Ying Lingyun had many faults; he was extravagant, luxury-loving, a gambler, and glory seeker, and he wasn’t particularly self-disciplined either, having taken won he just t to hotels for one-night stands more than once.
At the sa ti, he was resolute, ambitious, and indomitable. Even if defeated in public, he would accept the loss with good grace and stand up again after any number of falls, showing an extraordinary capacity.
Combining these flaws and rits, he could be said to have the deanor of an ancient hero, which was the main reason Zhu Ba placed such importance on him. This man truly gave Zhu Ba headaches, yet he couldn’t help but admire him.
Zhu Ba believed that Ying Lingyun wouldn’t let down his daughter because n like Ying Lingyun rarely had lasting romantic attachnts. Having taken on Zhu Ba’s political investnt, he would inevitably take responsibility toward his daughter. He indeed had many moral flaws, but he could always clearly distinguish right from wrong. It was for that reason that he had the heart to kill his adoptive mother, Yinyue.
However, there are always exceptions to everything.
And Yinyue was Ying Lingyun’s exception.
To Ying Lingyun, the woman Yinyue was just too special, too extraordinary. Perhaps he thought he could leave her behind and move on with a new life after killing her, but it wasn’t until everything was over that he might have realized his true feelings.
He regretted it.
Regret is the world’s greatest poison; even a heart as precious as gold can be corroded into a rotten tooth that reeks of decay.
It didn’t take Zhu Ba long to discover that his son-in-law was researching ways to resurrect Yinyue.
Even though Ying Lingyun was a politician with connections in both the mundane society and the abnormal world, he couldn’t have used his influence from one side to affect the order of the other before the Fan Tian Incident. This ant that if he wanted to bring back a Great Evil like Yinyue, he couldn’t use his resources as a politician; and if he tried to utilize his connections in the abnormal world, it would inevitably attract the attention of the Zhu family.
Zhu Ba tried repeatedly to persuade him to abandon this impossible wish, but far from heeding the advice, Ying grew increasingly deranged, ultimately breaking with the Zhu family and even his wife, Zhu Jiu, and vanished without a trace.
Yinyue was like an incessant evil spirit, disrupting Ying Lingyun’s peace in life and driving him to madness in death.
Neither Mr. Zhu nor Zhu Jiu had ever spoken of this to Zhu Shi or Changan, as they did not wish to expose the siblings, still young, to such an embarrassing family matter.
However, now that Zhu Shi had co of age, Mr. Zhu no longer kept the secret and took this opportunity to lay everything out to us.
"That man has gone mad," said Mr. Zhu indifferently. "Once he carried himself freely with the air of an imposing man, but when he broke with us, his eyes were bloodshot, his complexion ashen like dry earth, spitting and howling that he would resurrect that Fox Demon at any cost.
"I had hoped he would see the error of his ways, but he disappeared for years. When we t again, he was already..."
He sighed deeply, lost in his own emotions, as if recalling the head placed on the wooden table in the empty room.
We did not imdiately interrupt his reverie. At the sa ti, I was digesting the information I had heard.
Just now, Mr. Zhu had ntioned the Magic Treasure "Reflection in Water" owned by Ying Lingyun, a treasure that could duplicate superpowers.
And Zhu Shi had once wondered why the Weirdo Maker was able to use Lu Youxun’s ability "possibility avatars." Even if the Human Bureau could completely analyze it, they could not replicate it perfectly. It was a power built upon Lu Youxun’s personal talent, and even if learned by soone else, it couldn’t be exactly reproduced.
But what if the Weirdo Maker didn’t analyze and replicate it, but used the Magic Treasure "Reflection in Water" to directly copy it instead? That might explain it.
Seeing that Mr. Zhu was nearly out of his thoughts, I asked, "Is resurrecting Yinyue a very difficult task?"
"Not ’very difficult,’ but ’impossible.’ Resurrection of the dead has always been considered a divine act, the most difficult feat among all magics and rituals," he said slowly. "Even to resurrect a re mortal requires an enormously vast amount of power, or the fulfillnt of extrely difficult conditions, or both... What more for resurrecting Yinyue, a Great Success Rank Evil?
"According to my speculation, resurrecting Yinyue would require amassing both ’power’ and ’conditions.’ Just for ’power’ alone, it would require the energy of ten Impermanences, which is an impossible task. As for the ’conditions’..."
He paused, thinking for a mont, and then said, "In so savage legends, if an ancestor is to be resurrected, descendants could be used as living sacrifices, which is considered one type of ’condition.’ So I did think once whether Ying Lingyun could be so insane as to use Changan as a living sacrifice to resurrect Yinyue. Although ’a tiger wouldn’t eat its offspring,’ that man was, after all, driven to madness."
