Chapter 81 - 80: Influence & Freedom
As he entered the mountain, an oscillating wave of nearly imperceptible spiritual strength bounced off the walls. Wei Wuyin’s eyes shrunk for a moment, hurriedly executing a spiritual spell.
「 Spiritual Spell: Scarlet Lingering Shadow 」
This was one of the most vital spells inherent within a Core Disciple of the Scarlet Solaris Sect’s set of spells. It concealed the physical body with a unique set of spiritual waves that adapted to other spiritual waves, allowing them to seem like a lingering shadow to observers.
When the wave of spiritual strength flowed through him, not being disturbed in the slightest, he heaved a sigh of relief. The Beast-Taming Sect truly lived up to its reputation as being very meticulous and protective of their secrets. If it wasn’t for his Eighth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm cultivation base, the chances of him being able to stealthily enter this base was absolutely zero.
After staying in place for a moment, he scanned the surroundings. He discovered this location was a tunnel, chiseled out with incredibly sharp tools. It wasn’t circular, but square-shaped. There were lit lanterns at set intervals into the tunnel, lighting the way.
He frowned as he felt the ground beneath his feet, the elemental energies were shifting oddly.
"Slanted?" As he slid his feet carefully across, he realized the tunnel led to a slanted pathway. It led downwards. He didn’t move carelessly, taking one step at a time.
"The lanterns are being lit by fire energies, infused constantly from a source up ahead." There was an internal array network that seemed to keep the lanterns ablaze. This required a minimal amount of resources, but it did mean that this was a commonly used passageway.
The lack of dust and varied traces of physical energies that lingered in the air allowed him to gain an estimate of the traffic coming in and out. The fainter the energies, the longer it was since it was left behind. The richer the energies, the stronger the person who left it behind. With this in mind, he assumed that there were about ten thousand different individuals here.
"An underground city?" He had traveled for nearly three hundred meters, slowly entering deeper underground as a result. Ten thousand wasn’t too much to determine that it was a city, but this was based on simply the physical energies of this one entrance. There’s no way this was the only entrance or exit of a sect.
"What should I do..." His mind started to swirl in thought. If he wanted to, he could take the way of the brute, aggressively freeing Bai Lin and plundering everything with a heavy hand. In this scenario, he’ll have to cull all witnesses.
The Beast-Taming Sect was merely a branch sect of a larger organization. If he held back and allowed his identity or Bai Lin’s to be linked to the massacre of the entire sect, he would be on the run from forces that might exceed the Qi Condensation Realm.
He knew that each and every individual stage of the Qi Condensation Realm was stupendously massive in differences of strength and abilities. For example, a Mortal God, a Sixth Phase cultivator, had the power of creation.
A Godlord, an Eighth Phase cultivator, can create avatars, manipulate a person’s mind, scry for spiritual and qi signatures for an incredible distance. His own ambient awareness could notice things dozens of miles away without any effort, yet descend on an area within that range with a single thought.
He didn’t even know what Godkings or those who exceeded the Qi Condensation Realm can do. If he faced such an opponent, he might not have to wait for the Calamities of Hell to descend to die.
Therefore, that method required a full culling or simply can’t happen. The sensible option was to rescue Bai Lin quietly. The issue with that is, if he did, the Beast-Taming Sect would know he was responsible if he flew with her.
Either choice felt like an enemy would be born with a single slip-up.
"I’ll have to figure out what to do..." Caught in this dilemma, he truly felt that the Heavenly Daos left out an important detail.
Ohn!
Just as he thought this, deciding on how to approach this situation, he felt a surge in his head as if being whispered to. But, it was abnormally loud and he was fully aware. As he felt the clarity of those instructions, he shook his head to regain focus.
He sneered, "how contemptuous. So, they steal Bai Lin and therefore every last one of them are sentenced to death?" He wanted to spit on the Heavenly Daos, their means and methods disgusted him as it tried to influence his state of mind.
If it wasn’t for his Bloodline of Sin, he might’ve been a mass-murderer today, eradicating everyone present.
This was what he was told: Save your beast, kill them all.
According to the three thousand commandments of the Heavenly Daos, anyone who wrongs you, who they interact with, and everyone that shares karmic ties with them, can freely share the fate you impose on them. Essentially, if the father smacked you in the face, it was okay to slaughter him, the entire family, the dog, the friendly neighbor, and the entire city.
