Words and Deeds

For the greater good?

That sounded nice enough, but even if Ink Bamboo Mountain didn't count as part of the people, what about all the innocent civilians who'd died at Tiantai Mountain? Did they not count either?

Could Li Country really have planned all this itself? That was far too ruthless. Or was this just another lie?

Lu Xing could tell Li Fan was still suspicious. She merely smiled and said, "As the Giant said, 'If you speak it, you must act on it.'

"Junior Brother Li, you don't have to believe me. Just watch what they do next, and you'll know whether they're all talk or whether their actions match their words."

With that, she turned and left. She looked far more carefree than Li Fan had earlier, when he'd kept his hands tucked into his sleeves, secretly gripping his mace in case of trouble.

Li Fan's gaze flickered. He hadn't believed Lu Xing to begin with, and he still didn't. In fact, after seeing what had happened to Zhang He, he hardly dared trust anyone.

The most irritating thing about talking to clever people was that whether they told the truth or lied, they'd thought it over carefully. Everything they said sounded convincing.

Idiots were better in that regard. They spoke without thinking, so most of what they said was probably true. But idiots usually didn't like talking. They preferred to start by throwing punches...

'Profound Heaven Sword Intent, hm—?'

Host, don't be so sarcastic!

Tch... Still, no wonder they said the Tai Su Dao was easy to cultivate.

At least those Devil Form monsters were ugly and straightforward. They came at you wanting to eat and kill, plain as day. You could tell at a glance they weren't human. As long as they didn't make a deafening entrance with their own sound effects, you could at least be prepared.

But people?

The great philanthropist who spoke softly and showed you the utmost care might turn around and stab you in the back.

Ink Bamboo Mountain, the Immortal Palace, the court, the Luo Sect, Lou Guan, the Nangong Immortal Family, Tiantai Mountain—each could surely come up with a grand reason for what they did. The Dao, the people, their legacy... They had one justification after another.

But what about the truth? Who was telling the truth, and who had ulterior motives? How could anyone believe their words without seeing what they actually did?

After all those schemes and all that talk, when something happened, wasn't everyone right back to fighting with swords and killing each other? Didn't they always end up using violence to solve their problems?

"If you speak it, you must act on it." That man called the Giant had been right.

After a long bout of useless musing, the sky had grown bright, and the formation had been broken.

The Ink Bamboo Mountain disciples trapped in the rear courtyard's small building had finally been rescued. Seven had died, all from wounds too severe to survive. Eight were still alive, but every one of them was injured. They staggered out of the formation, their steps unsteady and labored.

Li Fan couldn't deal with Lu Xing's group for the moment. He spotted Yuan Xuanbao in the distance and went over, hoping to treat his wounds, but Master Yao stopped him.

Then Real Person Wei roared, "A pack of wretches!"

The eight disciples who'd escaped with their lives dropped to their knees and kowtowed, banging their heads against the ground without saying a word.

Master Yao sighed as well. "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

Li Fan frowned as he watched from the side.

Yuan Xuanbao and Lu Qi were among them. They were covered in blood and still clutching their swords. Fatigue showed plainly on their faces, but their eyes were wide as they anxiously watched the fellow disciples kneeling on either side. Brother Gao was nowhere to be seen. He'd likely died inside.

Li Fan frowned and looked at the wounds on their bodies, then at the scene inside the formation. His happiness at seeing his companions alive vanished, and his heart sank.

The cuts and bloodstains were fresh. They didn't look like injuries from using Divine Sense to control magical treasures. The disciples inside hadn't been wounded by people from Tiantai Mountain... They'd been killed by their own fellow disciples.

How could this have happened...

"You couldn't hold out for even three days before turning to murder! How can you ever hope to attain the righteous Dao like this?" Real Person Wei strode into the formation and pointed. "Look! Look at him! He's dead! And so are all of you!"

The eight disciples lay face-down on the ground, limbs spread. Their expressions were hidden.

Li Fan glanced over and saw that Real Person Wei was pointing at a disciple seated against a bronze pillar. The man's head drooped, his eyes closed. Someone had slashed his throat, and he'd bled to death. The other six had also died near the nine bronze pillars. Most likely, they'd fought over the life-saving spots by the pillars and been killed by their fellow disciples.

"You recognized this formation and even came up with a way to counter it using the Reverse Nine Dragon Fire Pillars. You weren't complete fools, at least." Real Person Yan's wounds hadn't healed, and he walked over slowly. Whether he was judging them or explaining what had happened, he began to retrace the events. "Using a formation inside another formation could indeed slow the magical treasures' descent. It might even have been possible to break out from within.

"But with two layers of fire formations, it must have been unbearably hot inside. Those at the center couldn't hold out, so they tried to seize the life-saving spots on the edges.

"If you truly had brotherly loyalty, the best solution would've been to take turns and work together, so everyone could survive.

"If you didn't have that kind of bond, then you should've settled it decisively. Since you'd already decided to set up the Reverse Fire Formation, you could've fought it out from the start and chosen nine people to live.

"But look at you! Hesitating, dithering, worrying about this and that!

"Most likely, you began out of the loyalty you felt toward drinking buddies, hoping to live or die together. But once you'd actually taken turns for three days, someone couldn't hold out any longer. Then everyone panicked, turned on each other, abandoned brotherly loyalty, and started fighting over the chance to survive. Isn't that right?

