CHAPTER 650: CHAPTER 420: A QUESTION AND ANSWER SETTLES MASTER AND SERVANT

Tao Qian had a sharp exchange with Zheng Yin, which deepened his own understanding of the Dao.

But as soon as he uttered those words, they were immediately met with the ridicule of Zheng Yin.

This man, overtly a wastrel but secretly a master assassin, didn’t care at all about Master Tao’s grand reputation. As if he had heard the funniest thing in the world, he laughed loudly:

"Ha ha ha... Master Tao, such spirit, such a heroic gall."

"If I remember correctly, Master was once a Loose Cultivator in Southern Yue with exceptional talent. You cultivated the scattered Spirit Treasure Daoism to fruition and made a name for yourself in Southern Yue and even alarmed the future Sect Master of the Spirit Treasure Sect, Duobao True Monarch, who sent three Immortal Treasures to bring you in."

"After that, everything went smoothly for you, whatever you did succeeded, and now the supernatural powers you possess are enough to make your peers die of shame."

"But why would such a high and mighty Spirit Treasure Daoist utter such words?"

"Is it simply because you cultivate the ’Scripture of Salvation’?"

"It’s not that I don’t believe in your aspiration to save the world, but you have never suffered the hardships of the lower classes, nor have you ever been one of the common Mortals. How could an Immortal-like being truly understand what kind of order the All People of this realm desire?"

For some reason, even though Zheng Yin had been infused with two Ancestor God Treasures and knew what kind of person Tao Qian was, he spoke more rudely and more aggressively than before.

However, Tao Qian looked straight into his eyes and instantly understood his thoughts.

Not at all annoyed, he replied word by word: "I understand!"

These three words seemed light and casual.

But inexplicably, Zheng Yin felt completely unable to utter any words of skepticism.

It seemed that the Immortal-like Spirit Treasure Daoist sitting before him was even more certain of the answer to the question than he was.

At this point in their sharp exchange,

both Tao Qian and Zheng Yin had a clear realization that they were caught up in a situation they had created and found difficult to escape.

Therefore, Zheng Yin didn’t give up and changed the topic as he continued:

"You, True Master, talk about smashing the old world order, others might be convinced by your words, but it’s hard for me, Zheng, to believe."

"The old world order is not just about a mere Alchemist."

"My existence is merged with Heavenly Track, and I have glimpsed many secrets of this realm. Now, it’s time to share them, to enlighten you as to how wildly arrogant your claims are."

"Let’s start with the Alchemists. More than a dozen Daoist Transformation Realm old monsters, a whole bunch of Fallen descendants, have been leeching the legacy of the Ancestor Dragon, blood-sucking over two thousand years in the Longevity Heavenly Dynasty. True Master, you struggled hard and paid the Mountain and River Map as the price, but that’s just saving Li Wanshou from one fishhook. If you want to fight them, not even ten lives, a hundred lives, would be enough."

"Next, let’s talk about the powerful families, starting with the Xiu family and continuing with the Si Family, the Zhang Family, the Li Family, the Qin Family, the Wang Family, and so on. Take the Xiu Family, for instance. You may think that they just exploit the Mortals in the usual way that powerful families do, but you’d be terribly wrong—they possess an even more ruthless method that completely erases roots."

"The bloodline of this family is strange. Whenever there’s someone born with outstanding Talent in their domain, regardless of their surname and how their parents raised them, once they become conscious, they must join the Xiu family, almost without exception. Just like Elder Xiu Zhonglin, who was pursuing you, had good intention by nature, but in one night, his heart and soul came to recognize himself as a member of the Xiu family."

"That is merely one of the Xiu family’s many horrors."

"If the Xiu family is like this, the equally notorious Si family and Zhang family must be just as terrible."

"These families have existed for thousands to tens of thousands of years, even longer than the Longevity Heavenly Dynasty."

"Do you, True Master, consider this the old world order? Do you wish to smash it?"

