অধ্যায় একশত একত্রিশ: মৃত্যুর ফুল

“原来is like this. You did say one thing right, I have seen many strange plants here, especially one place, that is simply a scene you cannot imagine,” the red-haired man laughed, as long as he knew Zhang Tianyu’s interests and hobbies, everything would be easy to handle. “Oh? You wouldn't lie to me, would you?” Zhang Tianyu asked with a look of doubt.

“What good would it do me to lie to you? First of all, that thing is indeed a plant, but once you see it, you will surely find it hard to believe that such a plant could exist,” the red-haired man smiled.

“Fine, then you lead the way and let me go see what kind of magical plant it really is,” Tianyu could not help laughing upon hearing this. From the very beginning, he knew this fellow was deceiving him, but Zhang Tianyu had not expected his acting skills to be so superb.

“Alright, let’s go.” The red-haired man led Zhang Tianyu forward, while one hand behind his back made a completion gesture to those behind him. The two giants observing from a distance both smiled when they saw this. As long as Zhang Tianyu was lured into that place, there would be no problem at all. No matter how high Zhang Tianyu's cultivation level was, he would never be able to escape from that place, and everything was foolproof.

The red-haired man led Zhang Tianyu all the way forward into the remote mountains. Along the way, he also introduced many unique plants to Zhang Tianyu, capturing his attention and step by step luring him into the place he wanted him to enter.

“How do you know so much?” Zhang Tianyu was indeed surprised, because he possessed the Heroic Spirit Domain Scanning System. According to data analysis, these plants were identical to what the red-haired man described, proving that he was extremely proficient.

“Before I became my master’s disciple, I was an alchemist, and what I loved most was this great nature. My dream at that time was to quietly study in this great nature,” the red-haired man replied calmly.

“Is that so? That’s really not bad. Why did you later join the immortal sect?” Zhang Tianyu looked at the red-haired man named Wang Wei. “There are many helplessness in life, just like us right now,” the red-haired man replied very calmly, but to Zhang Tianyu, it sounded full of vicissitudes.

“Is that so? I can feel it... It seems you don’t really like it here.” Zhang Tianyu extracted this fellow's data from the Heroic Spirit Domain Scanning System, and the data was very strange. “No one would like it here. This place is full of slaughter and dangerous magical monsters everywhere. So if I were you, I would leave this place quickly, as far away as possible,” the red-haired man replied faintly. “Is that so? Then why don’t you leave this place?” Zhang Tianyu asked.

“Because my master is here,” the red-haired man replied faintly.

“I don’t think that’s a reason. Could it be that you want to leave, but your master is unwilling?” Zhang Tianyu smiled while observing his surroundings. From beginning to end, there were people monitoring him and the red-haired man from a distance, and now was no exception. Yet this red-haired man was very strange; on one hand, he was tricking him into moving forward, but on the other hand, he kept hinting that it was very dangerous here and wanted him to leave. The things he described were indeed terrifying, but such terror was not enough to frighten him, which made Zhang Tianyu feel curious about Wang Wei.

“These are two different things, Chen Long. The place I am taking you to is almost here. Look ahead.” The red-haired man looked forward. Ahead was a beautiful garden glowing with a faint blue light.

Zhang Tianyu was stunned on the spot. The scenery before him was as beautiful as a hallucination; giant blue flowers were blooming in the garden, and a faint blue light flickered in the air, simply breathtaking. A faint fragrance emanated from the flowers. Zhang Tianyu sensed a spiritual breath extremely similar to the Tree of Life from the flowers before him, something he had never expected.

“It is truly extremely beautiful. What kind of flower is this?” Zhang Tianyu looked in surprise at the blooming blue flowers and could not help asking. “We usually call it the Heavenly Spirit Flower. It is a very magical flower, a very magical flower...” the red-haired man smiled and said.

“Is that so? It really is a very magical flower...” Zhang Tianyu couldn't help sighing with emotion, and turned to look at Wang Wei, but Wang Wei had already vanished. Zhang Tianyu felt a shock and a sense of impending doom, only to find that his entire body was paralyzed.

“Tianyan, initiate scan and analysis.” Zhang Tianyu found that he could not move and could not independently operate the Heroic Spirit Domain System. “Yes, Master.” Tianyan quickly activated the Heroic Spirit Domain System and began scanning Zhang Tianyu and everything around him. But it seemed a bit too late; Zhang Tianyu's ears began to ring, and his consciousness began to blur.

