Forge a path to success

Vande volunteered to stay and help his less-than-ideal teammates organize the intelligence, but Chu Hengkong suspected that he was just greedy for the knowledge of the Discipline Knights.

"Your sister Huaisu waited 23 years to find her inheritance, she deserves to enjoy it for a couple of days," Chu Hengkong said. "On the other hand, what's the situation on your end? I think you could have reached level 3 by now."

Qingye puffed out her cheeks, turned her head and said, "There's no rush! I'm not ready yet..."

What's the best way to prepare for heart training? Or is advancing to level 3 for those with a broken heart some kind of crucial milestone...? This path seems to be a fusion of supreme power and unity. Could it be that those with a broken heart will have to choose between water, fire, and dust when they reach level 3? But Qingye doesn't seem like the type to hesitate at times like this.

Seeing that Qingye was unwilling to say more, he asked instead, "The Guangshi family is a famous family on Shura Island, right?"

"Of course. Our patriarch, Lord Guang Shimingwu, is a dignified 'Martial Venerable' with a mass of 7!" Qingye said with a smug look on his face.

She certainly has reason to be proud. A god of rank 7 is capable of ruling a nation like the "Netherworld God" Sakura Dragon, or, in the heterodox camp, a terrifying demon king like the "Nightmare King" Vansalal. If such a person holds the title of patriarch, then the clan he protects is practically royalty...

"Then you should be very familiar with the common sense of the Submerged Realm," Chu Hengkong said. "You're only at Elemental Point 2, how dare you go out alone with a high-level relic?"

Qingye chuckled sheepishly, shrinking her neck: "I hadn't thought it through before running away from home for the first time..."

Chu Hengkong tapped her lightly.

"Okay, I'll confess, I actually have a reason." Qingye's voice was soft. "Let's make a promise, you're not allowed to laugh at me."

"Go ahead."

"Actually, I want to end the internal strife on Shura Island."

This statement was so revealing that even Chu Hengkong was stunned for a moment: "Shura Island, internal strife?"

Throughout the entire world of Shen Dong, few have not heard of Shura Island. As a place of origin for life masters on par with Longquan Township, it belongs to one of the world's top forces, just like the Cradle of Oblivion, the Empire of Truth, and other major bases of heretics.

If an internal conflict were to occur on such a dusty island, the news should spread throughout the world instantly. However, despite the fact that the Dragon City has reopened its shipping routes for a long time, not a single word has been heard. This is clearly contrary to common sense.

"Because the big shots have implemented an information blockade, the relevant intelligence has not yet been leaked. But the internal strife has been going on for quite some time..." Qingye smiled bitterly, "To be precise, it started to show signs after the war."

"Ever since the Lord of the Broken Heart established the Path, we Broken Hearts have been the main force in the struggle against the heretics. Although in the eyes of ordinary people we acted in an extreme way and had strange temperaments, our fundamental allegiance has never wavered. However, after the great war, the Lord of the Broken Heart left the island for a long time and never returned. The major affairs on Shura Island were then decided by the three Martial Venerables."

Qingye held up three fingers and asked seriously, "Mr. Chu, do you think that martial artists like you and me, after advancing to the 7th level of the material, can become wise rulers who govern a country?"

"My leadership skills are more than enough to lead a single assault team," Chu Hengkong said.

“That’s what the patriarch said too, so he didn’t want to be the decision-maker.” Qingye said with a frown. “Another Martial Venerable tried to govern the island himself, but it wasn’t very successful; another Martial Venerable was tired of worldly affairs and went into seclusion. After several failed attempts, the leadership was simply delegated to the ‘Generals’ of the 6th point, allowing the powerful to govern their own land.”

Thus, Shura Island essentially became a union of numerous 'small countries,' but the generals' ambitions were not aligned, leading to friction and a deterioration in security. In recent years, these accumulated conflicts have even escalated to the point where the generals have shown signs of going to war with each other. We, the Remnant Hearts, possess only fame and power, yet we have wasted our abilities on internal strife.”

Qingye smiled bitterly, as if even he himself was ashamed for his hometown: "Back home, I heard my elders discussing every day which family to help and how to balance the other forces... How can the power I've gained through such hard cultivation be used in such a place!"

So I stole the patriarch's sword and, in one fell swoop, sailed away from Shura Island. And so…”

Qingye gripped the hilt of her sword tightly and said earnestly, "As a genius from a prestigious family, and with a high-grade relic by my side, I might just encounter Lord Canxin!"

“……………………”

The anxieties arising from hearing about the current state of Shura Island, the identification with Qingye's resentment, and the curiosity about the reasons for her departure—all these emotions are present.

At that moment, it all transformed into the trembling sound of nerves collapsing.

Chu Hengkong slapped his face shut and asked in despair, "And then?"