At this point, Zheng Yin seemed to have become enthusiastic, intending to reveal all the secrets he had buried deep inside.

Despite asking, he didn’t wait for Tao Qian’s response and continued:

"Having discussed the powerful families, let’s talk about the Immortal Sects."

"There are thousands, if not millions of ways of Cultivation in this realm. Take for instance, the Twelve Daoist Sects, Buddha demon sects, Side Door heterodox sects, and so on."

"Although many great and venerable Spirit Ancestors have gone to the Outer Realm to protect this realm from dangers, there are countless unworthy descendants who run amok, forgetting that they were once part of the Human Clan; they simply regard the Mortals as livestock and servants, playing with them and exploiting them as they please."

"Because these people have Extraordinary Power, the disasters they cause are many times greater than those blood-sucking Alchemists."

"What about purposely spreading defective scriptures to lure countless Human Clans into Cultivation, or considering Mortals’ bodies and souls as spiritual materials for refining and consumption? These things are everywhere, and I don’t want to bring up even more examples. You must have seen plenty on your journey too, True Master."

"However, it’s also important for you to know the truth."

"Have you ever heard of the ’Xing Wen Daoist Exterminates Four Cities,’ ’Fire Jade Monarch Burns the Western Mountains,’ or ’Beast King Demon Path Strikes Four Seas’?"

"These calamities all occurred before the Ancestor God Forbidden Technique shattered, and they were perpetrated by three Elders of your Spirit Treasure Sect."

"At that time, these Little Demon and little demons feared the power of the Forbidden Technique and dared not do evil, but the likes of your Great Sect knew the loopholes in the Forbidden Technique and ended up harming many of the Human Clan."

"Even now, since you’ve come out of the Penglai Sea, can you deny that there are no such beastly Evil Demons within your Mountain Gate?"

"If the Spirit Treasure Sect is like this, what about the other Great Sects?"

"And what about the so-called compassionate sects like the Free Temple?"

"You tell me, True Master, do these count as the old world order? Do you also want to smash them?"

...

When Zheng Yin uttered these words one by one,

Before Tao Qian could answer, the Yuan Gong Statue in his arms trembled, and a voice transmitted to him:

"Young man, do not engage with him."

"This man appears to be mature at heart, but he is incredibly extreme, attributing all the world’s injustices and the disastrous fate suffered by the Mortal Human Race to the matter of Cultivation."

"If you respond to him, you’ll truly fall into his trap. Even if you were Lingbao Tianzun reincarnated, how could you fight against the entire Cultivation World?"

Master Yuan had just sent this message through, and quickly realized it was to no avail.

Because of Tao Qian, he had suddenly entered an incomparably bizarre realm.

Zheng Yin’s radical shouting, all that about "Alchemist," "Noble Family," "Immortal Sect" churned in his mind, gradually corresponding with some memories from his previous life.

If it could be said that before, he wandered for three days and came to realize some of his own ideas about saving people.

Then now, the thin veil of fog that was before his eyes had been completely lifted.

Tao Qian’s mouth immediately revealed a bitter smile as he muttered to himself,

"This path... it’s both difficult and long, and most likely there isn’t a happy ending, being able to have a walk on Absolute Immortal Island would already be fortunate."

"However, this path is indeed more suitable for me, at least compared to simply cultivating, a refiner being a refiner is not really human is somewhat better."

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Tao Qian had his answer.

Then, under Zheng Yin’s gaze, which was akin to looking at a madman, he nodded his head and immediately spat out one word:

"Smash!"

"Have you gone mad, now that you harbor such mighty Human Dao Fortune? Once you speak those words, your Dao Path cannot be changed anymore. Although you are a Talent, you simply cannot oppose those that I spoke of; I was merely deliberately making things difficult for you."

"Enough already, spend some fortune and take those words back; whatever you want to do in Qiantang, I’ll help you with it. It would be a good way to replenish some of your Fortune."

