Above the Great Dao

Chen Shi wiped the blood off his dagger onto his sleeve and gazed at the bodies strewn haphazardly around the camp, his face as calm as still water.

"Confucius said, 'Since they have come, let them be at peace.' Since your duty was to protect my enemy, your deaths are not unjust."

He walked toward Li Xiaoding.

Li Xiaoding could have killed him with a single Spell, but Chen Shi was not afraid. Now, he had an unexplained confidence and belief that he could finish Li before a Spell was even cast!

Strangely enough, it was the first time he had killed anyone, yet there was not a hint of fear in his heart. The moment he gripped the dagger, all he thought about was how to swiftly eliminate his opponent.

Black Pot was still crouched beside the table, dumbfoundedly staring at the bodies fallen all around, yet to recover from the shock.

—It simply couldn't associate the decisive, murderous youth before it with its young master.

The Chen Shi of the past was mischievous and carefree, a cheerful boy without a thought in his head. But the current Chen Shi was like a god of death!

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Chen Shi threw punch after punch, each move loaded with immense force, shattering the Golden Light Bell and stepping up to Li Xiaoding.

He was much shorter than Li Xiaoding, only reaching his chest, but Li Xiaoding seemed overwhelmed by his presence, staggering backward and falling to the ground with a thud, propping himself up with his hands as he scooted backwards, watching him with terror.

"Brother, please... don't..."

Chen Shi grabbed him by the collar, trying to lift him up, but whether Li was too heavy or Chen had used up all his strength in the fight, he failed to lift him.

After all, it was his first time killing. Though he had decimated his opponent, he hadn't noticed anything amiss at the time. But now, a sense of weakness washed over him.

Chen Shi's hands felt sour and shaky. He took a breath, activated the Three Light Righteous Qi Technique, and felt somewhat better.

The fight had seemed clean and efficient, but it had drained him significantly, leaving him feeling hungry, wanting to eat something.

"Don't kill me!"

Li Xiaoding broke into tears, his trousers wet.

His realm was above Chen Shi's, his True Qi was many times stronger, and he had various talismans protecting him. Yet, he was terrified, all his will to fight gone.

He was like a lamb awaiting slaughter at Chen Shi's hands.

"You took my Divine Embryo, and you still wish to live?"

Chen Shi gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Your hired expert cracked open my skull, took my Divine Embryo, and you thought I'd die, didn't you? You should have shoved a stick into my head and turned my brain to mush! You left me breathing, so I came to seek revenge!"

Li Xiaoding's body went limp, his face ghastly pale.

He wasn't particularly talented to begin with. Combined with his habitual indulgence in pleasures, he spent little time on practice and never managed to form a Divine Embryo, not to mention become a Scholar—he couldn't even attain the title without his family buying it for him.

Yet, his family wasn't worried and never pushed him to study hard, so he was happy to enjoy his carefree life.

Until one day, his uncle brought a fresh Divine Embryo, mysteriously telling him that transplanting it would immediately make him a Cultivator at the Divine Embryo Realm, pass the Scholar examination, and even achieve the Golden Core, it all seemed effortless!

He inquired about the origin of the Divine Embryo, and his uncle only told him not to worry, that everything was taken care of, so he transplanted it without qualms.

Indeed, he passed the examination smoothly, and his reputation as a genius spread, earning the respect of other prestigious families and even the affections of daughters from those families.

Only, he never imagined that his uncle hadn't done a clean job. The actual victim hadn't died but had cultivated a formidable, dark skill, killed all his guards, and even sought to kill him for revenge!

"Do you know how I've suffered these past two years?"

Chen Shi spoke fiercely, "How much hardship I've endured? How much humiliation I've suffered..."

Suddenly, Li's body shuddered, and a ray of hope appeared in his eyes. Stuttering, he said, "Wait a moment, noble..."

He felt inappropriate to address Chen Shi as a 'noble' considering he was just a teenager but still pressed on, "Wait, noble, were you castrated two years ago? But I only transplanted someone else's Divine Embryo last year, noble!"

He spoke carefully, yet boldly, "Did you kill the wrong person?"

Chen Shi was about to continue, but these words made him pause, his murderous intent fading slightly, doubtful, "You're saying you only transplanted someone else's Divine Embryo last year?"

Li Xiaoding nodded frantically, his expression a mix of smiles and tears, pleading, "After I got someone else's Divine Embryo last year, I then took the village examination and became a Scholar. This can all be verified; just go and ask around!"

Chen Shi froze, and his hands loosened, releasing Li Xiaoding.

Li Xiaoding fell to the ground with a thump, indifferent to the pain, and continued, "If your Divine Embryo was taken two years ago, then the person who took it isn't me or anyone from the Li Family. A Divine Embryo can't survive outside a body for long; yours couldn't have been preserved for a year!"

"Impossible?"

Chen Shi became flustered, muttering, "Are you saying you're not the one who took my Divine Embryo, that I killed the wrong person?"

Li Xiaoding grew increasingly frantic, "You killed not only the seven guards but nearly me as well! You also killed Miss Zi E from the Ding Family!"

Chen Shi's expression shifted uncertainly.

