My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 54

The sword in Ximen Chuixue’s hand was just an ordinary sword, and after clashing with Lu Gang’s Embroidered Spring Blade, it had even been broken into two pieces.

Yet with this broken sword, he had slit Lu Gang’s throat.

Lu Gang’s corpse lay curled up in the blood-soaked earth, his hands that once held the blade now tightly clutching at his own throat, with thick blackish-red blood seeping through his grotesque fingers.

Luoyang City’s first snow of the year arrived silently in the dead of night, falling in gentle flurries.

Fresh red blood dripped continuously from Ximen Chuixue’s fingertips, mixing with the wet, disordered soil, forming a path to the yellow springs that carried the scent of blood.

He had won. He was alive. He had… avenged his father and mother.

Ximen Chuixue stared unblinkingly at Lu Gang’s corpse, the broken sword still gripped tightly in his hand, his fingers seemingly frozen in a position that could neither bend nor stretch.

Yan Hongyin, who had been standing silently throughout the entire encounter, never intervening even when Ximen Chuixue’s life hung by a thread, finally walked over.

“What do you see?” she asked.

The night wind was bitterly cold, and the wounded Ximen Chuixue was standing rigidly, sustained only by his last breath.

He heard Yan Hongyin’s voice as if it came from a distant place.

His eyelashes, frosted with blood, trembled slightly. “I… I don’t know.”

Before this moment, he had thought about it day and night, countless times envisioning the scene of revenge, but when he was actually living it, he only felt a cold suction coming from nowhere, threatening to devour everything within him.

This was his first time killing someone.

So it turned out that blood spilled in killing was different from blood spilled at any other time.

“He was my senior brother, and once a righteous man who wielded a blade, a defender of the law and justice.”

Yan Hongyin stood at Ximen Chuixue’s side, reaching up to brush away the snow from his hair, placing a medicinal pill into his mouth.

“One misstep leads to a thousand errors.” Yan Hongyin’s ice-cold fingers traced Ximen Chuixue’s cheek, her voice solemn and cold. “Look at it clearly, that is the abyss.”

With just a light tap from Yan Hongyin’s finger, the sword hilt that Ximen Chuixue had been gripping so tightly fell to the ground with a clang.

Ximen Chuixue’s eyes were bright, but his lips were unusually pale, and he was trembling.

There was excitement, there was trepidation, and perhaps a trace of inexplicable fear.

“At the peak of Jinling Mountain, I once asked you about your path.”

“You said your path was the sword.”

“Among thousands of weapons, the sword is the gentleman’s weapon. Yet weapons are forged by human hands, and also shaped by human hearts.”

“Ah Xue, remember.” Yan Hongyin’s gaze swept over Lu Gang’s corpse, landing on the dark, quiet forest in the distance. “Ruthlessness is the way of the Dao, but absolute coldness is the way of the demon. You may take the sword as your path, be true to the sword.”

“But never forget, you are not a sword, but a human. Before being true to the sword, be true to humanity first.”

“The seven emotions and six desires of the mortal world can be diluted, but not severed.”

Yan Hongyin recalled the black-red blood that bloomed on the Embroidered Spring Blade when she was nine, and the warm, protective palm that rested on her head.

“…You walk the path of no emotion in the mortal world, not the demonic path of cutting off all emotions.”

Ximen Chuixue felt the chaotic buzzing in his ears gradually subsiding. He seemed to feel the coolness of snowflakes landing on his cheeks again, to sense the warmth of his master supporting him at his side.

He called out, “…Master?”

Yan Hongyin paused, then, though she had once told Yu Luocha she would never take Ximen Chuixue as her disciple, she ultimately answered with an “Mm,” accepting this master-disciple relationship.

Yan Hongyin crouched down and gathered Ximen Chuixue into her arms.

The child’s body suddenly went soft, and intense pain began to spread from every meridian, every inch of muscle.

Yan Hongyin held Ximen Chuixue in her arms, and as she turned, Ximen Chuixue took one last look at the corpse behind them, gradually being covered by snow.

“Born as a human, one should have reverence for heaven, earth, life, and death. You can disregard your own life and death, pursuing a path of ‘hearing the Dao in the morning and dying without regret in the evening’, but as my disciple, you must never view the lives of others as insignificant and presume to judge their life and death.”

“Should evil people not be killed?” Ximen Chuixue lowered his eyelids, pursing his lips.

“Those of great evil should be killed; those of lesser evil should be punished.” Yan Hongyin carried Ximen Chuixue slowly along the path home, her hand gently resting on the child’s back. The falling snowflakes turned to mist before they could touch the child, transformed by her internal energy. Yet her voice was extremely soft, slow, and cold. “Those who wield swords must not kill wantonly, must not kill indiscriminately, must not kill with disrespect.”

