Chapter 22: 《Serene Sword Teique》

  Great Blood Pills.

  Hearing that term, as well as the mysterious voice’s pronou, An Ji his breathing grow bored. His vision blurred, and his usually steady steps faltered. He bit his lip so hard that it began to bleed.

  Then he ughed.

  “Ha… haha… so this is what the Deputy Medie Envoy wanted me to see?”

  An Jing muttered to himself as he lifted his gaze to the dozens of these “medie vats.”

  The numbers did not add up. Perhaps not all those eliminated ended up being “medie”; some portion presumably became riders or servants. But… did that make any essential difference?

  “Manor Lord… Manor Lord…”

  An Jing instead grew calm. “What do you think I’d feel upon seeing this?”

  “Indifference? Rage? Hatred? Or… fear?”

  He asked himself that and found the answer.

  —Of course you feel fear, An Jing. Do you really think you have none?

  —In order to survive without drawing suspi, you feigned ignorance all this time. Have you not ignored all these possibilities, pretended not to see all those clues, turned your eyes away without even realizing it?

  —You forted yourself, saying maybe those people did not really die. That you are different, that you are a genius, and if someone did get eaten, it certainly would not be you. You’re the one able to feast grandly; you’re in a higher css than they are.

  —So long as you still fear, so long as you dread death, you will gradually slide into depravity, ving yourself step by step.

  —The Demonic Sect has you figured out already. It doesn’t matter whether you’re faithful to your emotions and friendships or utterly cold-blooded. As long as you feel fear, they remain unafraid.

  “I… do not fear death!”

  He took a deep breath, wanting to tradict that voice, but a sudden chill crept through him.

  Because at that very moment, he realized—perhaps he truly did not fear his owh, but he feared something else far more deeply: the deaths of those around him.

  It was like a man who could face sacrifig himself without qualms, yet hesitated the moment he remembered his elderly parents and other close family and friends at home.

  It was not that he cked ce. Rather, he had people he cared about—his weakness.

  In Hanging Fate Manor, he still had two living friends: Gu Yeqi and g Linzu. Besides them, there were over a hundred youths who called him “senior brother.”

  He could not act rashly.

  If he were a true fiend, devoid of passioirely shaped by the Demonic Sect’s subtle influences, he would not rebel after witnessing these horrors. Instead, he would join them, being one of their number—someone who decided “who would be sacrificed.”

  He would bee the “Medie Manor Lord,” or asd even higher to the “Northern Patrol Envoy.”

  But if he were a kind and righteous person, then even after learning the truth, he still would not openly turn on the sect for the sake of those two friends who were still alive. Not to mention, the Demonic Sect had once provided medies that saved his mother. If he were purely good, he would shrink back because of this “debt of gratitude,” choosing to join the Demonic Sect.

  In the end, he would be assimited.

  He could not have everything—both the safety of his friends and a rebellion against the Demonic Sect.

  He could not remain loyal to gratitude, to friendship, and to his own sce.

  Because wanting it all would mark him as either a hopelessly foolish nobody or a being that surpassed all reason.

  He was her.

  And more tragically, An Jing realized another fact.

  “My mi really has begun shifting toward theirs. I truly started to feel… they purchased these disaster victims from the north, so ohose children are eliminated and die, there’s no cause for pint. After all, they got to live a while longer, even receivi care for a time.”

  “But even so, even if they’ve sold their lives, does that mean they must meekly submit to death without resistance?”

  He fixed his gaze on the small skull. “I…”

  —What should I do?

  【Steady your mind, boy.】

  The mysterious voice tihis is exactly what the Demonic Sect wants—when you’re seized by sorre, shaken to your core, you might make choices you’d herwise sider.】

  “I uand.”

  An Jing took a long look at that bohen lifted his hand to wipe his face.

  It felt like rain… mixed with tears.

  He repced the stone lid over the vat and turned his newly focused gaze away from the courtyard filled with these vats. “I’m more aware of it than anyone.”

  【What will you do now?】

  The mysterious voice asked:

  【Escape? Take revenge? Or…】

  【Will you ighese matters that ‘have nothing to do with you’ and remain here as the senior brother?】

  An Jing closed his eyes. He remembered the refugee camp, those pots of boiling flesh, those children who had beeen.

  He had once hoped there truly existed some group in this world willing to pay moo instruct a bunch of children in martial arts, train them, and wele them as their own. That was the vision of a martial sect he carried in his heart.

  He had g to such fantasies, wishing the world could be that simple, that peaceful, so he could rex, fulfill his role as senior brother, and even fight for Hanging Fate Manor someday.

  But all illusions had now shattered.

  Right this moment, An Jing did not experience a fiery bze of anger in his heart. Instead, he felt a biting chill, apanied by a crity so stark it left him trembling.

  —So, no matter where I go, people still get eaten?

  —If I don’t want to be eaten, do I have to eat others?

  This world, this nd…

  I…

  Refuse to meet your expectations!

  When he opened his eyes again, they shoh new light.

  Within those eyes, faint sparks of fire ignited. “I oold my mother that if those who bought my life turned out to be an evil sect, I would seize any opportunity to escape, refusing ever to follow their lead.”

  “But now, I want to do even more. I want everything.”

  “I want to take my friends and flee.”

  “I refuse to eat people, and I refuse to be eaten! So long as I see it happening, I will fight back!”

  He nearly ground his teeth. “Even if it’s impossible, I’ll still try, even if it meah.”

  —Like a rabbit that has been purchased, caged like a crab… even ered, I’ll kick them once; I’ll snap at them!

  【Excellent.】

  That voice—clear, metallic, the ugh of a sword, carrying the csh of steel:

  【I knew I wasn’t mistaken about you.】

  【These evil followers of the Demonic Sect believe they have you in their grasp, that you ’t escape their hand. They’re wrong, for I am here—and because they have not seen your true nature.】

  【An Jing, you’re correct: to want everything at once is either the mark of a hopeless fool or of a being that transds all reason. You truly are a genius, but not yet some monstrous entity that transds it all.】

  【However, I shall grant you a ce to bee that being who surpasses all reason. Whether it succeeds is entirely up to you.】

  【For now, subdue the dark thoughts in your heart. I shall teach you a method of preserving crity, the foundational skill for all arts…】

  Before the words were done, a mental formu aative practifurled in An Jing’s mind.

  【Spirit arises from Dao. Dao is pure tranquility; therefore, the spirit is innately pure…】

  【The spirit is like a mirror. When it grows dark, polish it with your thoughts, and it bees bright. The spirit is like water. When it is disturbed, calm it with your heart, and it bees clear. The spirit is like a sword. When it rusts, remove the corrosion by your own hand, and it bees sharp. That is clear purity…】

  《Serene Sword Teique》

  (End of Chapter)