"It’s you!" the Demon Immortal Hou Wushu roared, his voice shaking with fury. "Excellent. So you were hiding here all along. This is your descendant, then? Was this your plan? Did you put him up to this?!"
Murderous intent flared in his eyes.
"Today, we’ll see where you can run! I will have your blood as an offering for the countless lives of my people!"
As he spoke, Hou Wushu prepared to strike a fatal blow. The very sky changed at his fury. Dark clouds rolled in, blanketing the heavens for a thousand li. Lightning crackled and thunder BOOD!
An Earth Immortal’s wrath could change the heavens for a thousand li—a trivial feat!
The Confucian Celestial Human’s expression changed as well, and he hurriedly tried to intervene:
"Elder Hou, your nephew is still down below! Please, calm yourself!"
Lu Xiuyuan was, after all, a decorated hero of the Human Race. Though he had retired due to grave injuries and his cultivation was all but gone, he still had many friends among the Federation’s high command. The Confucian couldn’t dare to let Lu Xiuyuan die in front of him. If he did, the higher-ups would hold him accountable, and he would, at the very least, be stripped of his post.
And the providence that ca with his office was a unique shortcut for Confucian Cultivators—one he was not willing to lose.
Lu Xiuyuan looked up at the sky, his expression cold. Ignoring the Demon Immortal, his gaze swept over the thirty-odd Celestial Humans as he demanded:
"I recognize many of you. What, are you all standing with the Alien Race now?"
A dozen or so Celestial Humans imdiately backed away, declaring loudly:
"Commander Lu, this has nothing to do with us! We only ca for the ruins, and we have kept our descendants in check. They have certainly not caused any trouble in this city!"
The Demon Immortal shot a cold glance at the dozen or so Celestial Humans but said nothing.
Lu Xiuyuan then turned his gaze to the ten or so other human Celestial Humans who remained silent, standing beside the Demon Immortal.
Instead of anger, he laughed, but his laughter was filled with sorrow.
"You’re all from the peace faction, aren’t you? I don’t bla you for wanting peace. But these Demon Race bastards haven’t even breached our borders, and you’re already scrambling to curry favor with them? Fine. Just fine..."
The old man sounded crestfallen.
"How... How can the billions of human soldiers who have died on the Great Wall over thousands of years ever rest in peace if you do this? The blood on the Wall hasn’t even dried yet!"
He felt a lump form in his throat, and tears suddenly stread down his face. His heart ached as if it were being squeezed.
A Celestial Human from Sakata Heavy Industries stepped forward and scoffed:
"Lu Xiuyuan, stop throwing accusations around! Peace talks are the way of the future. By acting like this, you’re sabotaging them. You’re the real traitor to the Human Race!"
Another Celestial Human from Aotao Organism chid in:
"Lu Xiuyuan, tell that junior of yours to lower his blade. This can still be resolved peacefully. You were a hero, after all. Even if you’ve made a mistake, the Federation won’t give you a hard ti!"
The old man said nothing, his expression utterly crestfallen as large teardrops rolled down his face.
He had spent decades fighting bloody battles on the Starry Great Wall. As commander of the Seventh Army, he had watched veteran soldiers die on that wall, one after another, only to be replaced by fresh recruits charging forward to take their place. Many of them were students, freshly graduated from Cultivation University!
The Seventh Army had eight hundred thousand soldiers on paper, but in truth, hadn’t more than a million of them died on the Great Wall?
And that was just a single army.
Just one!
Likewise, even though Blue Star was now a hundred tis larger than it was during the Old Calendar Era sixty-eight hundred years ago, even though its total population had grown to hundreds of billions... the cumulative number of soldiers who had died on the Great Wall over the millennia probably still exceeded the entire living population of the Human Race.
So many lives. So many corpses. So much blood!
And for what...?
Staring at the Demon King standing brazenly in the sky, the old man’s back began to stoop, until he collapsed to the ground, wailing like a child.
"I’m sorry... We couldn’t hold the line after all... I’m sorry... I’m so sorry..."
The Celestial Humans in the sky and the prodigies on the ground fell silent. Even the Confucian Celestial Human said no more.
Lu Xuan simply stared, stunned, at the old man wailing beside him. He opened his mouth, wanting to say sothing, but no words ca out.
The knot in his chest tightened, and a suffocating feeling washed over him.
He didn’t know who Teacher Lu was apologizing to, but he could guess...
Perhaps it was to the countryn who had bled out on the frontiers. Perhaps it was to the martyrs buried in foreign lands, never to return. Or perhaps it was to this vast planet, to every common citizen, to the mountains and rivers of their ho!
Lu Xuan fell silent. He crouched down, one hand keeping the blade pressed against Hou Qingshan’s neck, the other gently patting the old man’s back in silent comfort.
