Tempting The God - Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Opportunity
“I am fine.”
Lin Mozhi was different than usual.
His voice was deep and somber, with an undetectable hint of hoarseness at the end, and his eyes held a touch of coldness.
However, when he looked at Shen Jixue, the frost in his eyes instantly faded, replaced by a gentle expression like the golden glow of a setting sun.
He comforted her, saying, “Do not worry.”
Shen Jixue tried to force a smile, but her nose tickled with a sudden bitterness, and the tears she had been holding back finally rolled down.
Luyi walked in while rubbing her waist and sighed.
“The whole point of sending you away was so you wouldn’t find out. You just had to run back to investigate. You truly are as stubborn as a mule.”
She moved past Shen Jixue to continue cleaning the bloodstained bandages on the table, carefully placing a palm sized, eerie black bottle onto a tray.
“Young Master, Xu Chang should be back soon. I will give this to him and let him deliver it.”
Lin Mozhi nodded in agreement.
Seeing Shen Jixue’s face full of questions, he beckoned to her.
“Ah Xue, come and sit.”
She did as told, moving forward two steps to sit on the low stool by the bed.
Lin Mozhi picked up the white silk near his hand and tied it back over his eyes.
After a moment of silence, he said, “There is nothing about this that cannot be told to you. Since you discovered it today, I will tell you everything.”
He closed his eyes, his brow furrowing slightly as if falling into a painful memory.
He began to recount the past slowly.
“The wounds on my body are from taking heart blood. Once a month, for ten years now.”
Shen Jixue was shocked.
Heart blood was the concentrated essence of one’s spirit.
Regardless of race, it was an extremely vital substance.
Losing even a single drop required a long period of recuperation to recover.
He had actually been taking heart blood every month for ten years.
No wonder his eyes had become like this.
His body was likely on its last legs, nearing the end of its life.
“The heart blood is then placed into a dark green porcelain bottle carved with runes and sent to my father. He uses it as a medicinal primer for his alchemy to increase his cultivation level.”
Lin Mozhi’s tone was flat, yet his words were shocking.
Although such methods were recorded in ancient texts, they were ultimately considered inferior paths.
Moreover, in this world, every action has its consequence.
To use the refined essence of a living person to create pills for cultivation is to invite karmic retribution.
Even if cultivation could be increased in the short term, it could never compare to a Golden Core formed through self breakthrough.
It was not a matter of if, but when retribution would arrive.
One day, karma would descend upon him to collect the price for stealing another person’s essence.
Lin Shuiyu, a mere human cultivator, was truly audacious to use such bloody and evil arts to boost his power.
Did he not fear the day disaster would strike?
Shen Jixue frowned, her expression puzzled.
“Young Master, why do you not resist him?”
“Resist?” Lin Mozhi sneered.
“It is not as if I never wanted to resist.”
“Ah xue, do you know? When my mother was sealed away in that remote courtyard by my father, I was only eight or nine years old.”
He let out a deep sigh filled with endless regret.
“Although I had been tested and found to have a Heaven grade Lightning Spiritual Root, I had not yet stepped onto the path of cultivation. At that time, Lin Shuiyu had not yet torn off his mask of a loving father. He was still somewhat affectionate toward me.”
“I secretly made up my mind to practice hard in the future and find a way to cure my mother. But I did not expect things to change so quickly.”
Hatred flashed across his face.
“Everything changed the moment that woman entered the manor.”
“At first, she feigned closeness to me. When she saw I refused to accept her, she offered me poisoned wine at the Spring Festival banquet, completely destroying my spiritual root.”
Shen Jixue was stunned.
The most common substance used to destroy a spiritual root was likely something like Spiritual Incinerating Powder.
It was colorless and odorless, and only effective against those below the Golden Core stage.
There were many despicable people who used it to harm others.
The powder was as toxic as its name suggested.
After ingestion, one would have no peace for three days and nights, as if fire were burning through the meridians.
