"Lu Xiu, what do you think?" Yu Yong suddenly spoke, and everyone’s gaze subconsciously shifted towards Li Ang.
Yu Shusheng’s eyes flickered, immediately understanding Yu Yong’s intention. Among this group, Chu Haoman was a gentleman willing to sacrifice himself for justice. He, along with Guan Anyan and Ji Xingwang, were from Lu Li Academy—moral paragons of unimpeachable integrity. Wang Linian’s head was full of familial interests, ready to willingly die for the protection of his clan. Only Yu Yong, Yu Shusheng, and Lu Fei shared consistent stances and interests. They had originally come only to rescue Chu Haoman, without the ability, responsibility, or obligation to sacrifice themselves to save Bingzhou. They could sacrifice themselves voluntarily, but if Chu Haoman wanted to play the saint and drag them down with him, then wouldn’t that be a bit...
"You ask me what I think?" Li Ang tilted his head and said, "I’m just observing."
"Lu Xiu, now is really not the time for jokes." Yu Shusheng gave a wry smile. "Do you actually agree with this plan?"
"I don’t consider myself a strict moral exemplar, nor am I a petty person who would harm others for no benefit to myself. I’m just an ordinary hired Cultivator who takes people’s money to rid them of disasters. The total reward is only fifty Fine Gold, and full payment wasn’t even made in advance." Li Ang spoke leisurely. "Now you want me to choose between preserving myself and others. This puts me in a difficult spot."
Wang Linian fell silent upon hearing this. The information relayed by his clanspeople indicated that this Cultivator, Lu Fei, was a successor of the Nine-headed Snake Demon, his strength estimated between the Middle and High Ranks of the Rain Listening Realm. Yet, during their recent confrontation, Wang Linian hadn’t sensed any Spiritual Energy fluctuations from him. It was exceptionally strange.
"How about this? When I was drifting at sea, I heard a story. I don’t know if any of you have heard it before," Li Ang slowly said. "There was a city where the climate was moderate, the crops were abundant, and the common people lived in peace and happiness. While other places were suffering from floods, droughts, and locust plagues, with people barely able to survive, this city alone was spared from disaster. The city’s residents believed this was a divine blessing. While being supremely devout to Haotian, they held themselves to high moral standards: doors were not locked at night, lost items were not taken from the roads, and no crime occurred within the city.
"However, in truth, the city’s peace and harmony existed because, in an ignored cellar, an innocent person was constantly being tortured. This innocent person’s suffering pleased the spirits, causing them to secretly protect the city. Is this situation normal? Or, should I say, is it moral?" Read full story at NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Without waiting for others to express their opinions, Li Ang continued on his own, "In the cellar is a perfect victim: someone who has never committed any sin and doesn’t even know why such misfortune has befallen them. The people above, because they are completely unaware of the situation, bear no moral burden. If someone is unfortunate enough to learn this information, they have two choices: one is to stay silent and maintain the status quo; the other is to free the victim. Then the spirits will no longer protect the city, plunging it into the same disasters of floods, droughts, and locusts as other places, destroying the paradise in an instant.
"Suppose this person is a moral paragon who firmly believes one shouldn’t save thousands by killing one. If they choose the latter option, believing the city can be rebuilt through the will, morality, and strength of the people themselves, then things become quite interesting. After all, anyone knows that the more people there are, the more corners exist to hide filth: the elderly, starving and freezing, with no one to care for them; the orphans, helpless and forced to wander; the laborers, beset by poverty and illness, enduring oppression...
"You see, the city itself devours people. For these individuals, their plight is no different from that of the innocent victim tortured in the cellar. They are only given a false illusion of ’having personal freedom.’"
Li Ang spread his hands and said, "There is no absolute, strict moral standard in the world. When two options correspond to different morals, and there is no further right to choose, the choice itself is immoral. Ordinary people, limited by their abilities, fall into moral dilemmas due to insufficient power. The only thing they can do is to perform good deeds and not ask about the future."
"Uh..." Yu Shusheng pondered for a while, his expression still confused. "Lu Xiu, are you agreeing with Chu Haoman’s plan?"
"What? Of course not." Li Ang shook his head. "I’m saying that ordinary people are limited by their abilities, which is why they fall into moral dilemmas because of insufficient power. But I am different. I am not human."
"What?" Yu Yong and the others exclaimed in unison.
"I’m not human," Li Ang said calmly. "My mentor, nicknamed ’Red-haired’ Xiang Kesi, once told me that the best way to eliminate fear is to confront it, and the best way to eliminate pain is to face it.
"In order to cultivate a special Cultivation Technique, he first had me torture myself mildly, such as by placing small pebbles in my shoes and running all day. Then, the training gradually escalated, from placing bamboo slivers under my fingernails to inducing poisonous insects to bite me all over. When the whole process was completed, my body no longer felt any pain and had mutated into something non-human."
As if to prove his point, Li Ang picked up a piece of broken stone from the ground and smashed it against his forehead. THUD! It made a crisp, clear sound.
"See, no problem." Li Ang calmly picked up stones one by one, performing his ’head-breaking stones’ trick for the others.