"Fellow Daoist, please wait!"
Outside the Capital City, Zhang Pingsheng was just about to return to Santai Peak when suddenly he was stopped by Xu Qing.
Facing Xu Qing, who wore a smile, Zhang Pingsheng felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
As if he was being watched by something ominous and filthy.
Xu Qing patted Daoist Zhang's shoulder and said earnestly, "In this troubled world, the harm is profound. The more it is so, the more we must accumulate virtue!"
"Only with virtue matching our position can we have a chance to transcend in the future."
Zhang Pingsheng nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, Xu Qing asked, "Do you know what kind of virtue is the greatest?"
"Respect for teachers, helping the world and bringing peace to the people?"
Xu Qing shook his head.
"Then sacrificing oneself and daring to be the first in the world?"
Xu Qing still shook his head.
"If not like the deity of Bao Sheng Temple, benefiting future generations and ensuring the prosperity of the human race for thousands of generations?"
Xu Qing chuckled lightly, casting his gaze into the far distance, and said, "These are all superficial ways, treating the symptoms but not the root cause."
"As for great virtue, it must be that which can cleanse the cosmos, rectify yin and yang, restoring clarity to the world and benefiting all living beings. This is the great path!"
"..."
Zhang Pingsheng furrowed his brow tightly, hesitating as he said, "What you speak of is indeed an extraordinary deed, a path of great virtue, but how can just you and I achieve even a fraction of it?"
Xu Qing seemed to have anticipated this question. He pointed to the distant river, full of spirit, and said, "Have you forgotten the event of the corpse demons in Zhongzhou decades ago, nourishing the heavens and earth?"
"How many states are there in this world? Now Zhongzhou is restored, and the Jin Sect and Capital City are as they were, merely relying on myself, the Daoists of Jin Sect, and Daoist Fuluan to cleanse the filth of two states."
"If you and like-minded True Cultivators among us can join in cleansing the sinister aura of the Yin River, nurturing the realms of the Nine Provinces and the Four Seas, imagine how vast the virtue accrued would be?"
Zhang Pingsheng's eyelid twitched, and the ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger. He cautiously tested, "The sinister aura you mention, could it be the twelve gatekeepers of the Yin River?"
Xu Qing smiled and shook his head.
Zhang Pingsheng felt relieved, and a relaxed smile appeared on his face, yet the next moment, he heard Xu Qing say:
"Not the twelve gatekeepers, for Ghost Law and Celestial Lord General have already been executed. Now, we only face ten demons."
"..."
Zhang Pingsheng shuddered internally. He did not know how Xu Qing and the others eradicated Ghost Law; all he knew was the weakened Ascendant Fuluan, appearing exhausted every day.
If he were to board Xu Qing's pirate ship, and end up becoming old, sick, and disabled, who could he turn to for justice?
Seeing Zhang Pingsheng's intent to retreat, Xu Qing held his arm, suggesting, "You've cultivated at the Taiping Temple in Zhongzhou for decades, haven't you? It's probably worth a hundred years of cultivation elsewhere, this advantage comes cheaply, but the karmic debt is hard to dissolve!"
"When you met me, didn't you feel your Dao heart waver?"
"..."
Zhang Pingsheng widened his eyes, speechless for a moment.
The notion of karma often weighs only a couple of ounces but once weighed, it truly can't be stopped!
Especially for a cultivator, if you've taken advantage of someone, and they don't pursue it, fine. But if they do not relent, that becomes your tribulation.
Even in death, there would be nowhere to reason.
Now, among the cultivators of Zhongzhou, nearly all have received favors from Xu Qing. If they wish to repay it, they must embrace the tribulation.
Only by entering the tribulation, thoroughly cleansing the sinister aura of the Yin River, and nurturing the world according to Zhongzhou's law, so that the world achieves great unity, can these beneficiaries relieve their karmic debt and free themselves from Xu Qing's influence.
Once Zhang Pingsheng understood the core of the matter, he immediately realized Xu Qing's intentions. He was alarmed and said, "You're not trying to incite a great tribulation, pulling all hidden True Cultivators into it, are you..."
Xu Qing corrected, "It shouldn't be put that way. Now, the path to immortality is cut off, those Yin River demons steal the spirituality of the world, causing the Wise Emperor to perish prematurely, and virtuous ones to disappear, leaving the mortal world engulfed in filth."
"What I've seen and heard these years far exceeds those reclusive ones. They think they can escape disaster, not knowing the sword hangs overhead, as long as they practice in this world without having Ascended to Immortality, the sword will eventually fall upon them!"
"What I'm doing now is truly to improve the cultivation environment of the secular world, helping fellow Daoists Ascend to Immortality sooner, it is a good deed!"
Xu Qing's words had no falsehood. At first, he also thought of hiding among the markets, guarding a small corner, relying on his shop to guide souls to a better repose, cultivating slowly.
But as he dealt with more bodies, each seemed like a homeless spirit, confiding in him the pain of being trapped in a wicked world, unable to transcend.
Apart from the bodies, the old friends he personally sent away also silently communicated a harsh truth.
If the great tribulation is not dispelled, if the wicked world is not eradicated, his path of rescuing others would inevitably lead to a dead end.
To rescue others, he must lead them ashore.
Ever since Xu Qing saw the narrowing paths of the three generations of Emperors from the Zhu Family, he realized that unless the root problem was resolved, his path would also become narrower.
The eradication of Ghost Law and the corpse demons had already caused him to offend the legal corpses of the Nine Netherworld. If someday the Netherworld connects with the Yin River, although he had means to hide, where would his funeral store, Galloping Immortal Hall, and the Bao Sheng Temple lineage find refuge?
Xu Qing looked back at the flourishing Immortal Hall and the Bao Sheng Temple believers spread across the world, only to realize that unknowingly, he had already grown into a towering tree rooted in the mundane world.