Chapter 149: Natsukawa, you actually believe that?

"Baili Mo, what on earth have you been through? Why have you become like this?" Xia Chuan finally could not help asking.

"I don't know. I truly don't know why I am still alive."

"But so what? Does that matter? Someone said she needed me, so I got up. It's as simple as that."

"As for what I look like now, whether it is anyone's conspiracy or trap, I accept it. Or rather, I should even thank him—thank that person for pulling me back."

Baili Mo drew a deep breath. He was unsure what this state could be considered now; the blood within his veins had ceased to flow, his Golden Core was no more, his sea of consciousness was withered and pitch black, his meridians were shattered in all directions, and his cultivation base was entirely empty. Yet, he simply felt a reservoir of boundless power with nowhere to release it—a power that, to him, could destroy heaven and earth.

This power seemed to originate from the black aura enshrouding his body, exuding a chilling, tyrannical, and even nauseating sensation. Yet, he found it immensely comforting, feeling not the slightest bit of rejection.

"Me? I lived in the South Profound Sect since I was a child. Master and the others always told me that I must become an agent of justice, to protect the innocent people of the world, and to treat these duties as my primary mission."

"And as for me, I felt that wasn't bad either; perhaps I could even win the respect of others. But now? I no longer think that way."

"Their life or death? What the hell does that have to do with me?"

Baili Mo abruptly withdrew the slight smile from his face, staring expressionlessly at the people before him.

"I only want to do what I wish to do. I have realized that all these years, I have always lived for others—lived for the South Profound Sect, lived to save the people of the world."

"I am tired, worn to death. I have done so many things, rescued so many people amid the wars, but so what? How has this Great Xia treated me in return?"

"Treating others gently never equates to being treated gently in return. Those have always been two entirely different matters."

"I abandoned myself, and then I picked myself up once more. Tell me, am I still the same person I used to be?"

"From now on, I shall live for myself! And as for anyone who dares to point fingers at me, I will make them shut up—in my own way!"

Baili Mo took another step forward, every movement stiff and rigid. He reached the tail of the golden dragon, grabbed it with a single hand, and then effortlessly dragged the creature along. That once noble dragon was fiercely hoisted up and hurled down, causing the mountains to roar and their strata to fracture.

That once overbearing golden dragon was now treated like a lowly bug, a leather whip, a mere plaything tossed about in Baili Mo's palm.

Baili Mo brandished the giant dragon, laughing wildly as he charged at Xia Chuan and the others. Continuous roaring echoes reverberated, breaking the formation of the group. The dragon grew even dimmer, as if on the verge of vanishing.

In their panic, Xia Chuan and the others could only scatter to evade. Xia Chuan himself still needed to protect Lu Qinglian in his arms, leaving him utterly passive at every turn. Yet none of them noticed that the black box hidden within Lu Qinglian's long sleeve was not only growing colder, but had also begun to emit an extremely faint, ghostly glow.

"Do not break the formation! Once the formation scatters, it will be all the easier for the enemy to pick us off one by one!" Xia Chuan shouted to the others.

Yet it was already too late. Bone-chilling shrieks rose one after another, intermingled with Baili Mo's unbridled laughter.

"Bastard! Baili Mo! Stop this at once! If you have a grievance, direct it at me!" Unable to bear watching his subordinates die before his eyes one by one, Xia Chuan roared furiously at Baili Mo.

"Xia Chuan, their life and death have always rested upon a single thought of mine. With my current strength, wiping them all out would take no more than a single breath. All I wanted to do was see what kind of expression you would wear watching your subordinates die such miserable deaths one by one."

"Baili Mo! Stop right now! Or don't blame me for taking action against Xia Qinglian!" Seeing Baili Mo strike repeatedly, Xia Chuan had no choice but to use a woman to threaten him into stopping.

It was utterly laughable that a dignified Nascent Soul expert was restricted at every turn, utterly helpless against him. Given Baili Mo's soaring strength—boosted by unknown causes—whether he could defeat him now remained an unknown variable.

"Xia Chuan, have you truly fallen so low as to need a woman to restrain your enemy?" Hearing this, Baili Mo halted his attacks just as Xia Chuan had hoped, his hoarse words brimming with chilliness.

The golden dragon in his hands vanished completely, and the mountains on either side suffered a complete fault line, more than half of them cleanly sheared off.

At this moment, of the hundred-odd cultivators who had been present earlier, less than half survived. In merely this short span of time, whether Foundation Establishment or Golden Core, they fell to a single blow from Baili Mo. Xia Chuan took all of this in, his heart filled with fury and grief.

"Heh~ You won't strike at her. Your dignity will never allow you to raise a hand against a woman." Suddenly thinking of something, Baili Mo chuckled darkly once more, looking thoroughly sinister. The upright and righteous demeanor he once possessed had completely vanished without a trace.

"I will!"

"Those who died in battle are my brothers! A woman is nothing more than dispensable clothing! But what you have severed are my limbs! Baili Mo, do not push me any further!" Xia Chuan said in a cold, grim voice, his left hand cradling the still-slumbering Lu Qinglian while his right hand gently gripped her slender, pale neck.

"Xia Chuan, this isn't fun. Not fun at all." Baili Mo tilted his head, letting his arms hang down as he spoke without a trace of emotional fluctuation.

"Do you think I'm still joking?" Xia Chuan continued his threat.

"Hah, fine then. I won't harm your people anymore, and you promise not to harm her. How about that?" Baili Mo sighed, speaking as if forced against his will.

