Chen Kuang's eyes gleamed slightly as if he were deep in thought.
This passive skill, "Reasoned and Convincing", wasn't just decent... it was extremely good. No, it was essential, practically a divine skill for anyone who relied on talking their way through danger.
Back when he was imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, if it weren't for his silver tongue and steely nerves, he would have been dead already, there wouldn't be any story left to tell.
In his experience, unless they had received a death order, most cultivators were actually quite cautious when it came to preserving their lives. At the same time, they were wary of enemies whose backgrounds were unclear.
After all, it's not easy to cultivate to this point. No one wanted to risk their life on a misjudgment.
For example, those two elders from the Three Calamities Sect who hunted him down. They had both died on the River of Death precisely because of that balance of caution and arrogance.
Whether it was fighting opponents of the same level or punching above his weight, as long as he could create even a tiny bit of information asymmetry, it might be the deciding factor in victory.
Therefore, for Chen Kuang, this passive skill was far more valuable than some of the purely combat-based ones.
In his view, it could almost rival the might of "Invincible Before the Divine."
However, what he was actually more interested in at this moment was the second line of text in the status panel.
This was the first time the panel had updated with something other than passive skill acquisition.
Clearly, the Karmic Power brought by "Root of Life and Death" was just as important as he had speculated!
But what puzzled him was this: he had only killed Wu Man, and yet he'd received one point of Evil Karma, and one point of Good Karma.
Just as he was trying to figure it out, he sensed two mysterious energies manifesting within his Sea of Consciousness.
In his divine sense, where the illusory towered pavilion always stood, two hazy wisps of fog now drifted in the sky above.
One black and one white.
These two wisps circled each other, entangling and chasing in loops, forming a swirling, dynamic shape like a moving Taiji diagram within the cloud canopy above the vision.
The moment Chen Kuang's divine sense perceived them, his mind momentarily blurred, and he suddenly traced the origin of the Good Karma.
...
Within a dimly lit house...
The air was heavy with the stench of blood, with faint hints of scorched flesh, evidence of the violent betrayal that had just taken place.
Cough, cough...
No one knew how much time had passed, but the boy lying on the ground suddenly heaved a breath. His pale chest rose slightly, blood returned to his ghostly face, and he coughed sharply, once again breathing.
"Hurry, hurry! Keep searching! Leave no corner untouched! That demon is hiding here somewhere!"
From outside came the muffled shouts of government enforcers.
Akan's heart skipped a beat. He dared not make a sound and could only sit up with great effort and pain.
He touched his chest and hissed in agony. His senses returned slowly, and with them came intense pain.
But even worse than the physical pain was the anguish of betrayal.
His eyes were blank but memories were crystal clear.
It had been none other than the "big sister" he had trusted as his savior, Wu Man, who had struck him with a killing blow.
If she hadn't been unaware of Akan's Divine Ability "Heaven-Severing Concealment", which granted him an automatic false-death state by clouding others' perceptions at the brink of death, he would have died for sure!
The young white-furred mouse demon took a deep breath. Amid his sorrow, he quickly accepted reality and began to stand.
The enforcers would be here any second. His injuries were far too severe. He had to flee.
But just as he got to his feet, a purple-scaled serpent slithered into the doorway nearby.
"Big... sister..."
Akan froze. He recognized it, it was one of Wu Man's illusory serpent clones, conjured through her magic.
His heart turned to ice.
In that instant, he understood: the illusion had led the enforcers here.
Wu Man wasn't even going to leave him the chance to live. After grievously injuring him, she'd used this illusion to guide the enforcers right to him.
She was determined to have him caught, so her "Master Wang" would have someone to blame.
Akan's eyes dimmed completely and he gave a bitter laugh.
With his injuries, he had no chance of surviving once caught...
He sighed, staring numbly at the incoming serpent clone.
The illusion's body began to swell grotesquely, as if it would explode at any moment.
That was one of the serpent illusion's functions, it could create a huge explosion to draw attention. It was originally meant to confuse enemies.
But now... it had become a weapon to kill a comrade.
Akan gave up hope and prepared to shut his eyes.
