After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 37

A vast radiance suddenly descended, illuminating the dim cavern as bright as day.

The scattered decay fireflies rapidly dissolved, vanishing in an instant like fine snow under sunlight. For the first time in tens of thousands of years, this sealed mountain cavern was exposed to such brilliant light. Without the shadows and hazy glow, the mountain cavern revealed its nearly desolate emptiness. As the only living thing within the cave, that enormous vine appeared lonely and forlorn against the backdrop of this vast, deathly silent space.

The translucent white tendrils at the top of the vine instinctively curled up, emanating a pale mist to wrap around itself. But this poisonous fog dissolved in mere moments, and the radiance shone upon the vine without obstruction. The vine trembled, yet this radiance did not scorch it. That power was warm and vast, inclusive and lofty, like clouds traveling across the sky, only occasionally casting a faint shadow, not treading upon the mortal realm, and thus not harming even ants.

Yet the vine still trembled involuntarily, for it had suddenly witnessed this overwhelmingly magnificent scene—like a cicada that had lived underground for seventeen years seeing the surface world for the first time.

A hazy figure was shrouded in light, dressed in white robes with black hair, wide sleeves flowing in the wind. When his gaze lowered, it was as if the stars and galaxies of the Nine Heavens were falling.

“High God?” Ding Qin exclaimed in astonishment.

She had originally only intended to borrow power through the divine seal, but why had High God Li Chi manifested himself?

……

Li Chi had not come in his true body, but rather through the art of divine manifestation, using divine power to condense a shadow here.

He had originally been sorting through memories at the Li Manor when he suddenly sensed Ding Qin borrowing power from him through the divine seal. Li Chi’s gaze followed the connection of the divine seal and looked over. Through Ding Qin’s eyes, he saw this mountain cavern.

Li Chi already knew what she sought from Ding Qin’s prayers. Leaving this mountain did not require his divine manifestation, but from this cavern, he sensed an extremely peculiar aura.

This trace of aura was extremely similar to what he had previously sensed from the Dream-Eating Tapir. However, Ding Qin’s current abilities were still insufficient; through her eyes, what Li Chi could see was still too limited.

Divine consciousness connected, divine power surged, and following the mysterious connection, Li Chi manifested here.

Looking at this cavern with his own eyes, he indeed discovered the problem.

This cavern, which had nearly hollowed out the entire mountain, was not naturally formed but man-made.

Deep within the cavern’s rock walls, a massive formation lay hidden, wrapping the entire cavern tightly. It was precisely because this formation supported it that the mountain body had not collapsed from being hollowed out.

Li Chi also saw the poison in the pool. The poison had already developed spiritual resonance. Its fierce nature could even corrode gold and jade, dissolve magical power. One careless step, and even someone accomplished in cultivation would likely perish. This was just an ordinary mountain—without the formation’s support, it would have long been completely eroded by the poison pool, leaving only a poison pool sinkhole.

As for the old vine in the pool… Li Chi only glanced at it briefly. He had some knowledge of this old vine, but it had been too deeply affected by the poison pool. Its appearance and characteristics had all changed. It only vaguely triggered some recognition, but for now, he could not recall what species this old vine actually was.

Bound by cause and effect, Li Chi exercised his divine sight and had already seen what had happened here. He lowered his eyes to look into the pool. His clear gaze seemed able to see through the obstruction of the old vine and pool water, falling directly onto Mutou’s true body at the bottom of the pool.

Mutou couldn’t help but shudder, uncontrollably feeling awe and fear in his heart. The bitter vine that grew by absorbing his vital essence also trembled.

Li Chi withdrew his gaze and looked at Ding Qin, saying, “I will send you away.”

Ding Qin was about to agree when suddenly Mutou’s desolate, desperate cry rang out. “No!”

The moment Mutou saw that light appear, he knew he had no other options left. The aura he sensed from that light shocked him even more than when he first saw the world outside the cave.

That light made him want to bow his head, want to prostrate himself, want to tremble—like an insect hearing birdsong. That vast radiance restrained him. Something like him, hidden in shadows and poisonous liquid, would likely dissipate like water vapor remaining on stone from the previous night when illuminated by that radiance.

Yet that radiance only dispelled the poison fog without harming him. When the radiance fell directly upon the vine, he only felt warmth—a warmth that made hope rise involuntarily in his heart.

From the bottom of the poison pool, Mutou looked up at that deity. His bearing was noble and sacred, his radiance clear and pure. With just one glance, one couldn’t help but feel reverence and wish to bow in worship.

