Chapter 385: Greater Self (2)
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I lightly cleaved through the wave of astral qi. As the wave of astral qi was broken, the surroundings shattered to pieces.
Controlling the Sword with Qi. The realm of moving a sword using qi. It was a realm on an entirely different plane from simply infusing internal energy through a sword to produce Sword Force.
Normally, there existed an insurmountable gap between sword qi and Sword Force. Even the weakest Sword Force could shatter the strongest sword qi.
Rumor-mongers used to say that the difference between Controlling the Sword with Qi and Sword Force was even greater than the difference between sword qi and Sword Force. That was because Controlling the Sword with Qi was a realm found only in legends.
However, the Palace Lord of the Palace of Heavenly Worship sneered upon seeing me control the sword with qi.
“You have merely adopted superficial flair. Controlling the sword with qi is a technique that anyone who is an immortal can perform. It is simply something one has no need to do.”
In truth, the Palace Lord’s words were accurate. The skill of moving a sword without touching it with hands was possible for anyone who could manipulate the qi of nature.
“In the end, what is important is that the mind is action itself. If the mind instantly translates into action, what need is there to separate the sword and wield it from afar?”
The Palace Lord held his sword and took flight. It was the art of sword control. Even if both were called controlling the sword, the driving of a sword and the wielding of a sword were different.
The former was moving the sword separately on its own, while the latter was moving the sword and the body together as one. The crux lay in whether the sword and the body were directly connected or not.
In an instant, the Palace Lord’s sword appeared before me and slashed at me. The flat stones paved across the Forbidden City’s ground cracked and surged upward. I swiftly dodged backward.
“Die!”
The Palace Lord shouted. A wave of astral qi containing the surging rock fragments engulfed me once again.
It was astral qi carrying a different momentum than before. Energy compressed to the point that the surroundings appeared distorted.
It was a powerful wave. It seemed to embody the attribute of water. Was he utilizing it following the principle that the highest good is like water? But merely imitating the form did not mean the intent would follow along.
Snorting in derision, I ascended into the sky. The wave of astral qi slammed into the ground, surging up into the sky from the recoil. Having embodied the attribute of water, it did not rise any further. Because water fundamentally possessed the nature of descending downward.
Now it was my turn to counterattack. Right now, my body and sword were separated. Therefore, as long as my perception permitted, I could sufficiently evade while moving the sword independently.
I slowly guided the sword into motion. After all, it was my first time deploying the art of controlling the sword with qi, so I was cautious.
Quivering alongside halos of light, my sword began to move. My sword immediately flew behind the Palace Lord and descended like a lightning bolt. It seemed it was also the Palace Lord’s first time facing the art of controlling the sword with qi directly, as he deflected the sword in utter shock.
“An ambush!”
Just then, the Imperial Guard of the Forbidden City belatedly began swarming in. Since the surroundings had been pulverized by the Palace Lord’s Sword Force, it was impossible for them not to notice.
The Imperial Guard surrounded our vicinity. Having naturally familiarized themselves with my appearance, they recognized me immediately.
“It’s the New Justice Association Leader!”
“How did the New Justice Association Leader get in here…?”
Though they were astounded by me penetrating the tight security of the Forbidden City, as seasoned soldiers, they did not merely stand around in shock.
“Whoever captures the New Justice Association Leader shall receive a massive reward from His Imperial Majesty!”
Someone shouted. Judging by the internal strength behind the shout, he appeared to be the leader of the Imperial Guard. He was the sole remaining master among the Three Great Masters of the Imperial Palace. That was because the other two masters, the Commander-in-Chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Grand Eunuch of the Eastern Depot, had both been slain by me. In a sense, the Commander of the Imperial Guard was the imperial palace’s last surviving top master.
The martial artists of the Imperial Guard rushed at me. They seemed to covet the Emperor’s reward that greatly. Then again, those capable of serving in the Imperial Guard could practically be considered religious fanatics of the Emperor.
The sword that had been aiming for the Palace Lord spun back in an instant and sliced the waists of all the Imperial Guard soldiers targeting me cleanly in two.
“Aaaaargh!”
“What on earth is this!”
Those whose waists were severed screamed, while those not yet cut were bewildered by the technique of controlling the sword with qi. Seeing the legendary realm of controlling the sword with qi, even those dogs who blindly followed the Emperor seemed to have frozen in place.
“Useless trash, do not interfere!”
The Imperial Guard soldiers were even cut down by the Palace Lord. Even the Palace Lord’s irritable waving of his hand contained astral qi.
“E-Everyone fall back and regroup!”
Frightened, the Commander of the Imperial Guard immediately issued a retreat order. The Palace Lord clicked his tongue in disdain.
“When did I ever ask you bastards to help?”
The Palace Lord growled at the Commander of the Imperial Guard. Overwhelmed by the crushing energy radiating from the Palace Lord, the Commander of the Imperial Guard could not utter a single word. The prestige of the last remaining master among the Three Great Masters of the Imperial Palace fell to absolute ruin.
In the end, without gaining anything, the Commander of the Imperial Guard had to settle for encircling us in a perimeter. There was no particular sense of pressure. Even if the Imperial Guard and their Commander attacked all at once, defeating me was an impossibility.
“I see that you receive the divine blessing of a god. Likely your abnormal speed of enlightenment stems from that as well.”
The Palace Lord said. Divine blessing, was it? Other immortals of the imperial palace had said so, and the Heavenly Demon of the Blood Cult had said so as well. I recalled the time when I detected unauthorized Daoist power and defeated an immortal of the imperial palace.