But then, the serpent flickered once and vanished into thin air.
"Huh?"
He blinked.
For the illusion to dissipate, there could only be one explanation: Wu Man was dead.
Her spell had lost its source of Spiritual Energy and had forcibly dissolved.
"Whew..."
Akan let out a huge breath of relief, immediately beginning to regulate his breathing. Once the enforcers' voices faded into the distance, he struggled to transform back into his original form, a small white mouse, and escaped out the back door.
Before leaving, he paused as his tiny, beady eyes filled with resolve.
He knelt formally in the direction of the sky and gave a proper kowtow before racing off.
He didn't know who had slain Wu Man, but whoever it was had become his life-saving benefactor.
If there ever came a day when he could find this person, he would repay the debt without hesitation...
But now, he had to return to the Mountain-Sea Alliance and report Wu Man's betrayal to the others.
...
Chen Kuang instantly understood.
That white-furred mouse demon had been one of Wu Man's pasties, tricked into stealing the silver and then discarded as a scapegoat.
Because he'd killed Wu Man, he had incidentally saved the mouse demon's life, and thus earned one point of Good Karma.
Chen Kuang rubbed his chin, now feeling enlightened.
The "Root of Life and Death" measured Karmic Power based on proximate cause and effect!
In other words, he killed Wu Man and earned Evil Karma. But by killing her, he also saved someone who would otherwise have died by her hands, and so he earned Good Karma.
Apparently, the key factor was timing and direct causality.
Which explained why he only received one point of Good Karma.
Yes, "only."
Based on Wu Man's confessions, the number of people she had killed, or would kill in the future, was clearly far more than just one.
If the system calculated every single person she had harmed, Chen Kuang should have received seventeen or eighteen points of Good Karma from killing her at least.
Thinking this far, Chen Kuang couldn't help but feel a little regretful.
He clicked his tongue.
He was reminded of the time he'd received the "Fasting Body" passive, for "indirectly saving the lives of 50,000 people."
That had been listed as a real-time effect in his status panel. It absolutely should have counted as Karmic Merit.
If only he had acquired "Root of Life and Death" earlier, he could have gotten a full 50,000 points of Good Karma!
Chen Kuang silently mourned the missed opportunity.
...
On the other side, Liu Qingcheng was trying to make sense of Chen Kuang's words.
"You... S-Senior, are you saying that the companions of that serpent demon will come to you voluntarily?"
She had originally wanted to use the informal address she was used to, but after witnessing Wu Man's gruesome demise, she immediately switched to a respectful title.
Chen Kuang nodded, amused at her words.
This courtesan was surprisingly sly, copying Wu Man's address and calling him Senior, trying to quietly reposition herself as a "junior demon" to curry favor.
He took back what he said earlier, this Miss Liu had a few tricks up her sleeve.
Not many, but at least a few.
Liu Qingcheng frowned slightly, troubled.
"But that means... they're coming for revenge..."
Chen Kuang shook his head, speaking with meaningful calm:
"No one will come to avenge her."
"Those who come for her disappearance will fall into two groups. The first are members of the Mountain-Sea Alliance. But once they learn of her betrayal, they'll have no reason to avenge a traitor."
"The second group will be people from the government. Since the real culprit has not been found, they'll continue to investigate. With the Department of Shennong's methods, once a true expert gets involved, it won't take long for them to find this place."
"Those patrolmen tonight... are not worth worrying about. In either case, no one will be coming to avenge the serpent demon. They'll come only for one thing, the stolen silver."
Liu Qingcheng had wanted to ask how he knew all this, but recalling his otherworldly abilities, she decided against it.
Lowering her eyes to the three boxes of silver that Wu Man had spat out before dying, she asked softly:
"Then... should we return the silver?"
Chen Kuang raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"Why would I return it?"
In his hands, these boxes of silver could produce a thousand times more value than they ever could in government hands.
He already had plans to use this opportunistic windfall to cultivate a massive act of Good Karma.
But first, he would need some time to thoroughly investigate the current situation in the kingdom and Yongan Prefectures.
...
