Chapter 261 Awakening

In this dark holy place, the more holy the goddess's appearance is, the more eerie and strange it seems. Ning Mingmei stared at the statue and felt a chill on his back.

Behind all incidents and all magic weapons, there seems to be such a dark figure. She was once the hope of the gods, the savior of the six realms whose fame would last forever, and she is also the unchanging shadow that now hangs over this dead village.

She is the sword wielder chosen by the gods.

She was the initiator who represented the gods and called on the six realms to forge a divine sword.

When Lian Chengyue woke up from the magic sword, he smelled the blood of the gods on the sword.

The sword was then used to kill his clan.

After the goddess' death, her relatives carried the magic sword and quietly came to Lingshui Village to hide from the world.

Weng Xingyun used her lotus lantern and was once cast into a statue like her. It is a pity that one of them will be remembered forever, while the other will be infamous forever.

And now, this lotus lantern has gone around in circles and finally fell into the hands of Ning Mingmei who came here.

"And what about you, Ning Mingmei? Will you be remembered for eternity, or will you be condemned for eternity?" A voice seemed to whisper behind his ear, "As the third 'savior' to hold the Lotus Lantern?"

Before I came, the third "savior" who held the lotus lantern and had the "right to choose" should have been the hatred-filled Lian Chengyue, right?

"You still..." Ning Mingmei looked at the statue and suddenly fell silent.

He did not speak, nor did he repeat those words in his mind. It was as if those words, if heard by anyone, would be a fatal curse. All he did was turn around, sit next to Lian Chengyue, and wait for him to wake up.

But those words will always be kept silently in Ning Mingmei's heart, becoming a nightmare.

——You are still alive, right?

…

Lian Chengyue woke up from a deep dream.

Escape from the hot and chaotic nightmare, and feel the coolness with the aroma of coffee on your cheeks.

He opened his eyes in a daze and felt like he was alive again. Ning Mingmei's cold voice came from my ear: "Awake? Before you woke up, your teeth were chattering, as if you were going to bite off your tongue."

Lian Chengyue: "Master, are you...putting your finger in my mouth just because you're afraid that I'll bite off my tongue?"

Then he received a slap on the head.

"...What kind of sweet dream are you having?" Ning Mingmei looked at him inexplicably, "Of course the hilt is your own sword."

Lian Chengyue finally woke up silently. However, he could clearly feel that Ning Mingmei originally wanted to hit him hard on the head, but halfway through it changed it to a light hit, and only when it finally landed on his head, it became a half-hard and half-light hit again.

Ning Mingmei stood in front of him with his hands folded. With him around, this dark and cold forbidden area is no longer so chilling. Lian Chengyue looked at him, at this huge prison and the statue behind the prison. He could hardly imagine what he would feel like if he woke up here alone and looked at this place.

Is that why I feel at peace even in nightmares? Because he knew that Ning Mingmei was by his side, no one would take advantage of his unconsciousness to come in and attack him.

Lian Chengyue found that he was eager to get some warmth from Ning Mingmei.

"It's good that you woke up." Ning Mingmei said, "Let's go, and drag the chief priest of the demon fox tribe away. We should be on our way."

Lian Chengyue said yes silently. He dragged two people from the fox tribe and walked in front. Ning Mingmei walked behind him, and the two of them walked together in the direction they came from.

Ning Mingmei walked behind him, which made Lian Chengyue feel confident about the road ahead. In the long corridor, he whispered: "Xianzun, if someone harms you, what will you do?"

Ning Mingmei asked, "Is that person still alive?"

Lian Chengyue said: "...I don't know, maybe some people are still alive, but most of them..."

It should have disappeared into the dust of history.

After all, human life is like a mayfly. Those high-sounding gods, those humans who were in urgent need of being saved, and those demons who sat back and watched him die... have all died and decayed long ago. Those alive in this world today are their descendants.

Is it what he wants to make them childless?

But what will Ning Mingmei say, and what will others say?

Lian Chengyue would not ask this question to someone like Bai Ruoru. They would say, “Since it’s over and there’s no place to seek revenge, just forgive them.”

My injustices are always injustices, so how can I forgive them?

He would not ask this question to someone like Xiang Wuxing. They would say, "They are already dead. Let's prove it to the people now. Do good things and do great things. Let the people now know that I am a truly good person."

Now that we have seen the ugly face of human nature in the face of interests and deceived "righteousness", how can we force ourselves to be hypocritical in this world and perform scenes of repaying evil with kindness?

Is it what you want to do to let other people who are neither black nor white and are full of chaos benefit?

He certainly wouldn't ask people like Jiang Duo. People like Jiangduo would only tell him: "Take revenge, and let the whole world fall into hell!"

Since you say I'm a bad person. Then I will be a bad guy and show you!

Let you know what a real bad guy looks like. Let you regret what you have done in the past!

This idea was originally what Lian Chengyue wanted, but when he woke up, he saw Ning Mingmei.

This made him a little unsure.

