386 There are Times When To Save Someone, You Have to Learn How to Kill Someone

Shouting out Su Li's hidden whereabouts had compelled all the people andmatters that had been hidden in the night to be revealed under the light of thesun. Chen Changsheng had not intended for this to happen, but he had actedaccorded to his heart's desire, as what he cared the most about was followinghis heart. However, before he had carried out this action, he had carefullyconsidered what would happen afterwards, and thought that the good outweighedthe bad. It was precisely why Liang Wangsun had sighed so regretfully. This was a sort of strategy, and it was a calculation. All the principles SuLi had taught him on their journey south, like planning for war or swordtechniques, had all been used. Looking at it from another point of view, thefour words he had shouted into Xunyang City which basked in the spring sunshinewere like a thrust from his Intellectual Sword into the pitch-black night,finally tearing a hole through it and finding a little light. But when he saw Liang Wangsun with his own eyes, he instantly felt like therewere some problems with his calculations. The problem here was not as he hadsaid, that he could not beat Liang Wangsun so they had to escape, but ratherthat Liang Wangsun had appeared at all. Despite being the successor to hisfamily, despite the upheaval of the public will, he had actually emerged intothe full light of day to kill Su Li. Just why was this? "Why?" Chen Changsheng asked Su Li. Su Li replied, "Because they all have the surname 'Liang'." Liang Xiaoxiao, Liang Hongzhuang, Liang Wangsun—these three people that hadexpressed the deepest desire to kill Su Li all had the surname of Liang. Werethey all part of the royal Liang bloodline? And what sort of unresolvableenmity existed between Su Li and the Liang Household? "After being an emperor, is there anyone that would be willing to stay as aprince?" Su Li looked out the window at the faintly visible black lotus uponthe massive emperor's carriage. "The greatest desire of generation upongeneration of masters of the Liang Household was to return to the capital andonce again sit upon the imperial throne. It was just that they never had anopportunity, until finally, more than ten years ago, the capital fell intointernal strife. At last, they finally saw a chance." Chen Changsheng had heard Su Li talk about those events of the past, so heasked confusedly, "Weren't the Longevity Sect the ones seeking to rebel?" Su Li replied, "In order to seek the world, your plans must be profound.Several hundred years ago, the Liang Household had already begun to infiltratethe Longevity Sect. More than ten years ago, when the Longevity Sect wasprovoking conflict, it was precisely through their excellent manipulations." Chen Changsheng still did not understand. That Su Li had slain all the eldersof the Longevity Sect in his assault and thus crushed the several-hundred-yearconspiracy of the Liang Household was truly something worthy of resentment, butwhy did it seem like they hated Su Li's guts? Su Li said, "Amongst those elders, one of them had the surname of Liang. Hewas probably Liang Xiaoxiao's ancestor. As for why Liang Wangsun and LiangHongzhuang hate me so much, perhaps it is because after I killed those peoplein the Longevity Sect, I also happened to come by Xunyang City, where I killedoff all those old bastards of the Liang Household." Chen Changsheng was speechless. He thought to himself, that's the same askilling the entire family. With such a bloody feud between them, it's no wonderthat the younger generation of the Liang royal bloodline hold such enmityagainst Su Li, that Liang Xiaoxiao would not even hesitate to collude with thedemons. From outside the window, the conversation between Liang Wangsun and the bishopof Xunyang City could be heard. Chen Changsheng silently listened to this conversation, then suddenly asked,"Senior, is it really necessary to kill all these people?" An expression of derision appeared on Su Li's face. "Preparing to startlecturing again?" Chen Changsheng shook his head. "I just feel that there should never have beenso much blood spilled for this matter in the first place." Su Li did not directly answer the question, instead saying, "Back then whenthe Longevity Sect and the Liang Household wanted to have the south invade thenorth, the capital at the time was in a state of complete mayhem. The imperialcourt and the Orthodoxy were fractured and ridden with internal strife. Theonly problem the southerners could not resolve was also their greatest problem.It was the existence of Tianhai. In the end, they found a method to solve thisproblem." "What method?" "They wanted me to go to the capital and kill Tianhai. Even if I could notkill Tianhai, they believed that Tianhai would be severely injured." "Senior, did you go?" As soon the question left his mouth, Chen Changshengknew that it was pointless. Of course Su Li had not gone to the capital to kill the Tianhai DivineEmpress, or else history would not have taken its current form. Just asexpected, Su Li looked at him like he was an idiot, asking, "Do I look like I'minsane?" Chen Changsheng thought to himself, it's those southerners that must have gonemad, to actually think of this idea that could never possibly be realized. Heasked, "Back then, how did they attempt to persuade Senior?" "They captured my wife and then imprisoned her in the cold pool in theLongevity Sect. Then they righteously exhorted me." When Su Li said these words, there was not much expression on his face, buteven after the passage of ten or so years, Chen Changsheng still felt like hecould sense his fury. "Nobody likes to kill others, and neither do I." Su Li ended it with these words, "If too much blood flows, it's verytroublesome to clean the sword, let alone the clothes. So I don't like killing.But there are times when there are some people that have to die, when blood hasto flow." Chen Changsheng understood. These matters of the past that he had once heardabout had finally been completely explained. By telling him this, Su Li wantedto communicate to him a very simple truth, and also no longer wanted to hearChen Changsheng's advice. In living in this world, if you want to live freely and protect those that youlove from harm, you have to be strong enough—so strong that the whole worldwill admit that you are strong, will fear your strength. How can you prove it,and make the world admit this point? You must be willing to kill others,willing to let the entire world bleed. Su Li was precisely like this. He had slain every last one of the elders