Chapter 1327: Destiny

Chapter 1326: Destiny

Little Senior Brother had always been gentle, the kind who made others feel as if bathed in a spring breeze. Even when he was cold, it was only toward enemies.

This was the first time Situ Jian had ever been looked at by Mo Hua with such an indifferent gaze. He felt as though the blood throughout his body was about to freeze.

At the same time, his heart was tangled with shame and pain.

“Little Senior Brother, this isn’t a place to talk. Let’s… go somewhere else,” Situ Jian said.

Seeing Situ Jian like this, Mo Hua couldn’t bear to say much more. He nodded.

Situ Jian led Mo Hua to the center of the encampment, up into a tall tower.

Mo Hua had once served as a Desolate Wilderness Divine-Shaman, and was very familiar with the customs of the barbarian tribes. He knew this tower had once been used to worship a barbarian god. Even now, he could still faintly smell traces of divine aura in the air.

But now the tribe had been wiped out. The god statue had been toppled. The tower had been occupied.

And the tribe’s people had all been reduced to “slaves.”

Not barbarian slaves, but slaves of the Dao Court, slaves of the Nine Provinces.

Sitting at the edge of the tower and looking down, Mo Hua could see children kneeling on the ground, prostrating themselves and begging just to survive.

There were also barbarian slaves covered in whip marks, forced into labor.

Not to mention the women in the distance, stripped of their clothes, their dignity completely trampled as they were inspected and traded like goods.

Mo Hua looked at everything before him, his expression unchanged.

Situ Jian dismissed the two elders of the Situ clan, sat down opposite Mo Hua, sighed, and after a long silence, finally spoke slowly:

“Little Senior Brother… after graduating from the sect and returning to the clan, on one hand I worked diligently on my cultivation, preparing to form my Golden Core. On the other, I was arranged to start getting involved in some of the clan’s affairs…”

“As for cultivation, there’s no need to say much. The Situ clan’s inheritance can’t compare to the Great Void Sect. While I was inside the sect, guided by good teachers, with you, Little Senior Brother, and many fellow disciples pushing each other forward, I more or less knew where my cultivation path was headed. But…”

Situ Jian fell silent for a moment. “When it came to clan affairs, I just couldn’t adapt.”

“The Situ clan… from childhood to adulthood, every elder and peer I met treated me kindly. I always thought that the Situ clan must be an upright and honorable clan, harmonious among its members. But only after I grew up and truly began dealing with clan matters did I realize that my thinking was… a bit naive…”

“The Situ clan isn’t at all the way I had simply assumed.”

“Within the clan, people’s hearts aren’t actually that kind.”

“Many clan members were friendly to me only because I’m the clan head’s son, the young master, a genius with a bright future.”

“I knew before that competition within aristocratic clans is intense, and that you have to fight for whatever you want. But I never realized that people were divided into strict ranks.”

“It’s not just about being valued or not, it’s a real division between the noble and the lowly.”

“Some people are technically my relatives—my uncles, elder cousins, younger cousins—but when they see me, they’re inherently beneath me. Many clan members don’t even have the qualification to even see me once…”

“And within aristocratic clans, this is considered completely normal. Within the clan, though blood is shared, hierarchy is absolute, and status is strict… this is seen as nothing out of the ordinary.”

“I could have accepted all this with a clear conscience…”

Situ Jian’s gaze deepened as he sighed. “If only I hadn’t left the Situ clan back then to enter the Great Void Sect, and hadn’t spent nine years studying there…”

The atmosphere of the Great Void Sect was simply too good.

The sect was united, disciples helped one another, and during the sword debate tournament they fought side by side for the sect’s honor, pulling it back from the last place and elevating it in one leap to become the number one sect in the Qianxue Prefecture.

Under Mo Hua’s leadership as Little Senior Brother, although disciples differed in talent and ability, there was hardly any squeezing, rivalry, or comparison among them.

Especially since Mo Hua himself had poor innate aptitude, yet could still be Little Senior Brother and earn everyone’s wholehearted respect.

Because of that, this generation of Great Void Sect disciples didn’t place much importance on spiritual roots, talent, or family background.

