Chapter 664: My Gaze Can Only See Them

"You cannot stop me, why must you do this!"

"This old man is willing to try!"

Step by step, Chen Xing approached his opponent. He walked very slowly, and each step he took was not large, yet it felt as if a wave of awe-inspiring Hao Ran Qi bloomed with every stride.

Over these past few years, his Hao Ran intent had been tempered a thousand times over. His life's pursuit and his life's persistence were all fused within it.

Moreover, after such a long period of exploration, he discovered that the stronger his conviction, the more powerful his Hao Ran intent seemed to become.

In terms of conviction and persistence, Chen Xing believed he was second to none within the entire Imperial Court. As a Three-Dynasty Elder with a career in officialdom spanning nearly a hundred years, he had been practicing his own pursuit the entire time.

Three years were enough to allow the Hao Ran intent within his body to be strengthened and polished to its absolute peak, enabling him to fuse his life's faith and pursuit into it.

This time, he had prepared himself to die for the world. The Hao Ran Qi even showed faint signs of a breakthrough, as if it were about to far surpass what it had been before.

At this moment, it seemed as if even all things in the world were transmitting feelings of awe under the shroud of this Hao Ran intent.

"I never expected there to be a person like you in this world!"

As Chen Xing continuously approached, even the old man in hempen clothes seemed to be faintly suppressed. It was as if he were not facing a single person, but the great power of heaven and earth itself.

The opponent's aura even seemed to be constantly disrupting his inner heart; he was clearly the one who was in the right, so why did he feel an involuntary sense of guilt before this man?

Why did this person before him make one feel respect, awe, and even fear involuntarily?

The old man in hempen clothes simultaneously released his own aura, confronting Chen Xing, suppressing the slight feeling of anomaly that had surged in his heart.

His own path was the correct one, because he had always firmly believed in it, and thus he had always been invincible.

He considered himself the guardian of the world's order and the one who loved this heaven and earth the most. Therefore, his spirit could communicate with heaven and earth, and he could freely borrow the power of heaven and earth to crush anyone with a magnificent momentum.

But this time, he felt as if he had met his match, and his mental power seemed to have been suppressed.

Above the Capital, winds surged and clouds gathered. The confrontation between the two caused the heavens and earth to change color; dark clouds swirled, lightning filled the sky, and an aura of destruction descended upon the Capital at this moment.

Countless people watched this scene in terror, fleeing in panic in all directions. Under the terrifying aura, they felt suffocated, as if they were surrounded by lethal danger.

It was the kind of danger one feels when standing on the edge of a ten-thousand-foot cliff, where one might fall at any moment.

Human instinct made them run, made them seek a safe place to hide, yet no matter where they hid, that feeling still remained.

"It is clear that your body is on the verge of collapse. If you persist in your stubborn course, today will be the day of your death!"

"To be able to die for the people of the world, this old man has no regrets even in death!"

"Ignorant, foolish!" With an unhappy expression, the old man in hempen clothes reached out and pointed at the surroundings, his face full of unwillingness.

He had clearly met someone very similar to himself, yet that person did not understand the path he had chosen at all, and was even diametrically opposed to it.

Such a disparity made one feel depressed, and also somewhat irritable.

"Look at those ignorant fools who are at a loss. You are desperately protecting them, yet they are blaming you for hindering their normal lives. Is this who you want to protect?"

"They will not be grateful to you; they will only blame you for disturbing them. They will not remember your kindness, but they will forever keep your harm in their hearts!"

"This is the human heart: greedy without limit, ungrateful. In their eyes, there is only themselves; they are selfish and self-interested!"

The mental power of the old man in hempen clothes shrouded the entire Capital. The myriad states of human life, the joy, anger, sorrow, and fear of everyone seemed to be within his perception.

At the same time, he also transmitted this perception of his to Chen Xing opposite him, as if all of this were displayed right before his eyes, within reach.