Liu Qingcheng was at a loss for words for a moment, but then heard Chen Kuang continue speaking:
"You should have figured it out by now. That government silver, the Chief Constable intended to embezzle it for himself."
"Even if you returned it now, it would be like throwing meat buns at a dog, once it's gone, it won't come back."
Liu Qingcheng tried her best to reason it out:
"But now that it's already been stolen once, in order to avoid losing face a second time, shouldn't they be unlikely to make another move?"
Chen Kuang shook his head and said:
"It definitely won't be lost again here in Zangfeng Prefecture. But once the transport convoy enters Yongan Prefecture, whether that silver is still there... will no longer be his problem."
Liu Qingcheng pressed her lips together.
Was it really this difficult... to ensure that even this mere ten chests of relief silver actually reached those in need?
Chen Kuang looked at her and asked:
"Didn't you say you wanted to become a demon? Why are you suddenly getting sentimental and sympathizing with the suffering of others?"
"Most of those afflicted by disaster are humans, what does it have to do with demons?"
Liu Qingcheng was caught off guard and cornered by the question. She opened her mouth, but in the end could only slump a little and say in defeat:
"I thought..."
Chen Kuang cut her off:
"You thought demons were beyond rules, able to live freely outside of human-made laws."
"So you wanted to become a demon, even though you have only a quarter of demon blood."
He shrugged:
"Now you've seen it for yourself, what the life of a real demon is actually like."
"They still live under oppression, struggling to survive in the cracks."
From the very beginning, Chen Kuang had known what Liu Qingcheng truly wanted. However, he also understood that she still saw herself as human.
For someone like her, becoming a demon would be ten thousand times worse than remaining human.
Liu Qingcheng fell silent.
After a while, she said softly:
"But... Senior is different."
Chen Kuang mused:
"That's probably because I'm... strong enough?"
Liu Qingcheng: "..."
Chen Kuang turned his head and glanced at her:
"In this world, there has never truly been a distinction between man and demon. There are only two categories, the strong, and the weak."
"Duckweed covers the heavens; fish struggle through the rapid waters."
This truth was something he had understood clearly ever since the day he escaped the imperial city.
Liu Qingcheng fell silent again for a long moment. Then, all of a sudden, she looked toward Chen Kuang with something akin to hope in her eyes.
Chen Kuang waved his hand, sending all three chests of silver flying out and sinking them into the bottom of the Rouge River.
In truth, that first chest of silver had already been hidden at the river's bottom earlier. Yet none of those constables had noticed a thing.
A classic example of "hidden in plain sight."
Then again, one reason was that the Rouge River itself was simply too large and obvious, so obvious, in fact, that it became the last place anyone would think to check.
And the second reason was because Lian Mi had drawn their attention away for a while.
Chen Kuang turned to Liu Qingcheng and raised an eyebrow:
"You want to become stronger?"
Liu Qingcheng's eyes lit up and she nodded vigorously.
At this moment, she no longer looked like the cold and untouchable famed courtesan who'd mesmerized the entire region. Instead, she had the air of a curious little girl, stumbling upon something new and exciting.
Chen Kuang said indifferently:
"Then first decide, do you want to be human, or do you want to be a demon?"
Liu Qingcheng blinked:
"Didn't you just say... there's no difference between humans and demons?"
Chen Kuang gave her a look and smirked:
"I can say that but you can't just believe it at face value."
Liu Qingcheng: "..."
She finally understood, this old monster just liked to mess with people!
Liu Qinhcheng, the Flower Courtesan had already mentally labeled Chen Kuang as some unfathomably ancient demon, and figured that eccentric behavior was to be expected from someone who'd lived so long...
And in truth, it was a very important question.
She realized now it might even be some kind of test from this elder to assess her stance. She would have to think carefully before answering.
"May I... take a few days to think it over before I answer?"
Chen Kuang nodded gravely and said:
"You may."
In truth, he was just putting on airs.
Liu Qingcheng had performed well tonight. It made Chen Kuang start to consider whether he could cultivate her into a spokesperson, someone who could act and speak on his behalf, allowing him to remain hidden in the shadows.
