Constable Chen's corpse bubbled up and sublimated into vapor, quickly melting into a withered pile of black-red meat paste. This was what happened when streams of qi entered the bodies of those who had yet to reach the Tide Essence Stage of the immortal path. They would be torn apart by the natural forces of the world. An Jing was only able to retain lethal qi in his body due to bearing a celestial arc.

"He's only a minion, so he probably didn't know that much anyway." An Jing got a broom and dustpan, swept up the meat paste, crushed everything including the bone to dust before scattering it into a river. There was no way a corpse like this would be recognized after it was dealt in this manner.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the job was done. "It's too bad. I could've saved a few more people if he knew more. No matter. We'll have more chances in the future. Once I deal with Honor Pavilion, I should be able to rescue all the other abducted folks."

"It seems like you still have a kind heart deep down," Yvelbane said. "But, your methods are cutting a bit too close to evil. Those of us on the righteous immortal path wouldn't use physical torture during interrogations, let alone relishing in it."

"That wasn't an interrogation," An Jing admitted. "I just couldn't bear thinking about the fates of those poor kidnapped people. All I wanted was for this animal to feel even the slightest modicum of pain for what he had done."

Yvelbane's tone got even more serious. "An Jing, if you keep having such thoughts, you will end up becoming just like them no matter what kind of heroic deeds you carry out. You will start to see life as insignificant and everything else in the world as mere objects for you to manipulate. That is how a fiend thinks."

"So what?" He turned around and packed up his gear before assuming his disguise once more and walking away from the riverbank. "I don't care about that in the least. I draw the line at eating people, but I never said I would abstain from killing. I never claimed to be a saint either. I will be even more cruel than them. Even bloodier. I will become an even more lawless fiend."

Yvelbane sighed. "In that case, let me try to find some kind of fiendish nether sword art or some kind of bloodfiend sword art. There must be one that will suit your current mental state more."

"What?" An Jing had thought that Yvelbane would give him a lecture about not being so cruel. He didn't think that the sword soul would accept it so easily and even encourage it by suggesting a switch to more suitable techniques. "You'd let me do that? You'll let me cultivate on the demonic path?"

"What do you think a sword is?" Yvelbane didn't seem to have the slightest care and spoke as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "A tool of slaughter, nothing more! When it comes to killing, what difference does a quick or painful death make? Torturing a heavenly fiend to death is even more reasonable! Tit for tat, such is the way of a fair and just world! Everyone, from the lowest of peasants to the highest of emperors and all other lifeforms, wishes deep down to inflict the greatest possible pain on heavenly fiends! The Grand Dao is omnipresent, even in the act of killing and torture!"

An Jing was rather taken aback. "Is it really true? It's quite different from what I imagined."

"Hahaha, do you know how terrifying the punishments in the netherworld are? Do you know that evil people and fiends would have to endure torturous sentences in the eighteen layers of hell for billions of years of objective time? That is why I didn't wish to tell you about the world order of Void Embrace from my time. I left it to your imagination, which conjured up a righteous and magnanimous notion of justice that never actually existed.

"An Jing, what do you think a sword immortal is? What do you think sects are?" Yvelbane's voice sounded firm and unyielding. "The Esteemed Sage of the Dao once said, 'To be the conductor of state ceremonies and affairs is to accept the condemnation of the state's subjects. To be the ruler of the state is to be burdened by all of the state's misfortunes.'[1] With so many sects reigning in the past, there had to be lots of underhanded and dirty dealings at places where light didn't shine. The existence of the demonic path is thus necessary, not contingent. It is a part of the collection of sects. The modern world embraces the light and rejects the dark, but where there is light, there will be shadow.

"Do you think that the machinations of a faction or the actions of powerful elites all stem from pure, righteous intent? The mortals believe that immortals are flawless and perfect, that their mundane world is the one that doesn't measure up to the world of immortals. Do you believe that we can face dao earnestly as cultivators if we adopt such a belief?

"If you are only able to accept the version of yourself that you fashioned out of preconceived notions of justice, immune to any corruptive influence, aren't you just lying to yourself and to your sword?

