Chapter 22 - The Silent City and Mo Li's Resolve.

“Ultimately, are you afraid of her hearing your voice? Is that why you haven't come out?” Xu Xuan was somewhat surprised to hear the Chiyou Sword Spirit's words.

“Oh, come on, how could I be afraid of a mere Grandmaster like her? I only want you to hear my voice, you know. Speaking of this so-called Daoist school, it seems some very powerful people have emerged. But I advise you to stay away from them!”

“Why?”

“They are too close to the depths of this world. The closer one gets to the abyss, the easier it is to be corrupted by it. Just like that little girl, who can hear sounds and whispers that ordinary people cannot. A normal person should have gone mad long ago.” The Chiyou Sword Spirit said faintly, as if recalling something.

“Never mind, now isn't the time to think about this. Do you know what's wrong with this city? This quietness is a bit unsettling.”

“There is indeed a unique aura. But why should I tell you?” As if teasing, the Chiyou Sword Spirit floated in front of Xu Xuan: “It's not impossible for me to tell you, but in the next battle, you must fully unleash my power, how about it?”

“Let's not, then? It would be troublesome if you truly awakened.”

“Just once, it might not necessarily awaken me,” the Chiyou Sword Spirit said in a seductive tone.

“Never mind, I'll check it myself.” Ignoring the Chiyou Sword Spirit's seductive tone, Xu Xuan leaped onto the roof of a house. What Xu Xuan didn't notice was that, even in a dark alley far away, someone was standing in the darkness, watching him.

“It seems the destruction of the Sword Hall left him with deep after-effects. At night, he fights with air, then talks to himself. Interesting. Could it be that he's already controlled by that demonic sword? Hmm, very likely. No, I must write all this down. This is an interesting character; now the character design and data are complete.” The person spoke, then picked up a pen and wrote on a bamboo slip. This person was Liu Xian, and after he finished recording, he seemed to remember something and slapped his hat: “Oh dear! I was so focused on gathering material that I forgot something important. But it can't be helped, after all, I no longer have a head...”

On the other side, Xu Xuan didn't notice Liu Xian in the darkness. He had already climbed onto the roof of a residential house, removed a tile, and looked down, finding that the homeowners had all fallen asleep. After this, Xu Xuan entered several more courtyards in one go, and without exception, everyone in these houses was deep in slumber.

The entire city couldn't possibly fall asleep at the same time, could it? With this thought, Xu Xuan walked towards the city gate. He then noticed that all the city guards were also sound asleep after closing the city gates. He ran to several places where night patrol soldiers were stationed, then returned to the inn for a look. Xu Xuan was surprised to find that everywhere, after dark, everyone in the entire city had fallen into slumber, as if it were a dead city.

This sight inexplicably confirmed to Xu Xuan that there was definitely a big problem with this city. Carrying his doubts and the information he had gathered today, Xu Xuan returned to the post station. What reassured Xu Xuan was that Mo Li was not asleep; instead, she was sitting on the corridor outside her room, gazing at the starry sky.

“It's really good that you didn't fall asleep with everyone else.” Seeing Mo Li, Xu Xuan came and sat beside her.

“This city is sick, and this country is terminally ill.” Hearing Xu Xuan's words, Mo Li suddenly spoke: “Everyone in the entire city is asleep, right?”

“Ah, you already knew.”

“That eunuch named Xiao Liu fell asleep the moment it got dark, and everyone else in the entire post station fell asleep with him; it was too hard not to notice.” Mo Li said with a smile, “I had the automatons send Xiaoyu out of the city. You should leave too.”

“Hmm?” Hearing Mo Li's words, Xu Xuan couldn't help but be surprised.

“Tomorrow's trip to the palace will be very dangerous.” Seeing Xu Xuan's expression, Mo Li suddenly said in a serious tone, “If you come with me, your life will be in danger.”

“If it's that dangerous, why are you still going?”

“I have to try no matter what. I want to persuade the King of Chu; if successful, many common people can be saved from dying.”

“Is there a high chance of success in persuading him?”

“Given what the King of Chu is doing now, the possibility is very small. Practically none.”

“Since there's almost no possibility, why bother going? Anyway, everyone here sleeps at night, so why don't we just leave the city?” Hearing Mo Li's words, Xu Xuan couldn't help but say, “Since you said it's very dangerous, it seems tomorrow will be quite perilous. Isn't the best course of action to just leave?”

“But this is the last and only chance to save the people of Eastern Chu State. I must try no matter what. But you are different; you are not a Mohist. You don't need to take risks with me.” Mo Li said with a smile still on her face, looking at Xu Xuan.

“Saving people? You're risking your life to save people, but will the people you save truly thank you? If you die trying to save them, they might even mock you as a fool in the end, understand?” Looking at Mo Li, Xu Xuan couldn't help but say, “I think it's fine to do good deeds, but you must first ensure your absolute safety. After all, you only have one life; you can't waste it saving others.”