Instead, whoever performed outstandingly at the Dao Debate Tournament, whoever brought honor to the sect and earned merit, was the one with real face and prestige among their peers.

These things, back when they were in the Great Void Sect, hanging around with Mo Hua as Little Senior Brother, were simply taken for granted, absorbed unconsciously.

Everyone was used to it. Situ Jian was no exception.

But once he left the Great Void Sect and returned to his clan, Situ Jian suddenly felt something was off.

This wasn’t how aristocratic clans operated.

Within such clans, hierarchy was ironclad.

Had he joined some other Qianxue sect instead of the Great Void Sect back then, Situ Jian might have shed those sect habits and gradually adapted to the clan’s rules.

For aristocratic heirs, that would even be considered a kind of “growth” and “maturity.”

But unfortunately, he had joined the Great Void Sect, and had a Little Senior Brother named Mo Hua.

His experience cultivating in the Great Void Sect had influenced him too deeply. Now that he was back in the clan, no matter how he looked at it, no matter how he thought about it, everything felt wrong.

Situ Jian frowned deeply and continued:

“Our Situ clan treats even its own disciples like this. As for independent rogue cultivators below us, it goes without saying.”

“Between aristocratic clans and independent cultivators, there’s an unbridgeable chasm.”

“And almost every bit of profit an aristocratic clan gains is squeezed out of rogue cultivators. Yet in return, aristocratic clans look down on them, seeing them as cheap and inferior.”

“At first, I didn’t see this clearly…”

It was only after spending so much time in the Great Void Sect, after being influenced by Mo Hua, that Situ Jian gradually came to understand.

“It’s not that everyone in the Situ clan is a ‘bad person,’ not that all of them are selfish people who exploit and oppress rogue cultivators. There are good people in the clan too, but…”

Situ Jian gave a bitter smile. “I’ve observed that any clan disciple who harbors kindness, who is willing to yield benefits to rogue cultivators, will gradually be pushed to the margins, no longer valued, unable to hold real power…”

“And this isn’t even because someone deliberately targets or excludes them. It happens naturally, following the clan’s rules…”

“Because within aristocratic clans, competition is fierce. Only by fighting with everything you have, scrambling for benefits, seizing cultivation resources, and using every bit of those resources on yourself can you climb upward step by step…”

“But once you stop seeking profit for yourself, or even give part of your own benefits to independent rogue cultivators, you’ll naturally lose out to others, fall behind, and be relegated to the clan’s periphery.”

Situ Jian looked up at Mo Hua. “Sister Situ Fang is actually one such person.”

“The reason her branch has never produced a True-Person is because they aren’t ‘overbearing’ enough, not ‘selfish’ enough, not ruthless enough…”

“Sister Situ Fang herself is the same. I went and checked her clan records. In the evaluation written by the Grand Elder, it says: ‘Average aptitude, motivated, diligent and responsible, but overly enthusiastic, fond of meddling in trivial matters, unsuitable for heavy responsibility.’”

“So even though she’s part of the main line and quite capable, she’s always hovered outside the core of the Situ clan’s power, with very limited cultivation resources.”

Situ Jian let out a deep sigh, his expression bleak.

Mo Hua’s expression, however, softened somewhat. He poured Situ Jian a cup of tea and said, “Take it slow.”

Situ Jian drank the tea Mo Hua poured. Knowing that Little Senior Brother wasn’t blaming him so harshly anymore, he finally relaxed and continued:

“In the past, even though I was considered a clan prodigy, I lived a pampered life and never came into contact with these things.”

“Now that I’ve graduated from the Great Void Sect and am about to form my Golden Core, I’ve started trying to stand on my own. Little by little, I’ve come to understand the rules by which the upper echelons of aristocratic clans operate.”

“I don’t like these rules, but I…”

Situ Jian’s face was filled with frustration. “I have no other choice. I’m the clan’s genius. I was cultivated on the clan’s resources. The old ancestor, my parents, the elders, and those high-ranking elders all place immense hopes on me. They expect me to work for the prosperity of the Situ clan. I really… can’t go against their wishes, and I don’t have the strength to resist…”

“Just as I was torn inside, the Great Wilderness rebelled.”

