Volume 16 Chapter 28: Can You Still Smile?

When he pushed open the iron door and saw the devil king like Zhang Ping, Lin Xi already knew that what he didn't want to see the most already happened.

However, he just couldn't understand why things would be like this. Zhang Ping was a friend, which was why he felt extreme pain, why he immediately wondered if he, Qin Xiyue and the others did something wrong that caused Zhang Ping to be like this.

"Why?" Even though he heard Zhang Ping's ice-cold and ridiculing voice, Lin Xi still wanted a reason, he wanted to know why Zhang Ping experienced this type of change.

"I hate you."

Zhang Ping looked at Lin Xi expressionlessly, saying this indifferently.

Lin Xi's expression became even more pale. These three simple words were a reason he couldn't accept.

"Why?" He did his best to calm himself down a bit, looking at Zhang Ping and continuing to ask.

Zhang Ping looked at him, his face full of mockery. "Because of unfairness."

"Unfairness?" Lin Xi, Nangong Weiyang, Qin Xiyue, and even the most meticulous Hua Jiyue couldn't think through the meaning of Zhang Ping's words at all.

"Actually, I should thank you."

Zhang Ping raised his head. Only now did his eyes land on Lin Xi, Qin Xiyue, and Hua Jiyue's bodies. His tone was extremely calm, as if he was speaking about another person's story. "If it wasn't because of your reminder, I wouldn't have even passed that Green Luan Academy entrance examination. I wouldn't even have become a Green Luan Academy student."

"Indeed, for a long time, I was even extremely thankful to you." Zhang Ping said quietly in self-mockery. "That is why when we first left the academy, I even specially made a pair of armguards for you."

"However, after meeting you again in Thousand Devil Nest's Devil Eye Field, I suddenly began to loathe you, even began to hate you. Moreover, not only was this type of hatred impossible to get rid of, it instead grew stronger and stronger. I didn't understand the reason behind it, but later on, I finally understood."

Hua Jiyue seemed to have caught onto something. She cut off Zhang Ping with a trembling voice. "In Purgatory Mountain... Just what kind of terrifying thing happened to you that made you become like this?"

Zhang Ping always felt like he wouldn't recall those things anymore, nor was he willing to mention those things to the one he loathed. Yet today, when he truly faced Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue again, he mysteriously felt an urge to explain.

Perhaps this might bring him some spiritual satisfaction? Zhang Ping coldly asked himself. Then, he could no longer suppress this type of urge, calmly saying, "When I was in Purgatory Mountain, I chose to become a chosen disciple to cultivate Devil Transformation. This process only had a twenty to thirty percent chance to succeed, and if I refused to cultivate Devil Transformation, then I would have either been killed or thrown into the deepest mines to serve as a slave until death. I practically killed a female Yunqin spy who I had a physical relation with through my own hands, and then borrowed her corpse to obtain some status. Then, it was precisely because of the status I had that I was forced to lead a team into Sky Devil Prison Plains by Purgatory Mountain Patriarch. There was almost no chance of anyone surviving this trip, all of the Divine Adjudicators who went with me died. Only I alone escaped the pursuit of that single-wheeled puppet and Flame Titan, falling into a deep underground cave. I lost track of how much time I spent in that place while immersed in eternal darkness, unable to climb out, swallowing nauseating things day after day. In the end, I climbed out, obtaining some of Sky Devil Palace's true inheritance. What happened afterwards is still unknown to all of you. Even though I killed Purgatory Mountain's Great Elder, for the sake of subduing all of the Divine Adjudicators, I even personally killed the one who told me about the Devil Transformation process, that old Divine Adjudicator who practically granted me an extra life."

His voice that explained these things was extremely calm, but everyone knew just how terrifying these events were. Even Nangong Weiyang's tightly locked brows loosened a bit, while Lin Xi's body already became a bit hunched from suffering.

"I can understand your pain." Lin Xi looked at Zhang Ping, using all of his strength to say, "But you've already returned. All of this pain is already in the past."

Zhang Ping coldly shook his head. "I think you misunderstood my intentions. The reason I am telling you all of these things is not to vent out my pain through talking about it, nor do I want to obtain your sympathy. It was just that I really wanted to know that if it was you, if it was you who personally killed your benefactor, killed the woman who you had your first relationship with, experienced so many things... if you could still keep that smile you had when you met me."

"Your smile was extremely warm, yet in Thousand Devil Nest, it only made me feel bitter resentment. In reality, the moment I met you, I only had two thoughts. The first was that I wanted to throw you into that type of place and see if you can still smile. The other thought was that I wanted to say I do not want to stay in Great Mang, stay in Purgatory Mountain. I want to go home." Zhang Ping's voice became even more emotionless. "However, I wasn't able to voice a single one of these thoughts."

