Chapter 328: Chapter 51 Heart Demon Secret Sword
The rain continued to fall, drizzling incessantly, driving one to the utmost irritation.
Plumes of mottled smoke drifted out of the small pavilion, disturbing the original tranquility and bringing restless thoughts.
Jiang Li sat in a wheelchair, his gaze deep and abyssal, occasionally flashing with a strange luster.
"Not bad."
Suddenly, Jiang Li smiled, his eyes shifting from dark to bright, all obscurity transformed into clarity, "The test of the Secret Sword was successful."
The Heavenly Escape Sword Skill cut off ignorance and vexation first, then ignorance and anger, and finally ignorance and greed, basing its practice on severing thoughts and killing intent to cultivate an ultimate invisible sword.
This was an application of the Pure Yang Daoist Heart.
Because of the Daoist Heart Pure Yang, any stray thoughts were like black dots in white snow, extremely noticeable, allowing the Sword Intent to precisely sever them. However, if one did not just sever these thoughts but also understood and utilized them, it might lead them to a different path.
That was to use these thoughts, transforming the Heart Demon into the Heart Demon Secret Sword.
When Jiang Li used the Three Corpses God Dao Fruit to induce evil thoughts and temper his Sword Intent, he discovered this point and put it to use, finding another path.
He believed that Grandmaster Luu, who had created the Heavenly Escape Sword Skill and possessed the Pure Yang Daoist Heart, must have also noticed this, but with Grandmaster Luu’s temperament, he certainly disdained to do so.
For the Pure Yang Daoist Heart, stray and evil thoughts were the dusty filth covering it. Grandmaster Luu, naturally pure, would rather sweep them away completely than use them.
However, Jiang Li, who had the Pure Yang Daoist Heart despite his late entry to this path, held no aversion to evil thoughts. Instead, he adopted a pragmatic attitude, attempting to use them and creating the Heart Demon Secret Sword.
In the recent conversation with the two men, it appeared as though Xiang Huaiyi was inquiring about Jiang Li, but in reality, both of their minds had already been influenced by the Three Corpse Qi overflowing from the Zhao Hua Furnace, then perceived by the Emperor’s Qi Observation Skill and manipulated by the Heart Demon Secret Sword.
With the aid of the Three Corpses God Dao Fruit, even though the Heart Demon Secret Sword was just created, it still affected the fifth-rank Xiang Huaiyi, which greatly satisfied Jiang Li.
As for the lie-detection of the Xiezhi Jade Statue...
Jiang Li took out his own Xiezhi Jade Statue, smiled at it lightly, and said, "I have nothing to do with Lawless Freedom."
The statue emitted a red light.
"I have nothing to do with Lawless Freedom."
The moment he spoke, a Wisdom Sword in his mind lake severed the emerging thought.
Jiang Li was speaking, but his heart had no reaction whatsoever, one could even say that Jiang Li’s heart did not speak.
And Xiezhi saw through the truth and falsehoods of the heart, judging based on the heart, not merely the words. When there are no thoughts in one’s heart, even if lies are spoken, the Xiezhi Jade Statue remains unresponsive.
Thus, when this second statement was made, the Xiezhi Jade Statue in Jiang Li’s hand, just like Xiang Huaiyi’s, showed no response.
This little trick was not worth mentioning to outsiders.
Jiang Li put away the statue, leaned back in his chair, calmly absorbing the Three Corpses Qi, activating his own Three Corpses Evil Thoughts, allowing them to run wild before severing them with another sword stroke.
His eyes were unremarkable, but they gave an impression of fluctuating brightness and dimness, sometimes shadowy, sometimes clear.
The Heavenly Escape Sword Skill and the Heart Demon Secret Sword advanced continually between light and shadow.
Especially the Heart Demon Secret Sword, recently created, had great potential for improvement. With the Heavenly Escape Sword Skill as a reference, Jiang Li continuously perfected the Secret Sword, advancing rapidly, not quite at a phenomenal pace, but not far from it either.
Time passed imperceptibly, and quietly, the rain had stopped.
Suddenly, Jiang Li opened his eyes, and a flash of Sword Light passed through the pavilion, eradicating all mottled qi.
