Let's ask.
"Are you, did you, perhaps, save a girl forty years ago...?"
Forty years ago? Jiang Wen's expression shifted slightly, and he finally understood just how far back in time he had gone.
However, his stay wasn't long, only a few minutes. He didn't expect this experience to be real, that he could actually travel through the river of time using merit points.
But how this state was achieved, Jiang Wen had no clue.
He looked at the black-robed woman's expectant eyes, and after a moment of silence, he nodded: "I did."
Hearing Jiang Wen's words, Hongluan and the others were also somewhat surprised. They didn't expect that Jiang Wen had once saved someone from the God-Worshipping Sect, and forty years ago at that.
Thinking of Jiang Wen's strength, Hongluan pondered. It seemed that Fellow Daoist Jiang had been holding back in the Yin realm, and no wonder he had become increasingly unfathomable in the months since.
Jiang Wen didn't know Hongluan's self-brainstorming; he just looked at the woman in front of him, watching her raise her head with tears streaming down her face.
"I, I didn't expect to see you again. Thank you, if you hadn't saved me back then, I'm afraid I would have died long ago." The woman frantically wiped away her tears, and looked down at her waist, slowly taking out a jade pendant from there.
This jade pendant had been worn smooth over the years. But the exterior was round and lustrous, obviously carefully preserved.
The woman offered the jade pendant, cautiously handing it to Jiang Wen.
"It was this jade pendant that you gave me that allowed me to live to this day," the woman said with some reminiscence. She spoke a lot, talking about her experiences and feelings over the past forty years.
Although Jiang Wen had already seen everything from her memory, he still patiently listened to the woman finish her story. It was a long life experience, filled with joys, sorrows, partings, and reunions.
From being soft-hearted when she first joined the God-Worshipping Sect, to gradually becoming ruthless. The more people she killed, the colder her heart became.
Only whenever she tossed and turned at midnight, the woman would always hold the jade pendant in her arms, as if she could feel the warmth it brought, feeling a spark of humanity in the icy darkness.
This prevented her from becoming a numb puppet, and allowed her to have some compassion when doing things.
After the woman finished her story, she looked at Jiang Wen anxiously. She wanted to get the benefactor's answer, wanted to get the benefactor's evaluation of her life. Whether it was good or bad, it was something she couldn't ask for.
Jiang Wen picked up the jade pendant and looked at it for a long time, he didn't say a word for a long time.
"You, don't you have anything to say?" The woman asked in a hoarse voice, anyone could see her eagerness.
"The things that were supposed to happen have already happened, so what if I make an evaluation now?" Jiang Wen said indifferently. "Everyone's life is different, and no one can evaluate another's life. I just passed by there and saved your life, and cannot evaluate your subsequent actions."
"Why!" The woman eagerly crawled forward and looked up at Jiang Wen, her legs kneeling on the ground, her face pale. "Don't you feel disgusted by my actions? I violated your original intention of saving me, and did not become the good person you expected. I am a butcher, my hands are stained with the blood of innocent people. I don't deserve to have the things you gave me..."
"..." Jiang Wen didn't know what to say for a moment. She had killed countless pitiful and innocent people, but could he attribute everything to her? If there was no God-Worshipping Sect, if her village hadn't been exterminated, if the town she was in hadn't been attacked by thieves, perhaps her life would have been different.
Jiang Wen didn't say anything more, just gently placed the jade pendant in the woman's hand.
"If Buzhou Mountain collapses, it will affect billions upon billions of people."
After he finished speaking, he looked at the disciples of the God-Worshipping Sect in the room: "If you are willing to help, we are extremely happy. If you are unwilling, then stay here obediently. After everything is over, the various immortal sects will deal with you."
After speaking, the prisoners fell silent. Jiang Wen looked around and was slightly disappointed. It was probably unrealistic to expect these people to have good intentions, so let them be imprisoned here first.
As everyone was about to go out, they heard the woman's voice behind them.
"I know some secrets about the Flesh Soil, let me come too." The woman in the black robe walked over, the expression on her face returned to normal. Only her hand was still tightly holding the jade pendant, as if she had strengthened some idea.
"It may be very dangerous to go this time," Jiang Wen said seriously.
"I have already died thousands of times, being alive is a kind of luck. I just want you to see that I can actually do something." The woman pursed her lips, revealing a hint of stubbornness. She looked at Jiang Wen piously, this was her faith for decades.
There are many fanatical believers in the God-Worshipping Sect, they only have the idea of the gods descending into the world to reset the heavens and earth, but she is the unique one among them. She wanted to know if the person who saved her by the river was a god, or if he was a cultivator from some immortal sect.
The woman had been searching for many years, but had not been able to find any news of him. Until today, she finally saw that person. The appearance was exactly the same as in her memory, and time seemed to have never left any traces on him.
The woman was relieved, and she was at peace. Her heart had actually died many years ago. That was when she received her first mission, personally strangling a family of eight ordinary people.
Under the observation of the God-Worshipping Sect's supervisor, she endured the nausea and stinging in her heart, and cut off the heads of those people, for which she received a reward of several steamed buns. The God-Worshipping Sect was like training loyal dogs, using torture and rewards to destroy the hearts of all those who joined, erasing their purity little by little.
The woman was very tired of this kind of life, but she wanted to see the benefactor who saved her life one more time. This thought supported her through many life-and-death situations, and also allowed her to become a God-Worshipping Sect's Envoy. It's just that the woman really wanted to die like this, if her wish was fulfilled, she could die in peace.
"Benefactor, I haven't been able to tell you my name, my name is Du Haitang." The woman said, lifting her hood, under her fluffy black hair, hideous lines spread from her body to her neck.
Seeming to find Jiang Wen looking at the lines on her neck, Du Haitang said softly: "This is a divine纹, also the mana bestowed upon the God-Worshipping Sect's Envoy."
"Very ominous," Jiang Wen said. He could feel the corrupt power in this so-called divine纹. It was constantly devouring the host's body. But at the same time, it also supplied the host with some special power.
"I'm already used to it," Du Haitang smiled. "Let me tell you some secrets about the God-Worshipping Sect in the Flesh Soil."
"Okay," Jiang Wen nodded, waving his hand to summon a formation to shield their aura.
Du Haitang sat quietly on the ground, telling Jiang Wen about the God-Worshipping Sect. This long-hidden church could be considered to have officially appeared in front of him.
