Chapter 62 Demons in the Heart
"Aaah!"
"Who is it?!"
With his palm nailed to the ground and his other hand holding the injured palm, the man was enraged and turned his head, looking around with a fierce and savage expression.
What greeted his eyes were the five disciples from Five Mountain Sword Sects riding on horses and the Great Constable tokens hanging on their waists.
The Huashan youth in white leading them was holding a violet great bow in his hands and looking at him coldly.
Apparently, he was the one who shot the arrow.
The man started trembling in fear, his tipsiness instantly dissipating, and he hurriedly kneeled down and begged for mercy while disregarding the pain from the injury.
"Have mercy Young Hero, this inferior one will not dare to do it again!"
Upon hearing their companion's words, the other two men drunkenly turned their heads. At the sight of the youth in white, they instantly sobered up and kneeled down as well.
"Have mercy Young Hero!"
The three of them kowtowed nonstop in great fear, the cold sweat dripping down their foreheads.
It was a common thing for people of Jianghu to bully ordinary people.
But if they encountered major sect disciples who possessed a superior sense of justice while doing the deed, they could only blame it on their luck if they were slain.
The three of them did not even have internal arts, how would they dare to argue with major sect disciples?
Only by fervently begging for mercy did they have a chance at keeping their lives.
"All of you, slap yourself 50 times and apologize to them!"
Lin Yi stated coldly with a chilling expression.
Pak! Pak! Pak!
The three of them started slapping themselves with all their strength without any hesitation, turning their faces into swollen pig-heads. Even the man with the nailed palm did the same while enduring the pain.
After they finished 50 slaps, they did not dare to stand up and crawled towards the middle-aged man's family.
"Very sorry, we were in the wrong!"
"We are beasts!"
"We are even less than beasts!"
"Please forgive us!"
The middle-aged man opened his bloody eyes and was dumbfounded by what he saw. Just a moment ago, these people were still savagely beating him and even announced their intentions to beat him to death, yet now they were apologizing and begging for forgiveness while kneeling in front of him like dogs.
His wife covered her mouth with one hand and helped his husband to get up with another hand.
The child was very excited instead as he watched the three men kneeling and scolding themselves. With his hands placed at his hips like a little adult, he said to them with a hint of childishness: "The three of you are bad people!"
"Bad people deserve to die!"
When they heard these words, the three of them instantly changed expressions and hurriedly threw themselves at the feet of the child, begging: "Little Ancestor, we were wrong. Uncle was wrong, please forgive Uncle alright? Uncle promises that we will never do this again!"
"Uncle will surely become a good person!"
"You all want to become good people?" The child tilted his head in thought, his eyes rolling about, then he touched his forehead and said: "Mother says that a good kid knows to admit his mistakes and change for the better."
"I forgive you all, don't do any more bad things!"
"That's for sure!"
The three men were nearly frightened to death by the child and repeatedly nodded their heads. Then they slowly turned around and looked at Lin Yi with a pleading expression.
Lin Yi waved his hand indifferently: "Each of you will now compensate them with a hundred taels of silver, then get out of my sight!"
The three men were overjoyed and quickly handed over the money to the middle-aged man before scrambling away.
"The three of you better remember this. If I ever see you making trouble again don't blame me for cutting you down!"
Words which were filled with killing intent suddenly came from behind them.
The three of them were nearly scared out of their wits and they quickly replied: "We won't dare to!"
Lin Yi then allowed them to leave with a wave of his hand.
They then bolted from the scene like frightened rabbits.
Lin Yi finally revealed a gentle smile and walked towards the family.
"Take this 300 taels of silver and find a good doctor to heal your injuries."
"Thank you, Young Hero!" The middle-aged man hurriedly kowtowed towards Lin Yi with his wife and son.
"Don't!" Lin Yi stopped them from doing and shook his head: "Suppressing the strong and helping the weak, carrying out righteous deeds and delivering justice, that's what we should be doing."
As he gazed at the dark clouds in the sky, he murmured: "You better take your family and leave Lanzhou City right away. It won't be safe here in the future, head for the inner areas of the Central Plains."
"Thank you, Young Hero! Thank you, Young Hero!" The husband and wife repeatedly thanked him. They were flattered by the way Lin Yi had talked to ordinary people like them.
As they helped each other to their feet and was about to leave, the child suddenly turned his head and asked with eyes bright: "Big Brother, will I be able to learn martial arts like you?"
Lin Yi was surprised by the question, but he stroked the child's head and nodded with a smile: "When you are older, you can enter Huashan to learn martial arts. Just tell them that Lin Yi of Huashan recommended you."
"Lin Yi of Huashan! I've remembered it, Big Brother Lin Yi." The child solemnly nodded his head and with a look of seriousness, he raised his head and shouted: "Big Brother Lin Yi, I will definitely do my best to learn martial arts and become a hero like you. Suppressing the strong and helping the weak, carrying out righteous deeds and delivering justice, and helping more people who need it!"
Lin Yi smiled and waved goodbye to the child: "Little fellow, I will wait for you in Huashan."
The family then disappeared from his sight.
