Chapter 842 Why Must the Heavens Cause Suffering (14,000 characters)

Dry leaves, dead insects, and continuous heat waves swept across the wasteland.

Another year of severe drought.

The swarms of locusts that resembled rain clouds had long since departed, leaving behind only a white expanse and corpses.

Ye Qiu lay in the pit he had dug for himself for half a day. By the time the windblown yellow sand had covered half of his body and his eyeballs were too dry to move, the dead wood beside him, stripped of all its bark, creaked as if it were about to snap in the middle. Only then did an extremely pure and intense sense of unwillingness suddenly rise in his heart, burning like a raging fire.

"—Why!"

His fist clenched the sand and dirt, and he struggled to sit up. His low, hoarse, and angry voice echoed, as if embodying his life's will: "Why must I die like this?!"

Even though he had dug his grave long ago, even though he knew that all the villages and estates within a hundred miles had not a grain of food left, even though he knew that no rain had fallen around the county for three months.

Even though he knew that the disaster relief grain allocated by the imperial court had long been embezzled by various government offices, even though he knew that the imperial army suppressing the disaster victims was already blocking the border of Sheng Province, even though he knew that even if he continued to live, he would still be a servant of the landlord in the village, never getting enough to eat, only working hard and enduring beatings and scoldings.

Even though Ye Qiu had long known that no matter how unwilling, angry, or desperately he struggled, he would most likely die anyway.

Ye Qiu still didn't want to die.

It wasn't that he couldn't accept death.

He just didn't want to die so insignificantly, so ridiculously.

He was born into this world, absolutely not to die like this!

Using all the remaining strength in his body, he crawled out of the grave he had dug for himself, hoping to die with dignity, to die looking a little better.

The sallow-faced, emaciated teenager, practically a skeleton, crawled on the ground. His ears rang, as if he could hear the buzzing of insects, stirring the hunger in his belly, causing Ye Qiu to almost impatiently grab a small insect corpse on the ground and chew on it.

Accompanied by the ringing in his ears, it was as if he had really eaten a large, juicy insect.

He ate dry leaves, ate dead insects, not letting anything go... Yes, the corpses of locusts were still poisonous even after death, and they couldn't satisfy hunger at all, but so what? In the continuous years of famine, people could even eat soil, and their own children could be exchanged with others, even if the result was a bloated belly and the end of their lineage, wouldn't some people still eat them?

This was a true thousand-mile red land, a desolate white expanse after the locusts had passed. Ye Qiu had long known the death he was about to face. He was just struggling, trying to alleviate the pain of hunger as much as possible—to alleviate this long-lasting pain before death.

Those who had surplus grain at home had long left. Those who didn't have surplus grain had long died. Ye Qiu was only able to survive until now because of good luck. He had dug up a corpse in the field of the landlord he served, probably a servant who had been beaten to death a few days ago. He vaguely recognized the corpse's face.

In any case, the landlord's family couldn't possibly take a corpse with them when they fled the famine, which gave Ye Qiu a chance to live.

But now, even after committing such an atrocity, he still couldn't escape his final fate.

Trapped in a desperate situation where he couldn't move, Ye Qiu didn't want to accept death's arrival. He clawed at the dirt, crawled on the ground, and roared until he had no strength left, and could only stop listlessly, his limbs twisted and slumped on the ground.

This appearance was the complete opposite of the good-looking and dignified death that Ye Qiu wanted.

"A dozen years later, when someone rebuilds the village here, will those people be able to imagine my struggle when they see my bones?"

In a daze, as Ye Qiu was about to die, such a thought suddenly popped into his mind, making him feel deeply sorrowful: "No, they will never be able to imagine it. My corpse is just garbage blocking the road, and will only be kicked away."

For a long time, or perhaps just a moment.

In the darkness where he lost track of time, Ye Qiu, who was almost unconscious, heard some movement and fragments of some voices.

It was the sound of a team's footsteps shaking the earth, it was the scattered and rapid exchanges of a few people.

"He's still just a child."

A dry, firm voice rang out: "Head, maybe we still have enough food?"

"No, it's not because of the child."

Another low, gentle voice said: "The drought has been going on for half a year. There's no one living within three hundred miles of the heart of Sheng Province, and yet he's still persisting in living."

