Sect Leader Is Under Great Pressure CH 067 Turning Away From The Sea Of Bitterness, Is Never Too Late To Do
When listening to Bai Liu's narration of his sufferings over these many years, Bai Shuixian also inevitably felt sorrow.
This disciple was one of Kun-Lai's most talented disciples over these many centuries and had made countless contributions to Kun-Lai, but he was both too gentle and too stubborn in temperament.
In that incident, all parties were at fault, but in the end, he was the only one who was alive to bear the consequences.
It was not that she didn't reprimand him for his actions over the years, but after reprimanding, he only continued to repeat the same thing. After dozens of times, she was also helpless to do anything more.
But the Great Celestial Demon Tribulation… Bai Shuixian never thought that Bai Liu would take such a risk.
Unlike other cultivators in the cultivation realm who strive to raise their cultivation base, cultivators in the Synthesis Stage tried their best to suppress their cultivation base so as not to increase their cultivation too fast.
There was no reason for it. The later you enter the peak level of the Synthesis Stage, the more confident you would be to survive the tribulation.
This was the most terrifying tribulation facing all cultivators in their cultivation path.
Outside the cultivation realm, there was the domain where celestial demons dwelled, which was connected to the sea of consciousness. These alien spirits called celestial demons could sneak into the bottom of people's hearts and turn people into demons.
No human heart is exempted from weaknesses. Strong people are prone to stubbornness, cowardly people are prone to fear, vicious people are prone to betrayal, and compassionate people are prone to being too soft-hearted… and celestial demons can understand all the weaknesses of the human heart, and amplify them little by little.
Without you being any the wiser, they could change your nature and temperament, and even if you committed a big mistake, you would only feel that it is others that do not understand you.
The Great Celestial Demon Tribulation was different from ordinary heart demons that took root in a cultivator's heart. When the tribulation descended, a Celestial Demon Lord would appear.
Even the cultivators of the Synthesis Stage could not detect any abnormality, just like Bai Liu before, he used a secret technique to raise his cultivation base, with the hopes of overcoming the tribulation and becoming a Human Immortal, but as the tribulation was invisible and intangible, he was completely unaware that it had already arrived, so unknowingly grave mistakes were made.
She then thought of how she tried to approach quietly and take the disciples away from Bai Liu, but he was able to easily notice her presence.
For a while, her expression couldn't help but become ugly, her hands were essentially tied.
If she were to use force, the little disciple named Guan would inevitably be hurt.
Yimeng Qingnu also faced the same dilemma.
"She doesn't have to choose, no one can force my Kun-Lai disciples to choose." When the voice sounded, it was so clear as if it was spoken right next to their ears.
Feng Qingxiu was overjoyed: "Master!"
There was no familiar figure to be seen, so Feng Qingxiu understood that his master was still on Zhaoyue Peak and did not come over personally.
Bai Liu raised his head and looked around. He didn't speak. He only tightened his fingers on Guan Yuli's pulse, and his body naturally emitted spiritual energy, defending against all possible attacks.
"There is no need to be nervous, I haven't come over yet." The voice drifted and sounded distant, but at the same time also seemed to be close to the ear, "Did you use beast blood to devour your body in an attempt to stimulate your own cultivation base to reach the peak?"
"Sect Leader is wise, this was exactly the technique I used." Bai Liu whispered, "I heard that you practiced the sect's cultivation method in reverse, so I wanted to retrace your path."
"A worthy pursuit." Ji Yunlai's divination of heavenly secrets in his own room had reached a key juncture, so he multitasked, "But you won't be able to succeed."
Bai Liu let out a low laugh, and seemingly unable to hold back, the laughter grew louder and louder: "I worship and feel grateful for everything you have done for Kun-Lai, even if you have never spare us so much as a glance, but if you can, why can't I?"
