Chapter 157: Choice
Jiang Huai turned and looked back.
He had previously drawn his sword and severed the blood threads connecting everyone. The crowd had gradually woken up. Those who woke up later were still looking around in confusion, not understanding what had happened. The cultivators who woke up earlier and had witnessed the entire event now had their eyes wide open, unable to utter a single word.
After all, they were all Foundation Establishment cultivators. The battle at the Void Refinement realm was too distant for them, which was why they were so shocked.
Miss Fang Wu and Miss Fang Liu were among the first to wake up. Their eyes were bright, and although their bodies were weak, they couldn’t help but want to approach Jiang Huai. Jiang Huai looked at the girls running towards him, confused.
“You… you… how did you kill him?!” Miss Fang Wu’s voice was still filled with disbelief.
“I borrowed some power from a Senior in the Daoji Ancestral Land, and with a bit of luck, I managed to kill him,” Jiang Huai replied softly. He began to examine his Qi Sea. The flames within his Qi Sea were about to be extinguished.
Those sparks of fire surged out of Jiang Huai’s body again, and his spiritual energy and aura returned to the first layer of Qi Refining. The phantoms of the three true experts appeared in mid-air. They could no longer speak, and they showed him gratified smiles.
Jiang Huai bowed. The residual souls of the three true experts then completely dissipated into the heavens and earth.
He turned to look at Wen Wanwan. There was an unconcealable weariness in Wen Wanwan’s eyes. The few sword strikes she had made at the Soul of the Refined Yin Demon Gu were also crucial, having shared a significant amount of pressure with Jiang Huai. Jiang Huai gently held her hand. “Shall we go?”
Wen Wanwan turned her gaze to Mo Wanqiu in the distance. Mo Wanqiu was currently slumped in a tree, her expression dazed and unmoving. The Refined Yin Demon Gu was dead, and the Blissful Gu on her had also died with it. Only now did she recall everything she had done while being controlled by the Refined Yin Demon Gu.
The cultivators who had regained their senses now gathered around, nearly surrounding Mo Wanqiu. Mo Wanqiu sat on the ground in panic, her face pale. “No… you… don’t come over…”
Yet, the cultivators’ eyes were now filled with wrath. Had it not been for her releasing the Thunder Cloud Cauldron to create the Thunder Pool, perhaps some people would have been able to escape. Now, of the more than two hundred cultivators who entered the Daoji Ancestral Land, only a little over a hundred remained, nearly half lost.
“As the Saintess of the Tingyu Sect, you colluded with an evil cultivator. This blood debt… I will personally collect it from you today!” A grey-robed sword cultivator stood up from the crowd. He held a spiritual sword, his eyes blood red.
Jiang Huai hesitated for a moment before finally taking a step forward.
“She was also forced by the Blissful Gu… I know you bear hatred in your heart, but… let’s wait until we leave the Daoji Ancestral Land, and after she has confessed everything, then we can make a decision?”
The grey-robed sword cultivator turned to look at Jiang Huai, his hand gripping the sword uncontrollably trembling. Mo Wanqiu, as if having grasped a life-saving straw, crawled to Jiang Huai’s feet and tightly embraced his calf. “You… save me… I… I didn’t want to… the taste of the Blissful Gu… you don’t understand… none of you understand… I didn’t want to… he’s the one who forced me to become like this…”
Mo Wanqiu’s face was covered in tears as she sobbed heartbrokenly. Jiang Huai sighed softly.
The grey-robed sword cultivator raised his eyes, staring intently at Jiang Huai. “My Dao Companion… died at the hands of that evil cultivator. Had she not released the Thunder Pool with the Thunder Cloud Cauldron, perhaps my Dao Companion… could have survived.”
“My intention was only… to make a decision after we leave the Secret Realm.” Jiang Huai’s voice was very gentle, but the grey-robed sword cultivator’s voice trembled even more fiercely. “She is the Saintess of the Tingyu Sect. Her father is the Sect Master of the Tingyu Sect… Once we leave this Secret Realm, she might be protected by the Tingyu Sect. In the future, there might not be another chance for revenge… I am very grateful that you saved us, but if you are going to protect her, then please kill me as well.”
It wasn’t just the grey-robed sword cultivator.
Several other cultivators were now standing beside the grey-robed sword cultivator. Perhaps they too had friends or family who had died at Mo Dan’s hands. Now that Mo Dan was dead, Mo Wanqiu, who had abetted him, was still alive.
“Count me in!”
“Count me in too!”
Several cultivators spoke almost in unison.
Mo Wanqiu’s face gradually turned pale. She was still tightly clutching Jiang Huai’s leg, tears yet to dry on her cheeks, her forehead repeatedly hitting the ground. “I didn’t want to… I didn’t want this… the feeling of being possessed by the Blissful Gu… you wouldn’t understand… I didn’t want to… I wasn’t like this before… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I want to live… I’m sorry… I also thought about dying… but he never let me… after being planted with the Blissful Gu, I couldn’t even beg for death…”
Jiang Huai stood in place, silent.
From the earlier system mission prompt, he knew that Mo Wanqiu’s personality had changed drastically and she had become Mo Dan’s accomplice because she was controlled by the Blissful Gu. He wasn’t pitying Mo Wanqiu, but he was thinking… if someone was forced to do evil deeds, did they also have to pay the price of their life?
