There is nothing wrong with the training method of the Justice Messenger

But this collision was short-lived. With a loud bang, the shock wave pushed the air and produced a scattered strong wind. During this period, the sword light slashed by Yato was dissipated, and the powerful light flow was also broken up from the structure of the technique, and the spiritual sword wrapped inside was knocked away.

When Ye Dou swung his sword and tried his best to knock down Li Nian's charged sword, Li Nian had already appeared beside him, summoned out a new magic sword, held it in his hand, and slashed at his neck.

Yadou did feel something, but Li Nian chose the right moment so insidiously that at the same time, Yadou, who had already chosen to use "one slash" to counter Li Nian's knife throw to save the people behind him, was completely unable to stop him. At the last moment, he could only sigh, close his eyes, and welcome his own death.

But after waiting for a long time, there was no pain from being hit.

A puzzled murmur was heard.

"I didn't expect you to be able to save people?"

Feeling that the cold blade finally stopped at his neck instead of cutting off his head, Yato opened his eyes in confusion.

"What are you doing."

"As you can see, I just wanted to see if what you said was true or not." A voice came from behind, "What are you thinking? Are you really going to protect the idiots behind you?"

“…That’s God’s job.”

"...It seems that you really want to become a god who protects the world."

"You won't kill me?" Yato was puzzled.

"I want to ask a few questions first."

"what is the problem?"

"You decided to protect the world by answering prayers and killing bad guys, but how do you distinguish between good and evil when deciding who to kill?"

Yato answered, "I respond to prayers. The thoughts of the believers will be visible to me as they pray, and will flow into my mind. I will know what kind of people they want to kill, and I will understand their thoughts and kill those they think are bad people. I will ignore those who pray with malicious intent, impure motives, and know that they are doing evil."

Li Nian was really surprised by this logic: "So in the final analysis, you are judging good and evil from the perspective of others?"

Yato asked back, "I have accepted many wishes and come into contact with many ideas. I have found that everyone has a different definition of good and evil. How can I distinguish good and evil without judging good and evil from the perspective of others?"

During his long life, Yato God accepted the prayers of countless people. They were ordinary civilians, powerful daimyo, wealthy merchants, poor beggars, prostitutes with miserable life stories, and well-educated young ladies. People prayed to him, and had all kinds of thoughts when they wanted to kill people. Different thoughts flowed into Yato's mind at that time, making him realize that these people had various reasons for killing, and their views on the world were very different, and their judgments on good and evil were different. They changed with the times, the environment, and the world. They were never fixed, never the same, and even conflicted with each other.

Yato was once confused and didn't know which kind of good and evil he should follow. After being confused, he came to the conclusion that he didn't need to find the answer himself, but just follow the ideas of the petitioners. He is a god who responds to prayers, and humans have their own concept of good and evil, and can distinguish who is a good person and who is a bad person. Even when he wants to kill someone, he can understand whether his ideas are good or bad, right or wrong.

"I didn't realize you were a philosopher. What you said seemed to make sense. Good and evil are indeed different in the eyes of different people. Accepting their prayers and distinguishing good and evil based on their thinking is the simplest approach." After the initial surprise, Li Nian remembered that the definition of divinity was just this, and understood Yato's judgment criteria: "It is indeed divinity, born from the prayers of others, and is so greatly influenced by the thoughts of all living beings that you can even give up your own thinking. In the final analysis, you are still making a knife for those who pray to you."

Ye Dou didn't find it strange at all. He just felt that Li Nian's judgment was very accurate. He nodded and admitted: "I am such a god."

"Born from the prayers of others, surviving by responding to the prayers of others, being a knife in the hands of others, this is the God of Yato, I understand." Li Nian nodded. Yato was honest and spoke clearly. Now he, Li Nian, has almost seen the divinity of this God of War. He smiled and said, "At least he can distinguish between good and evil... Well, although it is based on the standards of others, I haven't seen your own opinion. I think this kind of opportunism is not a good idea."

"Do you need my opinion?" Yato seemed to be genuinely confused about this, and felt that what Li Nian said was unreasonable: "Can my judgment of good and evil be clearer and more accurate than that of the person involved?"

