The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Zhan Mohe paused, his tone sharp and undisguised, pressing on: "The path of cultivation is inherently a path of constantly severing worldly ties and reshaping oneself!"

"In pursuit of the supreme Dao, some practice silent meditation, not uttering a single word to their closest relatives for decades, keeping only the principles of the universe's energy circulation in their hearts, and regarding kinship as nothing; some abandon their wives and children, retreating to deep mountains, just to sever worldly ties, cut off emotional bonds, and seek a mind free from distractions; and some even go so far as to mutilate their own limbs and alter their bloodline, wishing they could be reborn and have a completely new body!"

"Which of these people isn't 'changing'? Which one isn't 'abandoning' their past self?"

His gaze swept over his empty sleeves before turning to Tuoba Wuchou, with an almost cruel scrutiny: "Compared to them... those who have been immersed in the Fountain of Youth, whose consciousness has been eroded and merged by the elixir of immortality... what is the essential difference in their transformation?"

"It's just that one power has been replaced by another; one change has been replaced by yet another."

"In fact, their determination and extent of change probably far exceed those who take the elixir of immortality! Why are the former revered as 'seekers of the Way,' while the latter are condemned as 'demonic puppets'? Is it merely because the latter relied on external forces? Or... is it simply because the 'direction' the latter changed did not conform to the 'Way' in your heart?"

Zhan Mohe's voice suddenly rose in pitch, like a thunderclap in the silent stone hall. Every word carried immense force, slamming into Tuoba Wuchou's crumbling mental defenses.

"Tuoba Wuchou! You later... didn't you also use that 'elixir of immortality'?! If it weren't for this senior's intervention, using his supreme divine power to peel away and purify the corruption of the purple jade wood within your body, you would probably already be a walking corpse under the corrosive influence of that cold, strange wood, right now?!"

"How are you any different from them? You're just like the pot calling the kettle black!"

"Back then, when you slashed down with your sword, did you sever... the tentacles of extraterrestrial demons, or... the last remaining, possibly awakened, 'true spirit' of the children you watched grow up, whom you personally strangled?!"

“Tell me… when you later regained your senses and looked at the devastated ancestral homeland, at the lingering souls of those who were completely annihilated because of your ‘decisive decision’… did you… in some quiet night, in a corner where no one knew you, have your heart gnawed at by endless regret?!”

"Have you ever... regretted it?!"

These words were not only an outpouring of his emotions after more than a decade of preparation, but also a deliberate performance, a gamble to demonstrate his own value: honestly playing the role of a background character would inevitably lead to being abandoned.

Tuoba Wuchou's body trembled violently, as if he had been struck hard by an invisible hammer. He staggered back half a step, his face instantly turning ashen. In his eyes, which had been weathered by time but were now bloodshot, a storm of pain, confusion, and... unfathomable regret surged within them.

He opened his mouth, making a hoarse sound in his throat, but couldn't utter a single word.

That straight back appeared incredibly hunched over at that moment.

Zhao Qing, who had been silently observing, slowly raised his eyelids. His gaze was calm and unwavering, yet it seemed to penetrate people's hearts, landing on Tuoba Wuchou's face, which was distorted by extreme pain.

She spoke softly, with a penetrating insight that seemed to see through everything, and gently asked, "Tuoba Wuchou, answer him."

"Do you... regret it?"

"regret?!"

Tuoba Wuchou suddenly raised his head, his eyes bursting with a terrifying light, a light mixed with pain, anger, determination, and a trace of... madness from having his deepest wounds touched.

"Regret?! What I regret is not discovering it sooner! What I regret is not destroying it before they came into contact with that evil thing! What I regret is... not being able to save more people!"

"What I regret is not going all out and overthrowing the entire Yuan Clan Imperial Court with lightning speed when they first came into contact with that star-worshiping ceremony and first established that damned connection with the outer realms! Shattering their self-deceiving 'divine right' rule! And completely taking control of the channels connecting to the stars!"

