Chapter 361

Chapter 361: Yang Jia’s Mother!

In the sky above, amid those outer-dao demons, Yang Jia wielded a long sword with relentless sweeping strokes, each swing unleashing ten thousand zhang of sword light that tore through everything.

The fierce sword momentum and terrifying sword-dao pressure kept spreading outward from the sky, forcing even some of the outer-dao demon projections to keep their distance.

Beside Shen Qi, the red-robed man glanced at Yang Jia. “His sword dao is passable.”

Shen Qi smiled. “If you were to fight him, what are your odds of winning?”

The red-robed man’s gaze was calm, but the corners of his mouth carried a trace of arrogance. “Ten out of ten.”

Shen Qi asked, “Ten out of ten?”

The red-robed man watched Yang Jia in the distant sky. “His sword dao is no small thing, but in the end he is just an ordinary mortal, while I am a descendant of the divine. In terms of bloodline alone, I am on an entirely different level from him……”

Shen Qi suddenly shook his head.

Seeing Shen Qi shake his head, the red-robed man stopped, hesitated, and said no more. Instead he asked, “What is it?”

Shen Qi looked up toward Yang Jia in the sky. “Huai Qing, your greatest problem is that you are far too confident. Confidence is not a bad thing, but overconfidence is a catastrophic one. Throughout the ages, how many people have died because of their own arrogance? Underestimating your opponent is a grave taboo.”

The red-robed man named Huai Qing hesitated, then said, “Big brother, you are right. But I still feel that Yang Jia is no match for me. If big brother doesn’t believe me, I can spar with him in a moment……”

Shen Qi was about to speak.

Hum!

At that very moment, a sword cry suddenly rang out from the distant sky. The next instant, a burst of sword light erupted across the heavens, shattering several outer-dao demon projections outright, and tearing a massive spacetime rift across the entire sky — impossible to ignore.

The surrounding outer-dao demon projections dared not draw any closer, and could only glare at Yang Jia from afar.

Yang Jia did not strike again. He slowly turned and looked toward Shen Qi and the red-robed man in the distance.

Compared to before, Yang Jia now carried far less of his former youthfulness. He had matured greatly, and grown far more cold and detached.

Seeing Yang Jia look over, Shen Qi smiled. “Young master Yang, you should know who I am.”

Yang Jia looked at Shen Qi and said nothing.

He naturally recognized the young man before him. In the intelligence provided by the Immortal Treasure Pavilion back then, this man had been listed as his most threatening rival.

He simply hadn’t expected that a Ye Tianming would appear out of nowhere along the way.

Ye Tianming!

Thinking of that person again, a strange and complex emotion surged within him.

Shen Qi said earnestly, “Young master Yang, I would like to invite you to join my side.”

Yang Jia turned and walked away.

Shen Qi suddenly said, “Are you truly at peace with this?”

Yang Jia did not stop.

Shen Qi continued, “Are you truly at peace with being denied by your own family?”

Yang Jia stopped walking, but said nothing.

Shen Qi walked slowly to Yang Jia’s side and said quietly, “Your grandfather says you were wrong. They all say you were wrong. In my view, you were not wrong — you were simply weak. You didn’t beat Ye Tianming. The winner is king, the loser is nothing. Your greatest mistake was simply that you lost.”

Yang Jia remained silent.

Shen Qi went on, “Morality? Benevolence? Magnanimity? From what I know, your grandfather rose from nothing, and killed people and razed entire cities at the slightest displeasure. Where was the morality? Where was the benevolence? Where was the magnanimity? And yet he still has a devoted following. Why? Because he succeeded.”

As he spoke, he smiled faintly. “That is the way of our world. People are infinitely forgiving of those who succeed, even if they hold values and morals that run contrary to the standards of the day — it doesn’t matter, because they succeeded. When you strip everything down to its most fundamental logic, it is simply this: the strong are revered, and whatever the strong do is right.”

Yang Jia turned to look at Shen Qi. “I lost. A loss is a loss.”

Shen Qi smiled. “When your skills fall short, losing is losing. There is nothing wrong with that, nor should there be. But you should also get back up where you fell, shouldn’t you?”

Yang Jia stared at Shen Qi. “You want to use me.”

Shen Qi shook his head. “Let’s use a different word — cooperation.”

Yang Jia said, “He now represents the official residence universe below. If I go and oppose him, what does that make me? First, it looks like I can’t accept defeat. Second, it amounts to betraying my own people. Third, it makes me look like a fool. I may lack strength, but that doesn’t mean I lack a brain.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

Shen Qi suddenly said, “Is Ye Tianming’s ideal really so lofty?”

Yang Jia stopped and turned back to look at Shen Qi. Shen Qi smiled. “All beings are equal……. is that ideal really so lofty?”

Yang Jia stared at Shen Qi. “Are you loftier than him?”

Shen Qi shook his head. “I wouldn’t say loftier. I would only say that the rules by which this world operates are not what Ye Tianming imagines them to be. Or rather, every civilization has its own way of living and its own rules — it doesn’t have to run according to Ye Tianming’s rules. Furthermore, all beings can never truly be equal.”