A peculiar light ignited in the depths of Ximen Chuixue’s eyes, like a flame, or like the seed of the Way.

“Master, what is the path of no emotion?”

“It is to view all things in the world with the same eyes, be it a blade of grass or a speck of dust, the lives of a city or a single person.”

The path of no emotion was the hardest path to verify in this world, and also the easiest to break.

Those without heart cut off emotions and fall into demonic ways, those with heart have their emotions tied to a single point and their understanding of the Dao scatters.

Her master, her mother, had entered the Dao through her compassion and pity for all living beings, vowing to eliminate all evils in the world, and had attained Grandmaster level by setting aside romantic love.

Yan Hongyin did not know whether that brilliant woman’s final attachment was romantic regret or maternal love, but she had undoubtedly given everything she could to her daughter.

Just like when she held her hand on her deathbed, smiling openly and brightly for the first time in front of her—even though she wore a mask on her face, Yan Hongyin felt at that moment that she must have been an extremely beautiful, radiant being.

It was precisely because of that smile that Yan Hongyin resolutely took over the Jinyiwei she left behind, shouldering her vow to never allow the Jinyiwei to be used by evil people or degenerate into a despicable organization.

Yan Hongyin recalled that silhouette in her memory, silently curving her lips in the darkness. “No emotion is universal love.”

“Ah Xue, the future you are about to walk is a lonely and cold road.”

“Remember the path you have chosen, and do not be swayed by any external things.”

Ximen Chuixue lay on Yan Hongyin’s shoulder, the dizziness from serious injury and blood loss overtaking him, his body softening unconsciously in pain, his vision beginning to blur.

“…Is Master’s path… also the path of no emotion?”

“The Jinyiwei of this world must verify the path of the King of Hell.”

These few words carried the bloody scent of killing and the grim iron bones stripped from darkness.

“Sleep now, tomorrow we begin to learn the sword.”

“What about Uncle? Uncle… he…”

Drowsy confusion created strange, bizarre scenes in his eyes. Ximen Chuixue struggled to keep his eyes open, wanting to hear what Yan Hongyin said, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t clearly hear the answer scattered in the wind.

“…He is the abyss, and also the mortal world.”

The child slumped against her neck had fallen into deep sleep. Yan Hongyin checked his pulse—the medicinal pill she had fed him earlier was beginning to take effect.

Not far away, at the foot of the mountain, the city was ablaze with lights, the noise merging into a continuous din.

Because of the Luocha Sect’s high-profile appearance, because of those missing women and children who had been rescued.

Yan Hongyin’s footsteps faltered.

The Jinyiwei resolved injustices, judged the evil and treacherous, subdued the ten-thousand-fathom abyss, and protected the peace of the mortal world.

The mask outlined a fierce and coldly proud lone beast.

But…

She thought of the intelligence reports of Yu Luocha’s sudden emergence, how after establishing the Luocha Sect, he gathered the evil spirits beyond the passes under his command, collected taxes from the Western Regions’ royal families to support the tribes and city residents; thought of the growing prosperity of trade routes within and beyond the passes; thought of the once desolate and bleak frontier cities, where people of different ethnicities now supported each other and lived in peace and prosperity.

—In this world, there were not only ghosts who had fallen into the abyss, but also the Rakshasa who stood in the abyss, wielding a blade to cut through hell.

He was in the abyss, yet also protected the mortal world.

****

In a residence in Luoyang City, Yu Luocha wrote down a series of orders on paper, placing them aside under a paperweight, allowing the winter breeze to dry the ink.

Hua Manlou, who was grinding ink for him, seemed troubled.

Yu Luocha said, “Ah Xue’s father was a truly kind person, not skilled in martial arts but of exceptional literary talent. His mother was innocent and naive; though she suffered greatly in her childhood, she was naturally kind to others.”

Hua Manlou was startled, his ink-grinding movements pausing.

“Continue, otherwise the ink will dry again.” Yu Luocha’s brush never paused; he seemed to have many matters to attend to, many plans to make, yet he still sat here, diverting his attention to guide the child beside him in a low voice. “But just because they showed momentary kindness and spared a servant who might have seen something, they were betrayed, leading to their murder and the destruction of their household.”

“Ah Xue was hidden by his mother and watched helplessly as his parents died tragically. The blood of everyone he knew in the household stained the grounds of the residence red, and finally everything disappeared in a raging fire.”

“Ah Lou, if you were him, could you forgive the informant? If you could go back, what choice would you make?”

“To kill, or to spare?”

Hua Manlou’s hand trembled, and after a few breaths, the ink stick fell into the inkstone with a clang, splashing a few drops of ink.

“I…”

He didn’t know how to answer.

If he could go back, perhaps killing one person could save an entire household of loved ones; but that person was neither an evil sword-wielder, nor a treacherous mastermind, nor had he yet committed any evil deeds… Should he be killed, or spared?