"Very well. This is a matter between the two of us! They were only following..." Xia Chuan's expression softened slightly, a clear look of relief washing over him. Yet before his words could fully fade, his expression froze completely.

"Just kidding, Xia Chuan. You actually believed that?"

Baili Mo let his head drop, then suddenly offered a contemptuous smile. The black miasma around his body violently erupted, sweeping across the space. From within it, tentacle-like appendages seemed to stretch out—hundreds of them, acting as if they were extensions of Baili Mo's own hands.

Dozens of tentacles formed from the black aura spread outward from Baili Mo's body like giant hands. In a fraction of a second, they reached the cultivators, one hand corresponding to one person, clamping tightly around their necks—just as Xia Chuan had threatened him moments before.

"Xia Chuan, you shouldn't have used her to threaten me. Truly, you shouldn't have."

Those giant hands formed of black qi hoisted the people into mid-air above Wangchuan Cliff as if they were mere chicks. The cultivators struggled desperately, but to no avail.

"They are too weak; they cannot break free from this bondage. That is their original sin, and therefore, they shall die."

The sound of snapping echoed continuously—the sound of cervical vertebrae being crushed. They did not even have the chance to let out a dying scream.

"No! Baili Mo, stop this!" Xia Chuan's face betrayed an expression of profound agony and rage. He cast aside Lu Qinglian in his arms and strode upward into the air, flying straight toward them.

Even if it's just one person, even if it's just saving a single life—do not die!

Xia Chuan pulled the magical artifact saber from his waist, fierce spiritual energy surging violently along the blade. It was an Earth-grade artifact, its edge flashing with an extraordinary brilliance, carrying the imposing momentum of slaying a man with every ten steps.

"Xia Chuan, you bind yourself far too much. Just like the old me—hesitant, timid, and bogged down by scruples. That is why you could never accomplish a thing."

"Do you see it? Their agonizing expressions. Do you hear it? Their silent moans."

"This is all your fault. Wasn't this what you always said? Your weakness will become your original sin, and your weakness will lead to your ultimate demise."

"Xia Chuan, I am stronger than you, so I control the lives of those around you. You are weaker than me, so you can only watch helplessly as they perish."

"SHUT UP!!!" Xia Chuan roared, bringing his blade down in a sweeping motion, severing giant hand after giant hand. Yet the black miasma automatically healed its wounds, returning to its original state in the blink of an eye. The person he had just rescued was once again seized by the throat.

Busy rushing about to save lives, Xia Chuan was simply incapable of looking after everyone. Trying to save one thing meant losing another; he could do nothing. This was the weakness of the powerless. Even though he had successfully cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage and ascended above tens of thousands of people, before an even more powerful entity, he remained utterly powerless.

"Commander Xia, Great Xia has no cowards who cling to life and fear death! We shall never submit to being controlled by others!" Seeing that they still could not escape their humiliating fate, those newly rescued cultivators ended their own lives with their own sabers—brilliant yet fleeting.

Great Xia must never be humiliated!

"Blade Qi! Decree!" Xia Chuan turned his head, his eyes crimson as he bellowed. Across the canyon, amidst the wind, snow, and shattered stones, a blinding radiance of blade qi flashed into existence, glaringly stark within the gorge. The biting sharpness exuding from the blade qi carved itself deeply into the already fractured mountain walls.

One could see the blade qi floating in mid-air, radiating extraordinary spiritual energy. Every single streak of blade qi was capable of slaying a Golden Core cultivator, and right now in the canyon, before Xia Chuan, there were thousands upon thousands of such streaks.

"I cannot save them, then I shall kill you! The moment you die, all of this can be effortlessly resolved!" Xia Chuan's face began to twist with a wrath that even the clearest reason could no longer suppress.

"Xia Chuan, are you angry? Do you harbor hatred? Do you feel helpless? Do you feel pain? Do you understand how I felt back then?" Baili Mo gently shook his head.

"Go!" Xia Chuan roared, turning a deaf ear to Baili Mo's words. The blade qi arrived in an instant.

With a deafening crash, the blade qi continued to run amok, relentlessly assaulting the direction where Baili Mo stood. Explosive sounds echoed continuously; under such ravaging onslaughts, the chilling black miasma even began to tremble and sway, looking so fragile and vulnerable to the wind.

Xia Chuan gasped heavily for breath. That last move had indeed consumed a considerable amount of spiritual energy. Yet witnessing this scene also proved that Baili Mo was not overwhelmingly stronger than him. From this perspective, things were not entirely hopeless.

"Do you naively believe that you are about to win?" A hoarse voice drifted over from the opposite side, utterly calm and serene.

A layer of snow, neither thick nor thin, had accumulated upon the ground. The rustling sound it made was gratingly harsh amidst the roaring clangor of the blade light. Despite such a tumultuous racket, it completely failed to mask the sound of those approaching footsteps.

Step by step, Baili Mo walked out from amidst the flashing lights and shadows of the blades. The clothing covering his body had been reduced to a few ragged strips of fabric, fluttering as they hung from him in the bitter wind.

Across his body, every single wound exuded a thick, heavy black aura, without a single drop of blood remaining. All the blade lights were blocked by the dark barrier in front of Baili Mo; the few blade lights that managed to strike his body only caused black qi to seep from the wounds.

He looked nothing like a human being, but rather like a driven puppet.

"How can this be? It had no effect at all." Xia Chuan stared in dumbfounded shock at Baili Mo, who was walking steadily toward him.

"Xia Chuan, the wind is rising."