Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lonemoon took one step back and shook his hand off. “At this stage, you’re still unwilling to repent? You said you had no clue about Zhi Lin’s plot, but why then did you want to do all that you could to destroy that evil ghost? You didn’t even want to leave its remnant soul behind.” When Shen Ying grabbed hold of the evil spirit’s remnant soul earlier, Jian Xing suggested destroying it completely.
“I…” Jian Xing paled. He was unable to say anything else.
“You’re a cultivator. You should understand that the proper way of dealing even with evil ghosts is to send them to Samsara, yet you didn’t do that!” Lonemoon exclaimed in a low voice. He exposed Jian Xing’s inner thoughts. “Given your cultivation level, a half-step demon king would not have managed to hurt you so severely. Not unless you forced it to its limits. Only then would a spirit try to take you down with it no matter the cost.”
“…” Jian Xing remained silent but his entire body began to tremble.
“You said you didn’t know Zhi Lin’s plot, and I believe you! But when you helped her to possess Mushroom’s body, you should have realized the truth. Still, you chose to completely destroy that evil ghost,” Lonemoon said, looking directly into Jian Xing’s eyes. “Did you do that purely to get rid of the evil, or did you do that to help cover up for Zhi Lin?”
Jian Xing swayed. He sat on the floor, defeated.
“You made a mistake, but if you took the initiative to explain yourself, I could have considered letting you off.” Lonemoon closed his eyes. In a tired voice, he said, “Jian Xing… You’ve really disappointed me.”
“Master…” Jian Xing raised his head to look at Lonemoon, confused. “Teach me then, what was I to do? She was my sister – my only family member. If I didn’t do something to help her, was I to just stand by and watch her become a wandering soul?”
“Because of that, you were willing to let Mushroom lose her soul!”
Jian Xing remained stubborn, as if he was genuinely convinced that he did the right thing. He smiled. “Everybody has their own selfish motives. I chose to help my own sister – was that wrong? There’s no right or wrong in this world, there are only different stands.What’s more, shouldn’t Master take some responsibility for the way Little Lin turned out?”
“What did you say!” Lonemoon frowned.
“Am I wrong?” Jian Xing said sarcastically. “You accepted her into this immortal sect and allowed her to learn about the huge world outside of what she knew. Then, you kicked her aside. How can you blame her for being resentful? She did everything she could just to return. How can you fault her?”
Lonemoon frowned even more deeply.
“Who in this world can have no selfish intentions at all?” The more Jian Xing spoke, the more agitated he became. It was as if he was finally releasing what he had been harboring in his heart all these years. “Even Master is the same.”
“You’re saying I did all of these things out of pure selfish intentions?” Lonemoon laughed mirthlessly. The last bit of pity he felt for Jian Xing dissipated.
“Isn’t it true?” Jian Xing thought that Lonemoon was trying to deny it. He pointed toward Shen Ying and said, “Isn’t she your selfish intention? She can’t do a single thing right, yet you protect her no matter what and give her all sorts of benefits. You can’t tolerate when anyone badmouths her. Just because Zhi Lin said one thing to offend her, you chased her out of the sect. You allow this woman to eat all sorts of spirit fruits, and to take all sorts of spirit herbs. You even allow her to abuse all sorts of high-level beasts and internal cores. Yet, you don’t allow even the badly injured disciples in your sect the same benefits. What for? Isn’t it because of your own selfish intentions?”
Yi Qing could listen to this no longer. He summoned his sword, but Shen Ying stopped him. Fatty’s expression was extremely dark by now, but Lonemoon was even darker. Shen Ying, on the other hand, looked unaffected. She continued chewing on her fruits, as if she had not just been accused.
“You even let the evil ghost loose for fear of waking her up, thereby placing everybody in the city in grave danger,” Jian Xing continued, agitated. He was shooting daggers at Shen Ying with his eyes. “She was the one who caused Zhi Lin to be captured. If you say I’m wrong, you are too.”
“Are you done?” Lonemoon’s silence was frightening. The corner of his lips twitched upward. “These are your true thoughts? You thought that I chased Zhi Lin out because I was purely biased toward Shen Ying?”
“Yes!” Jian Xing nodded profusely. “If Master was not biased toward her, given her skills-”
“Exactly how much do you know about her skills? Have you seen it for yourself?” Lonemoon interrupted him.
Jian Xing paused, not understanding what Lonemoon just said. Lonemoon smiled even more widely and coolly.
“Let me tell you – the combined power of Chef, Fatty, myself and everyone in this room cannot even match up to the power in just one of Shen Ying’s hands!” He scanned everybody in the arena and emphasized each word as he said, “Not only that, If she wanted everyone in this mortal continent to die, all she would have to do is think about it to make it happen. Do you really think that I am doing this out of my own selfish intentions?”
Everyone present stiffened. Even Jian Xing looked unconvinced.
“I didn’t want to wake her up because none of you would be able to withstand the consequences of that happening! She has been letting you off easy, not because her cultivation level is low.It’s because your powers are so low that she can’t be bothered!”
“…”
“Do you really think that she’s the sect master only in name?!”
“No, that can’t be…” Jian Xing glanced at Shen Ying in disbelief
“What do the spirit fruits, spirit herbs and other things have to do with you anyway? Don’t give yourself all of these excuses! You think that it’s more important for Zhi Lin to stay alive because Mushroom is nothing but a small demon? You think that Shen Ying is merely mortal, so her resources should be distributed to the rest of you? Hmph! At the end of the day, your logic is nothing but an excuse for you to do whatever you want to do and bully the kind-hearted!”
Jian Xing’s face drained of all color for the umpteenth time. He seemed to be realizing slowly that he had made a grave mistake. Something in him seemed to crack.
“Jian Xing…” Lonemoon turned to face him with a serious expression. “You’re right, everybody does have selfish intentions. You chose to give up Mushroom and save Zhi Lin – I can’t say for sure that that iss wrong. You’re also right to say that there’s no such thing as right and wrong in this world, but… there is definitely good and evil!” He raised his hand and conjured a seal. “My Invincible Sect can do without disciples who harbor evil thoughts in their hearts!”
“No… Master!” An unexplainable fear filled Jian Xing. He immediately tried to crawl toward Lonemoon.
This did not stop Lonemoon. He shot the spell toward Jian Xing, directly hitting his dantian. The spirit Qi around Jian Xing’s body began to deteriorate rapidly. Even the Nascent Soul in his consciousness dissipated. His youthful face aged before their eyes so that he now looked like a middle-aged man.
Jian Xing watched with fear as wrinkles covered his two hands. “Master…”” He raised his head to beg further.
Lonemoon used two fingers to tap the middle of his forehead. “The experience of learning the ways of the Dao on this mountain caused the changes in Zhi Lin. Get rid of this memory.”
Jian Xing’s eyes widened, but it was too late for him to resist. A thick wave of darkness overcame him as he fainted.
