Chapter 320: The Truth
Chapter 320: The Truth
How did Mo Hua know about this? Had he seen that pig before?
But how was that possible?
Qian Xing was shocked.
Mo Hua remained expressionless, but he was even more astonished than Qian Xing on the inside.
He never expected that someone from the Qian family had indeed been to Black Mountain Village, and that person was none other than Qian Xing!
Who had taken him there?
Mo Hua asked, "Who brought you there?"
Qian Xing was reluctant to answer.
"If you don't tell me, do you think I won't find out?" Mo Hua said.
Qian Xing stubbornly replied, "If you already know, why bother asking me?"
Mo Hua was slightly taken aback, thinking that Qian Xing wasn't so foolish after all; he seemed to have become smarter at this moment.
"If you don't tell me, don't even think about leaving this place alive," Mo Hua threatened again.
"If I tell you, my great-great-grandfather will never let me off!" Qian Xing said, filled with regret and fear, his voice trembling.
Mo Hua was stunned. "Great-great-grandfather?"
Qian Xing's face turned deathly pale.
Mo Hua looked at Qian Xing with a complex expression.
He had just praised Qian Xing for not being a fool, but now this fool had blurted out the truth.
Qian Xing said that his great-great-grandfather wouldn't spare him, which meant that the one who brought him into the mountains was his great-great-grandfather.
Qian Xing's great-great-grandfather was... the Old Patriarch of the Qian family!
Mo Hua's gaze gradually turned icy cold.
So it was the Old Patriarch of the Qian family.
If he remembered correctly, outsiders rumored that the Old Patriarch was already on his deathbed, half-buried in his coffin.
There is great fear between life and death.
So, was he refining the Elixir of Human Longevity to prolong his life because he feared death?
Qian Xing was filled with regret and fear, his voice shaking as he asked, "What... what do you know?"
Mo Hua looked at Qian Xing without answering. Instead, he asked, "Have you been to Black Mountain Village?"
Qian Xing was taken aback. "What is Black Mountain Stronghold?"
It seemed that Qian Xing didn't know where he had been...
Mo Hua asked, "Why would your Old Patriarch bring you into the mountains and let you know about him feeding the demon beast?"
If Mo Hua was not mistaken, most of the Qian family disciples were unaware of the incident at Black Mountain Village.
Even many of the Qian family elders might not be in the know.
The Old Patriarch of the Qian family kept this matter a secret from his own disciples to prevent the news from leaking out and attracting the attention of the Daoting Si. He feared that they would send their troops to exterminate them.
But why did he tell Qian Xing about it? Although Qian Xing was from the main line of the family, he was a spoiled and lazy young master. While he had a decent spiritual root, he was lazy by nature and spent his time bullying others with his status. He didn't seem like a core disciple that the Qian family would focus on cultivating.
"I will never tell you!" Qian Xing said, his face turning pale.
Mo Hua looked at Qian Xing and said, "But you've already told me the biggest secret of the Qian family."
Qian Xing was alarmed. "Impossible! How could this be a secret...?"
"Do you know what your great-great-grandfather has done?" Mo Hua asked.
Qian Xing was lost in thought, murmuring, "It's just killing someone and feeding a demon beast. What's the big deal? Whether they are cultivators of my Qian family or not, what does it matter if they live or die?"
Mo Hua looked at him with deep eyes, "It seems that you don't know anything."
Qian Xing looked confused, "What don't I know?"
"If I tell the Daoting Si about this, your Qian family may be wiped out!" Mo Hua said.
Qian Xing's eyes widened. "That's impossible! It's just killing a person... just killing a person... how could they...?"
"But you don't have to worry. You may not live long enough to see the day when your Qian family is wiped out," Mo Hua said, looking at Qian Xing with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "Because you've leaked the secret, your Old Patriarch might kill you first!"
"You're lying to me!" Qian Xing exclaimed.
"Then let's make a bet," Mo Hua said.
Qian Xing was both afraid and angry.
What was the point of betting? There was no benefit to winning, and if he lost, he would die.
Qian Xing didn't believe Mo Hua, but he also knew that Mo Hua was right.
This matter was something that must be kept secret. If others found out, the Old Patriarch would be the first to kill him.
Even if he was the Old Patriarch's great-grandson...
Then he would just have to kill Mo Hua, and no one would know.
As soon as this thought arose, Qian Xing squashed it.
Mo Hua was no longer the same as before; he was completely unapproachable now. Qian Xing was no match for him, and even if he tried to scheme, Mo Hua would definitely see through it.
In an instant, Qian Xing felt despair, like a drowning man who couldn't catch his breath. Suddenly, he saw a straw to cling to.
Qian Xing's expression became flustered, and he knelt in front of Mo Hua with a thud. "Mo Hua, save me! You're so smart, you must be able to save me!"
Mo Hua was unmoved, and asked in confusion, "Have you gone stupid? Why would I save you? Not killing you is already kind enough."
Qian Xing hurriedly said, "If you save my life, I'll tell you everything!"
A spark of interest flashed in Mo Hua's eyes. "Really?"
Qian Xing nodded, "Really, I'll tell you everything!"
