Free Web NovelChapter 356: Chapter 356: So You Want to Learn?
Xu Yunfan stared at the iron-colored encampment of the Profound Armor Army in the distance, his gaze as tranquil as an abyss.
He withdrew his finger and turned to Li Haomiao, his eyes profound. "Haomiao, have you ever seen a field during spring planting? When it’s overrun with weeds, the farmer brings down his hoe and cuts them out by the root. It looks like a complete mess, but once the new seedlings break through the soil, you have endless acres of green."
Li Haomiao frowned. He understood what Xu Yunfan meant, of course.
In the current state of affairs, to reclaim the National Divine Artifact in these chaotic times, one first had to shatter the old world.
"But behind that word, ’shatter’..." He looked toward the cooking smoke rising under the setting sun in the distance, his voice raspy. "How many lives will it take to be enough?"
"Since when have you become so indecisive?"
Xu Yunfan let out a surprised laugh and shook his head slightly. If this were the dynasty’s golden age, Li Haomiao’s temperament would have made him a benevolent ruler. But now, with ambitious heroes rising all over the land, only ruthless slaughter could pave the way back to the throne.
Li Haomiao watched a nearby pool of blood slowly seep into the cracks between the green bricks. He was suddenly reminded of passing through the slums a few days ago, where he saw a child digging half a moldy flatbread out of a pile of rubble.
Even here, at the foot of the Jade Capital, there were refugees and beggars...
He closed his eyes, his voice growing a little deeper. "I understand the reasoning. But knowing you have to swing the blade and actually cutting down millions of lives with your own hands... are two different things entirely."
Li Haomiao sighed. "It’s not that I’m indecisive. Sometimes, understanding something is one matter, but doing it is another. The consequences of this will affect the entire world."
Xu Yunfan walked slowly to the edge of a ruined wall. He looked down at an official from the Great Zhou Ministry of Industry, half-buried in the earth, the last rays of the setting sun casting a golden fringe upon him.
"When the state thrives, the people suffer. When the state falls, the people suffer."
He pointed northwest toward the Profound Armor Army’s camp. "Which of those soldiers hasn’t had their family exploited by the Sects? The two Daoist Incense and Candle Sects in the south had just quieted down when a drought broke out. Do you really think it was a natural disaster?"
"This world has been killing people for a long time. It’s just borrowing my hand to make it quick!"
His words left Li Haomiao speechless. As twisted as this logic was, he found himself unable to come up with a reason to refute it.
Dynasties rise and fall, but the people always suffer. It has been this way since ancient times.
He had, of course, traveled the Mortal World. He had seen some things with his own eyes.
"These Sects have been parasites on the people for years. Today, they are merely reaping what they’ve sown. Just you watch..."
Xu Yunfan suddenly clenched his fist. The clear True Qi under his skin surged like a great river, refining the last impurity of the Buddhist Pure Fire. "Once I drag that Female Witch from her throne and gather all the Great Zhou Dragon Vein Profound Yellow Qi to break through the shackles of the Ninth Realm..."
"...then the people will finally have a chance to rest and recover. They won’t have to sell their lands to Mituo Temple to buy ’Sin-Eliminating Talismans,’ nor will they have to pay all sorts of ridiculous taxes to the Sword Pavilion."
Li Haomiao fell silent. What Xu Yunfan described was, naturally, his own vision. Staring at the cracked fragments of the Dragon-Suppressing Seal on the Martial Arts Arena, he suddenly said, "What if the three hundred thousand soldiers of the Profound Armor Army storm the Great Zhou Imperial Court..."
"They can’t move. Against Nine Realms Qi Cultivation, numbers no longer guarantee victory. Brother Haomiao, these men are the foundation for your future conquest of the world. If most of them fall here, then it will truly become a chaotic era."
Xu Yunfan turned to face Li Haomiao. "The Empress’s Tiger Talisman can’t command their hearts. These Border Army soldiers have long had enough of the Royal Family and the Sects colluding to withhold their pay. After tomorrow, I will personally hammer the Empress to death. You can use the Taoist Sect’s Azure Pouch Scripture to heal the wounded soldiers. These three hundred thousand men will be the foundation of the New Dynasty."