"He wants to live, and we have to let him live."

Warm water touched his lips. The water was a little rancid, the unique taste of being stored in a leather bag for too long and baked by the scorching sun, but as long as it was water, it was sweeter than anything.

After wandering in a hazy dream for a long time, when Ye Qiu opened his eyes again, he saw a group of people in simple clothes gathered together cheering, hearing joyful voices.

"There's water, there's water!"

"There really is a spring here. We've dug out water!"

Then, water gushed out of the spring, and the soaring water mist was still cool under the scorching sun. Long-forgotten water droplets fell on his face, making the teenager ignorant of where he was, and he couldn't help reaching out to touch his forehead, feeling only coolness.

After waking up, Ye Qiu naturally joined this group of people. A few days later, he also figured out the origins of these benefactors who had saved his life.

The great drought in Sheng Province, with millions of disaster victims fleeing, had actually caused great chaos in the world, with rebel armies emerging one after another. Now the imperial court had no time to provide disaster relief, and was mobilizing troops from all directions to guard the capital, dealing with the constant conquests of various rebel parties and insurgents, and no one cared about the land of bones in Sheng Province.

With no one to take care of them and no food aid, the remaining disaster victims in Sheng Province always needed to find their own way to survive. This 'Gushing Spring Army', although calling itself a righteous army, was actually just a group of unusual people with relevant knowledge gathered together to find the rare water sources in this drought-stricken land, seeking springs for water to survive.

"You can call me Well-Digger."

The tall, thin man in the lead smiled after diagnosing Ye Qiu's illness: "You're just too hungry. There's nothing seriously wrong. You have a good constitution."

"You have nowhere to go now. Why don't you follow us? At least you'll have water to drink."

"Okay."

With no room to refuse, and no possibility of refusing, Ye Qiu naturally joined them.

It must be said that life in the Gushing Spring Army was unspeakably difficult. The so-called water sources were only temporary, and would change at any time with the changes in the Sheng Province's land veins. At most, they could only temporarily relieve thirst and hunger, and could not really solve the drought for a long time.

Usually, the Gushing Spring Army needed to survey everywhere, crossing open wilderness, and climbing mountains was commonplace. The most uncomfortable thing was that before they could find a water source, the land veins would change again, and all the previous survey results would be useless.

Even when he was a servant in the landlord's house, Ye Qiu had never been so tired. He was young, and the comrades in the army took care of him, so they wouldn't really let him follow the army into the mountains, but he still had to wash and prepare clothes for the other seniors, and lend a hand. If he hadn't done this before in the landlord's house, he would really be in a flurry.

But Ye Qiu was very happy.

Not just because he could drink water and chew grass, and be able to survive.

But also because the people in the Gushing Spring Army would say thank you after he worked hard for a day.

That was enough.

For a year, chopping firewood, cooking, washing clothes, and boiling water, Ye Qiu did everything. And everyone in the army was happy to teach Ye Qiu to read and write, and take him to survey the mountains and identify qi, and recognize the land veins.

These were difficult but happy days, like the days of a human being.

A year later, a hot and humid sea breeze swept from south to north, and Sheng Province welcomed a long-awaited torrential rain. Vitality began to reappear. Sheng Province, the origin of countless disaster victims, re-emerged with vegetation, but the chaotic world had not yet been pacified.

But the Gushing Spring Army disbanded.

In the final analysis, they were just a group of thirsty famine victims. Now that the heavens had sent sweet rain, there was naturally no need for the earth to gush forth springs.

Many unusual people bid farewell to each other, and everyone came to the leader who called himself Well-Digger and bowed deeply, even kneeling down to pay their respects. The man accepted the bows, but always refused to let others kneel to him. If others knelt, he would also kneel and bow in return.

But when it came to Ye Qiu, the thin man accepted his kneeling without hesitation, but then quickly helped him up.

"We saved your life. You kneel to me, and you should also kneel to the others in the army."

Well-Digger said, "This kneeling is to repay the grace of saving your life. If you are willing to kneel, I can accept it."

"But after this kneeling, Little Ye, you must never kneel again. Standing tall is being human. You finally survived, and you should live as a human being and die as a human being from now on."

The man's teachings were earnest, as if he wanted to condense many future words together.

"I know."

