Ruthless Path and Passionate Path

Yun Ming was the only one still standing where he was.

At that moment...

The expression on his face twisted into a knot.

He raised a hand and rubbed his brow.

The captain wouldn't beat him up afterward, would he?

No way, right?

That question kept repeating in his mind.

Although Cao Dezhi had already left that night, based on Yun Ming's understanding of the captain, this matter was probably far from over.

After all, he had exposed Cao Xin's background.

Though it was something everyone would find out sooner or later.

Still, there was a difference between hearing it directly from him, the Pavilion Master, and figuring it out themselves.

At that moment, Yun Ming sighed and looked up at the moon in the night sky. He only felt that Sea God Island was especially troublesome tonight.

Half a month later.

At that moment, aboard a soul guidance train.

The carriage was spacious and brightly lit, filled with the clamor of countless voices.

Several children were pressed against the windows, excitedly watching the fields and mountains rushing past outside.

Together, they formed a lively, bustling scene of everyday life.

Only the place where one young man sat...

Drew people's attention from time to time.

He leaned back in a seat by the window, supporting his chin with one hand as he gazed aimlessly at the scenery flashing past outside, as though all the noise around him were separated from him by an invisible barrier.

And the moment people saw him...

A thought would arise in their hearts.

What an otherworldly young man.

He seemed untouched by the mortal world, yet also like a carefree wanderer within it.

Those eyes were clear and deep, as though they had seen far too much, yet as though nothing had entered them at all.

Several passing travelers could not help stealing a few more glances at him. Embarrassed to stare openly, they pretended to look out the windows or rummage through their pockets, yet their peripheral vision still drifted back toward him.

And he was Cao Xin.

Half a month ago, he had comprehended his path...

With the cultivation of a three-ringed Soul Master, he had slain Cai Yue'er, a Nine-Ring Titled Douluo, against all odds, transforming his state of mind.

After returning...

He immediately consumed an Upgrade Pill.

In an instant, his Soul Power rose to level forty-nine.

That nearly explosive rise in cultivation...

Might have left another person with an unstable foundation.

But for Cao Xin, who had already comprehended his path, this breakthrough was merely his cultivation catching up to his state of mind.

After that...

Both of his martial souls obtained their fourth soul rings.

But to Cao Xin...

An increase in realm was only secondary.

What mattered more was...

That he had comprehended the path he would walk in the future.

And there were two of them.

The first was ruthlessness.

As the saying went, the supreme way was ruthless.

Heaven and earth were indifferent, treating all things as straw dogs.

A true immortal reclined high above the ninth layer of clouds,

Overlooking the changing seas and fields of the mortal world.

This ruthlessness was not coldness. It meant measuring all things beneath heaven with the same standard.

Showing no favoritism, no partial love,

And not changing the laws of heaven and earth because of one person's joy or anger.

So-called ruthlessness was also great love.

Love for heaven and earth, love for all living beings.

And now...

He had reached four rings and completed the four seasons.

The four artistic conceptions resonated within him, like four pillars holding up a complete grand hall.

He comprehended time through the four seasons, then comprehended the Great Dao through time.

Once the Ruthless Path was complete, it would be the moment he became immortal.

If he continued down this path...

One day, he would become that summit above the ninth layer of clouds, overlooking the mortal world.

Witnessing seas turn into fields, wielding the laws of heaven and earth.

The second path was passion.

As the saying went, since ancient times, passion had only left behind regret.

The immortal path valued life and saved countless people.

A true immortal traveled through the mortal world, touched by the Seven Emotions and Six Desires of the world.

This was the Red Dust Immortal.

Yet passion was also ruthlessness.

Enter the mortal world, yet also leave it.

Though one's body remained in the mortal world, one's heart remained within the Great Dao.

He could love and hate, rejoice and grieve, and experience all the unions and partings, sorrows and joys of the human world.

But he would always know who he was, and always remain clear-headed about where those emotions began and where they ended.

And now...

His third soul ring was called "Heartbreak."

It represented sorrow among the Seven Emotions.

The grief contained within that sword strike was enough to drag anyone who touched it into the deepest sorrow.

Then he obtained his fourth soul ring...

It was called "Joyous Forgetfulness."

It represented joy among the Seven Emotions.

This sword strike was completely different.

It carried an almost self-forgetting delight, as though all the happiness in the world had been condensed upon its blade.

As long as he completed the remaining five emotions...

Love, hatred, desire, fear, and disgust.

He would be able to completely control the power of the Seven Emotions.

Once the Path of Seven Emotions was complete, he would become an immortal of the mortal world.

And with two paths leading toward immortality laid before him.

No matter which one he chose...

Cao Xin would not lose out.

He gently closed his palm, gathering those tangled thoughts into his heart before lifting his eyes to look out the window again.

The train was passing through a vast plain.

The layered mountains in the distance were painted in warm gold and red by the setting sun.

Thin curls of smoke rose from the farmhouses in the fields, while several water buffalo could vaguely be seen strolling leisurely in the distance.

The world was vast, and the scenery picturesque.

The reason he was on this soul guidance train now was that he intended to continue cultivating through worldly experience.

But worldly cultivation...

Either meant slaying demons and eliminating evil, or traveling through the mortal world.

As the young sect master of the Tang Sect, he had long known that the Evil Soul Masters of the Holy Spirit Cult would target this soul guidance train.

Thus, he had taken this journey.

Very soon, a shrill laugh rang out.

"Hehehehe!"

"Die! All of you, die!"

"Become resources for my advancement!"

Before the words had faded...

A passenger dressed in ordinary clothes suddenly tore away his disguise, revealing a withered face beneath.

A ghostly light flickered in his eyes.

The corners of his mouth stretched into an almost crazed grin.

His greedy, savage gaze swept over the passengers filling the carriage, like a starving wolf entering a flock of sheep.

The next moment...

He was about to command his resentful spirits to slaughter everyone aboard the soul guidance train, then leave with their souls and evade the mecha squad that would arrive afterward.

His hand had already risen.

Blackish-gray mist curled around his fingers.

Within that mist, twisted outlines of human faces could vaguely be seen screaming soundlessly.

But at that moment, a young man slowly rose to his feet.

His movements were neither hurried nor slow.

They even carried the laziness of someone who had just awakened from a nap.

Yet when he stood, the surrounding space seemed to undergo an indescribable change at that very instant. Like ripples spreading across water, it gently pushed him and the place where he stood away from everything beyond.

The passengers were still talking loudly.

But all sounds and images became distant and blurry in that instant, as though they were watching another world through an exceedingly thick pane of crystal glass.

Before his resentful spirits could emerge...

Everything around them turned blank.

In their place was...

An endless expanse of pure white.

Above, below, left, right, front, and back, all six directions were filled with boundless whiteness. There was no ground, no sky, as though this were the chaotic yet pristine state before heaven and earth had first opened.

At that moment, within this world...

Only the two of them remained.

Because after killing Cai Yue'er this time, Cao Xin had comprehended not only his path, but also a Self-Created Soul Skill.