Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 476 - 427 Threat

Chapter 476: Chapter 427 Threat
Sui Yi suddenly turned around, the Yinghuo Longsword almost slashing out, but the hand that reached out only slid down her shoulder and grasped her wrist.
"Sister," Li Ang said soothingly, "that’s enough."
Sister?
Sui Yi looked somewhat dazedly at the young man in front of her, barely matching his face to the chaotic memories in her mind.
"Are you... Li Ang?"
Sui Yi asked uncertainly, then her eyes suddenly widened, and she burst into anger, "Why didn’t you leave?! Didn’t I tell you to run?"
"The Academic Palace stresses respecting the old and loving the young, revering teachers and valuing the Dao. As your junior brother, how could I just leave you here?"
Li Ang shrugged and said, "Fang Shuang has already gone to Wei State. She should arrive in about two quarters of an hour."
"Two quarters of an hour..."
Sui Yi frantically recalled the plan she had previously memorized, muttering to herself, "Is that enough?"
"Not right now, but I have other methods. For now, Sister, you should rest."
Li Ang smiled slightly and patted Sui Yi’s shoulder, motioning for her to extinguish the flames in her hair. Then he stepped past her and moved forward. He looked up at the night sky where Master Jianquan’s dazzling Buddha Light scattered, as if a true Buddha had descended upon the world.
Is this one of the most powerful Cultivators in the world?
Even among Candle Cloud Cultivators, there are disparities.
If it were Situ Zhi from Suzhou City back then, Li Ang had no doubt that he could not have withstood Sui Yi’s Yinghuo Sword Energy, born from a disregard for life and death.
But facing Master Jianquan, Sui Yi was mercilessly crushed, even while burning her own life. She was a cultivator of the Cloud Patrol High Realm, had returned from Zhanquan, and was considered most likely to advance before the age of thirty.
She couldn’t even make him stop creating the Six Paths of Reincarnation Illusion.
If it weren’t for Mo Si, perhaps just a casual Buddhist chant from Master Jianquan would kill me,
Li Ang thought.
Such a desperate disparity...
Li Ang, thinking nonchalantly, walked a few steps forward with the flowing crowd and spoke aloud, "The Hell Path isn’t completed yet, right?"
"Hmm?"
The words from below caught Master Jianquan’s attention. He frowned slightly and looked down upon the city streets, where Li Ang and Sui Yi appeared as tiny as ants.
"The most clever lie contains nine parts truth to one part falsehood," Li Ang said. "Vice Commander of the Luoyang Town Commandery, Gongsun Changyi, and the master of Haotian Taoist Temple, Xiong Tuohai, are your old friends, Master Jianquan. They often sit together and discuss the Dao. They certainly aren’t ignorant about the Zen Sect and might even be very familiar with many secrets of the Yu Country Zen Sect. Therefore, simply fabricating lies about Shixing Monk won’t suffice. His plan and Cultivation Technique must appear somewhat feasible. Beast Path, Ghost Path, Asura Path, Heavenly God Path, Hell Path, Human Path. You really need six sacrifices to activate the Six Paths of Reincarnation Illusion. I’m correct, aren’t I?"
"..."
Master Jianquan remained silent, still focusing most of his energy on influencing the eight hundred thousand inhabitants of Xingzhou City, and did not respond to Li Ang’s query.
Li Ang continued as if talking to himself, "The four sacrifices for the Beast, Ghost, Asura, and Heavenly God Paths have been confirmed deceased. However, just now in Xingzhou Prison, your attempt to absorb the soul of the Hell Path candidate was interrupted by Xiong Tuohai and his group. That means you still need two more candidates. Unless you find, kill, and consume the souls of two more people, your Six Paths Illusion Realm will remain nothing more than flowers in a mirror, the moon in the water."
"So what?" Master Jianquan finally spoke. "I can complete it at any time."
There are simply too many despicable people in the world, and in Xingzhou City with its eight hundred thousand people, there will inevitably be evil ones. With the evil official gone from the prison, any random person could replace him.
"I’m afraid that won’t work."
Li Ang shook his head, withdrew a Mind Thread from his sleeve, raised it above his head, and said loudly to Jianquan, "You can see the city’s situation through the Shadow Demon, right? Then you should know that after I sent He Fanshuang away, I returned to Xingzhou Prison and collected the unused talismans from the corpses of the garrison soldiers. While you were all distracted by the battle and couldn’t spare attention elsewhere, I burrowed into the ground and buried these talismans under the city’s main thoroughfares, connected by Mind Threads.
Conveniently, you gathered all the people of Xingzhou together. Now, I just need to release my Telekinesis, connect the Mind Threads, and it will detonate all the talismans, killing the people you intended to bring into the illusion ahead of time.
Activating talismans one by one is one thing; activating interconnected talismans through Mind Threads is another matter entirely. The efficiency and power of the former’s talisman release are much greater than the latter’s, but the spiritual power consumed by the latter is much less than that of the former. And conveniently, Master, you’ve made all the city’s protective Arrays ineffective, so they’re unable to detect the locations of those talismans.
For ordinary people without any protective measures, even the lowest-level talisman could be lethal. Master Jianquan, with your extensive knowledge of various classics, you should understand that this is theoretically possible.
Also, don’t think about using Shadow Demons to burrow underground and cut the Mind Threads connecting the talismans. I designed it in advance. If the Mind Threads are damaged, the talismans will trigger automatically. Explosive charms, Sand Sinking Talismans, Fire Talismans, Ice Talismans—it’s enough to cause massive destruction."
"...What?"
Jianquan hadn’t reacted yet, but Sui Yi beside him was dumbstruck and asked subconsciously, "What, what, what?"
"When hostages are taken by Demon Cultivators, and the righteous cannot overpower them, they can only kill the hostages to deprive the Demon Cultivators of their bargaining chips," Li Ang said, spreading his hands. "By doing this, we can bring both sides back to the same level."
"...Is this your solution?" Sui Yi couldn’t help but smack her forehead, leaving a clear palm print on her still-warm skin. "If you wipe out the people of Xingzhou, then wouldn’t the sacrifices of Gongsun Changyi, Xiong Tuohai, Xing Pengyue, the garrison soldiers, and even myself, all be in vain?"
"This is a measure of last resort," Li Ang lowered his voice and said softly to Sui Yi. "If we let Jianquan truly complete the Six Paths of Reincarnation Illusion, there would inevitably be many more deaths than those in Xingzhou City. Besides, this is just a threat; I haven’t actually done it yet."
Li Ang was very aware of the idealist’s nature. Jianquan had given up everything—including his reputation and even the lives of his disciples and grandchildren—just to pursue what he believed was the right Dao Path. He would never truly resort to mutual destruction over a momentary dispute. His threat was effective.
As expected, the chanting of Buddha Sutras in the night sky stopped. Jianquan coldly gazed down at the two below. The Shadow Demon, connected to his thoughts, silently lowered its tendrils, decreasing his altitude to a position from which he could converse with Li Ang.
"Resorting to threatening the lives of Xingzhou’s common people because you can’t win," Jianquan said calmly. "Are you really a disciple of the Academic Palace?"
"Same goes for you," Li Ang chuckled. "Now, can we talk terms openly and honestly?"