Chapter 2042: The Answer
The eerie light of the Abyss Crystal rapidly approached in his pupils, within reach in an instant. The excitement in the black-clothed man's eyes was also as intense as if tangible. But just then, the scene before him suddenly twisted, and a force that came from nowhere, massive and irresistible, yanked him violently to the left. He was terrified, but had no time to react at all. His head slammed heavily into the ground, and his arm, which had been only inches from the Abyss Crystal just a moment ago, was ruthlessly stomped down by a foot. At the same time, there was the cry of another person by his ear. The broadsword he had swung flew far away and fell, and his body was pulled over at the same moment. Their arms were twisted and overlapping, pinned to the ground by the same foot.
In sheer terror, their profound energy surged wildly, but before they could burst forth, it was as if they were crushed by ten thousand mountains. Their just-raised arms slammed back into the ground, and even their heads half-sank into the earth, unable to lift even a little. The two twisted their heads with extreme difficulty, following the long leg that stepped on their arms, barely meeting Yun Che's low, cold gaze like that of one looking down on mayflies.
“You…” The two's pupils cracked. They simply couldn't believe it—the man before them, his profound energy aura was clearly only at the third level of the Divine Lord Realm.
“State your names and origins.” Yun Che spoke, his voice devoid of emotion.
Neither of them responded, whether because unwilling or still not fully recovered from shock.
Yun Che's lips curled downward. Without any visible movement, two overlapping cracking sounds suddenly erupted—both of their arms snapped simultaneously, accompanied by two equally miserable screams.
The screams at his ears did not cause even a flicker of emotion in Yun Che. He continued calmly, “I'll give you one more chance to answer.”
The pressure, fear, and severe pain quickly eroded their will. The man on the right spoke in panic: “I… my name is Han Quan, and this is my junior brother Liu Jing… we are from the Overlord Sword Sect of the Fuyan Realm… please… please, brother…”
“Good.” The cold voice interrupted his pained trembling. “For being somewhat obedient, I'll give you a quick death. Die!”
Zheng! The broadsword that had been knocked away was drawn into Yun Che's hand, and with a ruthless killing intent, he was about to smash it toward their heads.
“Brother… Senior, spare our lives!” Han Quan screamed with all his might. “We were blinded by greed and failed to recognize a true master! Please, Senior, forgive our worthless lives!”
Under the shadow of death, his roar nearly tore his throat. The bone-piercing killing intent seemed to pause at his scream, hanging in the air without falling.
Yun Che turned his head and said to Hua Caili, “Sister Qu, how should we deal with these two?”
Yun Che's actions stunned Han Quan and Liu Jing, as they suddenly realized that the two were actually serving this young woman. Han Quan, disregarding everything else, twisted his neck desperately and shouted, “Fairy, spare our lives! Our Overlord Sword Sect is one of the three guardian sects of the Fuyan Realm. We are definitely not evil-doers. Please…”
“Not evil-doers?” Yun Che sneered coldly. “It seems I need to help you recall the ugly faces you just made, wanting to kill and rob.”
“No, no!” Han Quan hastily shouted. “As members of the Overlord Sword Sect, even in the Mist Sea, we would never rashly commit murder. An Abyss Crystal like this, we have never seen in our lives, so we couldn't suppress our greed. As for killing, it was just… just verbal intimidation. We would never actually do it.”
Not hearing a decisive word from the young woman, Han Quan's hope surged. He continued urgently, “Fairy's divine bearing is ethereal; how could it be stained by the filthy blood of us lowlifes? After we two leave, the entire Overlord Sword Sect will surely remember the great kindness of the Fairy and this senior, and will repay it a thousandfold in the future.”
Yun Che made no move, just silently watched Hua Caili.
Hua Caili slightly shifted her gaze, then quickly retracted it, and said softly, “No matter what their intentions were, in the end, they didn't harm us at all. It's better to let them go.”
“But…” Yun Che frowned, then as if helplessly sighing, he abruptly withdrew his foot pressing on their arms, and the killing intent dissipated. He turned around and said coldly, “Get lost now.”
The two stood up in panic, their expressions dazed, still unable to believe that he had actually let them go just like that.
“If you had only encountered me alone, you would already be dead without a whole corpse. After you roll far away, don't forget who saved your dog lives.”
The voice at their ears made them shudder as if waking from a dream. Han Quan said tremblingly, “Yes… yes! Fairy's life-saving grace, we will never forget. In the future, if you have any orders, we will repay with our lives.”
They spoke while cautiously retreating. Only after retreating ten steps did they, clutching their broken arms, scurry away like stray dogs, rolling and crawling.
Hua Caili opened her eyes. She looked at Yun Che, hesitating to speak. She already had some understanding of what Yun Che was doing.
“Keep maintaining this state,” Yun Che said. “It shouldn't make us wait too long.”
