Volume 1 Volume 6 Chapter 139

Volume 6 Chapter 139: Between Righteousness and Evil (Part 2)

Cultivators in the world can generally be divided into three branches: the Righteous Path, the Evil Path, and the Demon Path.

The principle of the Righteous Path is to protect, take responsibility, and promote peace. The earliest cultivators of the Righteous Path believed that since they gained their powers among humanity, they should make the protection of people their responsibility. Meanwhile, they often stayed detached from worldly matters and avoided unnecessary conflicts. When cultivating, they primarily absorb Spirit Qi from nature and would not kill without a very good reason, nor would they disturb the balance of the world.

However, as time went on, the Righteous Path cultivators began to narrow their focus from protecting all humanity to just their own sect, and sometimes even only a few close individuals. This shift made their vision narrower, and perhaps it was because the burden of protecting humanity was too heavy and the responsibility too vague, making them lose interest in fulfilling it. Moreover, most cultivators are focused solely on improving their own strength, leaving little concern for others. Just being able to uphold a sense of protection, responsibility, and peace is already commendable.

Some say that Buddhism should be considered a separate path from the Righteous Path, yet its principles are not much different from those of the Righteous Path, and its popularity has only been prominent for the last few thousand years, often acting in conjunction with the Righteous Path. Therefore, it cannot be counted as a separate path.

The representative figures of the Righteous Path are Li Xuhan from Jiuhua and Immortal Zizhen from Qingxu. They bravely shoulder heavy responsibilities in times of crisis for humanity, but in daily matters, they are very focused on their own sects and often calculate for their own interests. Because of the strong sense of responsibility and the interests of their sects, those of the Righteous Path can easily unite and become the backbone of human cultivators.

In contrast, the Evil Path values individuality, spontaneity, and freedom. Not all cultivators of the Evil Path are evil; they believe that with power comes the right to act without restrictions, wandering freely in the world. They think one should act according to their true feelings without much concern and can use any means to grow stronger. Their teachings differ from those of the Righteous Path, which is why they are labeled as the Evil Path by righteous cultivators. However, those cultivators of the Evil Path often take pride in this label.

Also, because of the unrestricted mindset of those from the Evil Path, a good percentage of the truly gifted individuals in the cultivation world over the past thousands of years have emerged from this path. Their cultivation methods are many and wondrous. Due to their natural inclination to follow their true feelings, these cultivators have diverse personalities. Some act more like those of the Righteous Path, while others lean more towards the Demon Path. However, cultivators of the Evil Path often take ruthless measures to strengthen themselves, resulting in many mixing with those of the Demon Path, leading people to conflate the two.

For example, Mr. Liu and Zhang Xusheng can both be considered as people of the dark path. They act according to their own wishes and follow their hearts, but the sides they belong to and their methods are completely different. In fact, with so many talented people on the dark path, if they weren’t naturally lonely, they could never come together, and the cultivation world would never be entirely ruled by the righteous path.

Among the three paths, the most extreme is undoubtedly the dark path.

The dark path insists on following one’s heart, desires, and power. They believe one should not suppress their deepest desires. If there is a killing intent, one should kill; if there is arrogance, one should see everything as lesser beings, and view increasing one’s own power as the most important thing. They will stop at nothing, advocating survival of the strongest, obeying the powerful while looking down on the weak. For the sake of enhancing their strength, sacrificing millions is nothing to them. These three main beliefs are almost completely opposite to those of the righteous path, making them natural enemies. Eventually, the dark path’s extreme actions angered both the righteous and evil paths, leading to a united effort to eliminate it.

Now that the dark path has been completely destroyed, there is no representative left. Although the Demon Ancestor was a person of the dark path, his level of cultivation has long surpassed the three paths, no longer fitting the definition of a simple dark path individual.

…

From the above description, one can see how great the differences are between the righteous and dark paths. Naturally, the understanding of the Heavenly Way by both sides is completely opposite. When both of these understandings appeared in Xu Qingfan’s heart at the same time, he only felt two voices in his head constantly debating. One voice told Xu Qingfan to suppress all his desires and think of the bigger picture, while the other voice told him to follow his heart and not worry about the thoughts of the weak. One voice said that if one acted like the dark path, everyone would act selfishly and at all costs, resulting in the collapse of the human world. The other voice countered, saying, "So what if the human world collapses? What matters most is being happy and strong."

For a moment, Xu Qingfan felt his head throb with pain. As his understanding of the two Heavenly Ways deepened, this pain only intensified. Under the powerful conflict, Xu Qingfan could not help but howl towards the sky to release the pain in his heart.

After a long time, Xu Qingfan finally managed to suppress these two understandings of the Heavenly Way deep in his heart, not daring to think further.

With the simultaneous appearance of the two Heavenly Ways came the powers transformed from these understandings of the righteous and dark paths. However, Xu Qingfan painfully discovered that whenever he tried to activate a certain power of the righteous path, an opposite yet essentially identical power would appear in his mind. With his heart torn between the two, and due to the conflicting understandings of the two Heavenly Ways, he had realized countless powers but could not express a single one.

This feeling made Xu Qingfan suffer even more.

After trying several times, Xu Qingfan finally gave up and thought to himself, "It seems that for now, I can only use ‘Formula of Life and Death’ and ‘Substitute for Heaven.’ It’s a pity those powers are very mysterious. But in the future, there will surely be a way, either when I can use these powers freely or if I can merge the two Heavenly Ways together. I might find a path that no one has ever walked before. Plus, with Zhang Xusheng’s secret method changing my body, having the traits of righteousness, magic, and evil, I may truly be the first person in the cultivation world for tens of thousands of years."

Xu Qingfan held back his frustration and forced himself not to think too much. He checked his body’s condition again but suddenly thought of a question.

This time, he did not fall completely into darkness; he still maintained his true heart because the magic pearl suddenly leaked demonic energy at the end, and the speed of its assimilation with him greatly decreased. But what caused this? Could something have happened outside when he merged with the ‘magic pearl’?

With that thought, Xu Qingfan dared not meditate any longer and opened his eyes to look outside.

What Xu Qingfan saw when he awoke nearly shocked him to the core.