That was an appearance Mutou could never transform into, could never obtain. No one would ever look at Mutou that way. He was an ugly monster soaked in poison, a demon hiding in shadows, forever only daring to avoid people’s gazes, watching enviously from the darkness, not even daring to make a sound.

Yet such a deity was going to take away his only…

Mutou knew he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t even generate resentment. He could only reveal his form, trembling and cowering from fear, yet his eyes looked at Ding Qin and the others with desperation and unwillingness, pleading. “Don’t leave, please…”

“High God…” Ding Qin couldn’t help but ask, “Can you take him away from here?”

Li Chi shook his head. “He cannot leave here.”

Unlike Hou Li’s situation, Mutou was born from the poison in the pool that had developed spiritual resonance. This poison to him was equivalent to air to humans, water to fish.

Mutou could not go far from this place. It wasn’t like Hou Li’s former inability to leave the Li Manor, but rather like a fish unable to leave water. If he left this poison pool for too long, he would perish.

“Please… don’t leave me alone…” Mutou pleaded mournfully. He desperately reached forward, his black fingers like diseased, withered tree branches, stopping before touching them, shrinking back.

Ding Qin lowered her head to look at him, then suddenly extended her hand. She grasped Mutou’s rough, withered palm. Those clear, clean eyes looked at him as she said earnestly, “I cannot stay here long-term, but I promise that after a period of time passes, I will return to see you. My promise is not empty words, but you also must never again try to forcibly keep us like you did. Otherwise, I will never come again.”

“High God, please send us away.” She released Mutou’s hand and turned to look at Li Chi.

Li Chi nodded. Following the threads of cause and effect, he looked into the distance. Li Feng, perhaps due to the excitement of this transformation, was in especially high spirits and had now nearly reached Langyue City. Li Chi’s gaze rested on Li Feng for a moment, his brow furrowing slightly.

He raised his hand and touched Ding Qin’s brow, then said, “I will send you to Langyue City.”

With another wave of his sleeve, the figures of Ding Qin, Jin Yan, and Wen Qianzi disappeared.

After sending them away, Li Chi’s manifested form did not dissipate. He lowered his head to look at the prostrate Mutou.

Under Li Chi’s gaze, Mutou cowered. Even though the light illuminating the cavern was clear, gentle, and not harsh or scorching, he still appeared extremely frightened. He was born from poison, yet that poison under such power was like snow falling into fire.

Mutou forced himself to look at Li Chi through his fear, yet there was still a glimmer of hope in his eyes as he murmured, “Will they… will they come back?”

Li Chi did not answer. He looked at Mutou. If Mutou truly had, as he himself said, almost never encountered any beings capable of communicating with him, then where did this thick, dense, dark layer of karmic threads wrapped around him like a cocoon come from?

Li Chi restrained the aura around him, his transparent eyes seeming to look into Mutou’s soul. “Do you know the origin of this place?”

Mutou’s fear subsided somewhat. He shook his head. “I don’t know. When I gained spiritual awareness, I was already here.”

Li Chi raised his hand, using divine power to activate the formation within the mountain walls. The hidden formation patterns emerged one by one, covering the entire cavern. “This place was not naturally formed, but man-made.”

“What is this?” Mutou looked at the dark gleam of the flowing formation on the mountain walls, asking in surprise.

He had lived here for who knows how many years, yet had never discovered there was such a formation hidden in the mountain.

Li Chi’s divine power surged, making the hidden formation increasingly clear. This was a formation that both isolated inside from outside, concealed auras, and supported the mountain body. From the pool bottom to the cavern ceiling, it sealed the entire cavern tightly. Originally, this should have become an impenetrable, unknown dead place, but now…

He raised his head, looking toward the opening in the cavern ceiling where the ancient vine had broken through.

The formation patterns were shattered and broken there. With the formation damaged, it could no longer seal the cavern as tightly as before. The poison within the cave slowly leaked out.

Li Chi looked at those karmic threads, his gaze profound, piercing through the long river of time, falling to who knows how many thousands of years ago.

Long ago, this mountain had not been like it was now. There had been plants, trees, insects, and snakes; there had been birds and beasts, and demons who had cultivated from these living creatures.

They lived peacefully in this mountain, just like all living creatures in other places, not knowing there was anything special about this mountain.

Until one day, a vine emerged from within the mountain.

It was a translucent white vine, carved as if from white jade. It trembled in the sunlight, as if facing such bright, scorching power for the first time. After a few minutes, this translucent white vine gradually turned emerald green, no longer distinguishable from other plants in the mountain.

With the joy of new birth, it drilled out more branches from underground, stretching freely, climbing rock walls, joyfully touching this world.

