I am a soldier in the border army

Chapter 615: The Heart of Taoism Collapses! Benevolence, Kindness, Taoism, and Law

It was September and the scorching heat had gone.

There is still some remnant of the cool and refreshing autumn charm.

The wind on the north bank of the Tongtian River blew up the collars of people's robes, but it failed to change the changes in their expressions.

But Han Shao's words, "between me and the great and virtuous teacher, who can be the epitome of the glorious humanity?" made the skin on the faces of those figures in ochre-yellow hemp Taoist robes tremble for a moment.

Looking up at Han Shao who looked just like he did back then, they chose to remain silent.

In response, Han Shao just smiled and didn't take it as an offense.

Because the silence at this time is the answer they give to themselves.

So he focused his gaze on the Taoist who was in the lead and said with a smile.

"Fellow Daoist Zuo, it seems that I won the discussion back then?"

Taoist Zuo, Zuo Ci.

This was the name that Han Shao gave him personally.

In the past, his name was Zuo Jin, and he was a die-hard fan of Huang Tiandao and the Great Sage Master.

Now, ten years have passed in a hurry. Huang Tiandao, who was once defeated and captured but still remained unyielding in front of Han Shao, has no idea what he has experienced. He is now blind in one eye and lame in one foot. He seems to have lost part of his soul, and his eyes are dull and dazed.

After hearing Han Shao's words, he was stunned for a few moments before realizing that Han Shao was asking him a question.

His expression gradually became lively, and it changed for a while, and finally he let out a long sigh.

"Mr. Yan is a man of high moral character. In the discussion back then... I was indeed the loser."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zuo Ci's energy, spirit, and muscles were once again reduced by 70%.

Even though he had already formed a conclusion in his heart based on everything he had witnessed over the years, when he admitted it himself, he still exuded a somewhat gloomy and dead air.

This is a sign that the mind of Tao has completely collapsed and is about to go towards self-annihilation.

The few Huang Tiandao people around him were not much better.

There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart.

Over the years, Youbei, and even the original Youbei grassland, has become a thriving paradise under the governance of the Duke of Yan.

On the other hand, under the rule of Huang Tian Dao, which advocates "everyone is like a dragon", all industries are in decline, the people are in poverty, and the people are scattered... People are not human, dragons are not dragons, and they are even worse than pigs and dogs under the rule of those noble families in the past.

After all, pigs and dogs can still survive until they reach a certain age, but now -

They could die at any moment!
The phrase 'ants swarming around to attack a city' seems to be filled with the vastness and power of a mighty force, with a thunderous momentum that shakes the heavens.

But who has ever seen the endless piles of corpses under the city walls after every glorious victory?

Yesterday we led our army to attack the city, and many people died.

If the imperial court counterattacks tomorrow, there will be casualties.

If one day there is a conflict with those noble families, someone may die!

Batches, crops, places...

There is killing and fighting everywhere, and it seems like there are always people dying in this world!

Wherever you go, there is no place where you can't see piles of bones and smell the stench of blood.

'No! It shouldn't be like this!'

"Obviously, we raised the banner of justice in order to win a ray of luck and destiny for the common people in this world! Let them live! Live better!"

'But now... it's wrong! It's wrong! Everything is wrong!'

What hurts them most is...

Over the years, they have witnessed with their own eyes that many of Huang Tian's former disciples have become more and more like those noble families whom they once despised and cursed.

They wear fine clothes, eat the best food, have followers when they go out, and choose believers to serve them when they go to bed...

'These evil creatures! How dare they destroy the great and virtuous teacher's work when it is not yet complete!'

From that moment on, the Huang Tian Taoist priests, led by Zuo Ci, were filled with anger and horror.

They don't understand what it means to be a dragon slayer, and will eventually become the dragon themselves.

They only knew that all this confirmed what Han Shao had said to them at the beginning, which was almost a prophecy.

'It is rumored that the demon king Mara once said to the Buddha: "When your Dharma ends, I will teach my disciples to sneak into your temples, wear your robes, and destroy your Dharma. I will teach them to misinterpret your scriptures and destroy your precepts"...'

Perhaps it is just as the Duke of Yan once said.

Those noble families finally took over Huang Tiandao's body!
Corrupting the foundation and plotting against the orthodoxy!
In time, even if Huang Tiandao could truly and completely sweep the world, it would only replace Dayong.

Apart from replacing the person sitting on the throne and allowing those Huang Tian disciples who had long been corrupt and fallen to become new members of those aristocratic families, what was the point?
If this is the outcome, what will become of their fellow disciples who sacrificed their lives and shed their blood for the great cause of Huang Tian!
What about those Huang Tian believers who believe in Huang Tian Dao and are willing to destroy their families, sacrifice their lives, and lay the foundation for Huang Tian Dao with their flesh and blood!
And all this——

"Great and wise teacher! Do you really not see anything?"

puff--

One of the Huang Tian Taoists spat out a mouthful of boiling hot blood. His aura dropped rapidly and he was actually in a state of being on the verge of becoming a Taoist.