Ye Qiu looked around. The spring breeze passed over the wilderness, broken grass fluttered, the world was rejuvenating, and the chirping of insects and the rustling of leaves could be faintly heard. The white bones and dead trees in the fields would also turn into new people and new sprouts.

This two-year-long drought, the famine that killed millions; this chaos that swept the world and shook the country, was just an accidental change for the entire world, a temperature fluctuation during a minor ice age.

In other words, it was the most insignificant accident.

Of course, he didn't know that at the time.

At this moment, the teenager said, "But I want to continue to follow you, sir."

Well-Digger was slightly stunned, then smiled and said, "Then follow me."

The reason for the Gushing Spring Army's disbandment was naturally that Sheng Province was no longer in a severe drought, but in addition to that, there was another reason: the leader, Well-Digger, did not intend to give up that way of life.

"Sheng Province is located in the rich land of the Central Plains, and the drought naturally caused many deaths and injuries. But conversely, if there is a spring in the long-drought-stricken Northwest, can many wastelands be reclaimed and many lives saved?"

"I have this ability, so I should do something!"

Ye Qiu still remembered the way Well-Digger spoke eloquently. The thin man's eyes were bright, and he didn't intend to stop there. Since this place was no longer in a drought and didn't need assistance, he would go to the drought-stricken land to save people. In the final analysis, since he had the ability to find land veins and open springs, he should use this ability to help others.

If it weren't for Well-Digger's personality, the Gushing Spring Army wouldn't have been formed, and if it weren't for Well-Digger's personality, the Gushing Spring Army wouldn't have disbanded either.

After all, not everyone intended to spend their entire lives digging wells. Now that they could survive, why bother working so hard like in the past?

Ye Qiu yearned for Well-Digger's way of life. He was unwilling to die an unremarkable death. Even if it was an ugly struggle, digging in the dirt with twisted hands and feet, he was unwilling to quietly accept that ending. This flame in his heart that refused to extinguish burned in his chest, allowing him to endure all hardships and tortures.

—But being able to die in the middle of digging a well, to die while helping others, might be worthy of this life.

The flame in his heart was willingly extinguished by the well water, so Ye Qiu followed Well-Digger and went to the Northwest.

This following lasted for seven years.

During those seven years, some of those who followed Well-Digger left, and some joined. They opened up twenty-three intermittent springs on the Northwest wilderness, and four oasis wells, saving countless lives. They were revered and worshipped by countless Northwestern desert people as saviors who had brought them back to life, and even had living shrines built to enshrine their names.

Most of the people who left did so for this reason. Since they were already revered as honored guests by the desert people, why continue to endure the wind and sand in this desert?

Of course, there were also people who wanted to seize this group of well-diggers, ordering them to dig wells only for themselves, but due to various reasons, they did not succeed. The well-diggers were still digging wells.

Seven years passed in the blink of an eye. The teenager had become a man. Ye Qiu still followed Well-Digger, and under the other's guidance, he also learned all the unusual skills of finding land veins, identifying weather, digging wells, exploring veins, and opening mountains and unloading ridges.

"Sir."

When walking in the desert, searching for the location of the sandy sea's land veins and water sources, Ye Qiu would always couldn't help but ask Well-Digger a few questions, and this time the question was especially big: "I really have a question I don't understand."

Well-Digger said, "Ask."

Ye Qiu, who was tall and had a firm look between his eyebrows, thought for a while, and then said, "Your unusual skills are not only able to open springs, but also to change the land veins and alter the weather. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you can summon wind and rain... I followed you because I felt at peace following you, so I came all the way here, without complaint of hardship."

"But are you really willing to just dig wells with such extraordinary divine powers? If you really want to save people, wouldn't it be more convenient and quicker to become a national teacher, a guardian of one side, or even...even an emperor?"

"We have been running around in this Northwest land for seven years, saving at most tens of thousands of people, and no matter how many more, it is impossible to exceed one million. But this world is still chaotic, and the flames of war are endless. If we don't pacify it, countless lives will be lost!"

"But if we can pacify the world, and spread this method widely, so that the world doesn't have to suffer from drought for long, and the four directions have favorable weather, wouldn't we be saving hundreds of millions of lives, even more than us digging wells here?!"

He had been puzzled for a long time, and he couldn't help but ask it all in one breath.

