"Is this really what you want?" Kui Shou asked solemnly. "I mean, is it your wish and not the wish of... whatever is inside you?"
"I might be losing control of my mind, but this decision is still of my own free will." Long Shiqian affirmed. "Please help me do this, Master."
"You do understand that this is only a temporary measure that controls the rate of corruption, and will not actually stop it?" Kui Shou enquired further. "If we do this, it might just end up becoming a never-ending cycle of suffering for them."
"I understand," Long Shiqian nodded. "But this is the only way."
"And you guys are all okay with this? Abandoning your master just to continue living such a pathetic life?" Kui Shou turned his attention to the zodiac spirits behind Long Shiqian.
"We are ashamed," the tiger spirit dared not raise his head; neither did the others.
"Don't blame them, Master. I owe it to them, and I am also the one who convinced them to do this," Long Shiqian said. "If you want to blame anyone, please blame your unfilial disciple for being too useless."
Huu-!
Kui Shou let out a deep and lamentful sigh.
"Zodiac Tree? What a grand name for such a terrible construct," Kui Shou scoffed at the name. "By sealing the zodiac spirits in such a grand array, it is indeed possible to prevent them from wreaking havoc should they lose their minds from the corruption. By introducing this Tribulation of Combat, it indeed creates a way for them to cut away corrupted portions of their souls, manifesting them as avatars for our disciples to eliminate. Upon completing the challenge, a mutually beneficial contract can indeed be placed upon the disciples, allowing the Zodiac Tower to provide one-time physical blessings in exchange for an inconspicuous but perpetual drain on their psyche to aid in suppressing the rate of corruption. As long as the rate of corruption is suppressed, the zodiac spirits will also have some time to regenerate the corrupted parts of their souls that they had cut away..."
As expected of his disciple, it was a genius idea that covered all aspects, not only containing the corruption of the zodiac spirits but also helping the sect in the process.
As long as the concealment methods were done right, nobody would suspect a thing. This Zodiac Tree would exist as nothing but a tribulation chamber, built purely for the benefit of the disciples of the Armed Ape Tower.
Unfortunately, his genius, which could have benefitted the world, was now being wasted in such a manner.
"The contract would not be too strong, so the disciples would not feel any real strain on their psyches. In comparison, the physical blessing would be far more significant. As Master rightfully mentioned, the only issue is that this could create a never-ending cycle that does not truly solve the problem. Not only that, but everyone would have to suffer for as long as it lasts," Long Shiqian admitted. "However, there is no other way. There are still things that are left unfinished, so we cannot all perish here. I can only try to preserve everyone's souls until a future descendant eventually finds a way to save them."
"What is it that remains unfinished? Tell me, Master will do it for you."
"No, it is something that can only be done by them," Long Shiqian said. "Not even I can do it for them."
"What can be so difficult?" Kui Shou frowned.
The zodiac spirits exchanged glances, but remained silent.
However, Zhao Yunxiao understood.
What they wanted was to establish a path for their offspring to gain sufficient strength to stand their ground in the dangerous Bloodwind Forest. This went beyond just passing the complete Zodiac Scripture to their offspring. Instead, it was almost like an attempt to raise an entire faction from scratch – a process that would undoubtedly take countless years to see to fruition.
Expecting someone else to do this for them was nothing but a pipe dream, not to mention someone like Kui Shou, who was already approaching the end of his lifespan.
Not just that, but the meaning would also be entirely different.
If they did it themselves, it would be in the capacity of ancestors blessing their descendants.
If done with the help of others, there would surely be an obligation of repayment that came along with it. That was not a burden that they would want to impose on future generations.
"Fine, I won't probe any further," Kui Shou sighed after seeing the hesitant look on their faces. "As for your wish, I will help you with it."
He did not know what Long Shiqian and the zodiac spirits were aiming for. But since this was the final wish of his beloved disciple, he simply could not bring himself to decline.
"Master..." Long Shiqian muttered under his breath, his voice filled with guilt. "Why don't you just reject my unreasonable request? Are you not afraid that the structure will fail, be it due to the weathering of time or due to a descendant's clueless tinkering? If that happens and everyone hasn't fully recovered from their corrupted states, they might just end up causing havoc in the sect grounds..."
"What are you talking about? As long as we do it right, there is no need to worry about the weathering of time," Kui Shou said. "As for the latter, no amount of preparations can fully guard against useless descendants. We would just have to believe in the future generations of our Armed Ape Tower!"
***
Zhao Yunxiao slowly opened his eyes.
It would appear that the strange scenes flashing through his mind had finally come to an end, and he was now back in the familiar meditation room of his residence.
In front of him, the blue avatars of the twelve zodiac spirits had almost fully dissipated, the final centimetres of their feet quickly turning into blue specks of light that eventually vanished into nothingness.
As the blue avatars disappeared, the Heaven's Descent Bowl also returned to its original state and silently returned to his spatial pouch.