As he spoke, he laughed. “Take cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs, and pigs — are they not also among all beings? If all beings are equal, then they should not be used as food, but should enjoy the same rights as people, should they not?”

Yang Jia’s brow furrowed. “You are twisting the concept.”

Shen Qi shook his head. “It is not I who am twisting the concept. Since ancient times, all beings have been selfish — demanding equality for those above themselves, while demanding strict hierarchy for those below.”

As he spoke, he looked up toward the depths of the cosmos. “The resources of the universe are finite. Within finite resources, how can all beings ever be equal? Ye Tianming has overestimated human nature, and has never truly seen the fundamental logic of this universe’s great dao. He imagines everything to be far too ideal.”

After a long silence, Yang Jia slowly raised his head and looked at Shen Qi, saying in a low voice, “You and he are engaged in a true clash of ideals.”

Shen Qi smiled. “More or less. Young master Yang, I came to find you not to invite you to oppose Ye Tianming together, but because I hope to work with you to accomplish something that even the Ancestral God never managed to achieve.”

Yang Jia asked, “What is it?”

The smile on Shen Qi’s face gradually faded. “To restore the order of the dao to its proper state, and then to create…… a new dao.”

A new dao!

Yang Jia’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You said restoring the dao to order, not outright destruction…….”

“Ha ha!”

Shen Qi suddenly laughed. “Young master Yang is very perceptive. Since ancient times, people have always gone about breaking various orders — just like the founding of dynasties in the mortal world. After overthrowing one dynasty, they would claim in high-sounding terms to be establishing a new order. But what was the result? Before long, they became no different from the very dynasty they had overthrown!”

Yang Jia was silent.

Shen Qi continued, “Ye Tianming stands from the perspective of those at the bottom. But young master Yang should understand that this world is not made up of only the bottom — there is also the middle, the upper, and the supreme tiers. Are they not also among all beings? Moreover, those at the bottom may one day rise to the middle, the upper, or even the supreme tier……”

As he spoke, he laughed. “Once someone from the bottom reaches the supreme tier, their thinking will change. That is the dao. That is the natural order. In other words, Ye Tianming is currently at the lowest rung, and he wants to lead those of his station to rise — there is nothing wrong with that. But the question is, once he and those of his station have crossed into a higher tier, will there not be a new bottom tier?”

Yang Jia stared at Shen Qi and said nothing.

Shen Qi continued, “In any case, young master Ye is a remarkable person. He speaks for those at the bottom, and I respect that. But he is too young, and has seen far too little of the world…… I say this not to belittle him. He truly is too young, has experienced too little, and his understanding of this world is insufficient — and that is not something that can be remedied simply by reading a few books.”

Yang Jia said in a low voice, “You don’t simply want to defeat him. You want to surpass him in terms of ideals…… But if he truly rebuilds the Myriad Beings Rankings and gathers the faith of countless beings from the official residence and divine universes…….”

Shen Qi shook his head. “I will not allow him to succeed, because that would mean losing control — not just his control, but the entire universe spiraling out of control.”

After a brief silence, Yang Jia said, “Do you truly understand him?”

Shen Qi said, “To some extent.”

Yang Jia shook his head. “You don’t understand him deeply enough. I have crossed blades with him three times. What is truly terrifying about this person is not his strength, but his mind. He is the kind of person who takes one step while seeing ten ahead.”

Shen Qi smiled. “So having an opponent like that is a fortunate thing.”

As he spoke, he looked toward Yang Jia. “Young master Yang, I invite you to help me not simply because I want to use you, or use the Yang family. It is only that I feel the former you also had great ambitions. You walk the path of the sovereign dao — who says the sovereign dao cannot be walked? Throughout the ages, every founder of any order was a dictator at the start. Every single one. Including the Ancestral God of old!”

At that, he paused, then continued, “Every ruler and dictator must learn to do evil. Those who swear to be good in all things will inevitably perish surrounded by those who are not.”

Hearing this, Yang Jia suddenly understood.

He understood the flaw in Ye Tianming’s great dao.

He also understood the flaw in his own former great dao!

Shen Qi looked at Yang Jia and smiled. “Our cooperation does not require you to do evil, nor does it require you to act against your Guan Xuan Universe…… In other words, on the day your strength surpasses your grandfather’s, right and wrong will be yours to define.”

Yang Jia was still silent.

Shen Qi suddenly opened his palm, and a scroll slowly drifted to Yang Jia’s front. Yang Jia looked somewhat puzzled.

Shen Qi said, “Take a look!”

Yang Jia glanced at Shen Qi, then opened the scroll. When he saw what was written inside, his pupils instantly contracted sharply, and he snapped his gaze toward Shen Qi. “The fifth law of the Myriad Beings Code — you have accomplished something even Ye Tianming has not……”

Shen Qi smiled. “On behalf of my team, I sincerely invite young master Yang to join us.”

Yang Jia said nothing, his heart shaken beyond measure.

Shen Qi added, “Think of your mother — her standing and circumstances within the Yang family right now.”

Yang Jia’s hands slowly tightened, and he hesitated no longer.