"Then I can ask Lord Remnant Heart to return to the island to take charge!" Qingye said expectantly. "In that case, we can once again step onto the front line of the battle against the heretics, and the problem will be perfectly solved! Ouch!"

Chu Hengkong slammed his fist into the head of the idiotic high school girl and spun it wildly, causing her to scream in agony.

He should have realized it sooner. No matter how clearly he understands the situation, no matter how talented he is in cultivation... this guy is still a fool on par with Vande!

The key to being a fool isn't intelligence or comprehension, but rather the fact that they always solve problems using a method they believe to be foolproof but is actually riddled with flaws. Just like Vande who lost his manual to seek a friend back then, just like Qingye who is now searching for a master to save his country.

Chu Hengkong relaxed his grip and spoke in an exceptionally gentle tone: "Qingye, following this line of thought, you have an even better solution. If you happen to encounter the true form of the heretic and kill him, eliminating a great scourge for the Chendong Realm, wouldn't the problem be easily solved?"

Qingye's eyes lit up: "That's right! Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch~"

Chu Hengkong tightened his grip even further: "From now on, think before you speak and act!!"

What's wrong with my thinking?

"—If Shura Island really needed the Lord of Fate to take action, Mingwu would have already left the island to ask for help. It wouldn't be your place to worry about such trivial matters."

As they spoke, the two arrived at the training ground. Chongming lay under a large tree, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, emitting a laugh that infuriated anyone who heard it. Qingye, hearing this, retorted, "Then the patriarch might not be able to find us..."

"If you were carrying an old knife, would you run into it? You'd be more likely to run into another knife," Chongming said lazily. "Be realistic, little girl. The Remnant Heart Secret Technique is unorthodox; everyone who can master it has flaws in their personality. Even someone with your good nature has only managed to twist your bones to the point of death after practicing it, let alone others."

Having escaped the extreme conditions of wartime, expecting the disabled to live in harmony is simply a pipe dream. You know this perfectly well, yet you come out waving a banner you yourself don't even believe in..."

He sat up abruptly, poked Qingye's forehead hard, and sneered, "You're just looking for a good excuse to run away from home!"

Qingye stumbled back two steps, her face pale from the sudden rebuke. Realizing her wavering, she quickly retorted loudly, "No! I'm worried about my hometown—"

“That’s longing, not a goal!” Chongming sneered. “A goal is something you strive for, not some vague outline. You’ll make plans for it, calculate the gains and losses, and toss and turn in worry about not achieving it. It will bring you the fear of failure.”

Are you afraid now? Are you scared? What price will you pay if you can't find the master of your broken heart?

Qingye bit her lip, unable to answer a single word. Chongming chuckled, "No, not really. You seem quite happy, don't you? You met interesting companions, fought against heretics together, and experienced a magnificent adventure. After everything was over, you returned home, returned the knife, apologized to your elders, and said you were sorry and wouldn't do it again. That was the end of it, and you could go back to your life as a young lady of a wealthy family, completely satisfied, right?"

He took off his sunglasses, revealing undisguised contempt and mockery beneath the bandages covering his face.

"—Someone like you dares to call himself a cripple?"

Qingye clenched her fists tightly, tilted her head back, and her bloodless lips trembled as she uttered an exceptionally fierce shout.

"It's not what you think..." Qingye shouted, "No!!"

She turned and ran away, her long scarf billowing behind her like butterfly wings. Chongming put his sunglasses back on, shouting triumphantly, "See! I told you so, didn't I? Idiot!"

"Don't be so harsh on Qingye," Chu Hengkong stopped him. "She's still a..."

“Go tell those words to the Fearbringer,” Chongming sneered. “Say to the outsiders, ‘She’s just a child, please be merciful and let her go.’”

“A person’s growth doesn’t happen overnight,” Chu Hengkong retorted sharply. “Everyone needs time. I wasn’t much smarter than her at my age. Since you consider yourself her superior, you should guide her and mentor her, instead of pointing out problems and causing her to explode.”

“That makes so much sense~” Chongming said sarcastically. “It’s a pity there’s no time for all that on the battlefield. If you can’t grow stronger, then just die. You deserve it.”

Chu Hengkong frowned deeply: "Enough is enough."

"What, do I have to explain this to you?" Chongming tapped his forehead again. "Don't you understand? You're too arrogant. You see Guang Shi Qingye as your follower, and you subconsciously want to protect her."

Chongming always spoke so incisively. Chu Hengkong was surprised to find that the other was right. He accepted this fact without any burden and blocked Chongming's finger.

“Yes, so I’ll take care of her,” he said. “That’s it.”

"Unfortunately, you're too busy taking care of yourself." Chongming pressed on, "Do you even have any goals of your own, you crazy person who just follows the crowd?"

