Chapter 69: Insidious Li Ling
In truth, Li Ling had already largely abandoned his impulsive demeanor from before after swearing the poisonous Heavenly Oath, so while his current action of killing in a no-kill zone was definitely one that came with great risk, he did it after careful and malevolent calculation.
One thing that males in the ’normal’ world of earth understood deeply from a young age was the fact that rules only applied to select people, and even when the rules stated that those involved were to be punished, they could easily be bent to favor certain parties for various reasons.
A male understood this oftentimes as young as 5 years old on earth. The school one attended strictly stated that neither boys nor girls should enter the bathrooms of the opposite sex, but the reaction toward a girl entering the boys’ bathroom and the reaction to a boy entering a girls’ bathroom were vastly different.
Usually, the girl would get a slap on the wrist while the boy would be lucky to have his parents called over for a warning.
This was just a basic example, but once one entered adulthood and experienced the real world, one would see many places where tough-sounding rules that seemed unbreakable were looser than the legs of a Joy Sect demoness.
The cultivation world had this too, and to a much more severe degree due to superhuman power and the law-of-the-jungle social morality. The difference was that the prevailing mentality and the constant danger did not give most people the time to breathe and think deeply about these things, unlike those on earth in peaceful societies.
So many cultivators often did not comprehend the special nature of rules and ended up being cannibalized by them, whereas Li Ling had made it this far because he knew exactly which rules were objectively inviolable and which ones were paper tigers.
If Wen Caiyi, a Nascent Soul from a foreign sect and a Core Disciple of the Six Paths Lower Sect, were to kill a person in the Holy City, do you think they would receive the same punishment?
Hahaha!
Li Ling suddenly burst out with his full power, unleashing his spirit sense in a strike using the Entry level Soul Piercing Seal to strike the Sea of Consciousness of Ren Xue. The woman who was charging over with speed that even Li Ling could not track due to superior body cultivation was suddenly halted with her fist inches from Li Ling’s face, her expression bearing sheer agony.
Blood leaked from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth as she glared at Li Ling, unable to muster any strength as her Sea of Consciousness had easily been breached by Li Ling, granting him the ability to lock her in place as they wrestled on the mental plane.
Body cultivators were very strong, right? In the lower levels, they had a direct advantage over qi cultivators, able to easily suppress them if they were to meet in the wild using superior strength and speed. No matter how awesome your fireball, wind blade, or falling boulder, it still had to hit the enemy to work, right?
Even if you are Gandalf the White, what are you supposed to do when faced with Superman?
But at the higher level, this advantage directly switched, and it switched heavily. After all, body cultivation did not focus on anything other than strengthening the body, bloodline, and heart, while qi cultivation fortified the mind, spirit, and soul as it went on.
So no matter how strong your arm or how fast your feet, you could not outrun the ever-present domain of spirit sense that could manifest abilities to invade the mind. The Soul Piercing Seal was just one technique of many. By the Nascent Soul realm, one would upgrade their spirit sense to something called Soul Sense, which acted on souls as well, not just physical objects.
At that point, a Nascent Soul qi cultivator would typically be able to pin a Sarira realm body cultivator—the fourth realm equivalent—to the ground and spank them by infiltrating their unprotected Sea of Consciousness.
This was what happened to Path Lady Ren, who glared at Li Ling with gritted teeth, hating him immensely for having such a method that targeted body cultivators and gloomily wondering if he was sent by one of the other halls to come and cause trouble.
How could it be so coincidental that a mere Foundation Establishment level 3 fellow knew such a difficult method to utilize spirit sense offensively? Even some Core Formation fellows did not yet have such expertise!
Seeing the situation of the Path Lady, the Path Walkers were filled with shock, while the other Path Lords were solemn. It wasn’t that Li Ling completely suppressed them from top to bottom, as there were many counters to this problem faced by body cultivators.
For example, they could either practice side techniques like the Sage Race method to enhance their mental defenses, or they could commission and purchase artifacts specifically created to defend their minds.
In the case of Ren Xue, she had trained her flesh but not her mind, as evidenced by the lack of breakthrough to Foundation Establishment in qi cultivation. She also had no Sage-Race technique practiced and definitely no soul-guarding artifact, which cost an arm and a leg. As such, Li Ling’s augmented spirit sense shoved the mind spike through with careful timing and landed.
So, the reason the other Path Lords were solemn was because they harbored the same thoughts as Ren Xue—that Li Ling was an agent sent over to cause trouble by targeting their weakness. Now the issue was no longer about culling and suppressing a rogue, but a semi-overt conflict between two factions, which needed to be handled carefully!
The middle-aged man among the group stepped forward with his hands behind his back, speaking calmly. "Young lad, enough with the games. What is your purpose for coming here?"
｢Name: Wang Dong
Status: Healthy.
Age: 89/550
Slaughter Points Value: 120
Cultivation Base: Foundation Establishment level 2 (41%) || Body Foundation Perfection (78%)
Remarks: Wang Dong is the head of the Seeking Blood Wing, and he is well respected in the hall by other Path Lords in the absence of the Hall Master. His strength is also the highest among the Path Lords, and he is currently wary about your intentions towards their hall, especially at this sensitive time.｣
Li Ling used the system to scan the fellow to get a lay of his identity, unsurprised by what he saw as the situation called for it. However, it didn’t change what he needed to do next as Li Ling glanced at Wang Dong directly and answered coldly.
