Chapter 629: Chapter 609: Tiger and Bear
Zhao Cong sighed lightly and said, "You should know, I was filled with goodwill towards you. Back then, the Zhao Family had the manpower to take you down, but I said, wait a mont, a martial artist like Wang Boxiong shouldn’t suffer such treatnt."
"I have heard of it." Wang Boxiong said calmly.
"I don’t understand, why wouldn’t you accept my goodwill? Is it just because of that jade cong? I personally went to your father, kowtowed, apologized, and acknowledged the Zhao Family’s mistake!"
Zhao Cong’s words were forceful, and coupled with his identity as the governor of the two rivers, it moved people deeply.
For most people hearing this, it would soften their frozen hearts.
Wang Boxiong remained unmoved, and slowly said, "In my childhood, because of that jade, I hated your Zhao Family for ten years, but in recent years, the hatred has gradually faded. Because I’ve slowly realized a truth; everyone will hear so flute sounds, everyone will feel so winds. We cannot take so coincidences as inevitabilities, then brood over them endlessly, and forget to move forward."
"As humanity moves forward, it will undoubtedly pay the price, occasionally having a speck of dust from the tis land on one’s head is very normal. Living in this era, one must have such awareness."
"Just as in chaotic tis, one must be prepared for the awareness of dying at any ti."
"I acknowledge it, many of my friends acknowledge it; countless people have acknowledged it."
Wang Boxiong’s voice was deep, as if a millstone was rolling in his throat.
Zhao Cong said, "Then why do you still oppose the Zhao Family?"
Wang Boxiong’s mouth slightly curled, revealing a peculiar look of mockery.
"You don’t understand?"
"I don’t understand." Zhao Cong replied.
"I don’t understand either, why is it always us! I more so don’t understand, why is it always you! Why can’t it be you!"
The millstone in Wang Boxiong’s throat seed to explode, shaking the night into incessant roaring.
An unnatural look flashed across Zhao Cong’s face, he understood.
After a mont of silence, Zhao Cong slowly said, "Natural selection, survival of the fittest."
Wang Boxiong lit a cigarette and looked into the deep sky.
"Yes, I once thought like you. Until a question arose, insects are like this, beasts are like this, beastn are like this, demons are like this, if humans are like this too, then are humans just monkeys with tools? Just beastn who know martial arts? Just demons with a sense of morality?"
"If it’s only this far, it seems quite normal until I read the translations by Zhou Leng of so high-level civilization information. A question arose, what should high-level civilization be like?"
"Just monkeys with divine spirit powers? Beastn piloting starships? Demons with slightly better temper?"
"I couldn’t find the answer. But I know, a true higher civilization should not be like this."
"So, I always feel that I, Wang Boxiong, shouldn’t only be a monkey with tools. I should try to break through sothing, to surpass the limits of an elentary civilization, and move closer to a high-level civilization."
Zhao Cong said, "I don’t oppose your view, but the road must be taken step by step, als eaten one bite at a ti."
Wang Boxiong turned his head, looking at Zhao Cong with a strange gaze.
"Can’t you see, the food has all been eaten by you, we’re almost starving?"
"That’s going too far, the Martial Mansion has been ensuring livelihoods through various ans, doing their utmost not to starve people to death."
"See, this is our biggest disagreent. You think we’re pigs, only fit to eat feed, only needing assurance not to starve, only needing to maintain standards to keep from revolting. But we think, we are human."
"You are a grandmaster, you can be human." Zhao Cong said aningfully.
"Zhou Leng, on the Life and Death Platform, asked a question, which I also ask you, can you help
find clarity? If after I advance to a grandmaster like you, how do I persuade the
who looked at the report card trying to awaken my sleeping father? How do I persuade the
who believed in fairness, justice, and kindness? How do I persuade the
who scattered my friend’s ashes in the river? How do I persuade the
who is inherently human?"
Zhao Cong opened his mouth, but had no words to counter.
Wang Boxiong turned and headed towards the barracks, speaking as he walked.
"I originally forgave your Zhao Family, but your winds, blowing against
ti and again, have never ceased. I hear my father’s flute sounds, hear Ma Xingkong’s flute sounds, hear Tong Tianxia’s flute sounds, hear Zhou Leng’s flute sounds. Until what you regarded as a small whim, blew
and Chen Shouhu onto the Life and Death Platform. Then, I heard the flute sound blowing from my own mouth."
He walked a few more steps.
"Tell , is there any possibility in a normal society, I, Wang Boxiong, shouldn’t have suffered such treatnt even without you speaking? The sa goes for Ma Xingkong, Zhou Leng, and everyone else."
Zhao Cong lit a cigarette, which he hadn’t smoked in a while for the sake of martial arts and advancent.
He took a drag, gently exhaled the smoke, threw the cigarette on the ground, and stomped it out.
"Being monkeys wielding forks and knives is not too bad." He seed to be defending himself, yet also mocking himself.
Wang Boxiong’s voice echoed from afar: "You think you’re sitting beside a round table covered in white cloth, with white dishes before you, but behind you, larger monkeys holding larger forks and knives sit by an even larger table, looking down at you, the round table covered in white cloth before you is just their white dishes."
