Yue Hongyan stared at Zhang Lie, the person who left a deep impression in her mind.
This man was once her Master, the one who imparted his skills to her and helped her to grow.
After the Arctic State was destroyed, her brother Yue Hongfeng and Zhang Lie were the closest people to her. After Yue Hongfeng met with a disaster, Zhang Lie became her pillar of support. He was not only her Master, but also her loved one.
Against the Great Zhou Empire, Zhang Lie helped everyone to avert one crisis after another. He was actively protecting his own nation against the Great Zhou Empire.
During that period of time, Zhang Lie was like sunlight, as he chased the darkness away for those from the Arctic State.
He was like the pillar of a house. He refused to bow down to the Great Zhou Empire and supported everyone from the Arctic State.
But it was also this same guy who killed all his fellow comrades and wiped out the Liefeng Covenant.
Yue Hongyan's fury started to turn into coldness. She felt as if she didn't know this man in front of her who once felt so familiar to her. This feeling was never more intense before.
"There's no place for weaklings anyway. I shall use your flesh and blood to pay respects to the Arctic State." Yue Hongyan said coldly, "This was what you said before. But now it seems like everything was an excuse!"
Zhang Lie looked at Yue Hongyan before looking at the silent Kang Nanhua. He then looked at Zhao Huan, who was filled with hatred and fear.
"It's not that all of you were blind. It's just that even I did not see myself clearly." Zhang Lie smiled. He lifted his head to look into the sky, as if he was recalling his memories. "The old me also thought that I should be a mature and fearless leader. I was always a believer. No matter how tough the path was, I believed that we can make the Great Zhou Empire pay for their deeds one day and rebuild the Arctic State."
"Before this, I would protect my comrades until I die."
"I once believed in all this."
Zhang Lie lowered his head and laughed lightly, "You are right. Everything that I said then were all excuses. The weaklings were not all of you."
"It's me."
He lifted his head and smiled at Yue Hongyan. He said calmly, "Hongyan, do you know? Something was brewing in my heart during the time when we resisted the Great Zhou Empire. It became more and more intense and eventually, it devoured my soul. I could feel its presence and activity all the time."
"Fatigue? Torment? Dejection? None of these." Zhang Lie said. "It's fear, a fear that did not allow hope to exist."
"The Great Zhou Empire was too strong. They were too strong. To them, we are just fleas. It's impossible for us to rebuild our state. It's so difficult until I lost all hope."
"Yes, I was afraid and desolate. But I couldn't tell anyone. I couldn't express it. Because I was the leader of the Liefeng Covenant. I had to protect everyone. Everyone looked to me and relied on me."
"Although I was not born from the royal blood of the Arctic State, my parents, grandfather, uncles, brothers were all heroes. They died while resisting the Great Zhou Empire. Anyone could concede defeat, but not me!"
Zhang Lie shut his eyes and said indifferently, "But I was really fearful. I was so scared till I could not catch my breath. But I persevered and continued to progress forward, under the burden of protecting the others."
"Slowly, I started to feel sick of it. Countless thoughts surfaced in my mind. If I didn't have to be responsible for so many people, how good would it feel? If I didn't have to feel so tired, if I didn't have to resist the Great Zhou Empire…"
Zhang Lie opened his eyes and he looked calm. He stared at Yue Hongyan, Kang Nanhua and Zhao Huan, "Since these thoughts appeared, I kept telling myself that I am making a mistake. I shouldn't be thinking like this."
"However, they still kept on surfacing in my mind. And they became even more frequent. My fear kept on increasing day by day and it became more and more intense day by day. This carried on until it hit the peak."
"In my mind, a thought that even I was afraid of surfaced." Zhang Lie said slowly, "These annoying pricks, I should just kill them."
Zhang Lie's lips trembled and he smiled, "That's right, because of the incident where I tried to overcome the Void Lightning Tribulations and form the Nascent Soul, I accidentally entered a plane of space where time was faster. I obtained a rare opportunity. After that, I formed the Nascent Soul and reached the Intermediate Stage of the Nascent Soul Stage."
"But during then, my state of mind lost its balance. Countless thoughts flowed and caused my mind to be in a mess."
"There were many Nascent Soul Stage cultivators just like me in the Great Zhou Empire. There were also many Immortal Soul Stage Elders, magic treasures and formations … back then, we didn't even know that the Great Zhou Empire had such a powerful magic treasure in the destiny realm. This shows how inferior we were."