His chest heaved violently, his voice hoarse with excitement, "It's necessary to open your eyes to see the world! But why can't it be me, Tuoba Wuchou, who can see it?! Why let a bunch of fools who are blinded by immortality drag the entire Tianliang into an abyss of no return?!"

"I admit it! In those eroded shells, perhaps... perhaps a few remnants of humanity from the past remain! A fragment of consciousness! Even in the early stages of fusion, that damned Wood Gall Tai Sui might not have had an absolute advantage!"

"What it does is merely unearth and amplify the greed, indifference, and insatiable thirst for power that are inherently hidden in people's hearts... those subversive and dark sides that are covered up by etiquette, responsibility, and warmth! It turns them into the very kind of beings that they once loathed and despised the most!"

“I’ve even thought about it countless times… Perhaps, the extraterrestrial beings didn’t have any 'malice' at all? They were just responding to the 'Unification Faction’s' mad plea! They were simply handing the 'elixir of immortality' as a 'gift,' a key to 'evolution,' to the Heavenly Cold Royal Family who craved it?”

"And the Yuan clan... they may have known all along! They were willing! They viewed the change in temperament and the detachment of emotions as a negligible price to pay in their pursuit of immortality and the establishment of an eternal divine dynasty!"

His tone carried an almost cruel clarity: "In their eyes, merging with Tai Sui, embracing the starry sky, becoming a 'deity' beyond the mortal realm, leading Tianliang and even the entire Chiyang Inner Domain into an unprecedented glorious era... isn't this a greater path than being confined to the grasslands and bound by the shackles of bloodline?!"

"Isn't this the 'right path' they've been dreaming of?!"

Tuoba Wuchou took a sudden step forward, exuding a fierce and resolute aura, as if he had returned to that battlefield engulfed in blood and fire: "However! Prejudice... does not mean I am wrong!"

"Because, having merged with Tai Sui, they have truly ceased to belong to the human race! Their hearts no longer beat for the cold winds of the grasslands, the lamentations of the herdsmen, or the blood of the soldiers! Their path no longer protects the creatures of this land! They... are no longer my kind!"

"Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts! This is an ironclad rule flowing in the marrow of every warrior of the Cold Sky! It is the survival law carved by our ancestors on the Northern Ice Plains with countless bones!"

"This has nothing to do with mercy! Nothing to do with right or wrong! And it has nothing to do with your vague and illusory 'possibility of awakening'!"

"This is a life-or-death racial war! A struggle for living space! A do-or-die battle for the survival of civilization!"

"According to the Guiyi Sect's own theory of 'Heaven's Way is ruthless, and only the fittest survive,' my fist is bigger, my cultivation is higher, and I am better able to protect the 'true people' on this land. Therefore, the path I walk is the righteous path! It is the Way of Heaven!"

"As for that glimmer of light that might exist, belonging to the past... that's no reason to hesitate!"

"That was... a reason for me to wield my sword! It was a mercy for me to... send them on their final journey! It was a way for me to use utter destruction to sever their pain from being twisted by the alien wood, to sever the humiliation of being reduced to puppets from beyond the realm! To let them... return to dust as people of Tianliang, with their last dignity!"

Tuoba Wuchou's voice lowered, carrying a calm as if the dust had settled: "Slaying karma is not about slaying people; when thoughts arise, the mind is empty, only to see the wind and rain fall, clearing away the dust and gloom. After all, only with a sword in hand can the stars and moon shine! This is my answer!"

Zhao Qing also stared at him, and in an instant saw through the myriad subtle changes. She knew that after the other party revealed so much of his past, his deepest obsession had almost disappeared, and he had begun the countdown to return to the Eighth Realm. His spiritual realm had undergone a completely new transformation.

This is because Tuoba Wuchou's goal was not to revive his relatives and friends, nor to attack foreign lands, nor to destroy the elixir of immortality, but to pursue a kind of self-acknowledgment like fallen leaves returning to their roots, and to be honest and responsible.

