The four guardian templar knights betraying Jia Sha seemed surprising, but thinking about it carefully, it actually wasn’t strange.
The four defecting to Zi Di was impossible, but Zhen Jin was treated differently.
Zhen Jin had a noble bloodline, was genuine noble, and a templar knight.
Zhen Jin and Jia Sha had similar statuses, and they believed in the same god. Sheng Ming Sect clergy often coordinated with templar knights in battles. Every templar knight commander was equal to a red clothed archbishop, a level above bishops.
The guardian templar knights weren’t really under Jia Sha’s personal command, the original six simply received orders to protect Jia Sha, now there were only four left.
Jia Sha’s situation seemed fishy, moreover, contribution was more important to Jia Sha, it was still a question of how much the four guardian templar knights would get.
The magic power reserve was being drained too fiercely, the four guardian templar knights also worried that if there wasn’t enough, they would become expendable.
After all, templar knights and priests couldn’t harm each other, but with the status and identities of these four, that wasn’t a problem.
To the four people, preserving their lives came first. Zhen Jin, the one who sought survival above all else, was the optimal target to swear loyalty to!
Now, Zhen Jin’s attitude and choice was the key to success.
“Lord Zhen Jin!” Zi Di shouted.
Seeing his fiancé, Zhen Jin nodded and turned around to strictly glare at Jia Sha.
The priest’s heart sank.
“Lord Priest, I now ask that you withdraw from the fight over authority!” Zhen Jin shouted.
Zi Di spat, beyond her expectations, Zhen Jin still chose to side with her at the most crucial moment.
Jia Sha was furious.
“Even if you kill me, I won’t withdraw from this fight!”
Zhen Jin shook his head and said with a mild tone: “Why would I put my hands on you? I will only knock you unconscious.”
“Knock me unconscious?” Jia Sha sneered; soon holy light gushed from his body.
The present condition of his body was very worrisome, it seemed there was only skin around his bones.
The holy light from his body, instead seemed to horrify others.
“You think I don’t have the power to retaliate? In this prohibition environment, none of you can use battle qi, how can you resist my divine spells?” These words suddenly made Zhen Jin and the four guardian templar knights hesitate.
Jia Sha then said to the four guardian templar knights: “I understand your choice. But doing this, even if you leave this place alive, what will you face? You have trained not to defend the sect, but its priests. Watching with folded arms is tolerable, but if you really dispose of me, think, even if you live, you will face punishment and blame, that is a fate worse than death!”
“This……” The four guardian templar knights looked at each other with dismay, their complexions extremely heavy.
Jia Sha’s words were very sharp, instantly making the four guardian templar knights feel awkward.
They only looked at Zhen Jin, their gazes pleading that Zhen Jin undertake this task.
Zhen Jin blankly stared.
He also didn’t dare!
During the whole journey, he sufficiently sensed how powerful divine spells were.
He had to deal with Jia Sha now? It is possible, a divine spell would descend and kill him.
With Jia Sha’s body and mental state, was he really not able to massacre a templar knight? Zhen Jin didn’t dare to gamble.
Even Zi Di also hesitated: “Be careful, your Lordship, you can’t be rude and impetuous.”
Currently Zhen Jin was her protective talisman, if Zhen Jin died, it was self-evident who the four guardian templar knights would listen to.
Zhen Jin grinded his teeth and gazed at Jia Sha to probe him: “You can’t kill me!”
Zi Di’s heart cooled; Zhen Jin’s words undoubtedly revealed the fear in his heart.
As expected, Jia Sha’s next sentence was: “Haha, templar knight, you can try, see if I don’t dare! Under pressure, I can do anything.”
Zhen Jin clenched his jaw; his expression became more hesitant.
He sank into a plight over what to choose.
That is why he got angry and wanted nothing else but to live. But Jia Sha’s strange obstinacy really tied Zhen Jin’s hands.
