Chapter 4613: Ordinary And Content

Hong Xia rose to his feet. Looking over at Lu Yin, he burst into mocking laughter. “Humans are always ruled by their emotions! That is why the Nine Ramparts lost—humans can never win. That was true in the past, and it will remain so in the future.

“I am the one that you should thank. I am the one who saved a portion of humanity in Crimson Starshade. I am the one who allowed human civilization to endure. If it had been up to you, human civilization would have been wiped out long ago.

“Dignity, will, passion, civilization—they are all false! Before survival itself, everything else is insignificant. Once you die, are you still human? Even if you are reborn again, how likely is it that you will be born as a human?

“It’s utterly ridiculous. What a ridiculous continuation of civilization. What ridiculous dignity.”

Old Man Hehe swayed as they stared at Hong Xia. Ridiculous? Yes, humans are indeed rather ridiculous.

Lu Yin looked calmly at Hong Xia. “If one lives without any dignity, what meaning is there to being alive?”

Hong Xia sneered. “If you live for dignity, then what of that human inheritance you pursue? What of the continuation of civilization that you desire?”

“Only a civilization with dignity is a civilization.” Lu Yin threw another palm strike.

This time, Hong Xia neither dodged nor evaded. “Since you want to see clearly, I will let you see clearly. My Path of Dispassion cannot be broken unless Xi Shangfeng is killed. Let us see how you treat the members of your own species, whom you value so much.”

Endless Recall. The palm strike shot at Hong Xia, crossing space.

In his frozen thoughts, he saw a woman dressed in red. Her features were delicate and graceful, and she bowed to him from afar. “Hong Yao offers greetings, Master.”

Hong Xia’s expression remained calm, so calm that it was as if he had not seen the woman at all. His mindset could not be changed.

In his frozen thoughts, Hong Yao became Hong Xia’s disciple and began to cultivate. Scenes from the past reappeared before him, but nothing that he saw brought about any change to Hong Xia’s state of mind.

The coldness grew even stronger in his eyes. Too naive. If the Twelvefold Path of Dispassion could truly be broken so easily, how could it be called the Path of Dispassion?

Hong Yao had been his favorite disciple. Throughout Hong Xia’s entire life, he had only ever loved one person, and that was Hong Yao. She had once caused him to nearly fall from the Path of Dispassion, but it was also precisely because of Hong Yao that his Path of Dispassion had grown stronger than ever.

Killing Hong Yao had represented strangling his own emotions. That was true dispassion.

“Master, what is this? It’s so sweet!” A familiar voice called out.

Hong Xia looked over, his eyes still cold. Sweet? It was the scene of when he had bought her candy when he had first taken her to the market. At that time, she had been a seven-year-old child, innocent and pure.

“Master, does this outfit look good? Tomorrow, I will formally become your disciple. I will never leave you.”

Hong Xia remained unmoved. Never leave? You might as well just leave forever.

“Master, you are so amazing!”

“Master, of course your disciple will listen to you. Your disciple will obey your every word!”

“Master, your disciple cares for you too. We can have a child.”

“Why, Master? Why do you want to kill me? Is the Path of Dispassion truly so important?”

Hong Xia watched it all with cold eyes. The Path of Dispassion was far more important than anyone could ever be. The scenes from the Nine Ramparts that he had relived had doomed him. He could never turn back. So what if she was his disciple, his lover? She was nothing more than passing clouds and smoke. The more his heart hurt, the more emotionless he became. “Go in peace. Your master is merely taking back what he gave you.”

Hong Xia’s expression was frighteningly calm. Even this scene was unable to stir the slightest ripple of emotion in him.

He slowly turned his head to look at Lu Yin. “Is that all? I already told you, if you do not kill Xi Shangfeng, you cannot break seven parts of my Path of Dispassion. If you kill Xi Shangfeng, you will also be someone who stops at nothing to achieve his goals. Xi Shangfeng has never done anything against humanity.”

The man started to smile, though it was only a mocking one. “What should you do?”