Zhang Lie's tone of voice was calm. It was as if he as saying something that was unrelated to him, "I cultivated tirelessly, even if I formed the Nascent Soul, so what? So what if I cultivate the Cosmic Form? So what if I reach the Immortal Soul Stage?"
"My state of mind was in a total mess. I thought that I was going crazy."
"Hahahaha." Zhang Lie let out a deep laughter. "You all know what happened next."
"After all these, do you think I feel regretful? I do feel regretful sometimes. But most of the time, I feel more at ease. It's as if I released myself from all the restraints that I had. I have never felt so at ease before."
"I could intensely feel that not having to take responsibility, not having to force myself to do things that I did not want to and to live for myself was the happiest thing in my life!"
"Doing what I want is the real me. I could clearly see that this is the real me. Not only did all of you fail to see that, even I myself failed to do so either."
Zhang Lie shook his head, "After the matter, I did ponder. If I wanted to free myself of my restraints, I could just walk away. I didn't need to kill. But then, I really lost control of myself. The killing urge in me could not be stopped."
He looked at Yue Hongyan and the rest and his face cracked another smile. His tone of voice was calm, but there was a hint of numbness within, "After that, I finally realized that, in fact, a person's past unwavering belief may not be what he truly wants for himself. At some point in time, he will then realize what's truly important to him. And everything that he valued so much in the past was not worth a penny anymore."
Yue Hongyan looked at Zhang Lie. She did not look furious anymore, with only disappointment in her eyes. "Zhang Lie, you have indeed changed to the point where I can no longer recognize you anymore."
If he was just evil and unscrupulous, Yue Hongyan would at most be furious. But now she felt a strong sense of sorrow, not just for herself, but also for her fallen comrades. The person that they had followed all those years seemed to be mocking them now.
All the trust, hard work and courage in the past had become a joke.
Kang Nanhua looked at Zhang Lie and shook his head, "Zhang Lie, you did not see yourself clearly. Rather, you have become twisted. Your determination wavered."
He creased his brows, "However, how were you able to form the Immortal Soul with your mindset? I think it's even difficult for you to cultivate the Cosmic Form, not to mention the Immortal Soul. What happened to you?"
"Whatever I said, it's all in the past. Right now, I'm different from my past self." Zhang Lie smiled, "You can say anything you want, but I think that I'm good right now. I feel satisfied, free and happy."
"If I can rid myself of a few more enemies, that will be good."
Yue Hongyan stared at him. Her vision became cold, "Zhang Lie, regardless what you said, the blood debt that you owe must be returned."
Wang Lin said coldly, "We have caught up enough already. If we have more to say, we can say them back on Mount Yujing."
As he said, a projection flashed above his head. A huge door that was half black and half white appeared. The left side of the door was black and was carved with a few sculptures. It left everyone petrified. Hades, hungry ghouls, sea of fire. It was like Hell.
On the other hand, the right side of the door was white. There were many carvings on them. But they were images of flowers, mountains, rivers and countless lives. They seemed to be filled with the energy of life, just like a prosperous world.
As the door opened, a world clasped between Hell and Heaven appeared.
Wang Lin's abhijna of the Four Worlds, the Life and Death World.
A world that alternated between Heaven and Hell came smashing down on Zhang Lie, wanting to suck him inside.
Zhang Lie laughed and he grabbed void space beside him. He retrieved a greenish-black Pole-Ax. The brutal strength and evil merciless aura it contained was terrifying.
This was a magic treasure, and it revealed a frightening power concept within.
Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!
A destructive power that wanted to destroy everything!
Zhang Lie swung the Pole-Ax and his energy was unleashed. He struck the Life and Death World with the Pole-Ax. The brutal energy that it contained seemed to be able to destroy everything in the Heavens and Earth.
This magic treasure in the gestation realm that he possessed did not seem to be inferior to an Immortal Soul Stage cultivator under his command. As the two of them combined, the frightening destructive power was fully exhibited.
Wang Lin turned indifferent and he shouted, "Rawr!"
The projection above his head flashed and converted into a giant. The giant had four faces and eight limbs. As it stepped in void space, the Road to River Styx in front of it extended. The River of Forgetfulness flowed in front of it and above the river, a black stone bridge was erected. As the giant stood on the stone bridge, it was covered in black fog, which shone with white light occasionally.
And above the giant, there was a majestic pavilion, but this pavilion was entirely black. Above the pavilion, three levels of light projections were displayed, as if they formed a pagoda.
Each of these levels of projection were connected by a half white and half black door.
As the giant appeared, the powers of Wang Lin's Life and Death World were raised.
It was Wang Lin's Cosmic Form.