“If I try to knock Jia Sha unconscious and he dies while using a divine spell, wouldn’t that be too unjust?”
It was too risky, and Zhen Jin stepped back.
The pressure of death made his mind whirl in unprecedented ways.
He quickly organized his words and advised: “Jia Sha, if we take too long, too much of the magic power reserve will be dried up. A divine artifact won’t be able to be teleported.”
“Currently, the only reason why we are in a deadlock of endless contradictions, is contribution being distributed unevenly!”
“I propose that all the contribution be divided equally between us.”
“Divided equally?” Zi Di raised her eyebrows, she didn’t want that.
“Please shut your mouth! My fiancé, don’t tell me you want to die?” Zhen Jin turned around to severely reprimand.
Zi Di no longer said anything.
“Divided equally? Certainly not!” Jia Sha sneered, he already forced Zhen Jin to give in, he was not satisfied with small gains, why would he stop now?
Jia Sha continued: “Do you know how much I paid? Moreover, do you think an equal division of contribution can be achieved? The evaluation and bestowment of merit is the higher ups’ business. Can you meddle in their judgment and decision?”
Jia Sha’s attitude became tougher.
Zhen Jin clenched his teeth: “Good, then I will concede, we don’t want that thing on the third floor! Of the two divine artifacts, we will only take away this large shell. The Green Jade Golden Coffin will be yours.”
“That won’t do!” Jia Sha roared.
Zhen Jin blankly stared, then got really angry as he snarled: “Do you understand what you are doing? Lord Priest! You are bringing about your own destruction.”
“I really don’t understand, why do you want so much contribution?”
“Can’t you distribute some to us?”
“Yes, your contribution is the biggest, but haven’t we all contributed? Without our comrades’ sacrifice, could you have come here unscathed? Maybe you would have been sacrificed earlier. At least, there wouldn’t be four templar guardian knights here.”
“Hahaha.” Jia Sha laughed; his laughter was becoming more deranged.
Regardless of whether it was Zhen Jin’s outburst, or his negotiation with Jia Sha, during the entire process, Zi Di never stopped attacking Jia Sha.
In order to resist Zi Di, Jia Sha could only keep squeezing himself, regardless of anything else.
He was now even older, and his old hair gradually fell, exposing a veined bald head. His red eyeballs bulged, and his emaciated form made it seem like he could die at any moment/
“I will not concede!”
“Die, everyone will die together!”
“Why must I concede to you dregs?”
“All of the contribution will be mine, all of it will be mine! If you don’t allow it, we will die together!”
Jia Sha raged with a twisted face, as if he had completely lost his rationality.
“Lord Priest!”
“Can you calm down a bit?”
“We aren’t forcing you!”
The guardian templar knights panicked.
“I will never concede. I will never concede these things to you!” Jia Sha’s mouth mumbled in repetition, constantly stressing it. His lifeless gaze gave others the impression that he was delirious.
“The reason? We can discuss it; we can settle this dispute together.” Zhen Jin howled, faced with the prejudice and unyielding Jia Sha, he had an unceasing headache.
After some time, Jia Sha reacted: “The reason?”
“Hahaha.”
“There is only one reason. You can hear it.”
Zhen Jin promptly replied: “I will listen respectfully!”
After a moment, Jia Sha spat and used a weak but determined tone to quietly say: “Because I am Jia Sha.”
“What?” Zhen Jin was incredulous.
His facial expression amused Jia Sha, with a warped smile, Jia Sha repeated: “That’s right, it is only because I am Jia Sha!!”
The others shook, it seemed Zi Di’s words were correct, the priest had over drafted too much of his vitality and suffered heavy spiritual damage, he was truly delirious——he was insane!
“I am Jia Sha……” The priest’s field of vision gradually grew fuzzy, at that moment, he saw his past.
Sheng Ming Continent, the west coast.
The tepid sea breeze passed through a tall window and blew through a church.