Zhang Tianyu did not know that at this moment, his body had begun to glow with a faint phosphorescence. From the moment Zhang Tianyu smelled that floral fragrance, subtle changes had already begun in his body. The petals of the giant flowers began to open and close, spraying out numerous pollen grains, which quickly engulfed Zhang Tianyu.

“Farewell, Chen Long. I am very glad to have had you chat with me along this journey.” Ever since entering this place, Wang Wei had stopped breathing. Until Zhang Tianyu fell into the floral fragrance, Wang Wei quickly vanished from the spot, distancing himself from here, and then watched everything happening from a distance. Seeing Zhang Tianyu enveloped by the pink pollen, Wang Wei left the place, because once enveloped by the pollen of the Heavenly Spirit Flower, Zhang Tianyu was basically beyond saving.

Underneath Zhang Tianyu's feet and around him, sprouts rapidly emerged, and then a giant flower grew from beneath his feet and wrapped around Zhang Tianyu... Zhang Tianyu's surroundings were directly submerged by those strange flowers, and from the outside, one could vaguely see Zhang Tianyu's fresh blood being sucked out by the demonic flowers and merged into the flower bodies.

At this moment, Zhang Tianyu had fallen into a strange illusion. He found himself turned into a very strange person; his parents were killed by an evil dragon, and that painful feeling was still vivid in his mind. Then an evil person took a fancy to him and accepted him as a disciple. He experimented on him, and he himself became his tool for slaughtering everywhere. Eventually, he killed him, comprehended terrifying power, destroyed the evil dragon clan, and transformed an extremely terrifying enemy of his into his shikigami—none other than the Heavenly Wind Evil King.

From the moment Zhang Tianyu saw the Heavenly Wind Evil King, he knew this was neither a dream nor his own memory. This should be the memory of the renowned Evil God Yufeng. Zhang Tianyu had read materials about Yufeng; the evil dragon clan was indeed destroyed by Yufeng, and as for why she destroyed them, Zhang Tianyu only knew now.

What on earth was going on? Zhang Tianyu wanted to roar loudly, but it was useless. Yufeng's memories still continuously presented themselves before Zhang Tianyu's eyes—her joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness, including everything about her. Coincidentally, Zhang Tianyu possessed the Quick-Memorization Codex and had a photographic memory; everything was deeply engraved in his mind.

“Enough! Enough! Don’t do this anymore! I am not you. Why do you appear in my mind? What kind of game is this?” The angry Zhang Tianyu roared loudly, but it was to no avail. Zhang Tianyu did not hate those images; rather, he hated the feeling—extreme pain, extreme heaviness, extreme sorrow. That feeling was tightly linked to his own senses.

Even when his mother left, Zhang Tianyu had never felt such pain. He could not help shedding two lines of clear tears and finally broke down crying. The pain of losing family, the pain of losing a lover, the pain of being betrayed and sold out, the pain of being hunted down—all kinds of agony instantly poured into Zhang Tianyu's entire body, searing themselves into his bones and heart. Zhang Tianyu finally understood how much Chen Kai's heart hurt, because part of the memories before him were extremely similar to Chen Kai's.

With the massive influx of memories, Zhang Tianyu saw all the memories of the Evil God Yufeng and helplessly remembered them by heart. He also finally understood that the legendary Evil God Yufeng turned out to be an absolute beauty. After being infused with a certain amount of memories, Zhang Tianyu found himself appearing in a blood-colored world, surrounded everywhere by a blood mist, which gathered into a face and appeared before him.

“Enough! Get the hell out here! Kill me or carve me up however you please, there is no need to torture me like this!” The angry Zhang Tianyu had no idea where the enemy was and could only roar loudly.

“I'm sorry, it seems you are troubled by what you felt, but if I didn't do this, it would be very difficult for me to appear, nor would I have any way to integrate my power into your body.” The blood-colored giant face slowly dissipated, transforming into a human form that appeared before Zhang Tianyu.

“Why is it so painful and so heavy?” Zhang Tianyu said. “Because my power is just this painful and this heavy. I am glad that you ultimately endured and accepted it.”

“Accept you? Those things belong to you, they have nothing to do with me! Although I don’t know what is going on, I remember you should already be dead. Do you want to borrow my physical body to resurrect? I hope you like this male body.” Zhang Tianyu forced a bitter smile, gazing at this blood shadow. The books he had read described the Evil God Yufeng as cruel and bloody, but never mentioned her desolate life experience. If she truly were the Evil God Yufeng, seizing his physical body should have been effortless.

“I am saving you, Zhang Tianyu,” the blood shadow slowly spoke.

