Lantern: Reflection of the Peach Blossoms

Chu He stared at Zhou Hui in a daze, as if he didn't understand what he was saying.

"But..." He murmured for a long while, his expression dazed: "But how could you... how could you..."

——How can you not want me?

He who had been armed for a long time, who was wrapped in solid ice, and who was weighed down by countless secrets until his back became stiff and would break if he bent, suddenly disappeared at this moment.

The deeply hidden, lonely, lonely little phoenix, yearning for a little bit of warmth and faith, uttered desperate cries in the weakest place in the depths of his soul.

The rocks collapsed in large chunks, the soil slid down like a torrent, and the underground river channel completely collapsed. The shaking of the ground made the rocks beside them tremble.In the chaos, the gravel hit Phoenix's forehead, but he didn't hide, and he didn't even react.

In the dark, blood flowed down his cheeks from his temple hair. Zhou Hui reached out to wipe away the blood tremblingly, but saw that Fenghuang suddenly grabbed him as if he had found the last straw in a desperate situation: "But if you don't want me... Where else can I go? If I come back, if I come back alive...where else can I go?..."

Thousands of evil ghosts screamed amidst the roar in the distance. It was the Dharma image of the Demon Lord, struggling to stand up from under the pile of rubble.

"Fenghuang, tell me," Zhou Hui rested his bloodstained hand on his cold and beautiful side face, staring intently into Fenghuang's eyes: "—Tell me, what exactly are you going to do? If it is I'll help you block the thunder calamity, it doesn't matter, this is what I want, even if you want to become a Buddha, it doesn't matter, as long as you tell me yourself, let me know..."

However, Fenghuang looked at him desperately and shook his head.

"I can't...Zhou Hui, I can't tell you..."

"You are a big devil. If I do some things, I may not die, but if you know...you will die..."

The earth produced dense cracks like spider webs during the shock, and then gathered into cracks, trembling and shattering into several pieces amidst the terrible creaking sound.

Countless rubble and clods fell into the abyss, and the whole mountain was about to collapse.

"If I come back alive, I will definitely look for you... It's useless for you to drive me away, I will always follow you..." Fenghuang panted violently, and the excessive pressure made his words even a bit ambiguous: "—I will definitely come back, if I can come back..."

He stood up staggeringly, and stood in the middle of the cracked earth with the Buddha bone sword propped up, his expression blank and blank as if he had been abandoned.

That expression suddenly reminded Zhou Hui of memories, the moment when Little Phoenix watched Sakyamuni walking towards the rosette in the Buddhist hall; Zhou Hui, who was watching from the void, felt a deep sorrow.

——However, the cries and tears of such pain are not comparable to this moment.

Compared to this moment, Fenghuang's face was blank and bewildered with tears dried up.

"...You're doing it for Sakyamuni, right?" Zhou Hui finally couldn't help it, and asked desperately, "You did this for that Sakyamuni, right?!"

But Fenghuang seemed to wake up suddenly from a nightmare, looked at him, and nodded slowly after a long time.

"...Yes," he said hoarsely, his voice was weak but firm:

"I'm going……"

The next few words were lost in the earth-shattering shaking, but Zhou Hui saw the mouth shape.

At that moment, he was stunned, and he couldn't even believe his eyes.

·

The ground suddenly trembled, followed by another.Amidst the smoke and dust, one could see the Demon Lord, who looked like a giant, lifted up countless piles of stones, stood up, and came walking with bloody steps.

Phoenix's knife shattered the gate of hell, and it did not cause light damage to the demon's dharma form. In the gunpowder smoke, he could only see his hideous giant face intertwined with flesh and blood, and he was holding Wu Bei, who was soaked in blood all over his body. It can be regarded as strong, but compared with the huge Asura King Fa of the demon king, it is like a little chicken.

"Have you finished expressing your feelings? You should leave after expressing your feelings." The Demon Lord said coldly, "I have learned the lesson from last time and came here to greet you in person. There are still many things waiting for us in the four evil realms—— "

Chuhe took one last deep look at Zhou Hui.

There was indescribable emotion and helpless separation in that gaze, and he closed his eyes for a long while, all weakness and nostalgia disappeared without a trace at that moment.

The fully armed and flawless man returned to the never-ending battlefield.

Chu He turned to face Demon Lord, took a step forward, Zhou Hui roared: "Phoenix!"

However, in the next second, the demon king's scorched hand opened in the air, and the hurricane formed a vortex and turned into a black hole, which suddenly stretched and lengthened in the blink of an eye, forming a space crack with a length of one foot and a width of one foot in the void.

