Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Obliterating the Past

’Was it right or wrong?’

Just a moment ago, Zhu Ge had been tense, feeling like he really wanted to punch this Second Brother of his.

But now, Zhu Ge mused, "For my Second Brother, it was the right thing to do."

"Hahaha, that’s my Big Brother!" True Monarch Minmian roared with laughter. "Exactly! For me, life is about destroying all that brings me sorrow, not about living for the sake of this body’s survival."

"Ants and beasts live just for the sake of living. Should I do the same? I live only for my own satisfaction. If I’m not satisfied, then I might as well be dead."

True Monarch Minmian looked up at the sky, a blade of grass now dangling from his lips. "I could have preserved my cultivation. But then that barbarian raped and killed the pregnant woman he had imprisoned right before my eyes. What do you think I should have done?"

"That pregnant woman was an ordinary peasant from our lands. She toiled day in and day out, only in her thirties, yet the cracks in the calluses on her hands were deeper than the wrinkles on her face."

"She must have been abducted by the Nanyue Mianhuang Royal Family after the border of Red River Prefecture fell, all because of Hongmi Immortal’s schemes."

"In the tears shining in her eyes, I saw the sorrow of losing her parents, the fury of her husband being murdered, and the despair of watching her three sons be boiled alive."

"And she was carrying a baby girl in her womb. Zhu Ge, tell me. Should I have saved them or not?"

True Monarch Minmian asked Zhu Ge, his eyes placid.

’Save them, or not?’

Saving them was the obvious trap. To step into it meant a near-certain blow from some unknown power.

’Not saving them?’

That would have been the wise choice. True Monarch Minmian was immensely powerful. Would it be worth it for the Human Race to lose a True Monarch just to save one woman and her unborn baby girl?

"I would save them," Zhu Ge answered after only a moment’s hesitation.

At those four words, both the True Monarch of the Lantern and True Monarch Minmian turned to look at him, their eyes filled with amazement.

"Haha, that’s my good Big Brother! I knew I wasn’t wrong about you!" True Monarch Minmian laughed heartily and looked at the True Monarch of the Lantern. "See, Lantern? Wasn’t I right?"

"Then why didn’t you fight the Raincoat Fisherman, Zhu Ge?" the True Monarch of the Lantern asked, curious.

CRACK! The wooden handle of the nearby lantern snapped completely. Terrifying ripples spread through the sky high above, as if countless entities were about to tear through the void.

But the True Monarch of the Lantern was quick. He casually swapped it for a new wooden handle and plunged the lantern back into the soil.

The ripples in the sky stopped abruptly, leaving only the faint echoes of a few resentful roars and bellows.

"Because I couldn’t have killed the Raincoat Fisherman," Zhu Ge said candidly. "My goal is to kill the Raincoat Fisherman and get my revenge, not to commit suicide."

"If I were in a position to save that woman and child from the Nanyue Mianhuang Royal Family, I wouldn’t think about the consequences. I would only think about how to accomplish my goal."

"It’s my instinct. I’m afraid of becoming someone like Hongmi Immortal," Zhu Ge replied.

’Living?’

’He didn’t live just for the sake of living.’

In reality, most people live for the pleasures life has to offer. And most people who no longer want to live feel that way because of what they are forced to endure.

Very few people live merely for the sake of survival itself.

If merely maintaining vital signs counts as being alive, then you could take a person, cut off their limbs, gouge out their eyes, tear out their tongue, and burst their eardrums, turning them into a "human swine." They would still have vital signs.

You could even maintain those vital signs for ten thousand, even twenty thousand years.

But could you still call that living?

In Zhu Ge’s eyes, that kind of existence wasn’t worth a hundred years—or even ten—of living freely, seeking vengeance and acting on his whims.

"My choice was the same as yours." True Monarch Minmian chuckled softly, his gaze distant and full of memories as he stared at the sky.

"When I was a child, my mother tried to protect me. For that, the barbarian pirates from Yingzhou tied her hair to a horse’s tail and dragged her for miles. They dragged her until her hair was ripped from her head, taking her scalp with it. Fortunately, she must have fainted and died halfway through, so she didn’t suffer for too long."

"I had a younger sister, less than a month old. I had just finished weaving a grasshopper for her out of straw. But the barbarian pirates came into our village, seasoned my sister with something called ’mustard,’ and ate her alive."

"My father... he ran into those same barbarian pirates when they wanted to test out a new Flame Technique they’d learned. They steamed him alive until he was nothing but a dried husk..."

At this, True Monarch Minmian smiled and shook his head. "So tell me, once I gained my cultivation and a sword, what do you think I did when I ran into that pack of barbarian pirates again?"

’What would he do?’

A knot of unease formed in Zhu Ge’s chest as he listened, but he knew his choice would have been no different from True Monarch Minmian’s.

To put it bluntly, if he had suffered what True Monarch Minmian had, that entire so-called Barbarian Race would likely have been annihilated.

Zhu Ge couldn’t care less about things like the Great Dao or one’s Dao Heart, nor could he be bothered with sayings like "when will the cycle of revenge ever end?"

He would do whatever brought him satisfaction. He didn’t even fear death, so what else was there to be afraid of?

Weighing the pros and cons, analyzing right and wrong—that was all for later.

"I would slaughter every last one of those barbarian pirates," Zhu Ge answered without hesitation.

Hearing this, True Monarch Minmian smiled, and even the True Monarch of the Lantern couldn’t help but nod.

"Alright, enough talk," True Monarch Minmian said with a laugh. "Big Brother, you’re just my kind of person, so I’ll give you a hand."

With that, he gestured to the True Monarch of the Lantern.

The True Monarch of the Lantern sighed. "Is it worth it?"

True Monarch Minmian laughed and cursed, "Where the hell did you pick up a question like that? Hurry up and open the restriction for me!"

Then he turned to Zhu Ge. "Big Brother! Quick, use that Concealing Technique of yours. Even the True Monarch of the Lantern and I can’t see through it. It’s really something else."

"If you want to live, you need to survive this first. Just watch how your Second Brother deals with these selfish fools."

’Concealing Technique?’

Hearing this, Zhu Ge immediately used his Secret ability.

The True Monarch of the Lantern, for his part, gave True Monarch Minmian a long, serious look, then glanced at Zhu Ge. Finally, he gave a slight nod and lifted his lantern from the soil.

In the next instant, dark spatial rifts tore open across the sky, one after another, leaking all kinds of powerful auras.

"Strange! What’s taking so long? Did my technique fail?"

"A True Monarch must have sealed the space here."

"I can smell the reek of the Shi Family. It’s sickening."

"The Great Dao has manifested! This is a grand event for our Confucian Dao! Who dares stand in our way?!"

"Qingyuan Gentleman, have you been well?"

"True Monarch Si Chen, I trust you’ve been well."

One by one, a host of powerful figures stepped out of the spatial rifts. Some scanned their surroundings with the wary eyes of a wolf, some exchanged pleasantries with clasped hands and smiles, and others remained utterly silent.

No one looked down, but Zhu Ge could feel goosebumps erupting on his skin as the hairs on his body stood on end.

It was the pressure of Divine Senses so powerful they had almost taken physical form.

"Hahaha! You’re all a step too late! I’ve already stripped the Confucian Dao from Zhu Ge’s body and fused it with my own."

True Monarch Minmian suddenly roared with laughter. He flopped down onto the muddy ground, a jug of wine appearing in his hand. He took a great swig and declared jubilantly,

"So? Does anyone want to come have a little ’talk’ with me?"

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