Faced with this scene, all the Huang Tiandao people around him, including Zuo Ci, looked indifferent and did not react at all.

Perhaps in their eyes, it was a blessing that their fellow disciple had just passed away and did not have to endure the torture of the collapse of his spiritual heart and path.

However, Han Shao, who was standing opposite him, couldn't bear to see all this and sighed with some regret.

He simply stretched out his fingers from the sleeves of the imperially bestowed mountain and river robe, reached forward and tapped lightly, and with a wave of his hand he instantly stopped the Taoist Huang Tian's momentum.

Zuo Ci and others who witnessed this tremendous magical power were not amazed.

They just stared at Han Shao blankly with complicated expressions.

"Why must Lord Yan do this?"

Han Shao put down his hands, glanced at them, and snorted in dissatisfaction.

Back then, he risked his life to give them a chance to live, and over the years he had done his best to make things convenient for them. If he just died like this, wouldn't it be a waste of his efforts and a joke?

"Your life is given by me. You are not allowed to die without my permission!"

After these words were spoken, Zuo Ci and others saw Han Shao's domineering and arrogant side after experiencing his kindness.

If they had been captured just ten years ago, they would have definitely confronted Han Shao and demonstrated their determination to die rather than surrender.

But at this moment, they were filled with exhaustion and despair, and they just said it lightly.

"If Lord Yan wants to use me and others to seize Qingzhou, I think he is making a wrong decision."

"Firstly, although I and others originally belonged to Qingzhou, since General Cheng died for his cause and millions of soldiers died at the hands of Lord Yan, Qingzhou is no longer the Qingzhou of the past. I and others have no old subordinates and do not know many people well. Even if I know a little about various places in Qingzhou, it will not be of much use."

"Secondly..."

"Although we are bound by our promise and cannot act according to the will of Heaven, we cannot stand up for Lord Yan and do something that would harm our fellow Taoists and former brothers."

Zuo Ci, the leader, sighed when he reached this point, but his eyes were solemn and determined.

"If this is the case, I would rather die!"

After saying this, Huang Tiandao's group, including Zuo Ci, thought that even if Han Shao didn't fly into a rage, he would at least respond with a cold face.

But who would have thought that wherever I looked, Han Shao was still smiling and talking.

Zuo Ci frowned, "Is Lord Yan not angry?"

Hearing this, Han Shao seemed amused.

"Why should I be upset?"

After saying that, he waved his hands with amusement.

"Alright, don't judge my mind with your little thoughts."

What about vindictiveness and narrow-mindedness? It's all nonsense!

I am the most magnanimous person.

After gilding his own laurels, Han Shao finally straightened his face and made his attitude clear.

“You guessed right. I do want to use you, but I don’t like to force people to do things, and I will never force you to do things you don’t want to do or can’t do.” After saying this, Han Shao raised his eyelids to stop them from speaking when he saw Zuo Ci and other Huangtian Taoists open their mouths as if they were about to say something. Then he turned around and looked across the turbulent waves of the Tongtian River to the opposite south bank of Qingzhou.

"so--"

"I'm not asking you to kill people for me, but to save people."

save people?

Upon hearing this, Zuo Ci and other Huang Tiandao people were all confused.

"What do you mean by that, Lord Yan?"

"Mr. Yan...who do you want to save?"

On the north bank of the river, the wind is blowing hard.

The huge banner held up by hundreds of thousands of elite tigers and wolves was filled with murderous aura that reached the sky.

"I have to cross the river. To cross the river I have to kill people. I have to kill a lot of people."

"So next... what you have to do is to save those people from my hands as much as possible, so that I have no reason to wield the butcher knife against them."

One word sets the tone.

Han Shao was afraid that they didn't understand what he meant, so he asked again.

"Do you understand what I mean?"

As it turned out, Han Shao's worries were somewhat unnecessary.

After all, among those who can cultivate to a certain level, except for a small number of gifted people, none of them are stupid.

Although Han Shao's words were somewhat vague and convoluted, Zuo Ci and other Huang Tiandaoists gradually understood what was going on.

"Lord Yan, do you want us to appease the people on your behalf?"

To be precise, this "popularity" refers specifically to those believers in Huang Tian Dao.

No one understands and knows better than Han Shao the horror of thoughts and beliefs.

If he could not successfully reverse all this, Han Shao would have no choice but to violently destroy the source of this extreme chaos physically, no matter how unwilling he was.

Firstly, he didn't have the time to solve it slowly.

