148: The world is not a chessboard, and the people are not chess pieces.

In just a few breaths, the entire Xuanwu Gate, several zhangs tall, became spotless, thoroughly washed by clear water, with no trace of blood remaining!

Not only that, the pattern formed by Sword Qi, after purifying the bloodstains, did not dissipate. Instead, it transformed into specks of starlight and merged into the soil around the city gate.

The scorched earth, once soaked in blood and barren, incredibly burst forth with new life!

Tender green blades of grass emerged from the cracks in the ground, swaying in the wind, full of the breath of life!

This scene completely overturned everyone's understanding!

Kong Boyuan's Righteous Qi could purify the human heart, but it could not purify such a dense bloody aura.

Li Chengqian's black Imperial Qi could destroy everything, but it could not bring forth such pure new life.

And the Shu Mountain Sword Immortals in the sky were even more dumbfounded.

Their swords were swords of killing.

But the sword of this drunkard before them was... a sword of life!

What terrifying Sword Dao cultivation was this!

"Did you see that clearly, kid?"

The Wine Sword Immortal caught the wine gourd falling from the sky, took another gulp, and said lazily.

"This is what 'Dao' truly is."

"Everyone can destroy. But to bring new life after destruction, that is the true Dao of nature."

"Your Dao has only learned the first half, it's far from complete!"

On the city wall, Li Chengqian's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.

He stared intently at the new green grass below the city, feeling the pure, natural, and endless Sword Intent.

For the first time, his rock-solid Dao Heart wavered.

Could it be... I was really wrong?

This thought, like a poisonous weed, sprouted wildly in his heart.

His towering black Imperial Qi also showed imperceptible fluctuations due to the wavering of his mind.

Daoist Qingwei's face changed drastically. He knew he couldn't let the Wine Sword Immortal continue speaking!

If this continued, His Highness the Crown Prince's Dao Heart would truly be destroyed by him!

"Martial Uncle Si Jian!"

Daoist Qingwei cried out urgently, "The Dao has myriad forms, but all paths lead to the same destination! Your Highness's path, though seemingly overbearing, is also a path to save the world! Why must you force him to be the same as you?!"

"Force?"

The Wine Sword Immortal glanced at him. "I'm not forcing him. I'm saving him."

His gaze returned to Li Chengqian, his eyes becoming incredibly serious.

"Kid, it's not too late to stop now."

"That power of yours has already begun to backfire on your mind. Do you think you're still yourself? You've long been almost completely corroded by that murderous aura."

"If you continue down this path, once you've killed everyone in the world, you'll become the next Devil Head, even more terrifying than the Heavenly Demon Emperor!"

"At that time, who will save you? And who will save this world?"

Every word of the Wine Sword Immortal was like a heavy hammer, striking fiercely at Li Chengqian's heart.

"You've long been almost completely corroded by that murderous aura."

"You'll become the next Devil Head, even more terrifying than the Heavenly Demon Emperor!"

These words echoed repeatedly in Li Chengqian's mind.

He could feel the black Imperial Qi within him stirring restlessly, its raw nerve exposed, letting out an angry roar.

A bloodthirsty urge to tear the drunkard below the city into pieces surged wildly from the depths of his heart.

Li Chengqian's fingernails dug deep into his palms, using the pain to maintain his last shred of clarity.

He knew the Wine Sword Immortal wasn't exaggerating.

He had long been aware of this feeling of his mind being influenced by power itself.

He had always believed that with his iron will, he could suppress everything.

But today, this drunkard had ruthlessly torn through that thin veil.

"Shut up!"

Li Chengqian roared, his voice trembling in a way he himself hadn't noticed.

"I will walk my own Dao! I don't need a drunkard like you to tell me what to do!"

"My path is the only one with a chance of success!"

He stared intently at the Wine Sword Immortal, enunciating each word, "Your 'Dao of nature' is just a dream in peacetime! Now that the Empire is on the verge of collapse, if we don't use drastic measures, are we supposed to just watch it fall and crush everyone?"

"Your so-called carefree existence is nothing but self-deception! When heaven and earth are overturned, and nothing remains, where will your wine, your sword, and your freedom find their place?!"

