Chapter 382 - 187: The Fault Is Not Yours
Chapter 382: Chapter 187: The Fault Is Not Yours
"You’re going to reason with me?
"What right does someone who spouts nothing but nonsense have to talk about reason?
"But with your level of Cultivation, you shouldn’t be coveting the Glazed Saint Body.
"So why did you have to tell such a lie?"
This time, Zhao Wuji was genuinely stunned. But even after Fang Shuwen called him out, he showed no shame, only bewilderment:
"How did you know I was lying to you?"
Long Qingzhi’s brow furrowed:
"Because I had already obtained the Cultivation Method for the Glazed Saint Body before this."
"..."
Zhao Wuji seemed dazed for a moment, then finally gave a helpless smile:
"This is truly... unexpected."
"Aren’t you going to offer an explanation, Senior Zhao?"
Fang Shuwen stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze lifting slightly.
"You want a reason... That’s simple enough."
Zhao Wuji said:
"The Glazed Saint Body is one reason. After all, no one would complain about their Martial Arts being too strong.
"However, I didn’t plan on forcing her.
"I could just drain a little of her blood each day under the guise of helping her.
"Besides that, the biggest reason is that the Long Clan once saved my life."
Long Qingzhi’s eyes widened instantly.
’So it was a life-debt.’
But this just made her even more confused:
"If you owe my clan for saving your life, why are you trying to harm me?"
Just then, Zhao Ziying suddenly sneered:
"Repaying kindness with hatred... that is a sin."
Those words made Long Qingzhi freeze on the spot.
As they ascended Celestial Martial Peak, she had followed behind Fang Shuwen and overheard him and Zhao Ziying discussing the Seven Emotions and Seven Sins Heaven-Slaying Saber. She knew this Martial Art required one to bear seven sins to sever seven emotions, and that the deeper the sin, the stronger the saber.
At the time, she only thought the Saber Technique sounded wicked, but her understanding was ultimately shallow.
Hearing Zhao Ziying’s words now, she finally understood the cruelty contained within those few simple words.
"This... Isn’t this just a Demon Technique?"
Long Qingzhi murmured to herself.
Fang Shuwen, however, showed no surprise.
The only reason he’d bothered to have this conversation with Zhao Wuji was so that Long Qingzhi would understand the situation.
As for himself... he had already guessed the reason the moment Zhao Wuji lied.
The Seven Emotions and Seven Sins Heaven-Slaying Saber did not have a fixed set of seven emotions, nor did it require seven specific sins.
Romantic love, familial love, friendship... all were emotions.
And there was an even greater variety of sins.
Murder and arson were sins, as were swindling and deceit, but there were vast differences between sins.
The key was to attack the heart.
Not the victim’s heart, but the heart of the practitioner.
It forced one to feel a deep sense of sin, yet continue down the same path.
The stronger the sense of sin, the more ferocious his Saber Technique became.
Zhao Wuji spoke slowly:
"My Seven Emotions and Seven Sins Heaven-Slaying Saber is already approaching Great Perfection.
"Repaying kindness with hatred, torturing my benefactor’s orphaned daughter, and after tormenting her until she’s barely human, telling her the whole truth.
"The sin I’ll feel in that moment will push my Saber Technique to its true peak.
"A chance to become the number one expert in the Northern Domain. If it were you... would you give it up?
"This reason, Fang Shuwen... what do you think of it?"
"You have already fallen to the demonic path."
Fang Shuwen shook his head helplessly.
"Hahaha."
Zhao Wuji suddenly burst out laughing, but there was no mirth in his eyes:
"Fallen to the demonic path... You’re right.
"Twenty years ago, there was a woman who went through life and death for me, time and again.
"She gave me everything without reservation, even her own life.
"But I... at the height of our love, I cut her down with a single strike!
"From that moment on, I had already fallen to the demonic path!
"All these years, not a moment has passed where I haven’t thought of my memories with her.
"The more I reminisce, the more I miss her, and the more I miss her, the more I hate myself.
"But the more I hate myself, the stronger my Martial Arts become."
Hearing this, Fang Shuwen’s expression suddenly turned strange:
"I don’t think you should blame yourself.
"You had no choice.
"The Zhao Clan is a Demon Cave. Inside a Demon Cave, you either die or become a demon along with them.
"In all of this, you never had a choice.
"So... it’s not entirely your fault. Don’t blame yourself."
Long Qingzhi started. ’Why is Brother Fang comforting him?’
Zhao Ziying, however, was dumbfounded. ’There’s actually a method like this?’
For someone who practices the Seven Emotions and Seven Sins Heaven-Slaying Saber, sin is the saber. The heavier the sin, the stronger the blade.
Fang Shuwen’s words of comfort, however, were reducing Zhao Wuji’s sense of sin.
’Is this like using a whetstone to strike the edge of a blade, trying to grind its sharpness away?’
Zhao Wuji’s eyes froze for an instant. Then, without a second thought, he shot forward in a single step, appearing before Fang Shuwen with his right fist raised high:
"Shut up!!"
But his fist met only empty air. The surging force erupted outward, blasting a hole straight through the wall.
Fang Shuwen’s voice, however, came from behind Zhao Wuji:
"Just think, if you weren’t part of the Zhao Clan, would you still have repaid kindness with hatred?
"No. You could have been a good person.
"You wouldn’t have to care about the Seven Emotions and Seven Sins Heaven-Slaying Saber. You wouldn’t need to keep tormenting yourself with those sins that cause you so much pain.
"You could have become a true hero, one that everyone admires.
"So, none of this was your choice... You were simply coerced by your own Martial Arts.
"The sin... isn’t yours."
All calm had long vanished from Zhao Wuji’s eyes. His blood-red gaze fixed fiercely on Zhao Ziying.
’If there hadn’t been a traitor in the clan, how could Fang Shuwen possibly know the secret of the Seven Emotions and Seven Sins Heaven-Slaying Saber?’
’And how would he have known to say such things to me?’
Zhao Wuji attacked relentlessly, trying to cut Fang Shuwen off.
But Fang Shuwen’s Cloud Passing Body Technique, while not yet at the Realm of Great Perfection, was becoming increasingly masterful.
Augmented by his Electric Light Divine Step, Zhao Wuji’s fists couldn’t even graze the corner of Fang Shuwen’s robes.
Finally, he stopped. He held his right hand like a blade, pointing it diagonally toward the ground.
VMMM, VMMM, VMMM!!
A dreadful, crimson saber glow began to emanate from his palm.
The instant it manifested, an aura of sharpness so intense it seemed to pierce the heavens erupted from it!
He... had drawn his saber!