Chapter 123: Having a Clear Conscience
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
“You have guts!”
Facing the change in the surrounding, Liu Xian wasn’t too stingy and indifferent to say three words, yet, he was too lazy to lift his eyelids.
The next moment, the purple-blue snake-like lightning roared. However, when it crashed ten meters away from Liu Xian, it dispersed and roared no more.
At this time, the Wisdom Sect’s Vice Sect Leader Ye Chuchen, who was watching this battle from afar, involuntarily gasped.
Although the purple-blue lightning that Wang Lu controlled was not the lightning of a divine tribulation, its might certainly couldn’t be underestimated! Wang Lu was just a Qi Cultivating Stage cultivator, so the lightning did not directly come from Wang Lu’s magical power himself, but from the accumulated spiritual energy along the Feng Shui Line on the surrounding dozens of miles area from the “new town” that were connected through the altar below him that suddenly burst out.
The energy of that purple-blue lightning was enough to turn Ye Chuchen into dust ten times. In front of such a lightning, a Xudan Stage cultivator was as fragile as mortals. According to Ye Chuchen’s conjecture, with how fierce this lightning strike was, and how Wang Lu wordlessly launched it to catch the opponent off guard, even if the opponent was a Yuanying Stage cultivator, perhaps it would still leave the opposite party in confusion.
However, what happened was that, Liu Xian didn’t even need to lift his finger to ward this off. Merely by virtue of his natural breathing of the surrounding spiritual energy, that lightning fell apart.
The breathing of surrounding spiritual energy of a Yuanying Stage cultivator was far beyond the imagination of a Xudan Stage cultivator. When a cultivator reached the Yuanying Stage, that cultivator no longer needed to breathe as much spiritual energy because their Jade Mansion could generate an endless supply of magical power. What a Yuanying Stage cultivator cared more was the quality of the spiritual energy, emphasizing on the correct power to finely control the spiritual energy. As for Liu Xian, the space within ten meters away from his body was an absolute field that was within his control. Although the purple-blue lightning was powerful, it was, after all, nothing more than Wang Lu’s cheap trick that has no Primordial Spirit condensation at all, which, to Liu Xian, was nothing more than an ownerless loose spiritual energy that could fall apart with his single breath.
However, Liu Xian actually secretly approved of Wang Lu who boldly tried to gain the upper hand by a show of strength. To be able to maintain the desire to counter attack in an adverse or even a hopeless situation was not only a matter of how courageous that person was, but often times, it was key to win against a superior enemy!
This child, Wang Lu, had a fierce nature. Moreover, although that purple-blue lightning was not a threat to him, it could be said that it was a miracle for a Qi Cultivating Stage to be able to call and control such power, even if it was built with the support of the “new city”!
After the lightning had dissipated, Liu Xian didn’t immediately make his move, but rather looked at Wang Lu with appreciation.
However, at this time, it was Wang Lu’s turn to be indifferent to this. His first move was invalid; he immediately made his next move. This time, it was even bigger than the first one. His ten fingers pointed at the distant altar on top of ten pillars and began to move about. These ten pillars were the backbone of the entire “new city”. In Wang Lu’s command, with an intense rumbling sound, they drove the hundreds of constructions on top of them to change their position. The Gathering Spirit Arrays and the Transmutation Arrays looked for their own position as they were rearranged into a beautiful drawing.
At the same time, the dark sky that sent down the purple-blue lightning suddenly lit up. It wasn’t that the night sky had dissipated, but rather it was lit up by countless of stars, bright as the milky way!
The distant Ye Chuchen was amazed because those were his Stellar Accumulations… In Wang Lu’s hand, with the support of the new town and spiritual energy along the Feng Shui lines, unexpectedly, it evolved into a Galaxy Accumulation in the sky!
The next moment, that galaxy fell. With a wave of his hand, those countless of stars simultaneously fell like a dazzling meteor shower, which crashed into Liu Xian.
Liu Xian slightly arched up the corners of his mouth.
