Chapter 168: Desperate Self-Destruction
"The Carefree Flower... This is the scent of the Carefree Flower! Ha, Bashan Hua, you never expected this... If I'm finished, don't even think about surviving!" At this moment, Bashan Cangmang was tightly bound by the iron chains spreading from Bashan Hua's body!
Just a moment before, when Bashan Cangmang saw the iron chains extending from Bashan Hua's palms, his heart had turned to ashes. He recognized what they were at a single glance!
Years ago, when he traveled to the territory of the Wanglong clan, he had witnessed this kind of seal with his own eyes!
This was the Illusory Soul-Dispersing Lock of the Wanglong tribe... Anyone trapped by this seal would be bound for all eternity, unable to find release! Unless someone with a comparable cultivation base, a similar bloodline, and matched techniques substituted themselves in!
Once this seal was cast, someone had to suffer within it!
The very instant the Illusory Soul-Dispersing Lock touched Bashan Cangmang, he felt the majestic spiritual energy within his body dissipate like a receding tide!
At that moment, Bashan Cangmang was consumed by terror and trembling, but under the might of this powerful Illusory Soul-Dispersing Lock, none of it mattered!
...
Bashan Hua was in no mood to listen to whatever Bashan Cangmang was shouting about! His mind was entirely consumed by the Carefree Flower!
The Carefree Flower was a botanical wonder that grew only in the extreme western reaches of the Kunlun Secret Realm! Ferocious beasts roamed that region, and powerful tenth-grade beasts were everywhere. The Carefree Flower was the ultimate treasure of the Carefree Beasts that lived there!
Once this flower bloomed, its fragrance was intensely sweet, making anyone who smelled it feel as though all the worries of the mortal world had vanished. Yet, a Carefree Beast could produce only a single Carefree Flower in its entire lifetime.
The power of the Carefree Flower was that the moment it bloomed, everything around it entered a state of utter freedom from care—which meant complete stagnation! Thoughts paused, actions paused, everything, absolutely everything, came to a halt!
Living beings were plunged into a state of total stillness!
Despair flickered in Bashan Hua's eyes. How could he not realize by now that this was his eldest brother's secondary contingency plan?
His eldest brother had never fought an unprepared battle. His brother had long since guessed the plans of Bashan Gui and the others. When Bashan Mo came to find him that day, could it have been solely to release this Carefree Flower?
An unopened Carefree Flower...
Right at that moment, the iron chains vanished from Bashan Hua's body, and Bashan Cangmang was left trapped in place by the Illusory Soul-Dispersing Lock in his stead!
Bashan Cangmang looked utterly deranged, continuously cursing Bashan Hua.
"You old fool, ha, you didn't expect this, did you? Our patriarch, your brother, is as treacherous as ever... You thought you could run just because I took your place in the shackles? Keep dreaming! What kind of person is Bashan Mo? I only dealt with him for a little over two hundred years, but you interacted with him for seven whole centuries! You claim I don't understand him and foolishly tried to deal with him—fine, I'll grant that I'm young. But you? You're already at this age, with one foot in the grave just like Bashan Mo, yet you're still so naive... No wonder you're defeated by Bashan Mo time and time again. Even if your cultivation bases were equal, you'd never win against him in this lifetime..."
Bashan Hua had sealed off the five senses of his entire body at that moment and heard nothing of what Bashan Cangmang was saying.
He was unwilling to accept this. He refused to fall here like this! His plans, his future, his vengeance—none of them had been fulfilled, and yet he was about to collapse once more?
Even after sealing his five senses, Bashan Hua could still sense the sweet fragrance of the Carefree Flower...
The influence of the Carefree Flower was never transmitted through the sense of smell; it acted directly upon the very foundation of human existence: the "spirit!"
To plunge an intelligent life form into silence and stillness, one must first silence the spirit! Only after the spirit is stilled can an intelligent life form truly know freedom from care...
