"That day, my junior brother and I went out to gain experience. We heard that around Heze Mountain, there was... there was a Great King appearing there."
Zu Moyan had originally wanted to say evil tiger, but remembering that the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger had always styled itself a good demon, he changed his words.
"If you want to kill me, just say it. No need to beat around the bush!"
The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger spoke disdainfully.
In the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's eyes, Zu Moyan's cultivation was laughable as a child's. One slap would be enough.
"Great King, please forgive me! That day, my junior brother and I searched for the Great King for a long time, yet we never found any trace of you. The Great King must have discovered us brothers long ago and observed us from the shadows. Sadly, I still failed to pass the Great King's test."
"Since we could not find the Great King, my junior brother and I had a disagreement. My junior brother wanted to go down the mountain to seek pleasure and defile the daughter of a mortal household. That family treated us extremely well while we stayed with them, so I secretly killed my junior brother to spare them from suffering such an undeserved calamity."
After Zu Moyan finished speaking, he looked at the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger with hope in his eyes.
The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger sank into its memories. That day, Zu Moyan and his junior brother had indeed had a disagreement, but it had been too far away to hear what they said.
Rather than think about it itself, it would be better to use Soul Search and see.
The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger raised its hand and drew over Zu Moyan's spirit body. It rapidly flipped through his memories and found the conversation between Zu Moyan and his junior brother that day.
"Senior Brother! We couldn't find that tiger. Are we really returning empty-handed today? I took a fancy to that mountain villager's daughter last time. She was pure and adorable. Why don't we simply go all the way?"
Zu Moyan's junior brother chuckled lewdly.
"Get lost! Hurry back to the sect. What are you lingering outside for? Boring."
Zu Moyan spat.
"It won't delay us. Isn't it on the way?"
Zu Moyan's junior brother paid no heed to Zu Moyan's warning.
Zu Moyan said nothing, but when they reached a narrow mountain path, he suddenly stabbed his junior brother with a sword. Afterward, Zu Moyan stripped away his Storage Bag and every other item on him.
"Junior Brother! You didn't know this was my hometown, so I don't blame you. Just be more careful in your next life. Besides, it isn't easy for your senior brother to come out once. You can't expect your senior brother to return empty-handed, can you?"
After Zu Moyan said this, he was about to use Spirit Fire to burn his junior brother's corpse when the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger pounced over and swallowed it whole, saving him the trouble.
After watching it all, the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger closed Zu Moyan's memories and said viciously:
"What you said was true, but you killed your junior brother mainly for the spoils on him. I was not wrong to eat you."
The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger knew its reasoning was rather forced, but it had already mistakenly eaten two people. If Zu Moyan had also been wrongly eaten, that would only further prove it was an evil tiger indiscriminate of good and evil. Thus, it had to argue stubbornly.
Lin Chan watched the scene with great interest and said nothing.
This Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger before him cared deeply about the distinction between good and evil. If he could prove that he was not an evil person, the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger might really let him go. It was no idle joke.
Today, he could barely steal a life.
"The Great King is right. I deserve to die ten thousand deaths!"
"But in this life, I only wrongly killed my junior brother. Yet the Great King imprisoned my soul and made me into a Grief Ghost, never to be reborn for all eternity. Meanwhile, the Great King wrongly ate two people."
Zu Moyan, having regained his clarity, paused as if waiting for the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger to rebuke him. Yet the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger said nothing, and Zu Moyan continued:
"Though I am inferior to the Great King, could I be given one chance to mend my ways?"
As his words fell, Zu Moyan looked at the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger pleadingly, his eyes filled with longing for freedom.
By then, the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's mind was already brimming with rage. Seeing Zu Moyan still pushing his luck, it could no longer restrain itself. It drew Zu Moyan's spirit body over again and began flipping through his memories.
"I want to see whether your life was truly as frank and open as you claim!"
The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger began from the very start, flipping through them at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.
Zu Moyan had been born into a mountain family that made its living gathering herbs in the mountains. He had been kind and simple in childhood, and he had even encountered the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger once.
At the time, young Zu Moyan had been terrified. He poured out all his herbs and offered them to the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger, begging it to spare his life.
The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger in Zu Moyan's memories found him amusing. Since it ate only evil people, it let him go.
Seeing this, the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger was already ashamed beyond measure. It vaguely sensed that Zu Moyan did not seem as wicked as he had appeared later.
Sure enough, time continued onward.
Zu Moyan gradually grew into an adult and encountered an Immortal Master from the Lingjing Sect, thus entering the immortal path.
He bid farewell to his relatives and friends, followed the Immortal Master into the immortal mountains, and cultivated bitterly for decades. After achieving modest success, he descended the mountain to subdue demons and eliminate ghosts. He was open and upright, with no great stain upon his name.
He had even remained abstinent all along, never breaking his vow against lust. He was entirely an outstanding young man of the righteous path.
Afterward, he returned to the mountain village with his junior brother, intending to destroy the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger. There, he found his old home, from which he had been separated for decades.
His father was dead. His aged mother had gone blind and could no longer see. His childhood sweetheart had married and become a grandmother.
Although his former family no longer recognized Zu Moyan, they still warmly received them.
And the one Zu Moyan's junior brother had set his sights on was Zu Moyan's niece.
Zu Moyan had already felt guilty toward his worldly family. Added to the pressure of miscellaneous affairs within the Lingjing Sect, his failed attempt to break through to Foundation Establishment, and the Inner Demon in his heart, evil thoughts suddenly arose in him, and he killed his junior brother.
Looking over Zu Moyan's entire life, he had always been open and upright. Only this once had he committed murder because of vile thoughts, and he happened to run into the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger and lost his life.
"G-Great King! Could you... return my freedom?"
After having his soul searched twice in succession, Zu Moyan was already somewhat muddleheaded. Yet he knew this was his only chance to regain his freedom, so he forced himself to speak.
The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger panted heavily. Only after a long while did it calm down, exhale a puff of white smoke, and say:
"I spared you once when you were young. What harm is there in sparing you again this time?"
Zu Moyan was overjoyed. In a flash, he flew away without the slightest attachment, no longer showing any weakness.
Seeing that the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger was truly so magnanimous, Lin Chan felt more at ease as well.
Though this evil tiger was indiscriminate of good and evil, it still had a bottom line. Lin Chan's chances of surviving were therefore greater.
The Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger did not pursue Zu Moyan as he fled. Instead, it slowly walked over to Wang Yunji and said flatly:
"I may have wronged you as well."
Though Wang Yunji's spirit body was gaunt and skeletal, he was the calmest among the previous four Grief Ghosts.
Now that all his companions had left, he showed neither joy nor sorrow and merely said calmly:
"Great King, I am notorious for evil. The Great King was entirely right to eat me. I truly deserve to die. I would not refuse even ten thousand deaths. Even if I can never escape for all eternity, I am willing to accept it."
Before you continue