Secondly, the hundreds of thousands of brave men under his command may seem like a large number, but how can they withstand the daily erosion like a vast ocean?

By then, I'm afraid the only way to successfully resolve all this would be to thoroughly prove that butcher's notoriety.

Fortunately, Han Shao had a plan for this.

And his contingency plan was none other than to save Zuo Ci and others, whose lives he had spared ten years ago in the name of discussing Taoism.

"I always like to talk to smart people, it saves trouble."

Han Shao laughed and looked back and said.

"How about it? Fellow Taoist Zuo and all the other virtuous people, are you willing to help me relieve my worries and offer this glimmer of hope for the common people?"

Zuo Ci and others, who fully understood Han Shao's thoughts, looked at each other, their expressions becoming more complicated.

Because even though Han Shao spoke with murderous intent, they still felt the kindness and goodness of the Duke of Yan from this murderous intent.

Upon closer thought, Huang Tiandao has been in power for so many years, perhaps out of helplessness or indifference from heaven. Even the great sage who made the promise of "May all people in the world be like dragons" has never really taken into account the lives and sufferings of the common people.

But it happened that the Duke of Yan, who was notorious for being a butcher, thought of it and cared about it.

He even went so far as to plan for this day as early as ten years ago.

This kind of forward-looking vision and strategy of taking one step and seeing ninety things makes people admire it, but also makes people feel helpless.

"Master Yan, do you know that if I and others do this, it will also be equivalent to betraying the Great Sage Master and Huang Tiandao?"

Help Han Shao to appease the followers of Huang Tian so that they won't cause any trouble.

It is necessary to re-establish a new flag in the hearts of those believers.

And this is undoubtedly undermining the foundation of Huang Tiandao and even the Great Sage Master!
To make an inappropriate analogy, this is similar to "carrying the red flag to oppose the red flag". No matter from which angle you look at it, it is a heinous crime.

Seeing them looking at him with difficulty, Han Shao smiled instead.

"Betrayed, so what?"

"I follow my own path and my own methods, and I don't ask the gods for help!"

"In the past, you followed the path and practiced the Dharma of the Great and Good Teacher. Now, your faith in the path is almost broken. This is because you have seen all the sentient beings in the world and recognized all kinds of suffering. You already have the path and Dharma in your heart. Why do you need to ask the Great and Good Teacher again?"

Although Han Shao did not explicitly say in front of them that his great and virtuous teacher's teachings and methods were wrong.

But to Zuo Ci and others, it was still deafening.

'I follow my own path! I have my own way! I don't ask the gods!'

This is destroying God!
Destroy the god in their hearts!
And this 'God' is none other than the great and wise teacher whose every word and action they regard as a guiding principle!

"This...how can this be done!?"

Some Huang Tiandao people felt their hearts tremble and their pupils contracted violently.

"The Great and Good Master...he...how can we compare with the Great and Good Master..."

Hearing him being so long-winded and hesitant, Han Shao rebuked him decisively.

"Stupid! Pedantic!"

"Tell me! Why did you give up wealth, career, and even death in the past?!"

"But for the common people of this world!"

With a loud shout, Han Shao's aura surged, like a true god.

"I only want to ask you, for the sake of the life and death of hundreds of millions of people, do you still cherish your body, life, and reputation?"

A group of Huang Tiandao priests, including Zuo Ci, were trembling violently all over.

After a long silence, a Huang Tian Taoist finally roared angrily.

"I have a heart of my own and I will never change my mind!"

"With such a heart of Tao, one should not care about his body, life, or reputation!"

As soon as he finished speaking, something strange happened.

I saw that Taoist Huang Tian's originally dark and collapsed heart of Taoism suddenly burst into bright light, just like the light emerging from the dust.

Han Shao's eyes lit up when he saw this, and he immediately asked again.

"Then I'll ask you again! There are billions of lives in Qingzhou in front of you, are you willing to sacrifice your life to save them?"

The Taoist Huang Tian's eyes were shining.

"If I were poor, who would I be able to teach?"

With such determination and perseverance to be a martyr, almost in an instant, his aura began to rise rapidly, and soon he completed the entire sixth realm!
However, no matter how perfect the sixth realm is, it is still one step away from the seventh realm.

This is what is meant by "a small mistake can lead to a big error".

Just this 'little bit' can be like a natural chasm.

If it were any other time, this chasm between immortals and mortals would have surely cut off his path to success.

But who can blame Han Shao for being here at this time?

After writing his real name on the Heavenly Book, Han Shao had an idea and instantly summoned the Heavenly Gate.

"Go ahead. You have such a heart for the Dao. Your name should be on the Heavenly Dao!"

Good cattle and horses, go ahead, eat well and make them strong, then you will have the strength to work!

Han Shao narrowed his eyes and thought so.

……

(End of this chapter)