Zhou Hui roared: "Stop—" and then rushed forward!

"Ah, I forgot." At this moment, Mozun looked at Wu Bei in his hand and wrote lightly.

He grabbed Wu Bei's hands and stretched them in opposite directions, like a ferocious beast tearing apart a defenseless prey. With a sudden force, he was about to tear Wu Bei in two easily——

Zhou Hui's complexion changed drastically, and he rushed forward like lightning, but Chuhe, who was closer to him, was faster, and jumped in front of the demon king in the blink of an eye!

Before the demon could dodge in time, the phoenix swung his wrist and slashed horizontally. The Buddha bone knife shone with dazzling golden light and slashed right in front of his eyes!

The Demon King retreated in the strong energy hurricane, his heavy footsteps caused vibrations, and then shrunk back into a human form.The sharp fan-shaped golden light flew over his head, cutting off countless huge boulders one after another, without slowing down, and instantly submerged into the mountain wall!

Wu Bei fell from mid-air, was caught by Fenghuang, and then turned around and threw it away.

——He must have done it on purpose, leaving Wu Bei in the direction of a pile of sharp boulders, if no one caught him, his body would probably be broken into several pieces.

Zhou Hui didn't have time to make other reactions, and immediately disappeared in place, and the next moment he appeared in front of the boulder pile, "Boom!" A loud sound blocked Wu Bei's free-falling body!

Immediately after he raised his head, Chuhe turned around in the strong wind and walked towards the space crack.

"Phoenix—!"

That voice seemed to resound in the depths of the soul, Chuhe's heart seemed to be grasped by an invisible giant hand, and twisted into a pool of hideous flesh and blood.

He was panting, his fingers were convulsed, he grabbed the Buddha bone knife tremblingly, and swung his wrist back.

--boom!

The golden light pierced through the void, smashed countless rocks into powder, poured down, and instantly blocked Zhou Hui's footsteps!

"The mountain is about to collapse..." Fenghuang said softly without turning his head, "Go back...I love you."

Zhou Hui's pupils constricted, he trembled slightly, and his limbs were almost numb.

Phoenix took a step forward and was swallowed into the endless darkness.

——This is actually such a similar scene. When the Six Groups encircled and suppressed the Hell Dao, Fenghuang also betrayed him in the same way, abandoned him, and only looked back at him for the last time, before resolutely leaving with Demon Lord Fanluo.

There seemed to be a lot of words hidden in that last gaze, and it seemed that it was just a simple, meaningless glance at him.That scene had appeared in Zhou Hui's nightmares thousands of times, causing him to toss and turn in agony; he had searched for possible footprints of the phoenix countless times in the vast sea of ​​people, trying to trace the impossible words in that gaze, but no matter how far away he was, , Mountains and rivers are repeated, but I can't find the light and light answer in Midnight Dream.

Now he finally knows.

That's just saying, go back, I love you.

·

Wangjia Snow Mountain let out a long and sharp cry, and then collapsed in silence.

At that moment, a hundred miles around was violently shaken, the ground cracked, the snow tide landslide, and the permafrost shattered into countless pieces; mountains and rocks weighing several thousand catties scrambled to fall into the abyss, and in the strong wind, they made a sharp whistle-like sound.

The magic barrier supported Zhou Hui and Wu Bei soaring upwards, passing through the chaotic land, to the gray sky filled with smoke and dust.

Zhou Hui held onto the edge of the barrier tightly and looked down at the ground, watching helplessly as the black cave entrance was crushed and filled, and dozens of miles of land sank.His hands were bruised due to excessive force. If someone saw his face at this time, it must be very scary.

—He knew it was too late.

The gate of the space of Mozun Fanluo was closed, presumably at this time, Phoenix had come to the end of the handover between the human world and hell.

Zhou Hui took a deep, trembling breath, feeling that his lungs were filled with bloody, dusty and rusty air, so hot that he clutched his fleshy chest tightly, as if his internal organs were curled up in severe pain into a ball.

He should hate Phoenix.This man abandoned him again, without saying a word, and left with another man in front of him.

But as long as Zhou Hui closes his eyes, what springs up in his heart is not hatred, but Phoenix standing there pale and blank, as if standing in a chaotic and absurd nightmare, separated by the chaotic situation and the overturned earth. Looking at him, the words spoken silently——

Yes, because of Sakyamuni.

I have to go... kill him.

·

In the void, the junction of the human world and hell.

The Human World Monument is like a smooth gray stone tower, quietly standing in the center of the Six Paths.Phoenix stepped forward to look up at it, and stopped a few meters away.