Lu Yin looked at Hong Xia and raised his hand, clearly showing that he was holding a blood-red jade pendant.

When Hong Xia saw that jade pendant, his eyes trembled. Is that...?

“Does this look familiar?” Lu Yin looked over. “You gave this to Hong Yao.”

A cold glint flashed across Hong Xia’s eyes. “Why do you have that?”

Lu Yin looked at him. “Hong Yao went to find Senior Jiu Wen, telling him that she was going to die.”

Hong Xia’s expression changed.

Lu Yin continued, saying, “You thought that you had hidden it very well, but the truth is that you never knew just how well she understood you. She knew that she was going to die and that her death would be at your hand. Before dying, she went to Senior Jiu Wen and gave him this jade pendant. With it, she also delivered your child to Senior Jiu Wen.”

Hong Xia’s pupils shrank as he stared at Lu Yin, though the fluctuation lasted less than an instant. “A child? You think that a child can affect my state of mind?”

Lu Yin shook his head. “Of course not. You watched countless people die tragic deaths with your own eyes and even knelt to a sworn enemy. Naturally, you won’t care about a child. I only wanted to tell you that your child died long ago. He never cultivated. Hong Yao’s wish before her death was for your child to not cultivate and not walk your so-called Path of Dispassion. That child was just another one of Crimson Starshade’s countless ordinary people. He was buried long ago. He lived to be very old, and yet his life was very ordinary.

“He made his living selling candy. Right, it was the exact kind of candy that you first gave Hong Yao to eat.

“It was very sweet.”

Hong Xia’s gaze trembled. For some reason, a roar exploded in his mind, and he suddenly saw that innocent and adorable little girl again, eating that piece of candy. She had remembered that incident for her entire life. It had been their first outing together. At that time, she had still been a mere child.

An innocent smile and simple contentment with a sweet taste could create a memory that lasted an entire lifetime.

Very sweet...

His child had sold candy for his entire life, having strong memories of that same taste.

How could this be? Why did his heart hurt? His heart ached so intensely that Hong Xia could scarcely breathe. It was as though his entire heart were contracting. He had felt this once before, right before she had died. He had clearly experienced it before, and he had clearly overcome it to become dispassionate, so why would it suddenly reappear?

Every frown and smile of Hong Yao’s kept appearing before his eyes. It was as though he saw her in the market, leading a child along to sell candy together. Her smile was just as sweet as the candy.

Ordinary and content...

Pfft.

Hong Xia spat out a mouthful of blood. His face turned deathly pale, and he retreated several steps, staring at Lu Yin in horror. Impossible! Had his Path of Dispassion actually been broken? By such a simple sentence?

Lu Yin took a deep breath. The firmer one’s Path of Dispassion became, the simpler it became to break. This was because cultivation was a circle, and so was one’s mental state.

Ordinariness was the greatest nemesis of passion. The simplest contentment of ordinary mortals was precisely the bane of Hong Xia’s Path of Dispassion.

This was not something that Lu Yin had thought of, but rather something that Jiu Wen had realized.

For so many years, Jiu Wen had constantly been contemplating how he could break Hong Xia’s Path of Dispassion. Since the Path of Dispassion was a path and a path could be walked, then it could also be retraced. Why could one not step off of a Path of Dispassion that they had already walked?

The reason why humans were human was that they could not bury their emotions no matter what. Even Hong Xia’s Path of Dispassion could not truly enable him to cast his own emotions aside. He had merely hidden them incredibly deeply.

This was also the essence of life.

The Umbrella Dominion was torn apart. Seven anchors of Hong Xia’s Path of Dispassion had been broken. He received heavy injuries, and his aura instantly weakened.

Ji seized upon this opportunity and attacked, his curved black saber slashing out.

Hong Xia raised his hand: Absolute of No Absolutes.

Hiss.

Blood scattered across space. The curved blade tore half of Hong Xia’s body open, nearly severing his arm.

