Emotion Severing

"Quick, quick, quick! Activate the defensive grand formation!" The soldiers of the Feathered Dynasty stood atop the city walls, shouting commands.

Once the Heavenly Tribulation descended, it would bring an enormous disaster. There were countless cultivators in the city, and at this moment, all their hearts trembled in fear that the lightning in the sky would fall.

In an instant, dark clouds began to spread across the sky. Wild winds howled, making the white-clad figure in the air flutter fiercely as her black hair danced wildly.

This time, people finally saw the Female Demon's face clearly.

It was an exquisitely beautiful face: a flawless, fair oval face, a pair of deep autumn eyes shining brilliantly, a delicate little nose, vivid red lips, and a proud figure displayed to perfection.

Her indifferent gaze fell upon the Feathered Dynasty's main hall and the Five-Colored Altar in the central city. A trace of murderous aura appeared in her eyes, and her killing intent soared to the heavens.

She did not speak. Simply standing in midair was enough to exude an overwhelming pressure.

"Why is she so bold? The Feathered Dynasty is the strongest force today. No one would dare provoke it." Everyone was puzzled. Even the Feathered Dynasty's experts were confused.

At that moment, people saw someone elsewhere walking toward the sky step by step, as though ascending a staircase.

As he walked, that person's disguise vanished in an instant, revealing an exceptionally cold and handsome face that made even women blush uncontrollably.

"It's Wuqing! It's Xu Changqing! He's appeared!" Some recognized Xu Changqing and shouted excitedly.

Xu Jin also rose abruptly from his seat in the tavern. That person had just been sitting not far from him. He had never expected him to be the Person who Transmits the Dao he had been searching for so long.

It could not be helped. In this Golden Age, there were only two Mortal Body cultivators who had risen to prominence and entered the Eight Prohibitions. Looking through history, no one had ever crushed a Divine Body while possessing a Mortal Body.

Yet Xu Changqing and that woman had done it.

Boom!

Suddenly, Xu Changqing erupted with an incomparably powerful Aura, leaving countless people breathless and shocking even the weaker cultivators. Was this the expert who had slain a Divine Body back then?

In the Feathered Dynasty's central city, there were also quite a few newly risen members of the Younger Generation. Some had never set foot on the Emperor's Road and instead remained in the Big Dipper as Holy Masters.

For example, Lin Siyu, Xu Changqing's wife and the Holy Master of the Misty Holy Land. She had not embarked on the Emperor's Road, choosing instead to remain as the Holy Master of the Misty Holy Land.

She looked at Xu Changqing with guilt and self-reproach in her eyes, but by now, the two of them had long since ended things.

The Woman in White turned her gaze toward Xu Changqing, revealing an indescribable emotion before quickly concealing it.

She was deeply grateful to this Person who Transmits the Dao. During her childhood, Xu Changqing had been the second person to treat her well.

She still remembered that rainy day in the Southern Ridge, when she had curled up in an alley, shivering from hunger, cold, and a high fever.

In a daze, she unconsciously murmured, "Brother, Little Nannan is so hungry, so cold. Whenever those bad uncles see Little Nannan, they either hit or scold her. When are you coming back...?"

At the time, Xu Changqing happened to pass by. When he saw that scene, an idea arose in his heart, and he began arranging the path ahead.

After all, he had read the Sacred Ruins Patch. He was surely exposed to the gaze of those three Heavenly Emperors at all times, so if he earned the Empress's sympathy, then if he died in the future, he would probably be revived...

With that in mind,

he first spoke with Little Nannan for a long time, telling her all about his own experiences and winning her sympathy.

In the end, he took Little Nannan to many places, bought her many things, and gave a tavern owner benefits so that he would raise Little Nannan until adulthood.

Ultimately, after giving Little Nannan several cultivation techniques, Xu Changqing left. When they met again, a hundred years had already passed.

At the time, he had been captured by an elder of the Misty Holy Land, who wanted to cripple him. However, Lin Siyu intervened and had him imprisoned in the Water Dungeon.

Little Nannan carried the Sacred Artifact she had obtained and forced her way into the Misty Holy Land, rescuing him.

A look of reminiscence appeared in the Female Demon's eyes, but she quickly hid it again. She did not know why Xu Changqing had come up here. Was he trying to stop her?

Impossible. Xu Changqing had no reason to do such a thing.

Boom!

The Dao Slaying Heavenly Tribulation finally descended. The Woman in White did not cut away everything she possessed. Instead, she used her obsession to break through the shackles of the Great Dao, forcefully Recklessly Slaying the Dao.

Boom!

The next moment, sheets of Lightning Tribulation descended, instantly engulfing the Feathered Dynasty's formation. Several Saints appeared and maintained the formation.

But the moment they acted, the Heavenly Tribulation seemed to sense something and instantly brought down a Saint's Lightning Tribulation as well.

However, because the Feathered Dynasty's formation was an Emperor Formation, it was not broken. They had merely lost all face.

Meanwhile, under everyone's watchful eyes, milky-white light burst from Xu Changqing's brow. Clear radiance pierced through the dark clouds, and a strange fluctuation spread from his body.

