Ning Chenxin floated in the air.
However, it was as if there was an invisible wall around him that he could not see through or penetrate, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not break through it. Even sound could not pass through this wall, and he could only watch helplessly as things below unfolded.
Below that, in the village.
Ning Chenxin, however, could see another " Ning Chenxin " who was almost identical to him still standing there, continuing to do what he needed to do next.
What's going on?
What did the illusory figure mean by that?
If you have any questions, then ask them.
"What do you mean by this, senior?"
The illusory figure gradually solidified, and an old man slowly manifested in the world.
The old man was the one who appeared during the previous test of humanity.
The old man, with his hands tucked into his wide sleeves, chuckled and said, "I just wanted to show you what the consequences of your choices will be. After seeing the outcome, I wonder if your resolve will waver."
Ning Chenxin frowned and asked, "Is this an illusion?"
The old man laughed. "Does it really matter if it's an illusion or not? If you want to know the answer that this place is just an illusion, even if many people die in the end, you'll feel less guilty. If you run away with such a reason, what's the point of your cultivation path? Buddhist Dao, Daoism, Confucian Dao, and Daoism are all the same; to cultivate oneself, one must first cultivate one's heart."
Upon hearing this, Ning Chenxin's eyes seemed to clear, the fog in them dissipating. He bowed to the old man and said, "Thank you, senior. I was just being presumptuous."
"Don't thank me yet." The old man glanced at Ning Chenxin, a slight smile playing on his lips. "I haven't even told you this is an illusion yet."
Ning Chenxin's expression froze.
The old man chuckled, "Others may be experiencing illusions, but yours is reality. This is somewhere in the eastern part of the Chaos Realm."
Seeing Ning Chenxin's frozen expression, the old man sneered inwardly.
hehe.
I've finally managed to subdue you all! Who told you little brats to torture me so relentlessly during the trial... Well, even though this person in front of me didn't do those things, that doesn't stop us from being fellow disciples!
As for the others... there's nothing we can do about them for now!
Ning Chenxin looked down and said seriously, "What if things really do get worse?"
The old man shrugged, his tone light and nonchalant, saying, "Let things develop as they will. Whether the ending is a happy one or, as those soldiers said, the deaths of tens of millions of lives, is your own choice."
That brings us to this.
The old man suddenly appeared in front of Ning Chenxin. Looking at Ning Chenxin's somewhat unpleasant expression, he revealed a seemingly peaceful smile with eyes that seemed to see through everything, and whispered, "Don't think you can control everything. At least you can't do that right now."
Every choice in the world has two sides; choosing one side means giving up the other. Otherwise, why would it be called a choice?
Ning Chenxin frowned, her gaze falling on the village. The ten soldiers, persuaded by another " Ning Chenxin," led the entire village away from the village and back inside the city walls.
Everything is progressing as he envisioned, so why is his unease growing?
The old man saw through Ning Chenxin's thoughts and said calmly, "Just watch and see what the outcome of your choice will be. You don't know, and neither do I."
"This is real, and the innocent people who will die will also be real," Ning Chenxin said with a grim face.
The old man glanced at Ning Chenxin and said, "Are you saying you can save them? Or are you saying I should save them?"
Leaving aside whether I still have the energy, people die all the time in the world. Besides the normal birth, aging, sickness and death, most deaths in the cultivation world are for power, for fighting for interests, for cultivation, and also for wars between sects and dynasties.
These kinds of things happen all the time; are you going to try to manage them all?
Ning Chenxin remained silent.
He doesn't have that ability.
Master also said that no one can do that, not even him.
Neither of them spoke again.
Everyone's gaze was fixed on the scene below. Time did not speed up, but the scenes below kept changing as if they were being viewed in a blur.
The enemy's iron hooves trampled across the grassland, which resembled a vast expanse of green waves, crushing the inconspicuous village into fragments.
The enemy forces were clearly stronger than the garrison on the city walls.
Ning Chenxin below also made a move.
However, the enemy was better prepared, seemingly having foreseen this possibility, or perhaps they valued the city highly, and thus dispatched a more powerful force to storm the city!
I don't know how many days have passed.
Beneath Ning Chenxin's pale face, the city wall collapsed.
The enemy's hordes of iron cavalry, wielding scythes, charged into the city. Wherever they went, walls collapsed and the ground caved in, and countless lives were slaughtered like grass.
This included the villagers in the village.
Not long after.
Just as the soldiers had said, the collapse of this city did not spare the surrounding cities either; they were all occupied by the enemy.
Ning Chenxin watched this scene from above, her expression heavy and her eyes somewhat unfocused.
The surrounding atmosphere... was also precarious, as if it would collapse at the slightest touch!
The old man watched this scene, his hands tucked into his sleeves, and said calmly, "It seems your choice was wrong."
Ning Chenxin looked up at the old man, her face devoid of color, and gave a bitter laugh, saying, "But... are we just going to let those villagers be used as human bombs?"
The old man raised an eyebrow and said, "If it were up to me, I would naturally choose to save those villagers. After all, if it were me, those villagers would have done me a favor and I would have some karmic connection with them. As for the dynasty? What do their lives have to do with me?"
"Of course, you should protect people you know."
At this point, the old man looked at Ning Chenxin and smiled, "So your choice wasn't wrong; it's just a matter of whether you can overcome your inner conscience."
Ning Chenxin fell into deep thought.
Was the choice not wrong?
Is it really not wrong?
The choice just made, to put it simply, was that neither side wanted to be abandoned, and neither side wanted to be protected.
On a larger scale, isn't this also a matter of making a choice between the interests of the individual and the interests of the nation?
Seeing Ning Chenxin lost in thought, the old man did not disturb him. He simply sat quietly cross-legged to the side, gazing at the sky, and murmured, "I didn't expect that person's will to choose him, but... his idea seems somewhat dangerous."
Ning Chenxin did not hear those words.
Ning Chenxin's thoughts now seem to have hit a dead end, and she can't seem to get out of it no matter what she does.
Sacrifice the nation for the sake of the individual?
To save the nation, one must sacrifice the individual?
How to choose?
After making the choice, how do you overcome the inner hurdle?