The soft sunset light illuminated the stained glass windows, exaggerating the spellbound ambience.
Priest Jia Sha suddenly opened a door, and quickly entered the large church.
His face was angry, quickly passing by pews, he arrived in front of the lectern. He plainly asked: “Bishop Ping Yi, why did you veto my promotion?”
“I have already been in this parish for three years! For the past three years, I have cautiously and conscientiously contributed to this parish, was there ever a day I didn’t get up early or go to sleep late? Most of the small churches constructed in the parish were supervised by me, and many churches were grown through my efforts over these years. I worked day and night while racking my brains in order to do this. My contribution is enough to promote me to bishop, I have been pious to Heavenly Emperor Sheng Ming, my aptitude is not a problem, and I can even use the resurrection spell as a priest!”
“I want to become a bishop! This has always been my goal during the past three years of hard work.”
“Why did you deny it, everyone else agreed, but your rejection caused my three years of work to turn into a mirage!”
“Why?”
“Are you scared? Jealous?! You are jealous, that at a young age, I will be on equal footing with you as a bishop.
Bishop Ping Yi listened to everything calmly, then he finished his prayer and turned around to look at Jia Sha.
He was very old; his head and beard were snow white. He was tall, but because of his age, his back was crooked.
Even if he was verbally abused and lashed out on, his gaze remained gentle and benevolent.
“Young and promising Jia Sha, your anger will not harm me, it will only injure yourself.”
“The reason why I denied your promotion is because you are still unfit for the office of bishop.”
“Unfit? Why am I unfit?!” Jia Sha raised his eyebrow and erupted again.
Bishop Ping Yi extended his wide palm and pushed towards Jia Sha.
Even though Jia Sha’s anger rushed through his heart, in the wake of Bishop Ping Yi’s action, his mood was alleviated somewhat.
Bishop Ping Yi slowly said: “Three years ago, there was an incident of theft. A young guard in the city lord’s troops was found stealing the city lord’s treasure. His corpse hung over the city gate for a year. You were the accuser in this affair?”
Jia Sha’s eyes coldly flickered: “Not bad! This is the truth, the young guard attempted to elope with the city lord’s daughter. Before acting, the young guard confessed his betrayal of the city lord and the guilt he felt over his distant parents, at the same time, he also prayed that his eloping would succeed.”
“Hmph, that peasant, he relied on a somewhat handsome appearance and flowery words in hopes of climbing higher. The city lord’s daughter was naive, thus he deceived her.”
“How could I tolerate such disrespectful behavior? The city lord gave him a chance to be a guard, it was a great favor. He went as far as to bite the hand that feeds him!”
“Thus, my heart filled with anger and I informed the city lord of this matter that very night. Was I wrong?”
Bishop Ping Yi shook his head: “Confession, is a mortal’s intimate moment with god. We should forgive, it is a sacred thing, we shouldn’t exploit it. You have violated our religious rules.”
“Two years ago, when Archbishop Mi Hong came for an inspection, you were in charge of receiving him. During the seven day reception, several hundred people died in the parish. Is this true?”
Jia Sha nodded: “It’s true!”
“But Bishop Ping Yi, you understand our parish the most. It is too infertile here, the only specialty we have here is silver fish. I mobilized many believers and offered large rewards to encourage them to capture the freshest and rarest silver fish for Bishop Mi Hong’s reception. Because of this, Bishop Mi Hong praised me to high heaven! Although capturing silver fish on the seafloor is very dangerous, when the believers heard it was for Bishop Mi Hong, all of them willingly took that risk.”
Bishop Ping Yi sighed: “The coin you used is what the believers dedicated themselves to. I originally planned to use that money to purchase better seeds, they were to be given to the people free of charge in order to improve the parish’s food supply. This will allow the people to eat real food, not biscuits made from earth, butter, and clay.”