ofthe Longevity Sect, and then almost annihilated the Liang Household, turningthe continent into a river of blood. He could not restore his own wife's life,but in the following decade, no one dared to threaten or use him, and no onedared to threaten his daughter. Understanding did not mean acceptance, but Chen Changsheng had no means ofsaying anything else to Su Li, so he thought he might as well go talk tosomeone else. He walked to the window and pushed aside the curtain. He lookedat Liang Wangsun seated on his black lotus on the emperor's carriage and verysimply declared, "I want to protect him." On Liang Wangsun's handsome and noble complexion appeared a smile that said hedidn't understand. "Many people thought that you died in the Garden of Zhou. Idid not think that you would actually die in Xunyang City." Chen Changsheng's declaration was very simple, and Liang Wangsun's responsewas also very simple. Since he had come under the watch of countless gazes tokill Su Li, it indicated that he did not care for the threats of any man, evenfrom the Orthodoxy. "Back then, he did not kill you, he did not kill Liang Hongzhuang, nor did hekill Liang Xiaoxiao." Chen Changsheng continued, "He left the Liang Household a path to retreat, soperhaps the Liang Household can also leave him a path to survive." "But back then, very few people survived. Moreover, did you really think thatcounted as a path of retreat? No, what my household lost was the hopes anddreams of countless people and countless centuries. But maybe I can give him away to survive." Liang Wangsun callously declared, "If you let me chop off hisfour limbs and cripple his meridians, then I can let him live." Chen Changsheng silently considered this for a few moments, before finallyanswering, "This is not fair." Liang Wangsun answered, "Using blood to return blood, to use death in returnfor death, this is the fairest." Chen Changsheng said, "Senior only went to the snowy plains for the sake ofhumanity. He was surrounded by the demons and severely wounded, or else youwouldn't even have the possibility of killing him. So at the very least, heshould not die at the hands of humans, at least not this time, at least notthis way. Regardless of how many people he once killed, even if he might reallybe a bad person." At these words, the priests around the inn, as well as the Liang Household'ssuicide squad, felt their emotions change. Liang Wangsun gazed at the window at Chen Changsheng and calmly said, "Perhapswhat you say is reasonable. For a legend of a generation to die like this, Ithat killed him would presumably only leave behind in the annals of history thereputation of a thief or scoundrel, but…I don't care, and this world won'tcare. Because this is the only opportunity to kill him, and everyone in theworld wants him dead." Chen Changsheng asked, "Even if this is the equivalent of conspiring with thedemons?" "This is a shameless murder. Don't even speak about conspiring with thedemons; even if it was making a deal with the devil, so what?" Liang Wangsun's tone was just and satisfied. As the buildings all around theinn collapsed one after another, the figures of cultivators began to appear. Although the gates of Xunyang City were shut, how could this fact possiblyobstruct those people who wanted to kill Su Li? Suddenly, a fiery streak of light flashed through the sky. Accompanied by asudden rise in temperature, a Red Cloud Qilin landed on one end of the longstreet. Xue He sat upon it, his armor still stained by the blood from that day.Soon after, Liang Hongzhuang, arrayed in his red dancing dress, appeared at theother end of the street. His charming complexion was still caked with dust, andthe sword wounds were still distinctly visible on his body. It was a completemystery how he had managed to hold on and rush so quickly back. Seeing LiangHongzhuang appear, Hua Jiefu wrinkled his brow. On that day, it had beenprecisely this bishop of Xunyang City that had secretly told Liang Hongzhuangof Su Li's whereabouts. "You see, even the Orthodoxy actually really wants him dead." Liang Wangsunlooked at Chen Changsheng and said, "And how can you hold off the entire humanworld?" Chen Changsheng looked all around at those figures in the surrounding streetsand alleys. He did not know who these people were, what sort of reputation theyhad in the north, or what sort of sect or school they belonged to. He couldonly tell from their Qi just how frightening these people were. These peoplehad come to kill Su Li. Xue He was a Great Zhou Divine General, so he wouldprobably not take action. Liang Hongzhuang probably did not have the strengthto attack. But these other people would attack. This was not even mentioningthe fact that there was still that famous assassin, Liu Qing, concealed in thedarkness. Today, in this battle, besides Liang Wangsun, the most frighteningperson was probably that assassin. Su Li was heavily injured. This was like an invitation to the entire continentto attend a feast. Now, all the guests taking part in the feast had arrived.They would use their swords as chopsticks and prepared to drink a cup of bloodin substitute for fine wine, then enjoy a banquet of human flesh. ChenChangsheng did not know if there would be any more guests to this feast, but hewanted to try to rip the dining table to shreds. He stood by the window, gazing at Liang Wangsun in his emperor's carriage. Hisexpression did not change, but his Qi slowly circulated. His spiritual senserested upon the sheath of his dagger, connecting to the Black Dragon'sspiritual soul, awakening those swords that had slept for many days. Countless swords. He began to make his calculations, prepared to ignite his true essence, andprepared to have his ten thousand swords sortie. The Intellectual Sword and the Blazing Sword were the swords that had beentaught to him by Su Li, while the ten thousand swords were his swords. He wanted to see if he could use his improvements in the path of the sword tomake up for the sword intent that had been used by the ten thousand swords,thereby repeating that scene in front of the Mausoleum of Zhou. Following that,he would directly kill Liang Wangsun in one strike. Chen Changsheng was a genius of the upper level of Ethereal Opening. LiangWangsun was a true expert at the top of the Proclamation of Liberation. Nomatter who looked at it—even he himself—they clearly understood that thedistance between their strengths was like the size of a city. But he still wanted to try and see if he could kill his opponent. Because the situation was now decided. Only by killing Liang Wangsun could SuLi remain alive.