Chapter 467: This Is Called Fairness

"Deceiving yourself? Are you talking about me?"

The group looked up; Dong Yu appeared calm and unruffled, seemingly not at all angered by Shen Yu's words, as open and honorable as a gentleman.

And the aura upon his body was, as always, vast and upright, without a trace of dark intent.

"I help others without expectation of reward, yet the world often misunderstands. But that is also normal; human nature is inherently selfish, and in their eyes, a fool like me cannot exist."

"I also do not care how others view me or what they say. I am who I am; I will not change because of the misunderstandings of others!"

As he spoke, Dong Yu looked at Shen Yu, and Shen Yu looked back at him; their gazes met.

In that momentary eye contact, both sides seemed to discern what the other intended to express.

In Dong Yu's gaze, Shen Yu could not detect a single flaw; it was as upright and persistent as ever.

Yet in Shen Yu's gaze, Dong Yu saw affirmation, as if he had completely determined his character. Moreover, the wariness and apprehension in those eyes explained everything.

Such a gaze meant that the other party already had the answer in his heart and was deeply convinced of it.

Facing such a gaze, Dong Yu could not help but smile lightly; he did not even know when he had revealed a flaw.

One must know that even he himself, before absorbing all of Xue Sha's power and soul, was completely unaware of his own dark past.

That memory had been sealed in the deepest part of his soul; only when the powers of both were completely fused would this memory be activated, and only then would he rediscover his true self.

To deceive others, one must first deceive oneself. Before this, he had always believed himself to be that kind of selfless and fearless person, and had always strived for it.

Until the moment before he devoured Xue Sha, he was thinking only of how to benefit all living beings and how to atone for his sins.

Therefore, everything he displayed before this was not a disguise, but completely from the heart; how could emotions that truly welled up from within fail to influence others?

Originally, he had already succeeded; he could feel that the gaze this young man opposite him had held previously was one of sincere admiration, clearly full of respect for such selfless sentiments.

But now, there was only wariness in his eyes.

This meant that the other party had seen the flaw just in this instant.

He had not expected that the young people of today would be so clever as to spot the flaw at a single glance.

He had transformed in an instant, his memory having just awakened, yet the other party had immediately sensed it; it was almost excessively clever.

Did they not know the principle that those with extreme wisdom are easily broken? People who are too clever usually do not live long.

"When did you see it?"

After staring at each other for a long while, Dong Yu suddenly laughed, the laughter as open as before, yet it contained something else.

"A person who is truly selfless, whose heart is unstained by dust, and who can let go of all obsessions—just as you appeared before—would not take it to heart regardless of how others treat you."

"Since that is the case, then how could you give birth to such evil knowledge, and how could you devour her without the slightest hesitation, without a shred of pity, and even with a sense of impatience?"

"That is because your heart holds darkness; you are by no means as unstained as you claim, let alone truly selfless."

"People can deceive others, and they can deceive themselves, but some things cannot be hidden."

"Indeed!" Shaking his head helplessly, Dong Yu then said indifferently, "Young man, some things are better left unrevealed; you could have lived a little longer!"

"Why are you so eager to die?" With a light wave of his hand, an invisible force immediately restrained Shen Yu.

That power was not overwhelming, yet it made one unable to resist or break free.

For a time, Shen Yu tried many methods, exhausting all his strength, yet it was all in vain.

Facing such struggles, Dong Yu was not the least bit anxious; instead, he gave a contemptuous smile, watching him as if watching a play, seemingly mocking his ignorance.

The young people of today are clever, yes, but they are just too impatient; such people cannot live long.

"How could you possibly break through my bindings? I advise you to save your energy."

"Hmph!" With a soft snort, Shen Yu continued to struggle silently, though it was not visible on the surface. However, this little trick likely could not deceive an old monster like Dong Yu.

"You old monsters are truly terrifying; you disguise yourselves so well that you even deceive yourselves."

No wonder all the legends are filled with fear of these old monsters; these wretched things are not only ruthless and vicious but also full of schemes—one careless step and you fall into a pit.

He had almost believed the other party earlier; he blamed himself for relying too much on external objects—the Compass in his hand had not reacted at all until now.

Was this piece of junk broken? The guy in front of him was so obvious; he was clearly an old monster who had lived for who knows how many years.

"Old monster?" This form of address made Dong Yu somewhat startled, but then he laughed again. "What you say is true; I have indeed lived for many years."

"But I assume you are talking about those wastes who were influenced by Spirit Qi and became nothing but killing machines?"

"I was once one of them, falling into slumber and waking again and again, racking my brains just to fight for that sliver of survival."

"Thinking about it now, how ridiculous. I am already different from them; I have broken free from the shackles. Those ants who lose their sanity the moment they recover their full strength—how could they be mentioned in the same breath as me?"

"Different?" Seeming to have grasped something, Shen Yu frowned slightly. No wonder the Compass had no reaction; it turned out they were fundamentally different.

The other party was not one of those old monsters who only knew how to kill; he had reason and thought, yet he was even more terrifying than those old monsters.

Just as Shen Yu was deep in thought, Dong Yu had already walked before him, a pair of greedy eyes looking him up and down.

"What a fine body; soon it will belong to me!"

Such a greedy expression, along with the dangerous aura revealed in that instant, made Shen Yu's hair stand on end.

I knew it, there isn't a single one of these old monsters who doesn't covet his body!

"Do you know? I had originally woven a story. When the time came, a great catastrophe that would destroy the world would appear, making you willingly offer up everything."

"For people like us, in order for more people to live, someone must die; isn't sacrifice expected?"

"For the sake of the world, for the sake of everyone, I would be the first to sacrifice everything I have to save this world. But alas, my strength is insufficient; even if I sacrificed my all, I still couldn't hold on, still falling just short."

"In order for more people to live, you people are always reckless. When the time comes, you too will follow suit and sacrifice yourselves."

Shaking his head, Dong Yu sighed, "In this way, I gain your power, your everything, and you fulfill your hero dreams, passing away without regrets—isn't that good?"

"Why must you insist on poking through this window paper? The ending is the same, only you will die with great resentment. Tell me yourself, what is the point of this?"

"You? So that means you intend to trap more than one."

"How can you call it trapping? Devouring Heavenly Pride for my own use, ultimately merging into my body. I do this for the sake of the world!"

As he spoke, Dong Yu looked up, his gaze piercing through the endless void, seeing beyond it.

"You people only see what you are capable of seeing; your stature is not high enough, so even if you lift your heads as high as you can, you only see this tiny patch of sky before you."

"You will never know what this World is like, you will never know how high this sky is!"