He still belongs to the human world behind him, and hell is in front of him.

There was the sickening smell of rotting flesh being charred in the air, and the wailing and indistinct wailing of ghosts floating in the distance.Fenghuang stood there motionless, his eyes slightly blank, his beautiful and pale face showed no expression at all, it was completely impossible to see what he was thinking.

Mozun Fanluo's footsteps came from behind, and he stopped behind Phoenix for a while.

"—Why, standing here in memory of Zhou Hui?"

Phoenix withdrew his gaze and didn't answer.

"I think you were quite sad just now, and you didn't care about my feeling of accepting the order at all. Why did you return to the ice-cold mode in a blink of an eye? Hey, I don't know if I should be jealous when you are like this, so you still... "

"Stop pretending, Fan Luo." Fenghuang said softly, "You need me in your plan to attack the human world, that's all."

Mozun's complexion changed, and his bewitching pupils narrowed instantly.

However, before he had time to say anything, he only heard Fenghuang say: "Stand back."

"...What did you say—"

"Stand back, the golden ring lock on my spine will blow up my body the moment I step over the Human Boundary Monument, leaving only my soul in hell."

The Mozun stopped in astonishment.

Fenghuang took a deep breath and stepped forward slowly.

Not knowing whether it was an illusion or other reasons, he once again felt the faint pain of the golden ring lock penetrating the bone marrow on his lumbar spine, as if silently predicting the tragic scene that would happen next.In fact, the pain should have disappeared a long time ago, but it was really uncomfortable when he wore it at the beginning. He still remembered that when he was just caught in H City, Zhou Hui locked him in the barrier and forced him to escape in spite of resistance. The lock was pierced through his spine, and the severe pain that spread all over his body made him almost scream and bite off his hand even if he was pressed down by Zhou Hui...

But the pain disappeared soon, probably because that part of the nerve was paralyzed.Instead, whenever it was cloudy or late at night, the place where the bone marrow and the golden ring lock were attached would always feel cold, which would make him tremble in his sleep, and he would unconsciously get close to Zhou Hui's body that radiated heat, so that every morning he felt cold. She woke up curled up tightly in that man's arms.

If you are in the soul state, you shouldn't feel cold...

Phoenix closed his eyes.

It must be because it was too cold, even the tears were frozen, not a single drop could flow out.

He walked to the side of the Human Boundary Monument, stopped for a while, stood there and slowly exhaled the air from his lungs, as if he wanted to completely expel all the chill and fear from his body.Then he raised his foot again and stepped over the Human Boundary Monument——

The moment it landed, there was no explosion.

At the same time, a shining arc of light flew out from under the collar on his chest—it turned out to be the ring hanging around his neck!

The diamond on the ring emits a dazzling silver light, and the micro-carvings inside are reflected, reflecting a dazzling phoenix spreading its wings in mid-air!

—— Immediately after, Qingxiao resounded from all directions in the void, and the light and shadow of the phoenix seemed to be given life in an instant, dancing lightly in the gorgeous light, echoing out circles of soul-stirring ripples.

Demon Venerable said in astonishment: "This... this is?!"

The light and shadow of the phoenix descended slowly around Chuhe's body, and thousands of tail feathers were like gentle water waves in the sea of ​​light, drooping and gathering one by one, as if spreading out a brilliant galaxy that fell nine days.

In the next second, the light and shadow shrunk sharply and became brighter, turning into the phoenix form carved inside the ring lock. The feathers and wings were exactly the same, and then it was accurately sucked into the golden ring lock behind the spine.

——In an instant, the original phoenix pattern in the lock completely overlapped with the light and shadow of the phoenix that was put into it, as if the key was precisely aligned with the lock cylinder. on the ground!

Demon Venerable said in amazement: "Why is this?!"

Phoenix's expression was indescribable, he looked down at the ring on his chest, and raised his hand to hold it for a while.

It turns out that this...

It turns out that this is the key to the golden ring lock!

——Phoenix grasped the ring deeply and tightly in his palm, clenched his teeth so tightly that his face became a bit stiff at the end of his battle.He thought of the thousands of miles of permafrost under the starry sky, and the wedding ring that Zhou Hui offered when he knelt down on one knee. It turned out that at that moment, he had already handed over the key to unlock the golden ring lock to himself!

"I will definitely... I will definitely come back..."

Fenghuang thought over and over again, the voice in his head was trembling and clear, as if he wanted to drive this thought deep into his heart.

"Even if I am burned to ashes by the fire, I will... definitely return to you..."

Volume Four: The Long Night Frozen