Hua Caili opened her mouth, but in the end, asked nothing.
Indeed, it didn't make them wait long. In less than half a ke, a wave of air carrying intense baleful energy rapidly swept over.
Boom!
Three figures landed, shaking the ground of the Mist Sea open a long crack, the edge of the crack barely touching the tip of Yun Che's shoe. Inside the barrier, Hua Caili's eyelashes fluttered, and a disappointed murmur arose in her heart: As expected, it's like this again.
Among the three, Han Quan and Liu Jing stood on the left and right, each with a broken arm hanging down, wrapped in bloodstains. But on their faces there was no longer the pitiful fear of before, only a ferocious brutality. Standing in the middle was a middle-aged man in a black robe, with a nine-foot giant sword on his back, blunt and without gleam, yet releasing a suffocating pressure in silence.
Half-step Divine Annihilation… Yun Che glanced sideways at the middle-aged man for a moment.
“Uncle Master, it's them!”
“Look at that Abyss Crystal! What we said is absolutely not an exaggeration.”
The middle-aged man's cultivation was as high as Half-step Divine Annihilation, undoubtedly a pinnacle existence of a realm. Even so, his gaze lingered on that Abyss Crystal for several breaths. The greed that had been dormant for who knows how many years, like a revived venomous snake, violently churned his soul sea. He put on an indifferent demeanor and said coldly, “A mere third-level Divine Lord? You two were defeated by him?”
“Uncle Master, this person's cultivation is extremely strange,” Han Quan panted. “When he fought with us just now, although he was clearly at the third level of the Divine Lord Realm, that power was probably comparable to the eighth… or even ninth level. Uncle Master, do not underestimate him.”
“Comparable to an eighth-level Divine Lord?” The middle-aged man laughed derisively. “You can fabricate such nonsense! You were probably ambushed and too ashamed to admit it.”
Han Quan and Liu Jing wanted to deny it, but then they heard Yun Che say coldly, “Is this how your Overlord Sword Sect repays a life-saving grace?”
“Life-saving grace? Ha ha ha ha!” Han Quan's gaze shifted, and he sneered. “In all my life, I've never seen such fools as you, actually letting us go just like that.”
“Today, I'll teach you a good lesson.” He moved his hand away from his broken arm, his pale face becoming even more ferocious. “You broke my arm; soon, I'll use this hand to tear you apart completely! When you reach the underworld, don't forget to thank me for this lesson!”
The middle-aged man raised his hand to stop Han Quan's howling. His gaze swept past Yun Che and stopped on Hua Caili. “Where do you two come from?”
Even with just a glance, and despite not revealing her face, Hua Caili's faintly divine bearing completely surpassed the most noble Realm King's daughter or imperial princess he had ever seen. Unless he was blind, he could tell that her origins were far from ordinary.
“Hmph, enough.” Without waiting for an answer, or perhaps afraid to hear it, he changed his tone, and killing intent suddenly condensed in his eyes. “Since you know we come from the Overlord Sword Sect, you have only a path of death. If you want to blame someone, blame your own stupidity.”
Knowing that the other party's origins must be astonishing, it was even more necessary to silence them. In the Mist Sea, there are no rules, but outside the Mist Sea, there are. In the Mist Sea, if you don't act, fine. But once you do, you must eradicate the roots. Otherwise, once it leaks, damaging one's reputation is minor; you never know if the retaliation that descends will be a mutual destruction or an overwhelming disaster.
Without any hesitation, the moment his voice fell, his hand shot out like an eagle's talon, directly grasping at Yun Che. Where his fingers passed, the space rippled with continuous black marks. A fierce, sinister wind came straight at him. Yun Che leaned backward, his arm half-raised in the air, as if already suppressed and unable to move. And just as the talon was only half a foot from his chest…
Boom!!
This sound was so dull that Han Quan and Liu Jing were instantly deafened, their ears left with only a long ringing. Their gaze also quickly shifted from ferocity to a terror as if falling into a cold abyss. Their Uncle Master's body, which had been lunging at Yun Che, in an instant bent backwards violently. A huge bloody hole burst open from his back, splattering shards of bone everywhere. The middle-aged man's pupils completely lost color. In his suddenly gray and white world, he could only faintly catch the almost imperceptible cold smile on Yun Che's face.
Yun Che turned his palm, and the giant sword from the middle-aged man's back landed in his hand. A blue ice light bloomed on the sword blade, then he stabbed it fiercely into the man's body. With a huge roar, he sent him flying far away, until it was deeply nailed into the ground of the Mist Sea.