"Brother?" Zhu Shi was startled, "But..."
"Yes, only ordinary people can resurrect their own children by living sacrifice. However, ordinary people would never be able to master the great secret thod of bringing the dead back to life. As for the conditions to resurrect a Great Evil, they are even more stringent and cannot be understood by common sense," Mr. Zhu said, "This indicates that Ying Lingyun hasn’t lost his mind to the extent of resorting to filicide. To achieve his wish, let alone sacrificing one of his own sons, even sacrificing ten or a hundred would be far from enough.
"It’s not a matter of quantity. To resurrect Yinyue, it’s necessary for Yinyue herself to be the sacrifice. The conditions for resurrecting a Great Evil are that harsh."
Zhu Shi comnted in scoff, "Wouldn’t that be totally aningless? He needs to resurrect Yinyue first before he can sacrifice her again. But if Yinyue herself is already resurrected, then what’s the need for resurrection... Isn’t this just an infinite loop?"
I ca to understand just how impossible resurrecting Yinyue was.
Then, I recalled the "divine seal" that could grant any wish, and I thought about the Divine Seal Fragnt that Ying Lingyun was suspected of possessing.
Could it be that he plans to fulfill his wishes by collecting the fragnts of the divine seal?
"Speaking of which, I have a question..." Zhu Shi said.
Mr. Zhu nodded, "What’s your question, go ahead, say it."
"My father was an orphan whose parents had died when he was young, and he was adopted by Yinyue pretending to be a human... Why would Yinyue adopt a child?" Zhu Shi asked curiously, "Yinyue must have been recuperating from serious injuries at that ti, right? And according to what you just said, Grandfather, regaining her original strength would have been the most important thing for her.
"Yet, she chose to spend energy nurturing a human child with no blood relation to her during that ti. Even if in reality it might not have taken much effort, it wasn’t necessary to do such a thing, was it?"
"Hmm, I have pondered your question. There are no reliable deductions, but there are so speculations," Mr. Zhu said, "Yinyue is ultimately a Fox Demon, with an inclination for human talents. But she was proud and arrogant, and ordinary talented n didn’t catch her eye.
"So perhaps, during her period of recuperating from serious injuries and having nothing to do, she decided to cultivate a talent that she would find admirable. Although I do not know whether Ying Lingyun’s actual talent ets her expectations, he is at least a man she raised herself, which probably makes him more appealing than any random stray cat or dog."
"Raising him by herself... That’s ’grooming,’ isn’t it?" Zhu Shi said.
Is it my imagination, or does Zhu Shi seem to have a lot of random knowledge?
I rembered the starting point of this sequence of topics.
"Now Ying Lingyun has not only joined the Human Bureau but has also beco what he is now... The Zhu family’s plan to break away from the abnormal world must only be put on hold, right?" I asked, "What are the Zhu family’s plans next? Are you planning to have Zhu Shi marry soone with status and power in the secular society?"
Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhu seed to suddenly beco spirited. He stared at deeply, then asked, "Are you very concerned about my granddaughter’s marriage?"
"Um?" I suddenly felt an unidentifiable pressure co over .
Mr. Zhu said gently and amiably, "You don’t have to worry; I have no intention of interfering in my granddaughter’s marriage."
"I am not really worried either," I said.
"Moreover, to get to the point, the Zhu family isn’t planning to break away from the abnormal world anymore," he said with an unchanged expression, continuing, "Tis have changed. After the Fan Tian Incident, the secular society and the abnormal world are only getting closer, and they will likely beco one before long. Whether it is Extraordinaryism or Governance Ideology that will rule this country, the so-called detachnt from the abnormal world no longer carries any aning.
"In the new era, power is everything. Power and status must be founded on real and substantial strength. This so-called ’strength’ is not the collective power of the past secular society, but the strength of individual powerhouses, like the strength you possess..."
He paused slightly, then spoke very seriously, "I dislike those roundabout ways of speaking, so I’ll just cut to the chase with you, Zhuang Cheng, are you willing to accept the allegiance of the Zhu family?"
"Grandfather?" Zhu Shi suddenly beca restless.
I pondered the words that had been cast ahead, "Allying with ?"
Mr. Zhu straightened his collar, his deanor solemn, and gazed directly at .
"With a gaze alone that can shake, even crush, the Barrier of our Zhu family... this ans that you at least possess the strength of the Great Success Rank. Having such Divine Skills right from the start, perhaps one day, you might beco the new Impermanence, a god walking upon this land."
He repeated his proposition, "If you’re willing to bestow upon the Zhu family the honor of being your close kin, from this day forward, the Zhu family shall go through fire and water for you, without hesitation. What do you say?"
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