At this, he suddenly smiled. "’Desperate times call for desperate measures.’ I’m just cutting away the rotten branches, and you’ll handle the aftermath and plant new trees. We’re simply performing our respective duties."
Li Haomiao was silent for a long time before finally shaking his head with a bitter smile. "You madman... What if you fail...?"
"There is no failure."
Xu Yunfan cut him off, his gaze like a torch. "The Luotian Grand Sacrifice is complete. The Old Witch is at the end of her rope, merely struggling before death. No, I will not lose. I cannot lose. The thousand-year Destiny of the Taoist Sect rests on my shoulders. If I succeed, we all ascend. ’When one man achieves the Dao, his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.’"
He clapped Li Haomiao on the shoulder. "This time tomorrow, I will let you witness with your own eyes what a true ’Great Unity’ under heaven looks like."
The night was as black as ink. Atop the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion, the tallest structure in the Imperial City, Xu Yunfan stood with his hands behind his back, his robes whipping in the biting night wind.
The glazed tiles under his feet gleamed with a cold light. In the distance, the lights of the Purple Extreme Hall flickered in and out of view amidst the churning darkness, like a dormant Fierce Beast.
"To think you’ve turned the Ten Extremes Martial Arts into the Devouring True Path... That is quite a surprise."
An aged voice suddenly rang out. Thirty feet behind Xu Yunfan, the void abruptly darkened, and Dugu Jiu, his hair white as frost, stepped out of thin air.
At his waist hung a sheathless Three-foot Cyan Blade. Its body was mottled like a dead branch, yet it seemed to make the surrounding moonlight freeze in place.
Xu Yunfan didn’t turn around. He simply lowered the hands that were crossed over his chest and rested them on the handle of his hammer, his fingertips tapping lightly on the grip of the Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer. "And what does Elder Dugu think of it?"
Dugu Jiu sneered. "I thought you would follow my Sword Dao. I never expected you to forge a path of the Demon Dao out of the Ten Extremes Martial Arts."
"When I created the Ten Extremes Martial Arts, I used Sword Intent as its bones and the Ten Thousand Laws as its edge."
Dugu Jiu’s withered fingers stroked his Longsword. With a light flick, the spine of the blade hummed softly as nine flickering streams of Sword Intent ignited. They encompassed all forms, ever-changing and impossible to grasp.
Xu Yunfan’s brow twitched as he watched, inwardly surprised. ’This old man can actually merge multiple Martial Arts True Intents into a single, ascending Sword Intent.’
"But I never imagined the Ten Extremes Martial Arts could be taken down such a path."
As he spoke, a brilliant light erupted in Dugu Jiu’s eyes. They glittered, filled with a look of inquiry and a hint of excitement.
"I created the Ten Extremes Martial Arts three hundred years ago, and I thought its only path was that of the Celestial Sword Opening Sect..."
A hoarse laugh suddenly escaped his throat, causing the residual Sword Qi in his sleeves to rustle. "I never imagined you would turn it into a Demon Dao that can absorb another’s Essence Qi!"
’What Demon Dao? This is just an Absorption Effect that the Ten Extremes Martial Arts derived from the concept of the Ten Thousand Laws Return to the Stream on my Attribute Panel.’
Xu Yunfan secretly pursed his lips. ’Dugu Jiu calls it the Demon Dao, but he looks even more excited about it than I am.’
He didn’t turn, only angled his head slightly, a faint, inscrutable smile on his face.
"Would you like to learn, Elder? I can teach you."
The night wind suddenly intensified, whipping the old man’s white hair about like a frenzy of writhing snakes.
He took a sudden step forward, and seven points of starlight burst from the edge of his blade. Illuminated by the Ten Extremes True Qi that spontaneously erupted from Xu Yunfan, they cast a demonic purple halo.
Seeing this, Dugu Jiu was overcome with joy.
"Excellent! What a magnificent Ten Thousand Laws Return to the Stream! If all the Ninth Realm Grandmasters in the world were refined into fuel..."
He quickly retracted all his Sword Intent, rubbing his hands together in a state of extreme excitement.
"In this Dharma Decline Era where Spiritual Qi is so depleted, we might actually be able to hew an Ascension Path!"
Besides, he had been watching from the shadows during the day. Xu Yunfan hadn’t just been absorbing his opponents’ True Qi, but also the vitality of their physical bodies and blood.
