The Weight of Power and a Bloody Revelation

Qin Yan gazed at the tombstone before him, his mind swirling with thoughts, and in a flash, a lead began to form.

While others might struggle with such a question, how could he, a transmigrator, possibly fail to answer it?

The Venerable One before him had left behind this Verdant Sprout Secret Trove, never imposing any restrictions.

Cultivators from the Northern Lands, or even from other regions, were welcome to enter.

Was her purpose truly for the Northern Lands’ dynasties, or for its sects?

No, it was never so.

Her legacy was entirely for the younger generation of cultivators in the Northern Lands, irrespective of their origins.

Indeed, even after dynasties and sects gained control of the secret realm, she had exerted immense power to tirelessly secure benefits for cultivators who lacked influential backgrounds.

“The Venerable One’s accomplishments are earth-shattering, truly deserving of eternal remembrance.

Yet, without these villagers sacrificing their lives to buy precious moments, perhaps the formation would have remained incomplete, reinforcements would have failed to arrive, and the situation would have long since crumbled.

While the strong stand out like towering peaks, it is the vast, boundless earth, the myriad living beings, that uplift those mountains.

The river of history is sculpted by the flow of every single drop of water; it is the collective will of countless mortals—their will to survive, their courage to protect their kin, their wisdom in making choices—that converges to propel the torrent of fate.

The strong merely align with, or perhaps guide, the direction of this torrent.”

Qin Yan offered his reply once more.

The white-robed Venerable One nodded subtly, appearing greatly pleased.

Then, the white-robed Venerable One turned her gaze upon Qin Yan.

For that single instant, Qin Yan felt as though heaven and earth were overturning, yet just as quickly, the sensation vanished entirely.

“When you cultivate, do you seek eternal life and boundless freedom across the heavens and earth? Or do you chase peerless magical power and the satisfaction of vengeance? Or perhaps… something else entirely?

Should you toil in cultivation for a millennium, and one day attain world-shaking divine abilities, even surpassing my own, will you then transcend the mundane, viewing the mortals of this world as mere ants and dust? Or will you bend down to gaze upon them, remembering the joys and sorrows of these ‘ants’?

What, ultimately, will be the purpose of your heaven-reaching power?”

The white-robed Venerable One continued her inquiry.

Qin Yan observed the white-robed Venerable One before him.

She possessed an ordinary woman’s appearance, one that would likely be forgotten at a single glance within a crowd, yet her eyes shone with the brilliance of distant stars.

“This junior cultivates, indeed seeking longevity, and also yearning for divine abilities.

Yet, having met the Venerable One today, having witnessed the myriad twinkling lights of homes and heard the tales etched upon nameless monuments, I now understand that if longevity lacks compassion, it is but endless solitude; if divine ability lacks righteousness, it is merely a foundation for destruction.

Power, if without a place to guard or people to pour it into, is like a rootless tree or a spring without a source.

Should I truly achieve something in the future, I aspire to emulate the Venerable One, using this body and this strength to become a sheltering eaves for all living beings.

The power of the strong, originating from the world, ought naturally to give back to the world.”

Having spoken, Qin Yan bowed deeply, remaining prostrate for a long moment.

He felt as though something had instantly manifested within his spiritual consciousness.

Qin Yan waited for a prolonged silence, receiving no reply from the Venerable One before him.

In that very instant, he found himself back on the battlefield, where Elder True Monarch’s power of exhaled breath had already arrived before the assembly in a flash.

The very next second, however, Qin Yan felt a stirring in his throat, as if something was poised to burst forth.

“Break!”

A single word escaped Qin Yan’s lips, and the power of exhaled breath instantly disintegrated.

That single word, seemingly imbued with the very rules of the Heavenly Dao, left Elder True Monarch utterly stunned.

For thousands of years, she had been trapped within this minor world, desperately seeking a way out, yet success had eluded her until this very day.

Later, she had stumbled into the Thousand Bird Cave, where she was jointly suppressed by the bird demons, a feat that had cost the Thousand Bird Cave dearly.

Subsequently, the Myriad Insect Hall arrived in this territory, leading to a stalemate between the insects and birds.

