“Zijian…”
For a moment, Li Qingshan had no idea how to answer her. With that, had she exactly changed or not changed?
She was still kind-hearted, but she was no longer soft-hearted. If killing a person could save ten thousand, she would definitely do so, no matter how innocent that one person was. That was just a price that needed to be paid. Even if that person was herself, she would not hesitate at all. That was also just a “sacrifice” that had to be made.
By “sacrifice”, it originally referred to the livestock offered to the heavens, which were pure in colour and physique.
Throughout history, all accomplishments of greatness came with tremendous sacrifices. If they could not offer up a bountiful sacrifice, how were they supposed to be blessed by the heavens?
Yu Zijian looked at Li Qingshan with a clear gaze as if she was saying, I’m willing to make all of the sacrifices, so please, will the heavens!
A feeling of tenderness suddenly rose up in Li Qingshan’s heart. He extended his large hand to touch her delicate face gently. There was no sexual desire behind that, comforting her pain that no one could see. He understood exactly what lay behind this determination and resolve.
Yu Zijian was slightly surprised. She held his hand and shut her eyes, resting her cheek in his palm. She said softly, “How warm, like a ball of fire… Niu Juxia, you’ve really had it difficult!”
“I know. It’s been the case for me too.”
Yu Zijian’s lips curled slightly. “What a pair of fools.”
Li Qingshan smiled. “Not bastards?”
“Yes. I’m one too.”
Within the wind and snow, on the tall peak, two solitary individuals found warmth from one another.
Yu Zijian murmured, “I know this world is not a pure land. Not everyone I killed deserved to die either. However, as long as I swing my sword an extra time, it should turn out a little better! There are many pitiable people among demonic cultivators too. Even if you kill all of them, there’ll still be people who do evil, but at least it’ll be a bit better!”
“Pure land!” Li Qingshan sighed. “Would you like to hear my story? A story about a pure land and a demonic land.”
Yu Zijian nodded.
“Just recently, erm, a long, long time ago, I visited the pure land of Sukhāvatī…” Li Qingshan gazed at the grey sea. His voice was so calm that it seemed like he was narrating another person’s story, a legend that was created a very, very long time ago.
Yu Zijian listened along quietly. Her expression changed, sometimes curling her lips into a smile and sometimes furrowing her brows in thought. When she heard how he had swallowed the Black Sun Demon Heart and become the king of Demon Gods, she suddenly embraced him firmly. She felt horrible inside.
Li Qingshan looked at her with a smile and stroked her head. “Human nature has always been wicked, no different from wild beasts. We want to eat, we want to kill, we want to breed. That is the source of all evil. However, if we don’t have this barbarous nature, how are we supposed to survive in this world? The people in the pure land have even lost the ability to procreate as if they had been frozen at a certain instant of time by the buddha’s great powers and will. They do not need to face any setbacks, directly reaching the very end of the story, where everyone lived happily after.”
“But is that really happiness? Of course, they won’t feel any discontent. All of the pain will sink to the Demon domain, just like how castrated livestock won’t be discontent with their feed, or procreate blindly and create a population too large that leads to a struggle over the limited food. Heh, what a perfect design!”
Yu Zijian was left momentarily lost. It was a world where everyone was happy, yet it had lost all possibilities for the future. It was a world without desire, yet no more babies would be born, only existing within nothingness. That was perhaps just another form of slaughter.
He did not swallow the Black Sun Demon Heart for the billions of demonfolk, but for the children that had yet to be born and had yet to exist. The majority of demonfolk from this generation were fated to suffer within conflict and fated to die in the flames of war.
Perhaps a single generation was not enough and it would take two, three… All of the sacrifices were only to pave open a future, a possibility, where the future children could grow up under the sun in a place like the World of the Five Continents and not live on purely for the present in a happy life no different from livestock.
The past and the future, the kindness and the wickedness, the pain and the happiness… all of their boundaries blurred, merging together as one, cascading down together.
In her embrace, he seemed to grow larger and larger, growing until he made contact with the sky, overlooking all the living creatures, yet he remained in her embrace.
“When I was young, I once swore that I would travel through all corners of the world, across the entire universe! I would taste all of the delicacies and drink all of the finest alcohol the world has to offer! I would practise the fiercest abilities, fight the strongest foes, and sleep with the most beautiful women! Only then would this life not be a waste! Hehe, to be honest, it’s no different from wanting to eat, wanting to kill, and wanting to breed, and I wanted to be free too. What a heavy demonic nature! However, without that demonic nature, there would not have been some Niu Juxia either.”
Yu Zijian suddenly began to laugh, laughing away as giddily as a child who had been given candy.
“What are you laughing about?”
“We’ve known each other for all these years, but I’ve never heard you say so much. Thank you. This is a very, very nice reward. I don’t find it so difficult anymore. I just knew that Niu Juxia is the best!” She buried her head in his chest and rubbed about.
Li Qingshan was speechless. Just earlier, you called me a big bastard, and now, you say I’m the best.
“Yeah, so that’s why you refuse to influence the consciousness of mortals and turn this world into another Sukhāvatī.”
“Actually, I didn’t even know what kind of place Sukhāvatī was back then. I just hated being ordered around and controlled by others, so I refused to order around and control others. Do you know why it’s called the World’s society?”
“Hmm?”
“The world is not my world, but the world of everyone in the world! I returned their freedom to them, where they did not have to be born into slavery and face the oppression of those aristocratic clans and sects. Everyone can become the person they want to be through their own efforts. However, what they want to turn this world into should be decided by them. It can be a living paradise and it can be a hell of bitterness.”