The power of this kind of Galaxy Accumulation fall might not necessarily much more powerful than the previous purple-blue lightning, but without a doubt a more skillful one. Although it had the support from the arrays, it was absolutely impossible for a common Qi Cultivating Stage cultivator to control such a grand scene.
Of course, the Spirit Sword Sect’s disciple was doomed not to be compared with a common cultivator. However, it was extremely not easy for Wang Lu, who cultivated the Non-Phase Method, which was renowned for its weak attack power, to create such a scene… Though it looked like this was somewhat a deliberate show off from his part.
Unfortunately, although Wang Lu’s painstaking effort to create the scene was extraordinarily gorgeous, it has no practical significance. Liu Xian still didn’t need to move his finger; he just used his Yuanying Stage spiritual energy breathing to melt this galaxy into the night sky.
After that, Liu Xian finally made his move.
“Okay, I’ve seen enough. Take this sword.”
The next moment, an invisible sword pierced through Wang Lu’s carefully arranged dozens of layers of defense and gently pointed at Wang Lu’s forehead.
This was Liu Xian’s Sword of Truth.
The essence of the Sword of Truth was Primordial Spirit Sword. It required Liu Xian’s Primordial Spirit to launch it. It didn’t have any magical power fluctuation at all, making it move “quietly”. Compared to Wang Lu’s purple-blue lightning attack, it was even more impossible to guard against. Although Wang Lu and the Wisdom Sect’s Elders have racked their brains, they couldn’t possibly fathom the means of a Yuanying Stage cultivator, and thus, their arranged lines of defenses immediately collapsed at Liu Xian’s first blow.
The Sword of Truth contained a trace of Liu Xian’s Misty Immortal Heart. Although it was just a trace, for Wang Lu, it was like a Yangtze River [1]; its momentum was torrential. Wang Lu only thought that his Primordial Spirit trembled and was then devoured by the Sword of Truth; his Primordial Spirit perception was completely cut off, leaving its sensory incapacitated and everything went black.
Boom!
Just at this time, he heard a dull, crushing sound, waking him up from the dark, only to see one of the ten pillars broke into pieces, which simultaneously shattered one of the corners of the “new town”. As a result, more than thirty Ninth Rank Arrays vanished from the ground. Together, it activated the counter-illusion alarm in his Inner Mansion which sent a resounding sound that was heard by his Primordial Spirit.
Although it was such a painful lost, it actually awakened Wang Lu’s Primordial Spirit for a moment. However, this short moment was already enough for Wang Lu to make a response. His right hand’s thumb and middle finger lightly touched together, and his Non-Phase Heart Sutra immediately complied and responded like a machine; the nine pillars rumbled and began to move. The whole constructions of the new town seemed to be shrouded in an emerald green light.
“Good!”
High in the sky, Liu Xian couldn’t help but utter his admiration. Although Wang Lu’s array arrangements weren't of high rank, hundreds of arrangements were actually interlocking each other, which reflected the solid foundation of his basic skills. On this point alone, only a few disciples on this experiential learning were comparable to him. However, those were disciples who were specialized in arrays, moreover, no one has Wang Lu’s precise timing and layout capability.
The counter-illusion alarm was already well prepared in advance. As long as Wang Lu was involuntarily sent into an absent-minded state, it would activate itself. Obviously, he had already concluded that he couldn’t stop the sharp point of the Sword of Truth… This child actually knew of his own limitation!
The layer of light that shrouded the surface of the new town was the awakening light, which could stir the consciousness up from sleep. Wang Lu shrouded himself with this light in order to prevent him from losing his consciousness to the Sword of Truth’s interrogation. This response from him was appropriate, and even rarer was that he only needed to activate it with a single gesture; for a level six Qi Cultivating Stage disciple, this was indeed remarkable.
At this point, how could Liu Xian not see Wang Lu’s plan?
These three days arrangement was to show him the amazing organizational mobilization of the Wisdom Sect; how could a highly disciplined organization like the Wisdom Sect be comparable to a cult? Although there were too many people who used the Heaven Burning Blood Technique in constructing the new town, which caused the entire valley to reek with a trace of blood, their vigorous spirit to better themselves completely showed the difference between Wisdom Sect and the other cults.
