Chapter 53

Chapter 53: I Don't Understand — I'm a Swordsman!

【Bright Future Chat Group】

【Group member Wangshu has started a group livestream】

Wangshu: "Live broadcast! An Abundance Emanator is giving a sermon!"

Jingliu: "?"

Asta: "If I listen, I won't grow tentacles, will I?"

Xing: "Abundance isn't as sinister as you think. The IPC actually likes working with Abundance Path walkers... the legitimate ones."

March 7th: "I know this one! It's called the Collective Ascension! Legend says Yaoshi traveled the worlds and preached on Rahu. Then Hoolay asked a question — two exchanges later, They achieved instant enlightenment. Everyone present ascended together, and Hoolay became an Emanator."

Jingliu: "How do you know that?"

March 7th: "We ran into the Yaoshi Esoteric Tradition on the Luofu! That's what they told us. There were a lot of them — they even made us copy it out five hundred times..."

Jingliu: "..."

Asta: "Is nobody going to comment on the name Rahu? I seem to recall that's a sentient planet."

Herta██: "Stop worrying. That brat won't die."

Wangshu snapped back to attention, refocusing on the sermon before him.

Atop a high platform, Hoolay had begun. Their voice wasn't loud, yet it reached every living being present with uncanny clarity, carrying a strange rhythm that soothed restlessness.

Only it was delivered in archaic, impenetrable classical prose — plunging Wangshu into flashbacks of high school Chinese literature class.

"All living beings are bound by their mortal forms, imprisoned as if caged, suffering the Three Punishments of Death: born knowing death, sick approaching death, aging fearing death."

Wangshu didn't rush. He scanned the area, found where the Borisin were congregated, and settled into a decent spot.

Hoolay had arrived in haste — word hadn't fully spread through the town yet, so Wangshu's seat had a clear sightline.

But the spatial fluctuation persisted. Wangshu couldn't identify it — his experience within interstellar systems was genuinely lacking.

Herta██: "Doesn't feel like the real body."

Asta: "Why is the livestream first-person?"

Wangshu, plainly: "I took a transformation pill. Too ugly. Didn't want third-person."

Jingliu, wearily: "Don't romanticize the Age of Divine Descent's knowledge. It was sealed for a reason."

Wangshu: "I'm not romanticizing. Cangcheng's chief strategist personally gave it to me."

Jingliu was instantly sunk. Her homeland's second-in-command, leading by example. She truly couldn't find a defense for Cangcheng.

"Therefore birth, aging, sickness, and suffering — all lead to death. From death comes the root of all anguish."

Hoolay continued eloquently, their tone suffused with compassion, occasionally glancing toward Wangshu... He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he definitely felt their gaze brush him.

Asta: "Sounds familiar."

Wangshu: "Senior Jingliu has said similar things."

Jingliu: "?"

Was this brat under the impression she'd been too lenient lately?

Jingliu: "Little boy, has your mind been corrupted by Abundance abominations?"

Wangshu: "'A sword is a weapon of violence. No matter the reason, no matter how noble the justification — swinging a sword is for killing.'"

Jingliu: "..."

Wangshu: "'Birth, aging, sickness, suffering — no matter what meaning you assign, the most fundamental, most universal reason is fear of death.'"

Jingliu: "..."

Xing: "Pfft... hahaha, I know it's a joke, but it actually sounds like a crossover easter egg."

Herta██: "It's not a joke. This is exactly how Yaoshi preaches. Only Yaoshi didn't finish — Hoolay achieved enlightenment mid-sermon and enshrined these words as gospel."

Herta██: "To the Abundance Aeon, all life suffers. Most suffering can be resolved by longevity. New suffering may arise, but it does address the universe's present grief."

Herta██: "But clearly, an Aeon doesn't have time to monitor the afterlives of those freed from suffering."

March 7th: "Just listening to the original intent, it sounds like a benevolent god."

Wangshu: "Shh — save the divisive talk."

"You there, young brother — what's your name?"

A gentle voice suddenly singled him out, interrupting Wangshu's thoughts. He felt the Borisin beside him give his shoulder a nudge, and he hurriedly stood.

On the platform, Hoolay was smiling at him — expression warm, neither quite male nor female, always approachable. Like a kindly older sibling from next door.