"I have it," Chu Heng thought to himself, "It's none of your business."

But he didn't say it aloud. He left the training ground, completely forgetting his original intention. Chongming lay back down under the tree, spitting out a straw with a cold laugh: "Look at all this trash!"

[You look about 7% like you when you were young.] Shi Zhong wrote. [The only difference is that you're too good-natured; you would have drawn your sword long ago.]

“I wasn’t that stupid when I was young.”

[Really? You're such a fiercely protective person? (laughs) I still remember that afternoon when Duranbai came to visit your camp with a basket of bread and cheese, casually offering a few suggestions about your training methods. You got furious and beat him black in the eye.]

“I fucking…” Chongming said sullenly, “I was fucking young back then…”

This is what I wanted to remind you: everyone has their youthful exuberance, and confusion is an inevitable part of life. You can't expect everyone to be born perfect and unwavering. That's not human; that's a mechanical being.

Chongming placed a stone over the stone and covered Shizhong's writing. Shizhong then began to carve words on the stone.

Okay, one last thing. I think they're still lacking something; it's best not to learn any secret techniques now.

"What are you afraid of? Go train!" Chongming scoffed. "You'd be better off training to death!"

Chapter 188 The Art of Seeking the Dao with a Broken Heart (1)

"The history of those with broken hearts is a history of fighting against heretics and their own egos..."

In the sweltering heat of summer, cicadas on the old trees chirped listlessly. Inside the classroom, separated by a wall, children sat upright, trembling with fear, as did their patriarch, who held an ancient longsword in his hands.

"To lose to heretics is to lose one's life; to lose to oneself is to lose one's nature." The old man tapped his fingers and flicked his knife, producing a clear and melodious sound. "Which one is true defeat? Qingye, you tell me."

She was called upon, and immediately stood up, replying without hesitation, "Yes! It's death!"

A few snickers rippled through the classroom. Dignity and will were more important than life—a common sense even a young child knew. The children in the clan turned their heads, casting mocking glances. The patriarch smiled too, his expression unreadable. "And why?" he asked.

“That…one’s own mind is one’s own, it’s something that can be discussed! Or rather, it can be communicated!” Qingye became increasingly nervous, blurting out incoherently, “But once you’re dead, there’s no room for discussion! And you can’t come back to life! In that case, you can’t do anything, so death is more terrifying. I think that’s how it is!”

The snickers turned into loud laughter. The patriarch joined in. The laughter was like an invisible cage, isolating her from those around her, turning her from a sociable person into an animal being watched. Her face was pale, her hands and feet were cold, and from the depths of the endless mockery came a deafening, aged voice that seemed to have struck a chord.

"Wow, you're a genius!"

From that day on, she was the genius with a broken heart, Guang Shi Qing Ye.

·

Qingye slapped her cheeks hard, forcing herself to break free from the memory. She was always like this; whenever she felt down, she would recall those unbearable memories, making her mood even worse.

She knew why; she was still stuck in the Sinful Bone state, her body storing too many negative emotions, naturally causing her thoughts to slide into a negative abyss. She should ascend to Point 3 as soon as possible, so she could help everyone and solve her own problems. But…

—Someone like you dares to call himself a heartless person?

Chongming's mockery echoed in her heart, wounding her fragile self-esteem. She told herself not to think about it, not to create trouble for herself, but a voice in her heart kept repeating, telling her that the old master was right. She couldn't cultivate now; she needed to calm down, at least to control her emotions.

By the time she realized it, Qingye had already run out of the settlement and into the dense forest. She leaned against a tree trunk, trying to calm her racing heart and force herself to stay composed. Then, a deeper sense of frustration washed over her.

What is she doing? What happened to her original plan? She's throwing a tantrum and running away just because she was scolded a couple of times. How is she any different from an ordinary female student? Shouldn't she find somewhere to cry secretly afterward?

They've made such a disgraceful spectacle; they're hardly worthy of being called heartless people.

The despondency deepened, and Qingye covered her face with a sigh. She wanted to prove Chongming wrong, but every action she took only confirmed his correctness. She was at a loss.

Just then, anxious shouts came from not far away, accompanied by a piercing cry. She followed the sound and saw four tribal warriors wielding magic rifles and bone axes, fighting against a four-winged blind bird. Beside the warriors was a half-destroyed trap, and a bear with a snail's head was about to break free.

The situation was clear: the hunt was interrupted halfway through by a strange beast that had suddenly appeared, and the prey was about to turn into a death sentence. Qingye crafted two shadow shurikens. The first grazed the blind bird's abdomen, drawing its attention. As the blind bird reacted to the sound and became alert, the second shurikens pierced its eyeball from the opposite direction, passing through its brain.

The blind bird twitched a few times, but continued walking due to nerve control. Qingye flashed behind the strange bear, slashed its head open, and plunged its blade into its chest cavity to crush its heart.