"No." Li Nian nodded. Everyone has different experiences and different ideas. They need to make their own judgments on good and evil. Li Nian shook his head again: "Similarly, you cannot be responsible for other people's ideas."

"Why should I be responsible for the thoughts of the person who prayed?" Yato was puzzled: "They have their own answers, and they have made up their minds to kill someone. They think it is right, so they pray to me and ask me to fulfill it. As you said, I am just a knife in their hands. Why should the knife be responsible for the actions of its master? Shouldn't the master be responsible for his own actions?"

"Well said. If you are determined to be a knife in someone else's hand, to judge good and evil and right and wrong based on other people's standards, and really give up your own thinking, I won't say a word, and I will only destroy your knife."

"Are you threatening me?" Yato frowned. "Then I'll kill you if you want to, but before I die, I also want to ask you, do you think I'm wrong? Where did I go wrong?"

"A knife doesn't need feelings, thoughts, or the distinction between right and wrong, good and evil. But if you have feelings and thoughts, and want to judge right and wrong, good and evil, then you are not a knife. You have your own thoughts, and you control your body, so you have to be responsible for your own actions. Moreover, if you want to be a god who protects the world, you shouldn't kill people for them. You kill people for him, but throw the responsibility of killing to him and distance yourself from him. Do you think that this is protecting the world? This is not right, and it won't work."

"Why not? I'm obviously doing good things. I'm killing people that people think are bad guys."

"When people want to kill someone, they always think of the other person as a bad person, and find all kinds of reasons to justify themselves. But whether he is a bad person or deserves to die is not up to him to decide."

"What's the final say?"

"This question is too complicated... but probably it's their actions that tell the difference. When judging evil, we should judge it by its actions, not its heart. We should look at whether the actions are right or wrong."

“How do we judge whether an action is right or wrong?”

"Look for yourself, think for yourself, judge for yourself, use your own brain, and don't keep asking me. You have lived for hundreds of years. You are not a child. Don't you have your own sense of right and wrong, good and evil?"

"I have accepted too many thoughts, which are too complicated, with no unified answer, and even conflicting with each other. It is unclear what is right and what is wrong. I don't know what behavior is right and what is wrong."

"This is not a reason for you not to think about it. The thoughts you accept are the thoughts of others, or the thoughts of a bunch of people with different identities and circumstances. Of course, they conflict with each other and it is difficult to distinguish right from wrong. You can only follow a view of good and evil, and that view of good and evil must be your own."

Yato was silent. This was the first time in his life that someone had lectured him like this.

"…If I have my own judgment of good and evil, can I become a god who protects the world?"

"Not necessarily. But without your own judgment of good and evil, you cannot be a good god who protects the world. If you continue like this, you will always be a god of trouble, encouraging malice, bringing disasters, and creating tragedies. Forget about protecting the world. What you do is only harming the world."

"…Is it so difficult to be a good god?"

"It's not difficult. If you start to be unable to distinguish between good and evil with your own ideas, then you have to start by never killing anyone. Is it difficult not to kill anyone?"

"If I don't respond to other people's prayers to kill people, and no one believes in me or worships me, I will disappear."

Chapter 341: Education with a Knife on the Neck

God is born from faith and needs to be maintained in faith. When faith disappears and people no longer remember God's name, God will disappear.

A god who cannot respond to prayers will not be missed by people. A god who is no longer missed by people will eventually disappear.

Killing is as easy as eating and drinking to Yato. Not only is Yato used to it and good at it, but it is also his livelihood.

He was born from the wish to kill. If he doesn't kill, Yato God will no longer be trusted.

"If you can't even do this little bit of self-control, you'd better disappear." Li Nian replied indifferently, and casually increased the power of the spiritual knife on Ye Dou's neck. The blade cut into the skin, bringing piercing cold and pain, leaving a new wound, which was symmetrical with the old wound on the other side, which was also cut by the same knife in the same way. While Li Nian was paying attention to making the wound neat with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he said leisurely: "You just said that someone once said to you, "Gods should fight to protect the world, so that they can gain true faith." I agree with this, and I want to tell you an extension of this truth, which is "Gods who don't fight to protect the world don't deserve to gain true faith, so it's better for them to disappear."