And when Wang Lu personally went forth to battle, calling out lightning and raining down stars, all of those were not to try to shake a Yuanying Stage Elder, but to show off his amazing fine control and timing ability. These were the skills that couldn’t be reflected in one’s cultivation stage, yet very critical in combat.
Wang Lu’s intention in showing off these skills was to show Liu Xian the result of his eight months of experiential learning. Liu Xian also acknowledged that, from this point of view alone, Wang Lu was already among the first class group of disciples. At least, he wasn’t tempted to indulge in wealth and wallow in decadent.
This was Wang Lu’s proof of his innocence!
“Indeed not bad.” Liu Xian softly sighed. He then remembered three days ago, in the guestroom of the inn, Wang Lu had provoked him into anger. However, right now, most of them had completely dissipated. A Reward-Giver Elder like him would always be impartial towards an outstanding disciple; while this child was arrogant, he has the ability to back it up. However… above the sky was another sky, there would always be someone out there who was better. Thus, as a Successor Disciple of the Spirit Sword Sect, achieving this step was still far from enough. Moreover, compared to the other two Successor Disciples, it was far insufficient.
Not to mention the test of the Sword of Truth has just begun. Just now when it directly sent Wang Lu unconscious, it was but the shell of the Sword of Truth. Its real core, which was the power of the Misty Immortal Heart, was still concealed in the back!
Right now, within that awakening light, Wang Lu was facing the power of the Sword of Truth!
Wang Lu now had entered the induced trance state once again. The new town and the mountain valley started to dissipate like mist, replaced by a battlefield filled with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Wang Lu stood on a pile of bones of an unknown number of people and the chill wind around him carried the weeping of ghosts and howling of souls.
Wang Lu didn’t need to think to know that this was the illusion created by the Sword of Truth. The real test would begin from here. However, under the Sword of Truth’s interrogation, the possibility of him passing the test was not high.
Frankly speaking, his previous round of performance had long ago proved his strength. Thus, even if he gave up now, asking for the Sword of Truth to be lifted up, it wouldn’t matter to him; the test was impossible to complete, so it wasn’t a sin if he wasn’t able to complete it. Uncle Liu Xian was very much fond of talented disciple, so, at most, Uncle Liu Xian would just berate him and that was that… However, how could Wang Lu’s plan be that simple?
Sword of Truth, come at me!
Under the howling of the cold wind, the mountain of corpses under him trembled as the deads were reanimated and drilled through the blood and bones. They came from all over the mountains of bones and gradually approached Wang Lu on top of one of the mountains of bones.
Such a horrific scene, directly projected in someone’s Primordial Spirit, was enough to make most of the weak willed cultivators’ soul to depart from their body. However, was there any slightest fear in Wang Lu? The corner of his mouth evoked a sneer and his hands crossed in front of his chest, waiting for those reanimated corpses as they slowly approached him.
After a few moments, several nearest corpses had arrived before Wang Lu. While their rotten flesh and loose bones were shaking, those corpses mumbled through some vague words through their mouths.
“Sect… Leader…”
“Wang… Lu…”
Wang Lu grunted, and then said with a sneer, “Don’t be deliberately mysterious, I know what you guys want to say. Because you guys died because of Wisdom Sect, you want me to pay for it with my life, right?”
As soon as his voice fell, his smile suddenly disappeared and turned into a cold face. “Pay your f*cking asses! Go f*ck off!”
With that, he stretched out his hand, grabbed the nearest skeleton head and then pushed it downhill. The corpse murmured as it rolled down and then turned into pieces of flesh and bones halfway through.