Mo Hua’s gaze shifted slightly. “So you came to the Great Wilderness to avoid making those choices?”

Situ Jian nodded. “Yes. I don’t like the selfish, top-down oppression within the clan, but I can’t fight it. So when the rebellion broke out, I volunteered to come here. I thought that by leaving the clan’s territory, I could rely on my own abilities instead of exploiting others, make achievements, open up new prospects, and do what I wanted to do…”

“But in the end…”

Situ Jian’s expression grew even uglier. “I was too naive. The situation in the Great Wilderness is even worse. This isn’t just oppression anymore, it’s outright ‘people eating people.’”

“This is war. From the Dao Court’s perspective, it’s a campaign to suppress rebellion.”

“But from the perspective of the aristocratic clans, it’s really just a setup to ‘grab territory,’ seize slaves, plunder resources, and snatch inheritances…”

“The Dao Court has been passed down for over twenty thousand years. Even the aristocratic clans have long since become rigid and entrenched. The Heavenly Authority Pavilion has become extremely cautious in defining power ranks. Forget fifth-rank, even fourth-rank slots are almost nonexistent.”

“That’s because any halfway decent prefecture has already been carved up and monopolized. The great clans grow ever larger, while those below have it harder and harder. And those above won’t allow anyone else to take a share.”

“At times like this, if any ‘new nobility’ wants to emerge, they must expand outward.”

“And within the Nine Provinces, most lands are already under the Dao Court’s control. The only place left to expand is the Great Wilderness.”

“Once the Great Wilderness rebelled and war began, countless opportunities appeared. The great clans could take another bite, and small and medium clans finally had a chance to get a share.”

“And war is always accompanied by bloodshed, brutality, filth, and cruelty.”

“On the battlefield it’s kill or be killed. After the fighting ends, there’s occupation of territory, massacres of people and tribes, the abduction of slaves, the defilement of women, the trafficking of humans…”

Situ Jian’s face turned deathly pale.

He was a young cultivator with ideals and ambition, someone who disliked the scheming and infighting of aristocratic clans. That was why he had come to the Great Wilderness battlefield.

Yet what happened on the battlefield was a hundred times filthier than scheming and intrigue.

It made Situ Jian feel as though, in order to avoid getting his shoes wet in a foul ditch, he had tried to find a cleaner place, only to jump straight into a cesspit.

An indescribable disgust, tinged with despair.

“When I was in Li Province, I had already refused some of the clan’s arrangements. But now that I’m in the Great Wilderness, I really… have no room left to refuse.”

“Everyone is killing, everyone is grabbing, everyone is competing. Selling barbarian slaves, every aristocratic clan is doing it. As a member of the Situ clan, I don’t have the right to ‘claim moral superiority,’ nor can I disregard the clan’s interests…”

“So I can only… help the clan do this kind of business…”

Situ Jian’s face was pale, and the words were hard for him to say.

These matters had long been buried in his heart, with no one he could confide in.

And even if he spoke of them, no one would understand. Instead, he’d be seen by the clan’s upper ranks as a “soft-hearted oddity,” and by others as “pretentious” or “hypocritical.”

Only in front of Little Senior Brother could he truly bare his heart.

Thus, he didn’t want Little Senior Brother to know about the ugly dealings he and the Situ clan were engaged in.

Yet at the same time, he hoped Little Senior Brother could see these things with his own eyes, understand them.

So that his conscience—constantly condemned and growing numb by the day—might feel a little less burdened.

Situ Jian looked at Mo Hua timidly.

Mo Hua looked back at him, and only then did he notice that two interwoven streams of Causal aura, light and dark, were appearing on Situ Jian’s face.

One aura was familiar, belonging to the righteous, passionate youth of the past, Situ Jian of the Great Void Sect.

The other aura felt somewhat unfamiliar, belonging to the present Situ Jian, the noble and admired Young Lord of the Situ clan, who had no choice but to seek profit for his clan.

Mo Hua felt a chill in his heart and realized that this was perhaps the Destiny of these aristocratic prodigies.