Not only was the spiritual root “burned,” but all meridians in the body were also destroyed, making it impossible to accumulate spiritual energy ever again.
Even a Heaven grade Marrow Cleansing Pill would be useless.
What a cruel and vicious heart.
Spiritual roots were divided into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.
Singular elements were the most prized.
In addition to the five elements of Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, there were four mutated roots: Wind, Mist, Ice, and Lightning.
Among them, the Lightning root was the best.
Those with Lightning roots were naturally attuned to the laws of heaven and earth, making their tribulations slightly easier than others.
She had heard that the human Sword Sovereign of the Xuanxiao Sect possessed a Heaven grade Lightning Spiritual Root.
With such a root, Lin Mozhi might have become a powerhouse on the level of a second Sword Sovereign.
The benefits he could have brought to the Lin family would have far exceeded Lin Moyu entering the Xuanxiao Sect.
By offering that cup of poisoned wine, the Lady of the Manor had cut off Lin Mozhi’s path to the Dao, and in doing so, she had cut off the Lin family’s future as a first rate cultivation clan.
Lin Shuiyu, as the head of the family, was truly so short sighted that he was stupider than a pig.
Shen Jixue felt disdain in her heart but observed Lin Mozhi without showing it.
She suddenly felt a sense of admiration for him.
Setting aside the fact that he was the reincarnation of a Divine Lord, the experiences of this single lifetime were far beyond what an ordinary person could endure.
He started with loving parents and a happy family, only for his mother to go mad overnight and for him to fall from being a favored genius to a disabled person.
To suffer such a tragic upheaval and not go insane showed how resilient his character was.
Shen Jixue’s thoughts shifted.
No wonder he detested wine so much that he couldn’t even stand the smell.
“Ah xue,” Lin Mozhi also thought of his harsh scolding that day and said apologetically, “That day, when I suddenly smelled the wine, the pain of the past resurfaced in my heart, causing me to speak without thinking. Are you willing to forgive me?”
“It was not the Young Master’s fault,” she said indignantly.
“It was the fault of those two, those two wicked people.”
Lin Mozhi’s expression suddenly relaxed, the corners of his mouth curving slightly as he gave a soft hum of affirmation.
He paused for a moment before continuing.
“After turning me into a useless person, that woman found a rogue cultivator from somewhere. He claimed I was an immortal reincarnated to undergo tribulations and that using my heart blood to refine pills could increase cultivation. How utterly ridiculous.”
Shen Jixue was startled.
Before she could ask more, she heard Lin Mozhi go on.
“Lin Shuiyu’s talent is low, and it is difficult for him to form a core. He was originally skeptical, but that woman held the pill recipe and urged him on. In the end, he could not resist the temptation of reaching the Golden Core stage and laid hands on me.”
Speaking to this point, his voice was no longer flat but full of hate.
“I resisted with all my might, but I never expected that woman to target my mother!”
“My mother was already mad, yet she still would not let her go. She learned evil arts from that rogue cultivator and conspired with Lin Shuiyu to place the Heart Devouring Curse on my mother. They even only allow me to see her once a year, using this to coerce me into providing heart blood every month.”
He clenched his hands into fists, his nails digging deep into his palms.
“This art is extremely sinister. The victim must consume the blood of the caster every month, otherwise they will suffer the pain of a devouring heart. After three days, the heart will rot, and they will die.”
The Heart Devouring Curse?
Shen Jixue was confused.
The books in the Night Platform spanned ancient and modern times across the six realms, yet she had never seen a book that recorded such a curse.
She lowered her eyes in thought. Based on Lin Mozhi’s description, the so called Heart Devouring Curse sounded more like the secret medicine of the Shura Clan: Blood Mara.
Blood Mara was originally a poisonous flower that grew in the Shura Realm.
Contact with its sap would cause the affected area to rot.
It was used by the Shura Clan to create a secret medicine to control the beings of the six realms.
Tens of thousands of years ago, the Shura Clan nearly took control of the six realms.
