935 Suicide (2/2)
”That's right.” Han Fen was happy. ”What else do you have to say? Old Man Mu, I love you.”
Old Man Mu proudly nodded. ”I love you too, but do not let my lady know that. She likes to be jealous.”
Han Fen beamed with joy. ”Of course. I won't tell Hall Leader Han.”
Han Ling coughed and said, ”We are at fault, but the Master Commander did nothing to save us from ruin in the first place. More than half of the disciples of Waning Moon Hall are dead. Those people thought that the swordsmanship was taught by the Master Commander and that the order of slaughter was also given by the Master Commander till the moment they died.”
Han Fen had nothing to say in reply so she could only seek foreign help. In an authoritative tone, she said, ”Old Man Mu, say a few words. Do not let her speak such nonsense.”
Han Fen's 'love' had a price. Old Man Mu could no longer find an excuse to refute the other side with so he chuckled and said, ”I'll usurp the host's role if I go on. Look, the Master Commander is going to explain herself. ”
Han Fen thought about what 'usurping the host's role' meant as she turned to look at the Master Commander near her.
Lotus seemed to have been lost in her thoughts and paid no heed to the accusation of the crowd and Old Man Mu's words.
”Master Commander,” Han Fen whispered.
Lotus slowly raised her head, her eyes blank. ”Han Ling was right. I asked Wild Horse to teach you all the swordsmanship. As for the backlash, I didn't make it clear to Wild Horse. He gave the order to kill each other, but I didn't object. In fact, with so many people practicing the swordsmanship at the same time, killing each other is only a matter of time.
Han Fen scratched her forehead in confusion, wondering what the Master Commander was trying to say.
The disciples all puzzledly looked at each other. It was Han Ling again who asked, Why did the Master Commander do this? Are you unsatisfied with us? Have we done something wrong, or have we not expressed enough loyalty?
Lotus actually revealed a smile which that spread like a ripple from the corner of her eye to the corner of her mouth. ”I have a question for you all. Why did Han Wuxian try to seize the Daoless Scroll by any means in the first place?”
Han Ling was slightly stunned, and slowly said, ”Hall Leader… Han Wuxian said that secret arts and pills were low-level techniques. That the better we were at them, the more others would be on guard against us, and the harder it would be for us to gain a foothold in Jianghu. To return to Golden Roc Castle, we had to learn advanced martial arts skills.”
”I retrieved the Daoless Scroll and taught many of you. It's been several years now. Do any of you think that you have become a kung fu expert as a result?”
Han Ling no longer said anything in response. The others also kept silent. The disciples of the Essence Pavilion had joined the Waning Moon Hall not long ago but all of the original disciples of the Waning Moon Hall knew that although their internal energy had greatly increased with the Daoless Divine Power, no one had become a real kung fu master besides the Master Commander.
”It's not easy to give up the skills that you've gotten used to since you were little.” Lotus continued explaining. ”Even learning the Daoless Divine Power hasn't made you give up the secret arts and pills; instead, you've started relying on them even more.”
Han Ling bowed her head in shame. ”So the Master Commander taught us the Waning Moon Swordsmanship but didn't point out the side effects in order to have us become obsessed with it and change our inherent habit.”
Lotus had achieved her goal. The Death Sutra required the practitioner to have a strong belief in the sword manual which meant the practitioner would toss aside all other kung fus, including the use of secret arts and pills.
Hundreds of people had lost their lives for this, but Lotus didn't need to explain much because this was a perfectly normal way for the Waning Moon Hall to achieve their goals.
Lotus nodded slightly. There were many reasons for her to choose this moment to teach the swordsmanship, such as diverting the disciples' attention during her period of dispersing internal energy and dealing with Wild Horse's overt coercion. However, she didn't have to bring attention to every one of them.
”But the Dragon King said that we have to give up the Waning Moon Swordsmanship. If we continue practicing it, we'll… kill ourselves. Master Commander, should we listen to the Dragon King or not?” one disciple of the Waning Moon Hall asked from the crowd, her tone clearly turning respectful.
”The Dragon King is right.” Lotus looked down and then said, ”You should give up on using the sword, but the sword intent that you've comprehended won't affect your secret arts and pills. You can apply it to any martial arts skill. That's what the Dragon King did.”
Gu Shenwei nodded. That was indeed what he had done.
”You are indeed the Master Commander, always so organized in doing things,” Old Man Mu said while staring warily at Wild Horse who was standing besides Lotus. ”Did you invite the Dragon King here just to tell everyone this? You are really a good guesser. You actually knew in advance that the Dragon King was fond of teaching others.”
”I didn't invite the Dragon King here to reason with anyone, but rather to kill Wild Horse.” Lotus looked up, and her eyes suddenly became firm. ”In this world, there's only one practitioner of the Death Sutra Swordsmanship who has 'killed himself.' I think that the Dragon King must be very interested.”
Gu Shenwei was indeed very interested, and it was also why he hadn't made a move yet so far.