Belief

Wang Ming found a spot to recover and adjusted his condition to the peak before continuing up the mountain.

As soon as Wang Ming reached the summit, he saw Chang Wei beating Lai Fu.

No!

It was Qiu Qianren taking a beating.

He was being chased by Zhou Botong and Ying Gu demanding vengeance for their murdered son, while Guo Jing and Huang Rong blocked his path.

Qiu Qianren's situation at the moment was quite perilous.

Right then, Qiu Qianren said in a loud voice, "I came up Mount Hua for the title of the number one martial artist under heaven. Humph, you actually intend to gang up and harm me, so as to get rid of a formidable rival first. Such treacherous conduct is just like you."

Hearing this, Zhou Botong thought the fellow's words made some sense and said, "Fine, then after tomorrow's Sword Discussion, we'll take your dog life."

Ying Gu instead cried out sternly, "Murderous enemy, how can I wait until tomorrow?"

Huang Rong also chimed in, "Old Urchin, talk about honor with honorable people, and talk about deceit with deceitful people. Right now, it's plain as day that several of us are fighting him alone. Let's see what else he can do against us."

Qiu Qianren's face turned pale as paper. Seeing that misfortune loomed, he suddenly grew desperate and smart, shouting, "By what right do you kill me?"

The scholar-looking man said, "You have committed countless crimes, and every person ought to execute you."

Qiu Qianren let out a laugh looking up at the sky and said, "If we talk about combat, you rely on numbers to bully the few, and I alone am no match. But when it comes to right and wrong, good and evil, hehe, Qiu Qianren stands here all alone. Which of you has never killed a person or committed an evil act in your lifetime? Just step up and make your move. This humble person will bare his neck for execution, and even if he flinches a fraction, he is no good hero."

Wang Ming saw the old man dressed as a monk let out a long sigh, step back first, and sit cross-legged with lowered head. Presumably, this person was the Five Greats member Wang Ming had never met—Southern Emperor Duan Zhixing. He should now be called Master Yideng.

Everyone was cornered by Qiu Qianren's words, and each thought of the transgressions they had committed in their own lives.

The four of Fisherman, Woodcutter, Farmer, and Scholar had all killed people back when they served as officials in the Dali Kingdom. Although they acted in accordance with the law, mistakes were ultimately inevitable.

Zhou Botong and Ying Gu exchanged a glance, recalling the bitter regrets of their lives, each feeling internal guilt.

Guo Jing had killed many people on the battlefield during the Western Expedition, and already felt self-hatred and self-reproach.

Huang Rong remembered how in recent years she had caused her father worry, which was deeply unfilial. As for the matter of tricking and toying with others, it was too numerous to count.

Qiu Qianren left everyone speechless with just a few words, thinking that a good opportunity must not be missed, and strode toward Guo Jing. Seeing Guo Jing step sideways to let him pass, Qiu Qianren exerted force through his feet, about to dash out and escape the encirclement.

Right at that moment, a person walked over.

"I have come to eradicate villains."

Qiu Qianren said, "Good, great hero and knight-errant, I am a villain, and you are a great, good person who has never done a bad thing."

Hong Qigong said, "That's right. Old beggar has killed two hundred and thirty-one people in his life, and every single one of those two hundred and thirty-one was a scoundrel. If they weren't corrupt officials or local tyrants, they were heinous villains and ungrateful, faithless wretches. Old beggar is greedy for food and drink, but in his entire life he has never killed a single good person. Qiu Qianren, you are the two hundred and thirty-two!"

These words resonated with righteousness, and upon hearing them, Qiu Qianren could not help but have his arrogance sapped.

Hong Qigong said once more, "Qiu Qianren, how heroic was Shangguan Jiannan, the past leader of your Iron Palm Gang! He devoted his entire life to loyalty and patriotism until his dying breath. And your master, was he not also a staunch and unyielding good hero? When you took over from your master as gang leader, you instead went to collude with the Jin people, communicating with the enemy and betraying your country. What face will you have to see Leader Shangguan and your master when you die? You came up Mount Hua, vainly hoping to contend for the glorious title of the number one martial artist under heaven. Never mind that your martial arts might not necessarily claim supremacy over the heroes; even if you were invincible in the present age, could the heroes under heaven submit to a traitor like you?"

These words left Qiu Qianren staring in a daze, and he began to recall what he had done over the decades.

The people present, upon hearing this, could not help but feel respect for Hong Qigong welling up in their hearts. To be able to avoid killing a single good person was truly formidable.

Guo Jing in particular felt that the problem troubling him had finally been resolved. It felt just like the sensation of suddenly opening the Governor and Conception Vessels, and his entire person was sublimated.