This was his Dao, his belief that he had held firm to until now!

He could not retreat, and he would never retreat!

"Well said! Truly well said!"

The Wine Sword Immortal clapped his hands and laughed, but his laughter was full of mockery.

"Kid, you keep talking about the common people, but have you asked them if they're willing to be 'saved' by you?"

"You purged the Buddhist sects, and the world's believers hate you to the bone."

"You slaughtered the noble families, and the aristocratic clans view you as a demon."

"Right now, you're merely relying on promising some benefits to the common people and soldiers to temporarily win over their hearts. But how long can this rule, established by killing to assert authority, last?"

"When the land you've distributed isn't enough, when your treasury can no longer support the exorbitant military spending, what will you do? Kill another group of people and confiscate their homes again?"

Each of the Wine Sword Immortal's questions was incredibly sharp, directly targeting the weakest link behind Li Chengqian's new policies.

"You're not saving the world; you're playing a dangerous, precarious game! You've treated the people of the world as pawns on your chessboard, using their flesh and blood to build your so-called new world!"

"And I,"

The Wine Sword Immortal pointed to himself, "I never treat people as pawns. I believe that everyone has their own way of living. Saving the world isn't about choosing a path for them, but about protecting them, allowing them to choose for themselves, to live their own lives!"

"Your Dao is control!"

"My Dao is protection!"

Two fundamentally different philosophies of saving the world clashed most intensely before the Xuanwu Gate!

Daoist Qingwei listened, his mind swaying.

He had to admit, the Wine Sword Immortal's "Dao of Protection" sounded like it aligned more with the original intention of Shu Mountain's founding.

However... "Junior Martial Uncle!"

Daoist Qingwei spoke again, his voice filled with painful struggle, "What you say may be correct. But in the current situation, your Dao is too slow!"

"The Demon Lock Tower can only hold for another year at most! We don't have time to slowly 'protect' and wait for people's hearts to gradually change! We must gather the strongest power as quickly as possible!"

"His Highness... though his methods are extreme, his approach is currently the only way we can see to accomplish all of this within a year!"

Daoist Qingwei looked at Li Chengqian, his eyes incredibly complex.

"His Highness, he is using his Demonic Path to fight for a sliver of hope for the common people of the world!"

"Fight for a sliver of hope?"

The Wine Sword Immortal heard something ridiculous.

"Qing Wei, you're truly getting more confused as you age."

"Do you think power comes from 'gathering'? Do you think one plus one always equals two?"

"I tell you, true power never comes from external sources, but from within!"

The Wine Sword Immortal's gaze pierced through the Void Realm, seeing the dark giant tower atop Shu Mountain.

"Why is the Heavenly Demon Emperor terrifying? Because it represents the purest will of 'destruction.' That is its 'Dao.'"

"To defeat it, to Seal it, doesn't rely on a destruction stronger than its own, but on another, equally pure Dao, completely opposite to it!"

He sharply turned his head, looking at Li Chengqian.

"Kid, that impure and mixed power of yours cannot possibly defeat the Heavenly Demon Emperor! Even if you kill everyone in the world and devour all power, you will ultimately only be treated as an appetizer by it, eaten until not even a speck remains!"

"Because, on the path of 'destruction,' it is the ancestor!"

"On the path of 'destruction,' it is the ancestor!"

The Wine Sword Immortal's words were like an invisible giant hammer, striking fiercely at Li Chengqian's Dao Heart.

His indestructible confidence, for the first time, showed a visible crack.

All along, he had believed that his "overbearing Dao" was to create the future through destruction, to forge new life through slaughter, a brand new path that transcended mere destruction.

But now, the Wine Sword Immortal had pointed out, with pinpoint accuracy, that his Foundation was still "destruction."

And on this path, he could never surpass the ancestor of all demons who had been suppressed for eons.

This was a crushing defeat of Dao from a higher level.

Li Chengqian's face instantly became incredibly grim.

The black Imperial Qi within him, due to the violent fluctuations in his mind, began to surge and boil uncontrollably. Violent, bloodthirsty thoughts, like a breached dam, furiously assaulted his reason.

He even felt an urge to immediately give the order for the Three Thousand Sword Immortals in the sky to form a sword array and utterly obliterate this babbling drunkard below the city, along with his twisted theories!