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then found a tree stump to sit on. "Okay, then tell me everything about your Old Patriarch killing people to feed the demon beast, from start to finish."
Qian Xing hesitated.
Mo Hua said, "As long as you tell me, I'll teach you how to save yourself."
Qian Xing still hesitated for a moment, then thought for a while before gritting his teeth and saying, "Okay!"
Qian Xing recalled the incident, his face turning pale as he began, "When I was seven years old, I went to play at my great-great-grandfather's place. I got tired and fell asleep on his bed. Half-asleep and half-awake, I was woken up by some noises. When I opened my eyes, I saw a cultivator being impaled through the chest by my great-great-grandfather's arm..."
"Who was that cultivator?"
The enemy must have been seeking revenge against the Qian family. After all their misdeeds over the years, they had made quite a few enemies.
"Was he a Foundation Establishment cultivator?"
"He should be," Qian Xing nodded, then continued, "I was startled by the sight of blood and started screaming. My great-great-grandfather was also surprised, probably because my cultivation was too low and my spiritual energy too weak for him to detect. Then, he warned me not to tell anyone about what I had seen."
Mo Hua frowned, "Someone was seeking revenge, and your great-great-grandfather killed them. I don't see why telling others about it would be a problem."
Qian Xing shook his head, "What my great-great-grandfather asked me to keep secret wasn't about the killing."
Mo Hua was taken aback, "Then what was it?"
Qian Xing hesitated, the internal struggle evident on his face, but eventually, he relented and confessed, "My great-great-grandfather is nearing the end of his life. His spiritual power is waning, and his physical body is aging. Usually, when I see him, he appears elderly and kind, but that night..."
Qian Xing's throat bobbed as he swallowed, his voice trembling as he continued, "His eyes were red, his body robust, and only half of his hair had turned white. He looked terrifying..."
Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat as he realized the truth.
The Old Patriarch of the Qian family had indeed consumed the Human Longevity Elixir to extend his life.
"And then?"
Mo Hua asked, eager to know what transpired next.
Qian Xing shuddered, the memory still haunting him, "He looked at me with a hint of murderous intent. I kowtowed before him, calling him 'Great-Great-Grandfather,' begging for mercy with tears streaming down my face. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone about what I had seen. Great-Great-Grandfather seemed to soften, but he was still hesitant, unsure whether to let me live."
"He thought for a while and then asked me, 'Do you want to be the head of the Qian family?' I said 'no,' and he looked at me with disdain. So, I quickly changed my answer and said 'yes.' Only then did he smile and say, 'Then follow me.'"
Mo Hua's eyelid twitched, "He took you to Great Black Mountain?"
Qian Xing nodded.
"Which part of Great Black Mountain?"
Qian Xing shook his head again, "I don't know. I was in a daze, and before I knew it, my great-great-grandfather had led me into a pill refining room. Everything in that room was red—the walls, the pill furnace, the herbs—even the bricks on the floor seemed to be laid with blood. The aura in the room was nauseating, and there was a pig in there..."
"In front of me, my great-great-grandfather fed that cultivator to the pig."
At this point, Qian Xing's expression twisted in pain, "But... but that cultivator wasn't completely dead... As he was being eaten, he desperately screamed in despair. I can never forget his face and the look of agony... Never!"
Qian Xing's confession left him drenched in cold sweat, and he panted heavily.
He had kept this secret buried within him for years, never daring to speak of it.
He often had nightmares, always dreaming about the pig demon devouring people.
So, when he was affected by the illusion technique, his madness had been particularly severe.
The illusion had recreated the most terrifying memory he had—the pig demon eating people.
The illusion technique made it feel so real that he had experienced the same despair as if he were being devoured by the pig demon, bite by bite.
Mo Hua sighed inwardly and then frowned, "You seem so arrogant and overbearing usually. I wouldn't have thought you had such a dark shadow in your heart."
With his secret revealed, Qian Xing had lost his previous domineering demeanor, and his face turned pale as he replied, "It was my great-great-grandfather. He told me not to see others as human."
Mo Hua furrowed his brows, "What do you mean?"
Qian Xing explained, "Ever since that incident, I've had nightmares about the pig demon eating people. I would be dazed and confused, and my great-great-grandfather would tell me..."
"'You see that dead cultivator as a human, which is why you find it terrifying. If you don't see him as a human, it's just a pig eating a dog, or a dog eating a pig. What's so scary about that?'"
"'Remember this: if you want to achieve great things, you must not see others as human.'"
"'Aside from members of the Qian family, no, aside from yourself, no one else is necessarily human. They are pigs, dogs, oxen, horses, laborers, tools, and the foundation for your path to immortality. You must trample on them to achieve immortality!'"
"'I heeded my great-great-grandfather's words and stopped seeing other cultivators as human... It's their duty to serve the Qian family, and that cultivator who was eaten by the pig, he wasn't human either. Dead is dead, and being eaten by a pig is just feeding it.'"
"'Thinking this way made me feel much better, and I no longer had frequent nightmares.'"
By eradicating his sense of humanity, he had also erased any feelings of guilt.
(End of Chapter)
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