The chief elder of the Overlord Sword Sect, a powerful being at the Half-step Divine Annihilation Realm, in the blink of an eye, was pierced through by his own beloved sword, nailed to the ground like a dead dog. His eyes rapidly lost focus in shrinking, and he uttered a hoarse trembling sound: “Half… god…”
With his cultivation, even if facing a demigod, he should not have died in an instant. But unfortunately, with a cultivation at the Half-step Divine Annihilation Realm, how could he deign to be on guard against a third-level Divine Lord? He had used sixty percent of his strength in his attack, showing no leniency. But Yun Che, on the other hand, erupted with full force in an instant, not giving him even a chance to regret, and ended his life.
High above in the distance, Hua Qingying's eyes suddenly showed a strange light. In the previous instant, there was not a ripple; in the next, he could erupt to such a degree. Such a level of control over profound energy… Could it be… He actually possesses a divine rank of over eighty percent!? Thinking further about his many peculiarities, Hua Qingying was not at all surprised by this.
“Un… Un… Uncle Master…”
Han Quan and Liu Jing trembled like chaff, their legs shaking, about to collapse at any moment.
Step!
A figure flickered at the corner of their eyes, and Yun Che was already standing beside them, his face without joy or anger, not even a trace of mockery. At that moment, the two felt as if a venomous snake was biting their hearts. With a strange cry, they collapsed backward in almost identical postures. Their faces were as pale as paper, their lips opening and closing rapidly, but they couldn't utter a single syllable, only the chattering of their teeth.
Yun Che glanced at Hua Caili, but did not ask for her opinion again. Instead, he reached out his hand, and as ice light flashed, he easily turned the two completely terrified Divine Lords into ice sculptures… which then silently dissipated into endless powder, leaving not a trace of blood.
Walking to the barrier, Yun Che leisurely put away the Abyss Crystal and asked, “Now, have you found the answer?”
Hua Caili stood up, thought for a while, then said weakly, “Could it be… grace?”
Yun Che smiled. “Yes, but not entirely.”
Without letting Hua Caili ponder further, he directly said, “The question your father gave you—the most valuable and the most despicable in the world—their answer is both 'affection and righteousness'.”
“Affection… righteousness…” Hua Caili softly repeated these two words that were clearly incredibly ordinary and simple, yet they made her feel somewhat confused at this moment.
Yun Che turned his gaze and said slowly, “Grace is a kind of affection and righteousness. Some regard it as heaven, receiving it like a sweet spring, wishing they could repay it with the ocean. But some… as you have seen, you give him a life-saving grace, and he laughs at your stupidity, wanting to take your life in return.”
Hua Caili: “…”
“Family love is a kind of affection and righteousness. Some regard it as more important than their own lives, willing to die for it a thousand times. But some… blood relatives, when useful, they treat them as tools; when useless, they discard them like worn-out shoes; when jealous, they kill them like weeds.”
“Trust is a kind of affection and righteousness. Some are willing to give everything for it, preferring death over betrayal. But some, on the contrary, use it as a blade to stab the other.”
“There is also the bond between master and disciple. How many honor their master as a father, respecting them all their lives; and how many deceive their master and destroy their ancestor, killing their master to prove their path.”
“There is also the bond of close friends, the bond of fellow disciples, the bond between man and woman… all are like this.”
Hua Caili listened seriously. After a long while, she said softly, “Actually, I understand all of these, but…”
“You've probably experienced things like this more than once, right?” Yun Che suddenly said.
Hua Caili was taken aback, her head drooping even lower. “Yes…”
Yun Che continued, “Then, if today, after you let them go, they had brought someone we couldn't handle. Guess what would happen to us? Would they be as merciful as you?”
“I know.” Hua Caili closed her eyes, her voice dropping even lower. “But after all, they are not Abyss beasts; they are living people. They have parents, wives, and children, and have to grow up through layers of brutal competition… Every time I encounter such a situation, I always think, if they are truly just momentarily blinded, and not truly evil people… then I cannot bring myself to kill them.”
She said softly, “My aunt often says, foolish kindness is not kindness, but foolishness. But I…”
Letting out a long breath, she opened her beautiful eyes, as if speaking to herself, “It's okay, I have little experience. I will… grow bit by bit.”
But Yun Che looked at her and shook his head with unusual seriousness. “From a kind person who regards saving all living beings as glory and duty, to one who can calmly bury thousands of lives, indeed requires growth. But the process of this growth is very painful… possibly so painful that you cannot imagine.”
“But you, you don't need it.”
“I believe that your father and your aunt's teachings to you are only to guide you to see human nature more clearly, not to make you 'grow' to be as cold and ruthless as I am. They would surely prefer that you always maintain this beautiful, pure heart that you have now.”
Facing Hua Caili's eyes full of surprise, he spoke with profound meaning: “Growth is the thorns that mortal beings must tread. But you, you only need to ascend the high platform already built for you, and with increasingly clear eyes, look down upon the myriad beings of the mortal world.”
Hua Qingying: “…”
She couldn't help but be astonished once again, astonished that these words came from a person who was only half a Jiazi (thirty years) old.