"What? Feeling guilty? Did I hit a nerve, and now you're lashing out in anger?"

The Wine Sword Immortal could see through his heart, a playful smile on his face.

"Kid, admit it, your path was wrong from the very beginning."

"You've treated this human world as a chessboard to be manipulated at will. You've treated all the common people as pawns in your hand, to be sacrificed at will."

"You stand high above, self-righteously believing yourself to be the chess player, thinking you can control everything."

The Wine Sword Immortal shook his head, a look of pity in his eyes.

"But you've forgotten, even a chessboard can be overturned. And pawns don't always stay still."

As he spoke, he suddenly made a move that surprised everyone.

He no longer looked at Li Chengqian, but instead turned around to face the magnificent city of Chang'an.

The wine gourd in his hand was casually tossed to the ground.

He spread his arms, as if to embrace the entire world.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

An aura completely different from before slowly emanated from him.

It wasn't sharp Sword Qi, nor was it the intoxicating smell of wine.

It was a... warm, peaceful, spring-breeze-like, and flowing-spring-like aura.

"I have a sword that can question the human heart."

The Wine Sword Immortal softly chanted. His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried a peculiar rhythm that spread throughout the entire city of Chang'an.

The next moment, the warm and peaceful aura from him spread rapidly like ripples.

It passed through the city walls of Xuanwu Gate, sweeping over every street and every house within Chang'an.

Inside the city, the common people who had been overjoyed by Li Chengqian's new policies and had erected memorial tablets for him in their homes suddenly felt their fervent adoration cool down a little.

They began to ponder: although His Highness the Crown Prince had given them land and hope, was the city full of bloodshed, and the neighbors whose homes were confiscated, truly the prosperous era they desired?

Those remnants of noble Families who harbored resentment from their confiscated homes and cursed Li Chengqian in the shadows suddenly felt their towering hatred dissipate considerably.

They began to reflect: was their Family truly as the Crown Prince said, already corrupt and a cancer on the Empire?

Was their current plight also partly their own fault?

Ordinary citizens who felt lost about the future and didn't know whom to support, after being touched by this aura, felt their minds clear.

They were no longer dominated by fear, nor were they swept away by hope.

They began to view this earth-shattering change with a calmer, more rational perspective.

This move by the Wine Sword Immortal did not attack anyone, nor did it display any destructive power.

But the consequences he caused were more terrifying than any attack!

He was using his "Dao" to influence and awaken the independent will of every person in Chang'an City!

He was dismantling the Foundation of Li Chengqian's rule — the hearts of the people!

On the city wall, Li Chengqian's face, for the first time, turned pale!

He could clearly feel that the immense "Power Of Will of Humanity" that had gathered from all directions in Chang'an and supported his black Imperial Qi was rapidly becoming loose, becoming less pure!

Before, this power was fervent, blindly obedient, and unified.

But now, it was fragmenting into countless independent individuals, each with their own thoughts!

This was pulling the rug out from under him!

Li Chengqian's "overbearing Dao" was built upon absolute control; he needed a unified power that he could command at will.

But the Wine Sword Immortal's "Dao of Freedom" was liberating this power, allowing it to return to its most primitive, freest state!

This was a fundamental conflict between two Daos!

"You... what have you done?!"

Li Chengqian's voice, for the first time, was filled with shock and anger.

He realized that for the first time, he had encountered an opponent he could not suppress with force at all.

Because the other party wasn't competing with him in terms of power, but was directly dismantling his Foundation on another dimension!

"I didn't do anything."

The Wine Sword Immortal slowly opened his eyes. He looked at the myriad mixed but real human life Qi rising within Chang'an City, a satisfied smile on his face.

"I just let them be 'people' again."

"People are not pigs kept in pens, nor are they worshipped gods. People have their own joys and sorrows, their own emotions and desires, their own thoughts and judgments."

"Kid, if you want to save them, you must first learn to respect them."

"If you don't even know what they are, how can you talk about saving them?"

The Wine Sword Immortal turned around and looked back at the pale-faced Li Chengqian, his eyes filled with challenge.

"Now, do you still think your path is the only correct one?"