If Chu Xianning were here now, what would she choose? Would she choose to protect Mo Wanqiu and make a decision after leaving the Daoji Ancestral Land, or would she ignore her and let Mo Wanqiu fend for herself?
Seven or eight cultivators were now standing behind the grey-robed sword cultivator, and they had already drawn their swords.
Mo Wanqiu was still kowtowing and crying. Jiang Huai felt somewhat agitated.
“Wanwan, what do you think I should do?” Jiang Huai looked at Wen Wanwan.
Wen Wanwan’s eyes were gentle and peaceful. “Whatever Senior Brother Jiang Huai does, Wanwan will support Senior Brother Jiang Huai.”
She stood beside Jiang Huai, the Qingxuan Sword suspended by her side. If anyone dared to step forward before Jiang Huai made his decision, she would chop off their head.
She couldn’t offer Jiang Huai advice, but she was willing to be Jiang Huai’s sword.
The grey-robed sword cultivator’s gaze was piercing. Jiang Huai suddenly didn’t know how to look him in the eye. When he lowered his head, he found that Mo Wanqiu, who had been tightly clutching his leg, had slowly let go.
She stopped kowtowing, and the trembling of her shoulders slowly ceased. Jiang Huai saw her slowly stand up. She looked at the crowd before her, then turned back to look at Jiang Huai, her voice hoarse. “Thank you… for being willing to speak for me.”
She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and took out a dagger from her Storage Ring.
“And thank you for killing Mo Dan… you are truly a good person… you… don’t have to be difficult…” Mo Wanqiu held the dagger’s blade against her heart. She slowly turned and looked at the grey-robed sword cultivator in front of her. “I am willing to pay with my life… but I beg you… can you… please not tell my father about what I did in the Secret Realm… I don’t want to bring shame upon him…”
The grey-robed sword cultivator looked at Mo Wanqiu’s pleading eyes and was speechless for a moment.
The next moment, Mo Wanqiu knelt on her knees. The tip of the dagger had already pierced her chest by an inch. Blood flowed down her chest, and she looked at the crowd before her. “I beg you…”
Her face was as pale as paper. Her disheveled hair was blown by the wind to the corner of her mouth. “Every mistake… is my fault… If it doesn’t quell your hatred, then grind my bones to dust right now… I will have no complaints… Can you… please not tell my father about my deeds…”
The crowd remained silent, merely watching the blood dripping from Mo Wanqiu’s chest with cold eyes.
Mo Wanqiu’s hands trembled incessantly. She pulled the dagger out, but at that moment, she plunged it deeply into her lower abdomen. Jiang Huai watched as she slowly cut open her lower abdomen, the blood gushing out and spraying onto her snow-white thighs.
“I beg you…”
Jiang Huai sighed softly and gently placed his hand on Mo Wanqiu’s shoulder. He still had a healing pill in his hand.
Mo Wanqiu slowly raised her head, sweat beads rolling from her forehead to her chin, dripping onto her clavicle. She subserviently looked at Jiang Huai. Jiang Huai softened his voice a bit. “I don’t know how to choose… so I’m leaving the choice to you. I can protect you and ensure you leave the Daoji Ancestral Land alive, but everything that happened in the Daoji Ancestral Land must be truthfully disclosed to give the world an explanation. Alternatively, after your death… I will tell people outside that you merely died at the hands of an evil cultivator. Whichever you choose, I will do it.”
Jiang Huai looked at the crowd again and asked softly, “Regarding the second condition, she was controlled by the Blissful Gu, and the release of the Thunder Cloud Cauldron was indeed a means to prevent your escape. However, Mo Dan already had the strength of the first layer of Void Refinement, and no one could have truly escaped by luck. To put it arrogantly, if I hadn’t killed Mo Dan, every one of you would have died… Therefore, with a bit of personal selfishness, I hope you can give her a chance to fulfill her wish.”
“Thank you… Jiang Huai… They… can say what they want… Thank you for… understanding me. I have done so many wrong things… I shouldn’t have hoped for too much…” Mo Wanqiu did not receive a response from the crowd after all. The light in her eyes gradually dimmed. Her eyes still looked at Jiang Huai with effort, and she said very softly again, a hint of pale smile appearing on her cheeks. “Thank you… really.”
“If possible… please ask Xu Qing… to take a message to my father… tell him… your daughter is unfilial and has failed your years of cultivation…”
Gradually, her head drooped, and she completely lost her breath.
Of the two choices Jiang Huai gave her, she ultimately chose neither. Her body had turned into a frozen sculpture; only the blood was still flowing slowly, soaking the grass.
The grey-robed sword cultivator lowered his head. Mo Wanqiu was already dead, and his wrath had no place to be vented. The cultivators behind him also fell silent.
………………………………
Jiang Huai brought Xu Qing out of the Legacy Secret Realm.
At this moment, he, Wen Wanwan, and Xu Qing were sitting by a stream. Beside the stream was a newly dug earthen pit, in which Mo Wanqiu’s body was buried. Xu Qing took spirit flower seeds from her Storage Ring and gently buried them in the pit. A verdant spirit plant soon grew from the pit.
Jiang Huai had told Xu Qing everything that had happened. Her expression was now somewhat complicated. He looked at Xu Qing. “If it were you, what would you choose?”
Xu Qing fell silent. She didn’t know how to answer either.
