Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 174: The Difference

Gu Suihan couldn’t help but snort at these words. On the surface, Xu Ran seemed to be a sentimental, upright, and selfless man. But if you inspected it more carefully, you’d realize that was all bullshit.

First of all, if the two of them remained in the same body like this, Gu Suihan wouldn’t need much effort to kill him. If that happened, Xu Ran was still going to die.

Secondly, this old fellow was not from this world. Even though he was able to fight Xu Cangyue because he had a powerful spirit and core, he wasn’t able to fully become one with this body that didn’t belong to him. If Xu Cangyue died and allowed him to take over this body, he wouldn’t be able to use it, as well as if Xu Cangyue took control of it himself.

But most importantly, this old fellow was probably going to die soon. Even if Gu Suihan hadn’t appeared at this juncture, he wouldn’t hold out for long.

As for all that talk about being kind and protecting his hometown, that was deliberately said in order to plant a seed in Xu Cangyue’s heart. It was a seed that would tie the younger man down. As long as Xu Cangyue didn’t die this time, then he was going to have no choice but to watch over the Seven Kill Sect no matter what. If he failed to do that, his heart for the Way would be shaken, and his state of mind would become unstable too. If he was lucky, he would only suffer from an implosion of internal energy. In the worst case, his spirit could be severely injured, and he would disappear forever.

In short, this old man was one of those who made sure that he pulled another person along if he was going to die. While it was true that he had chosen to die and would die, he wasn’t going to let Xu Cangyue live happily ever after, either.

Immediately after saying those words, Xu Cangyue’s expression froze, and his aura expanded several times. His features were twisted, blood dripped out of his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, while his veins bulged frighteningly.

“You…you’ve really died!” said Xu Cangyue in a trembling voice after some time. His expression was filled with grief.

Even though Xu Ran had tried to take over his body, he couldn’t deny the fact that Xu Ran had taught him many things as a child. During their time guarding the Devil Abyss, they had fought countless times and were always on par with one another. The two of them had continued to live inside the same body in this strange manner. Neither could do anything about the other.

And now, this cancerous tumor that had been living in his body for centuries had decided to kill himself for such a stupid reason. This really stunned Xu Cangyue, and he could hardly believe what just happened.

“You’ll have plenty of time to grieve and reminisce after you die. Oh wait, no, that wouldn’t be possible,” said Gu Suihan expressionlessly as he looked on at this strange but touching scene.

Xu Cangyue snapped out of his daze and slowly lifted his head to stare at the nonchalant young man in front of him. “He said you intend to undo the seal over the Devil Abyss and destroy this world. Is that true?”

“That’s ridiculous,” replied Gu Suihan with a snort. “Why should I destroy this world for no reason? How would that benefit me? That old fellow said those things because he felt threatened by me.”

“Why did you come to the Devil Abyss then? Surely you aren’t here just to have a chat with me, right?” Xu Cangyue remained unfazed by Gu Suihan’s response.

“You Hantian and I have a feud to settle. I don’t have enough to bargain with, so I had to find something else.” Gu Suihan decided to come clean and state his purpose clearly.

“In other words, you’re still going to use the Devil Abyss to threaten You Hantian?” Xu Cangyue narrowed his eyes slowly and paraphrased Gu Suihan’s plans in a somewhat incredulous tone.

Gu Suihan smiled faintly and raised his right hand to place it on the handle of his saber. His grip looked loose, but it was actually very firm. “That’s right. Actually, the final decision lies with You Hantian, and not myself.”

“Actually, there’s one more person who can make the decision.” Xu Cangyue smiled as well and raised his curved knife horizontally. “That person is…me!”

He had already swung the knife fiercely at Gu Suihan when he said the word “me”.

“You’re too impatient!” Gu Suihan was already prepared for that to happen. He laughed and retreated like the wind. His saber gave off a brilliant light as it came out of its sheath, creating a storm of qi and whooshing as it blocked the attack from the blade that had come down like heavy rain. The gleam from his blade left more than ten afterimages as it met the other blade.

Gu Suihan himself stopped moving once he had floated more than 300 meters away and looked back nonchalantly at the grim-faced Xu Cangyue.

“Beginner Origin Core. I can’t believe an amateur like you dares to behave so arrogantly.”

Xu Cangyue stood where he was as he kept his knife and touched the handle like he was reminiscing something while staring coldly at Gu Suihan. Gu Suihan didn’t look like he intended to attack at all.

“You don’t know how to use such a saber.” Gu Suihan looked at the way Xu Cangyue held his curved knife and shook his head sadly. “Also, cultivation levels…are just bullshit!”

“Slay the Immortals!”

His vast murderous qi was like dragons and tigers as it blotted out the sun. As Gu Suihan swung his saber down, the qi gathered around the blade, making the already deep red blade turn a darker shade of red.