“Is that so? I am truly moved. In that case, can you tell me how you appeared inside my body?” Zhang Tianyu asked. In his view, this murderous and terrifying evil god was not someone who would play the hero saving a man so simply.

“I don’t know! But perhaps it is related to something beside me. I was planted inside your body and must have been sleeping inside you all along until you went to the City of Bliss, where your intense pain finally awakened me. Now you cannot reject my power. Without my power to protect you, you will instantly be sucked dry, and if you are sucked dry, I will also disappear. So our lives are tied together now.” The blood shadow's tone was as steady as ever, and Zhang Tianyu could not sense a single emotional fluctuation from her.

“That sentence sounds somewhat true. What on earth are those flowers? Do you have a way to break them?” Zhang Tianyu asked. Regardless of how she got in, without her, he would already be dead.

“I cannot answer your question, because I have never seen them either,” Yufeng replied to Zhang Tianyu. “So I have no way to help you break them; I can only barely keep your life safe with my power.”

“Is that so...” Zhang Tianyu sighed with emotion. If so, he would only be able to stay like this forever, trapped inside the flowers forever. “Why did you appear only now? Because I am about to die?”

“You could say that, because a powerful force prevented normal communication between you and me. But this time is different; you are about to die, and that is something neither I nor that force want to see. However, I have already done my best; blame only yourself for not being vigilant enough to be lured into this place,” Yufeng replied.

“I am so glad to hear you say that.” Zhang Tianyu truly hadn't expected to stumble here.

“The opportunity has come, Zhang Tianyu. I never thought you would be so lucky. Accept my power! As long as you accept my power, I can let you dominate the entire continent.” Yufeng finally dissipated in the conversation.

“Accept you? If I accept you, I'll become neither male nor female. How can I face anyone?” Zhang Tianyu was extremely dissatisfied with Yufeng, because the pain just now was more than he could bear; he had almost suffered a mental breakdown and turned into a pitiful lunatic. If his mind had broken, Yufeng would have smoothly taken over his physical body.

Not long after Zhang Tianyu was swallowed by the flowers and Wang Wei left, a few seeds flew from a tree not far away, landing beside the flowers that wrapped around Zhang Tianyu. The seeds then rapidly grew into vines that entangled the flower cluster enveloping him.

However, it was useless; the moment these vines tightly bound the flowers, they instantly withered away. Seeing that the seeds failed, a flash of light lit up on the tree trunk, and a figure flew out from it—none other than Lian Hua.

Lian Hua shook her head helplessly, gazing at Zhang Tianyu before her. She knew she had to hurry. Two daggers were already grasped in her hands, glowing with spiritual light as they were hurled rapidly forward. The daggers rushed forth shining with spiritual light, but the moment they made contact with the flowers, the spiritual light on them vanished completely, and the daggers simply pierced directly into the flowers, leaving Lian Hua with no way to control them any further.

Lian Hua frowned, looking at Zhang Tianyu. Although she didn't know why Zhang Tianyu hadn't died yet, she knew it might not be far off. Gathering her qi rapidly once more, Lian Hua tried with all her might to control the daggers, but it was useless; the moment her power entered the cluster of flowers, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, completely meaningless.

Lian Hua speechlessly stared at the flower cluster before her. With a flick of her fingers, a fire-type incantation manifested on her body, transforming into a terrifying surging flame. After the terrifying flames engulfed the flower clusters, they were quickly swallowed up as if entering a black hole.

“What on earth kind of cursed flowers are these?” Lian Hua looked at the flower cluster in the distance in surprise. “I'm sorry, Zhang Tianyu, I hope you can survive.” Lian Hua took two or three steps, finally stopped, and turned around, looking at Zhang Tianyu with conflicting eyes.

“Zhang Tianyu, oh Zhang Tianyu, you really are a scoundrel. I really don't know what my sister ever saw in you!” Lian Hua cursed loudly and acted swiftly, her body rapidly merging into the shadows before stealthily rushing forward. After all, strange creatures were monitoring everywhere here, so she was extremely cautious. Relying on her powerful concealment arts, she rapidly shuttled between the trees to reach her intended destination.

Finally, Lian Hua stopped beside a black tree, took out a glass bottle, channeled spiritual light onto her hand to gently slice the tree trunk, poured all the black liquid from the tree trunk into the container bottle, and returned to Zhang Tianyu's side. However, she dared not get close, merely throwing the glass bottle over. Then, a small pebble shot directly from Lian Hua's hand and struck the glass bottle just as it was positioned above the flowers, shattering the bottle and causing the black liquid to spill all over the flowers.