She drew her sword and stepped aside. Only after the two beasts were completely dead and no longer moving did she say to the warriors, "It's over."

The settlement warriors let out a weak cheer. The squad leader, wounded by the blind bird, sat under a large tree, repeatedly clasping his hands together: "Thank you so much! You saved my life!"

"These warriors are truly remarkable!" another warrior said, wiping the cold sweat from his brow. "They are indeed powerful warriors worthy of being called the slayers."

The soldiers' praise made Qingye's heart tighten. She had been insignificant in that battle; a more agile Point Two could have easily destroyed the mechanisms in the painting. Thinking back to Jinye City, she hadn't contributed much either; the center of the battlefield belonged to the dazzling legends, and she had simply been there the whole time.

Qingye smiled bitterly: "It's basically thanks to Mr. Chu and the others... They are much more capable than me."

"I couldn't tell," the squad leader said sincerely. "In my eyes, you're all the same. You're all very strong."

Qingye immediately recognized that he wasn't an Ascended One; his combat prowess relied entirely on his armor and relic weapons. The squad leader was a weathered middle-aged man, and the fact that he'd survived this long with such meager equipment only spoke volumes about his experience. If Qingye hadn't come, someone like him would have perished in a hunt right on his doorstep.

"Did something happen?" Qingye asked.

The squad leader hesitated for a few seconds: "Dissolving bears usually live deep in the forest. Blind birds have been caught so well that they rarely approach settlements. But today they've all appeared one after another."

It makes sense that they encountered an enemy they shouldn't have met. Qingye looked into the depths of the jungle. She had heard Ji Huaisu say yesterday that the group was originally supposed to return to the settlement through the jungle.

“You should know that there are bad things in the woods.”

“Warriors, we all need to eat.” The squad leader smiled wryly. “If we go hunting sandworms, we’ll die even more miserably.”

Qingye nodded and disappeared silently. When she returned, she was accompanied by a dozen strange birds with unusually long beaks and three black creatures that looked like wild boars, trailing behind her with shadow threads.

"Please take these back to the settlement first. I'll go deeper inside to investigate the situation."

"Thank you so much!" The squad leader gave a perfunctory salute. "Please be careful!"

Qingye watched the warriors drag their prey back to the city, a sense of bewilderment washing over her. To Chongming and her teammates, she was just an insignificant helper; at home, she was seen as a coward who was always the butt of jokes. But in the settlement, she had become an object of admiration for the warriors, even though her actions were nothing more than a simple act of kindness.

Does a person's role truly change with their environment? If one day she were to go to a weak, dusty island, would its inhabitants worship her?

The thought made Qingye feel nauseous. It was too foolish, too arrogant, like a stupid person flaunting their power. She focused her mind and stepped into the deep forest.

The forest was silent, broken only by the occasional cry of a strange beast. Behind the deep green leaves, as if lurking demonic eyes, lurked, watching her every move. Qingye carefully left a shadow behind her, marking her path. Her nostrils twitched slightly, discerning an unusual scent in the damp, decaying air.

It was a fragrance, like perfume on a noblewoman's shoulders, or orchids blooming at midnight. Qingye instinctively thought of the luxuries of her hometown; such a symbol of civilization couldn't possibly exist in a forest teeming with decaying matter, corpses, and insects. Qingye immediately held her breath. She knew that certain plants and beasts would deliberately create similar scents to lure their prey; the fragrance in the wild was most likely poison.

But at that moment, the outline of a huge, terrifying monster immediately appeared in her mind. Thick flowers blooming like mountains, vile plants covered with lips—Qingye had never seen such a creature before, but fear naturally brought the monster to life, eroding her spirit.

He might have been poisoned by a neurotoxin. Qingye immediately turned around and retraced her steps.

The shadow line is broken.

She stood frozen, her heart clenched with chilling fear. Being cut off from her escape route wasn't the worst part; what was terrifying was that she hadn't even detected the enemy's methods. From being poisoned to the rupture of the shadow threads, only a few breaths had passed, and she couldn't even tell which came first.

Once again, Qingye felt the gaze from behind the leaves, a naked, greedy thirst for flesh and blood. The leaves began to vibrate, and a cacophony of flapping wings rose from the darkness. The unknowable monster began to flap its wings, and the entire jungle trembled at its movements. A feeling of nausea arose, and Qingye trembled as she reached out to steady herself against the tree trunk, only to find that the tree had turned a brilliant purple, melting like mud.

Qingye clutched her head tightly, wanting to scream. Her heart was pounding faster than she could imagine. The jungle was shrinking. Noise and stares were closing in. The space had become a tiny prison because of fear.

The clear, resonant sound of a sword echoed through the deep forest, instantly bringing clarity to the world.