Heaven and earth could bear witness that Ye Qiu was not for wealth and glory, nor for fame and fortune. He truly wanted to save all living beings and bring peace to the world, so he dared to ask.

The thin man listened quietly, and at the end, he couldn't help but sigh: "...Little Ye has grown up. You truly have the world in your heart, even more than I do."

Lowering his eyes, the man stared at the yellow sand beneath his feet. His gaze penetrated the soil, dust, rock, and crust, directly into the veins of that heaven and earth. For a moment, even Ye Qiu could hear it, as if a rushing river was flowing through heaven and earth, but if he concentrated, he could only hear the sound of his own blood surging in his body, feeling that he himself was heaven and earth, and that the entire heaven and earth was just one person.

Well-Digger said, "I'll talk about the others later. This well-digging technique cannot be spread widely, truly for the sake of future generations."

"People bleed from the mouth when they are cut, and the earth gushes water from the well when it's dug. We search for land veins and springs, digging wells and digging holes, doing the same thing as cutting people and making them bleed, and changing the weather is even more so."

"If everyone in the world was like us, it would be like making a person's body temperature suddenly hot and cold, bleeding and infected all over. When the distant future comes, 'people die' and 'the world is destroyed'. Wouldn't that be our fault?"

Raising his eyes, Well-Digger looked at Ye Qiu, who was thinking: "Think, why did I pass this method to you?"

"Because... I have been firmly following you for so many years?" Ye Qiu stammered a little.

"It's because you really want to help people, so you were able to hold back for seven years before asking me this question."

Well-Digger said, "People who really want to help people will not help people indiscriminately, and naturally will not use this unusual skill indiscriminately."

Ye Qiu couldn't help but be convinced. He didn't know before, but now that he vaguely understood the teacher's thoughts, he would naturally think carefully about how to use this power.

Seeing that Ye Qiu understood, the thin man said calmly, "As for why I don't go to pacify the chaotic world, first of all, I don't know how to lead troops to fight, and I don't know how to govern a country... Of course, these are all excuses. After all, there were quite a few talents in our Gushing Spring Army back then. After they left the Gushing Spring Army, they are now fighting in various places, each with signs of rising dragons."

"If I could lead them and use them well, even a rogue could become an emperor, right?"

"But I didn't do it, just because I can't do it."

Ye Qiu was stunned. People are always unwilling to admit what they can't do, and even if they admit it, they are unwilling to do so, and should at least sigh, but the teacher's tone was calm, even with a faint smile, which was rare.

Seeing Ye Qiu's expression, he knew what the other person was thinking. Well-Digger shook his head slightly: "You kid, it's too normal to not be able to do something, just like people die. Why bother frowning and sighing about it."

Saying this, he took a step forward, and the yellow sand under his feet splashed up, floating in the wind, like a cloud of scattered mist, and the man was like walking on clouds.

"Life is born, and it has its own return date."

"Living things are born into the world, and death follows them."

"Little Ye, you have experienced the great drought and famine in Sheng Province. You know that when facing survival, no matter who it is, the landlord or the county magistrate, they all have to bow their heads and beg for food—they live very well on weekdays, but at that time they are equal to us."

"What if it's not a drought, but heavy rain, hail, wind, earthquake, or flood? Existing in the world, all living things are equal in the face of death."

Walking towards the distance, the man said loudly, "Just like me—I seem to know a lot, understand a lot, and can also enlighten you, a naturally intelligent child, but I will also die."

"Everyone will die. Life is not a sacred and immortal thing. It will dissipate when it encounters any disaster."

Well-Digger stared at the sun in front of him and said seriously, "If it wants to dissipate, then let it dissipate."

Ye Qiu vaguely recalled the voices he had heard back then. He recalled that sentence.

[No, it's not because of the child]

[He wants to live, we have to let him live.]

"So."

The boy of that year, now a man, couldn't help but murmur, "If he doesn't want to dissipate..."

Well-Digger smiled and clapped his hands: "Then don't let it dissipate."

Ye Qiu clenched his fists. Although he still didn't fully understand why Well-Digger didn't go to save all the people in the world, he knew why he wanted to help others.

He suddenly felt that the fire in his heart was burning even hotter than before.