Zhao Cong’s lips trembled.
He understood.
Only by overturning the table before him could he leap from others’ dishes.
It’s too difficult.
With head bowed, eating as much as possible while he could.
Zhao Cong slowly started to smile, slowly lifting his head, straightening his chest.
He looked at Wang Boxiong’s back, and shouted, "Do you dare to go to Zhao Palace?"
Seemingly in mockery, yet also in self-mockery.
Wang Boxiong walked ahead, seemingly not hearing.
The next day, the army returned.
Shuizhou Demon City, on a small mountain.
By the cliff, the strong wind blows.
Chen Shouhu, wearing a black hood, walks towards Tong Tianxia.
"It’s rare for you to seek
out actively." Tong Tianxia’s skin glows with a dark golden hue, looking toward the horizon.
"Count
in for what you ntioned."
"Why did you suddenly change your mind? Haven’t you always opposed us doing this?"
Chen Shouhu remains silent for a long ti before speaking.
"I always felt that as I continued my cultivation, as I climbed higher, I would surely find a better way, a peaceful way that all parties could bear. Unfortunately, I can’t find it. Moreover, there’s no more ti."
Tong Tianxia says, "I rember you always said before that ascending to beco a Saint is the most important thing, nothing is more important than that. Many tis, you were even more diligent than Wang Boxiong."
"I used to truly believe in that until Wang Huaixiong asked
what was the purpose of ascending to beco a Saint? I suddenly realized that I actually didn’t care whether I beca a Saint, I just always thought since I was young, once I beco a Martial Saint, I can eliminate those evil ones. So..."
Chen Shouhu pauses for a mont and continues, "I found that so things are more important than
becoming a Saint. I can’t just watch as those things happen repeatedly and ignore them to peacefully cultivate; I can’t do it. I’ve tried many tis, but I can’t."
"Because you were forced onto the Life and Death Platform?"
"I thought after I advanced to Grandmaster, at least I could have a seat at the table, but when the Zhao Family made a move, I realized I was just standing on an even larger plate."
Chen Shouhu’s gaze is peaceful, entirely unlike the impulsive and irritable Chen Fenghu from the past.
"Didn’t you say only a Martial Saint can resolve this?" Tong Tianxia asks.
"They are old, sight failing, hearing impaired. They can see the demons afar but can’t hear the flute beside them."
"What about the future generations?"
Chen Shouhu suddenly chuckles self-deprecatingly and slowly says.
"Do you rember that widely circulated news screenshot? A reporter standing in a carriage interviewing passengers, asking, ’Did you get a ticket?’"
"I was the kind of person who had a ticket since I was young; I always sat in the carriage, occasionally complaining the seat was too narrow, the sll too strong, the boxed als too expensive and hard to eat, occasionally lanting the scenery outside the window."
"Until one day, I suddenly saw a child carrying a big bundle, running outside the train."
"I watched with a smile, praised the child’s courage, even gave a thumbs-up to the child, I even fantasized that we would et at the next station."
"Later, we indeed t at the next station."
"Not only did he not get into the carriage, but he didn’t even get onto the platform."
"His ticket was snatched away."
"He was sweating, carrying a burden, looking at
with shiny black eyes."
"The train started, I didn’t know what happened, I could only watch as the child got further and further away from ."
"Until the train turned, I saw beneath the tracks behind the train, filled with white bones as sleepers, blood not yet dry."
"I once witnessed star after star being crushed alive under the weight left by predecessors. Too many, do you know? So many that I even felt those people were ant to end like this—it was all very normal."
"Until I saw Zhou Leng, who seed like a newly risen sun, almost crushed to death by the sa burden, chilled all over."
"It can’t continue like this; we can’t let more descendants like Zhou Leng be filled in under the tracks; they should be sitting in the train, moving forward, continually forward."
"I don’t want to say who is right or wrong, nor do I want to bla anyone. But..."
"I can’t throw the burden we created onto the shoulders of future generations. Our Shang Ganling, we take it."
"Alright." Tong Tianxia responds.
Chen Shouhu hesitates for a mont, says: "Don’t look for Wang Huaixiong, he is the most rotten, leaving him could harm more demons."
Tong Tianxia does not respond.
After the two separate, Tong Tianxia wanders around Shuizhou Demon City, ensures there’s no tailing, and enters an abandoned mine.
After several twists and turns, he enters a dimly lit underground cave.
A tall figure stands inside.
"Has the ti been set for that matter?" Wang Boxiong, wearing a black hood, looks at Tong Tianxia as he enters.
"Need to communicate with the Hell Knight Order to unify the ti and act simultaneously."
"Do those vehicles need my help?"
"Not needed for now."
"This is the latest evidence of the Zhao Family." Wang Boxiong says as he hands over a folder.
Tong Tianxia takes it.
After chatting for a while, Tong Tianxia checks the ti and says, "I have to pick soone up, I’ll leave first."
"Alright, talk later."
Desert Demon City, at the border between the Demon Spirit World and the Fierce Beast World.
A team of Eight-toothed Mammoths runs at full speed, and on one, a massive black-armored wolf stands, its long hair flowing, extrely cold.
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