"From the swordsman's heart's effortless mastery of weight, to the effortless mastery of lightness, and finally to the indistinguishability of lightness and heaviness, the principle converges within the circle and square. In terms of form, it has already taken shape, filling the void and pervading all places, continuing with a serene clarity..." She smiled slightly, as if she had completely abandoned the previous history of the cold and destruction, and spoke unhurriedly about the swordsmanship theory that everyone was hearing for the first time: "...The heart's scales are indistinguishable, not because it is heartless, but because it accommodates the Way. Where the wind and rain fall, the dust and grime are naturally removed, not because of external forces, but because of the bright light of the heart!"

Tuoba Wuchou also laughed loudly, his eyes bursting with unprecedented brilliance: "...The scales of the heart are indistinguishable, what a fine scales of the heart are indistinguishable! The name of this realm fully expresses my half a lifetime of blood and fire, half a lifetime of torment."

"Unexpectedly, the path that has been blocked for hundreds of years has been completely revealed in just a few words! There are no more barriers before the Nine Realms!"

Not every Grandmaster at the upper level of the seventh realm can achieve the evaluation of the peak of the seventh realm. The same principle applies to the eighth realm: the true peak of the eighth realm represents the perfect attainment of cultivation below the level of immortality. Looking at the past and present, it is a great achievement that is extremely rare.

Zhan Mohe listened blankly from the side, feeling as if his thoughts were falling into a fog, becoming increasingly chaotic: the sword technique of making the heavy seem light and the light seem heavy is easy to understand, it is a skill of controlling power; the changes in the lightness and heaviness of sword intent and sword momentum can be simulated and perceived through the flow of divine thoughts, which belongs to the method of using the interplay of the real and the illusory.

But this sword heart... is a purely conceptual thing, formless and intangible, so where does its weight come from? How can it be "without distinction"?
He frowned, feeling that this realm was profound and mysterious, far beyond his current cognitive framework, and simply incomprehensible.

Tang Xin's heart stirred, and she immediately thought of Zhao Qing's explanation of the "point, line, and plane" theory using the Peerless Wind and Rain Sword as an example—that was the most essential insight into the rules and structure of primordial energy, revealing the relative scale of the inside and outside, and the transformation between emptiness and existence.

The opposition between the vast and the insignificant, the real and the unreal, is unified here!

He had a vague understanding that the "Three Realms of Sword Heart" might correspond to the three stages of the Eight Realms of cultivation. Sword Heart, which is the heart of oneself and the world, is the process of its transformation from condensation and growth to perfect harmony and circulation.

"Observe without clinging, remain unmoved."

Zhao Qing's voice rang out again, like a clear spring flowing through a mountain stream, pulling everyone's thoughts back—even without using the slightest bit of true essence or divine thought, her mental supernatural powers could still transmit a message: "Infinite quantity, endless time, impermanent division, without beginning or end... Do you understand?"

"Compared to the truly infinitesimal, the human heart is also an infinite and boundless existence, without beginning or end. Therefore, it can perfectly correspond to the boundless heaven and earth, the endless void, and between the birth and death of the Dao, all things in the universe are recreated... This is the debate between the infinitesimal and the infinite." Tuoba Wuchou pondered for a moment and then grasped the true meaning:

"Completely unified with the vast emptiness, utterly merging with the Dharma nature! So, you have already seen that scene belonging to the Nine Realms?"

His words naturally conveyed a sense of heartfelt respect.

Zhan Mohe stared wide-eyed, trying to savor these extremely precious words and comprehend their profound mystery.

He recognized every single word—"infinite quantity," "mind mapping," "the debate between the smallest and the largest," "accommodating the Way," "observing without clinging," "the bright light of the mind"—but when put together, they were like a book written in a foreign language!

He couldn't help but look at Tang Xin, only to see that her brows were slightly furrowed, but her eyes were unusually focused, as if she was trying to capture the subtle meaning contained in those mysterious words. Sometimes she seemed to understand, sometimes she seemed confused, and she clearly understood more than he did.

This is not because Zhan Maha's comprehension is too poor or unworthy of being cultivated, but because some things, if they cannot reach the corresponding level and have never truly stepped into the threshold of that realm, will ultimately be like the blind men touching an elephant.

