As the saying goes, whether something is dark depends on perspective. To the Gui Yi, they were the normal ones, and those seeking to topple their rule were the true darkness.
Typically, those below, aiming to overthrow those above, cloaked themselves in noble causes, crafting lofty titles while slandering their superiors.
Such is human nature.
The victor is king; the loser, a villain.
No one admits to being dark or evil. Darkness is merely a label the winners slap on the defeated. Had the Gui Yi prevailed, Huang, Ye, and Chu would be the ones branded as dark.
Besides, sacrifice was mainstream in this world—sacrificing to the heavens, the earth, oneself. The Gui Yi merely shifted the target to the myriad worlds.
This wasn't rare. It was visible in everyday life, no need for lofty terms.
Sacrifice, at its core, was reaping—cutting chives, one crop after another. The weak were destined to be harvested.
Weakness was the original sin.
The weak were doomed to perish.
In the Upper Realm's Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Venerables from the Lower Realm's Eight Domains were harvested as great medicine to nourish the strong.
At the Boundary Sea, Quasi-Immortal Emperors reaped Immortals and Immortal Kings as great medicine for themselves.
Above the Heavens, the Weird Ancestors naturally harvested Quasi-Immortal Emperors and Immortal Emperors to sustain themselves.
And consider this: the Upper Realm treated the Lower Realm as a medicinal field, its Eight Domains mere herbs. How was their behavior any different from the Gui Yi Clan's?
The Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, even the Immortal Domain, were ultimately reaped by the Gui Yi Clan above the Heavens. Wasn't this the cycle of karma, retribution fulfilled?
So, what was darkness?
The Gui Yi Clan weren't lunatics or fools.
They were simply overthrown by Huang, Ye, and Chu.
Millions, even billions of years later, could Huang, Ye, and Chu become a new Gui Yi Clan?
Would future generations deem them dark?
That remained unknown.
After all, their predecessor, the Master of the Three World Bronze Coffin, had fallen ill pursuing a higher realm.
He'd had no intent to harm the myriad worlds, yet fate was capricious. His ashes, post-mortem, birthed the Gui Yi Clan.
It was unimaginable what horrors the ashes of Huang, Ye, and Chu might spawn if they, too, fell ill and died.
Of course, this was merely a possibility, not a foregone conclusion.
Since Shi Yi's birth, this world had veered onto an entirely unknown path. The future was now an elusive, unpredictable enigma.
But one thing was certain: unknown, terrifying forces had repeatedly attempted to erase Shi Yi before he could rise. Countless bloody handprints marred the Gate of Mysteries, formed by the Tao Te Ching.
"Reach the world's pinnacle?"
Liu Shen glanced at Shi Yi, surprised by his grand ambition.
"Teacher, what's that look? I don't like fighting, but I know only the strong have the right to choose. I just don't want to climb to the top through endless slaughter, only to find I've walked someone else's old path."
Shi Yi felt wounded. Did he seem that unimpressive?
Another's path was theirs alone. Following it might let you stand shoulder-to-shoulder, but never surpass. It wasn't a path you'd forged.
As a fan of primordial fantasy novels, Shi Yi genuinely found this world abnormal. Beyond fighting and killing, there was no second path. Everyone was obsessed with slaughter.
In primordial tales, there were three thousand Daos. In this world, it seemed only the Dao of Killing existed, with slaughter as the sole means to comprehend the Dao.
Killing your way to the top was exhilarating, but when there was no one left to kill, were you trapped in a dead end?
Wasn't that madness?
Shi Yi sincerely believed the people of this world were sick—gravely so.
Were their Dao hearts built solely for fighting and killing?
Then there was the Dao heart.
Shi Yi had heard it mentioned countless times. Everyone expected him to possess an invincible Dao heart, as if his Double Pupils demanded nothing less.
An invincible Dao heart?
The idea made him laugh. Absolute invincibility didn't exist. Without failure, how could there be success? Or did they expect endless victories until one catastrophic loss?
Shi Yi had always despised the notion of an invincible Dao heart.
He judged by results, not process.
One sentence summed up his philosophy: I can fail countless times in the struggle, but I only need to win once in the end to claim it all. The victor takes everything!
The ultimate goal was immortality.
What was an immortal?
One who attained the Dao, achieved eternal life, and lived freely.
But the immortals of this world were different.
Their cultivation revolved around killing, their minds consumed by slaughter.
Kill one to break even, two for profit, three for a windfall.
Was this immortality?
This was devilry!
They were all archfiends. The Upper Realm devoured the Lower Realm. If a higher Upper-Upper Realm existed, it would surely consume the Upper Realm. Darkness? Just like a food chain.
At this thought, Shi Yi glanced at Liu Shen, shaking his head inwardly.
He didn't know what betrayal she'd endured to retreat to the Lower Realm's Eight Domains to heal.
But he knew that if she'd chosen to stay aloof, perched above the clouds, she wouldn't have fallen so low.
"The path you wish to walk—I can't see its future. This uncharted road… are you truly prepared to walk it alone?"
Liu Shen's gaze, like a torch, pierced Shi Yi's heart in an instant, glimpsing his solitude—the loneliness of one without companions.
"Alone?"
Shi Yi reached out, but under Liu Shen's calm stare, he reluctantly withdrew his less-than-innocent hand.
As expected.
It wouldn't work!
"If you don't seize, others will. If you don't compete, others will. If you don't kill, others will. The path you choose defies the heavens, destined to have no companions."
Liu Shen slightly regretted taking a human form. She sensed Shi Yi's delusions about her growing stronger, his audacity testing her limits.
Traitorous disciple!
"Teacher, you're wrong. It's not about refusing to seize, compete, or kill. Among the three thousand Daos, I refuse to be bound to one. Fighting and killing aren't the only way."
In that moment, Shi Yi felt a sudden clarity. He realized Liu Shen didn't understand him—had never truly understood him. She thought his path meant abstaining from seizing, competing, or killing.
Someone who refused all that was a fool. Killing could protect as much as destroy. He simply didn't want to cultivate for slaughter. He aimed to be an immortal, not a demon.
A true immortal sought no external crutches.
With a single thought, they could overturn all.
Yet the immortals of this world were fixated on sacrifice—sacrificing the heavens, the earth, themselves, even yearning to sacrifice the world itself.
"I'm wrong?" Liu Shen's tone remained serene.
Before Shi Yi could argue, she continued, "If one day I fell, became darkness itself, became the error—how would you view that error?"
Say what you will about women—their focus was unique.
Even Liu Shen was no exception.
Shi Yi was reasoning with her, but she'd only caught that he'd said she was wrong.
Now, she'd tossed him a softball question.
A near-gimme.
How would I view it?
I'd lie back and watch!
Shi Yi's eyes widened. He didn't speak, but his mind raced with visions of a fallen Liu Shen. Would she lock her disciple in a dark room the moment she turned?
_
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