Chapter 693 - Heart of Destruction (1/2)

Jing Shu thought to herself since she had involved herself in such a huge karma, she would not be able to return to Palace Yaoshi. Moreover, Shen Lian had asked her to leave too. Though the world had many places, there were not many suitable places for her. Hence, Palace of the Undead was a decent place to go to.

Therefore, when Mahā-mayūrī-vidyā-rājñī ordered someone to request for Kui Li's return, she willingly supported the idea.

Since Jing Shu had agreed on behalf of Kui Li, she did not reject the request any further. Nonetheless, she still missed Shen Lian. If she insisted not to return, Jing Shu might make unnecessary comments and embarrass her. Thus, Kui Li said, ”I will return.”

As she was not someone who lingers, she returned with the lad that came from the Palace of the Undead promptly. The young lad was relieved since his mission was successfully completed. He was more composed.

They did not know that their actions were overseen by Shen Lian. He only stopped watching when the three of them left Netherworld. His decision for them to leave was for Jing Shu and Kui Li's own good. Shen Lian had predicted the arrival of the people from Palace of the Undead. Hence, he took this opportunity and ordered them to leave.

Once Shen Lian's secret was exposed, the Palace of the Undead might not be able to protect Jing Shu. However, there was still some hope. Moreover, as Jing Shu was from Yaoshi Palace, there would be differences in perspectives in the long-term despite their amicable relationship. In the future, they might even hinder each other.

From Shen Lian's point of view, the union of Netherworld and refining this devastated Nine Underworlds was a task that would naturally be accomplished. His obstacle was actually the need to obtain the imprints of Yuqing and Taiqing. It was almost impossible to accomplish that.

Nevertheless, he was left with no other options. As his cultivation experiences were increased, his Primordial Spirit had grown even faster. Within a span of thousands of years, his Primordial Spirit might be able to reach the state of Daluo whereby others needed to cultivate theirs for tens of thousands of years. Some even needed hundreds of thousands of years.

Although this seemed beneficial, he felt increasingly threatened by the impending God's punishment as his Primordial Spirit grew continuously. Moreover, his psychological trauma had been worsening.

God's punishment was not like any other trial of Dao. It was a trial of death.

Naturally, the trial of death was dictated by the laws of heavens to disallow him to have any possibility of survival. Only people like Daoists who had detached could defy the God's punishment and escape the trial of death. If he did not want to die, he had to seek for the only chance of survival. That was to collect all imprints of the Three Pristines.

In addition, he had a major problem to face. If his cultivation experiences increased rapidly, God's punishment would occur earlier. Nonetheless, it was impossible to successfully collect all of the imprints if he did not have supreme abilities. In face of this dilemma, other people would already be in despair.

Shen Lian was also desperate. However, he was different for he had understood the state of forgetting one another in hopes of better lives. In fact, the story mentioned before had another marvelous adage, 'Instead of extolling Yao while reprimanding Jie, it would be better to forget and deem their doings as a result of the laws of nature'. In other words, one should forget everything and integrate himself with the great path of Dao instead of being troubled by the goods and bads.

Forgetting the rights and wrongs was a natural principle. Only then can one face everything.

Under Yi Zhi's ruling, the Zhou nation had become a union of cultivators and mortal civilization. The difference between celestials and mortals was the slow pace of eradication. For cultivators, this was necessarily non-beneficial. However, it was advantageous for a country.

Cultivators' qualities of being unrestrained and free-willed contradicted a country's intention of amassing power through violence.

Amongst this contradiction, there was a commonality. This was why Yi Zhi was so abled. He had found this commonality, or rather he had created a balance.

Of course, the foundation of this balance came from Shen Lian.

Yi Zhi stared at Shen Lian while he was writing. In actuality, Yi Zhi did not know Shen Lian well. This was not because Shen Lian was too mysterious. Instead, it was because Shen Lian could improve continuously. Whenever one thought he was nearing Shen Lian's level, he would progress massively in a blink of an eye. Before you could realize, he was already extremely powerful.

In the face of such a figure, any opponents would be in despair. Fortunately, Yi Zhi was on Shen Lian's side. Not being Shen Lian's foe was a blessing.

When Shen Lian practiced his writings, it seemed extremely natural. Every movement of his hand or feet was perfect. Such perfection was indeed admirable.