Wang Lu’s atrocity immediately stirred the anger in the remaining corpses. They began to clamor up, making the eerie atmosphere thicker. The Sword of Truth’s illusion world wasn’t afraid of someone who wanted to break it through violence. Because, once someone resorted to violence when that someone was put to the test, it was mostly because that someone’s heart was already empty! And the strength of the Sword of Truth’s illusion world was precisely depended upon the strength of the other party's heart. If that someone lacked in confidence, that someone would not be able to show his strength, no matter how powerful he was. Even if one were a Mahayana Stage expert, the Sword of Truth would be able to project seventeen or eighteen True Immortals to cut them into a million pieces.
However, behind Wang Lu’s violence, he had the firm, hard-to-understand unwavering confidence. “Bunch of scums, what qualifications do you guys have to roar in front of me!?”
Within the roaring clamor of the corpses, Wang Lu’s harsh remark was like a clap of thunder that silenced them.
Before they made their move again, Wang Lu raised his eyebrows and pointed his fingers at them. “You guys are the defeated party who died in a conflict against Wisdom Sect’s expansion, and your grievances flew to the heaven, so you want to put the blame of the pain of your deaths on me, wishing that you could make a mincemeat of me!? But I do not avoid nor escape; I am happy to take the sins for this deaths and bear your resentment! Because the enemy’s pain is my happiness, the enemy’s complaint is my heavenly music! Since you guys stood on a hostile position, I have a clear conscience in your slaughter!”
With that, his finger pointed in another direction. “And you guys. You are the Wisdom Sect’s warriors who died in the Wisdom Sect’s expansion war. You now feel remorse; you imagined that if you had not joined the Wisdom Sect, if you had not stood on the front line, you might still be alive. Thus, when you died, you put all the blame on me! Frankly, in my heart, I despise you guys the most! Because there are more than ten times as many of the sect martyrs as you who have no regrets for their ideal and dedication in life; compared to them, you guys are nothing but dust! Real warriors would put their resentment towards their enemies, and fix their gaze forever to the front! When you’re dead, you should've rallied your subordinates and returned to fight the enemy in the mortal world! When you give up the resentment towards the enemy and turn it to remorse, you are not worthy of being a warrior, and you don’t deserve to bask in the Wisdom Sect’s glory! I disdain fallen warriors like you as beneath contempt!”
“As for you guys. You are the cultivators who died because of the use of Heaven Burning Blood Technique. You thought that you’ve been cheated, feeling grievances like a snow storm in summer; you self-righteously believed that I ruined your future one hundred years old life! To you, I only have indifferent contempt! Because it was I who gave you the opportunity to walk on the Immortal Path, it was I who granted you mortals the possibility to move forward, it was I who let you transformed from being doomed to silently die like ants in the world ascension process into the pioneers of the ascension of the Nine Regions! Let alone the use of Heaven Burning Blood Technique has never been forced to anyone; it’s the decision of a mediocre person who wants to shine like a dazzling hero, even if only for a moment; the decision is entirely in your hands! Since you have chosen to shine, then you have no right to regret the price to shine! Your clamor today only makes you look ungrateful; you don’t deserve to be pitied!”
These series of roars shocked the countless of corpses into silence; at this moment, Wang Lu’s momentum has reached its peak. Even in this hell of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, unexpectedly, they could not resist his fearful convincing argument! Tens of thousands of corpses have been deterred and the cold wind of hell severely weakened; the sky behind the blood cloud revealed a golden light, as if at any moment, the cloud could clear up and the sunshine would fill the sky.
“Heh, that’s interesting.”
At the same time, Liu Xian, who observed this scene from the start, smiled and nodded.
“Interesting? I think he’s just trying to quibble!” Fang He thought otherwise.
Liu Xian said, “Although it’s just an artful sophistry, it’s not purely to show off his sharp tongue. To be able to argue while under the Sword of Truth’s interrogation clearly shows that, in the deepest part of his heart, he really does believe his words. Even in the face of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he still has a clear conscience.”
Fang He shook his head. “Such a clear conscience can only show how twisted his inner heart is.”
