Li Haowen looked at the young cultivator standing before him, dressed in the daoist robes of Kongyuan Mountain. The emotions contained within his gaze were exceedingly complex.
It wasn't until this young cultivator, right in front of him, removed the mask from his face, revealing his original appearance, that Li Haowen's shoulders gave a slight tremble.
He had originally thought that this young cultivator in Kongyuan Mountain robes represented Kongyuan Mountain producing a heaven-defying talent of exceptional aptitude, someone comparable to Qin Qingyu.
Yet compared to this speculation of his, the fact that a departed friend who had supposedly perished sixteen years ago in the Outer Court Cataclysm of the Kongshan Sect was now standing alive before him, with unfathomable cultivation and bearing the token of the Supreme Pivot Court, was clearly far more shocking.
A name that had been almost completely forgotten by the vast majority of people surfaced in Li Haowen's mind with an icy sense of reality.
"I thought you were dead, Junior Brother Chen."
Li Haowen said.
"Almost everyone thought so."
Chen Yan replied with a smile, shaking his head.
"So, for the past sixteen years, Junior Brother Chen has been working for the Pivot Court?"
He asked.
"No."
Chen Yan shook his head, then said:
"This outfit was given to me by Patriarch Kong. He said it would be more convenient for moving within the sect's sphere of influence."
"Patriarch Kong..."
Li Haowen softly repeated these two words, then revealed a bitter smile:
"It seems the experiences Junior Brother Chen has gone through over these years are far more remarkable than I imagined."
Chen Yan had originally intended to deny it.
But when he briefly recalled everything he had experienced since his rebirth in the Southern Region of the Chenping Continent up until today, he realized that what Li Haowen said wasn't really wrong.
His experiences over these years had truly been too turbulent and magnificent.
Whether it was working as a miner in the Star Heaven Sect's mine, later establishing the North Pass Sect, or the act of betraying his master and annihilating his ancestors in the Fallen Sword Mountain Range, the illusions within the Heavenly Summit Palace, and the subsequent escape to Fusheng Island...
All the way to now.
"You are right, Senior Brother Li."
Chen Yan answered:
"Over these sixteen years, the things I have experienced are simply too many."
The Li Haowen standing before Chen Yan obviously couldn't empathize with his experiences, though Li Haowen's own life on Yuanhua Mountain over these years hadn't been easy either.
"A while ago, I traveled around various cities within the Qingque Kingdom. The changes are immense."
Chen Yan said.
"What changes?"
Li Haowen asked.
"The rogue cultivators who originally put down roots within the Qingque Kingdom are all trying every possible method to flee. It seems the soil of the Qingque Kingdom is no longer suitable for cultivating immortality."
Chen Yan said this with such a casual, offhand manner.
"There's no helping it. They are too close to the Kongshan Sect."
Li Haowen replied.
"Regarding your methods, Senior Brother Li, I will not pass judgment. Whether it's completely purging those rogue cultivators, cultivation families, or minor sects from the Qingque Kingdom, or maintaining the status quo, it is none of my business."
Chen Yan said calmly:
"What I truly wish to speak of is your own state of mind, Senior Brother Li."
"My state of mind?"
Li Haowen said.
"Surely Senior Brother Li is also aware of the title you currently hold in the outside world: Li Godslayer."
Chen Yan said slowly:
"The me from sixteen years ago would have found it very difficult to associate the words 'Godslayer' with the righteous and awe-inspiring Senior Brother Li."
"To avoid unnecessary sacrifices, we must be more resolute."
Li Haowen replied.
To this day, he still remembered the scene from back then at the Coiling Dragon Sect, when Elder Yue Chi, with a single palm strike, annihilated all the Coiling Dragon Sect disciples who had already surrendered and abandoned resistance in front of the main hall.
There was no trace of mercy. Just a single palm strike, and all those Coiling Dragon Sect disciples who had given up resistance were instantly pulverized into mush and dust by Yue Chi.
We have no choice.
Those were the words Yue Chi had spoken to him at the time.
Originally, Li Haowen thought that Elder Yue Chi's phrase "no choice" referred to the fact that this operation to exterminate the Coiling Dragon Sect was personally formulated by Sect Leader Yun, and therefore could not be disobeyed.
But later he discovered that Elder Yue Chi's phrase "no choice" could be interpreted in another way.
That night, Li Haowen discovered over three hundred severed heads of Kongshan Sect disciples on Anjin Mountain.
No choice.
If it were the Li Haowen of the past, he would have definitely considered the current behavior he was executing—this "rather kill the innocent than let the guilty escape" approach—to be absolutely wrong.
But the current him did not think so.
In this world, there is no inherent right or wrong.
It's just that some things are considered correct by some people.
And other things are considered wrong by other people.
Li Haowen dared not say that the "rather kill the innocent than let the guilty escape" policy he was currently executing was the correct behavior.
But in his view, at the very least, under the current circumstances, to avoid many unnecessary sacrifices, this was a behavior that had to be executed.
"If Senior Brother Li puts it that way... then, how should the death of Sword Master Wei be viewed?"
Chen Yan appeared completely at ease, speaking in this manner.
Upon hearing this, Li Haowen's pupils constricted sharply.
The former Sword Master Elder of Yuanhua Mountain, Wei Mian.
He was also Li Haowen's master. After the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm seventeen years ago, Wei Mian was pushed out by Huo Mu and the Supreme Imperial Law Court behind him to serve as a scapegoat, in order to quell the anger outside the sect.
"My master was wrongfully executed."
Li Haowen answered with absolute certainty.
"Of course I know Sword Master Wei was wrongfully executed."
Chen Yan replied:
"Looking at the situation at that time, if the Kongshan Sect had failed to give the cultivation world of the Chenping Continent a satisfactory answer, it's very likely the sect would have faced siege and extermination by various forces. So, executing Sword Master Wei—was that also something that had to be done to avoid unnecessary sacrifices?"
The question Chen Yan threw out left Li Haowen somewhat stunned.
Before Li Haowen could speak, Chen Yan continued:
"This is because the original culprit failed to bear the responsibility he should have borne."
Huo Mu.
It was precisely due to the ambition of this former Supreme Imperial Law Elder of the Kongshan Sect that the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm occurred, causing immense losses to the cultivation world of the Chenping Continent.
"Senior Brother Li, do you not wish to take revenge?"
Chen Yan looked at Li Haowen, whose mind was beginning to grow muddled, and asked this.
"How to take revenge?"
Li Haowen shook his head:
"That old thief Huo Mu is already dead. The fact that my master was wrongfully executed cannot be changed no matter what."
"But what if I said the one who framed Sword Master Wei was not Huo Mu? That the true murderer is still alive and well?"
Chen Yan said, as if everything was completely within his grasp.
And the words he had just spoken clearly captured Li Haowen's full attention.
Li Haowen's eyes lit up:
"Then it's..."
"A Supreme Elder of the Supreme Imperial Law Court, named Song Changgeng."
Chen Yan answered.
Immediately, the light in Li Haowen's eyes rapidly dimmed again.