Chapter 566: Choice
Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalonNow, all of the Three Realms was paying attention to the matter.
Everyone knew that the Fiend Ancestor"s female form had appeared to personally negotiate with Qin Yun.
Unfortunately, no one outside knew the contents of their conversation. After all, the Fiend Ancestor had the strength to easily block any external probes. In fact, even Qin Yun had the confidence to isolate himself from the probings of the Dao Ancestors and Fiend Ancestor due to the restrictions they faced in a Small World.
"Black Lotus has appeared," said Grand Supreme Elderly Lord with a chuckle. "Unfortunately, he has s.h.i.+elded everything. Even we have no means of figuring out what he is saying to Qin Yun."
"Let"s wait. Now, all we can do is wait and see the outcome of the conversation," said the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning.
The Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure, G.o.ddess Nüwa, and Buddhist Ancestor Gautama were all watching.
They paid great attention to the outcome.
This matter carried serious repercussions; by liberating the Small Worlds under fiendish occupation, the Fiendish Heavenly Dao would be weakened, strengthening the Three Realms" Heavenly Dao.
"The female form of the Fiend Ancestor has appeared. She will likely offer many benefits. I wonder if fellow Daoist Qin will be able to resist the temptation."
"Sword Immortal Qin is a peerless sword immortal. It will not be easy for the Fiend Ancestor to entice him."
"That"s hard to say. How many mighty figures can resist the promises made by the Fiend Ancestor?"
"Everyone, let"s just wait. We will know the outcome in a while."
"What I"m afraid of is… that Sword Immortal Qin will cease action. Should he agree to cease action, the lives in all the Small Worlds occupied by the fiends in the twenty-six dominions will probably remain in misery."
The mighty figures watched.
In the worlds ruled by the fiends, life was cruel and b.l.o.o.d.y.
The cruelest fiendish worlds would even treat all lives in the world as livestock. They were food for the spirit-devouring lineage or sea of blood lineage lineage cultivators!
In contrast, the worlds which were encompa.s.sed by the Three Realms" Heavenly Dao, were a lot more peaceful. Cultivators would even try their best to acc.u.mulate merit by doing good deeds. Merit was something cultivators pursued. They would do their best to slay fiendish demons and protect life.
And now, extricating the countless lives which resided in the twenty-six dominions" Small Worlds from misery all depended on the outcome of Qin Yun"s and the Fiend Ancestor"s conversation.
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The Fiend Ancestor"s female form was extremely lofty. Her feet were fair and she sat on a humongous boulder, looking down at Qin Yun from the cosmos. She patiently awaited Qin Yun"s answer.
Qin Yun stood in midair as he contemplated for a moment before saying, "Impressive. I, Qin Yun, believe that my Dao heart is firm, but you actually managed to waver it with just a few words."
"To have a carefree and eternal life, being a perfected Golden Immortal, lord of a Great World…" Qin Yun shook his head gently. "If I can choose, I will definitely not choose the route to death. I would also wish to choose the route to life. Only by being alive will I be able to protect all life, and even do so for billions of years."
"You can obviously choose the route to life!" said the Fiend Ancestor.
"Choose the route to life?" Qin Yun scoffed. "Fiend Ancestor, if I choose the route to life as you deem it… Yes, you can indeed promise to announce to the Three Realms that you would not implicate my wife and children, or that you would not attack when I reincarnate. And if I were to really stop and cultivate in peace, there is little chance for me to survive the Itinerant Immortal tribulations. Eventually, I would have to choose to reincarnate. But when I choose to reincarnate… you would go back on your word and disregard face. You would still attack and destroy my soul force."
"As such, I will still die! As for you fiends, you would not suffer a thing. I, Qin Yun, will then become a humongous joke," said Qin Yun with a smile. "Fiend Ancestor, am I right?"
Fiend Ancestor shook her head. "You think I would announce to the Three Realms and still disregard face to attack you, aren"t you underestimating me?"
"Underestimate?"
Qin Yun scoffed. "Fiend Ancestor, I do not dare underestimate you. I do wish to live, but who are you? You are the Fiend Ancestor! The originator of the Fiendish Dao! What are fiends? Evil, deceitful, cunning, greedy, envious… All the powers of sin gathered together result in fiends! As Fiend Ancestor, would you be a person of your word? Or open and aboveboard? I would really be stupid to believe you."
"You think I"m lying to you based on your conjectures?" Fiend Ancestor shook her head.
