Chapter 1158: They Have No Natural Cycles of Birth, Aging, Sickness, and Death; Lü Mountain Is Their Man-Made Cycle

"These matters involve karma. If people don't seek trouble or provoke them, how could these demonic creatures harm anyone?"

"I'm not making excuses for them, I'm just stating facts. Everything has a cause and effect. Even Lü Mountain's governance of the Demon Continent must respect karma. However, in the process of counterattacking, they did kill many innocent people, and that's also a fact."

"But these innocent villagers who were killed don't even meet the demonic disaster standards required for Lü Mountain to dispatch personnel."

"So there's no need to take action against them."

"This is the natural order of things. It's like how a hunter hunts to eat meat and sell it for money."

"Wild beasts harm people to survive, to stay alive, to fill their bellies."

"Under the karmic will of heaven, we can't very well allow hunters to hunt while forbidding beasts from harming people, right?"

"Especially when the hunter is the one who provoked the beast in the first place, and gets killed because his own skills weren't sufficient. That's called the cycle of cosmic justice."

"Only when beasts have tasted blood and harmed too many people would we step in to intervene."

"Otherwise, we can only wait until the Centennial Demon-Feeding to launch a large-scale purge."

Lu Ding understood.

If that was the case, then Lü Mountain's standard of conduct actually had some reasoning behind it, and was quite humane.

But if so, a new question arose.

"Junior Uncle Kong, if that's the case, then for the Centennial Demon-Feeding, does this 'centennial' also have its own reasoning?"

Junior Uncle Kong truly hadn't seen such a clever child in a long time.

He nodded: "Very clever. The reason the Centennial Demon-Feeding is set at a hundred years is derived from the saying, 'A human life lasts a hundred years, a mayfly lives but a day.' Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life. Since these reincarnated demonic creatures have been born into this world, they have the right to exist."

"Heaven and earth treat all equally, favoring no one and targeting no one without reason."

"Since they were allowed to reincarnate, that means they are permitted to exist."

"So Lü Mountain believes they can live a hundred years, just like ordinary people, possessing a century of life."

"Most ordinary people don't even live to a hundred years. Letting them live a full century is an act of mercy."

"Once the hundred years are up, we conduct a large-scale purge. If they refuse to obey the natural cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death, then Lü Mountain will help them obey it."

"Otherwise, the living space of ordinary people would be squeezed out."

Lu Ding thought for a moment: "Then, when killing demons, do we need to check their age? Don't kill those under a hundred years old?"

Junior Uncle Kong chuckled: "The so-called birth, aging, sickness, and death, it's all about timing and fate. Even ordinary people can't count on living exactly to a hundred years, so of course we can't strictly enforce such a standard on them."

"If they encounter us before reaching a hundred years old, that's just bad luck. Birth, aging, sickness, and death? Demonic creatures don't have such a concept, so we become their birth, aging, sickness, and death."

"Those we meet who are old, they're sick and due to die. Those we meet who are young, they've died prematurely. Living between heaven and earth, if you don't obey heaven's cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death, then you must obey humanity's cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death."

Junior Uncle Kong, afraid that Lu Ding might think Lü Mountain was cruel, added: "Actually, we're already very kind. If we weren't following heaven's will and karma, we could easily send disciples out to hunt demonic creatures on the Demon Continent every single day to refine great elixirs."

"Why would we bother letting them live a full hundred years until the Centennial Demon-Feeding, right?"

Lu Ding nodded: "That makes sense. You really are very kind."

Hearing him say that, Junior Uncle Kong felt reassured and continued: "Niuxin Village is closely connected to Tianjue Great Mountain as a whole. This counts as a chain quest."

"If you want to take it, I'll give you all these jade tokens first. You go to Niuxin Village, kill whoever needs killing, then find the village chief and see if you can get the list. After that, match the list against the tasks on the jade tokens."

"After that, you'll know what to do."

Lu Ding didn't bother picking and choosing anymore.

"I'll take this one, Junior Uncle Kong."

"Alright, this one it is. Come sign your name, and be careful out there afterward."

Lu Ding took the paper and brush, signed his name, then bid farewell to Junior Uncle Kong.

"Uncle, I'll take my leave then?"

"Go on, go on."

Lu Ding strode out of Qianxuan Palace.

Before heading down the mountain, he first went to check on the Crooked-Mouth Old Man. Seeing that the old man still hadn't woken up, Lu Ding decided not to say goodbye to him for now. Then he went to see the Ancestral Master's Wife and Wang Qingge.

In the main kitchen.

When Lu Ding arrived.

The Ancestral Master's Wife was cooking, and Wang Qingge was obediently tending the fire.

Seeing Lu Ding arrive.

The Ancestral Master's Wife, who was kneading dough, called out: "Xiao Lu is here?"

Lu Ding bowed: "Ancestral Master's Wife, I'm planning to head down the mountain to run some quests. I wanted to say goodbye to you and Qingge specifically."

Qingge, who had been tending the fire, immediately stood up upon hearing this.

Using her soot-covered little hands, she held up her wooden sign.

[I want to go too]

The Ancestral Master's Wife looked at her and spoke slowly, letting Wang Qingge read her lips: "You shouldn't go, Qingge. You need to cultivate. Be good, alright?"

Wang Qingge sat back down to tend the fire.

[Alright]

Feeling dejected, she almost threw her little wooden sign into the stove.

Lu Ding said to her: "I don't know the situation on the Demon Continent yet. Next time, I'll take you out next time."

Wang Qingge looked up.

[Okay!]

Lu Ding smiled. The Ancestral Master's Wife lifted the pot lid and packed him a few big steamed buns: "Take these with you, eat them on the way down. Be careful on the road. Those demonic creatures have all sorts of bizarre tricks, and since they come from extraordinary origins, many of them involve rules."

"If things go wrong, use the longevity lock I gave you to return to Lü Mountain early. If anyone bullies you and you can't beat them, come back and get reinforcements. We'll back you up."

Lu Ding accepted the steamed buns: "Understood, Ancestral Master's Wife."

"Then I'll be going now. I still need to inform the Ancestral Master."

The moment these words left his mouth, the Ancestral Master's Wife frowned: "Don't bother telling him. He'll just ramble on and waste your time."

Lu Ding: "It's fine, I'll remind the Ancestral Master."

The Ancestral Master's Wife sighed: "Alright then, go quickly. I won't hold you up, so that your Ancestral Master doesn't delay you too long. Whatever time I save you here is a little gain."

Lu Ding was about to leave, but he remembered a question he hadn't asked before: "Ancestral Master's Wife, why is it that at your level, at the level of all the uncles and masters, you still need to eat?"

The Ancestral Master's Wife explained to him: "Cooking is one of my cultivation methods. Back when your Ancestral Master and I ascended, I was a wife and a mother. It was important to be accomplished in the living room and skilled in the kitchen."

"But after I married your Ancestral Master, he spoiled me terribly. As the saying goes, a gentleman stays far from the kitchen, yet he never let me do any of these things."

"Back then, all the affairs of the temple, big and small, were handled by him."

"After we came here, we were busy with cultivation and all sorts of matters, so I never did these things either."

"It wasn't until after the Deification Ninth Level that I realized the path we cultivate emphasizes following nature. In my era, I didn't do what I should have done to follow nature. Or rather, what a wife and mother of that era should have done. So now I need to make up for it."