The Blood Mara, the Shura Seal, and the Blood Moon Spirit Flower played huge roles in that.
Those poisoned by Blood Mara needed to take a pill every month made from the powdered leaves of the flower mixed with other secret ingredients to alleviate the pain and sustain life.
But Blood Mara had no cure.
Even with the pills, there would eventually come a day when the oil ran dry and the lamp went out.
It simply depended on the victim’s cultivation level.
The higher the cultivation, the longer they could endure.
For Lin Mozhi’s mother to hold on for ten years, she must be at least at the Golden Core stage to withstand so many years of attrition.
Otherwise, her soul would have returned to the void long ago.
Strange.
If it really was Blood Mara, the entire Shura Clan had been sealed in the Endless Abyss thousands of years ago.
How did the Lady of the Manor obtain a secret Shura medicine?
Shen Jixue frowned and asked indirectly, “That rogue cultivator must not be a proper cultivator, otherwise how would he know such terrifying evil arts! Has the Young Master looked for him again? Perhaps you could get the antidote for the curse?”
Lin Mozhi shook his head with great regret.
“At that time, I was still young and had not yet taken control of the Jinkui Pavillion. I only learned about the rogue cultivator later when Lin Shuiyu told me to threaten me.”
“I sent people to investigate, but so much time has passed that the person is nowhere to be found.”
Shen Jixue’s doubts grew even stronger.
If that rogue cultivator truly mastered the method of refining Blood Mara…
The room fell into silence.
Lin Mozhi did not tell Shen Jixue that once the people from the Xuanxiao Sect came tomorrow to recruit disciples, and once Lin Momei entered the sect, he would have no more value to Lin Shuiyu.
Although Lin Momei had a Heaven grade dual root, entering the inner sect of the Xuanxiao Sect would not be a problem.
As the leader of the three great sects, even an ordinary inner disciple could obtain resources far beyond what this remote Snow City could offer.
At that time, Lin Shuiyu would obtain better pills to increase his cultivation, and the date of Lin Mozhi’s death would likely be near.
Even if Lin Shuiyu had no intention of killing him, that woman would never let him go.
She likely blamed the death of Lin Moyu on him.
He had no intention of telling Shen Jixue this.
He had been stuck in this mire for a long time, taking heart blood for years and barely surviving on countless precious supplements.
He had originally thought that even if he died, he would drag that treacherous couple to hell with him.
But he had seen hope in Shen Jixue, and so his desire was no longer death.
Warmth suddenly came to Lin Mozhi’s hand.
Shen Jixue covered his hand with her own, filled with a vitality completely different from his.
“Young Master, let us rescue your mother and run away.”
Without waiting for him to respond, Shen Jixue thought about it and continued, “As for the poison in your mother’s body, we can find a few rogue cultivators with high cultivation. While rescuing her, we can kidnap the Family Head and take some of his blood. That should keep her safe.”
She paused and said softly, “I think that for her, perhaps dying grandly in freedom is much better than living in a daze while imprisoned in a corner.”
The golden eyes beneath the white silk suddenly opened, meeting the clear eyes of the person before him.
She looked at him with such expectation that he could not help but want to reach out and grab this straw.
“Okay.”
His hand slowly tightened, holding Shen Jixue’s hand back.
His tone was solemn.
Whether it was for Shen Jixue, for his mother, or for Luyi and Xu Chang, he had to try.
He had lost enough.
He was already a dying man, so what did it matter if he risked his life?
Even if…
Even if he could not escape, he would protect them.
Seeing his determined expression, Shen Jixue’s eyes crinkled into a smile.
It seemed the opportunity she was waiting for would arrive very soon.
Changyuan, you probably haven’t tasted the feeling of being betrayed by the one you desperately want to protect, have you?
She lowered her eyes to hide the coldness within.
A love tribulation, a love tribulation. How could there be love without the tribulation?
She would give him hope, then personally send him into the abyss.
