Chapter 142 – Carrying out Justice (2/2)
Only the expressions of the Qi Practitioners hidden within the darkness changed drastically. Li Qingshan’s threatening tone clearly targeted them. They found it humiliating, and they felt furious, but at the same time, they could not help but repress it. They even felt a sliver of fear. They subconsciously checked themselves to see if they were the same as the Qian family or not.
Barely killing Qian Yannian and the destruction of the Qian family led to cheers from all; it was as if Li Qingshan was a god who enforced law, standing on an altar and glaring and provoking all sorts of evil spirits. No one was bold enough to openly confront them. All could only shrink back and tremble.
Li Qingshan did not show any respect to these people. It did not necessarily mean that they had all committed heinous deeds like Qian Yannian just because they came to celebrate the birthday. As a matter of fact, they would probably try to explain themselves as completely ignorant of the Qian family’s actions. However, there was not a single person who could not hear the cries, wails, and howls that even echoed through the clouds. Unfortunately, they probably all just turned a deaf ear to it. They were knowledgeable about protecting themselves. They would not offend a Qi Practitioner clan over some common people.
The Qi Practitioners all remained hidden in the darkness as they left Ancient Wind city. They all memorised one name.
Li Qingshan said, “Have you cried enough?”
Qian Rongzhi raised her head in confusion.
Li Qingshan said, “If you’ve cried enough, then let’s go. Our mission is complete!” He had already obtained what he wanted.
With that, he glanced at the top of a tree in the distance before making his way down the mountain with no regard to Diao Fei or Qian Rongzhi.
Qian Rongzhi said, “Hold on!”
Li Qingshan turned around in doubt, and all he saw was Qian Rongzhi smile from ear to ear. She wiped away her tears and said, “I still haven’t grabbed anything yet!” Afterwards, she flipped through the pile of corpses as she said, “If you leave behind a weak girl like me, I’ll be scared.”
Li Qingshan was taken aback. Originally, he thought the pressure she was under would ease up after achieving revenge. Perhaps she would not achieve instantaneous comprehension about everything in the whole wide world, but at least she should have developed some understanding towards life and lose some of her pettiness and viciousness. However, the reality was the exact opposite. Revenge had indeed released certain things in her heart.
However, what was released was not some great feeling of joy, or any repressed purity or kind-heartedness. She finally did not have to act as the young miss of the Qian family anymore. As she laughed amidst the pile of corpses, the craziness seemed to become a part of her, twisting her even more.
Only now did Li Qingshan understand that instantaneous enlightenment and repentance was all just stuff from fairytales. The true norm of the world was that while the world was easy to change, the nature of people were not. There were both buddhas and demons in the world, or perhaps, that was the norm as well?
Qian Rongzhi bowed slightly. “Thank you for helping out today. Only then was I able to achieve revenge. If you don’t mind, I’m willing to offer up myself.” She smiled from ear to ear. She seemed to be in an extremely good mood.
Li Qingshan did not stop at all, while Diao Fei walked away even faster, acting like he was avoiding the plague. They pulled away from Qian Rongzhi’s crazy laughter.
Qian Rongzhi paced around through the corpses like a pitch-black ghost. She had stopped searching for things a long time ago. Instead, she was more like an artist, admiring her greatest piece of work, like a tourist strolling through a wonderful garden.
She would stop from time to time, holding a familiar face and saying some things to it. Even when there was no reply, she would still giggle for quite a while. Compared to this purgatory of corpses, she seemed much stranger and more terrifying.
Having received Li Qingshan’s signal, Xiao An did not leave immediately. Instead, he remained hidden to one side, sinking into an intense thought process.
The eminent monk was gifted with both fortune and wisdom. The world seemed like it was on fire, in a sea of misery, with all people submerged within it. They were afflicted with greed, hatred, and ignorance and were unable to break free from it. As a result, the eminent monk practised Mahāyāna buddhism, yet he was still unable to help and save all living creatures. He either took pity on their misfortune or was furious at their incapability.
With pity came endless benevolence. With fury came an endless urge to kill.
In the face of the great tribulation of the world, between life and death, he discovered that there was still something obstructing his heart. He gained an understanding of himself again, so he followed his true nature, swearing the four encompassing vows. As such, nothing obstructed him anymore, allowing him to overcome the tribulation.
Just like māra with their natures of great malevolence, they understood their natures and slaughtered freely, achieving ishvara or unencumberance, standing on equal footing to buddha.
“Oh, I understand now. The eminent monk was an ultimate genius who saw how all the living creatures were so foolish and stupid. They would never listen to him no matter what he said, and they would never understand him no matter how he put it, so it cast a shadow in his heart, but then it was repressed by the three words ‘I am benevolent’, so he could only keep it repressed inside, unable to release it. As a result, he experienced tremendous pressure.”
“Compared to bringing salvation to an idiot, no, a bunch of idiots, it was just easier to kill them off with a single stroke. It’s just like a group of flies surrounding him all day long, so he caught one, split open its stomach, and dragged out its organs, using its own organs to choke it. Heh, even its tongue would stick out! Afterwards, he would raise his blade; once it fell, whoosh, the whole world was peaceful.”
In a small inn below the mountain, Xiao An wrote down his understanding on a piece of paper and told Li Qingshan. That was what Li Qingshan said after thinking about it.
His words left Xiao An utterly stunned. He felt like with what Li Qingshan said, this eminent monk was nowhere near as impressive as he seemed to be. The White Bone Bodhisattva was one who possessed great wisdom and great power even after descending into the demonic path, but now, all the pains and sufferings this bodhisattva went through seemed no different from the hardships of common people.
Li Qingshan said, “Look, Xiao An, let me tell you. If you want to live as a person, the most important part is being happy. It’s not different for skeletons either. You can’t go to the extremes. Everyone who goes to the extremes has something wrong with their heads. If you come across someone, you are welcome to reason with them, but if reason doesn’t work, just give them a swing of your blade.”