The thin man stopped, turned around, and patted Ye Qiu on the shoulder: "You finally understand, Little Ye."

"Helping those who want to live, that is our purpose."

"Even if the people who drink the water forget the people who dug the well, but they survived because of it, and I am satisfied."

"As for those who want to die, who are killing each other, those common people who are fighting for the world and suffering because of it... We can't let them live so that neighboring countries look across at each other, the sounds of dogs and chickens can be heard, but people grow old and die without ever visiting each other, right? Nobles, officials, merchants, farmers, famine victims, good people, warlords, aristocratic families... The contradictions in the world have reached this point, and the only solution is to kill."

"We can't save them... We can't."

At this point, Well-Digger couldn't help but sigh, but it was only for a moment. He quickly turned his head, returned to his original calm, and continued on his way: "Unless you are omnipotent, then you have to be unable to do something. This is nonsense, but it is also the truth. We are just those who are unable to do something, and we force ourselves to save all living beings... Why must the heavens cause suffering, so that we have to save them?"

And Ye Qiu continued to follow.

The Well-Digger's reputation in the Northwest grew louder and louder, but the number of people became smaller and smaller. One reason was that the long years of hard work made the old man unable to keep up, and the other was that most of the easy-to-dig water sources had already been reclaimed. Various parts of the Northwest already had the appearance of being crowded with people, and most of the remaining water sources were in the depths of the desert. Even if they were opened, no one would go to live there, so it was not very meaningful.

The third and final point was that the new central government had unified the world, and this remote corner of the Northwest was also within its future unified scope. The imperial court had heard of the Well-Digger's reputation, and like all the princes and nobles who had wanted to monopolize the Well-Digger in the past, it hoped to turn this power into its own.

There were people who were not afraid of hardship, but there were very few people who were not afraid of both hardship and danger. In the end, only Ye Qiu and Well-Digger, the master and disciple, were left.

Fortunately, Ye Qiu was indeed extremely talented, and Well-Digger's unusual skills were even better in his hands. Even without human assistance, he could use the power of heaven and earth to excavate land veins, dig holes to start springs, and even shape the spirits of heaven and earth, turning them into various magical powers that only existed in legends. It was truly a magical skill that made the teacher exclaim in amazement, repeatedly lamenting that the younger generation surpasses the older generation, and that a new generation is better than the previous one.

Ye Qiu and Well-Digger did not know at that time that such a person, placed in the myriad worlds, could be considered the ancestor of the revival of a world's Dao lineage, carrying on the past of the sages and opening up the new Dao of the future, truly forging the path of transcendence. Transcendence did not begin with him, but it became grand and widely spread because of him, no longer witch sacrifices and strange techniques, but truly Daoist magic and supernatural powers.

If the ancestor of the opening can be called 'Yuanshi' (Primordial Beginning), then he can be called 'Hongshi' (Grand Beginning).

Well-Digger was old after all, and there were successors later. When the teacher fainted on the mountain due to physical exhaustion during a dragon-seeking exploration, Ye Qiu sent his teacher to the wasteland tribes in the oasis to recuperate. He had indeed surpassed his master, and didn't need the assistance of others. He could search for springs by himself, so Well-Digger also let him go alone with peace of mind.

"The world is at peace, and we can probably rest."

"The teacher can rest, but I can still work for a few more decades."

Ye Qiu had always wanted his teacher to enjoy his old age, and now that Well-Digger could rest, he was naturally a little happy, but even without the teacher's care, he still maintained caution and care. Only when he really saw someone who needed a spring or a well to live, would he take action to save one side, and he was even more revered, almost becoming a living legend in the local area.

However, when Ye Qiu returned from digging a well one time, he didn't see his teacher, and the wasteland tribes around the oasis said that Well-Digger couldn't stand the loneliness a dozen days ago, so he left the tribe and went deep into the desert to find land veins. This answer didn't seem to have any problems, but Ye Qiu noticed that these wasteland people's words were inconsistent, their eyes flickered, and their tone was even more hesitant, unable to explain clearly, and he immediately became suspicious.

After repeated questioning, the tribal people changed their story, saying that the new central government had sent troops to demand Well-Digger from them. They were no match, so they could only watch them take the teacher away.

