Chapter 145 The deepest hurt comes from understanding; only then can you know how to express it…
Li Chenjin was clearly unaware of what he was thinking. While he was deep in thought, she stood up, walked to the table, poured two cups of tea, and then waved in Shen Zhengyuan's direction.
Seeing this, Shen Zhengyuan silently got up and walked towards the table.
As soon as he sat down, he heard Li Chen say, "While I was reading a storybook and waiting for you to wake up, I thought about some things related to the Demon Clan."
"Those who come to the alchemy world seeking medicine may seem numerous, but the world has not yet reached the point of true chaos. I think that if you had not united with all the worlds early on and laid the groundwork in the human realm, the human realm would surely be a place of utter devastation."
She gently stroked the rim of the glass with her fingertips, gazing at the clear water inside, and said slowly, "At that time, I wonder how many people will be homeless and displaced. Just like what I saw more than seven hundred years ago."
"It must have been because that demon acted too quickly, taking down both the cultivation world and the human world at the same time. As a result, the cultivation world was too busy to take care of itself, let alone the human world."
"And the ordinary people in the human world had no power to protect themselves and could only be slaughtered by others. That's why the world became more and more chaotic at that time."
Li Chen paused for a moment, then continued, "I remember that in some of the towns I saw at the time, many houses had collapsed, and some towns were even razed to the ground."
"If it were a puppet, it wouldn't have that ability and power. Think back to what I saw at the peace talks, and the tragic scene inside the Wanshan Gate. Back then, most of the monsters attacking towns in the human realm were probably demonic beasts controlled by the demon race, right?"
“That’s right.” Shen Zhengyuan nodded. “However, at first, it won’t cause turmoil throughout the entire human realm. It will first target some towns and intentionally leave a few survivors. Watching those people flee like rats to various places, it will let fear spread like a plague. Only after the people in other towns live in fear every day will it strike again.”
He lowered his eyes, his fingertips slowly tightening around the teacup in his hand. "Just like that, inch by inch, it shrinks the space where mortals can live. Like a hunter luring its prey into a trap step by step, until the prey dies in despair. This is its favorite method."
"So, is it because it likes to see people like this, or does it need people to be like this?" Li Chen asked.
"Perhaps both, but the latter should be more prominent," Shen Zhengyuan said. "The more fear a person has, the stronger their resentment becomes, and the deeper its power will be. This is also the power that every demon needs to achieve immortality."
"At that time, although the cultivation world knew about the abilities and preferences of the demon race, they did not know that there was a demon race that had secretly laid out such a huge scheme in the cultivation world and the human world. So when it chose to make its move, the cultivation world was powerless to resist and instantly disintegrated, plunging the world into chaos."
"At that time, whether they were cultivators or mortals, they could hardly protect themselves, let alone think about how to defeat it. Seeing that the cultivation world was about to be completely wiped out, the only thing the magic cultivation world could do was to pour all their cultivation and soul into the ancient magic array to temporarily suppress the demonic energy in the world and also suppress that demon underground."
Li Chen asked, "So now the time has come, and the suppressing seal has become ineffective?"
Shen Zhengyuan shook his head. "That magic array can defend against demons, but it can't defend against humans. Demons are born with the ability to bewitch people. Having lived in the human world for so many years, they understand the weaknesses of human nature better than ordinary demons, and are naturally better at bewitching people."
"Even though it was sealed at the time and its power was severely suppressed, as long as one person could be bewitched by it, it could naturally be freed from its seal."
"Although I am willing to guard that seal, you know what I looked like at the beginning, and I was simply incapable of guarding it. Besides, even if I hadn't been injured, it would have been difficult for me to protect the secret techniques and magical artifacts of the cultivation world on my own, let alone guard that seal."
"So, the only thing I could do at the time was to rebuild the Dharma Cultivation Realm as soon as possible. Once the Dharma Cultivation Realm was rebuilt, I could then safely guard the seal. But after I rebuilt the Dharma Cultivation Realm, I discovered that the seal had already been broken."
"At that time, the cultivation world could not withstand another catastrophe. If it wanted to take action again, the world would be destroyed. Fortunately, the demon race was also severely injured back then, so it could not stir up trouble for a while, which is why the cultivation world and the human world have enjoyed so many years of peace."