His mind raced. He thought of Qianlong City, vanished from the face of the earth. He thought of the great massacre. He thought of the fire in the slums, and of the little old man who had handed him a big, red apple.
Lu Xuan raised his head and looked at the figures in the sky, one by one, as if to burn the faces of every Celestial Human standing with the Demon Immortal into his mory.
"You are unworthy of being human," he said.
The Confucian Celestial Human’s brow furrowed, and he spoke in a cold voice.
"Young man, your view is too narrow, too one-sided. How dare you pass judgnt on us? I am one who entered the Dao through Confucianism. No one understands its principles better than I, and no one abides by them more faithfully. For the sake of the greater good, this is the best course of action..."
Lu Xuan let him speak, then quietly interrupted:
"If Confucius were here, he would first expel you from Confucianism, and then strike you dead with his ruler. Do you believe that?"
The Confucian Celestial Human froze for a mont, then flew into a rage.
"Insolence! How dare you speak the Sage’s na so casually and slander him! What audacity!"
Lu Xuan’s gaze was ice-cold as he said,
"Confucianism preaches more than just benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and integrity. It also preaches this: that any demon who brings disaster, and any human who sides with them, may be struck down by anyone."
"And where does this rule co from?" The Confucian Celestial Human laughed, his anger gone. "Have you resorted to making things up now? To fabricate the tenets of my Confucianism out of thin air... you truly deserve death. Still, as I said before, lower your blade, and I will absolve you of your cris."
Lu Xuan didn’t answer, simply stating calmly:
"Don’t worry. There will be."
As the words left his lips, far away, an archaeological team successfully unearthed a large tomb. From within, they excavated the Daoist Collection, as well as several Confucian texts.
The head archaeologist pointed to one of the ancient Confucian scrolls, which was in relatively good condition, and spoke in surprise.
"Look what it says here..."
He read it aloud without thinking.
"Confucius said: Any demon who brings disaster, and any mber of the Human Race who sides with them, may be struck down by anyone!"
.......
High in the sky, the Demon Immortal had finally lost his patience. He waved a hand, cutting off the Confucian Celestial Human who was still trying to speak.
He then fixed his gaze on the blade-wielding youth below and said calmly:
"Since you dare not strike, why not stand down? Rest assured, I can give you my word. I will not kill you. I am a Demon King; my word is my bond."
As he spoke, Hou Wushu toyed with the thumb ring on his hand and added:
"I am giving you one last chance. Release my nephew. Retreat. Leave. And you will be pardoned."
Among the spectating prodigies, a young woman in green robes said in surprise:
"It looks like that audacious young man might actually get out of this alive..."
The long-haired young man beside her shook his head and murmured:
"Don’t be naive. Whether he lowers the blade or not, he won’t live to see the end of this day. That much is certain. Still... I truly admire him. After he’s gone, I’ll retrieve his body, see that he’s buried, and I’ll rember his na."
The green-robed young woman nodded silently.
"I’ll help you."
But as they were speaking, the situation on the field shifted once more.
A faint, mocking smile touched Lu Xuan’s lips. ’Pardoned?’
He chuckled, his consciousness reaching into his Spiritual World to connect with the damaged Heaven-Flipping Seal. The Qing He Daoist had once activated a talisman, infusing the seal with Magical Power to awaken its divine abilities.
Expanding the space within his wooden cabin had only consud about ten percent of that Magical Power. Although so more had naturally dissipated over ti...
...there was still enough left for one strike.
Lu Xuan had no idea how powerful that one strike would be or what effect it would have. He didn’t know if Uncle Ao could truly protect him, but...
’The worst that can happen is death.’
’What’s there to be afraid of?’
He threw his head back and laughed—a laugh directed at the Celestial Humans in the sky, at the Demon Immortal.
The Confucian Celestial Human’s heart skipped a beat. A sense of foreboding washed over Hou Wushu, and his expression changed.
The next mont.
Lu Xuan applied a slight pressure, and the Broken Blade pressed down.
A chill shot through Hou Qingshan’s heart. He tried to scream, but no sound ca out. The world began to spin.
In a daze, Hou Qingshan saw his own headless body. He saw the youth holding the blade, a brilliant smile on his face, as gentle as a spring breeze.
’He... how could he dare?’
Confusion, doubt, and bewildernt filled Hou Qingshan’s mind, followed by an endless darkness.
The head hit the ground with a soft THUD. The sky fell silent. All of East Sea City fell silent.
In the dead silence, the young man stood with his Broken Blade, its edge stained with Demon Blood. He raised his head, his eyes impossibly clear, like a cloudless sky at noon, as bright as the righteous world itself.
He smiled and asked the Celestial Humans and the Demon Immortal in the sky:
"I killed him. So what?"
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