Liu Xian continued, “Junior Brother uses the ordinary people’s standard in judging him, but don’t forget that this child is also a leader of a sect. As the saying goes, merciful people can’t command troops. If he doesn’t have a distorted frame of mind, how could he operate a sect? Or perhaps another way to say this is, which successful leader in the Nine Regions whose mind wasn’t a bit paranoid and twisted?”
Fang He just shook his head but didn’t try to refute Liu Xian's words.
Liu Xian also said, “Rest assured, it’s not that you don’t know that the power of the Sword of Truth is far more than this. Wang Lu, this child, can only withstand this first test, and I’m sure he won’t be able to bear the next test.”
This remark was a matter of course. If someone could pass the Sword of Truth’s interrogation only by virtue of conviction, there would be no evidence of the efficacy of the innocence. Because, even if someone killed innocent people, as long as that someone believed that the slaughter was just and right, that someone might be able to pass the test. Even so, that someone might not be able to have the courage of Wang Lu who boldly roared at the mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Having a clear conscience was never equal to being shameless, because the Sword of Truth didn’t interrogate someone’s mind, but someone’s Dao Heart.
The so-called Dao Heart is the realization and comprehension that came to the cultivators in their journey on the Immortal Path. Despite the fact that Immortal Path could be divided into numerous paths, any one of them has its bottom line and foundation. If someone wanted to follow one of these paths, that someone must be willing to accept the rules of these paths. No one could put his way of thinking above those rules, no one could use his twisted point of view to come and comprehend the main path, and no one could be righteously shameless—unless if they were those who cultivated demonic methods, or perhaps those whose Primordial Spirit has reached the state of pure without a single stain; those were another matter entirely.
Wang Lu both didn’t cultivate demonic method, and his Primordial Spirit was far from reaching the state of pure without a single stain. Thus, when the Sword of Truth truly showed its prowess, he would not be able to resist such powerful pressure.
Within the illusion world, the mountains of corpses and seas of blood have completely vanished, leaving only the endless darkness.
After a long time, when Wang Lu, in that limitless darkness even began to lose his sense of the passage of time, a thundering voice loudly cracked: “You are guilty!”
Boom!
Wang Lu was nearly frightened out of his wits! When these three words rang in his ears, countless of pictures poured into his mind. He saw the suffering of the cultivators who were butchered in fighting against Wisdom Sect’s expansion, ordinary civilians who died on the spot when they tried to practice the Heaven Burning Blood Technique, including those followers who had been working days and nights for the Wisdom Sect but suffered a premature death, as well as their relatives who wept on their coffins.
This was a real cause and effect. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the blood in his hands would not be washed clean. Wang Lu naturally knew how difficult this obstacle was, thus, he immediately tightly guarded his heart, going all out to withstand the pressure!
His cultivation of Primordial Spirit was insufficient, therefore, he was unable to directly face the test from the Sword of Truth. At this time, the surviving nine pillars in the new town suddenly flew into the air and correspondingly, not only the new town, but also the surrounding mountain range reacted! The green mountains trembled before the brilliance of the pillars and then the spiritual energy that flew through the Feng Shui line was squeezed even more, and along with the operation of the Gathering Spirit Arrays in the new town, all of that spiritual energy rushed into Wang Lu like how the Yangtze and Yellow River entered the sea!
This time’s surge of spiritual energy was several times more violent than the surge of spiritual energy that happened when he built the Primordial Chaos Altar! If he was just an ordinary cultivator, his body would have long exploded. However, Wang Lu, who was still standing in the middle of the altar, was as stable as the rock. With all of those spiritual energy entering his body, in a flash, his Inner Mansion was deluged with a platinum-colored torrential rain! This was the spiritual energy that was transformed through the strange properties of the Void Spirit Root into magical power, which, unexpectedly, didn’t even have the time to evaporate!
Of course, the main protagonist here was the golden liquid that was extracted by the more than two hundred Sword Bones. In the beginning, Wang Lu’s breathing of spiritual energy only resulted in the little bit accumulation of the golden liquid, however, now it seemed like two hundred and six floodgates had been opened, which turned the golden liquid in the Inner Mansion into a golden ocean.
