Xian Ni

w.a.n.g Lin left the river and slowly walked in the night with the two sergeants following him. The two sergeants both looked at each other and saw the confusion in each other’s eyes.

In their view, w.a.n.g Lin had spent most of the time strolling the city and then staring at the river in a daze. The sky was now dark, but this person was still slowly walking down the street.

During the night, Hong City was lit up by lights as if it was a city without night.

As w.a.n.g Lin slowly walked on the road, his gaze fell on a dark area in the distance. There were many large buildings there, and the entire area had a depressing atmosphere.

This aura was filled with death and resentment.

One of the sergeants followed w.a.n.g Lin’s gaze and whispered, “That is one of the four great prisons of the capital, Hong Prison!”

“Hong Prison…” w.a.n.g Lin nodded.

The sergeant explained, “Hong Prison is filled with felons and is well guarded. It is impossible for one to enter and exit without a token.”

w.a.n.g Lin carefully looked at this Hong Prison. He had already noticed that place before because it contained several powerful demonic spiritual energies no weaker than Mo Lihai. After pondering a bit, w.a.n.g Lin walked toward the Mo Mansion.

After returning to the Mo Mansion, w.a.n.g Lin went straight to Mo Lihai’s residence. Mo Lihai was cultivating, and when w.a.n.g Lin opened the door, he opened his eyes.

“I want to go to Hong Prison. Does brother Mo have a way?”

Mo Lihai was startled. He looked at w.a.n.g Lin but didn’t ask for the reason. Instead, he pondered for a bit and said, “There are some difficulties!”

w.a.n.g Lin frowned and said, “Then forget it!”

Mo Lihai faintly smiled and said, “How long do you want to stay there?”

w.a.n.g Lin said, “About one month!”

Mo Lihai’s eyes narrowed and he said, “Cultivating?”

w.a.n.g Lin nodded at Mo Lihai and said, “I need to kill to train my spell, and if I were to do that here in the city, it would cause unnecessary trouble.” With that, w.a.n.g Lin added, “If I can succeed, then my ability to help you will increase!”

Mo Lihai stood up, then he stared at w.a.n.g Lin and asked, word for word, “Are you sure?”

w.a.n.g Lin didn’t waste time as he waved his hand and five strands of slaughter energy appeared. They took the form of five dragons and charged toward Mo Lihai like lightning.

Mo Lihai laughed and threw a punch. There was a sound of force pus.h.i.+ng through the air, and the five dragons collapsed. However, Mo Lihai’s smile disappeared and he revealed a strange expression before retreating three steps.

The shattered grey gas reformed into the five dragons, and a thick slaughter aura spread out and immediately surrounded the entire Mo Mansion. All of the soldiers inside the mansion were alarmed by this and rushed over.

At the same time, these five strands of slaughter energy charged at Mo Lihai. His eyes lit up and he threw another punch. The five strands of slaughter energy dodged his punch and aimed at his chest.

The slaughter energy suddenly closed in but was stopped by an invisible force seven inches away from Mo Lihai’s body and was forced back.

Even so, the screen of demonic spiritual energy before Mo Lihai also shook violently.

w.a.n.g Lin slowly said, “If I had more than 1,000 strands, could you still block it so easily…”

Mo Lihai’s eyes lit up. This was not the first time he had seen the slaughter energy. Compared to the last two times, it was much more powerful this time. He decisively said, “One month is too long for me to do, but seven days is no problem. Hong Prison has tens of thousands of felons, so seven days should be enough for you to cultivate! Wait for me and I’ll have an entry letter for you in three days!”

w.a.n.g Lin nodded and then left the room.

Mo Lihai revealed a pondering expression. After a long time, he muttered, “I indeed can’t underestimate this w.a.n.g Lin. It looks like exchanging that Thirteen’s life for his help was the right thing to do.

“Ignoring the power of that palm, just the power of those grey gas strands filled with killing intent is extremely abnormal. With only five strands that aren’t even at full power, he was able to cause my demonic armor to shake. It is even sharper than some demonic swords! This isn’t the most important thing though; there is something mysterious about that grey gas that can affect the life force in my body!

“If there were more than 1,000 strands of that grey gas… It would be very dangerous! It is best not to make an enemy of w.a.n.g Lin and maintain our current relations.h.i.+p!” He pondered a bit before leaving the room and working to get w.a.n.g Lin access to Hong Prison.

w.a.n.g Lin didn’t return to his room but sat in the lotus position in the courtyard. Although the surroundings were completely quiet, there was still faint zither music in his ears.

Although this zither music was faint, it had its unique charms that didn’t disappear.

w.a.n.g Lin didn’t cultivate tonight; he didn’t even think about the Celestial Slaughter Art at all. He just quietly sat there under the starlight, listening… to the zither music in his heart…

His figure created a long shadow from the moonlight. This shadow looked exceptionally bleak.