But with the vine’s emergence, the poison originally sealed within the mountain body also leaked out.

The poison did not leak directly from the hole the vine had drilled out of, but rather, after the formation was damaged, it seeped out from the entire mountain body.

The spiritually aware creatures and demons in the mountain sensed the environmental change but could not find the source of the poison gas, so they had no choice but to migrate away.

Ordinary beasts, under the influence of this poison gas, gradually perished. Later, it took who knows how many generations for these remaining creatures to develop the ability to neutralize this poison, but because of this, no new demons were ever born.

……

Mutou looked at that gap in the formation, his expression seeming to cry and laugh at once.

“So that’s how it was…”

So it was he who had broken through the formation, causing the poison within the cave to leak, harming countless living creatures in this mountain. So it was he who caused this mountain to never again have creatures gain spiritual awareness. So it was he himself who created his own loneliness of a thousand, ten thousand years, unable to find a single person to speak with…

He had only wanted to leave this cavern, to see the outside world…

Li Chi’s gaze fell on that enormous ancient vine, his sight following its roots downward and inward, all the way to the depths of the pool, to Mutou’s true body wrapped in layers of vine.

It was a coffin. To be precise, this ancient vine was also part of the coffin.

After seeing this coffin made from vine wood, Li Chi understood what this ancient vine truly was.

This was a rare species called Soul-Breath Vine, capable of containing and nourishing souls. It had no effect on ordinary people, but for cultivators whose divine souls were injured or whose souls were unstable, it was a life-saving treasure.

However, to produce the effect of nourishing souls, the Soul-Breath Vine had to be alive. If it lost its vitality, it became just an ordinary vine wood, only with more resilient material.

This coffin was not made by cutting the wood into boards like ordinary coffins, but rather by splitting open the vine body and burying the person directly within the vine. As long as the Soul-Breath Vine’s vitality did not die, it could continuously stabilize his soul. But since the Soul-Breath Vine’s soul-stabilizing function was needed, this person should have still been alive when buried within the vine body.

Yet now, only a withered skeleton remained within the vine.

Though the Soul-Breath Vine was resilient, it was far less sturdy than trees. To find a vine with diameter large enough to serve as a coffin was no ordinary difficulty, much less one with the special properties of Soul-Breath Vine.

Unfortunately, this Soul-Breath Vine had been brutally severed at its roots, losing its former efficacy, leaving only a trace of residual vitality. Combined with the poison essence in the pool and catalyzed by Mutou’s own vital essence, it had grown into such a bitter vine.

The Soul-Breath Vine was dead, so naturally the soul of the person within the vine had also dissipated, along with all the karmic connections of this body. But what did the current Mutou count as?

He resided within this skeleton, yet was also fused with the newly born strange bitter vine. His soul carried the aura of the skeleton’s remnant soul, yet was also infused with the spiritual resonance of this poison pool.

Who built this poison pool? Why did they build it? Who was the skeleton in the coffin? How was he injured? Why did he end up in this state today? And who was Mutou now?

“Do you know your own origin?” Li Chi asked.

Mutou was devastated, saying mournfully, “My origin? I gained spiritual awareness in this poison pool. I knew neither the ways of heaven nor good from evil. I only knew unbearable loneliness, bitterness soaking my heart, so I exhausted all my strength trying to escape this poisonous pit prison, yet harmed the living creatures of an entire mountain forest.”

“Since heaven gave birth to me, why did it make me born in such a prison? Since it made me born in such a prison, why is it that when I break out of this prison, I harm others? Was I meant from birth to be imprisoned here, to accept loneliness, never to leave?!”

His voice was desolate and tragic. His thoughts had entered a dead end, and in no time, resentment arose, his aura also turning gloomy and dark.

“Mutou.” Li Chi’s voice suddenly rang out, like a cold spring, entering directly into his mind, shocking Mutou into a shudder. He looked at Li Chi, seeming both confused and awake.

“That is not your cause and effect, but the sins of those who came before.” Li Chi pointed with his hand. “Look into that pool—who exactly are you?”

Mutou looked accordingly. He had only thought he was a piece of withered wood that had gained sentience, later using the remnant trace of vitality and the poison’s spiritual resonance to give birth to the bitter vine. That was why he had given himself the name Mutou.

But now, following Li Chi’s direction, he actually saw a skeleton within what he had thought was withered wood!

Who was that? Was that… him?

Mutou suddenly felt a large amount of jumbled, fragmented images and sounds appear in his mind, yet he could neither see nor hear anything clearly. He couldn’t help but let out a shrill, piercing shriek.