Chapter 256 — The Spirit Tablet
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 2 of 10
Halfway through, he suddenly choked. Jin Pingyue was watching him with a smiling face, yet there seemed to be a trace of mockery in her gaze. Daoist Cang Yan fell silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "The Holy Cult wishes to unify the world under heaven, and the Cang Lan Sect is naturally its number one enemy. Breaking their Heaven's Mechanism Locks is all the more a matter of the utmost importance. But what I do not understand is why the Nether King also ordered us to carefully survey every town and village within a hundred li of the Cang Lan Sect, and the common folk who dwell there. These people are nothing but unarmed ordinary civilians. Even if they hold the Cang Lan Sect in reverence in ordinary times, they hardly seem worth the Holy Cult's trouble to deal with."
Jin Pingyue's bewitching eyes flickered, and she smiled. "What's this, Daoist? Have you taken up thoughts of pitying heaven and compassionating men, and wish to ferry all living souls to salvation?"
Daoist Cang Yan's face darkened. "I only feel that dealing with the Cang Lan Sect is one thing, but if innocent common folk are to be dragged into it as well, that is entirely unnecessary."
Jin Pingyue laughed. "Daoist, why get angry? I didn't say anything!" She paused, mused a moment, then said, "Honestly, the matter of surveying the towns around Cang Lan Mountain was indeed ordered by the Nether King. As for the reason, I am not very clear on it either. But from what I can see, given the Nether King's caliber, he hardly seems like a madman who would slaughter common folk for no reason."
Daoist Cang Yan's expression eased somewhat. He pondered for a moment and seemed to feel that Jin Pingyue had a point, yet there still seemed to be some misgiving in his heart. Shaking his head, he said, "Be that as it may, I still cannot fathom why we are to survey those ordinary civilians. Apart from their great numbers, what other unusual quality do they possess? Those common folk—even if hundreds or thousands of them surged forward together, I fear they would not be a match for a single accomplished cultivator."
Jin Pingyue smiled. "We can think of that much, so how could the Nether King, whose mind is as deep as the sea, fail to see through it? So, Daoist, there is no need for you to fret over troubles that may never come."
Daoist Cang Yan sighed lightly. "It is precisely because the Nether King's mind is as deep as the sea that I cannot guess in the least what he is actually thinking. Though by common reasoning it should be so, I only fear that he might suddenly—" As he spoke on, he seemed to feel himself that it was rather pointless. With a bitter laugh, he shook his head and said no more.
Jin Pingyue was naturally not the sort to worry about the lives of countless common folk at the foot of Cang Lan Mountain. Rather, it was Daoist Cang Yan's somewhat peculiar attitude that she found rather displeasing. Her own future fate was still unknown—and he still had the heart to worry about others? Was this, then, the temper of these people who came from the righteous path, something that could not be changed even after throwing themselves into the Demonic Cult?
Jin Pingyue shrugged her shoulders, feeling thoroughly baffled by such a strange business. She turned and walked back to the stream's edge, intending to wash her face once more before leaving this place and continuing on their way, and said lightly, "Rest easy, Daoist. There's no need to think about such things, what could possibly—"
Before the word "happen" could leave her mouth, Jin Pingyue's gaze suddenly fixed, and the word seemed to catch in her throat, unable to come out. Even her body seemed to stiffen.