Hearing Mo Li's words, Xu Xuan couldn't help but voice his thoughts. He was a person who loved and yearned for adventure. He was also full of longing for the strange and mystical aspects of this world, yet Xu Xuan was still unwilling to descend the mountain and leave the safe zone, for a simple reason: he didn't want to die so casually.

It was precisely because he had been reborn and lived another life that he truly understood how important his own life was. Especially recalling what happened in his previous life, he sacrificed himself to save others, even giving his life for them. But in the end, when he stood in heaven and looked at his descendants, when he personally witnessed that those he had saved not only didn't thank him, but some even had mocking smiles when mentioning him in interviews. They were unwilling to attend his funeral and even cursed his death in private for bringing them public pressure and other troubles. Xu Xuan, in heaven, felt as if he had died in vain.

He felt even more guilty when he saw his family crying for him and his friends grieving for him. To save a bunch of ungrateful people, he made his loved ones shed tears of sorrow.

Thinking of his past life's experiences, Xu Xuan couldn't help but try to persuade Mo Li. Mo Li was a good person, too good for her own good. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

“Your words sound very much like a disciple of Yang Zhu. If you were to apprentice with the Daoist Heavenly Sect, you might be very popular.” Hearing Xu Xuan's words, Mo Li said with a smile.

“No, I'm not joking with you. I know your Mohist School loves everyone equally, so you try your best to save everyone. But just because you love them doesn't mean they love you! If you die because of this persuasion, the real loss will be to those who love you.” Hearing Mo Li's words, Xu Xuan couldn't help but say again.

“Thank you, you are a good person.” Hearing Xu Xuan's words, Mo Li smiled and nodded, then said, “But this is my Dao, and for this Dao, I will walk it to the end.”

“Why?”

“Because this is the rule of my Mohist School. All Mohist disciples must abide by the rules. When there are things that harm the common people, my Mohist disciples must stand up to protect the people of the world.”

“Are rules that important? More important than life?”

“Rules are more important than life.” Mo Li said seriously, then sighed softly: “And this time, it's also the last hope for the people of Eastern Chu State and Song State.”

“What does that have to do with the State of Song?”

“Because Eastern Chu State is going to attack the State of Song.” Mo Li said, “The current King of Eastern Chu State has fallen into madness. To recover from the crisis of his previous defeat by Western Chu State, he is actually planning a large-scale invasion of the State of Song.”

“Huh? Why attack the State of Song after being defeated by Western Chu?”

“Because the State of Song has also just been defeated, its strength is not great, making it a suitable target. The King of Eastern Chu seems to want to plunder the resources and people of the State of Song to counter Western Chu State.” Mo Li looked at the starry sky and said faintly, “Since the division of the Chu State, the East-West wars have never stopped. And now, Western Chu State has produced a young man known as the Hegemon-King. Just a year ago, that Hegemon-King of Western Chu used two thousand cavalry to forcefully defeat Eastern Chu's army of one hundred thousand.”

“Hegemon-King of Western Chu?” Hearing this title, Xu Xuan was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that the timeline of this era seemed a bit too chaotic compared to his previous life: “Actually, I've always been curious, how exactly did the Eastern and Western Chu split?”

“Because of the machinations of Lord Chunshen, the Prime Minister of Chu at the time. The King of Chu at that time had no children. One day, a retainer of Lord Chunshen named Li Yuan brought his own sister, a beautiful woman. He then persuaded Lord Chunshen to use this woman to scheme, so that his own descendants could replace the King of Chu.”

“Wait, are you saying Lord Chunshen had relations with that woman, got her pregnant, and then offered her to the King of Chu?” Hearing her words, Xu Xuan inexplicably thought of the legend of a certain merchant surnamed Lü: “But if the woman wasn't a virgin and was already pregnant, wouldn't it be discovered?”

“Among Lord Chunshen's retainers, there were also many Qi Practitioners and Fangshi.” Hearing Xu Xuan's question, Mo Li merely said calmly, “Afterward, that retainer of Lord Chunshen, Li Yuan, became the royal uncle. As for that child, he is the current King of Chu. Lord Chunshen, however, was murdered through Li Yuan's scheme. What no one expected was that after Lord Chunshen's death, one of his retainers, a Qi Practitioner with special abilities, publicly exposed the matter and killed Li Yuan. From then on, the Chu State was completely split into two factions: one faction did not believe the retainer's words, and these people ultimately helped the current King of Chu ascend to power. As for the other faction, they were continuously suppressed, eventually leading to a military rebellion. The leaders of this rebellion were precisely the Xiang Clan of Western Chu.”

“So is the current King of Chu truly Lord Chunshen's son? Why do so many ministers insist he is the King of Chu's son?”

“Whether he is or isn't doesn't matter at all. Do you think these people care about the truth? At this point, the truth itself is meaningless, or rather, whoever wins, their words become the truth.”