“…Is that what you think?”

"It's not just me. I think everyone thinks this way. So if you can't become a good god who can distinguish right from wrong, and continue to be the god of trouble who helps people to carry out evil thoughts, then you are an evil god who is useless and harmful to mankind. No one wants such a god to exist. It's better for him to disappear."

“…I don’t want to disappear.”

"Then work hard to learn to distinguish right from wrong, and become the god you said you could fight to protect the world. If you become that god, you can live. If you can't, then you, Yato God, will disappear."

"Before I become this kind of god, I will disappear if I don't kill anyone."

"Then you must first learn to distinguish between good and evil before you can kill anyone."

"I have to answer prayers and kill people in order to stay alive, and then I can learn to distinguish between good and evil on my own."

"First learn to distinguish good from evil. If you can't learn, it's better for you to die first."

"...If you want to kill me, you can do it directly." Yadou felt that Li Nian was just playing with him by repeating the same thing over and over again. Unable to bear the humiliation, he impatiently urged Li Nian to chop him quickly.

"Hahaha, just kidding..." Knowing that this vicious cycle of holding on to one's own opinions is meaningless, Li Nian saw that Ye Dou was getting impatient, so he smiled and said, "I also know that if you don't respond to the prayers of all living beings, you will lose faith and disappear, but killing people without distinguishing between good and evil is still not allowed. If you can't do it, you deserve to die. Remember this... But I'm not asking you to wait for death. It's just the thoughts of all living beings. It's quite simple to just maintain the existence of a mere god. I have plenty of ways."

After all, he is a wizard. In Li Nian's opinion, Yato is a spiritual being. Fixing such a spiritual being and maintaining his survival is nothing more than providing the "qi" and "mind" required for survival in order to maintain the "ritual that constitutes the divine existence itself". Technically, Li Nian does not think there is any problem.

Besides, there is no need to be so troublesome.

Nowadays, it is not difficult to concentrate the thoughts of all living beings. Just to make people remember a Night Fighting God, Li Nian can easily think of a hundred ways.

This was a very important matter for Yato. The war god, who had always been indifferent and calm, suddenly became excited and turned his head abruptly.

"Can you help me collect faith?"

When he turned his head, he bumped into the Bing Tan Tian which was slightly cutting into his neck. Li Nian didn't expect him to be so excited and was caught off guard. He barely restrained his strength to prevent this idiot from really hitting his head off on the sharp spiritual knife Bing Tan Tian. He tilted his head to avoid the splattered blood and simply held the knife farther away, only symbolically placing it on Ye Dou's shoulder, saying helplessly.

"Why are you so excited? You don't want to live before you disappear. You plan to kill yourself by banging your head on my knife, right? Doesn't it hurt?"

"Can I live without killing anyone?!" Yato didn't care. He didn't even realize that now was a good opportunity to break free from Li Nian's suppression. He was completely interested in what Li Nian had just said. He was unusually excited: "Do you have a way? Help me collect the faith of all living beings!?"

"Don't tell me I plan to join your cult and believe in you, who is still an evil god, to preach for you."

"Does your Excellency have it?" Ye Dou pressed on, determined to get to the bottom of the matter. He addressed his enemy Li Nian as Your Excellency.

"I have."

"Great..." Yato relaxed a little as if he had let go of a heavy stone in his heart. Then he suddenly realized that the person who said he could save him was the enemy who had just fought with him and now put a knife on his neck to show his killing intention. He became alert again and clenched his "scarlet weapon": "No, why are you helping me?"

"What a long reaction arc. I don't know how this idiot avoided my sword before and didn't get killed by me... Yeah, why should I help you? You need to give me this reason."

No matter how long Yato's reaction time was, or how simple his thoughts were, he finally understood that this terrifying human warrior was ready to kill him with a knife on his neck, and had been chatting with him for a long time, wanting him to do something before he was willing to let him go and help him.

Ye Dou didn't play dumb with Li Nian and asked directly: "What is your request? Do you want me to become a god who doesn't kill people?"

