The improved female villains regained their memories.

The sound rang out from a place unknown to anyone.

Wen Shihan's eyes dimmed slightly, but looking at the sleeping Yang Pingsheng in his arms, the dimness was replaced by a smile.

"You've always been quite good at lying."

Good night, brother.

Chapter 682 Why do I exist? Is it because I am born into suffering?

The boy who had spent the day playing with Wen Shihan came back noticeably more cheerful.

Yang Pingsheng didn't know what they had played either. When he asked Wen Shihan, she would laugh and say:

"Brother, this is a secret."

Okay, he saw his past self gradually becoming more cheerful, so he decided to keep it a secret.

The boy's talent in cultivating spiritual energy was only average. In order to speed up his progress, Wen Shihan did not hesitate to use the formation that Song Panning had used before.

The formation, along with her and the little boy, greatly accelerated his spiritual energy cultivation.

Yang Pingsheng saw this clearly. Song Panning had taught them how to use that formation before, and it was indeed excellent for cultivation. However, he was somewhat worried that Wen Shihan might be forcing things to grow too quickly.

"Xiaohan, aren't you making too much progress at this rate?"

After finishing his cultivation that day, Yang Pingsheng stopped Wen Shihan, who was about to make dinner, and asked him this question.

"No, brother, don't worry, I know what I'm doing," she replied.

As soon as she said that, there was a loud bang, and the boy gathered spiritual energy not far away and punched down a big tree.

He looked at his fist, then at Wen Shihan.

"Amazing!" Wen Shihan praised without reservation.

"Is this how you temper your body and remove impurities?" Yang Pingsheng was surprised. "If this continues, I'll probably become an Earth Immortal very soon."

The boy ran over, his eyes sweeping over Wen Shihan before settling on Yang Pingsheng.

"Hmm...very good."

"Thank you, sir." The boy smiled happily.

He was unaware of the sorrow of leaving and parting, so his laughter was simple and innocent.

"Little Black." He ran over to find Qi Feng again.

“Look, that’s what I did.” He pointed to the broken tree over there.

Qi Feng: "......."

After you asked those two people for praise, you're going to ask the cat for it too?

Besides, what a strange name "Little Black".

"My name is Qi... never mind, meow, you can't remember anyway, so Xiao Hei will do." Qi Feng said, "Great, great, meow."

Having seen Yang Pingsheng so many times, this was the first time it had ever seen him like this.

It's quite rare to see someone so innocent.

The boy received praise from everyone, a smile on his face, and then ran over to guide the cultivation of spiritual energy.

He was soaked in sweat, but his eyes were beginning to shine, no longer dull.

In the dim sky, a flock of birds flew by, one of them breaking away from the main group and perching on a branch, watching the boy who was diligently practicing his skills.

It was a new night. The spiritual fire flickered, bringing light. The boy was reading attentively, absorbing the new knowledge he had learned that day. Wen Shihan was refining the map based on the intelligence from the past two days. Yang Pingsheng was condensing a new Great Dao True Mark. Qi Feng was lying next to the boy.

The boy already knows quite a few characters, thanks to his teacher, and Yang Pingsheng has also learned a lot from him.

For Yang Pingsheng now, reading a complete book is no longer a problem.

Was all this worthwhile? Wen Shihan didn't know, Yang Pingsheng didn't know, and Qi Feng didn't know either. They just did it silently, staying by the boy's side.

As night deepened, Yang Pingsheng got up, glanced at the sleeping Wen Shihan and the boy, and then went outside.

The veil of night, like thick ink, enveloped the entire mountain forest.

A cold wind blew in gusts, and the grove of trees seemed like a group of silent guards, whispering softly under the gentle breeze. Moonlight struggled to filter through the gaps, forming fragmented patches of silvery white on the ground.

Occasionally, the bird that had been staying there would flap its wings and fly out from the depths, creating a brief commotion, before landing in front of Yang Pingsheng.

The birds vanished, turning into blurry figures.

"What is it?" Yang Pingsheng asked, looking at the blurry figure.

With the help of the Great Dao True Mark, he was able to see the appearance of the person who came.

He was thin but vigorous, dressed in a black robe as dark as ink. The wide robe swayed gently in the wind, embroidered with mysterious runes that seemed to contain endless mysteries, appearing and disappearing in the dim light.

He looked very old; his face was a masterpiece sculpted by time, with wrinkles like ravines in a valley. His sparse white hair was casually tied behind his head, with a few strands of silver falling on either side of his cheeks, making him appear even more otherworldly.

His eyebrows were like frost and snow, long and thick, like two white dragons about to take flight. His eyes beneath his eyebrows were deep and unfathomable, like a bottomless pool.

He didn't mind Yang Pingsheng using the True Mark of the Great Dao to probe him, and a relieved expression appeared on his face.

"I am your master."

He pointed to the house behind Yang Pingsheng.

Detecting no hostility, Yang Pingsheng asked gently, "Who are you?"

"Guigu School, Guiguzi, Wang Xu."

Qi Feng had told him many stories about the Ghost Valley Sect, stories that his past self had told him.