"And what a fine outcome! You killed your way through all nine formation points, leaving one empty. With what little skill the eight of you have left, how could you still set up the Reverse Fire Formation? None of you could've survived."

The eight survivors remained on their knees, silent. It seemed he'd exposed everything, and they'd resigned themselves to their fate, waiting to hear their punishment.

Master Yao waved his hand, not even looking at the unworthy disciples. "Enough. What's done is done. There's no point saying more.

"You disobeyed your sect's orders and came to Tiantai Mountain. You didn't come for any righteous cause. You attacked another sect and killed its people out of selfish desire, then, afraid to die, you harmed your fellow disciples. Return to the mountain and accept your punishment at the Discipline Institute. For now, go to the ship and reflect on what you've done."

After hearing the supervising dean, Yao Xuanzhou, say this, the other two Real Persons had nothing more to add.

Real Person Wei shook his head, swept his sleeve, and collected the remains of the Ink Bamboo Mountain disciples from the ground. Then he stepped forward and said, "Junior Brother Yao, the matter of refining corpses with people is serious. I was ordered to return to the mountain as soon as this was over and explain the situation to the monastery head."

Master Yao nodded. "Go ahead, Senior Brother Wei. Real Person Yan, your injuries are severe too. Why not return with Senior Brother Wei? I'll take these junior disciples back with me. Oh, and the Red Flood Dragon is stained with a lot of filthy blood. It should be cleaned soon, before its divine light is tainted. Please return it to Sword Master Qin on your way."

Real Person Yan thought it over. The journey by boat would take only a day or two, and he would hate to let his flying sword lose its divine light. He accepted the sword and thanked him. "Much obliged, Senior Brother Yao."

So Real Person Wei and Real Person Yan flew off, while Yao Xuanzhou stayed behind to look after the disciples. Yuan Xuanbao and the other seven had committed offenses, so naturally they would go to the ship's cabin to reflect in seclusion. The disciples Lu Xing had brought, meanwhile, split up to search the temple for treasure, gather the nearby bones, and collect the goods Tiantai Mountain had plundered to bring aboard the treasure ship.

Li Fan saw Yuan Xuanbao, drenched in blood and sweat, his expression grim. He knew the man had been terribly unlucky this time. He'd worn himself out, failed to seize a single magical treasure, and ended up with brothers turning on one another. He'd surely be punished severely when he got back to the mountain. His mood must have been awful.

But his injuries didn't look too bad. It seemed the others had known how formidable Yuan Xuanbao was and had left him alone. Li Fan decided not to approach him and make a nuisance of himself with questions at such an embarrassing moment.

Instead, the Profound Heaven Sword Intent suddenly slipped out of his sleeve, a silver leaf drifting toward the ruins.

Li Fan jumped. Fortunately, Master Yao wasn't looking his way, so he hurried after it, wondering what the thing was up to now.

Tiantai Mountain had amassed quite a lot of wealth over the years. Most of the thirty or so disciples Lu Xing had brought had scattered in all directions to "seek their fortunes," and no one noticed what Li Fan was doing.

"What's this? You want it?"

The Profound Heaven Sword Intent circled fragments of all kinds of magical treasures scattered across the ground. Li Fan understood what it meant and picked up the items it circled. There was quartz, pottery, gold, jade—oh, it didn't want the gold, just the jade. In the end, the Profound Heaven Sword Intent selected a pile of stone materials from the heap of scraps. Li Fan began to understand.

"Are these for forging a sword?"

The Profound Heaven Sword Intent drew a check mark in the air, then led Li Fan on through the ruins, circling around as if it were an old woman shopping at the market, pinching a bunch of scallions here and a head of garlic there. Before long, it had picked up a large heap. Li Fan bundled everything up and stowed it in his jade pendant.

*The Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: "I'd originally wanted to wait until you reached the Golden Core stage, Host, but it looks like Ink Bamboo Mountain has too many enemies. If another killing tribulation begins, you could have people attacking your mountain gate at any moment. Better to make preparations early.

"Going to a mine to quarry and refine stone would be more troublesome than melting down the scraps from other people's magical treasures. But forging a sword this way will leave too many impurities, so it won't be grade-worthy. You'll have to make do."*

Li Fan agreed. The human world was just too dangerous. He was already becoming numb to death. Even the death of that young man Zhang He had only left him feeling a little rueful. At this rate, he'd probably end up with post-traumatic stress disorder...

They spent about two hours cleaning up. Then the Ink Bamboo Mountain disciples returned to Fuling's great treasure ship and gathered there, their haul in tow.

The spiritual materials and immortal treasures went to whoever found them. Divine Astral Coins were pooled and divided evenly. As for the merchandise and silk, they settled the accounts with Fuling right there on the deck. According to Lu Xing, her group had come purely out of friendship to stand up for the Lu Family and Jiang's shop. After that, they'd attacked the villains of Tiantai Mountain out of righteous indignation. And when trouble struck, they hadn't fled; they'd stayed to fight with swords and rescue their trapped fellow disciples.

On the other hand, those who'd come with Lu Qi, intending to loot from the start, had failed to steal a chicken and lost the rice meant to lure it. The formation had tested their true bonds in the face of adversity, and many had died fighting one another. Forget being brothers—there was no telling if they wouldn't become enemies the next time they met.

Couldn't that be called the workings of heaven and earth, with every sin met by its due retribution?