"Why do you ask?"
Liu Shen tilted her head slightly, revealing the snowy curve of her neck as she gazed at Shi Yi beside her.
Her eyes were calm, like a still lake, undisturbed by even the faintest ripple.
"Teacher, you can't answer my question with a question. I asked first," Shi Yi teased.
As the saying goes, familiarity breeds comfort. When you spend too much time with someone, no matter how sacred or untouchable they once seemed, they gradually become ordinary.
In the past, Shi Yi had been the picture of obedience before Liu Shen, cautious not to say anything that might offend this woman with a sharp tongue and a sharper temper.
Now?
Well, short of outright disrespect, a bit of playful backtalk had become routine.
"I just feel… all this fighting and killing is pointless. I don't need to make a name for myself or have the world sing my praises. I don't care if everyone knows who I am."
Shi Yi spoke his mind, laying bare his true thoughts.
He had no desire to be the dazzling figure in the spotlight, no interest in being the center of attention. Nor did he wish to plunge into an endless abyss of bloodshed just for the sake of fighting.
He preferred to stay behind the scenes, pulling strings as a shadowy mastermind. Becoming a hero or a savior—sacrificing himself for others—held no appeal whatsoever.
He was selfish. He was cunning. He was shameless.
He had never been a beacon of light.
His kindness was selective.
It extended only to family, loved ones, friends, and those he found pleasing or admirable—not to every random stranger who crossed his path.
"I understand. If you dislike my arrangements, then forge your own path from now on," Liu Shen said, her voice as tranquil as ever.
Her words carried a faint undercurrent of displeasure. Perhaps because she rarely dealt with others, her intentions were always transparent.
Displeasure was displeasure. Satisfaction was satisfaction. There was no ambiguity, only her perpetually serene tone—an admirable trait, if nothing else.
Her state of mind was unshakably steady.
Yet, she had no interest in hiding her approval or disapproval.
Just as she never hesitated to discipline Shi Yi when she felt he deserved it, she always landed her mark.
Now, Shi Yi was dissatisfied with her carefully laid plans, and she, in turn, was dissatisfied with his dissatisfaction.
"Teacher, it's not that I dislike your arrangements. I'm just wondering if, besides fighting and battling endlessly, there's no other path to take?"
Shi Yi stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Liu Shen's slender waist, nestling into her embrace.
Obedient. Docile.
He knew that, though Liu Shen's current form was humanoid, she wasn't truly human. She didn't adhere to strict human notions of propriety between men and women.
And thanks to Yu Yuexian's influence, Shi Yi had a knack for soothing women.
"Of course there is. The paths of the world are countless. As long as you reach the end, no one can say your path was wrong. But are you certain you want to tread a road no one has ever walked?"
The moment Shi Yi embraced her, Liu Shen sensed his attachment, and the faint displeasure in her heart began to dissipate.
Her life had been one of solitude and hardship.
From a mere willow tree to an Immortal King Giant, no one could fathom the suffering she endured, the blood she shed.
She had fought to protect the world behind her, striking fear into the kings of the Foreign Realm—a feat of unparalleled merit.
Yet, what awaited her?
Betrayal. Treachery. She had nearly perished, reduced to a charred stump.
No praise. No gratitude. No compassion. The very beings she protected sought only to destroy her.
At times, she wondered if the lives she guarded held any meaning at all.
What was the source of the world's darkness? Why did it corrupt so many?
And in the end, would she, too, fall into darkness?
Would she become a fallen Dark Immortal King?
Liu Shen's emotions were restrained, her Dao heart resolute.
But she wasn't without feeling.
On the contrary, her emotions burned fiercely, like molten magma at the earth's core—blazing and warm.
Even if the surface of a planet was frozen, its core still churned with searing lava.
By fortune's grace, at the lowest point of her life, Shi Yi had burst into her world like a radiant little sun, unreasonably warming her existence.
"If everyone agrees on something, does that make it right? This world is consumed by a cycle of killing to end killing. So I'll carve my own path."
Shi Yi's tone was resolute. He had long grown tired of this world's ways—meeting with violence, killing on sight, like nurturing venomous insects to breed the strongest.
This was no normal world. Everyone seemed driven to madness, slaughtering without end.
"A solitary path is a towering mountain. No one can guide you forward—not even me. You'll walk alone. Have you considered how difficult that future will be?" Liu Shen asked softly.
She understood at last.
Shi Yi didn't reject fighting or killing. When he struck, he was merciless, a ruthless soul at his core.
What he despised was the world's obsession with cultivation through endless slaughter, like insects in a jar, fighting until only one remained.
To him, this wasn't cultivation. It was as if everyone was puppeted by some unseen force, driven to kill, to devour, until they became fodder for that invisible existence.
Darkness?
Light?
In that moment, Liu Shen recalled the Foreign Realm's kings—united, loyal, never abandoning their own, full of camaraderie and vitality.
Then she thought of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, even the Immortal Domain, riddled with schemes and betrayal. Even she hadn't escaped the sting of her own people's treachery.
For a fleeting moment, she questioned which side was truly just.
Was her sacrifice worth it?
By all rights, she shouldn't waver. But betrayal cuts deep, especially when it comes from those closest to you—a pain that sears the soul.
As the saying goes, words of advice are hollow. A broken bone is the best teacher. Those who haven't endured betrayal can never truly grasp its agony.
"Teacher, I'm human. Among the myriad races, the human race is the most despised, likened to weeds—cut down only to grow again."
"But the reason our human race rose among the myriad races isn't just strength. It's our unparalleled ingenuity and unyielding will."
"A solitary path is daunting, yes. But if I don't walk it, that path will never exist. And once I cross that mountain, the world will hear my story."
Shi Yi paused, then continued with unwavering conviction, "One day, I'll stand at the pinnacle of this world and rewrite it all. I'll transform this world that only takes and never gives into a normal one."
Indeed.
To Shi Yi, this world was profoundly abnormal.
This was a common flaw in many fantastical realms. Techniques from ten thousand years ago were stronger. Treasures from ten thousand years ago were mightier. There was never innovation, only reliance on the past.
Shi Yi suspected this world had already birthed a supreme being.
But he was certain no future generation would surpass him.
At best, they might equal him.
Never exceed him.
And so it was.
In a future timeline that no longer existed, Huang, Ye, and Chu were beings who transcended the Sacrifice to the Dao.
Yet even they couldn't surpass the Master of the Three Lives Copper Coffin. Curiously, the three brothers bore an uncanny resemblance to him.
Most crucially, the Master of the Three Lives Copper Coffin was known as the "Sick One." In his pursuit of a higher realm, he sacrificed everything—including himself—rendering his world and all traces of him a void.
Later, his body fell gravely ill, afflicted with an incurable ailment even he couldn't resolve.
To spare the myriad realms from calamity, he incinerated himself, placed his ashes in an urn, and sealed it within the Three Lives Copper Coffin he crafted, burying it atop the Plateau.
Geological shifts later unearthed the coffin, scattering his ashes. The Plateau, tainted by those ashes, gained consciousness. Ten individuals unwittingly entered the Plateau and touched the ashes.
Contaminated and influenced by the Plateau, they underwent an indescribable transformation, stepping into darkness as the Progenitors of the Gui Yi, founding the Gui Yi Clan that stood above the heavens.
This was the source of darkness.
But were they truly dark?
Not necessarily.
It was a matter of perspective.
When people eat, they don't ponder whether the food in their mouths has life. It's merely sustenance.
And don't claim that eating plants spares lives. Are animal lives the only ones that matter? Are plants not alive?
Life is life.
Even a blade of grass is life.
_
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