Ye Qiu was momentarily furious and panicked. He and his teacher had settled in the Northwest for more than a dozen years, saving countless lives, and could be said to be the greatest contributors to the current prosperity of the Northwest. These wasteland people actually allowed the new imperial court to take Well-Digger away, which was simply ungrateful, and the teacher was indeed old and frail, and unlike him, he had developed new supernatural powers, so he couldn't resist at all.

But after getting angry, he remembered the teacher's teachings, knowing that blaming these tribal people was meaningless. After all, if the tribal people didn't hand over the teacher, it would probably lead to more deaths and injuries. The teacher, who always prioritized saving people, might have left on his own.

So Ye Qiu suppressed his anger and asked which direction the imperial court's team had gone in. At worst, he would personally go and rescue the teacher.

When it came to supernatural powers, he was not afraid of any mortal army at all. The unusual skills in the teacher's hands could only explore land veins, but he could control the qi of heaven and earth, doing the things of immortals and gods in the myths of the past.

But as a result of the inquiry, these tribal people were still hesitant, unable to say anything about the location of the imperial court's team, and Ye Qiu really became suspicious. He repeatedly questioned, even resorting to ruthless methods, grabbing the leader of the local tribe and hanging him in the sky, and only then did he learn the truth.

It turned out that the emperor of the new central government was one of the unusual people who had emerged from the Gushing Spring Army in the past. He knew of Well-Digger's unusual skills, and like Ye Qiu in the past, he wanted to use it on the country, so that the world would be forever stable, so he repeatedly begged Well-Digger to come out of the mountain, but the teacher refused again and again, causing the new emperor to be furious, and then ordered a reward. Whoever could bring Well-Digger would be made a prince of a different surname in the Northwest, governing the land of three prefectures on his own.

Although the Northwest was poor and drought-stricken, the land of three prefectures was also vast, and there were people willing to take action. Recently, many unusual people had come to the Northwest, and there were also many local insiders in the Northwest. Although Well-Digger was knowledgeable, he was still just a person, and he trusted others too much, so he was drugged and poisoned by familiar tribal people.

Controlled by others, and unwilling to be forced to contribute, the teacher committed suicide by severing his heart veins a few days ago.

With Well-Digger dead, the tribal people were naturally panicked. They were afraid that the central government would question them, and they were afraid of Ye Qiu, this high-achieving disciple of the teacher, so they threw Well-Digger's body into the depths of the desert, and now they didn't know if it had been eaten by wild animals or buried by the yellow sand.

Not only that, but they told the imperial court that Ye Qiu had hijacked Well-Digger and entered the desert, intending to draw the imperial court's attention to Ye Qiu.

Hearing this, even though Ye Qiu's cultivation was now ten times better than his teacher's, he couldn't help but feel dizzy, feeling as if he was about to kneel on the ground. If he hadn't remembered the teacher's words of 'never kneel to anyone again', he might have really prostrated himself on the ground and wailed, venting the bitterness in his heart.

But even though he had stabilized his body, the man felt that his grief was greater than his heart could bear, and he suddenly felt that everything he had learned and understood in the past was illusory.

It was the teacher, it was the teacher who gave him dignity and personality, and it was also the teacher who told him why this world was so suffering, and told him how to use his power to save more people.

And it was such a person who died because of the people they should have saved, and had indeed saved.

—The teacher often said to treat illnesses and save people, but how could he not save himself? Wealth and glory in this world are like bitter poison. Even though they have received countless benefits, these saved wasteland people can still betray their benefactors. Are they really worthy of being saved? Was the teacher's hard work for so many years really meaningful?

At that time, Ye Qiu prostrated himself beside the well that the teacher and he had dug out in the oasis. The formerly yellow sand-filled Northwest also had verdant grass and trees, and even more farmland. All of this was thanks to the efforts of the Gushing Spring group, but all of this could not make people awe, and for a moment, the man was in a trance, his memory returning to more than a dozen years ago, when he was still a servant of the landlord in the village.

The landlord oppressed and beat him, and the maids and grooms often humiliated him. Even the other tenant farmers in the landlord's family often ridiculed him, after all, he was just an orphan without parents, and if they bullied him, so what?

When the famine started, the rich people ran away with their valuables, and what could the other poor people do to survive? Ye Qiu was beaten to the ground by a farmer next door, who robbed all his savings and food. Otherwise, he was just a servant of the landlord's family after all, how could he really not have any spare grain saved, and only go to eat corpses?