“Ah Lou, many people in this world are not born in the mortal realm.” The cold wind howled outside the window, but Yu Luocha’s voice was very gentle. “Don’t advise others on suffering you haven’t experienced. Preaching too much to others will only confuse your own path.”

Hua Manlou raised his head, those dull, lightless eyes showing no emotional fluctuation, but his still baby-faced countenance was filled with pale struggle. “Uncle Yu… was I wrong?”

Instead of answering directly, Yu Luocha asked, “Ah Lou, what do you think your path is?”

Hua Manlou recalled how he had firmly spoken to his elder under the eaves that day, bit his lip, and slowly said, “It’s… humanity?”

“Yes, it’s humanity.” Yu Luocha put down his brush and rubbed Hua Manlou’s head. “On this path, you seem to meet many people, but none will walk with you.”

“People are shallow and selfish by nature, instinctively magnifying their own hardships while ignoring the suffering of others. You can empathize with others’ suffering and difficulties, you can extend a hand to help those who ask for your aid, but you cannot control people’s hearts.”

“Those you help might turn to evil in the next moment, and those who do evil might turn to good after your guidance, but the evil they do is their evil, the good they do is their virtue, not your karma. Hearts change easily, black and white are unclear, you can only hold fast to your own heart and cannot influence others’ futures.”

“You’ve chosen your path, so hold true to your principles, always carry a pure heart to see, to do, to save, to help, to protect, but you cannot interfere with others’ lives, others’ choices.”

“Ah Lou, the path you walk is warm yet lonely.”

“You must learn to tolerate, to accept. Your heart must be soft enough, but also hard enough. Because you are human, not Buddha, you cannot change people.”

Yu Luocha’s finger lightly touched Hua Manlou’s brow, smoothing away the child’s confusion and disappointment.

“Just like the question earlier, the answer is actually very simple. If that moment came again, Ah Xue would choose to kill, while you would choose to spare. This is not a decision of good and evil, right and wrong, but a difference in personal choice.”

“Killing is acceptable, sparing is not wrong.”

A tiny drop of ink slid slowly down Hua Manlou’s cheek, like a dried tear track. He tightly gripped his elder’s sleeve, urgent and helpless.

“I don’t think he’s wrong, I just feel that if he becomes like those people… I just, I don’t want to just watch helplessly…”

Hua Manlou was a sensitive and intelligent child. He often spent time with Ximen Chuixue and sensed how different Ximen Chuixue was from Lu Xiaofeng or any other child.

He saw this big brother who cared for him standing at the edge of a cliff, with a bottomless abyss before him, and wanted to pull him back but could not get close to him.

Yu Luocha raised his hand and wiped away the ink mark on Hua Manlou’s face with his fingertip, pinching Hua Manlou’s mouth, which was about to open and say something more, into the shape of a little duck.

“I was born from the abyss, covered in killing karma, acting willfully, defying rules, only doing what I believe is right, walking the path I want to walk. Saving people or killing people, doing good or evil, it’s but a moment’s thought. In the eyes of the world, I truly cannot be considered a good person.”

Yu Luocha smiled, turned his head, and through the window saw the first snow of the year silently falling outside.

“But one day, I met the King of Hell who suppressed the abyss, received the King’s favor, and glimpsed the mortal world.”

“Since then, I have been willing to bow my head, bear chains, and guard hell.”

“Not for the common people, but for her.”

Having been separated for just a moment, Yu Luocha could not help but miss Yan Hongyin.

When she wore loose robes, when she wore light armor and black clothes; when she walked in the mortal world, when she moved stealthily in the night.

“There are three thousand great ways, different paths leading to the same destination. Your paths are different, your roads are different, but what you seek may not be different. If you are worried, when the one you care for is trapped, go and guide them yourself, what’s wrong with that?”

Hua Manlou was silent for a long while, then softly asked, “Like Uncle Yu and Aunt Yan?”

He was not a dull child, and Lu Xiaofeng had learned many things about Li Xunhuan, from Long Xiaoyun.

About the Luocha Sect, about the Jinyiwei.

Yu Luocha gathered the dried papers on the table, folded them, and placed them in an envelope to be sent beyond the passes.

Outside the city, in the mountains, the snow covered the salty smell of blood and the cold, stiff corpses, along with wiping away the hatred and obsession that had weighed on the child’s heart. From now on, his heart would be clear as a bright terrace, wielding a sword to eliminate evil.

Inside the city, thousands of lights flickered in the night’s first snow, the child’s hand touching his chest, feeling the beat and rise and fall of his heart, lighting a small candle for all those who had lost their direction and sense of righteousness.

As if sensing something, Yu Luocha leaned out and looked down.

Yan Hongyin, carrying a child in her arms, entered the courtyard and looked up to meet his gaze.

“Just like her and me.”