“However, no one will be able to make all the sacrifices and pay all the prices for them. At most, I’ve only provided them with a path, but they still have to walk down it on their own two feet. The stories still have to tell themselves. For their children, they can create a better world. There has never been some world saviour, nor do they have to rely on some immortal or emperor.”
“Of course, if the standards of the world really are “wealth be with those who kill and burn, a graveless corpse will road pavers be”, then that’s exactly what everyone should do. Everyone should just kill and burn. They might as well kill all the road-pavers too so that no one has any roads left. Perhaps the living creatures have always been unworthy of happiness and peace, only worthy of sinking in the sea of suffering, tearing each other apart like wild beasts. That would also be their fate and their choice.”
Reaching there, Li Qingshan smiled. “However, the world is not like that, is it?”
Yu Zijian’s mind was clear. She raised her head. “Human nature tends towards goodness!”
“Yeah, if they lose their barbarous nature, even survival and procreation will become a problem. Their human nature would lose their foundations as well, and they would turn into some kind of indescribable being of emptiness. However, humans just aren’t wild beasts at the end of the day. That’s why no matter how underhanded and vicious those demonic cultivators are, they stand no chance against the sword in your hand, as wild beasts can’t defeat humans.”
She did not just obtain the blessings of the heavens, but the hearts of the people throughout the world too. The so-called conflict between good and evil was also the relentless battle between the demonic and divine in the hearts of people.
Yu Zijian also smiled. “Even if I fall in battle, there’ll be others who rise up against them.”
Li Qingshan snorted coldly. “If you die, I’ll butcher all the demonic cultivators in the world and make them pay the most horrific price.”
Yu Zijian pouted. “You clearly just said you refused to do that.”
“This is no great god trying to save the world, but the pettiness for revenge of a foolish mortal.”
Yu Zijian lowered her head and thought about it. Suddenly, she raised her head in suspicion. “You didn’t come specially so that you could try and sleep with me, did you?”
“…” Li Qingshan slowly pushed her out of his arms. You’ve changed. You’ve really changed. You’re no longer the Yu Zijian of the past.
Yu Zijian laughed aloud and embraced him firmly again. Her laughter was clear and hearty, echoing far away in the snow and wind.
“A lot of people are watching!” Li Qingshan said powerlessly, “You’re the Violet Clouds Sword Sovereign, the master of the Sword Collection palace after all.”
“And you’re the hero king.” Yu Zijian pressed her chin against his chest and smiled. “What, you’re shy?”
The Sword Collection palace had already become the strongest sword sect in the world. It was far more powerful and prosperous than the Sword Collection sect from the World of the Nine Provinces. In order to fend off the invasions of the Demon continent, the King of Southern Yue of the past and the “human king” of the present, Qian Lingzhi, had invested a tremendous amount of resources into the sect too. The sect possessed thousands of sword cultivators.
When they gazed towards the Demon continent earlier, many people had already begun staring at them. Some of them even bowed towards her from afar. By the time the man actually touched their palace master’s face, they were all dumbfounded, and not only did the palace master not resist, she even leaned into his arms like a little girl, which made all of their eyes widen. They felt like the world was about to end.
Plop! Plop! A few sword cultivators practising their flight on their swords by the shore fell out of the sky and into the sea.
“Look at how we’ve frightened them.” Li Qingshan could not help but laugh as well. “Just what kind of image do you normally have!?”
“The demonic cultivators are all absolutely vicious, so I have to be a little more vicious than them.”
“Also, I have a piece of good news for you. The pressure you face will plummet very soon. I’m going to conscript all of the demonic cultivators into the Demon domain.” Li Qingshan said with ill intentions, “Since they like the demonic path so much, they can just go to the Demon domain.”
“Pft. No wonder you refuse to kill all the demonic cultivators. So you’re using them to fill up the ditches. You’re even more vicious than me. Is this what they mean by wicked people are taken care of by wicked people?”
“Surely they don’t actually believe they don’t have to pay a price at all for running around rampantly! Since they’ve chosen the path of a wild beast, they should be mentally prepared to be eaten by a tiger. Alright, you should let go. I need to go. If you hug me for a little longer, someone is probably going to suffer from cultivation deviation.”
Yu Zijian raised her hand. “I’ll go to the Demon domain too!”
“You’re not a demonic cultivator.”
“They’ll fill up the ditches for you. I want to help you pave the roads.” Yu Zijian let go of Li Qingshan, solemn in expression and filled with confidence.
“Actually, sometimes there’s no difference between the two.”
Li Qingshan shook his head. Actually, he would not be controlling these demonic cultivators. It was the exact opposite. He would be strengthening them instead. Demonic cultivators truly were relatively more skilled in battle. If he could produce another Human Immortal or Heretic God or two, then his chances in the war would increase a little more.
However, success would come at the cost of millions of lives. The others would most likely die in battle. Even Heretic Gods and Human Immortals could not necessarily go without dying. He did not wish for Yu Zijian to embark on a path like this too.
“Don’t you want to give us freedom? Then this is my freedom. The path of the sword is a path of slaughter. Without slaughter, how does a sword sharpen its edge? This crisis of the world is exactly a stage for me to perform on, my great opportunity to become a sword immortal. If you’re really thinking for me, please allow me to take part.”
With a clang, she drew her sword. The reflection illuminated her face as she stroked her sword with a smile. “Perhaps you could win but refusing this Violet Clouds sword of mine would end up costing you your victory. Then I’ll have to avenge you as well. How troublesome is that?”
At that moment, she was like a divine sword drawn from its sheath, her sharpness on full display, radiating with high spirits and emanating with valiance. Even Li Qingshan struggled to ignore her. It became even more impossible to turn her down.
“Niu Juxia, let me lend you a hand this time!”