"But what does any of this have to do with Lin Xi?" Qin Xiyue looked at Zhang Ping, saying in pain and anger, "Don't tell me that even those who trusted you, treated you as a true friend, have wrongs? Do you know that back then when I already carried some misgivings towards you, Lin Xi already told me that we absolutely need to trust you. He was scared of losing a friend like you. Even when you became Purgatory Mountain Patriarch, after meeting with you outside East Scenery City, he still told us firmly that if we treat you as a true friend, even if you truly made any mistakes, that we cannot immediately blame you, but should rather try to bring you back."

Zhang Ping looked at Qin Xiyue. Some different things appeared in his eyes.

He understood clearly that if there was anything else in this world he still cared about, then Qin Xiyue was definitely one of these things, but this didn't mean that he would change his way of thinking. He calmly looked at Qin Xiyue and said seriously, "I have said from the start that I hated him because of unfairness. For example, Devil Transformation, something that was acquired by me through an endless amount of bravery, something gambled for, he obtained it just that easily. It is just like who you like as well... There is no need for you to hide your feelings for him. If there was no Gao Yanan, the two of you might have long walked together. Regardless of what I did, it wouldn't matter at all."

"You don't need to tell me that you like him not because of his outer appearance or talent, but rather because of the things he did, the sacrifices he made for his friends and the academy." Zhang Ping looked at Qin Xiyue whose lips were already so pale they began to appear transparent, continuing, "It is precisely because of his talents that allowed him to easily obtain Gao Yanan and your good impressions. However, an ordinary person like me even has to borrow his help to barely get into the academy. This could not possibly draw your attention at all."

"Don't tell me that you think this world has absolute fairness?" Hua Jiyue also began to feel anger, this type of anger even starting to dilute the understanding and sympathy she felt towards Zhang Ping. "You were at least able to enter Green Luan Academy, at least your body is still safe. Why haven't you ever thought to yourself that some people, perhaps in their entire lives, are accompanied by sickness and suffering, to the extent where they couldn't even see any scenes of this world?"

"What you say is correct. There is no absolute fairness in this world. However, I just hate how he can have this type of ability, have an entirely different fate from me. Why is it that misfortune doesn't descend on him one after another, but rather on me?" Zhang Ping looked at Hua JIyue and Lin Xi, saying slowly. "Actually, in the academy, my best friends weren't all of you, but rather Li Kaiyun and Meng Bai. That is because I met them first in Spirit Summer Lakeside, and they were like me, possessing all types of faults, not naturally outstanding like all of you. They also fought for Green Luan Academy, yet what was the result? The girl Meng Bai liked, Jiang Yu'er died blocking an arrow for you, while you lived. Li Kaiyun died, while you became a Divine General. I thus couldn't help but wonder to myself, why was it that you didn't die, and that they were instead sacrificed?"

"It was through the sacrifice of so many people that I finally became Purgatory Mountain's Patriarch. However, what everyone wishes for is instead Purgatory Mountain's disappearance." Zhang Ping forgot how to smile, but at this time, he instead revealed a smile filled with thick mockery and callousness. "I've always tried to keep my own promises, yet the heavens keep messing with me. Even that day when I wanted to cross Thousand Sunset Mountain before it was sealed up in snow, the heavens still brought down snow much earlier than previous years, preventing me from keeping that promise. That is why after I crossed Thousand Sunset Mountain, I made the decision to no longer let anyone else's wishes and thoughts to influence me. I would no longer be bullied and humiliated by fate, instead, I would personally grasp my own destiny just like the previous Purgatory Mountain Patriarch, to truly control everything in this world."

"If you could still keep that smile you had on in Thousand Devil Nest after experiencing all of the misfortune I endured, then I'll admit that I was wrong." Zhang Ping gave Lin Xi a look and quietly added, "But before that, you must accept the fate I have assigned."

"You don't need to try and convince me further either. I believe that after you learn about my arrangements in Thunder Academy, you would no longer try to convince me anymore." When he saw that Lin Xi was about to speak, Zhang Ping said this coldly with hatred.

Lin Xi's body suddenly trembled. With even a voice he thought was unfamiliar, he asked, "Just what kind of thing did you do in Thunder Academy?"

Zhang Ping began to laugh coldly and powerfully again. "Thunder Rolling Mountain already no longer exists... That is why all of those Thunder Academy cultivators and people from Green Luan Academy who went there should have been buried under its remains."

Lin Xi's body went rigid for a long time. Then, he slowly straightened his body to look at Zhang Ping. "How could you do something like this?"

"If you all aren't in a rush to make your move, I can also tell you about even more things all of you don't know about," Zhang Ping gave Nangong Weiyang a look and said, "because I fear that there might never be a chance to talk like this again after today."