PFC Chapter 39 One cultivates killing and the other pursues freedom and ease, is that what you taught hi
Chapter 39 One cultivates killing and the other pursues freedom and ease, is that what you taught hi
The thunderclouds on the Linghuang Tree accumulated more and more, eventually gathering into a pre-rain atmosphere, making the air humid.
"More than two months have passed since you began your inquiry," Dao Xuanzi said, looking at the thunderclouds in the sky.
Xue Lan reached out and felt the water vapor gathering in the air.
Spring has arrived.
"Three days from now, regardless of whether your aunt has completed the Inquiry, you should set off for the War Puppet Mansion," Dao Xuanzi said to Xue Lan.
Xue Lan bowed slightly: "This disciple will remember."
"Boom!"
After another muffled clap of thunder, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky.
The weather within the outdoor grotto was also influencing the outside world, in the mountains surrounding the Xuanhuang Grotto. A furry little deer braved the rain and ran into a small temple halfway up the mountain. It knelt and worshipped repeatedly before the clay statue of a deity in front of it.
"Mountain Goddess, the rain has changed! The rain has come earlier!" The voice was filled with undisguised excitement.
The clay statue before me was of a kind old woman, who appeared at the call of a deer. I stepped outside and looked towards the distant mountain peaks.
"The early arrival of spring rain is a good omen for the people living down the mountain," the old woman said kindly.
A hundred miles away, in a small village at the foot of the mountain, a strong young man ran into his own yard.
"Sir, it's raining!"
Little did they know that their seventy-something-year-old father was already standing under the eaves, watching a dark cloud sweeping in from afar.
The old man raised his hand to catch the rainwater falling from the eaves in front of him, and a smile appeared on his wrinkled face.
"It's a year of great harvest!"
"Time to plant!"
Outside the illusion, everything was bustling with activity, all things were reviving, and everywhere was a scene of prosperity.
Within the illusion, however, lay a battlefield where fierce fighting raged, corpses littered the ground, and blood flowed like rivers.
Ji Jinjin was dressed in a black armor full of holes, and the red cloth underneath was already stained black and red with blood.
Behind them were exhausted soldiers, and in front of them were tens of thousands of demonic beasts.
Ji Jinjin heard someone calling her General.
That's right, she is the garrison commander of this city. Since entering the illusion, she has been leading her soldiers in a desperate defense...
How many days did they hold out?
Three months? Six months? Or a year?
I can't remember some of them clearly.
All she remembered was the monsters in front of her dying one by one under her gun, and the soldiers behind her decreasing in number, some being torn apart by the monsters, and others leaving no trace of their bodies.
"General!"
A heart-wrenching scream came from behind. Ji Jinjin turned her spear around and saw her lieutenant carrying a blood-covered boy on his back.
"I can't hold on any longer! General, will the immortals come? The immortals..."
The lieutenant's face turned ashen, and his lips trembled.
"The immortals wouldn't have forgotten us, would they?"
Ji Jinjin wanted to say no, but now that things had come to this point, she herself was not so sure.
Will they come? So many days, so many people have died.
Will the immortals return?
"General, let's retreat!"
"Don't retreat! The people of Luoxia City are behind us!" Ji Jinjin spoke, but she hadn't had a drop of water in days of fighting. As soon as she spoke, her throat was torn, and a bitter, bloody taste rose up.
"No retreat! Even if we all die in battle!"
The lieutenant nodded, placed the boy he was holding against the city wall behind him, and picked up his weapon again.
Clinging to this last shred of faith, the remaining hundred or so men on the battlefield continued to resist wave after wave of beast tides.
Ji Jinjin was at the forefront, her eyes bloodshot with rage. One low-level magical beast after another fell at her hands, yet their numbers showed no sign of decreasing. It seemed as if she could kill them all, forever…
The lieutenant's body lay at his feet; half of the man's torso had been bitten off. He struggled to crawl forward, whimpering, "Go...go..."
Another scene suddenly popped into my mind.
The entire city was engulfed in flames of war, and I, so small, looked at the tall man in front of me.
"Lan'er, keep an eye on Tongtong!" The man in armor bent down and touched his head.
"Uncle!" Ji Jinjin saw her little self and grabbed the man's clothes.
"Tongtong, be good. Stay with your aunt and don't go anywhere. When your uncle comes back, he'll take you to the capital to play."
The scenery became blurry after that. When her vision returned, Ji Jinjin felt as if she had been placed in a small wooden box, surrounded by stuffed objects.
There was a narrow crack in the wooden box, through which she could see the scene outside.
The gentle and beautiful woman was being torn apart and dragged around on the ground by several low-level magical beasts.
