Chapter 163 My Path Has Begun

"Urgh... Aaaaaah!" Chen Mu clutched his head and wailed in agony, blood streaming from his seven orifices. Unable to stand any longer, he dropped to one knee. The soul-slaying blade fell from his hand with a "clang," embedding itself in the soil, but he had no time to spare it a thought.

Under the impact of this torrent of memories, his consciousness was like a small boat in a storm, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.

Qi Deviation? Collapse of the Divine Soul?

Just at this most dangerous moment, the Hunyuan Wuji Calamity Body Cultivation Technique, which had been circulating autonomously within him, seemed to sense the extreme danger to his Divine Soul and suddenly accelerated its operation on its own. Calamity Power!

The core of this Cultivation Technique inherently possessed the nature of calamity-refinement, tempering the Physical Body, Protective Aura, and Divine Soul. Even... Heart Demons and external impacts could be viewed as a type of calamity. The violent Calamity Power was no longer confined to his meridians and Physical Body; it surged thunderously into his Sea of Consciousness.

It was not opposition, nor expulsion, but refinement. Chen Mu's consciousness struggled madly on the brink of collapse, only to be forcefully dragged back by the Calamity Power. His senses were infinitely amplified amidst the chaos, then reintegrated under an even more magnificent force.

The pain reached its extreme. He felt as if his Soul had been thrown into a furnace, or ground down by thousands of files. Amidst this inhuman pain, his consciousness was miraculously pulled out from the initial chaos.

He felt as if he had been split into two.

One was still enduring the agony of Soul-refinement, kneeling on the ground, face twisted, blood streaming from his seven orifices.

The other was suspended high in the air, overlooking everything below from a cold, absolutely rational, and near-divine perspective.

"Who am I?" "Where am I?" "What am I doing?" Cold questions surfaced from the depths of his consciousness.

I am Chen Mu. I am in the Yangu Pit. I am... killing, plundering, growing stronger.

"For what?" To survive. To not be controlled. For... Lifespan? Power?

The faces of Xu Changze, Jiang Xiong, and Wen Jingxing appeared one after another. Along with the primal desire for endless Lifespan and overwhelming power deep within his heart. All of this, mixed with a massive torrent of memories, churned, collided, and exploded within his Sea of Consciousness.

Then, he saw it. He saw the land beneath him. He saw two great armies battling here hundreds of years ago, banners obscuring the sun, cries of battle shaking the heavens, corpses piled like mountains, blood soaking the soil. He saw tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers and civilians driven into a deep pit, covered by soil, countless hands reaching out from the ground only to fall powerlessly. He saw the rotation of the four seasons: spring grass sprouting among the bones, summer rain washing away the filth, autumn winds blowing over dry bones, and winter snow covering everything. Resentment did not dissipate; Death Qi gathered, day after day, year after year. This valley had become a nest of resentment, a final resting place for the dead, and a death trap for the living.

But this was not evil, nor was it an anomaly; it was merely a part of the operation of Heaven and Earth. The strong prey on the weak, energy flows, and life and death cycle. Heaven and Earth are unkind, treating all things as straw dogs. It would not grieve over mountains of corpses and seas of blood, nor would it intervene because of soaring resentment; it merely watched coldly, letting it happen, letting it evolve. Under such a magnificent perspective, individual life and death, love and hate, honor and disgrace seemed so insignificant.

Immediately after, more subtle perceptions came; Chen Mu felt every moment of death. The unwillingness of soldiers falling, stemming from the shattering of their belief in defending their country; the fear of civilians being slaughtered, stemming from their instinctive attachment to life; the humiliation of generals committing suicide, stemming from the collapse of dignity and responsibility; the confusion of wandering ghosts, stemming from the loss of the meaning of existence. This was the struggle of all living beings under the Laws of Heaven and Earth and the torrent of history.