Jia Sha raised his eyebrows and furiously said: “That is a good plan, but I don’t believe using the money on Bishop Mi Hong was wrong! My usage is also correct, I never embezzled anything. To this day, I have never tasted silver fish!”
“The lower class devoting themselves to the upper class is simply heaven’s law and earth’s principles.”
“We don’t need to value these people too much, they are like weeds, many die, and even more are born. What is the greatest thing in the parish? It can’t be these people?”
“Bishop Ping Yi, I know you are a commoner who was promoted, I understand your attitude. But you sympathize with the lower class too much.”
“In fact, human society isn’t much different from the jungle or the ocean.”
“When everyone is born, their identity and class is henceforth decided.”
“The upper class are like sharks and fierce tigers, while the lower class are like shrimps and rabbits. They are nature’s sacrifice to nourish the flesh of the upper class. This is our human society.”
“No, to be more accurate, elves, beastmen, dwarfs, and the other races, which of them aren’t like this?”
“The strong rule the weak, the upper class rules the lower class, only through social rankings can society be stable. With the social order of clans, the empire has hope!”
Bishop Ping Yi shook his head incessantly: “Because that coin had other purposes, a year ago there was a famine, and many people were desperate. You conformed with the feudal lords to suppress these people and slaughtered all of them. I remember I told you not to do that, correct?”
Jia Sha sneered: “Indeed, your Lordship Bishop’s opinion at the time was to mediate the conflict, that is what you told me.”
“But I was unwilling!”
“It was a mob of people! They dared to rebel against their lords, just thinking about it makes me angry! Worms should live in the mud, that is the trajectory of their lives. Those that lust after the upper class, are filled with greedy and unwilling scum, they must receive a bloody lesson!”
“I killed all of the rebels, from then on, the parish was peaceful and no longer rebelled! That is my contribution!!”
Bishop Ping Yi was silent.
After a short period, he sighed: “Jia Sha, I remember you were a noble bastard, right? You didn’t have the qualifications to inherit the territory, so you chose to be a clergy. In that case, I ask you to please understand these ordinary people. To some degree, their situation is similar to your own.”
Jia Sha burst out in laughter: “Bishop Ping Yi, how can you appraise me like this? Sure enough, as someone born from commoners, you cannot comprehend the ideology of nobles.”
“I will tell you the truth, I wasn’t a commoner’s bastard, but the son of the first wife, the eldest son!”
“But I voluntarily gave up my rights to the territory.”
“Why?”
“Because my bloodline was not outstanding, its density was too low, and my younger brother’s potential was greater than mine.”
Bishop Ping Yi blankly stared.
“What do you think the world is? What is the cornerstone of the empire? Bishop Ping Yi!” Jia Sha spread his arms; his loud voice resonated through the church.
“It’s because our ideology is correct!”
“By birth alone, his bloodline decided his life.”
“The mud an ordinary person without a bloodline lives in all his life, is actually protecting him. You want an earthworm to climb upwards, only for it to burn to death in the sunlight.”
“Although I have a comparatively outstanding bloodline, however, my clan peers were better. For the sake of the clan, I conceded. A pride of lions is eternally competitive, the strongest cubs must eat the best meat, this is how every generation has the strongest lion king!
“The empire is just like my clan. Because it’s like this, humanity has the power to push through the world and become the number one overlord.”
“Priest Ping Yi, don’t you know your opinions are dangerous?”
“These ordinary people are unworthy of your concern! In order to save them, you have sacrificed the benefits of the upper class, this will only make the lion kings weaker, and over time, humanity will steadily deteriorate and fall below the other races.”
Bishop Ping Yi appeared gentle, but his gaze was firm: “If ordinary people are unworthy of concern, then what am I?”
“It is the impartiality of fate.”
“Among countless mortals, there will always be one or two lucky ones that rise above the others.”
But what does that mean?”