Hearing this, Tao Qian laughed.

By now, he had understood why the Human Dao Fortune had led him to seek out Zheng Yin.

Such a vast Longevity Heavenly Dynasty!

There probably weren’t many who could say such words.

Those sentences, which seemed to be questioning and making things difficult, but when they entered Tao Qian’s mind, they clearly became pleas for help.

"Zheng Yin’s words are indeed biased, but at the same time, they offer a description of this world."

"This world has twisted to the extreme, and the Human Clan has suffered to the extreme... the unprecedented turmoil of the Human Dao Fortune is actually the cry for help emitted by the billions of people in the Human Clan from the depths, it’s unknown how far it can spread, it’s unknown how many will respond."

"I believe many have previously responded, and I, Tao Qian, being extremely insignificant, unfortunately, couldn’t help but respond as well."

"Perhaps, as Master Yuan said before, my fate is to be buried halfway through."

"The Dao Path is set, it’s no use blaming anyone now; to do good deeds without asking about the future is the way it is."

"To talk about opposing the entire Cultivation World, that’s thinking too much. Whether I can even overthrow that group of old monsters, the Alchemists, is unknown. It’s possible that halfway through the fight, I find out I can’t win and have to hide back in Penglai Sea, crouching and cultivating until Daoist Transformation before coming out to fight again."

"I, Tao Qian, after all, have practiced so many Great Methods; living a few hundred or a thousand years isn’t too excessive."

Tao Qian replied to Yuan Gong.

Thereafter, ignoring Zheng Yin’s last two sentences.

He seemingly suddenly became intrigued by his "Defeated Immortal Dharma Body" and directly began to inquire:

"How many types of spells do you have? At most, how many people can you Curse Kill now? What’s the highest cultivation level you can handle? And what’s the price?"

Seeing Tao Master changed the topic, Zheng Yin originally did not want to answer,

Yet, unexpectedly, in the next moment, he took the initiative to speak, revealing rather obediently:

"I have ten types of spells in this Defeated Immortal Dharma Body."

"The one I used to curse you earlier is the first type, called the Lustful Spell, its power is average."

"The strongest is the tenth type, Life-taking Curse, meaning to cut off life itself."

"The number of enemies I can Curse Kill alone depends on my cultivation level; if it’s Cavernous Mystery, I can kill three at once, and by assembling my Magic Slaves, I can kill one more."

"If it’s Foundation Establishment or Transcend Mortality, then even several hundred can be killed at once."

"The price is lifespan; to Curse Kill a Cavernous Mystery, I will lose ten years of life."

"However, Human Dao Fortune can replenish lifespan; by secretly maintaining order in Qiantang, with the nourishment of returning Fortune, not only have I not lost lifespan, I have actually gained quite a bit more."

Unconsciously speaking all this, Zheng Yin finally realized he had caused trouble.

More precisely, he had dug a hole for himself, and then in front of Tao Qian, he jumped right in.

He did not understand the mysteries of Human Dao Fortune, even less did he know his own body melded with the Heavenly Track.

Although still a member of the Human Clan, he was strikingly similar to many Ancestor God Treasures.

He himself stirred the Fortune to ask questions, forming a mechanism similar to a "test."

Tao Qian’s uttered word was undoubtedly a pass.

Thus, at this moment, the relationship between Zheng Yin and Tao Qian became quite odd.

Although Tao Qian couldn’t dictate his life or death, Zheng Yin found he couldn’t refuse Tao Qian’s requests at all.

A casual inquiry would prompt his earnest answer.

To a certain extent, it could already be considered... master and servant?

Realizing this, Zheng Yin’s expression was not only untroubled, but instead, it revealed a color of excitement.

After answering, he immediately clasped his hands together and bowed, muttering:

"Madman, madman, there really are people in this world who share the same thoughts and aspirations as me."

"Good, this is really too good."