At that moment, a dignifiedly dressed maid stepped forward and reported, "Master, a visitor has arrived, claiming to be an acquaintance from the Mo Sect."
’He has finally arrived,’ Jiang Li thought, with no surprise in his heart.
Divine Capital was now a whirlpool of dark currents, and still quite a muddy pool. The Heavenly Mechanism was disrupted, the Immortal Queen secretly entered the Imperial Palace to concoct the Immortality Elixir, the Emperor’s intentions were unclear, and there was also no movement from Zhang Zhixuan. All sides maintained a strange calm, but chaos brewed beneath the surface.
The situation was a tangled mess, indiscernible even to third grade visitors.
It wasn’t that they were not clever enough, but without being involved, they couldn’t be privy to certain information, making their understanding of the current situation far from clear and comprehensive.
"Either way, they certainly don’t know as much as Tianxuan and Jiang Li."
In such a situation, those temporarily out of the loop would naturally seek more information from someone inside without getting involved themselves.
This was true for the Mo Sect just as it was for the Imperial College.
Jiang Li was due to answer inquiries from the Southern Heavenly Department today, also as a way to spread the news that he was available to meet with visitors.
However, Jiang Li wasn’t sure how much the Imperial College knew or whether they were involved, so he wasn’t confident about whether they would come to visit.
If someone from the Imperial College did visit, Jiang Li could further engage and try to probe into Huanzhu Building.
If no one came, then they would have to think of another plan. However, it would still inform both Jiang Li and Tianxuan that the Imperial College was likely also involved, not outside of the matter.
Thinking this, Jiang Li picked up the Zhao Hua Furnace, tucked it into his hand, and thought for a moment. The wheelchair started moving on its own, exiting the pavilion to head towards the living room.
Going downhill, there was no bumpiness; an Invisible Power carried it, allowing it to proceed unhindered.
This wheelchair was Jiang Li’s temporary solution to the challenge of clear and turbid attraction.
He didn’t want to be floating in the air and drawing attention all the time, yet he wanted to appear gravely injured. The wheelchair was one of the best solutions.
It didn’t touch the ground and displayed weakness, killing two birds with one stone.
Without needing hands, the wheelchair left the pavilion, crossed the small lake, entered the corridor, and moved as fast as a person walking. Even a maid coming to report might not keep up.
Soon, it was about to exit the corridor.
Just then, another maid came and reported, "Young master, a visitor is here claiming to be Imperial College Zhong Shenxiu, and Ming Yang."
People from the Imperial College had also arrived.
Both parties had bumped into each other.
Jiang Li could already foresee the tense atmosphere.
Great Zhou revered Confucianism academically, but in this world, due to the existence of cultivation, no school would decline just by losing the court’s support.
The key reason a school in this world would decline was not being strong enough, not lacking the ruler’s support.
Just like the Mo Family, which had transformed into a sect-like organization, it continued to prosper and had even produced a third-grade practitioner.
Hence, even though Confucianism was revered, it wasn’t dominant alone, which was different from his previous life.
But, as always, confucianism and mohism did not get along.
It was said that the founder of the Mo Family was once a Confucian student who, dissatisfied with Confucian teachings, left and started a new school of thought.
This story was a minor factor for the animosity between confucianism and mohism.
A greater opposition stemmed from their teachings.
Confucianism emphasized hierarchical relationships, while the Mo Family preached universal love and equality, no permanent nobility or everlastingly lowly civilians.
Confucianism served the upper class, while the Mo Family rooted itself among the common people.
Confucianism advocated respecting the mandate of heaven, whereas the Mo Family championed the idea that man’s will can overcome heaven.
From ideology and social class to worldviews, everything differed and was fraught with opposition, and if these two could love each other, a utopian society would be achievable soon.
At the Sword Discussion Conference, representatives of the Innovative Sect like the Mo Sect and retro parties like Yuxu Temple would compete and might even fight after the debate. But if individuals from confucianism and mohism were in the same place, a fight was inevitable.
’Excellent.’
Jiang Li gently patted the handle of the wheelchair and said to the maid, "Please direct the two guests from the Imperial College to the living room."
Having opposition was good; with opposition, it would be easier for Jiang Li to fish in troubled waters and achieve his goals.
Nothing could be better than this.