《Shared System》7. Not of Heaven and Earth
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Living a life is easy. Living in love is full of hardship.
For the man who called himself saint, he has chosen to not love at all.
Inside the sword saint abode, it is cold. The coldness that bites down to the bone. Of course this cold cannot be felt by Lang Li, who went in and out daily for cultivation. Thousand of years ago, inside those hall lie a corpse. After a thousand year, it should have turned into bone by now.
But the cold was so great that even the flower petals, delicately dancing in the wind, turns into frost before dissolving into nothing. It was so cold. Nothing can approach.
Without remembering, Zheng Jie continues to live his life of cultivation.
Perhaps, even for the body underneath the hall, it is a surprise what Zheng Jie is currently doing. He is in a heated conversation. It was just supposed to be a normal conversation, with Zheng Jie bringing sense and logic to the debate. The end goal was to convince this Yan Yu that his life was wrong.
However, Yan Yu didn't engage at all. He only brings insult and other enraging remarks. And he isn't even here for Zheng Jie to slash down.
For all of his life, seeing a Devil, he would cut them down. Never has he strayed from that path. However, right now he is seeing a devil, but how can he cut him down?
Applying laws? The previous time he tried it, he was banned from this Heavenly Dao discussion. And judging from the continued conversation, that time, it did not cut Yan Yu.
For the first time in his life, the Heavenly Sword Sect Sect master's sword didn't reach.
At the level of law, there was supposed to be not one thing in this world he couldn't cut. No matter how far away they are, no matter where they are.
But that time, even with law being imbued to the edge of his blade, it was as if Yan Yu didn't exist anywhere at all. Not in this world. Because Yan Yu is nowhere in this world, his sword didn't reach.
Little did he knows of how right he is.
However, even though for the first time in his life, he was stopped, there was no hatred. Momentary anger maybe, but there was no hatred. No obsession carved into his mind.
For the cultivator of the Heaven Dao, everything is according to the will of the Heaven Dao. If he faces obstacles on his path of cultivation, than so be it. Nothing ever comes easy, and for the cultivator, they faces many trials and tests. Do they ask why the Heaven test them when it was them who strive for that enlightenment?
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If Yan Yu persists out of his reach for now, than so be it. If the heaven has plan for Yan Yu, then so be it. If this was supposed to be a trial for Zheng Jie, then so be it.
That is why Zheng Jie truly wishes to attain enlightenment, to attain the Heaven Dao. He truly believes that there should be no evil in this world, he does not question why there are evil in the world, only that he would destroy it if he sees it.
The Heavenly Saint, they call him.
And right now,
"Fairy Yijun: What are you? Stupid? There are no such thing as Devil in this world."
"Fairy Yijun: You should listen to me because I'm stronger than you! What realm are you at?"
He realizes that this "Fairy Yijun" on screen is harmless. She is a wonderful cultivator on the path of cultivation, it is just that she has too many conceits.
Zheng Jie has no illusion about the truth of life. Every living human has conceit. Desires, craving, even the "self". Having a self means having conceit, being tangled up in the web of karma. In a world of human and human interaction, how could there not be karma between human? There are even karma between the heaven and earth.
However, to walk the rightful path of cultivation, you eventually cast out those conceits. Only by cutting karma do you attain enlightenment. Zheng Jie has no illusion about the truth of cultivators. Not all can walk this path to the very end. Even so, it is fine, it is beautiful that they have strived for the path isn't it?
This Fairy Yijun is a wonderful cultivator. However, that is if she stays that way.
She could not be allowed to be lead astray by the sweet whisper of the Devil path cultivators.
The only end that await at the end of that path is endless suffering. Those people are especially entangled in a web of karma, a web of bad karma. The more they progress down the path, the worse they get. That is why devil path cultivators should be killed, for the world at large and for themselves.
"Fairy Yijun: I'm at Cloud Forming Realm!"
The fellow cultivator types again. Zheng Jie smiles, she would be a wonderful outer sect disciple. Zheng Jie humors her
"Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: I'm at Sky Sea realm."
But then he immediately frowns.
"Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: Darkness devouring the Heaven stage."