Following that, humanity also came to this place, surviving precariously between the two warring factions.

What exactly was happening outside?

First, a Nascent Soul cultivator had detonated themselves, and now, this Foundation Establishment cultivator before her wielded the very power of the world’s rules.

However, after only a moment’s contemplation, Elder True Monarch lunged at Qin Yan.

Her cultivated Path of Exhaled Breath was inherently one of supreme rigidity and ferocity, a spell meant to be unleashed at the slightest provocation.

A certainty had already settled within Qin Yan’s heart.

The onlookers were undeniably astonished by this scene, yet only Fangyuan’s eyes seemed to flash with keen insight, as if she had already surmised what Qin Yan had just experienced.

“Come!”

Qin Yan spoke, drawing forth his long spear, and fixed his gaze upon Elder True Monarch.

“Die!”

Another single word.

Elder True Monarch’s body was already pierced through by the long spear, and she felt her strength gradually ebb away.

No matter how one looked at it, she was, after all, merely a figure within a painting, her fate long since dictated by the one who held the brush.

Once she had entered the canvas, whether she lived or died, was trapped or free, was no longer her own choice.

If the one holding the brush decreed her death, they would die; if they willed her to live, they would live.

Unfortunately, the Venerable One who created this world harbored a deep hatred for demonkind.

Naturally, if this world had been created by a demon Venerable One, the situation would, of course, be entirely reversed.

“No, by what right do you kill me?”

Elder True Monarch, impaled by the long spear, never understood, even in death, why she had fallen at the hands of an unknown junior.

Slowly, she shuffled her feet, seemingly unwilling to perish in such a manner.

She stumbled toward Qin Yan, her sharp claws seemingly poised to attack him, as if to ascertain whether he was human or ghost.

Alas, her claws expired, along with her life, less than a foot from Qin Yan.

“We won! We actually won!!!”

The Sword Sect disciples around them were the first to react, erupting into cheers.

What a desperate scene it had been moments before!

Two formidable demon races had jointly besieged the Sword Sect, then a Nascent Soul cultivator had emerged, leading to a fierce battle.

It was beyond belief that they had managed to survive this conflict.

Why had these Sword Sect disciples, knowing they were outmatched, still stood by their sect?

Because behind them lay their wives and children, their parents and elders.

If they, cultivators who had painstakingly acquired spiritual roots and attained the Dao, were to abandon their posts, what would become of their loved ones?

Not everyone possessed the grand righteousness to protect humanity.

However, the loyalty to protect one’s close friends, family, and elders at home was something most people shared.

As for the Northern Lands cultivators, they all stared at Qin Yan in utter astonishment.

He had so effortlessly slain a Nascent Soul True Monarch!

Though she had been gravely wounded and on the verge of death, such a feat should still have been impossible for a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator!

Yet, their astonishment quickly gave way to a new shock.

“She’s gone mad! That girl has gone utterly mad!”

Someone shrieked, the first to break the silence.

All eyes shifted from Qin Yan to witness the shocking scene: the Heavenly Talents surnamed Wen and Bai had already fallen dead at Fangyuan’s hands, and a wildly maniacal smile stretched across Fangyuan’s face.

“It’s done! I’ve finally succeeded!”

She then swiftly dispatched the remaining two Northern Lands Heavenly Talents, before turning her gaze to the abnormally swollen Blood Leech Gu.

The Gu worm instantly burst, splattering Fangyuan with blood.

“By harnessing the bloodline power of these Northern Lands Heavenly Talents, my inherent talent has finally improved!

Hahahahaha! All my painstaking efforts in refining this Gu worm have not been in vain; it is finally complete!”

Sect Leader Murong, observing this horrific spectacle, merely lowered her eyes, uttering not a single word.

Qin Yan, too, watched this scene with a measure of shock.

It became clear to him that Fangyuan’s true objective had never been good deeds or inheritances, but rather these very cultivators of the Northern Lands.

This, of course, was also tied to Fangyuan’s knowledge that she could never genuinely obtain the white-robed Venerable One’s legacy.