“Auntie! Auntie…”
As the woman on the ground was being torn apart, she still raised her face and looked at the box where Ji Jinjin was.
The woman smiled, her eyes crinkling, and mouthed the words.
She said, "Let's go..."
"go!"
In her memory, the woman's lip movements overlapped with the voice of the lieutenant before her. Ji Jinjin suddenly snapped back to reality. She raised her silver spear, deflecting a demonic beast that was about to approach them. Then, gripping the shaft, she thrust it forward with a fierce thrust.
The monster let out a shrill scream as the silver spear pierced its eye, went through its entire head, and pinned it to the ground.
"Let's go?" The girl placed the injured deputy general at the foot of the city wall.
The girl's voice was clear and crisp: "You and I are both soldiers of this Luoxia City. As long as we live, the city will live."
"I am saved by the immortals, and the gods have mercy on me!"
"If they don't come, I will transform into this standing god, and with this long spear in my hand, I will guard this place!"
Thunderclouds began to appear in the sky. Ji Jinjin turned around and led the remaining soldiers to meet the demonic beasts on the other side.
This time she won't leave again!
Not only will she not leave, she will also stop guarding the human race and will not allow the demons to oppress the human race any longer.
She wanted to stop the killing with killing!
Just as Kui Shengge said that day, send the demons back to the Nine Heavens Demon Realm!
The girl's voice was clear and resolute.
"Spring thunder brings forth life, and all things grow. Thunder is the master of killing and destruction, but it also governs rebirth!"
"I, Ji Jinjin, today I inquire into the art of war and am willing to use my spear to protect all things in the world and to cleanse the earth of evil. I will restore a bright and clear world to all living beings!"
A sound came from the cave beneath the Spirit Emperor Tree, and everyone around Xue Lan gasped in shock.
"The Way of Slaughter, entering the Way through slaughter? How could that be?"
"Having entered the path of killing, one's temperament is unpredictable!"
Dao Xuanzi stood at the forefront, watching the thunderclouds gradually dissipate opposite him. He raised his hand to stop the commotion behind him.
The people behind him immediately fell silent.
The old man's voice was deep and gentle, but his words carried unparalleled power.
"Gentlemen, instead of stubbornly clinging to this position for thousands of years, why not try a different approach!"
"Neither the human race nor the demon race is suited to continue holding out."
Dao Xuanzi's words meant to be a desperate gamble, a do-or-die situation. It meant truly driving the demons out of the Yuanming Realm.
It is a road that no one has walked on for thousands of years.
It's alright, people will always walk this path; roads are made by people walking them.
"Issue the order that, effective immediately, Ji Jinjin will be personally instructed by Grandmaster Linghuang, and after breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, she will succeed as the Peak Master of Jiyuan Peak."
Dao Xuanzi looked at Xue Lan beside him: "Do you have any objections?"
"This disciple has no objection!" Xue Lan looked at Ji Jinjin, who flew out of the cave, with a slight smile on her face.
She never had much interest in the position of peak master of Jiyuan Peak.
"Disciple greets Headmaster Master." Ji Jinjin still has the mark of Lei Kui's inheritance between her brows, which must have been triggered when she successfully chose her path.
"This disciple does not wish to become the peak master of Jiyuan Peak."
[Is she going to say something like, "This Peak Master of Jiyuan Peak was my senior sister's idea, and I won't touch anything my senior sister wants?"] The system, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up.
Dao Xuanzi looked at Ji Jinjin in front of him and coldly uttered a sentence: "It's you or Zhu He, but it's definitely not her!"
After saying that, he glanced at Xue Lan.
Ji Jinjin fell silent immediately. Standing next to Xue Lan, she transmitted her voice to her, "Why did you provoke him?"
Xue Lan: "It's a long story..."
Before Xue Lan could even begin her long speech, a soaring sword aura appeared on the opposite mountain peak, directly triggering the Xuanling Sect's protective mountain formation.
However, the sword energy was too sharp, cutting straight through the protective array of Xuanling Peak and splitting the clouds in the sky in two.
"From the day I began my self-cultivation, I ceased to believe in fate. From this day forward, I will cultivate the carefree sword path of Zhuhe. One sword, a transformation; one sword, a transcendence. One sword, slaying demons; one sword, shattering destiny."
The boy's wild and unrestrained voice came, and Dao Xuanzi raised his hand and pulled Xue Lan, who was about to run away, back.
"One cultivates killing and violence, the other pursues freedom and unfettered existence. Is this what you taught them?"
The sect leader revealed a "kind and approachable" smile.
Xue Lan: Help me! Help me!