That’s ridiculous as all fuck, absolutely disgusting. As long as they had karmic ties with them via association, no matter how loose, it was sufficient for them to share the fate of the culprit. After all, the father sinned, so it was okay.
"Is this the lucky chance I have?" He felt disdain and contempt, but then he paused for a moment. It’s not like the lucky chances he had before didn’t include killing others, but he hadn’t even given it a thought before.
He beheaded the son and father of the Ash Dragon City without a hint of enmity between them, merely plundering his wealth for the sake of it. Was that not a sin?
Then, he recalled something. The Ash Dragon City Lord was a member of the Gaia State and a newly minted Mortal God and Elder of the Earthly Titan Sect. The Scarlet Solaris Sect and the Earthly Titan Sect were not allies, and had quite a bad history and tense relations.
Was this really enough to justify his indiscriminate killing of the Ash Dragon City Lord and his son?
The answer of the Heavenly Daos: Yes.
As long as they were connected by any karmic ties, no matter how loose or distant, you can slaughter without care. Only indiscriminate killings without reason or relation was considered a ’Sin’ by the Heavenly Daos.
He suddenly felt an urge to regurgitate his lunch. Was it really so indifferent and blind, so static and simple? Was this the Heavens people worshipped and praised? He truly couldn’t fathom who designed such a flawed set of rules.
But, was it really flawed?
What right did he have to determine that?
His eyes flashed with acute brilliance and enlightened intelligence. Looking at his right arm, his eyes narrowed sharply. "The Heavenly Daos influence us, but aren’t you doing the same? How pathetically hypocritical. A Bloodline that goes against the Heavens, influencing my thoughts and instincts?" His eyes became incomparably cold, as harsh as the tundras of winter.
"I don’t want to have my thoughts influenced by you or the Heavens." Wei Wuyin felt his heart harden with this thought, his mind growing more stable and firm in his belief of individuality and his own life. He was forced to become an Inheritor of Sin by the true possessor, not chosen by the First Sinner. He was already abnormal, awakening the Bloodline of Sin before the Realm of Sages, according to the Black Skeleton, and he survived a Calamity without a Soul of True Sin.
Perhaps this was why his viewpoint wasn’t as set as others. His mind still being moulded into his own.
The disdain, contempt, and disgust he felt due to the Bloodline of Sin’s influence was removed from his mind. Even his Alchemic Heart of Eden Qi was glowing as it sent soothing rays of light into his sea of consciousness.
Just as he was about to investigate, he felt a trembling beneath his feet. His head snapped downwards as the trembling continued. It was faint, but present.
Rumble!
His first instinct was to send his spiritual sense through the ground, his spiritually-infused elemental qi enabled his sense to penetrate all forms of elements, including earth. However, before he could get the chance, he suddenly felt his body lose its footing.
His eyes widened as he noticed a large, gaping hole had almost magically appeared beneath him, capable of fitting ten of him. Before he could gather his bearings, a strange pressure exerted itself on his shoulders and caused him to plummet against his will.
He didn’t exclaim nor shout, keeping his mouth shut as his qi started to quietly circulate. He couldn’t fly, but he could glide, but this didn’t feel like a trap. The force that pressed against his body was gentle, and even a hint weak. It seemed that the slightest resistance was enough to shatter it, even a child could.
It was as if this pressure was trying to tell him, no, beg him to descend. This feeling emerged in his heart and he felt even more certain. He prepared for a fall, but he didn’t resist.
He fell for quite a while, exiting the hole and entering a spacious underground chamber. It was so dark that even his spiritual sense felt blind. It was an odd darkness, but he could still gauge the area of this chamber. It was about thirty kilometers in length and width, shaped like a square box.
He continued to lightly descend until he landed, touching ground amidst the darkness. His eyes surveyed the darkness but found nothing of note. "What wanted me to be here?"
Looking up, he saw the hole. If he wanted, a leap and a climb could return him to the surface.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Wei Wuyin felt his body tremble. The trembling was consistent with the faint rumbling he felt beneath his feet above. It sounded like...
"A heartbeat?"
He ignited a ball of fire-qi, bringing light to the darkness. Surveying the spacious chamber, his curiosity was piqued to the maximum. Then, he turned around and came to an abrupt stop.
His eyes froze.
Pupils shrunk and eyelids nearly disappeared.
His mouth opened.
Jaw low and mouth wide.
"...!" Wei Wuyin.