Chapter 704: Absolutely Not About Good and Evil
Li Haowen's gaze first fell upon He Qingling, who stood before him, now at the peak of the Unity Realm. It likely wouldn't be long before she cultivated her natal divine ability and stepped into the Divine Ability Realm.
This was one of the few acquaintances he had in this world.
But his gaze did not linger long on He Qingling either. After only a sweeping glance, he quickly lowered his eyes.
"Senior Li's words are mistaken. Qingling owes her current achievements largely to Senior's life-saving grace back then."
He Qingling spoke toward Li Haowen.
An icy, bone-chilling wind blew past, stirring the hem of Li Haowen's tattered gray daoist robes.
The pitch-black rifts in the sky blotted out the sun, and the earth, deprived of sunlight, left the land shrouded in "Eternal Night" in perpetual extreme cold.
The young Guardians of the Dao of Du Cang Mountain standing nearby exchanged glances, all desperately trying to figure out just who this disheveled cultivator before them, whom they had until recently regarded as a practitioner of the outer ways, truly was, to be addressed as "Senior" by Elder He of the Xuan Sheng Sect.
"If Elder He is willing to consider old ties, I hope you can let Li leave."
Li Haowen's hoarse voice sounded again.
He Qingling fell silent once more.
Neither human nor ghost.
Anyone who saw Li Haowen would certainly think so.
The first time He Qingling heard the name "Li Haowen" was in a teahouse in the Western Region of Chenping Continent, while listening to the storyteller recount the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm.
The traitor of the Kongshan Sect, a sanctimonious hypocrite.
That was He Qingling's initial impression of Li Haowen.
And then, there was the extermination war of the Coiling Dragon Sect, where Li Haowen killed captives; and the subsequent bandit suppression in the Qingque Kingdom, where he wantonly slaughtered rogue cultivators. These deeds utterly ruined Li Haowen's reputation in the cultivation world of Chenping Continent. He was widely known as "Li Dog," "Li Hound," and even "Li Godslayer" had become his kindest nickname.
But when she began to develop her own ability to think, and after truly coming into contact with Li Haowen, He Qingling discovered that many things in this world seemed quite different from the world described by the storytellers.
For instance, the real Li Haowen had left her with the impression of nothing more than a rather weathered-looking cultivator, whose eyes were always filled with unspoken worries, seeming to brim with reminiscence of the past and an unvented hatred. A sorrowful and pessimistic cultivator, as though abandoned by the world.
But he was a good person.
He Qingling did not believe that someone like Li Haowen could be as utterly evil as the storytellers described.
In particular, through accounts from some Kongshan Sect cultivators and a few written records about Li Haowen's youth, she had gained a certain understanding of the Li Haowen from before the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm.
As the Chief Disciple of Yuanhua Mountain, Li Haowen was full of upright spirit. His face always bore a warm, spring-breeze-like smile as he treated every junior brother and sister in the sect with kindness.
It could be said that among that generation of disciples, were it not for the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm and the subsequent purge it triggered, Li Haowen should have become the next Dao Sect Wanderer of Kongshan Sect, following Liu Yantang, the youngest personal disciple of the previous Sect Leader Yun Yichen.
No one was more suited to that position than him.
If, if she just let Li Haowen leave like this, then...
"Are you going back to Du Cang Mountain, Senior Li?"
He Qingling spoke up:
"Perhaps the True Persons will have a way to help with your situation."
Li Haowen should have died over a hundred years ago.
Although He Qingling did not know exactly what Li Haowen had encountered in the cave beneath the lake in this forbidden zone over a hundred years ago, she was certain that the cultivator standing before her now, dressed in tattered gray daoist robes, should have died long ago.
But death had not befallen him.
After that, Li Haowen, who wholeheartedly sought true "death," left Du Cang Mountain alone on the day Qin Qingyu stepped into the Immortal Ascension Realm, and from then on vanished without a trace.
And those young cultivators who heard He Qingling's words were even more stunned.
Go back to Du Cang Mountain?
That is to say, this fellow before them who looked so wretched and pitiful, practically like a practitioner of the outer ways... had once been a Guardian of the Dao of Du Cang Mountain as well?
How was that possible?
Suddenly, the pupils of Tian Baowen, the mid-stage Qi Sea Realm cultivator standing at the very front, constricted slightly, as if he had suddenly remembered something, and he murmured softly:
"He's Li Haowen..."
"Li Haowen?"
These young cultivators felt somewhat unfamiliar with this name that had been active over a hundred years ago.
"The one from the Kongshan Sect, the one connected to the mastermind of the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm..."
"Could it be that stray dog without a home from Yuanhua Mountain?"
"Shh..."
All the conversation reached Li Haowen's ears, yet he showed not the slightest ripple of emotion because of those whispered words.
"No need."
Li Haowen merely shook his head slowly, then said to He Qingling:
"The True Persons will not have a way to help with my current situation either."
Because this was the Sage's curse upon him.
"I should go, Elder He."
As he spoke, Li Haowen continued to stride forward.
"...Senior Li, this should not be your ending."
He Qingling could not help but speak out.
Hearing this, Li Haowen's footsteps paused slightly:
"Why?"
"Because you are a good person."
He Qingling said.
"These are not words you should be saying, given your current experience and cultivation realm, Elder He."
Li Haowen said calmly:
"Good people do not necessarily have good endings. Moreover, I am not any good person."
"..."
He Qingling clearly wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Li Haowen's next words:
"Perhaps, because I saved you back then, it made you mistakenly believe I must be a good person. But what about those cultivators who died under my sword and by my orders? What kind of person am I to them?"
"Senior Li..."
"Moreover, to you, I should not be any good person either."
Li Haowen's hoarse voice was ice-cold.
He Qingling's pupils constricted. She watched as that cultivator in tattered gray daoist robes placed his hand on the Yuanji Sword at his waist, and in the instant he drew the sword, the air within a hundred zhang became even colder than before.
She had no time to stop him, or rather, He Qingling, whose thoughts were in chaos, had never imagined Li Haowen would do such a thing.
Li Haowen merely drew the Yuanji Sword from its scabbard about two inches, then returned it to the sheath.
The entire world fell instantly silent.
The next moment, the heads of the seven young Guardians of the Dao of Du Cang Mountain standing to the side fell to the ground, one after another.