The lava dragon had yet to arrive, and Yun Jin was more than happy to stall for time.
Her expression didn't shift as she arched an eyebrow slightly. "Oh?"
"The Demon Sovereign ordered me to use Qin Ping, and the lives of the entire city's people, to threaten you," Xue Daoren said with a twisted grin. "To be honest, I never believed it would actually work. I knew you would see the trap. And yet, for the sake of one gravely wounded Qin Ping, and for these lowly mortals, you really dared to come anyway. Do you even realize the price you're going to pay is your life?"
Lowly mortals?
Down below—
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Most of them were ordinary people, with no hope in their lifetime of ever stepping onto the path of cultivation.
This world was cruel.
Just lacking a spiritual root was enough to block most people from cultivating altogether.
They understood this well.
In a world like this, mortals lived at the very bottom of the pyramid.
As long as someone was a cultivator, even if they were just at the Qi Refinement stage, they could lord over them without fear.
No matter how wealthy or skilled in martial arts a mortal was, in front of the overwhelming power of cultivators, it meant nothing. They had thought they were used to this kind of humiliation.
But now—
When the Blood Daoist said those words, "lowly mortals," with such blatant contempt, they couldn't help but feel a sting in their hearts.
Still, if they thought about it carefully—
Would any other cultivator have risked their life to come here, just to protect them?
The answer was obvious.
No.
Because in the eyes of cultivators, the lives of mortals were no different from ants. Not even worth remembering.
But Yun Jin had come.
Why?
The crowd lifted their eyes, looking up at Yun Jin, silently begging for an answer.
Yun Jin stared at Xue Daoren without any expression. "Lowly mortals? Quite the opposite. Mortals are the very foundation of this world. Primordial Souls cycle through reincarnation. A mortal in this life might be a peerless genius in the next. And a genius in this life might reincarnate as a mortal. If a soul suffers too much damage in this life, it carries that pain into its next rebirth. Before the emergence of immortal artifacts, cultivators still cared about the common people. The reason was simple. Only by protecting mortals, ensuring their souls entered reincarnation whole and intact, could each new generation produce more talent. Otherwise, when the world is in chaos and mortal souls are damaged, the chances of being born with spiritual roots in the next life become even smaller. The cycle of the Heavenly Dao continues like this. It may not show after a thousand years, but give it ten thousand, a hundred thousand years—fewer and fewer people will be able to cultivate, and fewer geniuses will appear. Eventually, the world will crumble.
Besides, mortals carry with them the power of Faith. When enough faith gathers, it becomes something called Luck. Luck is invisible and intangible, but in moments of great crisis, it can protect those blessed by it. A thousand years ago, cultivators protected the mortal world largely for the power of Faith, to gain Luck. But after the immortal artifacts appeared, the four items divided the continent into four regions. Within each region, most of the Luck was siphoned off by the Holy Lands. Cultivators no longer needed to protect mortals to gain Luck. The distribution of Luck became centralized, controlled by the Holy Lands. These days, earning Luck through protecting mortals is exceedingly rare. It takes someone like Qin Ping, who spent his life protecting a Kingdom, to gain even a trace of it. With such imbalance, it's more efficient to simply join a sect and receive Luck directly from the Holy Land's distribution.
But the world was never meant to be like this.
Cultivators and mortals were meant to support one another. Now there is only plundering, no protection. Give it another ten thousand years, and this world may become a wasteland where no one can cultivate."
Yun Jin spoke slowly, deliberately drawing out her words.
After all, she wanted to buy more time.
Since Xue Daoren hadn't interrupted her, she would speak as long as she could. These hidden truths were ones she had only read about in the ancient texts of the Wushuang Sect.
Back then, the Wan Dao Saint had already been deeply concerned about the Holy Lands monopolizing all the Luck. He had even planned to resolve it one day.
Unfortunately—
Before he could take action, he sacrificed himself in the battle against the outer-realm demons.
So Yun Jin—
On one hand, she was expressing her own stance. On the other, she knew her words would spread. She hoped that more people would awaken, and work together to restore this world to a positive cycle.
Otherwise... even Yun Jin felt this world wouldn't last much longer.
She continued speaking calmly.
Below, the mortals looked up in a daze.
Faith.
Luck.
They had never known about any of this.
So that was how it worked.
The mighty cultivators, the lofty Holy Lands—they had been supported all along by countless mortals.
But after stealing their power of faith like robbers, they dared to scorn mortals as lowly?
At that moment—
The image of the Holy Lands began to crack.
These people had once seen the Holy Lands as their faith.
Here, they had all been taught to revere the Qingxiao Pavilion. Even glimpsing a disciple from Qingxiao Pavilion had once been the pride of a lifetime.
This time—
Even when something happened in Qingxiao Pavilion, many had still clung to the belief that the sect must be innocent.
After all, it was a Holy Land.
Why would a Holy Land conspire with demon clans? There was no benefit to them at all.
But now—
With that belief being torn open, a faint trace of resentment began to creep in. They had heard that the other three Holy Lands didn't suppress mortals nearly as harshly. In those regions, cultivators still helped the people, still fought against those who practiced evil arts.
But what about the region under Qingxiao Pavilion's rule?
It had nearly become a haven for demonic cultivators.
Why had the Blood Dao Sect been able to operate in the capital of Canglan Kingdom for so many years? Beyond their ability to hide their presence, the bigger reason was this:
The sects and the Demon-Slaying Alliance here had no interest in opposing the demonic path.
Most of the local sects were too busy protecting themselves. Even when they encountered demonic cultivators on the road, if there wasn't enough personal gain, they wouldn't lift a finger.
The atmosphere in Qingxiao Pavilion's territory had degraded to this degree.
Qingxiao Pavilion bore the greatest responsibility.
They forcibly stole the Luck of mortals, then offered no protection in return. That was even worse than the demon clans.
At least the demon clans hadn't robbed them of their Luck.
[Emotional Value +100!]
[Emotional Value +200!]
[Emotional Value +100!]
In that moment—
The system's voice echoed wildly in Yun Jin's mind, announcing Emotional Value gains over and over again. The sound was so overwhelming that Yun Jin was startled and instantly disabled the system notifications.
The capital held nearly ten million people.
That speech—most of them had probably heard it.
Each one had contributed some Emotional Value to her.
Even Yun Jin herself couldn't estimate how much she had just earned.
The Emotional Value was still surging at a terrifying rate.
The next moment—
A calm mechanical voice rang in Yun Jin's mind.
[One hundred million Emotional Value gained in a single wave. System unlocking new function.]