"Why do you have feelings of worship and gratitude, isn't it because you can't do the same as what I have accomplished?" The voice in the void was soft and ethereal, with a rare trace of pity, "Give in now, and you will be granted another chance."
A bitter smile appeared on Bai Liu's handsome face: "Sect Leader, I can't turn back, my lifespan is nearing its end, if I can't overcome the tribulation, I won't be willing to die in peace, I just want a promise, to use these years of credit in exchange for a promise."
"Do you know who you are talking to?" Bai Shuixian was furious.
"Don't force me!" A dark light flashed across Bai Liu's eyes, and his aura became stronger and stronger, almost overwhelming the group of young disciples, "What did I do wrong back then? My sister already had a marriage contract with Yimeng Ruge, and Ruge waited for her for three hundred years. At that time, that bastard not only spoke obscenities to my sister and I, but also injured my three apprentices, snatched my sister, and later did such despicable things… What's wrong with killing him!"
"If I hadn't forcibly elevated my cultivation base back then, I wouldn't be like this today!" He screamed, the anger rising in his heart almost burned his mind, and he instinctively wanted to kill all the people around him. They were humiliating him, accusing him, and hurting him, but they never understood the suffering in his heart over these years, they only knew how to restrain his hands and feet again and again, preventing him from being able to move even an inch!
Die, they all deserve to die—
Now, he had the power to overwhelm them, this feeling of no longer restraining himself, without a care for anything...
This should be the real me!
Only in this way, there is no need to be afraid of anything!
"These years, I've already had enough, let's end it like this!"
"You unfilial thing!" Bai Shuixian instinctively protected the juniors around her. Just as she was about to try and save the child held captive beside him, she found that it was difficult for her to move even a finger, and was extremely shocked. How could he...
However, on the opposite side, Peak Master Bai, who had obviously lost his senses to the demons, was also trembling slightly, as if trying to break free from invisible shackles around his body.
The whole world seemed to have come to a standstill, and even the light and shadow seemed to be motionless.
It was almost a kind of imprisonment that could even affect the soul, but one's spiritual senses were incomparably enlarged, and every beat of the heart could be clearly heard.
On Zhaoyue Peak, Ji Yunlai's fingers drawing the seals paused.
He knew that he didn't need to waste time talking with him, but it was still a pity.
After half an hour of calculation, it was still the same ending.
The demons in his heart were rooted too deep, and if he cut off the possession of the Celestial Demon Lord, the soul would inevitably be seriously injured and unable to recover. This was his ending.
Unable to be saved.
It was too easy to kill him, but too difficult to save him.
Ai!
He got up and walked into the void, appearing in front of Bai Liu. Reaching out his slender fingertips, he tapped the other on his brow.
The formless sword energy pierced into his sea of consciousness almost instantly, and when he saw the soul that was mired deep in the black quagmire, the sword energy instantly turned into countless threads, scraping all the black substance away.
Leaving only a soul so weak that it could barely be visible to the eye.
He seemed to suddenly wake up from a dream and bowed three times to him in the sea of consciousness.
"Apologies, Senior Uncle Sect Leader, Bai Liu has disappointed you."
"Regarding matters relating to one's heart demons, only you can save yourself, outsiders are unable to be of any help, so make use of your remaining time." Ji Yunlai retracted his hand, turned and left, invisible and silent, without a trace, his coming and going unseen by all eyes.
Not enacting punishment was to give him the last respect.
With the confinement lifted, Bai Liu slowly let go of Guan Yuli's hand, and whispered apologetically.
"No need, as long as you don't bother us anymore." Guan Yuli calmly returned to Qingnu's side.
Bai Liu walked up to Qingnu and gave her a white jade talisman: "What happened before was my fault, this should be yours."
"If you give it to us, they will make a big fuss." Yimeng Qingnu sneered.
"No, with me dead, they won't be able to make much impact, from now on you don't have to worry about hiding a small treasury on the side." Bai Liu no longer had that melancholy and sad air about him, but a relaxed and carefree one instead, just like how he had been many years ago.