In those events, apart from Ye Buxin, most of the others were related to that master named Wang Xu.

A figure as black as ink moved across the ground like a shadow. Just as it approached Wang Xu's shadow, Wen Shihan emerged from it, his ring-bladed blade aimed at the uninvited guest.

Yang Pingsheng did not stop him. After all, given the current situation, he was unsure whether his former master was friend or foe.

The moonlight was hidden behind the already thin clouds, which did not surprise Wang Xu. Instead, he said, "Gentlemen, let's talk somewhere else."

With a flick of his sleeve, the world transformed.

A realm of nothingness, without shadows, without form, only white and soft light.

On the mirror-like ground, a pavilion slowly rises.

Wang Xu gestured: "Please, gentlemen."

-------------

Yang Pingsheng and Wen Shihan sat together, looking at Wang Xu across from them.

He pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "Among the last batch of disciples I taught, Yang Pingsheng and Ye Buxin may not be the most outstanding, but they are certainly the most special."

Fu Su, Li Zhujun, Zhou Jinyu, Yang Pingsheng, Ye Buxin.

Wang Xu accepted disciples based on their talent. He would usually take the most talented disciple first and make him the eldest brother, and so on.

Therefore, judging solely from talent, Ye Buxin, who transformed from a monster into a person with three useless spiritual roots, is actually the worst one.

Wang Xu said, “Fate determines human affairs, but are human affairs entirely determined by fate? I have trained so many disciples, but in the end, only Yang Pingsheng and Ye Buxin were able to walk that path.”

Wen Shihan frowned, wanting to say something, but Yang Pingsheng noticed, grabbed her hand to comfort her, and took the initiative to speak: "What exactly do you want them to do?"

The True Mark of the Great Dao is indeed an extremely convenient thing. As long as it exists, one can easily discern the essence of things.

He could sense that Wang Xu was plotting something, but it seemed that he wasn't the only one doing it.

Wang Xu said, "The merger of Taixu, the collapse of the Heavenly Dao, and the destruction of the main world are problems that the ancient sages of the human race saw long ago, but how to solve these problems is a problem."

He sighed and said, "Initially, the sages thought of a way to unite with the Dao by dying and using the spiritual energy that rises from the dead to perfect the Dao of Heaven. There are two benefits to doing this: first, to strengthen the Dao of Heaven; second, to interfere with the Dao of Heaven and make it biased towards the human race in the main world."

"Humans are the most intelligent of all beings. They are born with primordial energy, and within this primordial energy lies the true essence of spiritual energy. The cultivation method you have learned is actually treating humans as elixirs, constantly refining them. When they are refined to the level of immortals, they are then consumed by the Heavenly Dao to strengthen the Heavenly Dao and unite with the Heaven."

"But soon, the sages discovered the problem: the Great Ruins had no time, no space, and existed before the 'nothingness.' Once it merged with the main world, the concepts of nothingness and existence would be erased. Since they would be erased, no matter what kind of increase it was, it would be useless."

Yang Pingsheng asked, "Is there no other way?"

“Of course there are solutions,” Wang Xu said. “The ancients have provided two solutions.”

"First, people replace Heaven, and people are Heaven. The Great Ruins are merged, and people replace Heaven to merge."

"Secondly, they are separated by death."

The True Mark of the Great Dao flickered, and Yang Pingsheng nodded: "I understand. These are the two paths that I and Ye Buxin chose in the past."

Wang Xu nodded with a smile.

"What do you mean? What path?" Wen Shihan was somewhat confused, but instinctively felt something was wrong. She gripped Yang Pingsheng's hand tightly: "Brother, he..."

Yang Pingsheng smiled and reassured Wen Shihan again, signaling with his eyes that he was alright. Then he said to Wang Xu, "These two paths require not only talent, but also people's willingness, right?"

“Of course, after all, we are facing the Great Ruins. Who would dare to face it without absolute courage and determination?” Wang Xu said.

Yang Pingsheng asked, "Did I choose this path in the past?"

Wang Xu nodded: "Of course, you chose it without hesitation."

Although Wen Shihan didn't understand everything, he did understand part of it, and he immediately flew into a rage: "Old man, what kind of bullshit path did my brother choose? I'm afraid you deserve some credit for it, don't you?"

She slammed her hand on the table and glared at Wang Xu.

Wang Xu smiled.

He reached out and pointed in the air, and a mirror appeared out of thin air, showing the two of them Yang Pingsheng from the past.

-------------

In a small mountain village ravaged by war, amidst deafening shouts of battle, a couple rushed out without even having time to pack their belongings.

The man said to the woman, "It's too late. You take our son and go over there."

Before he could finish speaking, he turned and ran towards the main road.

The woman gritted her teeth; she was already injured and could only carry her child as she walked along the side path.

The magical arts of the immortals descended nearby, including deadly moves, ingenious applications, and magical artifacts.

After several rounds of bombing, most of the villagers were left with nothing but bones.

Corpses piled up on both sides of the road, countless severed limbs and remains.