With hatred burning in his eyes, Bashan Hua burst upward through the earth! By now, he could already feel the encroachment of the Carefree Flower upon his being... That overwhelming wave of helplessness filled him with burning hatred!
Standing suspended in the air, Bashan Hua raised his head and let out a long, furious roar: "Bashan Mo, get out here..."
...
Yang Fan lay flat on the ground, arranging himself in what he felt was a comfortable posture as he watched the "farce" that had just unfolded.
What the Carefree Flower was, Yang Fan had no idea. Right now, however, he felt a deep sense of panic... What if it was poison?!
After enduring in silence for a long time, he finally snapped, raising his head to shout at the still-raving Bashan Cangmang: "Elder Cangmang, what on earth is the Carefree Flower?!"
Bashan Cangmang automatically filtered out Yang Fan's voice, continuing his frantic rant!
A moment later, Yang Fan maintained his awkward posture, lying prone on the ground with his head lifted, frozen completely still...
...
The vast central city of the Bashan tribe was in absolute chaos... At some unknown moment, a ragged, tattered old man had suddenly appeared in the sky, launching wave after wave of attacks against the city! The violent shockwaves made the entire city shake as if it were about to collapse!
Tribal members wept and ran in panic through every street!
Meanwhile, in three different directions across the city, the three elders of the Bashan tribe were seated cross-legged in unison, their auras growing steadily more powerful. From time to time, as their energies surged, they tossed medicinal pills into their mouths!
...
Just as Bashan Wujiang raised his hand to swallow a medicinal pill, the heavy doors of his secret chamber shattered with a deafening crash!
Bashan Wujiang smiled bitterly. He was the first... Of the four who had agreed to attempt a breakthrough, Bashan Cangmang had gone underground and fallen silent, yet Bashan Mo had come for him just as he was beginning!
Indeed, stepping through the shattered doors was a smiling, white-haired elder, who cast a gentle and benevolent look toward Bashan Wujiang, who was in the middle of his breakthrough!
Yet to Bashan Wujiang, this smile was terrifying beyond measure, filled with utter despair!
"Wujiang, wonderful. Judging by the majestic depth of this aura, it won't be long before you break through to the tenth grade. Truly, our Bashan tribe has no shortage of talent; bury one batch, and the next one simply rises to take their place!"
The instant Bashan Mo stepped inside, Bashan Wujiang gave up on his breakthrough. According to the blood oath they had forged, whoever Bashan Mo found would surely die—either beaten to death by Bashan Mo himself, or forced to detonate their own core in a desperate bid to inflict severe injuries upon him!
Bashan Wujiang stepped down from his meditation cushion and bowed deeply to Bashan Mo!
Bashan Mo waved a hand dismissively. "Don't waste time. This old man still has other places to clean up!"
"It is not a waste of time. A breakthrough cannot be achieved in a single moment; the patriarch should at least let Wujiang speak his final words."
Bashan Mo nodded indifferently, his face still wearing that soul-crushing smile.
As Bashan Wujiang quietly began to channel his inner energy once more, he looked at Bashan Mo and said, "Patriarch, for so many years, you have always kept us suppressed beneath your feet. We could see the higher steps above us, yet we were forbidden to climb them. Do you have any idea how despairing that is for a cultivator?
"The Bashan tribe belongs to you. Even if we broke through to the tenth grade, you would still be the patriarch. Not everyone desires to be the patriarch... Why must you cruelly cut off our path?
"Today, I truly believed I could finally take that step I should have taken ages ago, but you came to me first. The despair you bring me is genuine, absolute despair!"
Bashan Mo originally intended to answer Bashan Wujiang, but as the latter reached the end of his words, the expression on Bashan Mo's face shifted slightly!
He cursed under his breath: "Lunatic!"
A fraction of a second later, a sheet of roaring flames consumed the entire secret chamber as Bashan Wujiang detonated his cultivation.
The shockwave from the self-detonation obliterated everything around it!
Amidst the swirling smoke and dust, the figure of Bashan Mo stood tall and unyielding!