“It means your body is a marvel. Putting it into a clan context, won’t a noble clan produce a steady flow of both practitioners and ordinary people? There might not be one in thousands of people over several years. From the empire’s perspective, almost all of the upper echelons are noble born! Even those born from commoners are exceptional cases amongst the untold masses.
“Forget about it, seeing your expression, I know your bigotry.”
Jia Sha spat, then sneered: “You have not convinced me, nor have I convinced you. So, it has come to this, Bishop Ping Yi, I formally challenge you to a sacred duel.”
Sacred duels were one of the Sheng Ming Sect’s distinguishing features, because Emperor Sheng Ming was the god of victory.
If an endless quarrel happened, the winner of the sacred duel would also win the dispute.
The duel continued through the night.
Several days later, Jia Sha said goodbye to Bishop Ping Yi.
“Your face is scarred; I can cure it for you.” Said Bishop Ping Yi.
“No need, I left it on purpose.” Jia Sha looked tranquil, but his eyes were resentful, “I will carry it for the rest of my life.”
“I will make it remind me at all times, that I suffered humiliation and defeat here.”
“A day will inevitably come, I will inevitably return one day and tell everyone what is correct!”
Ping Yi was silent.
Jia Sha turned around, lifted his head, and left the church.
In the fuzzy field of view, memories of struggle allowed Jia Sha to clearly see Zhen Jin, Zi Di, and the four guardian templar knights again.
Their anger and fear increased the joy in Jia Sha’s heart.
“I will never concede!”
“Don’t your lowly bloodlines and iron levels disgrace me?”
“As for you Zhen Jin, you shame your clan and bloodline!”
“How can nobles concede to dregs?”
“Even death……”
A deathly stillness
Zhen Jin was dumbstruck, if a person didn’t fear death, what could they do?
No one could size Jia Sha.
“Then drop dead!” Zi Di regretfully fumed.
“Lord Priest, are you forcing our hand?” The guardian templar knights began to stir.
Jia Sha only snorted coldly.
The four guardian templar knights glanced at each other, they scattered into four directions and slowly approached Jia Sha.
The aura of defeat assaulted his senses.
Jia Sha knew himself, he had always been bluffing, he really was a spent force with not much divine power left. He also knew he wasn’t very rational, but as a matter of fact, without anger and unwillingness sustaining him, he would have collapsed already.
Perhaps this was who he truly was.
Ordinarily, some people are unknowingly dominated by emotions, but at a crucial moment, they are as calm and rational as ice. Some people are usually calm and rational, but during critical moments, emotion muddles their brain.
“Can I escape this?”
At the gateway of defeat, Jia Sha’s eyes suddenly exploded with light.
“Hold on!” He blurted.
At that moment, lightning flashed through his mind.
The lightning tore through the darkness and unexpectedly lit up the path to victory.
“My grand master……” Jia Sha sighed, then his gaze jumped to the guardian templar knights, then to Zhen Jin, until stopping on Zi Di.
“Did you sink the Hog’s Kiss Miss Zi Di?”
Everyone:??!!
Zhen Jin was enraged: “Priest Jia Sha, you’re babbling nonsense, stop stalling for time. This cheap trick……”
“Hahaha!” Jia Sha suddenly howled with laughter; madness roused his spirit.
His gaze was like sharp arrows locking onto Zi Di as he repeated: “In the end, I am victorious! Because……you sank the Hog’s Kiss!”
Notes
Empathy and introspection don’t exist in Jia Sha’s mind. His entire philosophy is essentially how the majority of xianxia stories function. The weak fear the strong, and the special ones have the mandate of heaven to casually murder any number of commoners. Unfortunately, this works in a cultivation world because to the strong, numbers don’t matter. A high level cultivator can cut through hundreds to thousands of mortals. But that doesn’t make that right. IB is centered around the cooperation of all living beings despite differences, a stark contrast to Jia Sha’s “might makes right” philosophy. But now, it is now time to learn about Zi Di…….