He had heard from Lady Zhao and others about Li Xiaoding's sudden success in the village examination. At the time, they speculated it might have been Li Xiaoding who took Chen's Divine Embryo. Since then, Chen had viewed this Master Li as his sworn enemy.

But now that I think about it, back then, Zhao Er's daughter and the others were merely speculating.

"So it seems I indeed killed the wrong person..." Chen Shi muttered.

"You indeed killed the wrong person!"

Li Xiaoding was also somewhat angry and complained, "When you made your move, why didn't you ask first..."

"Shh—"

A cold light flashed across his neck, leaving Li Xiaoding stunned. He raised his hand to cover his throat. He couldn't utter a word as a gurgling sound came from his throat, and soon after, blood kept pouring out.

Blood filled his lungs, causing him to cough repeatedly, and bubbles emerged each time from the wound on his throat and his mouth.

Chen Shi wiped the blood off the small knife on his sleeve and glanced at the struggling Li Xiaoding.

"But I didn't kill the wrong person after all. Although the Divine Embryo you took wasn't mine, it was still someone else's Divine Embryo. The genius whose Divine Embryo you took didn't have the good fortune I had. I survived, but he didn't. People like you deserve to die!"

Chen Shi turned and walked to the table, placed the knife into the book case, packed up the brushes, ink, paper, and ink stone, and backpacked the book case, talking to himself, "I've avenged him. It's regrettable I can't kill all those power holders who rob poor scholars of futures and lives!"

He slung the book case on his back, stumbled slightly, and his stomach rumbled from hunger.

At that moment, the aroma of a meal wafted to him. Following the scent, Chen Shi found a large pot of stew near a yurt. Li Xiaoding and the others had apparently caught some wild animal, cleaned it, and put it to cook; the meat was now ready.

Chen Shi lifted the pot lid and saw meat inside, marbled with fat and bone, bubbles rising from the bottom of the pot displacing chunks of soy-braised meat.

He should have left this place of trouble immediately to avoid being discovered, but he felt so hungry that he couldn't move. He casually threw aside the pot lid, gripped the pot by the ears, and carried it to the table.

"Thunk!"

He placed the pot on the table, sat down on the book case, reached for the meat, not minding the heat, and wolfed it down. He slurped the mix of fat and lean meat and spat the bones out with a pop.

Black Pot, still trembling from the recent battle, woke up. It was just a dog, and seeing the bones on the ground, it hurried over to pick them up.

"Lifeless."

Seeing this, Chen Shi chuckled, tipped half of the meat out of the pot onto the ground, and said with a laugh, "Eat up, eat quickly, eat your fill for the road ahead."

Black Pot shivered, carefully pondering if 'road ahead' meant carrying the blame and being sent away by itself. After thinking it over, since it couldn't carry the metaphorical pot and being a dog, it relaxed and started eating boldly.

A man and a dog, one on the table, the other below it, feasted heartily.

Soon, they were full. Chen Shi slung the book case onto his back, looked around, and found no ghosts of Li Xiaoding or the others, which was surprising to him.

"Could it be that Grandpa didn't lie, and there truly is a Netherworld Power that summons souls to the underworld? But why weren't Zhu Xiucai and the three water ghosts summoned to the underworld?"

He called Black Pot and prepared to leave the camp.

Chen Shi, having eaten too much meat, felt thirsty. He spotted a melon among the fruits Zi E had brought, unspoiled, picked it up, and split it with a punch, eating it heartily as he strode out of the camp with Black Pot, disappearing into the woods.

"When night falls and the moon rises, malevolent creatures will roam, and these bodies shall vanish. Even if one had the means to reach the heavens, they wouldn't trace it back to me!"

Not long after, Chen Shi emerged from the woods and saw a wooden cart parked by the roadside with Grandpa sitting beside the road, wearing a hat, as if he had long known Chen Shi would come out from there.

Chen Shi paused, then approached.

Grandpa flung a few clothes at him, saying, "Change your clothes, you've got blood on them, it might lead to people tracing it back to you."

Obediently, Chen Shi quickly stripped off his bloody clothes and changed into the new ones. As he was wondering how to deal with the blood-stained clothes, suddenly, the bundle of clothes burst into flames and quickly turned to ash.

Chen Shi knew it was Grandpa's doing and inwardly praised, "Confucius said, 'See no evil,' as long as no one saw, it's not against the law. Grandpa is even more clever at this, he must have been quite the troublemaker in his day!"

But he couldn't tell if Grandpa had used a spell or something else.

The two of them sat in the wooden cart, talisman glyphs on the wheels began glowing, and the cart rumbled along the post road toward Huangpo Village.

"Did you make any money performing as a Talisman Master when you went there?"

"I did."

"How much did the victim give you?"

"Fifty silver, a big ingot like this."

"Hand it over, I'll keep it for you."

"...Grandpa, I want to keep it myself."

"A child's hands are big, unable to hold on to money. Do your fingers not have gaps? Grandpa's hands don't leak. Give the money to Grandpa, I won't spend it recklessly, I'll save it for when you're grown and need to marry. Would Grandpa ever covet your money?"

"No."

Chen Shi handed over the ingot of silver to Grandpa, dreaming of the wonderful day he would marry his bride.

—Thank you Alliance Hierarch of Mountain Yang Flute for the reward~