So it's no wonder that Shen Zhengyuan seems to know a lot about that demon race. You could even say that he can immediately counter any move the demon race makes.
This was certainly not something Shen Zhengyuan could foresee or know in advance what the demon clan was going to do.
Instead, after he discovered that the seal had been broken and the demons had disappeared, he spent every day, every moment, pondering what the demons would do and what he could do.
He must have repeatedly thought about and recalled everything that the demon had done before he was sealed away, and thought about the pain he had experienced over and over again, trying to find solutions and ways to prevent it.
It is precisely because he has been thinking, recalling, and preparing for so many years that he has been able to keep the development of events under his control.
Even so, many people were still injured or even died.
Even though Shen Zhengyuan didn't care about cultivators from other realms or mortals from the human world, he valued the people in his own cultivation world very much.
Before, when she left the Danxiu world alone and headed to this mountain, she had heard some things about the Faxiu world.
The Dharma practitioners, being the first to appear and control the situation when attacks occurred in various realms and the human realm, also suffered considerable casualties.
The extent of their casualties was comparable to that of the sword cultivators who immediately drew their swords and went into battle after discovering the chaos.
Therefore, in this whole affair, those who charged into battle and stood at the forefront were either from the sword cultivation world or the magic cultivation world.
Those disciples from the Dharma cultivation world are usually very good at assessing situations and know when to run if they can't win, and they run away very quickly, leaving the disciples from the sword cultivation world far behind.
But once Shen Zhengyuan gave an order, they would rather die than not carry it out.
Therefore, throughout the night, not a single disciple of the Dharma cultivation world turned and fled because they saw the situation was unfavorable. They all preferred to die on the spot rather than retreat a single step.
Based on what's been said in the rumors, it's estimated that the entire cultivation world has lost nearly 40% of its disciples.
The remains of those disciples from the cultivation world, whether complete or incomplete, were retrieved by disciples sent by Shen Zhengyuan and brought back to the cultivation world.
It was said that among them were many corpses that had been devoured by demonic beasts. The disciples of the Dharma Cultivation Realm who were ordered to collect the remains of their fellow disciples cut open the bellies of those demonic beasts, took out the mangled pieces of flesh inside, put them into brocade boxes, and then carried them back to the Dharma Cultivation Realm.
However, these rumors are not entirely accurate.
Therefore, Li Chen had no idea how many people had perished in the cultivation world, nor did he know how the remains of those cultivation disciples would be disposed of.
What one might not know is, as Shen Zhengyuan counts the dead in the cultivation world, and recalls those disciples who disregarded their own lives because of his orders, only to perish in distant lands, what he must have felt.
When Shen Zhengyuan has something on his mind, he will never say it outright. He will only keep recalling and thinking about it, pushing himself to the brink of madness.
Li Chenjin knew that if she asked, Shen Zhengyuan would either refuse to answer or avoid the main point and change the subject.
Therefore, instead of discussing matters concerning the cultivation world with Shen Zhengyuan and reopening his wounds, it's better to pretend you know nothing and instead think of ways to keep him busy.
After all, once people get busy, they stop thinking about other things.
Li Chen considered this move to be infallible.
After refilling his teacup, Li Chen said, "If you ask me, suppressing this kind of scourge won't be very effective. It's better to just kill it. You see, I used to have the title of 'Sword God.' And for a Sword God, subduing demons and monsters is perfectly normal."
"Although you said before that it couldn't be killed, what if? Maybe God brought me into this world so that I could do something that seems impossible but is actually possible?"
Shen Zhengyuan looked up at her and asked, "What do you want to do?"
Li Chen finished his tea and said, "There's no rush to find a solution. Let's go and meet them first, and then I can think of a solution."
"However, before we go to find her, it would be best if we released the people who are being held captive in this village first."
After a moment of silence, Shen Zhengyuan nodded and said, "Okay."
………………
In this village, there are many people who have been kidnapped by the bandits. Apart from some men who have been captured to do dirty and hard work, the vast majority are young women in their prime.
Li Chen used the key he had found while dealing with the bandits' corpses to release the men from the cages one by one.
But nearly 60% of those women were pregnant.
Alternatively, some of them had already given birth to children for those bandits, so even though Li Chen wanted them to go down the mountain, they were unwilling.