When they are young, no matter how full of ideals or chivalry they may be, once they return to their clans, they are inevitably stained little by little by fame and profit, restrained and “retrained” bit by bit by the shackles of power.

They have nowhere to escape.

If they crawl out of one pit, another pit awaits them.

Everywhere they look, the powerful are all selfish and self-serving.

Sooner or later, they will inevitably become refined, self-interested aristocratic prodigies themselves.

In the current state of the world, this is almost destiny… irreversible.

Mo Hua sighed softly in his heart.

A broken world has no room for people with a conscience.

No matter who it is, no matter their talent, no matter their position… there are no exceptions.

Mo Hua patted Situ Jian on the shoulder and said gently, “Don’t worry. This isn’t your fault…”

When Situ Jian felt that pat on his shoulder and heard those warm, understanding words from Little Senior Brother, it was as though sunlight poured into his heart. The long-accumulated gloom and cold ice slowly melted away.

The ugliness and darkness born of guilt in his heart also dissipated considerably.

Then Situ Jian couldn’t help but ask, “Little Senior Brother, if you were me… what would you do?”

“Me?” Mo Hua was briefly taken aback.

“Yes.” Situ Jian nodded.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then said boldly, “If I were you, I’d cultivate diligently, unite forces, and one day, when my cultivation rose high enough and I became the clan head with great power in hand, I’d act decisively and push through reforms. I’d do everything exactly as I saw fit for the clan’s development. Whoever doesn’t submit gets suppressed; whoever opposes gets wiped out…”

Situ Jian twitched the corner of his mouth and gave a bitter smile. “Little Senior Brother… that really is you.”

Mo Hua nodded.

Situ Jian thought Little Senior Brother was joking.

But not long ago, in the Desolate Wilderness, Mo Hua had done exactly that.

These were things he had personally put into practice.

Of course, Mo Hua did have some joking intent as well.

After all, the situation in the Desolate Wilderness was special and couldn’t be generalized.

Situ Jian was the young master of the Situ clan and still young. When it came to his own clan, he couldn’t bring himself to do something so “ambitious and ruthless.”

Mo Hua comforted Situ Jian, saying, “You’re just a young master, only at Foundation Establishment. There are many things beyond your control, that’s normal. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If something truly can’t be done, compromising for now and protecting yourself wisely is not a bad strategy.”

“But remember this, your Dao Heart must never change. The heart is Destiny. Once the Dao Heart changes, Destiny changes with it. But as long as your original intent remains unchanged, everything is still possible.”

Mo Hua’s expression grew somewhat serious.

Situ Jian silently repeated these words in his heart, then nodded solemnly.

“Little Senior Brother, I’ll remember.”

As he spoke, the Causal aura on his face subtly shifted.

The cause-and-effect of the noble yet cold “Young Master Jian” gradually faded, and the radiance of that once peerless sect prodigy, Situ Jian, reappeared on his face.

Mo Hua smiled gently.

Situ Jian looked down from the tall building at the barbarian slaves below—those being oppressed and traded—and frowned as he asked, “Little Senior Brother, then what about these barbarian slaves…”

He truly didn’t know what to do.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then shook his head. “We’ll have to take a long-term view. Under the current situation, even if you act out of good intentions, you might not be able to do good.”

This was the tacit “rule” among aristocratic clans.

Situ Jian nodded.

After that, neither of them said anything more. They sat a while longer, then set off back to the Situ clan.

But just as they were leaving the tall building, Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense suddenly stirred. His gaze swept over the crowd of barbarian slaves, then focused slightly as he spoke:

“I need to buy a barbarian slave.”

Situ Jian was taken aback and turned to look at a long line of female slaves, stripped of their clothes, revealing graceful figures, pitiful and fragile. He thought to himself: Little Senior Brother really has grown up…

Assuming his Little Senior Brother had been moved by compassion and wanted to save a few women first, he asked, “Little Senior Brother, which ones do you want to buy?”

Unexpectedly, Mo Hua simply pointed with his finger toward a chaotic corner, indicating an utterly inconspicuous, skinny barbarian slave boy.

“Take him back for me.”