Chapter 119 The edifice of the Needle Tower is crumbling; no one can escape unscathed...

"If you hadn't stopped me, he would be dead."

The lizard lay prone on Lu Yuan's shoulder, its eyes fixed on Ming Zhao. Ming Zhao's gaze shifted upwards, landing on Lu Yuan's vertical pupils, and he said in a serious tone, "Do you know what you're doing right now?"

Once the news gets out, even if a person originally had no connection to the Five Evils, they will eventually become one of them. Because under such intense scrutiny, no one can guarantee a completely clean and honest life. People will search their entire lives, and if they find just one wrongdoing or one wrong word, it will be enough to prove that they have the potential to become one of the Five Evils. Even if they are not one now, they will inevitably become one in the future.

In this day and age, there's no need for a knife to kill; a few light words are enough.

“I know, I’m going to kill him now. Ever since this person became the sect leader, the entire Kunlun has changed. Even if Kunlun was bad before, at least it wasn’t like this now,” Lu Yuan said, gripping Ming Zhao’s collar. “Do you know how many people have died during this time? You only care about your mountains and rivers and your writing every day. You don’t care about the people around you at all. Do you know how many of the people who died today were innocent? If it weren’t for the reports, if it weren’t for all those censorships and rules, they wouldn’t have died.”

Mingzhao stumbled forward as she was pulled, but her gaze remained fixed on her: "Can you guarantee that killing Shen Qingyan will solve the problems you mentioned? As long as the threat of the Five Evils remains, as long as the Discipline Hall continues to arrest people, even if one Shen Qingyan dies, a new Shen Qingyan will come up. The status quo will never change. Shen Qingyan is just a new sect leader. What say does he have? Isn't everything that's happening now tacitly approved by the elders? Even if someone else becomes the sect leader, the elders' decision won't change."

“How will you know if things will get better if you don’t try? You’re afraid of change, but you can’t stop others from resisting. Only fighting can earn the right to live. Only when our voices are loud enough, only when our resistance is fierce enough, will they realize they’ve made a mistake. I don’t ask them to wake up; I only ask that more people can live in the future.” Lu Yuan’s tone was sharp, and she gripped Ming Zhao’s collar even tighter. She raised a fist and then brought it down. The wind blew up her sleeves, revealing the golden characters encircling her arms.

Just as Mingzhao brought the unconscious Shen Qingyan back to Dragon Ridge Mountain, she happened to run into Lu Yuan. Their eyes met, and Mingzhao guessed her intention. She summoned the Golden Word to block her attack, preventing her from taking a single step forward. At the same time, she crushed the memory bead hanging on her body with one hand.

She had guessed that, given Lu Yuan's personality, he might be influenced by the Five Evils, but she never imagined that Lu Yuan would actually dare to make a move in Kunlun and try to kill Shen Qingyan, just like the hundreds of people who had done so in the past.

Mingzhao closed her eyes, feeling the wind from the punch on her face, but Lu Yuan's fist stopped right in front of her nose: "Didn't you just deliver your golden words perfectly? Why aren't you using them now? Aren't you afraid I'll smash your skull with one punch? Or are you really that confident that I won't lay a hand on you?"

“If you want to fight, then go ahead and do it, if that will let you vent your anger,” Mingzhao said.

Lu Yuan smirked, released her hand, and pushed her back: "How could I possibly know someone like you?"

The word "friend" struck Mingzhao's heart like a hammer blow. She looked up at Lu Yuan and heard her say, "We are two completely different kinds of people. If it weren't for Shen Cangyu back then, we wouldn't even be able to talk to each other. We have different paths, so we can't work together. In the end, you're no different from those Kunlun disciples. They talk about maintaining peace in Kunlun, but in reality, they're protecting their own interests. You're afraid of turmoil, and you want to seek comfort, but it's nothing more than your fear of losing your own interests. In the end, only those of us who truly yearn for equality will suffer."

"No, I'm not worried about interests. I just feel that we can have a win-win solution. For example, we could trace the essence of Taoism, find the root of the Five Evils and eliminate them, or find a way to purify the mind... In short, given enough time, I can change the current situation. Lu Yuan, the fault doesn't lie with any one person or group of people. The fault lies with this era. As long as we find a solution, everything will be alright. Don't be so hasty. Have you thought about what will happen to you if you kill Shen Qingyan today? What will happen to your sister Lu Sheng if you die? You are not me. You have family. Even for the sake of your family, I beg you to calm down."