He coughed up more blood. How could this be? Had his unseen world actually failed him?

It was that tunnel with the cubes.

During the battle against Devouring Trace, Ji had also rendered the Abyssal’s techniques impossible to use. This was his innate ability.

Lu Yin approached Hong Xia, and tri-colored divine energy blasted out.

Hong Xia released his Absolute of No Absolutes. All attacks were guided to absolutely strike him. Whether it was Lu Yin’s tri-colored divine energy or Ji’s curved blade, everything struck Hong Xia, yet nothing caused him even the slightest harm.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Hong Xia used the power of the attacks to flee.

However, the gray line of time delivered a rain of purple swords.

Furthermore, the Absolute of No Absolute was being constantly devoured by the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array.

Hong Xia’s face grew pale. He was being besieged by three powerful experts, and they were breaking through his various means and forcing him to the end of the road.

“Hong Xia, where else can you run to?” Lu Yin shouted sharply. Tri-colored divine energy formed a sword, and he released a slash.

Hong Xia hurried to dodge, only to instead be struck by the black saber, which cut his back open. Lu Yin’s divine energy suddenly struck, pressing the man downwards.

A flurry of attacks landed upon Hong Xia. His power was already being suppressed by the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array, and with seven parts of his Path of Dispassion broken and his unseen world restricted, there was nothing more that he could use.

But he also possessed an innate gift of the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow. This was what Lu Yin had been on guard against all along. None of the Divine Crow’s innate gifts were simple. Hong Xia had one, yet he had not used it.

Bang!

There was a deafening sound as Hong Xia slammed into the mountain. Ji raised his black saber high and slashed it down.

Stillness split the cosmos apart, cleaving the mountain in two.

Within the mountain, Hong Xia released his Umbrella Dominion again. The slash slammed into the Umbrella Dominion and tore the red umbrella apart. However, the attack was also deflected, and it failed to strike Hong Xia.

Hong Xia suddenly manipulated the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array, and his entire body moved in an eerie manner.

Old Man Hehe immediately attacked. “He has already adapted to this sourcebox array. Be careful!”

Lu Yin was shocked. “So quickly?”

“He has long since been an incredible Array Grandmaster, and he also has a connection to Grand Clarity,” Old Man Hehe replied.

As they spoke, the Clear Sky flashed. The gray power of time, black Stillness, and tri-colored divine energy were all neutralized. Lu Yin suddenly felt pressured by the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array.

Hong Xia had actually managed to adapt to the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array. In regards to his mastery of sourcebox arrays, he was far more accomplished than Lu Yin.

Down below, Hong Xia was panting heavily. Only by fighting for so long had he managed to finally, albeit barely, adapt to the array. Lu Yin was able to use the Clear Sky to devour Hong Xia’s Path of Dispassion and divine energy, and the older man was now able to inverse that to devour the powers of Lu Yin and the others.

The Clear Sky Locked Earth Array no longer posed a threat to Hong Xia, and he immediately fled into the distance.

Lu Yin’s awareness returned to his true body. He grabbed his divine energy clone with one hand, held Ji with the other, and then vanished.

Hong Xia looked back. Lu Yin is gone.

His heart dropped. Teleportation again... Damn it!

No one could escape from someone who could teleport.

Lu Yin was suddenly in front of Hong Xia. This time, he did not attack, nor did he have his divine energy clone attack. Ji’s attack was enough on its own.

There was also Old Man Hehe in the distance. That sky full of purple swords ready to rain down was no joke.

Ji stepped forward, facing Hong Xia as the black saber slashed down.

This time, there was no Stillness. That power would be neutralized within the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array, so all that remained was sharpness.

Hong Xia raised his hand, retaliating with a slash of his own sword empowered by the Path of Dispassion.

There was a clang, and the sword cracked. The black saber slashed out again.

With seven parts of his Path of Dispassion broken, the power that Hong Xia could wield was not even one-tenth of what it had once been. His second sword was also severed by the curved black saber.