Merely a lonely shadow…

A jar of high quality wine from Ancient Demon City was placed next to w.a.n.g Lin. He would occasionally pick up the jar and take a drink. The bleakness of his shadow gradually affected his body, and his loneliness seemed to fuse with the moonlight that imprinted on his body and soul…

“I, w.a.n.g Lin, began learning dao at the age of 16, but I have long forgotten exactly how long I have cultivated for…” w.a.n.g Lin picked up the jar and took a big jump. The wine leaked out from the corner of his mouth and dripped on his clothes.

w.a.n.g Lin looked at the starlight in the sky and revealed a hint of loneliness.

“Cultivators walk against the heavens and are destined to be forever lonely…”

There were no sounds, but w.a.n.g Lin could still faintly hear the zither music. He wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth and muttered, “Being lonely for life gives one the heart to seek dao… But the how many people can truly savor this feeling of loneliness? Just like this wine, it is spicy when it enters the mouth, but then it turns into warmth once it enters the body…”

Under the starlight and moonlight, a solitary shadow was drinking wine and contemplating life…

“I don’t know how those cultivators who have cultivated for over ten thousand years endured those ten thousand years. But I know that if one doesn’t have at least a tiny bit of emotion, they are only cultivating their self-created dao and not the dao of the heavens!”

“The heavens and earth are inhumane. Cultivating is about going against the heavens, but if a cultivator is also heartless, than they are also inhumane. Using an inhumane heart to cultivate the heaven’s inhumane dao, how can that be considered going against the heavens? That is merely following the will of the heavens.

“Since ancient times, those that followed the will of the heavens were favored by the heavens, but in truth they were merely insects! My dao doesn’t follow the will of the heavens, I follow my heart to walk against the heavens. I don’t seek to be immortal, I seek to get rid of my status as an insect. That is what it means to rebel!”

w.a.n.g Lin drank all the wine in the jar in one gulp and then threw it. The jar shattered when it landed, then w.a.n.g Lin touched between his eyebrows and leaned to the side. The bleakness in his eyes slowly disappeared…

The moonlight slowly disappeared and the sun gradually rose as w.a.n.g Lin slowly opened his eyes. Tonight, he was drunk…

He was drunk from wine and emotion…

At the moment he awakened, everything that happened last night was buried deep in his heart and sealed in a place that couldn’t be touched.

Three days of time pa.s.sed by in a flash. In those three days, w.a.n.g Lin didn’t cultivate. Instead, he would leave the Mo Mansion every morning and wait by the riverside for that short period of time when the zither music would pa.s.s by.

That sad zither music flowed through his mind, piercing through those sealed memories and entering deep into his heart.

While listening to the zither music and drinking the wine the sergeants brought him, w.a.n.g Lin was completely immersed in the moment and gained some enlightenment.

The woman on the boat didn’t know that there was someone seriously listening to her zither music in those three days. She just knew that whenever she pa.s.sed by that spot, the sadness in her heart would increase, and that sadness entered her hand and escaped through her music.

During these three days, w.a.n.g Lin was very peaceful. He distanced himself from conflict and slaughter. He forgot about the danger of Tuo Sen, forgot about his agreement with Mo Lihai, and forgot his own hope for reaching the Ascendent stage. With the zither music and wine accompanying him, he experienced a short baptism for his heart.

He never tried to see what the woman looked like. Just her figure and zither music was enough…

If it wasn’t for Mo Lihai having already settled the matter for w.a.n.g Lin to enter Hong Prison, he would have continued to sit there and cleanse his heart. He didn’t know how long he would have stayed there for, perhaps until the strings on the zither broke and it no longer produced any music…

w.a.n.g Lin withdrew himself from the zither music. He stood up and watched the boat gradually leave!

At this moment, the woman on the boat suddenly turned around to look at the river side. Although everything before her was still dark, the figure of that man leaving appeared in her eyes.

A calm voice came from beside the woman. “Ming Xuan, what are you looking at?”

The zither music suddenly stopped.

The woman turned around and lowered her head. Then her jade-like hands floated above the zither’s strings and trembled slightly. To her, his voice represented the heavens and an irresistible fate.

“Your zither music is too sad, so the guests want you to change!” Although the voice was calm, it was also spoken in a way that meant she couldn’t refuse.

The woman pondered and then began to play the zither. The zither music suddenly changed to that of a spring march, and a cheerful sound filled the boat and river.

“Very good! In the future, play like this.” The voice from before came once more…

The cheerful zither music spread out, and although the music was joyful, if one listened closely, they would be able to tell that it wasn’t joyful at all but a silent cry…

This cry was filled with sadness and pain. The best way to describe this was a forced smile! The music slowly filled the boat and matched the sound of the laughter, but it never fused with it.

There was a powerful bitterness hidden behind this forced smile. This bitterness was very well hidden by the zither music, and Ming Xuan knew that no one but her could understand.

As the boat drifted away, so did the music, leaving behind only the ripples caused by the boat. The ripples slowly spread to the two sides of the river…