"The reason mortals can childishly split the world into black and white, good and bad, is because that is all that they're able to perceive. Sword immortals like us, however, are all too aware that the blade of a sword has two edges. One edge represents righteousness, the other represents desire, embodying the polar-opposite relationship between what we want and what should be. The spine of the sword blade is the part that gives those two mismatched edges rigidity and support. It is neither righteous nor wicked. It is just like the dao heart where yin and yang mix and congregate!"

"I have learned much indeed." An Jing nodded, his agreement rising from the depths of his being. He had gained a completely new understanding regarding the ancient sects of Void Embrace.

Though whether Yvelbane used to be the immortal who wielded the sword or the sword itself was still undetermined, it had its own set of principles that followed a specific kind of logic. It offered guidance from a top-down, detached perspective.

An Jing was grateful for the guidance, but there was something he needed to make clear. "I'm no sword immortal. All I am is one who uses the sword as a weapon."

"Your situation is rather unique," Yvelbane said as if it didn't hear what he just uttered. "Is the character of your sword that of a fiend, or that of pure slaughter? Or is it one of netherworldly judgment and redemption?"

Yvelbane droned on about nothing but swords. No more interesting insights would come from this line of discussion. It was typical of the thought patterns of a being who could be a former sword immortal. An Jing sighed and let the sword soul ponder as it pleased. As much as it thought like a sword immortal, which An Jing might not be fully compatible with, he had no doubt it would find the most suitable art for him to use, such as Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal.

***

Meanwhile, a blind fortune-telling daoist arrived at the border city as the snowstorm intensified.

"The city of Keensight... It's been two hundred years since I last came here." The blind daoist exhaled deeply. "The oil-splashed fire will not burn out in a flash. Instead, it will quietly simmer and fade away. The city's qi has run out. I wonder if it can survive the upcoming calamity."

As he lamented the city, he turned toward the direction where An Jing had killed Constable Chen. "I smell blood and authority in the air. Did someone attack the authorities?"

The daoist didn't sound like he feared the authorities of Grand Chen. He shook his head and said, "No, that was a one-on-one fight. It's a personal vendetta, a rather cruel one too. Keensight truly has become lawless for someone to dare to kill a senior constable like that. Who in the world is the killer? His methods are a bit too fiendish... A cultist, maybe?"

***

An Jing, who had just been deemed a demonic cultist, returned to the inn.

"Apologies, sir, but our hands were tied," the inn attendant said as An Jing packed up and prepared to leave. "They had a search warrant, so we couldn't stop them. But we made sure to make an inventory of everything in your room and observed the search. We even stopped the constables who were about to steal your gemstones!"

"I do not blame you for this," An Jing said. The inn had no way to refuse the constables. But this was also why he could no longer stay there. In fact, other inns were just as vulnerable to unreasonable searches, so he would have to fret over finding a new lodging.

The attendant was incredibly apologetic. Though he didn't know why the constables decided to stir up trouble, he knew that the tribe that An Jing purportedly came from wasn't one that could be offended at any cost. As reimbursement, he offered to refund the fees that An Jing paid. An Jing refused to accept it as he did enjoy his stay at the inn and recognized that it wasn't their fault.

"What will you do next? Rush to Honor Pavilion and pick them off?" Yvelbane excitedly asked. This was nothing like it had ever experienced. Though it was an ancient being, most of its memories were gone. All that remained were fragments of slaying fiends. It really didn't know how typical cultivators resolved matters like these.

"There's no rush," An Jing said, still as calm as ever. Killing Constable Chen had improved his mood considerably. "They still don't know the full extent of our capabilities, but we've learned quite a lot about them. They might think I'm exposed and they're hidden in the shadows, but the truth is anything but. Let's stick to our plan and investigate them again after they get word of what happened. We have to be fully prepared to ensure victory.

"For now, let's go to the teahouse. It's about time we had an honest chat with Madam Huai."

1. Chapter 78 of the Dao De Jing, translation based on the interpretation from daodejing.org. ☜