Chapter 217: Extreme Turning Point!

What? They want to ban spirit stone mining?!

It's the Heavenly Emperor's decree!

As soon as the decree came out, the persons in charge of spirit stone mining at all major marketplaces were dumbfounded:

"But… if we don't mine spirit stones, how are we supposed to supply the consumption of all the cities?"

"Without spirit stones, are we supposed to learn to eat people like outsiders?"

"No… the meaning from above is, not only is spirit stone mining forbidden, but eating people is also forbidden… and moreover, they want to ban ordinary people from cultivating immortality."

……

Damn it, what's the point of cultivating immortality then!

Countless people began cursing their mothers, but they didn't dare curse the Heavenly Emperor, so they cursed Xuandu, Di Jun, and Guang Chengzi instead……

And the impact of this decree had only just begun; as the various marketplace bosses clenched their noses and forcibly enforced it, from top to bottom, it was nothing but a chorus of curses:

Those who grow spirit herbs curse, those who raise spirit beasts curse, those who concoct pills curse, those who forge artifacts curse, those who set up formations curse, and even common folk curse!

One couldn't help but curse, for this decree, which could be called heavenly-defying child's play, with a single shovel struck at the very lifeblood of the Sea of Blood cultivators.

"Without spirit stones, and with eating people forbidden, how are we supposed to survive? Can any trade still operate? Can cultivation even continue?"

One stone stirred up a thousand waves; the marketplaces throughout the Sea of Blood immediately exploded in an uproar:

Those with better attitudes bitterly petitioned and pleaded with their superiors, trying to jointly ask the Heavenly Emperor to withdraw the order.

While those with worse attitudes were practically ready to rebel!

"This is a chaotic order; I will absolutely not obey it!"

【Faced with subordinates' defiance, the various marketplaces were also at a loss: to suppress is not an option, to indulge is not an option…… suppressing means destroying one's own martial power, indulging means opposing the Sea of Blood Heavenly Court—both are paths to death!】

【The marketplace chiefs who used to be regional governors were nearly driven to tears; caught in a dilemma where neither side is human, they could only frequently ask the Sea of Blood Heavenly Court: should we enforce it or not?】

【Thus, documents and memorials from all sides flew into the Heavenly Court like snowflakes……】

【But faced with this helpless plea, the Heavenly Court responded cold-bloodedly with just a short sentence: "If you don't enforce it, there are plenty who will."】

【This blatant threat left everyone speechless: "Fine! Since that's what they said, for the sake of our lives and property, even the most heaven-defying order must be carried out with gritted teeth!"】

【After all, they are ministers directly serving the Heavenly Emperor; under the control of the Blood God Son, whether considering strength or loyalty, they could never pull off something like "mutual defense of the southeast."…】

【Damn it, might as well keep the Heavenly Emperor company in his madness!】

【Thus, the various marketplace bosses successively shut down public mines and sealed private ones, dealing a devastating blow to the spirit stone mining industry!】

【With the higher-ups doing this, those below who still held hope were left speechless……】

【Not long after, protest after protest erupted everywhere; protesters shouted slogans and marched, using this to petition the Heavenly Court, begging the wise and martial Heavenly Emperor to repeal this unreasonable decree!】

【But the Heavenly Emperor, who used to be peaceful and benevolent, this time seems to have taken the wrong medicine; he not only rejected the people's petitions, but also sent heavenly soldiers and generals to suppress the crowds everywhere. With absolute superiority in force, the protesting masses, most of whom hadn't even become immortals, could only scatter after suffering minor casualties.】

【In the end, the Wilderness respects only power; those whose protests failed had no choice but to obey meekly. Even if this damned decree is as heaven-defying as ever, they had to accept it resignedly…… But this way, while immortals might still manage, ordinary cultivators can only despairingly wait to die of old age……】

【Jin Bing watched all this helplessly, feeling the world spin in despair: 'You, this parachuted-in minister, are you actually a normal person?!'】

【"You…… where exactly are you trying to take us down?"】

【Jin Bing on the throne questioned you angrily, while you remained unmoved, not even a flicker in your heart, and even sighed: 'I thought the Sea of Blood were all tough nuts, but only a few died and you already stopped fighting……'】

【You!!!】

【Jin Bing glared at you with eyes about to burst: 'You still think too few have died?!'】

【"They are all good people, merely innocent folk who just want to live peacefully in the Sea of Blood; why are you treating them so brutally!"】

【Faced with Jin Bing's roar, you merely gave a cold laugh: "Innocent? The innocent who eat people's souls?"】

【"If they don't eat, could they all come back to life!"】

【Jin Bing simply threw caution to the wind, uncaring of his own safety, as if he had truly merged with the ancient Golden Heavenly Emperor.】

【In his concern for the safety of the Sea of Blood's beings, the righteous him burst out cursing: "They're already dead! Why don't you make use of them? What's wrong with this!"】

【"Even if the dead have justification, they cannot block the path of the living! This is the simplest heavenly principle; even if the Dao Ancestor came, this principle would remain unchanged!"】

【"If you want to seize power, seize it; what does the Sea of Blood matter to you? I'm heading to Mount Shouyang!"】

【Jin Bing's curses could shake hearts and souls, but you alone remained calm, merely sneering: "You say you've shattered heaven, yet you're still eating people!"】

【"Don't think that just because you bear the name of the Golden Heavenly Emperor you can forever occupy the moral high ground; I won't buy your act!"】