He couldn't grasp the key points, to the point that he almost had to pretend to have a complete understanding in order to maintain his personal investment value.

"I understand." Zhao Qing said calmly, and continued to look at Tuoba Wuchou: "Past debts, grudges and affections, should be like clouds passing by in your heart, and can hardly be shaken in the slightest."

"You should go down and empty your mind. Within ten days, once your innate vital energy and the newly formed sword heart have completely merged, you will naturally return to the upper level of the eighth realm, or even surpass it."

She shifted her tone slightly, her gaze sharp as lightning, directly addressing the core issue: "So, where do you intend to go next? What do you intend to do? Do you already have any long-term plans? For example, rebuilding Tianliang?"

"It's getting cold? In my opinion, it... hasn't truly disappeared!" Tuoba Wuchou replied in a deep voice, his vast divine sense sweeping over the ruins of the ancestral mountain, which bore witness to the endless glory and sorrow of the empire, over the broken walls that still stood stubbornly against the winds of time, and finally projecting its gaze onto the distant, boundless grassland horizon:

"Simply because it always exists in the wind of this grassland, in the songs of the herdsmen, and in the hearts of every descendant who flows with the blood of the Liangshan people and remembers the glory of their ancestors!"

He slowly raised his hand, not pointing to any concrete territory or throne, but pressing it lightly against his chest, where it seemed to bear the weight of an invisible land: "I, Tuoba Wuchou, was born here, grew up here, fought for it in all directions, and defended against enemies. I also buried its decaying shell with my own hands."

"Thirty-six thousand days in a hundred years, I am either in sorrow or sick. These hundreds of years of decline have been both a calamity and a rebirth for me. Now, the shackles are gone, and my chronic illness is completely cured."

"From now on, this broken body, this broken sword, and this heart... enlightened by the senior and given a new life, will be Tian Liang's last and purest form of existence!"

"Is spirit more important than form?" Zhao Qing nodded.

"Not bad!"

Tuoba Wuchou replied confidently: "The rise and fall of the Tianliang Dynasty has already proven that the foundation of a dynasty does not lie in the size of its territory or the strength of its army, but in the will of its strongest leader! Without a supreme leader who can suppress the world and lead civilization forward, even the largest empire is nothing more than a tower built on sand, which will eventually collapse."

"The path of cultivation is fundamental! Exploring the mysteries of higher realms and pursuing the dawn of immortality in the nine realms—this is the truly great undertaking worth devoting all your heart and soul to! In comparison, striving to integrate the Wu and Yue tribes and educate the people—these mundane affairs are undoubtedly a waste of precious time!"

"Just like the four dynasties in the Central Plains now, Qin, Chu, Qi, and Yan... Even if they are well-governed, have the support of the people, and have many experts, in my eyes, apart from the Qin Emperor who has already entered the eighth realm, who might need to be paid a little attention, the rest are nothing but clay chickens and earthenware dogs!"

"Even though I haven't fully recovered yet, one man and one sword are enough to conquer any capital city! To crush any so-called invincible army! Even a million elite troops cannot stop me!"

"The Void Technique is unpredictable, impossible to see, catch, or penetrate. It is indeed not afraid of being surrounded. If one is not at the Eighth Realm, it is probably impossible to intercept its movements, let alone capture it."

Zhao Qing replied with a smile: "However, Grand Marshal Tuoba, your previous remarks may have... underestimated the potential and wisdom of 'human beings' and overlooked the development trend of the times."

"The development of the times?" Tuoba Wuchou was slightly taken aback: "You mean... talismans, formations? Technological changes?"

If you want to win against a stronger opponent, aside from using superior numbers to overwhelm them, these are pretty much the only methods.
"I guess so."

Zhao Qing didn't say much, but casually took out a jade talisman, pressed it a few times, and a light and shadow projection screen suddenly appeared, hovering in the center of the stone hall, with mountains, rivers and seas, and latitude and longitude grids clearly flowing on it.

...(End of chapter)