Chen Xing felt as if he saw the terror and unease of the Capital's commoners, saw the dissatisfaction on their faces, saw countless people cursing in low voices, and his ears were filled with complaints and shouts.

Under the clash of the terrifying auras, everyone in the Capital could feel it. Residing in the Imperial City, the one thing they did not lack was experience; they naturally knew this was likely experts engaged in battle.

Throughout history, no matter who won or lost in battles between experts, the ones who got hurt were always these most ordinary commoners.

They had never entered the world of martial arts, yet they often had to endure all kinds of unprovoked disasters.

Therefore, regarding such battles between experts, they always tried to avoid them; if they were not careful, they could be implicated.

If it were merely financial loss, that would be one thing, but they feared being caught in the crossfire and losing their lives.

Thus, whenever they saw experts fighting, while envying these experts for being able to leap high and move freely, they could not help but grumble and curse in low voices.

They did not know who the two sides fighting were, and even less did they know that someone was fighting for them and had staked their own life for it.

They knew even less that with Chen Xing's current physical condition, he would surely die regardless of the outcome of this battle. The moment he chose to erupt, it meant his life had reached its end.

Now, it was just a matter of seeing how much longer this candle flame could burn. Perhaps it would be extinguished in the next moment, or perhaps it would persist a little longer.

"Hearing their inner voices, do you still want to fight for them? Are these the ungrateful fools you want to protect?"

"They only know how to demand, not how to be grateful. Just as they demand without limit from the natural world, yet have never thought of cherishing or being grateful, nor have they ever thought of restraining themselves!"

"The myriad things of the world have nurtured them, yet have they ever been grateful? You are here fighting for them, but have they ever been even half as grateful?"

Looking at Chen Xing, the old man in hempen clothes seemed to want to see a trace of struggle and doubt in his eyes, but in the end, he was disappointed.

Chen Xing's gaze remained terrifyingly firm, as if he were a stubborn stone that could not be moved at all.

"You are wrong. This old man does not protect them so that they will be grateful, nor to obtain anything!"

"How could a person like you understand this old man? Even if blades and axes were pressed against my body, or flames scorched my heart, this old man's original intention would not change!"

"Stupid, why is your vision so shallow!" The face of the old man in hempen clothes was somewhat irritable; this was a hatred born of not being understood.

Everything he did was the truth; why were these people just not understanding? He was different from other old monsters; others killed to satisfy themselves, while he did so to maintain the world.

Well, at least that was what he himself believed, and he had always firmly held onto this point. Therefore, he was always a loner, arrogant and disdainful of everything.

"Do you know that if this continues with such unbridled demands, one day everything will lose its balance. Human greed will destroy themselves, and will also destroy all these things."

"And I was born to guard the order of the world, to let everything be balanced. The existence of humans has its own reason, but they cannot grow without limit, and even less can they demand infinitely!"

"Losing balance will only lead to the destruction of everything. You only want to protect a small group, while I want to protect the entire world!"

"But this old man only wants to protect them!" Shaking his head, the Hao Ran Qi on Chen Xing's body finally climbed to its peak. "Born as a human, this old man's gaze can only see them!"

At this moment, his heart was very calm; there was no great terror when facing life and death. It was as if he were just going out in the morning, so calm that even he himself was somewhat surprised.

So it turns out that between life and death, there is not only great terror, but there can also be peace.

"Perhaps what you say has some truth, but you are wrong about one thing: people do know how to be grateful. The love for one's offspring and the grace of parents are all buried deep in the heart!"

"This old man believes that the human heart will eventually awaken, and they will eventually become conscious of themselves. One day, they will learn to be grateful to this world and cherish this world!"

"You actually pin your hopes on the human heart? Do you not know that the human heart is the least worthy of trust!"

"Then is it worth believing in maintaining balance through slaughter? How are you any different from the fools you speak of who only know how to take and wantonly destroy? Are you not also bringing about destruction?"