Wang Ming did not see it that way. No matter what reasoning one had, killing was killing, and killing could hardly be called justice.

Besides, what kind of people were "bad people"?

And how was this standard divided?

Ouyang Feng killed plenty of people—was he a bad person? Yet Hong Qi had saved him more than once during times of crisis.

Take Ouyang Ke: he abducted daughters of good families and raided snakes that injured many innocent commoners, yet Hong Qigong let him go out of regard for Ouyang Feng.

Then there was the Centipede Hermit Liang Zi Weng. In his early years, he practiced the method of harvesting Yin to replenish Yang, seizing numerous virgins and deflowering them. In the Song Dynasty, which valued chastity greatly, this was a massive evil act; yet Hong Qigong did not kill him either, merely pulling out all his hair.

Since these villains were not killed, what on earth was Hong Qigong's standard for killing people?

The reason he just stated for wanting to kill Qiu Qianren was his betrayal of the established course of former leader Shangguan Jiannan, colluding with the Jin people, and communicating with the enemy to betray the country.

His reason for killing here was political. From this, one could perhaps explain why he did not kill Ouyang Feng, Ouyang Ke, Liang Zi Weng, and the others; the evils committed by these people possessed a "civil" nature. Although they were atrocious, they did not involve so-called matters of grand principle.

His standards for "good people" and "bad people" had personal biases and were not pure.

Qiu Qianren's problem today was actually very simple, but it was fatal to martial artists.

This would touch upon a martial artist's convictions. If one failed to endure this trial, in Daoist terms, it was the Daoist heart growing dust.

Because when killing the first person, that vibrant life slipping away from one's hands, the flowing blood, the painful wails...

All of these would transform into nightmares entangling a person, leaving them restless in their sleep, trapped in nightmares every single moment, and tormented by their conscience.

To survive this trial, one absolutely needed a reason that convinced oneself.

Some people henceforth styled themselves as acting on behalf of heaven, placing a damn hat upon others before killing them; such people were the vanguard of the righteous path.

Some possessed a strong inner heart—the reason was simply "he blocked the way." They suppressed guilt with a formidable inner heart; this category formed the bosses of the underworld.

Those who failed to find a reason chose to suppress fear with desires, thus loving to eat meat in large chunks, drink wine in large bowls, and frequent brothels. This category was usually cannon fodder.

Qiu Qianren had been lectured by Hong Qi in a tirade and, just like in the original work, jumped off a cliff intending to commit suicide, only to be rescued. Wang Ming still wanted to avenge that palm strike,

but he was stopped as everyone came forward together to intercede.

Then looking at Yideng's resolute attitude to protect Qiu Qianren at all costs, as well as Hong Qigong who was quite satisfied with Qiu Qianren turning over a new leaf, Wang Ming knew he could not continue today.

If he kept biting stubbornly, it might well turn into three peers of the same level beating him up.

As for after going down Mount Hua,

who knew?

Maybe one day Qiu Qianren went to the outhouse, fell into the cesspool, and drowned;

or at night while sleeping he knocked over a candleholder, igniting his house and getting burned to death.

Wang Ming knew nothing at all about these matters.

If one had to ask, it was an accident!

Ying Gu, who had lost a son, had forgiven Qiu Qianren. For him to stubbornly cling to the matter of being ambushed with a palm strike would somewhat forfeit his own demeanor.

Therefore, Wang Ming acted quite magnanimously and let the matter drop.

Afterwards, Qiu Qianren simply followed Yideng away.

Wang Ming felt that Qiu Qianren did not deserve to be a true villain. A real villain never considered himself a villain.

Anyone who admitted himself to be a villain was just mediocre.

True villains possessed lofty ideals, and those ideals could grant them the courage to face any difficulty.

For instance, Zhu Wushi's ideal was to stay with Suxin and give her the best things in this world;

Yue Buqun's ideal was to revitalize Mount Hua and prevent it from ending in his hands.

Qiu Qianren and the Western Venom Ouyang Feng from the Eagle Shooting Heroes World could not be called villains at all in Wang Ming's eyes; they were simply a bunch of martial artists obsessed with martial arts.

Wang Ming's own ideals were—eternal youth and going home.

Killing!

Wang Ming did not feel guilty either. To this day, he had never killed an ordinary innocent passerby.

Those who died by his hands were all martial artists, and martial artists, put bluntly, were all murderers.

The martial world's path was either killing or being killed.

Once you stepped onto this path, stop talking about whether people are good or not!

If one day he was killed himself, it meant his skill was inadequate!

What goes around comes around.