Then, before the eyes of the masses, he slowly said, "Humans possess the Seven Emotions and Six Desires, but the Great Dao has none. Laws have none. Rules have none. Order has none."

"Emotion is merely a shackle binding the world's people. Emotion is also their tether."

"Some compare themselves with others, crave vanity, and give rise to jealousy. Some cannot bear to see others doing well, and thus give rise to greed."

"Others abandon their lives for the emotions in their hearts."

"Even heartless people will eventually feel emotion. But after enduring countless hardships and inhuman torment, they grow disgusted with the word emotion, begin to hate it, and become Wuqing."

"Talent is often not what binds one's cultivation. Thought is."

Xu Changqing seemed to be muttering to himself, yet he also seemed to be telling the world something. Divine light began to bloom in his eyes, and a dark-red radiance burst from the crown of his head, shattering the dark clouds and dyeing the sky crimson.

Within that red light, everyone saw the myriad states of life. Some saw kind people die while saving others; others saw despicable cultivators massacre an entire city for profit.

Some saw their wives captured and then slain before their very eyes. Those men were consumed by rage and sought revenge despite lacking sufficient cultivation, only to meet miserable ends. No one even collected their corpses, leaving them for vultures to peck at.

All kinds of scenes entered the hearts of the Feathered Dynasty's people. Some saw their former selves, while others saw Xu Changqing's experiences.

Mu Miaomiao stood within the Feathered Dynasty and silently watched Xu Changqing. She did not understand why he was saying these things, nor did she know what he intended to sever.

Xu Changqing simply stood beneath the dark clouds, shrouded in red light. As the clouds churned, patches of the Sea of Lightning emerged. Lightning flashed, and a Transparent Great Blade appeared—the Blade of Heavenly Will.

Memories of the past continuously surfaced in his mind. His Dao Companion had been captured by an enemy from years ago.

She had been the second girlfriend he had found after arriving in this world, and she had also been equivalent to his wife.

To shatter his State of Mind, that person had slain his girlfriend right before him.

At the time, he had only been in the Four Extremes Realm, while that person had already reached Transforming Dragon. He even took pleasure in killing, wanting to watch the people he had tormented suffer mental collapse.

That day, Xu Changqing had been furious and regretful. He hated the injustice of this world and hated himself for lacking a special physique. Yet there was nothing he could do. He could not even avenge her.

He could only roar in despair, carrying the headless corpse as he ran through the wasteland, weeping and questioning the Vast Sky as he ran.

That person had been extremely confident, confident that a Mortal Body like Xu Changqing could never grow to the Dragon Transformation Realm. Thus, he had not killed him, merely wanting to destroy his State of Mind for his own amusement.

In the end, Xu Changqing killed that person. He then found that person's clan and massacred it completely, sparing not even a blade of grass.

There were also memories of his brother in this world. The two had explored Secret Realms together, but they eventually fought over Great Luo Divine Iron. Their relationship shattered, and in the end, his brother died by his hand.

Mu Miaomiao had been kidnapped. To rescue her, he handed over every gain he had obtained, leaving himself without any life-saving items after his breakthrough.

Gradually, he became disappointed in emotions. He no longer believed in so-called feelings, sealing his heart in concrete. Now, no one could move his inner world.

Xu Changqing's gaze became increasingly sharp and bright. The Aura within him grew even more powerful, and his entire being entered an ethereal state.

At this moment, no one dared step forward to interfere with the two Severing Dao Tribulations. The moment they left the range of the Protective Shield, they would be targeted and attacked by the Heavenly Tribulation.

"All sentient beings with intelligence possess the Seven Emotions and Six Desires, but the Dao does not. If I have no emotions, would that not make me equivalent to the Dao?"

Xu Changqing murmured as he looked within at his own origin. He discovered dozens of threads upon it.

Those were the origins of his own emotions.

He did not know whether others could see them, but in any case, they were his emotions.

"Heaven's Will as the blade!"

"Sever emotion!"

Xu Changqing suddenly shouted, shocking everyone. Even the Woman in White was stunned. She had severed the Dao through obsession, while Xu Changqing was severing all of his emotions.

She appeared heartless, yet she possessed the deepest feelings within that heartlessness. She understood gratitude. Because Xu Changqing had helped her in childhood, she had entered the Misty Holy Land alone with a Sacred Artifact decades ago and rescued him.

Throughout her years of growing up, she had never forgotten her brother. Every so often, she would paint a portrait of him, letting it accompany her as she grew.

This was Family Affection.

She could not do as Xu Changqing did.

What would happen if a person became heartless?

Everyone in the Feathered Dynasty fell silent. They had never imagined that Xu Changqing would sever his emotions. No one had ever done such a thing, nor had anyone ever heard of such a path.

Mu Miaomiao froze as well, her mind going completely blank.

Clang!

Suddenly, a blade's cry rang through heaven and earth. Everyone saw the dark-clouded sky above them split apart under an inexplicable force. At last, a ray of Immortal Light emerged from the sky and pierced through Xu Changqing's crown.

The Immortal Light poured into him continuously, eventually transforming into a blade within his body. At the same instant, the Lightning Tribulation between heaven and earth descended.

Countless Laws and Order appeared as well, as though they would not permit such a path to exist.