The dust settled and the mist dispersed as a cool breeze blew across everyone"s face.
It hit the face of Wuming from the Temple of Six Buddhas. This time, the round-headed and big-eared monk did not squint and wink but merely kept his Chronometer of Dawn. Li Jianqi licked her lips as it blew across her face, and she stared at Jiang Liuyun"s back. Nan Fengxiu did not raise her huge shield. The eyes of the 15th disciple of the Demon King lit up, but no one knew what she was thinking about.
As for Ye Que and Red Bean.
One of them looked despisingly and claimed that Jiang Liuyun a vain pot, while the other looked at disdain and said that he was flashy and had no substance.
No matter how vain or flashy they were, it was enough to strike everyone with awe. It was the "Cyan Luan", a top-notch level three Monarch"s Sword and just one level below an Immortal"s Sword. The green beam of light was also amazing. If they had not guessed wrongly, it was the Falling Sword Technique of Shushan.
Anyone who could unleash the Falling Sword Technique with the Cyan Luan Sword should at least be in the Formless Realm. Evidently, Jiang Liuyun had used the technique at Starburst Realm power, however. The move was perfect. After all, he was currently the leader of Shushan and the top-ranked expert in that realm in the Cultivation World.
The little pavilion at the center of Lake Mingjing had been destroyed, and the 37 instruments were missing. All of the water in the lake had been splashed onto the sh.o.r.e, and a bottomless portal had appeared above the destroyed pavilion.
The hole was about nine meters wide and a faint golden glow emanated from the opposite end of the portal.
Everyone walked to the entrance of the pit. A wave of spiritual energy swept up toward them, and even though it did not carry too much offensive power, it shocked all of them. Just the shockwave of spiritual force given off by whatever in that portal was so immense. It was obvious how valuable the thing inside the pit was.
"The River Soldiers should be below here," everyone said. They already knew what was underneath them.
Ye Que did not walk over immediately, because Red Bean had remained motionless at the edge of the lake. She was walking normally before the appearance of the pit and the shockwave of spiritual energy had swept up. She froze, as if she had been immobilized by a curse.
The pract.i.tioners and the demon warriors leaped into the pit one after another. Only Ye Que and Red Bean were left on the barren Lake Mingjing.
"What happened?" Ye Que asked softly as he noticed the strange behavior of Red Bean.
Red Bean remained silent and still for a long while. She only snapped out of her daze and spoke up after some time. "The divine tool is in the pit; I can sense it already. Take care of yourself no matter what happens later. I would probably be unable to help you."
Red Bean took in a deep breath of air and continued to speak. "Maybe, I"ll be unable to protect even myself."
She continued speaking without giving Ye Que a chance to reply. "There are a few questions that I have to ask you. You have to answer me honestly."
Ye Que swallowed the words that he was about to say when he saw how serious Red Bean looked. "Ask away. I"ll definitely reply to you according to the best of my knowledge. You saved my life, and I"ll never lie to you."
Red Bean stared directly into Ye Que"s eyes and began to question him after a moment"s thought. "A few months ago, on Luo River, you were once attacked by demons. There were devious iguana, water snake and bloodied zombie bird. It was a boatload of demonic beasts, so why did you only kill the devious iguana?"
Ye Que did not expect that she would ask him such a strange question and looked at her in surprise. He thought about carefully before replying, "Because the devious iguana was extremely ugly and disgusting. I could not make too many blows with my sword then and chose to kill it first."
Red Bean nodded and continued questioning him. "There was one night in Luoyang City when a bunch of martial artists and three disciples of Mount Shu ganged up to attack you. You could have killed them then, so why did you just scare them away? You unleashed for more than one blow of your sword that night, if I"m not mistaken."
"Luoyang City? Being attacked by a gang of martial artists and disciples of Mount Shu?" Ye Que frowned, and he seemed to be unable to recall the incident. He finally remembered what happened after muttering a few times under his breath.
It was the same night when he had accompanied Qian Shuhua to drink, and when he chased away his attackers.
Ye Que could stop his lips from curling into a faint smile as he replied, "Indeed, I could have killed them that night but firstly I was afraid of causing additional work to myself and secondly, it wouldn"t be fun."
"Is killing not fun?"