A quick glance at the altar revealed that the incense stick had barely burned down at all. This meant that despite his long journey through the fragmented memories of the Zodiac General- no, the zodiac spirits, only a few moments had passed in reality.
Remaining in his cross-legged posture, Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes once more.
There was a lot to digest.
Firstly, he was wrong about the Heaven's Descent Bowl. What the Heaven's Descent Bowl had been absorbing was not the remnant vitality of the dead.
Instead, it had been absorbing either their memories... or their souls!
Was it because he had wished for the absorbed zodiac spirits to pass him all the information they had? That seemed to have been the trigger that activated the Heaven's Descent Bowl, causing it to resummon the absorbed zodiac spirits.
One question solved, new ones emerged.
Could the absorbed spirits be summoned over and over? Could the resummoned spirits do anything apart from transmitting information? And would previously hostile spirits remain hostile towards him upon resummoning?
Those were things that he would have to slowly figure out in the future.
Apart from that, there was also the Zodiac Scripture and various techniques of Zodiac General Long Shiqian. Zhao Yunxiao might not have obtained these techniques through illegal means, but many of them were still considered sect secrets of the Armed Ape Tower, especially the Zodiac Scripture.
While he would definitely not stop himself from studying or even practising these techniques as long as they were beneficial, he had to be careful not to reveal his knowledge to the outside world.
Lastly, there were the revelations on the origin of both the Zodiac Scripture and the Zodiac Tree.
In the end, the zodiac spirits never got the opportunity to pass the Zodiac Scripture to their offspring. Considering how Long Shiqian did not even tell Kui Shou about this plan, it was very likely that the current Armed Ape Tower had no clue about this matter.
Now then, should he let them know?
What a meaningless concern.
Of course not. Doing so would just be inviting trouble to himself.
He might choose to do so if he were confident of getting away without consequences, but he was definitely not in such a privileged position.
While it might be unfortunate for the zodiac spirits who had remained loyal to Long Shiqian up till the very end, he simply could not risk revealing how he had managed to get ahold of this information.
The same applied to the information on the Zodiac Tree.
So, the Tribulation of Combat was just a cover, and the blessings were part of the contracts placed upon challengers – contracts that secretly exchanged physical boosts with access to perpetually tap on the challengers' psyche in the future.
Considering that, perhaps it was a good thing that he never got to receive the blessings back then.
Some might see this as a worthwhile trade, but not him.
His goal in life was ultimately to attain freedom. How could it be considered true freedom when there was a secret contract placed on him, allowing the Zodiac Tree to freely tap on his psyche?
Long Shiqian did say that nobody would even feel the strain, much less suspect anything was amiss. But no matter how small this mental strain was, there was no way that he would be comfortable with it.
Now then, did the Armed Ape Tower know about this matter?
Possible.
Was it any of his business?
No.
As long as none of his close companions were involved, he would gladly steer clear of this matter.
Long Shiqian himself was the best example – interfering with others' businesses without possessing sufficient strength was a path that would only lead to self-ruin.
Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao let out a deep breath to calm himself.
This had been an unexpected disruption. But thankfully, it had not taken too much time.
Everything he just learnt could be dealt with later. Now, it was time to focus on what he had originally planned to do – adjusting his condition in preparation for attacking the Mind Gate.
It took around an hour before he finally opened his eyes once again, his mind now cleared of unnecessary thoughts.
With a flick of his wrists, Zhao Yunxiao retrieved the Firecrown Pill that he had refined a week ago. After taking off all his clothes and equipment, he swallowed it without hesitation.
The Firecrown Pill rapidly dissolved upon entering his body, releasing a violent surge of spiritual energy in the process.
What came next was an indescribable level of pain that Zhao Yunxiao had never experienced in his life, almost as though he was being burned alive from the inside.
Zhao Yunxiao gritted his teeth to endure the pain, and hurriedly entered the cauldron of herbs that he had been boiling for hours.
Sizzle-!
There was yet another wave of pain as the heat from the boiling mixture assaulted his skin.
It was impossible for ordinary mortals to endure such boiling temperatures, but an Essence Gathering realm cultivator could still withstand it with some difficulty.
In fact, had he used his essence energy to guard against it, enduring it would not have been difficult at all. However, that would defeat the purpose of preparing the medicinal bath.
Instead, he allowed the boiling mixture to directly wash over him, its medicinal properties seeping into his body through the countless pores on his skin.
This medicinal bath comprised a mixture of spiritual herbs and medicines, cleverly combining their individual properties to create a strong soothing effect.
Immediately after its medicinal properties entered his body, Zhao Yunxiao could feel the burning sensation calm down a little.
Just a little, but that was still better than nothing.
He started to forcibly circulate the violent energy from the Firecrown Pill through his spiritual meridians, carefully controlling it such that it did not go out of control and end up wrecking his insides.
It was an extremely painful process, but Zhao Yunxiao went through with it nevertheless, seeking to endure through it all while relying on the soothing effect of the medicinal bath to help retain his sanity.
Just like that, he commenced his first attempt to open the Mind Gate.