Mingzhao tried to reason with her about the current situation, but Lu Yuan sneered and said, "My elder sister is imprisoned in the Cliff of Repentance, awaiting judgment from the Discipline Hall. They are only showing her mercy because of the ancestors of our Lu family. Besides us, the others from Wen Cang Sheng have also been labeled as the Five Evils. They have always disliked Wen Cang Sheng and have wanted to take action against us for a long time. Now, the Five Evils are their best excuse. If I don't resist today, I will be the one who dies tomorrow. You are not me. I have nowhere to go, but you, as a member of the Tongmenghui, have a bright future."

“No…” Mingzhao wanted to argue, but found herself unable to find any words to refute her. In this chaos, she was a beneficiary, while Luyuan was a victim. Under these circumstances, becoming one of the Five Evils seemed to be her inevitable fate.

Lu Yuan removed a lizard pendant from her waist, a birthday gift Ming Zhao had carved for her in the past: "We have nothing more to say to each other. Today you stopped me, and our fate ends here. I'll only let you off this time. Next time, I will still kill that person. If you stand in his way again, I won't hesitate."

Lu Yuan released his grip, and the small wooden ornament fell onto the damp soil with a dull thud.

Although wood is not like glass, which won't break or shatter when it falls to the ground, Mingzhao felt as if it had turned to dust along with the memory bead she had crushed.

What is the ultimate destination of humankind?

Mingzhao recalled that when she was still in the mortal realm, she only had to worry about whether she could have enough to eat twice a day. She tried to minimize her presence, not to stand out, not to show off her cleverness, not to be valued by her master, and not to be harassed. At that time, her greatest happiness was standing outside the school with her book box, listening to the sound of reading coming from afar, closing her eyes, and dreaming that she was also in the school.

Although she had nothing in the mortal realm, she seemed to be surrounded by happiness every day.

Now that she has cultivated immortality, she is no longer a mortal, and her status is vastly different from before. Even her former master now has to bow and scrape before her. Now she is free and has countless resources. She can enter the library and read countless books, so why are her troubles increasing? Why can't people be simpler? Why do people divide themselves into circles, constantly selecting those who can stand beside them, striving to distinguish between like-minded and disliked individuals, forming cliques and eliminating dissent, allowing only those who are the same to live in this world?

Mingzhao couldn't pinpoint who was wrong. In her opinion, Lu Yuan was not wrong. Everything she did was to protect her own interests and to speak out for all the disciples of Wencangsheng and all those who suffered injustice during the chaos of the Five Evils. Since she was going to die anyway, she decided to take a gamble.

Mingzhao understood everything about her. It was as if she had returned to the days when they were still taking their classroom assessments. She had sensed the hostility of her fellow students and preemptively eliminated them. That was a rule allowed during the classroom assessments. And now it was the same. She didn't want to be eliminated, so she could only use this method to demonstrate her strength, to instill fear in others, and thus protect herself and those around her. But reality was far harsher than the assessments; in reality, elimination meant death.

Similarly, in Mingzhao's view, the actions of the Discipline Hall were not wrong, nor were those of the elders. The Five Evils had entered Kunlun and corrupted the minds of the cultivators. They might kill their fellow disciples at any time, like burying barrel after barrel of gunpowder in Kunlun. Everyone was worried that one day a spark would ignite the gunpowder and blow everyone to pieces.

In such circumstances, even survival is difficult; how can they cultivate in peace? The Daoist arts and cultivators are no longer pure; is such cultivation still meaningful?

Mingzhao thought that by closing his eyes and covering his ears, he could ignore everything and focus on his cultivation. But now it seems that the edifice is about to collapse, and no one can protect themselves from it.

It took her so many years to see clearly what it means to stand on the sidelines, to distinguish right from wrong, and to understand what is black from white. But in the end, even if she could see everything clearly, she would still have no choice but to take sides.

"Shen Cangyu, did you foresee all of this happening back then, which is why you chose to leave Kunlun?"

She wandered aimlessly for what seemed like an eternity before finally entering the workshop as the sun began to set.

The disciples of Wenxin Diaolong have built workshops in many places in Kunlun, nestled among mountains, rivers, and forests, specifically to provide mechanical engineering materials and experimental sites for all Wenxin Diaolong disciples.

The workshop Mingzhao visited was deep in a bamboo forest in Kunlun. It was rarely visited, and even the molds were covered in rust. But that was exactly what she wanted – fewer people. That's why she preferred to come here.

The setting sun shone through the door, leaving a crimson hue in the workshop.

Inside, she saw someone she hadn't expected.