"That's so boring... er, no, it's such a pity... that doesn't seem right either."

"...?"

"Anyway, I just want to help you establish a correct view of killing."

"???"

"Well... although there's still something wrong with this line, this is basically the meaning." Li Nian didn't bother to dwell on the word choice, so he got back to the point and said, "If a martial god puts down his butcher knife, is he still a martial god? If you learn the correct view of killing and can kill the real villains, then go ahead and kill them. If you kill the right villains, you are protecting other sentient beings by killing them. I personally agree with this approach. If you can really do it, I think you're a good god."

The reason why Li Nian agrees is because that is what Li Nian herself is doing.

Killing one evil person can protect ten, a hundred, or a thousand good people. Li Nian believes that this equation is by no means empty talk. He has cultivated brute strength and honed his killing skills in order to achieve this result. When he heard the God of War say that he also fights to protect all living beings and wants to kill bad guys for good people, he felt like he had met a close friend and a fellow traveler.

“…I want to be a god like that.”

"You have to do it, so you can't let others think for you. You have to think for yourself and be able to distinguish between good and evil."

"but I……"

"You have seen the thoughts of so many sentient beings and have lived for hundreds of years. Can you really not tell good from bad? Do you really not have your own ideas? What are you angry about? What do you agree with? You have justice in your heart. What you hate is evil and what you agree with is good. In this way, distinguishing good from evil is not a difficult thing. When you killed the son of the Chuntian family, didn't you know that he was a scumbag who deserved to die? You think it is unreasonable to defend this guy and hold me accountable for his death. At that time, didn't you already have a judgment on good and evil and right and wrong? So don't tell me here that you can't do it. It's not that you can't do it, but you haven't thought about it. You gave up the thinking you should do and shirked the responsibility you should bear." Li Nian sneered: "Such a guy is really not worthy of killing. You should throw away your knife."

The knife named "Fei" vibrated and made a sound, as if it was dissatisfied with Li Nian's statement.

Li Nian glanced at the knife and knew which little girl had transformed the knife into. It was a spiritual being. He thought to himself, I haven't settled accounts with you yet.

"…So I can kill anyone I think should be killed?"

"That's basically what I mean." Li Nian smiled and nodded: "But if you kill someone and I find out, and I think you killed the wrong person, I will find you and kill you."

"…Do you think I should kill someone?"

"It's not contradictory. You judged what is good and evil based on your own thoughts, and then decided to act and kill people. This is your opinion and behavior. I think your judgment is wrong. You killed someone you shouldn't have killed and did something wrong. I think you are evil, so I will kill you. This is my opinion and behavior. Yours is yours, and mine is mine. You have accepted so many thoughts from sentient beings and made so many decisions based on their thoughts. Do you still need me to teach you that your personal judgment of good and evil is not consistent? It doesn't matter. Just do it bravely. Even if you provoke me to kill you, it will be good if you can go on the road without regrets."

"..."

"What, are you scared?"

"…I'm not asking for death, but I still don't understand why you seem to be encouraging me to kill someone while threatening me at the same time."

"Murder is such an irreversible thing. You have to take responsibility for the decision you made and the person you killed. Do you want to act recklessly but not be held accountable? Is there such a good thing in the world? How come I don't know?" Li Nian sneered disdainfully: "You want to be a martial god who protects the world, and decide to protect life by killing. There are such risks. Even if you do what you think is right, you may suffer the consequences of the wrong thing, and you will be punished for the consequences of the wrong thing. Saints make mistakes, let alone a martial god like you who doesn't even have a clear mind. If you don't dare to take responsibility, it's okay. You throw away the knife now and swear to me with your divinity that you will never kill again. If you want to be an ordinary being, I will feel it's a pity, but I will still help you find a way to survive."

“Forget it.” Yato shook his head without hesitation: “I’m not that kind of coward. If I think something is right, I will do it. If you think it is wrong, just come and kill me. Don’t think I won’t resist.”

"That's right... Then let me ask you again, if you regretted killing someone, and then realized that you had done something wrong?"

"...Then when you come to kill me, I will surrender without resistance."