【"No matter how lofty and righteous your words sound, I only acknowledge one dead truth: under no circumstances can we eat people!"】

【Jin Bing was driven speechless by your extreme rhetoric, furious and flustered he snapped: "Do you think you're so noble? The only reason you can stand on the moral high point and point fingers at us is that your own interests aren't affected!"】

【"You rely on the Wilderness' power to grant you spiritual energy, cultivating to Golden Immortal, pure and proper, naturally you look down on our lowly people‑eating tactics, and still wave the moral big stick to beat us……"】

【Furious Jin Bing threw out a soul‑searching question: "If you have the ability to discard the Wilderness' power, let's see if you still dare to point fingers at us!"】

【As soon as those words were spoken, the scene fell into silence……】

【Because those words truly hit the nail on the head: all your morality and justice are founded on the Wilderness' power, which is why you've always looked down on people‑eating cultivation everywhere.】

【If you had truly grown up in an atmosphere of people‑eating cultivation from childhood, your worldview would naturally not be as extreme as it is now; with the world having shifted to this point, without the extraneous Wilderness' power, how could you possibly keep yourself pure?】

【If you just suppose a bit, you can reach the answer: in fact, the Wilderness Immortal Dao has come to this point precisely because it was forced to adapt to the times; if it fails to adapt, it will be eliminated.】

【Since the Age of Dharma Decline, has there really been no one like you who holds pure justice in their heart?】

【The answer is definitely yes!】

【But they were all eliminated by cruel reality: justice that doesn't conform to the world is like rootless duckweed, or like a flower in a mirror, the moon in water—how could it last long?】

【An ideal just person either gets twisted by reality, or can only die……】

【But you, in fact, are an anomaly; your fortune has let you never experience reality's beatings, like a flower raised in a greenhouse…… therefore, to this world, all your thoughts and actions are utterly out of place.】

【You have slaughtered the righteous and demonic paths, resisted the Central State model, established the 'Xuandu Heavenly Court'…… and now you again ban spirit stone mining in the Sea of Blood, suppressing the people's reasonable demands……】

【Any single one of those things, taken alone, is a top‑tier heaven‑defying act!】

【Your thoughts and deeds are, in fact, leading the Wilderness Immortal Dao down a hopeless dead end……】

【"You're wrong!"】

Jin Bing saw the confusion and struggle in your eyes; his stern tone softened involuntarily, and he turned to earnestly advise you: Give up, this is a dead end……Justice is merely its facade, don't be deceived by appearances!

"You despise how both the righteous and demonic paths devour people—that's absolutely right, I despise it too! So we chose the most harmless way to survive; compared to devouring the souls of the living, what does it matter if we eat the confused, long‑dead ghosts in the Sea of Blood?"

"Child, you're still young, you don't understand these principles……Compromise is unavoidable, yet everything in the world is filled with compromise; it's not that they initially wanted to compromise, but only by compromising can one survive."

"You must learn to compromise……not only with others, but more importantly with yourself; let yourself go!"

Jin Bing's sincerity stirred your heart and soul: let go……of myself……

Yes, your enemy has never been this twisted world, but yourself!

Everything is based on reality; when everyone in reality deems compromise necessary, if only you refuse to compromise and even indiscriminately attack those who agree to compromise……then you are the stumbling block before the tide of the times, and your only enemy is yourself……

Ding! You've fallen into confusion; even a belief held for thousands of years can't help but waver. You don't want to compromise with this twisted world, yet the world demands your compromise—if you refuse, the fate awaiting you is that all other cultivators except you will head toward destruction……

At this crucial juncture of fate's decision, you decide to trust "another self"; you choose: (?) Please fill in freely!

"Here comes another juncture testing the protagonist's life choices……"

Watching Xue Xuan finally face a life choice in his second life, Zhao Si couldn't help but feel moved:

Thinking back, when Jin Bing first firmly established his belief, it happened to be the midpoint of his second life.

Faced with the inevitable conflict between humanity and the Demon Race, and deeply schemed against by Di Jun, this little flood dragon was ultimately forced to choose to lead humanity, espousing Human Supremacism, onto the self‑destructive path of slaughtering the Demon Race……

Does Jin Bing know whether his choice was wrong?

Of course he knows, but he has no alternative—once the arrow is nocked, it must be loosed!

Look at Jiao Ming as well—he too faced a life‑ordeal in his second life:

Is it to watch the Three Ancestors attain sainthood helplessly, or to embark on slaughter to make oneself a saint?

yesorno？

Jiao Ming: or.

He chose none of them; after being forced to embark on slaughter to overthrow the Three Ancestors, he then committed suicide in front of Hongjun's bewildered face.

In his third life, with a fragile mindset unlike the protagonist's, he chose again—yet the result was still self‑sacrifice……

"In a sense, Xue Xuan actually combines the traits of both; in temperament he is even more decisive and lethal than Jin Bing, yet in mindset he is more prone to wavering than Jiao Ming—this counterfeit Jin Bing merely gave him a couple of verbal dodges, and that left him utterly confused!"

Zhao Si pondered carefully:

"However, Xue Xuan also has an advantage: as a rebooted protagonist, he views life with detachment, so he won't constantly think of self‑sacrifice like Jiao Ming does."

"Based on that, I can let him go to extremes in this life without worrying about suicide, which helps him survive to the end and uncover more information……"

"Going to extremes—this I'm familiar with!"

……

(End of chapter)