"It really does seem a little uninteresting." Red Bean agreed after thinking for a while. She felt that it was an acceptable answer and began asking him again, "There"s a Divine Sect Seminary in Luoyang City. You once demonstrated a set of cultivation technique on the platform of the seminary and said a few words."
"I remembered you began your speech by saying that Tao resides in everything on this world, and everyone was born equal. Do you really believe that? What if other races? How about demons or something even more terrifying than them? Do they have the right to request equal treatment in the land of humans?"
If the first two questions had surprised Ye Que, the third one gave him a little shock. This was because no ordinary person would have questioned him in this manner. The essence of Red Bean"s questions was not about equality between humans of different backgrounds, but rather the equality between humans and other races.
Ye Que thought about it for a while and looked at Red Bean. "What really const.i.tutes a human being in the wide variety of beings in the world? Any being with autonomous thought, sentient and having a sense of self can be considered as human. Human beings, demons and devils are just another way of calling people, and there actually isn"t any real difference between their intrinsic qualities. At the very least, Nature will treat them all as her children. As such, logically they are born equal."
"You mean to say that every living being in the world is a human being?" Red Bean asked, evidently conflicted about the definition of a human being.
"If you think that the word "human" doesn"t have a wide enough scope, what about living beings? Every living thing in the world are living beings, and they are born equal," Ye Que suggested as he raised his arm and traced out the two words in the air, causing them to leap to life.
"Living beings?"
"All living beings are equal?"
Red Bean muttered the phrase two more times and stopped focusing on the question anymore. She looked at Ye Que again, seemingly with something more to ask him, but no sound came out of her when she opened her mouth.
"Ask me whatever you wish. It"s not like you to be so hesitant," Ye Que said, as if he was chatting with an old friend. In truth, he had just got to know Red Bean not long ago and did not really know what her character was. Neither he nor Red Bean felt that his observation was a little strange, however.
"Alright. Let me ask you then. I saw a long black spear on the Dark Wasteland that was inscribed with blood red divine runes. Was that yours?" she finally asked.
"Long black spear? What spear?"
"The lance which turned into you later."
Ye Que looked as though he had just understood what she was talking about and nodded. "The lance turned into me? Then that should be mine, you"re right."
"How did you do that? How could you use the unique skill of Teleportation in the Psychic Realm?" Red Bean asked, looking extremely perturbed.
"I used the Position Switching Skill of the School of Tantric Buddhism. It"s a special chant, and the black lance you saw was part of it. I created a set of blood red runes at another location, and they could sense each other. Then, I ignited the talisman to activate the skill, which would work within a short radius. In fact, what I used was not really Teleportation. Only Greater Powers at the Apocalypse Realm and above can comprehend the laws of s.p.a.ce and Time." Ye Que explained in detail to Red Bean.
"What happened after you activated the Position Switching Skill? Do you remember any of it?" Red Bean immediately asked after listening to his explanation. She spoke extremely fast and softly, as if afraid that someone else would overhear her, and she also seemed reluctant to bring up the incident.
"After that?"
Ye Que furrowed his brows, seemingly trying hard to recall the incident. "I can"t remember, I really can"t. I should have fainted right after that; using the unique Tantric Buddhism chant in the Psychic Realm took a look out of me. Furthermore, I was also exhausted then. I was already lucky to have successfully activated the Position Switching Skill."
"You really can"t remember?" Red Bean asked again.
Ye Que shook his head confidently.
"It"s better if you can"t recall that incident forever," Red Bean muttered as she blushed. She seemed to have remembered what happened when Ye Que fell into her arms. At that time, his arms seemed to be have moved, or was she hallucinating?
"Alright, I"m done asking questions."
Without waiting for Ye Que to look at her, Red Bean had turned and already took one step into Lake Mingjing. The bottom of the lake was as smooth as a jade ornament, and their feet sank a little as they walked on it. Red Bean"s steps were incredibly quick and light, however.
"What did you ask me all that for?"
Ye Que chased after her for a while, but he had just recovered after all and could not walk fast. Coupled with the smooth and slick pebbles beneath him, he was unable to catch up with Red Bean and a huge gap opened up between them after a few steps.
Red Bean eventually stopped as she heard his footsteps coming closer. She turned her head slightly and looked at the panting Ye Que. Her expression was still icy, but the corners of her lips tilted upward, and she seemed to have smiled for a while.
"I"ve met you more than once before, but you didn"t know that."