Yimeng Qingnu felt lament in her heart. Before that incident happened, her uncle was just like this, the uncle she liked the most.
"It's a pity I won't be able to see you getting married. Be gentle, or you'll scare him away." Bai Liu felt slight regret, "I'll be leaving first, as for the income from my cultivation experience/tips on the Net Charm, help me give it to those still alive apprentices of mine."
"They won't want it." Yimeng Qingnu said coldly, "Shouldn't you apologize in person?"
"I'm running out of time, Qing'er, please think of it as doing me a last favor." Bai Liu patted her head, "I made the tiger money pouch you wanted back then, and it's been in the old house all this time, I forgot to give it to you. There are a lot of things in there that can still be used, think of it as payment for the favor."
He walked up to Bai Shuixian, did not speak, just kowtowed three times.
"This apprentice has shamed you," Bai Liu said softly, "my fault."
"You..." Bai Shuixian didn't know what to say, so she could only shake her head.
"Then Master, I will go deal with the last matter now." Bai Liu smiled and said, "There should always be a beginning and an end in everything. Although I have no face to go down to see them, I still have to try and make it up a little."
"Get out of my sight!" Bai Shuixian snapped angrily.
Bai Liu turned and left.
***
He calculated it in his heart, there were more than a hundred orphaned children that year, and half of them left when the pill and poison veins ascended a mountain. Among the remaining, thirteen people had cultivation potential, and had all left with Qingnu. There were a few that simply had no spiritual roots and passed away from old age, so now there were only thirty-one left.
They didn't ever officially enter Kun-Lai, so he quickly wrote more than 30 letters for each of them, telling them that his lifespan had come to its end and that Qingdi Peak could no longer allow them to stay. He listed several people in the letter who could temporarily take them in.
From now on, it was all up to them.
The expressions of those children were as if the sky had fallen down.
Bai Liu comforted them helplessly, thinking that he could only hope they could make improvements after experiencing the world without his protection.
After all, the more than thirty people he wrote to came from the Mountain Patrol Bureau. They had received a lot of favors from him back then, and he only asked them to take in these children for a month, and the rest was up to them.
If he still had some years left to live, he could try the methods he used to teach his apprentices to try and improve them one by one, but unfortunately there was no time left.
When Bai Yue asked him while trembling what to do, Bai Liu couldn't help but grieve.
His daughter, what had he done all these years?
He transferred the last bit of divine consciousness into the necklace on his daughter's neck, so that his last trace of obsession could protect his daughter one more time. He couldn't do much more.
Don't rely on any senior brother anymore… He originally wanted to say this, but Bai Liu knew that as long as he died, no senior brother would let her rely on them.
He sent his daughter to an old friend, and asked him to bring her to her mother in Yuntian Domain. After knocking her unconscious when she began to struggle, Bai Liu went to tie up the final loose end.
Yan Ling had been waiting for him at Shuixie Cliff for a long time.
"I'll take you back to the Central Continent, the Western Continent is not a place you can stay." Bai Liu said slowly, "Someone from your original sect has already cleared your grievances for you. Don't use spirit demon blood anymore, it's a heretic way after all—"
A hand had already pierced through his chest to the other side, grasping the last of his heart's blood, which seeped into the skin of his fingers, like a monster greedily swallowing everything up.
"Peak Master Bai, please help me one last time." The person beside him whispered.
"Ai." Bai Liu simply sighed, "Don't take it all, you will develop heart demons. My heart's blood holds a trace of the Calamity Sword intent left by the Sect Leader. Perhaps it might pull you from the demonic path."
He whispered, "Yan Ling, take care."
After speaking, the heart fire ignited, and the energy from his wood spiritual root left in his body fueled the fire. Yan Ling instantly pulled his hand away, and saw the man with the warm smile, little by little in the fire, turn into ashes.