“The different levels of cultivation come naturally with differences in power,” said Xu Cangyue. Anger could be seen in his tense expression. After he kept his knife, he drew his sword. Sand and rocks flew everywhere as his sword will surged out like the sea. The blade shone like the moon and the stars and a sword qi that could reach the sky erupted.

Boom! An ear deafening sound resounded in this dead place. Broken rocks flew in all directions and qi filled the air. Two long and deep trenches quietly appeared in the ground.

Thankfully, the two of them had purposely avoided that well so that their fight wouldn’t break the seal that wasn’t the strongest in the first place. If they hadn’t done that, their earlier exchange would have reduced those runes to gold powder that would disappear with the wind.

“Phantom Images of All Things – Everything in Heaven and on Earth!” Gu Suihan blocked the attack with one move but didn’t stop there. His feet moved in a mysterious manner such that he just swayed for a moment and he reappeared within a few feet of Xu Cangyue. He dragged his saber along, its blade like the claws of a demon as it emanated an unfathomable and terrifying aura.

“Vast Sword Will – Become One with Heaven and Earth!” Xu Cangyue took half a step back and held his sword up horizontally to block the attack. He then tapped the air silently with his finger, as though it were a sword.

The power of the laws of nature seemed to solidify as it turned into runes that were aimed straight at Gu Suihan’s waist.

“Three Fingers of Yama – Ask Creation!” Gu Suihan snorted and tapped the air with his finger as well. Xu Cangyue felt the skies suddenly darken as an elderly, saddened voice murmured in his subconscious, “What is creation?”

Xu Cangyue’s sword will was instantly shattered. He stumbled backwards and instinctively held his sword up to protect himself, even though he was in a daze.

“Kill the Core, Destroy the Spirit!” With the success of the first move, Gu Suihan brought his sword down as a bloodied glow shot out from his eyes.

“Only my true heart shall remain – my will shall be like unmovable mountains!”

Xu Cangyue wasn’t that weak either. Even though Gu Suihan had used a high level technique to control him, he had snapped out of his daze almost instantly. As he looked at Gu Suihan, who had a faint smile and glowing eyes, the core deep within his subconscious appeared and gave off a faint glow, preventing the sinister fiendish qi coming its way from getting to him.

No matter how the fiendish qi tried to attack him, Xu Cangyue continued to cling onto his core and remained as unbreakable as a hard rock.

“If that’s the case, let me see what that so called sword will of yours is capable of.”

Gu Suihan didn’t bother wasting time with this move. He flew backwards in an instant, raised his saber and sliced it down diagonally. In that instant, the sound of ocean waves suddenly resounded in Xu Cangyue’s ears.

Kaboom! A thick layer of dark clouds had gathered in the sky. As lightning flashed and thunder roared, he could see the bloody red seal between Gu Suihan’s brows move strangely, as though it were alive. It was actually swaying in the chilly winds.

“Sea of blood…arise!” Gu Suihan waved his hand and made a hand seal. The wind blew in his face, making his black hair fly wildly, which in turn made his fair, smooth and flawless face look crazed.

With one thought, heaven and earth changed.

The appearance of the sea of blood represented the destruction of thousands of souls.

Xu Cangyue held his sword at an angle and flew toward Gu Suihan. He generated an incredible amount of sword qi, coming at his opponent aggressively as though he was able to destroy everything in the world.

“It’s raining!” Gu Suihan smiled and didn’t bother to dodge or move aside even though his opponent was coming at him so powerfully. His expression remained unfazed as he pointed to the sky.

Rain came down and gently landed on Xu Cangyue’s sword, which made it split into smaller water droplets.

ZAAA! All of a sudden, the gentle drizzle turned into monsoon rain. Xu Cangyue was horrified to discover that his protective shield of internal energy could not hold up against these seemingly fragile raindrops.

He instinctively stuck his tongue out to lick away the rain drop rolling down his cheek. A metallic taste instantly filled his mouth, agitating his weak taste buds.

“This is…blood!” He couldn’t help but look up with a start. The water pouring from the sky had turned a bloody red color without him realizing.

“Split!” Gu Suihan flicked his finger and shattered that sword attack from Xu Cangyue completely. He tapped the air with his left hand, sending his internal energy into the water, which quietly flew toward Xu Cangyue.

“All things work together and work against each other in a particular way so as to co-exist. Even at the extreme ends of the Way, it doesn’t go beyond the yin and the yang. Yet, the yin and yang are split into the five elements, and the five elements make all things. There’s water inside a human’s body too.” Gu Suihan stood on the waves of the vast sea of blood around him, peering down at Xu Cangyue like he was an ancient deity living in the heavens above.