The reason for this reluctance is quite simple.
Because the rules of the human world and the cultivation world are different.
Even if these women go home, they will still be considered unclean.
Once these women descend the mountain, they are considered "tainted."
Therefore, they could not survive at home or in town after that.
Either you'll be talked about behind your back for the rest of your life, or you can hang yourself and leave behind a good reputation for strict family values.
Li Chen looked at the people kneeling on the ground in front of her, then glanced at those who were kowtowing to her while holding their pregnant bellies, sighed, and silently closed her eyes.
But even with her eyes closed, the women's voices still echoed in her ears, "Please, please, don't let us down the mountain! We'll die, we'll really die..."
"Immortals, Immortal Masters! I beg you, please spare our lives... If we go back, not only will we face certain death, but our families will also be disgraced... My parents have poured so much effort into raising me... I can't... I can't repay kindness with enmity... If I go back, my parents will surely not want me to die, but what will the neighbors say? I... I can't... I really can't..."
“I’m…I’m pregnant…I’ve seen people who escaped back before, and that person wasn’t even pregnant. But whether they were pregnant or not, being tainted is being tainted. If she doesn’t die, people will keep banging on their door and splashing black dog blood on them…Even the aunties selling vegetables on the street won’t sell to them, and neither will I…my family…So…so that girl died. She…she hanged herself under the old locust tree in town, and that’s when things calmed down…”
“It’s not my fault, so why am I the one who should die? I… before you came, many of my sisters had already committed suicide by hitting their heads against the wall… you’ve seen their bodies… so if we went down the mountain, we would definitely die… but what did we do wrong? The bandits were the ones who were wrong, so why did they die… and we should die too…”
"But what can we do if we don't come down the mountain? The bandits here are all dead... Although they committed many evil deeds, but... but precisely because they are alive, the people down the mountain dare not come up. Later, when the people down the mountain find out that the bandits are all dead, we will still be burned to death..."
"But...but what if I don't dare to commit suicide? My sister bit her tongue before, she...she didn't die in the end...she still smashed the porcelain bowl and slit her own throat before she died...Suicide is so scary...I don't want to die...I'm afraid to die...I really can't..."
………………
Li Chen stood quietly for a long while before slowly opening his eyes.
Hearing the sobs all around her, she turned to Shen Zhengyuan and asked, "What do you think?"
Shen Zhengyuan's expression remained unchanged, and his tone was exceptionally calm. "This has always been the way things are in the mortal realm; there's nothing strange about it. Even if you disapprove and want to change it, you can't. Didn't you already try this before?"
"But what can you do in the end? Not only does the imperial court oppose you, but the cultivation world opposes you, and even some women in the mortal realm are constantly hurling insults at you. So why bother with such matters anymore?"
Li Chenjin: "..."
What Shen Zhengyuan said was indeed true.
After all, given Li Xianghuan's personality, she is not someone who gives up easily. Even if countless people oppose her, once she sets her mind on a path, she will stick to it no matter what.
The reason Li Xianghuan gave up so easily at that time was because she discovered that not only were others constantly hurling insults at her, but even those she wanted to save were verbally abusing her.
In fact, those she wanted to save spoke even more viciously to her than some men.
That is why she decisively stopped interfering in the affairs of the human world and became even less willing to get too close to people in the human world.
Because she discovered that, just as men understand men, women also understand women.
And it is precisely because of this understanding that some women know exactly how to say things that will cause the deepest harm to another woman.
Li Chen sighed softly, "Arrange for some people to send them to the Zen meditation community."
“There are many valuable items stored in this village. Have someone return those items to their rightful owners; those that cannot be returned should be pawned to get some money to distribute to them. After that, how they want to live and how they can live is up to them.”
After saying this, she turned around and walked down the mountain, while murmuring to herself: “Bodhisattvas should practice giving without attachment to the Dharma. That is, giving without attachment to form, sound, smell, taste, touch and dharma. Subhuti! Bodhisattvas should give in this way, without attachment to appearance. Why? If a Bodhisattva gives without attachment to appearance, his merit is immeasurable (1).”
"Therefore, the Buddha said: 'All dharmas are without self, without person, without sentient beings, and without life span (2)'..."
The author's note: (1) From the Diamond Sutra
(2) From the Diamond Sutra
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