Lian Chengyue would not even ask questions about people like Bai Bugui. If it weren't for his complicated background, people like Bai Bugui would live for the moment and enjoy life while they can. When faced with this kind of question, they would only say: "Since we have the opportunity to live our lives again, it would be better to live the way that makes the most sense to us."

Why do you think so much when you are doing things? Now that I have been given a chance to be reborn, I will eat good meat, drink good wine, travel around freely, how great is that?

What’s the point of thinking about those grand narratives and life issues?

Just make yourself happy.

Maybe there are such people. But Lian Chengyue has never been able to live a happy life in a casual manner. Living a goalless and aimless life made him feel that he had wasted his life and his talents.

What kind of answer will Ning Mingmei give?

"Why are you asking this?" Ning Mingmei said behind him.

"Because... I had a nightmare, Immortal Venerable." Lian Chengyue said, "I dreamed that I was used by someone, and then died - without any chance to make a choice. Later, I came back to life, drew my sword and looked around, and all my enemies were dead."

All that's left is a confused heart.

Ning Mingmei: "Why did those people want to harm you? Is it because they are evil by nature?"

Lian Chengyue was silent at this moment.

If it were in the past, he would have given the conclusion that "it's because those people are bad and their nature is evil." But after coming into contact with the world that Ning Mingmei gave him, he changed his answer.

"It's because of human nature." Lian Chengyue said, "If I were them, I would probably make the same choice if I were in their shoes."

Ning Mingmei: "Tell me about it?"

"They don't have enough power to turn the tide. So all they can do is hope to be saved by others. Sacrificing one person can save everyone. If it weren't for the distortion of events afterwards, this would have been a heroic legend." Lian Chengyue said.

Judging from the fact that the magic sword was used to kill demons and gods, Lian Chengyue has realized that the "salvation" of that year may not have been successful.

Although in the eyes of others, the "salvation" back then was at least half successful.

Ning Mingmei asked, "Do you think the twisted events were caused by the accidental fate of Lan Yinxuguo?"

Lian Chengyue paused: "Isn't it?"

"The twisted aftermath is all due to the previous causes. If the root is wrong, no matter how high-sounding the reasons are, it will only lead to a distorted result." Ning Mingmei said, "Just like the goddess who saved the world back then..."

At that moment, he actually felt a little bit of cold air. But Ning Mingmei continued, "Since the goddess was born, the entire clan has been infused with the wishes of this clan. They made her powerful, they made her brilliant, they made her the one who made the decisions on the surface, but what they really wanted her to do was to make her sacrifice, to use her own life in exchange for the future of the six realms and the gods."

"The God Clan that has produced a savior will surely be able to wipe out the past that caused the collapse of the Heavenly Gate and become the master of the six realms again, right? The so-called goddess is just a target that uses her bright and beautiful face to block the attacks of other clans. She is just a tool to revive the God Clan."

"With such distorted ideas, how could a legend of salvation be created?"

Lian Chengyue's heart moved and he was startled again. He didn't know whether Ning Mingmei was just using an old story as an example or he really realized something.

If he really discovered something...how could Ning Mingmei be so smart?

It's like walking on the edge of a knife. Dangerous, yet exciting. Lian Chengyue thought again in his heart that only someone like Ning Mingmei was qualified to be his master.

"Human nature is not trustworthy." Ning Mingmei said, "Do you know what the essence of education is?"

Lian Chengyue said: "Does Immortal Venerable refer to the relationship between master and disciple? Of course it means teaching and learning skills..."

"There is also education," Ning Mingmei said, "to enable people to show the good side of their limited humanity as much as possible. To enable people to be as friendly and polite to others as possible without their interests being severely impacted. The essence of this is to reduce the risks in society as much as possible, and to make everyone believe that when they are friendly to the outside world, they will also be treated kindly by others. Then everyone is friendly, and this is the great harmony."

"But this is not enough. Relying solely on people's education and moral barriers is not enough to maintain relationships between people," Ning Mingmei said. "Greed, anger, darkness, unfairness, class... these things are everywhere. You can't expect people to use morality to resist the impact of the material world again and again."

Lian Chengyue said: "So...what should we do?"

"The means are upgraded." Ning Mingmei said, "There are two ways. One is to build faith, and the other is to build order based on interests."

"Constructing faith, the problem with faith is that you have no way of knowing what everyone thinks. People will benefit others, but the fragility of human nature is that most people cannot give up self-interest. Therefore, some people will create the image of God and create reasons for "self-interest". They then believe that they will go to heaven in the afterlife. They are afraid of the so-called "karma". Some people then use faith to create a god-man, claiming that everyone needs to believe in God's laws, and the statue of God, after being constantly used by people for their own interests, will always "collapse" one day..."

"I can't become a god." Ning Mingmei said, "So I choose benefits and order."

“With enough material, with enough benefits, and with enough people believing that as long as they work hard, they can get enough benefits, everyone is happy to become relaxed and warm.”

“Everyone wants to be a good person.”