Chen Mu's consciousness was pulled by this dual impact of information. On one hand, the cold ruthlessness from the perspective of Heaven and Earth—the strong prey on the weak, energy flows, and everything has its own Laws. On the other hand, the struggle for survival from the perspective of all living beings—everyone striving to live, even after death, turning into a Ghostly Creature, still instinctively craving the flesh and Yang Qi of the living.

Then, what about himself? He saw himself in the midst of the slaughter. A figure holding a pitch-black short blade, killing madly in the tide of ghosts; wherever the blade light passed, Ghostly Creatures vanished into ashes, and Lifespan constantly poured in. He also saw the desires within his heart: the longing for longevity, the craving for power, the obsession with controlling his own destiny. He saw his own struggle even more clearly: the doubt about his plundering methods, the blurring of moral boundaries, the confusion about the path ahead. The three intertwined to form the seeds of a Heart Demon, growing wildly, watered by Xu Changze's bait. But now, under the combined effect of this torrent of information and the Calamity Power of the Hunyuan Wuji Calamity Body, Chen Mu clearly saw it all.

Enlightenment struck like a thunderclap. Heaven and Earth operate according to their own Laws, and all living beings struggle for survival beneath these Laws, playing their respective roles. It is merely a difference in stance and means; there is no inherent superiority or inferiority. And he, Chen Mu, possessed the anomalous ability to infuse martial arts with Lifespan due to the System. This was neither a sin nor a blessing. It was simply a fact.

"My Dao..." Chen Mu whispered, his voice terrifyingly calm. He had thoroughly seen his own path. Because of the System, I possess the anomalous ability to infuse Lifespan. I am neither god nor saint; I am still one of the living beings, still struggling under the Laws of Heaven and Earth. But this anomalous ability has given me a path of struggle different from ordinary people, using slaughter as a boat and plundering as oars to cross this bitter sea where the strong prey on the weak. Xu Changze steals public resentment and colludes with evil gods; that is his struggle on his path. Wen Jingxing relies on authority to eliminate dissent; that is his struggle on his path. Jiang Xiong's clan plays games and lays out strategies; that is also his struggle on his path. And my, Chen Mu's, Dao... is this Dao of Plundering and Transcendence!

Acknowledge the cruelty of Heaven and Earth, accept the struggle of all living beings, clearly discern one's own desires and fears—not hypocritical, not empty talk, not delusional—utilize the anomalous ability to plunder all available resources. Lifespan, Cultivation Technique, insights, and even the calamity itself; use these to build my Foundation, temper my Divine Soul, and grow my strength. I want longevity, I want power, I want freedom. But all of this is never achieved by submitting to the likes of Xu Changze, nor by daydreaming about heaven-sent Opportunity, but by the blade in my hand, by the thoughts in my heart, and by seizing it through my "My Dao" of plundering everything and turning calamity into power. Heart Demon? That is merely a resource on my path that needs to be refined. Slaughter? That is merely a necessary means for me to practice my Dao. Doubt? It vanishes into smoke after clearly seeing Heaven and Earth and myself.

"Boom!" Consciousness returned to his shell. All delusions, all historical scenes, and all perceptions of living beings faded away. Chen Mu was still half-kneeling in the Yangu Pit, bathed in blood, but he was completely different. The fanatical flames in his eyes had extinguished, the hollow coldness had dissipated, replaced by a bottomless calmness. But within that calmness, it clearly contained a more magnificent and condensed power than before. The turbulent Protective Aura around his body calmed down, circulating more harmoniously and refined. The killing intent had not disappeared; instead, it had become purer and more restrained. He was no longer killing for the sake of venting, but with the clear realization that on this Dao of Plundering and Transcendence, slaughter was an unavoidable path. His goal was clear, and his will was like iron. All restlessness, emptiness, the wavering from temptation, and the hidden worries about his methods completely dissipated at this moment. He had seen Heaven and Earth clearly, seen all living beings clearly, and seen himself even more clearly.