blank expression, he suddenly understood many things.

Why doesn't she have any feelings?

Why is she immortal?

Is it because...?

Was she also forcibly "transformed" into her current form by that era and certain people?

"Alright, that's enough looking at the painting."

Su Wuxian said no more. He reached out, grabbed the edge of the picture frame, and pried it open with force.

"Snap!"

The picture frame popped open, revealing a hidden compartment behind it.

Inside the hidden compartment, there were no secret martial arts manuals, only an ordinary, even slightly yellowed, envelope.

On the envelope, a line of words was written in cursive script:

[To that young Taoist priest who might not be dead yet—Wugensheng]

"Oh."

"So, you guessed I'd come here..."

Upon seeing this line of text, Su Wuxian laughed and jokingly scolded:

"That bastard, he doesn't even know where I am, yet he still tries to take advantage of me."

He picked up the letter and, without bothering to hide it from the crowd, tore open the seal.

The letter is unfolded.

The words on it were few, but each one struck Su Wuxian's heart like a heavy hammer.

"Brother Wuxian, I suspect that the only person who could have obtained this letter is you, and it must be you."

"By the time you read this letter, I'll probably be gone, or gone to some more interesting place."

"Do you remember? Before you went into seclusion, we talked all night."

I won't repeat what he said in detail; there's no point in saying more.

"The sentence that impressed me the most was when you said, 'This world is going to be in chaos, let me keep an eye on it.' I did keep an eye on it, but it's already in chaos."

"For that 'ultimate' goal, I organized a sworn brotherhood of thirty-six people. We comprehended the Eight Extraordinary Techniques, thinking we had mastered the means to reach the heavens. But later I discovered that they were techniques to bring chaos."

"It's laughable, I thought you were talking nonsense back then, but now it seems that you, Brother Wuxian, were more farsighted. In this game of chess, I was one move behind you."

"I've discovered that the true 'way' isn't in the techniques."

"If you come with that 'child,' it means the wheels of fate are still turning."

She may be perfect, or she may be flawed; she is the key, but the lock is not with me.

"Go to the Tang Clan and find Xu Xin. If he's still alive, you might have the answer."

"—Respectfully submitted by a failed seeker of truth."

The letter has been read.

Su Wuxian remained silent for a long time.

The letter in his hand suddenly burst into a blue flame and instantly turned to ashes.

"Tang Sect..."