But at the moment, he didn't have a suitable cultivation technique to hand over to her.
Then again, as the saying goes, if we don't have guns and cannons, the enemy will build them for us.
What kind of technique Liu Qingcheng could end up cultivating would depend on who shows up next...
Liu Qingcheng, now reassured by his answer, was filled with delight but managed to suppress her emotions. She bowed in farewell.
"Then this junior shall not disturb Senior's rest any further... Earlier, I was ignorant and offended you in many ways. Tomorrow, I will prepare a generous gift to offer my apologies. I hope Senior will forgive me."
She bowed gracefully, her tone soft and delicate, carrying with it a hundredfold charm.
Especially those two neck-hung sashes that weighed heavily on her chest, swaying and nearly coming loose...
She really understood the etiquette well. As everyone knows, the sincerest apologies are paid in cleavage...
Chen Kuang cut off that train of thought with an internal cough, then said in a low voice:
"There's no need to apologize. I was just looking for a place to rest for a while, and the identity you arranged for me is quite decent."
Liu Qingcheng bowed again, then turned and left slowly, closing the door respectfully behind her.
All things considered, this courtesan, when she wasn't acting proud, was truly a sight to behold, and knew her manners well...
Chen Kuang sat back down on his bed.
"But speaking of which... why did I end up saving the lives of fifty thousand people, back then?"
Chen Kuang furrowed his brows. This long-buried mystery had once again risen to the surface in his mind, stirred by the recent events and thoughts.
What made it all the more perplexing was the specific wording in his status panel at the time:
"Because you gave a steamed bun to the Lady of Liang."
In other words, the real key was Chu Wenruo, the Lady of Liang.
This detail hadn't made sense to him at the time, and afterwards, he hadn't had the luxury to think on it any further.
But now, it struck him as deeply suspicious.
Back then, had he not given her that steamed bun... Chu Wenruo had indeed harbored suicidal thoughts.
If she had died, Huo Hengxuan would've likely exposed his power prematurely.
Even in the final battle of the Sages, since the main fighting occurred off the ground, it hadn't caused the complete annihilation of all fifty thousand Black Armored Soldiers...
So with all the known forces involved at the time, there really shouldn't have been anything that could've caused such a devastating massacre.
"No... there was one more."
Chen Kuang suddenly recalled the possibility he had considered back then, but that ultimately never manifested.
At the time, he had speculated that the Zhou Kingdom's invasion of Liang had two objectives:
First, the Elixir of Immortality.
Second... an ancient demon sealed beneath Liang.
The Elixir had obviously ended up with Chen Kuang.
But that ancient demon had vanished as if into thin air.
Even with a world-shaking battle raging overhead, it hadn't stirred.
"If we include the possibility of that unknown ancient demon being unleashed... then yes, it's very possible the entire Black Armored Army could've been wiped out."
Chen Kuang racked his brains, but still couldn't figure out what connection Chu Wenruo could have had to that ancient demon.
Still... in his heart, he had long suspected that Chu Wenruo was not as simple as she seemed.
Back when he was still imprisoned, he had used Piercing Insight and seen a layer of hazy white light lingering on her body, something that had never faded.
But what that white light represented... he still had no idea.
"Perhaps... Chu Wenruo was the key to awakening that ancient demon?"
It was the only guess he could make.
His heart felt inexplicably heavy.
He couldn't help but wonder...
"I wonder... how are Chu Wenruo and the little princess doing now?"
After all, they had relied on each other all this way. Chen Kuang did feel some real affection for the mother and daughter pair.
As for Shen Meinan, there was no need to worry, she was Shen Xingzhu's younger sister, the Second Miss of the Shen Family. A brief escapade from home would, at most, earn her a scolding.
But Chu Wenruo and the little princess... they were a different matter altogether.
Though they should have already crossed into the borders of the Yang Kingdom, they were still far from safe.
Chen Kuang thought to himself that he might need a channel for gathering information... and a brothel, in fact, was quite a suitable choice.
He let out a soft laugh, by sheer coincidence, he had ended up in a place that was convenient in all sorts of ways.