Although the ordinary people nearby were greatly stirred by what they had seen, they all repressed their emotions and did not dare to cheer loudly. After taking a deep look at Lin Yi, they then left one by one.
"Senior Brother Lin Yi, they are just some ordinary people, was it worth doing that for them? Our duty is to slay the devils and vanquish the demons!" Yun Taizi asked as the four of them reached Lin Yi's side.
He had a mix of doubtfulness and indifference towards Lin Yi's actions.
"Slay the devils and vanquish the demons? What are demons? What are devils?" Lin Yi solemnly asked instead.
"Demons are obviously the demonic cult members. Devils are the unorthodox sect members." Yun Taizi simply replied without thinking.
"Do you all think so too?" Lin Yi smiled and asked the other three.
"Demons refer to those who carry out all sorts of wicked deeds. Devils refer to those who collude with demons and assist them with the wicked deeds." The little nun thought for a moment before giving her answer.
Lu Buping and Mo Yu had similar answers.
Lin Yi remained silent for a moment before pointing to his own heart: "Demons are not demonic cult members, demons are in our hearts. Everyone has demons in their hearts, greed, desire, bloodthirst, killing intent...it is, as they say, a single thought is capable of turning into a demon or a buddha. Devils also exist in our hearts, unscrupulously doing as they please or desire. The greatest difference between the righteous sects and demonic cults is that demonic cult members are able to express the demons in their hearts without any restraint. Whereas righteous sect members keep their demons hidden in their hearts."
"The reason why I helped those three ordinary people was because we all started out as ordinary people. As a human, one should not forget one's origin. Also, I don't like people of Jianghu treating ordinary people like livestock. If they like bullying the weak, what makes them different from demonic cult members? All of you should know that ordinary people are what makes up the backbone of our righteous sects. Without the contribution from the hard work of ordinary people, how could we practice martial arts in peace and pursue the peak of the martial way? In order to grow stronger, we should do a good job of maintaining order and make sure that ordinary people can lead their lives in peace. Only then will we be able to continue receiving support from them."
"Moreover, the duty of Liushanmen is to maintain order and protect the civilians. When people of Jianghu tyrannize ordinary people, it is our duty to correct them!"
Lin Yi's words seemed ordinary yet profound.
The four of them seemed to understand yet not understand. However, they were all able to perceive the broad-mindedness of Senior Brother Lin Yi.
Although they did not quite agree with Lin Yi's opinion that everyone had demons in their hearts, they were still full of respect for Lin Yi.
"Senior Brother Lin Yi, why did you let those three men only compensate a hundred taels of silver each? Wouldn't it be better if you made them compensate a couple thousands more taels of silver so that the family can have a good life from now on?" The little nun suddenly asked curiously.
Lin Yi smiled and said: "If I did that, it wouldn't be helping them, it would be harming them. Haven't you heard of the saying, it's a crime to possess jade? If they possessed such a great amount of money, they might attract the attention of those who desire to obtain the money for themselves, whether by robbing or killing. This is the result of having demons in their hearts. Once the temptation is too much to bear, they will succumb to their demonic thoughts."
The little nun nodded and gazed at Lin Yi with shining eyes: "Senior Brother Lin Yi, you are so kind-hearted."
"Kind-hearted?" Lin Yi was taken aback for a moment before he laughed it off.
The little nun was indeed naive. How could he, Lin Yi, be a kind-hearted person?
In a while, I will let this little nun know what kind of person I am.
Lin Yi did not continue to talk about demons and devils with them. In their minds, they already had a deep-rooted mentality regarding the topic. It was not something that could be easily shaken by mere words from him.
Neither was he interested in doing that. There was plenty of opportunities in the future for them to witness the truth with their own eyes.
"The city interior should be safe from demonic cult members, so let's go on a patrol outside the city?" Lin Yi suggested.
"Good idea, I've long heard that there are plenty of demonic cult members roaming about outside Lanzhou City. With Senior Brother Lin Yi leading us, let's go outside the city and slay these bunch of evildoers!" The little nun was highly enthusiastic and spoke words that were full of killing intent.
This little nun was pretty weird. Facing the bald monk from Shaolin, she was as meek as a little lamb. When she heard that she would be going to slay some demonic cult members, she was full of killing intent.
It was as if she harbored a great hatred for the demonic cult members.
Lin Yi shook his head, The nuns of Northern Hengshan were indeed thoroughly brainwashed.
Yun Taizi and the rest also had similar expressions on their faces.
Obviously, they naively thought that it would be a simple thing to kill the demonic cult members.
Lin Yi did not bother to dispel that notion and simply mounted his horse, heading outside the city.
The four of them were very eager to make a name for themselves by slaying demonic cult members, and so was Lin Yi.
He needed to kill large numbers of demonic cult members to earn battle experience.
Right now, only by targetting the demonic cult members roaming outside Lanzhou City could he kill as many as he pleased without ending up with the title of a killer demon. Instead, anyone who belonged to the righteous faction would be full of praise for his deeds and say that Young Hero Lin Yi is a symbol of righteousness!
The division of the righteous and demonic into two opposing factions was indeed interesting.
Lin Yi laughed in his heart at the opportunity to gather large amounts of battle experience as a result of this division.