Everyone in the village looked down on him, and anyone could tease him, whether rich or poor, all so hateful.

In this world, it seemed that there were not many people worth saving at all.

—But Ye Qiu still went to save them.

He endured the bitterness in his heart. The man did not vent his anger on these oasis tribal people. He knew very well that the Northwest people had not been enlightened, and were originally barbarians who did not know great righteousness. They could not be expected to understand what morality was, and only took interest as the top priority.

To kill without teaching is called cruelty. This was their mistake. They only dug wells to save people, but they did not teach them, did not tell them what etiquette and morality were, so they suffered such a fate.

If there was a mistake, it had to be corrected. From this day on, Ye Qiu would take on the responsibility of education.

But if the Northwest desert people were like this, were the people in the imperial court not educated and did not know morality either?

"Today."

So Ye Qiu said, "All the Northwest desert people will listen to my orders."

After a pause, for a moment, the man seemed to hear the roaring sound of a behemoth again. The sound seemed to be a rushing river flowing between heaven and earth, but listening carefully, it seemed to be his own angry blood surging in his heart, bringing up a raging fire that burned away all the hazy mist and well water.

He opened his mouth, wanting to speak, and some dewdrops splashed from the spring next to him. These dewdrops splashed on his forehead, just like the cool and moist well water awakened the unconscious teenager more than a dozen years ago. The sensation when these splashed dewdrops broke was like a burst of thunder, and the endless muffled thunder was like a warning, or like a grand omen, announcing that something that had never appeared before was about to be born.

That was the sound of Hongshi (Grand Beginning), a power that had existed before the ancient times, but was about to show its power from this day on because of one person.

But no matter what, now that he had made up his mind, he should do it.

Ye Qiu stretched out his hand, and suddenly thunder exploded in the sky, and the clouds churned. The Northwest sky, which had originally been cloudless for thousands of miles, was suddenly covered by dense dark clouds, and countless lightning snakes crisscrossed in it, causing countless Northwest desert people to tremble, kneel on the ground, recite praises, and beg for mercy.

In the torrential rain, he made a cold and majestic voice that didn't seem to be his own: "The new dynasty is acting perversely, forcing my teacher to death, and also forcing to death the Northwest desert people's benefactor who recreated them. This is an irreconcilable feud."

"Gather the troops."

"It's time to rebel."

Once a hero draws his sword, it is another ten years of calamity for the common people.

The Northwest desert people went south to cause chaos, conquering thirteen prefectures along the way, causing the originally gradually stabilizing world to become chaotic again.

Ye Qiu didn't know if what he was doing was right. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of people were born because of him, but at least ten times as many people died because of his anger and raising the flag of righteousness, as if the people he had wholeheartedly dug wells to save before were fake.

Sometimes, Ye Qiu would also panic, but the fanatical faces of those who followed him made Ye Qiu stunned. He originally thought that these Northwest desert people, those people in the various prefectures he had conquered, would hate him for dragging them into the chaos of war, but he had never expected that after he performed magical arts and summoned wind and rain several times, they would fanatically follow him like they were following immortals and gods.

—How can mortal monarchs compare to immortal monarchs?

—We are not rebelling, but upholding the will of heaven and earth, and supporting the immortal court!

He was puzzled, but this time there was no Well-Digger to answer him.

He had to think of the answer himself.

Whether it was for the power of the future new dynasty, or a glimpse of the direction of heaven and earth, or that he himself wanted to obtain such divine power, even if Ye Qiu didn't want to, the power of the people would push him to the throne.

Faced with this rushing torrent, the mortal monarchs were just ridiculous clowns trying to stop a chariot with their arms. No matter how hard they tried to resist, in the end they would be captured by Ye Qiu in the high court of the palace and thrown into the fire to be burned to death.

That was also an old friend from the Gushing Spring Army in the past.

"Little Ye, if I had known this would happen..."

When he was strangled by Ye Qiu and thrown into the fire pit, the white-haired emperor was still smiling bitterly: "If I had known, I wouldn't have left the Gushing Spring Army and left the teacher back then."

"I should have let you be the emperor long ago, why did I waste these twenty years