How could Zheng Jie not realize the meaning behind that stage. Masters at Sky Sea realm are compared to the Sky Sea above, that is the heaven. Then, this Devil cultivation stage, "Darkness devouring the Heaven" seems to be the direct opposite of the Sky Sea realm. Judging by the other party also being able to utilize law at the start to counter Zheng Jie's own, that means...
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The name has meaning, so this is the Devil cultivation's answer to the Heaven path's Sky Sea realm.
But that means...
The worst scenario has come true, there exist a Devil path cultivator that has progressed that far down the dark path.
One again, Zheng Jie quietly utilizes his law. The last time, the Sect Master utilizes the link between the name on the screen to connect to the people on the screen.
However, that did not seem to work.
And so, this time...
At that moment, at the Heavenly Sword Sect's headquarter.
"What is this?"
"Is the Sect Master ascending?"
The whole sect was in uproar.
From the unassailable zone in the middle of their sect, a wave of Heaven Qi spreads out in all directions, engulfing everything within it. Some even tries to run, but their fellow disciples caught them.
It was no secret that there are traitors in the sect, this is a good chance to roost them out.
That cold wave of Heaven Qi...
That is Zheng Jie's divine sense.
For a master at the peak of Sky Sea realm, they expand their soul out. It was the true meaning of becoming one with the heaven and earth, their soul expands out becoming just like the heaven and earth.
Sky Sea, one with the heaven.
Truly, it was truly one step beneath the Heaven Dao.
But stepping into the Sect Master's divine sense have a different meaning for the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect. They don't see themselves as worthy. Also, it was traditions. They were kinda afraid.
700 years ago.
"You have a darkness weighing down your heart. It is nothing for now, but in the future, it will affect your cultivation."
The chief disciple ended up being forced to cultivate next to the sect master for 10 years without seeing the outside world.
300 years ago, that chief disciple ended up walking down another path outside of cultivation, he was entangled in the web of love. He was unlikely to change his mind, even if the sect master kill him. So one day, he braves the absolute zone of the sect master's abode. Without even needing to be informed of the matter
"The years passing by, the sleeves fading into gray
A sense of flower fading, the karma of husband and wife
The Heaven Dao is cold, a person waiting is as beautiful as flower
Falling into the karma of the world, schemes and plots are as sharp as weapons
Life is easy. Love is hard."
The moment he steps within those boundary, those was the words he heard. The sect master has known that it was impossible to change his mind. The moment he stepped within those boundary, the sect master had known. Without even seeing his master for one last time, the chief disciple's cultivation was dissolved, his connection to the Heavenly Sword sect was also dissolved that day. He did not even see the sect master for one last time, the moment he walked down the path of love, their connection was cut.
The chief disciple on his part was seemingly happy with the outcome. However, the other disciples was kinda scared.
It is said that among the Heavenly Sword Sect, the best outcome when you enter the sect master's divine sense is 10 years of personal advices.
The worst is the dissolution of your entire cultivation base.
Despite that, the sect master is the person they respect the most in the world. His ideals are strict, but they idolize them. When they cannot continue to walk the path of cultivation, they know it is their fault and no other. It is because of that clear divide of right and wrong that the Heavenly Sword sect is one of the strongest sect under the heaven.
And so, when the heaven qi wave spreads out from the center, they were scared but were also prepared.
It was also a good opportunity to roost out traitors.
In the Nine Cloud Kingdom, a certain woman stares wide-eyed at the spreading wave.
"T-this was not supposed to happen. Is this Zheng Jie's power?"
In a continent below, at that moment Fang Yijun feels a shiver from head to toes. Just where did this cold wave comes from?
On the Eight Sanctum continent, in one moment, the barren continent was suddenly filled with Qi. After the celestial phenomenon in the sky due to Shao Jingyi's ascension, now this strange incident, the whole continent is in uproar. Astronomers and fortune tellers call this a good omen, a bad omen and everything in between. One thing that can be sure is that the continent is never going to be the same again.
This phenomenon continue to propagate, the continents below, the stars above. Everyone was given a fright.
The next moment, Zheng Jie starts coughing, blood comes out of his eyes.
"Not of heaven and earth. Not of heaven and earth." He mutters. Finally he manages to confirm it.
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