238: The fate of the weak is uncertain

Xiaoxiao frowned slightly, "But, you sacrifice your own people to it in exchange for a chance to linger on; this isn't protection, it's domestication!"

"A Yao Beast is a Yao Beast. If it truly offered protection, why would it need you to sacrifice your own people?"

"Do you really think you can live forever under its protection? Once it changes its mind someday, do you think you can still live?"

"What of it?"

The Village Chief became incredibly agitated.

"Sacrificing one person can buy our village several years of peace, but if we don't do this, all of us won't live for more than a month."

"Why wouldn't we do something so worthwhile?"

"We just want to live. What did we do wrong?"

Xiaoxiao pointed at the girl who had fallen onto the high platform, "You want to live, but does that mean she has to die?"

"That's her fate!"

"Do you think she's the only innocent one? Our village has continued to this day; do you know how many people have sacrificed themselves?"

"A village that once had over a thousand people, and now it's less than half that. Look at everyone here; whose family hasn't lost someone? If she shouldn't die, then did those who died deserve to die?"

"And my daughter, did she deserve to die?"

"The last sacrifice was my daughter drawing the death lot. Do you think I wanted to watch her die?"

"That day, I watched helplessly as she was eaten by that monster, watched helplessly as that monster bit off half her body in one bite. Her screams still echo in my mind. Do you think I feel good about it?"

"But I had no choice!"

"If we don't do this, all of us will die!"

The Village Chief roared hysterically, his eyes turning bloodshot.

Xiaoxiao was stunned.

For the survival of more people, he… actually sacrificed his own daughter?

How difficult must it be to make such a decision?

"Heh, how could a powerful person like you, who stands so high above, understand our plight?"

The Village Chief sneered and spoke to himself, "We were born into this desperate situation, unable to Cultivate, as weak as ants, constantly at risk of being killed by the Vicious Beasts in the Great Wilderness. We can only choose to sacrifice our loved ones in exchange for the protection of a monster."

"Whether it's domestication or lingering on, all of this is just for the sake of living."

"We don't need your high-and-mighty accusations. Do you think we don't know what we're doing?"

"We merely want to live, do you understand?"

"I…" Xiaoxiao mumbled, momentarily speechless.

It was the first time she realized that some people in the world found even living so difficult!

A hand quietly rested on her head. Wu Ning gently ruffled her hair, then turned to the Village Chief and others, saying, "A weak person's fate is uncertain; only a strong person is qualified to control their own destiny."

"I will help you remove the curse that prevents you from Cultivating. If you want to live well, then strive to become stronger."

With that, Wu Ning waved his hand casually, like a gentle breeze passing by, directly erasing the curse that existed in their Bloodline.

Everyone's bodies trembled, and they immediately felt incredibly light, as if an invisible shackles had been removed.

Thump!

The Village Chief was the first to react, dropping to his knees and excitedly kowtowing, "Thank you, Immortal, thank you, Immortal!"

"The Immortal has lifted the curse from us; your grace is like a new creation. We will surely offer incense and worship for generations, remembering it forever!"

The others also quickly knelt and continuously kowtowed, "Thank you, Immortal, for lifting the curse from us…"

They were so moved that tears welled up in their eyes.

Lifting the Bloodline curse, this was what their ancestors had dreamed of most for generations!

The ancestors of their Barren Village actually came from a Cultivation Dynasty outside the Great Wilderness. Because they failed in a succession struggle, they were subsequently banished to this Great Wilderness and were afflicted with a Bloodline curse, which prevented their descendants from Cultivating.

Now, over a thousand years had passed.

After their original ancestors successively perished, their Barren Village was left with only ordinary Mortals. Unable to Cultivate, and even Body Refining was not very useful, many were killed by the Vicious Beasts in the Great Wilderness.

Ultimately, they had only survived to this day by relying on the protection of the "Mountain God."

Now that the curse was lifted, they could finally break free from the fate of constantly sacrificing to the "Mountain God"!

Some villagers even couldn't help but wail and cry.

However, when they looked up again, Wu Ning and Xiaoxiao had already disappeared.

But they did not get up, still continuously kowtowing towards the spot where he had stood earlier.

This was probably the only thing they could do at the moment.

...

"Brother, what do you think is right, what is wrong, what is good, and what is bad?"

"Sacrificing one person to save more people, is that right?"

"But those villagers only want to save their own lives; selfishness permeates their bones. They all wish that Yu'er would die. Shouldn't they all be bad?"

"And that Village Chief, he seems cold and heartless, yet he thinks of the entire village. Is he a good person?"

Xiaoxiao's voice was low, and her eyes were bewildered.

Wu Ning habitually patted her head and said, "What you said is both right and not right."

"From your perspective, you are correct."

"But from an objective perspective, how can there be right and wrong, good and bad in this world? It's merely a scale in people's hearts."

"Different people, at different times, standing in different positions, and after experiencing different things, will all have different views on this."

"So, there's no need to cling to right or wrong, good or bad. The most important thing is to follow your own heart."

"As for those people in the Barren Village, they are merely a group of pitiful creatures fooled by fate. Who knows if they were all like Tongshan once?"

"If you truly find it hateful, we can go back and kill them all now, if you wish."

Wu Ning said jokingly.

He never liked to judge others' rights and wrongs, because there was no absolute standard for such things. Even what a Dominator said might not be the truth, and what a Mortal said might not necessarily be wrong.

Moreover, people are almost always swayed by their positions.

Including himself.

Since good and bad, right and wrong, are already judged by one's position, then good and bad, right and wrong themselves, seem not so important.

Xiaoxiao pouted, "I don't want to kill anyone."

"It's just that I find them sacrificing one person to save their own lives to be too cold-blooded and selfish."

Wu Ning shook his head slightly, "In the face of survival, how can one speak of morality? Sacrifice is the only means for them to survive and continue; it is their rule of survival, unrelated to good or evil."

"You are just sympathizing with the weaker, but didn't that Yu'er and her father also survive to this day by relying on others' sacrifices? Why is it not acceptable now that it's her turn?"

"Last time, when the Village Chief's daughter was sacrificed, they might have been as cold-blooded and numb, or even relieved, as those villagers are now."