Chapter 331 - 135: Baring It All Already?

Chapter 331: Chapter 135: Baring It All Already?

Then they would suppress all their emotions. Any power that stood in the way of the dynasty’s progress would be ruthlessly eliminated.

Take the current Eight Great Families, for example.

If they confiscated the assets of all eight families, made their cultivation manuals and production Secret Techniques public, and turned it all into shared knowledge, the Great Yu Kingdom’s power would absolutely soar.

To do something like that...

They’d be branded as the "Demon Sect" for sure.

Just thinking about it was enough to understand how intense and cruel that struggle must be.

Zhao Ci’s arm tightened around her. "So, you’ll eventually have to cultivate the Empathy Technique?"

"Not necessarily! If an organization is filled with nothing but heartless people, it would have no right to exist within a Human Race Dynasty."

"Then..."

"My master said that the Holy Sect’s path is to achieve the Saint Dao through the methods of a Demon Cultivator, using any means necessary to cut the rot from the Human Race Dynasty. The leader must be empathetic to the people but can never be swayed by emotion. If I can’t do that, I’ll have to cultivate the Empathy Technique."

She spoke in a calm but firm tone that left no room for doubt.

Zhao Ci felt his spirits sink. For the first time, he felt a pang of pity for her.

’This girl...’

’Using the methods of a Demon Cultivator to achieve the Saint Dao.’

’Not only was she torturing herself...’

’...but she was also walking a path that was practically impossible to succeed on.’

In the current climate, it was a dead end.

"So!"

Gu Xiangzhu sat up. "It’s not too late for you to back out now."

Zhao Ci sat up with her and asked with a smile, "Let’s not even talk about whether I’ll have regrets. Given my current situation, do I even have a choice?"

Gu Xiangzhu’s heart felt heavy. "But how do you know that choosing me won’t also lead you to a dead end?"

"If I stick with Old Deng, I can’t escape the fate of having my Divine Pattern harvested. What’s the point of choosing to live such a pathetic, spineless life?"

"You..."

Gu Xiangzhu hesitated. She wanted to believe Zhao Ci.

But she truly couldn’t tell how much of what he said was truth and how much was a lie.

After a long moment of thought,

she suddenly asked, "What do you think of the Demon Monarch?"

’This was the most important objective of her visit.’

Zhao Ci stared at her for a moment before smiling. "I don’t know much about him, but I think he was a complete poser. When he had power, he was arrogant, criticizing everything and running his mouth nonstop. If he lost that power, he’d probably just be a pathetic, insignificant clown for the rest of his life."

Gu Xiangzhu: "..."

’He’s cursing himself that harshly?’

She placed her palm on Zhao Ci’s chest. "Is that what you truly think?"

"What else would I think?"

Zhao Ci retorted with a smile, "Actually, I’m more curious about your relationship with the Demon Monarch."

Gu Xiangzhu looked at him, her gaze complex. "It’s a long story..."

"You’re not going to tell me?"

"That’s not it! I just mean it will take a long time to explain. Can’t we lie back down, hold each other, and talk about it slowly?"

!!!

Zhao Ci looked at her gentle yet bewitching smile, his mind a whirlwind of conflicted thoughts.

’Damn it, you’re not planning to sleep with me.’

’So why are you seducing me like this?’

’This frank attitude of hers...’

’...is actually making me flustered.’

Because from this moment on, her attitude toward him no longer felt like she was just using him.

’I only dared to play games with her before...’

’...because there was no moral dilemma.’

’Damn it all...’

He mulled it over for a long time before he could only nod. "Alright!"

The two of them lay back down on their sides.

Gu Xiangzhu seemed to have let her guard down completely. She naturally pillowed her head in the crook of his arm, letting their breaths mingle in the air between them.

She then began to slowly recount the story of her life.

And so, Zhao Ci finally learned the history of the Demon Sect.

The sect originated around the time of Great Yu’s founding. It began as a scholarly society, but as its members discovered more and more of the dynasty’s failings, it slowly evolved into a clandestine, violent organization.

Of course,

Gu Xiangzhu didn’t try to glorify the so-called Holy Sect.

After all, very few people could cultivate without being influenced by their emotions.

And not a single one was willing to go so far as to cultivate the Empathy Technique.

Thus, in the so-called Holy Sect, the only thing that could truly be called "holy" was its doctrine. While most members were willing to abide by it, very few managed to act in complete accordance with its tenets.

At best, it was just a relatively powerful and well-hidden civilian faction.

It couldn’t be called righteous or evil.

When the four nations of Longyuan invaded, most of the Holy Sect’s masters died defending their homeland.

Up to that point, the Holy Sect could only be considered a civilian organization.

But after the Great Yu’s Southward Migration, the sect became much more radical. The long-held dream of re-establishing the Sword-Hanging Pavilion was formally adopted, and everyone became like crazed believers in the "Sword-Hanging Pavilion."

Their official doctrine was to slowly build their strength, attract masters, and bide their time until they could leap above the imperial throne in a single stroke.

Things went smoothly at first, but as they grew, they discovered that the Eight Great Families had placed a hard ceiling on the power any civilian faction could attain.

Their methods grew increasingly ruthless.

But they found that ruthlessness alone wasn’t enough.

They developed for several hundred years, engaging in hundreds of conflicts, big and small, overt and covert, with the Eight Great Families. But they still couldn’t break through that ceiling.

Eventually, they reached a consensus.

There were only two ways to break that ceiling.

One was to forge a new path and seize control of the dynasty’s core resources.

The other was to nurture a peerless master capable of tipping the scales, someone who could shatter the existing dynastic system with martial might.

Or, ideally, both.

But both tasks were monumentally difficult, each more so than the last.

It wasn’t until the Demon Monarch appeared that they saw a glimmer of hope for victory.

Gu Xiangzhu also saw this hope, which is why she devised a plan: to use the promise of longevity as bait, enter the palace as a false consort, and use imperial authority and her clan’s power to break through their limitations.