Why were They calling on him?

"I — I'm Hoolay!"

He answered in a deep, gravelly voice, doing his best to mimic Borisin roughness.

"..."

A beat of silence — then a derisive snort from across the crowd.

It came from an especially tall, powerfully built young Borisin warrior whose face still carried a trace of youthful rawness. He rose, glaring at Wangshu with hostile eyes.

"If you're Hoolay, then what does that make me?"

Wangshu: ...

Was Hoolay born this early?

Hoolay seemed disinclined to let a fight break out. They pressed Hoolay the Borisin back down, tone still gentle:

"Some harbor doubts, believing I've gathered you all merely to wage war against the Xianzhou. I understand those who won't give their real names."

Hoolay's tone shifted, gaining an edge of power: "But are you truly content to be trapped by the Three Punishments forever?"

"Yaoshi's compassion embraces all beings. Our races — gifted with strong bodies and long lives — need only a drop of Yaoshi's grace to shed most of our suffering."

"The Xianzhou people are different." Their voice turned to wistful sorrow: "Born frail, their lives brief. So Yaoshi must plant the Jianmu seed within them — to free them from the shackles of a short life."

"That seed takes root in their bodies like a furnace-core, surpassing the heart, surpassing life itself, drawing power from the source over endless ages. A hidden engine within every Xianzhou person, more vital than the heart."

"The Xianzhou are foolish. They don't understand the Yaoshi's benevolence. They call it a curse."

"But if that seed were given to you and me — body as soil, breath as wind and rain — cultivating the furnace-core, expanding the meridians, ultimately growing a new divine tree within oneself — life would evolve. Reach the eternal and imperishable."

Wangshu discreetly surveyed the crowd. The young Hoolay — the real one — was listening with blazing eyes and clenched fists, clearly enthralled by the grand vision being painted.

In the future, this doctrine would make him a War Chief. The furnace-cores of 30,000 Xianzhou people would forge his diamond-iron armor, paired with the Borisin's Crimson Spring Heart, granting near-infinite life — virtually touching immortality.

And then... Jingliu captured him alive. It seemed that raw quantity — even 30,000 elites' furnace-cores — still couldn't match a swordsman's flash of insight.

Before Wangshu could check the group chat, Hoolay fixed Their gaze on him again:

"Wangshu."

They spoke his name clearly.

"Your movements were betrayed by Cangcheng's own people long ago. Even so — will you still raise your sword for a Xianzhou that has already abandoned you?"

At the crowd's edge, Jiye — who'd been listening in rapture — snapped awake.

The doctrine had a market even on the Xianzhou — it was the Yaoshi Esoteric Tradition's core. But these teachings hadn't surfaced until Year 6610, when the High Marshal had immediately suppressed and erased them. Now wasn't the time to question their authenticity — there was a traitor!

And who would Wangshu suspect first?

Jiye's heartbeat spiked. His blood seemed to freeze. He weighed his options rapidly.

Standing up now meant near-certain death. With Hoolay present, surrounded by this many Abundance followers, even a general might not survive.

But if he stayed hidden, maybe he could slip away in the chaos. Dangerous, but not hopeless...

Except — he was a Foxian. The Borisin's bone-deep contempt for Foxians was legendary. And Wangshu seemed to trust him. Betraying someone who trusted you was the kind of thing that eroded your principles.

"Wangshu! Don't listen to Them — They must have detected us through some method beforehand!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Jiye tried to surge to his feet — but no sound came. He couldn't move. His vision was being stripped away... His heart plummeted.

Seriously? There really was a mole. His scout vessel was equipped with the Xianzhou's latest anti-detection tech. They'd been meticulous the entire way — the Zhuming and Yuque had personally guaranteed they couldn't be tracked...

Just as despair crested—

"Save the fancy speeches. I didn't pick up a sword to become some inhuman monstrosity like you."

A blinding white arc flashed — like a meteor tearing through twilight. Wangshu drew his blade and stood at Jiye's side, sword unsheathed, cold light gleaming.

In mere heartbeats, every trace of his Borisin transformation sloughed away. The pills' effect — meant to last days — was instantly metabolized by his stacked physical stats.