"Hoo..."
Chen Kuang exhaled and sat cross-legged, resuming his cultivation of the [Mud-Forged Gold Body Technique] to increase the strength of his current physical body.
He was confident that by tomorrow, he would be able to bring this body to the Tower Ascension Realm.
Chen Kuang entered a state of meditation.
In his divine sense, the two strands of black and white mist suddenly separated.
The black mist vanished in an instant, its whereabouts unknown.
At the same moment, in the space between the Wujian Realms, Chen Kuang's awareness leapt up in wild joy. He sprang to his feet from his meditative posture, eyes gleaming with shock and delight.
He looked out into the pitch-black void and couldn't help but laugh aloud:
"So that's how it is! Karmic Power is the very force that constitutes the Wishforce of this 'Wujian Between'!"
He took a deep breath and snapped his fingers.
The originally lightless void unfurled like a scroll, revealing a scene of an unfamiliar place.
It looked like a slum, formed from the convergence of several ancient streets, filthy, chaotic, and far larger than the modest living room he had previously conjured with his own Willforce.
Chen Kuang stood upon a narrow street. The eaves on either side jutted out so far they nearly blocked out the entire sky, though in truth, there was no sky here at all, only blackness.
He inhaled, the air was thick with dampness and rot, the scent was sharp and unmistakable.
"Hey, make way!"
"Move it!"
Suddenly, the shouts of a few children came from behind.
Chen Kuang turned around and stepped aside.
The group of children dashed past him like a gust of wind.
The leader of the group paused for a second, turned back, and stuck out his tongue with a mischievous face:
"Blehhh~!"
Then they all ran off laughing and shouting.
It was obvious they weren't actually asking people to move, they were deliberately bumping into others, treating it like a game.
These children's sudden appearance felt like the beginning of a play.
The narrow, interlacing streets quickly filled with people, young and old, some hurrying by, some sitting dejectedly, some carrying loads and hawking goods.
They all passed by Chen Kuang, bringing with them wind and humidity. They were vivid and lifelike.
Chen Kuang did not recognize these children. He didn't know any of the people in this place.
In other words, they did not come from his own memories. They were not formed from his own Wishforce.
They had been conjured by that strand of Evil Karma.
Chen Kuang slowly stepped back into a shadowy corner by the wall, observing the bustling street with great interest.
This once-vast reincarnation world had now finally regained a sliver of its former vitality.
The power maintaining the operation of this world, was Karmic Power.
And it was evil karma.
Chen Kuang had previously summoned enemies from his past lives to use as training dummies.
He had thought he was doing so on a whim. But now he understood, those phantoms were born from his own evil karma.
"A world composed entirely of the memories of the dead... is this, perhaps, a different kind of netherworld?"
The thought occurred to him.
Then he shook his head.
There were no ox-headed or horse-faced underworld guards here. No judges of hell. There was only one ruler.
Himself.
"But... judging by the architecture, this place seems to be somewhere in the Yang Kingdom, doesn't it?"
Chen Kuang lifted his gaze toward the rooftops.
The architectural style was indeed that of the Yang Kingdom.
"This was my hometown,"
Someone said.
The voice was faint, tinged with nostalgia.
Chen Kuang was not surprised as he turned around, and met a pair of blood-red vertical pupils.
Standing not far from him was a woman in a violet dress. A purple scale marked her forehead and her phoenix eyes tilted slightly upward; her brows swept toward her temples.
It was the snake demon, Wu Man.
"Oh."
Chen Kuang nodded and said:
"These people... or demons, were they all killed by you?"
Wu Man was silent for a moment, then nodded and said:
"Yes."
She stepped into the street and bought a small bouquet of white jasmine from an old peddler.
The old man recognized her and smiled warmly, chatting with her for a bit.
Wu Man returned and said:
"This place was called Ping'an Town. I knew every single demon here. I grew up with them, lived among them for twenty years.."
"The demons of Ping'an Town never left the town. They lived their own lives and had no contact with humans."
Chen Kuang replied:
"Until... you exposed the location of Ping'an Town to the humans."