"Yes, I can"t just base it on mere conjecture," said Qin Yun. "When reading a person, one should look at their actions. To read you as a person, I should also see what you have done in the past! Ever since the uprising of the fiends with the Daoist-Fiend war, when have you ever been softhearted? Didn"t you try to vanquish the Buddhist and Daoist cultivators by all means possible? You would even ignore your reputation as Fiend Ancestor to destroy the soul force of any perished person who has strength that matches a mighty figure.
"Originally, mighty figures could frequently reincarnate and continue their cultivation in the Three Realms.
"But ever since you crossed the bottom line, no mighty figure has dared to reincarnate again."
"Aren"t the Three Pure Ones and Gautama the same? They attack fiendish experts in Samsara as well." Fiend Ancestor smiled. "This is war, not child"s play."
Qin Yun said angrily, "That"s because numerous disciples of the Dao Ancestors and Buddhist Ancestor were killed in the reincarnation process! This incurred the wrath of the Dao Ancestors and Buddhist Ancestor. Later on, they paid you back in your own coin. It was you who crossed the bottom line first."
"To think that the mighty Fiend Ancestor would attack mere Skyimmortals and Bodhisattvas simply because they have strengths that match mighty figures." Qin Yun scoffed. "I"m a lot stronger than them, and you say you wouldn"t take action? If you are already doing such deeds without thought of saving face, wouldn"t it be normal to kill me?
"My conjecture and your past actions are only secondary!" said Qin Yun. "Most importantly, if you were to really allow me to reincarnate peacefully, that would mean that the Three Realms would have an additional perfected Golden Immortal sword immortal! The threat I pose will be more than ten times, or even a hundred times than the threat I pose now!
"You mentioned before that if I were to help the Heavenly Courts, the Daoists, and Buddhists to s.n.a.t.c.h back the numerous Small Worlds in the twenty-six dominions, it only be ephemeral. You fiends can slowly infiltrate the worlds again and it would not destabilize your foundations.
"But having an immortal perfected Golden Immortal sword immortal will affect you fiends for eternity!
"And it"s even possible that with my strength, I can easily take down one of your fiendish Great Worlds and take over an entire dominion!
"A perfected Golden Immortal sword immortal… will result in losses that will be far greater than the temporary loss of the numerous Small Worlds in the twenty-six dominions.
"Would you be so willing to reduce some minor losses that you would produce a future perfected Golden Immortal sword immortal and be dealt greater losses?" Qin Yun scoffed. "Such a sure-lose deal might be done by others, but would you, the Fiend Ancestor, do it?"
"Regardless if it"s a conjecture of your nature, your past actions, or the gains and losses of this matter…" said Qin Yun, "I have determined that you are deliberately lying to me with your so-called face. You are deceiving me into stopping, fooling me into reincarnating so as to kill me. You fiends will not suffer any losses. How nice a scheme."
Fiend Ancestor shook her head. "Qin Yun, you have really underestimated me too much."
"Underestimate you? I didn"t. If you really cared about face, you would not have crossed the bottom line back then to attack Skyimmortals and Bodhisattvas in Samsara! The past have proven that your face has a price. Once the price is met, you would ignore it and attack." Qin Yun suddenly seemed enlightened. "Yes, I have underestimated you."
"I had no means of retreat to begin with. I have to forge ahead and seek out that sliver of survival from the Itinerant Immortal tribulations. And if I were to really believe you and have a means of retreat, making my Dao heart waver… it would then mean that I have zero hope of surviving the Itinerant Immortal tribulations." Qin Yun sneered. "Impressive, your schemes were really well calculated! Not only would you fiends not suffer any losses, but even the hopes of my transcending the Itinerant Immortal tribulations have been taken into account. You are bent on destroying me."
"Alright, I won"t waste any more of my time chatting with you. I still need to destroy the other fiendish nests." With that said, Qin Yun waved his hand as the Misty Rain Sword struck out, boring open a spatial pa.s.sageway. Qin Yun strode in and headed for another fiendish garrison.
He ignored the Fiend Ancestor completely.
The expression on the Fiend Ancestor"s female form changed slightly as she chuckled softly. "What a character. Unfortunately, you will still be reduced to dust after ten thousand years or so."
With that said, the Fiend Ancestor vanished. The cosmos were restored to normal.
…
Qin Yun continued wiping out the various fiendish nests, but all the powerful Skyfiends had already fled. Yet, Qin Yun continued wiping them all out, and even dismantled the array formations after all was said and then. He dismantled them completely, preventing the fiends from rebuilding them.
And the various experts of the Three Realms had also seen the outcome of Qin Yun"s conversation with the Fiend Ancestor.
Qin Yun"s actions were the outcome!