Chapter 33 - 30: To the Yellow Springs Together
As the sky grew increasingly dim, Li Qingcao already knew that Upper Jade Capital was in grave danger.
When the dark clouds blotted out the sun, this Upper Jade Capital would become a land of dimness and shadow, a carnival for demons and ghouls.
Before he could even think, his body was already moving. A silent Sword Intent radiated from him, and the scenery by Liuqing Lake abruptly blurred. The blades of grass on the lakeshore transformed, one after another, into short swords.
’Be like a single blade of grass in a field.’
A newly sprouted blade of grass can push aside a stone. The Unity Path, where the weak overcome the strong, is found in this very principle.
Li Qingcao tossed his sword into the air.
"Condense!"
And so, all the short swords of grass on the ground grew in the wind. The area transformed into a sword mound, and every grass sword carried a piercing Sword Intent.
This was a Daoist Technique, not Swordsmanship. Although Li Qingcao had achieved Enlightenment, he had not yet succeeded in Entering the Dao.
He had yet to reach the Fifth Realm, but he could already use a Daoist Technique. His talent was plain to see.
’Master said that when you borrow a sword, you must be sincere.’
The sword birthed two forms of qi.
Li Qingcao immediately unleashed a Life-risking Technique. With a single sword strike, he sought to preserve a sliver of light, to become a beacon and a lone boat in the encroaching night.
"Rise!"
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, his Magical Power completely drained. He soared into the air as all the grass by Liuqing Lake condensed its Life Force into a single sword that hovered beside him.
A sinister wind swept across Liuqing Lake. The water turned to black sludge, which then gathered to form a giant egg, as if something was about to be born from within.
"As long as I’m here, you won’t run rampant!"
All the grass swords finally converged into light, condensing on the tip of Li Qingcao’s sword.
’Today, I will open the Celestial Sect with a single sword strike!’
And so, he made the Sacrifice and lunged forward, gathering his sword to face the sun.
BANG!
He felt a pain that gnawed at his very bones, his organs aching in agony. That sword strike, along with his "intent," had been completely devoured by the cloud and the egg!
Falling.
’This is it. I’m dead.’
He tumbled through the air, and just as he thought he was about to fall into the water, someone caught him.
It was a woman as elegant as a lotus flower.
The woman said, "Thank you, Junior Cultivator, but what comes next is the consequence of my own sin, and I must be the one to pay for it."
Li Qingcao was gently pushed away by the woman, and a gust of wind carried him to a noodle shop.
Someone said, "Brother Li, come have a bowl of noodles first. Su Luoqiu, right? Go cook the noodles."
If he wasn’t mistaken, the Fourth Prince of the Glazed Dynasty had cheerfully tied on an apron and was actually going to cook noodles for him.
’A Prince cooking noodles? How could I be having a dream like this?’
When he looked up, he saw a handsome youth around his own age. Strangely, the youth was looking at him with a very peculiar gaze.
Li Qingcao swallowed, the taste of blood mixing with his saliva.
He spoke hoarsely, "Brother Lu."
"Yes."
"That last sword strike of mine... was it cool?"
Lu Changyuan replied seriously, "Very cool."
Li Qingcao grinned, rolled over, and lay down. He picked up his wine gourd, only to realize it was empty and set it aside. "That’s good, then. A man can die, but he can’t look uncool doing it."
Lu Changyuan cradled his tea, his gaze still fixed on the white scar in the sky.
Xia Lianxue asked softly, "Sir, will she win?"
"I don’t know."
"There’s actually something in this world that you don’t know, Sir?"
Lu Changyuan sighed. "If she can see through her attachment, she will win. But if she could see through it, she wouldn’t have released the Great Demon in the first place."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luan Rumeng held her sword in one hand, watching with sorrow as Liuqing Lake erupted and rain poured from the heavens.
"Junior Brother."
Tens of thousands of black water spouts shot into the sky, followed by an earth-shattering BOOM. Fish, crushed to death by the sheer pressure, floated up from the lakebed, and the reek of fish and death filled the air.
Something had emerged.
It was a hideous, octopus-like creature. It opened its massive, blood-red maw, devouring everything in sight as a foul, stinking wind howled forth.
It carried the aura of Yao Guang, but that was all. After being suppressed by Lu Changyuan for a thousand years, its Realm had long since fallen. Now, it could barely even maintain the Sixth Realm.