At the same time, within the Inner Mansion, his Primordial Spirit, that was completely shrouded in the darkness, began to frantically rotate like a vortex in the ocean. A moment later, his Primordial Spirit greatly shone, and the darkness began to get pushed away!
“Good!”
At this time, Liu Xian and Fang He simultaneously cheered!
Were it not for Wang Lu absorbing the enormous spiritual energy from the arrays, consuming elixirs to strengthen his Sword Bone, and finally, for using a technique to strengthen the Primordial Spirit using his magical power, he would not be able to display such a feat!
For cultivators, magical power and Primordial Spirit were independent of each other. Primordial Spirit drove the magical power, while magical power nourished the Primordial Spirit, however, the two couldn’t be freely converted, unless...
Unless Wang Lu had used a superior Heart Sutra. Heart Sutra, was exactly the transformation of the heart and sutra! Yuanying experts like Liu Xian and Fang He naturally could do this technique. However, Wang Lu was just in his third year of cultivation; his cultivation was merely level six Qi Cultivating Stage, yet he was able to use the Heart Sutra Transformation… This was basically a miracle!
“Fifth Junior Sister’s latest edition of Non-Phase Heart Sutra has actually progressed this much.” A moment later, Liu Xian sighed with emotion. “However, the main point is still this child Wang Lu’s ability. To be able to do this step, this Sword of Truth…”
Fang He coldly snorted. “Still can’t be blocked. His cultivation is still too shallow.”
Liu Xian pondered for a moment. “It doesn’t mean that he has no chance at all… at least, there’s still one in ten thousand possibilities.”
“Only if he is willing to go all out, otherwise, even one in ten thousand is impossible for him. However, as long as he’s not an idiot, he definitely doesn’t need to put up a life or death struggle just because of the Sword of Truth. Since he has done those previous steps, who would be too harsh on him? He should have known in his heart that we wouldn’t insist him to complete the test.”
Liu Xian smiled and shook his head. “Junior Brother, you were moved by his ability?”
Fang He turned his head. “A twisted ability like this? Forget it. Unless he could be like little Liu Li, then that’s pretty good.”
Liu Xian’s smile suddenly turned somewhat bitter. “If little Liu Li can have a bit of Wang Lu’s cleverness, then I would feel content…”
The two Elders have begun to chat, and they no longer expected the outcome of the test. However, at this time, facing the Sword of Truth’s severe interrogation, in the deepest blackness, unexpectedly, Wang Lu’s Primordial Spirit continued to struggle. It had never taken even half a step back!
Liu Xian was extremely surprised. “He is this desperate!”
Fang He deeply frowned. “What is he thinking!?”
However, regardless of what he was thinking, Wang Lu, at this time, without a doubt, had chosen a dead end!
The Sword of Truth wasn’t meant to injure. Even if it broke through the heart’s defense, it would be simply a defeat and would not cause an injury—there was nothing dangerous in it. However, Wang Lu had forced his Heart Sutra to overwork, which could be fatal to his body, Inner Mansion, and Primordial Spirit!
Even with this, his chance to successfully resist the Sword of Truth was only, at most, one out of ten thousand!
No matter if it was Liu Xian or Fang He, both had never anticipated Wang Lu to have such an unyielding character. Only for the sake of proving himself as innocence, he even ignored his life!?
At this time, Liu Xian didn’t think about anything, he simply drew his breath and called his Primordial Spirit back. The darkness that wrapped around Wang Lu’s Primordial Spirit immediately dissipated. The final half of the Sword of Truth’s interrogation was retrieved back by Liu Xian!
Suddenly losing the oppression, Wang Lu couldn’t help but be surprise. He immediately dispersed his magical power and spiritual energy, and stopped his Heart Sutra. However, he had been physically and mentally hurt; he was extremely exhausted.
Standing on the altar, Wang Lu couldn’t even maintain a straight posture; he was on the verge of collapse, however, he still had his confident and calm smile on his face.
“Uncle, disciple… has a clear conscience!”
...
[1] One of the two main rivers in China.