"That's so boring..." Li Nian muttered, but he was still satisfied with this answer, which showed that Ye Dou Shen was not a coward who was afraid of death and had the corresponding awareness: "Well, it's reassuring that you have this awareness, but if you ask me, you'd better not be so reckless. You are afraid of my pursuit, which is a good thing. You should also take my threat into consideration in your thinking. Before killing someone, think clearly about the impact it will cause. Is it worth it for you to ignore my warning and the pursuit of people like me, and then make a decision... And when you kill people, you have to pay attention to the method, such as what happened today."

“…Please give me some advice?” Yadou was now almost convinced by Li Nian. He felt that Li Nian was the “good senior with the correct view on killing” and was really seeking advice humbly.

"You should have considered Mrs. Chuntian's feelings. You shouldn't have made such a big fuss when killing her son. Wouldn't it be better to let him die quietly by [disappearing outside the house without being noticed]? This way, it won't irritate the old lady, nor will it dirty the floor and devalue the property. It will be done cleanly and won't attract investigation from an exorcist like me. Look at what stupid things you did today. You broke into the house and beheaded him. The body was thrown at the scene of someone else's house. The blood was all over the floor, and there were your footprints. Doesn't this let me know that it was you who did it?"

"So this is how I got caught?" Yato suddenly realized, "I understand. Next time I won't make this mistake again and let myself get caught."

"The key is to take care of the old man's mood!" Li Nian was very disappointed and thought that was a small matter. This is the big deal: "Look at you. You killed someone with great fanfare and left in style, but threw the responsibility to the old woman, making her feel that it was all her fault and making her regret it to death. How can this be? You really should go and see the expression of your believer, then you will know that you have protected a lonely person."

"I fulfilled the believer's wish, but made her suffer and regret." Yato was ashamed: "This is really stupid. It has violated my purpose. It seems that I must change."

"Right? You should have done it more cleanly... No, why am I discussing with you how to get away with murder?" Li Nian scratched his head: "Actually, there's no need for us to talk about fighting and killing all the time, right? Killing should be the last resort. Beating someone to death is irreversible, but beating them half to death is fine. For most villains, you can just beat them half to death and throw them to the police. This is the most correct way to deal with them."

"The prayers of the faithful..."

"You punish evil and protect believers, so you will naturally gain their faith. If you handle things in a measured way, you will gain their favor." Li Nian persuaded: "When you don't know whether you should kill someone, don't beat them to death. Beat them half to death. Then I won't bother to pursue you."

Yato felt that after listening to this man's words, all the things he didn't understand suddenly became clear. He thought to himself that humans are smart, flexible, and creative. He felt that Li Nian was truly a senior worthy of learning from. Facing this enemy who just wanted to kill him, there was even a smile and respect on his face.

"After listening to your words, I feel that the road ahead is much clearer. I will follow your teachings and make some corrections in the future... Are you satisfied with this answer? Can you put down the knife on my neck now?"

Li Nian did not put down the knife on his neck, and continued with a smile: "I also want to ask, after you decide to use your brain to judge good and evil and become a good martial god who kills to protect life, what will happen if you listen to Teng Qi's orders and ask you to kill people?"

Yato thought for a moment before answering, "I never thought about whether the person my father asked me to kill was good or evil. I will probably think about it later before deciding whether to kill him or not."

Li Nian looked at him for a long time.

Wushen Yadou looked him in the eye, his calm face showing no trace of fear, and added: "If you don't believe me, just do it."

Then he knelt on the spot, put down the red weapon, closed his eyes and rested, showing a gesture of completely giving up resistance, just waiting for Li Nian to behead him.

The knife he put down turned into a spot of light, and then gathered together to become the girl in the scarlet kimono, whose name seemed to be "Fei". It was Yato who took the initiative to remove her weaponization. After Fei regained her human form, she hurriedly shouted: "Yato! Don't!", and then pounced on Li Nian.

Li Nian did not resist and was pounced on by her.

But the girl had no power without a weapon and no master to hold her, and Li Nian's body did not move at all.

Looking down at the girl who was trying to hit him hard and make him put down the sword, Li Nian suddenly put away the sword.