"Initially, I came here to register as a disciple of the Six Paths Demon Sect as I have perfected the Mortal Flesh realm of the Blood Asura Descent, but after such treatment by the hall, I have to reconsider going to one of the other five and mastering their own methods."
The faces of the four Path Lords shifted slightly, as they realized this issue had become a little tricky.
Inasmuch as the law stated that there would be no fighting or killing in the Holy City, the halls were their own separate jurisdiction from the cities. They did not consider the rules of the Holy City here, only the rules of the Asura Blood Hall, though the hall also had a similar ruleset that was more specific.
And whether the Holy City laws or the Six Paths Halls, the rule was that it was a severe crime to assault any cultivator who had practiced the Mortal Flesh or Qi Refinement Chapter of one of the six foundational techniques of each hall who was coming to report in for discipleship.
The reason behind this law was quite obvious. The Six Paths Demon Sect had gone as far as to make their first realm of cultivation purchasable anywhere on the continent with civilization, but what was the point if those who achieved this practice were not able to arrive to become a part of their fold?
Why wouldn’t the top three righteous sects dispatch cultivators to wait near the places such fellows passed and slaughter them before they could join their enemy and cull them from the roots?
Precisely because of this law and the severity with which the Six Paths Demon Sect upheld it!
Li Ling was technically the victim in this matter, so he had a thin advantage, especially with the balance of laws to consider. Yes, killing a disciple of the Asura Blood Hall was also worthy of death and a severe crime, but its intensity was lower than the disciple attacking Li Ling, who was now coming in, which was where the small advantage came from.
"Even so, it is not enough to let you go scot-free. At the end of the day, you had awareness of the rules and chose to flout them, so while we will carry out the registration for your discipleship, you will spend a decade in the Underworld Prison to atone for your crimes." Wang Dong hesitated initially, then consulted with his three peers before stating this decision.
Hearing this, the Path Walkers’ faces changed to horror, backing away from Li Ling crazily as if he held a contagious disease. Even Bai Ruyi, who was smiling before, showed an expression of shock as she glanced between Li Ling and the four Path Lords, wondering if things were really going to enter the worst possible direction because Li Ling would never agree to such a thing.
"Sure, no problem." Li Ling agreed casually, releasing Ren Xue and flicking a finger, sending her back to her group with a casual smile.
Naturally, everyone blinked in surprise and confusion, not actually expecting this young man to agree so easily. Or could it be because he was not a native here, he was not aware of the ramifications of being sent to the Underworld Prison?
Well, that was also the case, but it was also because Li Ling knew that he would never be sent to such a place once he unveiled his trump card.
As such, when he saw Wang Dong move forward to apprehend him, he smiled sharply and spoke in a piercing tone. "Though I must say, it’s best to get your Hall Master to make the decision because you alone cannot bear the consequences of whatever you do next."
Indeed, the fellow was not willing and was only pretending! The four Path Lords shook their heads inwardly at Li Ling’s foolishness while Wang Dong did not stop moving.
If he, the seniormost Path Lord, could not make the decision concerning a mere prospective disciple, then the Asura Blood Hall would need to shut down by tomorrow.
However, the next moment, Li Ling unleashed a wave of Blood Qi from his body which he had kept concealed until now, allowing it to slap against the faces of everyone present in full force. Even though it was limited visibly by the 10-meter range around the body, the sense of body cultivators toward other body cultivation techniques was quite high.
So whether it was the Path Walkers or the Path Lords, all could sense the intricacies of Li Ling’s Blood Qi.
And it was precisely because of this understanding that everything changed.
"What on earth is this?!"
"Such pure Blood Qi!"
"How can this be possible?!"
"This kind of thing... how?!"
External members like Bai Ruyi and Wen Caiyi might understand that Li Ling’s Blood Qi was incomparably pure and high quality, but they would only appreciate it. However, actual practitioners like the Path Walkers and Path Lords would understand the titanic implications of Li Ling possessing such pure Blood Qi at his age.
Heh, indeed as Li Ling said, the previously confident and casual Wang Dong had frozen mid-step, no longer daring to step forward and handle this matter. He realized that he truly did not have the qualifications to make a decision over this matter and quickly used a Thousand Mile Talisman to send a message to the Hall Master to come quickly.
In the meantime, with grim expressions, he and the other three Path Lords—including Ren Xue, who had recovered somewhat in this time—immediately surrounded the various Path Walkers present here and locked them down with their auras.
"Fellow junior disciples, please do not move or speak. The upper echelon of the sect are handling critical matters and cannot allow the news to spread carelessly. You will be released in due time when everything is sorted out." Wang Dong explained calmly, his eyes roving the group of disciples sharply.
Anyone who spoke into an artifact or talisman at this time would likely be killed on the spot with no place to seek redress, causing the Path Walkers here to become as docile as kittens.