Luan Rumeng fought back her tears. "Junior Brother, I should have stopped you back then. I should have listened to Brother Lu and stopped you."
Those tainted by a Desire Demon eventually become inhuman monsters. Once they reach that stage, not even the great Chang’an Daoist could reverse the process.
It means the Cultivator’s heart is completely filled with "desire," leaving no possibility of reversal.
To restrain oneself is to be human.
To be full of desire is to be a demon.
Su Wuxiang knew this, but he wanted to take the gamble.
He cultivated a Demon Technique and comprehended the Killing Dao, reaching the Sixth Realm Kai Yang. With the Seventh Realm so close, how could he possibly be content to stop?
A seeker of the Dao is singularly focused and will not shy away even from ten thousand deaths.
He had to face his tribulation. He believed in himself. He had maintained a clear Spirit Platform for decades on end; surely, he could continue to do so.
And so, Su Wuxiang drew lightning into his body, tempering it for thirty-six days as he performed the ritual for Breaking Realm.
He succeeded. He glimpsed the vista of the Seventh Realm Yao Guang, but only for an instant. The next moment, the Desire Demon completely seized his consciousness.
The backlash from his Demon Technique was more severe this time than ever before.
He could not break through his inner demons, and so he became a true Demon.
Luan Rumeng’s eyes blurred with tears. She remembered, many, many years ago, the innocent junior brother who used to follow her around, begging for pastries. "Junior Brother... Cultivation is about cultivating the Dao, not the Realm."
Cultivation is not about Breaking Realm; it is about refining the heart.
Devotion to the Dao and obsession with great power are two entirely different paths.
The former leads one to the summit to admire the view; the latter causes one to fall prey to the Desire Demon, ultimately leading to the destruction of both body and soul.
Luan Rumeng could say no more.
Her sword was already drawn.
Her state of mind was flawed, preventing her from entering Yao Guang. But this also meant that beneath the Seventh Realm Yao Guang, her sword skills were peerless.
Su Wuxiang extended a massive tentacle. He had no consciousness, only a stubborn instinct to devour everything. A garbled sound escaped his ugly, spike-filled maw: "Yao... Guang..."
Luan Rumeng’s sword flashed, instantly severing Su Wuxiang’s tentacle. Waves of sword energy surged, each stronger than the last, until they ripped through the sky, illuminating the night as bright as snow.
Night had fallen at some unknown point. A bright moon hung in the sky, but now, to all who looked, it was stained blood-red.
All of Liuqing Lake was cleaved open, and a massive chasm sank into its center. Eerie blue flames ignited upon the water’s surface, instantly sweeping out in all directions.
Su Wuxiang’s Realm rose rapidly, reaching the peak of the Sixth Realm in the blink of an eye.
The voices of countless people drifted through the air, like wandering souls unable to find their way home.
Luan Rumeng stared in disbelief. "You’ve absorbed the resentment of those who drowned here over the years? No... you’ve taken the resentment of everyone who has died in Upper Jade Capital all these years!"
The Great Demon had accumulated a thousand years of resentment and hatred. It was merely waiting to break its seal to digest these chaotic thoughts and ascend.
Luan Rumeng knew she could not delay. She pointed her sword at the Demon Body.
It was an incredibly fast strike. Her full power as a Sixth Realm Kai Yang cultivator erupted. The Sword Dao Luan Rumeng cultivated was that of the Supreme Profound Sword. Its Mysterious Skill poured into the Demon Body, then abruptly detonated, sending Su Wuxiang’s black flesh and blood flying everywhere.
SCREECH!
The Great Demon shrieked in pain. Within the Demon Body’s chest cavity, a haphazard mess of white bones could be seen, along with innumerable hearts.
Soon, those hearts also exploded one after another, and a putrid stench filled the air around Liuqing Lake.
"Yao... Guang!!!"
Two giant tentacles writhed and fused together like a gecko regenerating its tail. Flesh and blood knitted together into a dense mass that lashed viciously toward Luan Rumeng. The heavy, sucker-covered appendages nearly sliced through space itself, revealing a black void within.
Luan Rumeng threw her Iron Sword. Soon, Su Wuxiang’s Demon Body was riddled with holes. GURGLE... Rotting, pus-filled black flesh tumbled out.
Under her exquisite Magic, every heart in the Demon Body was destroyed. Then, from Su Wuxiang’s massive maw, came the sound of a wailing infant.
A child crying in the night.
The herald of death has arrived.