However, now I knew the truth of it. The reason a divine nature was felt from me was simply that I was a god. Encased in a human shell, as I gradually shed my humanity, my true identity was merely revealing itself.
“However, even if you receive the blessing of a god, they will not be able to intervene directly in this battle. Because that violates causality.”
The Palace Lord spoke in a low tone. It was a logical deduction possible only because he did not know I was a god, but I had no obligation to correct him.
“On the other hand, since I belong to the mortal realm, whatever I do in the mortal realm does not violate causality. It merely accumulates karma.”
“What is it you wish to say?”
“You still seem accustomed to the battles of martial artists, but immortals have their own battles. For karmic debt only needs to be settled.”
The Palace Lord began to float upward. He dropped his sword from the sky. As if the ground were a lake, the moment the sword struck, ripples began to spread.
“W-What is this?”
I, floating in midair, was unaffected, but those affected were the Imperial Guard soldiers surrounding us.
“Aaaaargh!”
A scream was heard from someone. Looking there, the body of an Imperial Guard soldier was disintegrating starting from his feet. Not a drop of blood came out. The very existence of a human being was simply vanishing.
It was not just one person. The Imperial Guard soldiers encircling us in a ring were disappearing one by one. A few tried to flee while their physical bodies still remained, but they too disintegrated before they could even take a step. The same was true for the Commander of the Imperial Guard, one of the Three Great Masters of the Imperial Palace.
“P-Palace Lord! I am a trusted aide of His Imperial Majesty! To do this to me…!”
The Commander of the Imperial Guard screamed. Because even without knowing the details, it was unmistakably the Palace Lord’s doing. Yet despite the Commander’s desperate cries, everyone was annihilated. A sinister energy began to linger over the circular ground.
“The soul is the lightest, yet the densest thing a human possesses.”
Silently, I watched what the Palace Lord was doing. Because it was an act I had never witnessed before, curiosity welled up within me. Most astonishingly, the power possessed by each person was disassembled with precision and sprinkled across the earth. Just like scattering fertilizer across soil. In truth, immense energy swirled across the ground we were standing on.
“Do you know what Heavenly Evasion is?”
Suddenly, a word I had not heard in a long time came from the Palace Lord’s mouth.
The highest-tier formation among the formations Gwan Seo-ye had spoken of. Heavenly Evasion. I recalled hearing that it was a formation reaching the realm of deceiving the heavens.
“Can heaven really be deceived even when you make such a commotion?”
I asked out of curiosity. Would the resentment of the vanished human souls not pierce the heavens? Or did they not know because it was still confined to the earth?
Furthermore, formations that sacrificed humans were not something I was seeing for the first time. Had the Illusion Demon not personally demonstrated it in the past?
Yet I could not tell if the Palace Lord’s formation was somewhat different from that.
“The power of humans is limitless. It depends entirely on how one extracts it. And when humans unleash the greatest power is when they are driven to the absolute limit.”
The Palace Lord said.
“Do these souls look dead to you right now? Their physical bodies have vanished, but they are not dead. Because their souls are alive.”
Just then, a tremendous shriek rose from the ground. Resembling hell itself, agonizing shrieks merged together and echoed throughout the Forbidden City.
“When you inflict extreme pain, that much extreme power is unleashed.”
The Palace Lord spoke with a proud expression. I narrowed my eyes. This was even more vile than the Illusion Demon. The Illusion Demon had at least sent them off without pain. But the Palace Lord was not only killing them, but wringing out their very souls.
“How do you intend to handle the karmic debt? It seems it will be no ordinary karma.”
I asked. Immortals fundamentally lived to accumulate good karma. Because that was how they could ascend to immortality.
Yet what he was doing right now was an evil act in anyone’s eyes.
“Did I not say so? Karmic debt only needs to be settled.”
“I wonder…”
In truth, even though I said that, I still did not know. By what standard this world judged good karma and bad karma. Would a tiger biting a rabbit’s neck to death be judged as bad karma? Or would it be judged as good karma because it hunted to feed its baby tiger?
“And in truth, what I am doing is not an act that accumulates bad karma.”
The Palace Lord smiled strangely.
“Because in this universe, only humans are uniquely evil. Killing humans is, rather, closer to good karma.”
I tilted my head at those words. The Palace Lord continued.
“Think about it. A god is none other than the laws of nature and the universe. The only ones who destroy and defy that nature are humans. Then are humans not evil itself?”
I had never thought of it that way. Yet it was also true that I could not refute the Palace Lord’s words.
While not everyone was like that, humans were beings who committed evil with deliberate intent. Looking at it that way, could the act of killing humans actually be considered good karma?
“Then why don’t the immortals go out and slaughter people? You possess more than enough ability to kill them, do you not?”
“If one kills indiscriminately like that, in the end, humans would go extinct. And rather than moving personally to kill one person at a time, moving the world to kill hundreds of thousands is far more efficient.”
In the Palace Lord’s words, there seemed not the slightest hint of a lie. The Heavenly Eye was telling me so.
“Is killing people alone considered good karma? Then what about the immortal who kills those people? Among the people an immortal kills like that, there must surely be good people as well.”
“Well, shall we call it an unavoidable sacrifice? When many souls die, the evil souls are overwhelmingly more numerous than the good souls. Do they not say that no one is entirely free of dust when shaken?”
I shook my head. I could not understand why such a schema had been formed. But one thing was certain.
Right now, I felt revulsion toward this system.
“…Then when an immortal kills an immortal, what karma is accumulated?”
I asked. My sword and the countless swords of the Imperial Guard fallen on the ground floated up simultaneously. Numerous blades enveloped me.
“It seems I am about to kill you right now.”
At my words, the Palace Lord wore a smile.