Time passed differently within his consciousness compared to outside. Its speed was related to the depth of Wenren È's memories, so the next ten years passed like an instant to Yin Hanjiang.
He was an observer in this world, looking on as ten years flew by and Wenren Wu changed his name, running around within the occupied cities and saving whoever he came across. All the while, he was gathering strength and waiting for his opportunity.
At the same time, great changes occurred in the imperial court. With a new emperor's rise to power, the country became more prosperous and the military stronger. The new emperor hoped to take back the lost lands and was waiting to build up power. War could break out any instant.
Wenren Wu took the opportunity to ally with the underground resistance in the cities, and with cooperation from inside and outside, they drove the foreign tribe out in one fell swoop. His martial arts were powerful and he commanded forces with skill, as well as having the support of the civilians at the border. He built up renown within the military, waiting for his opportunity, then revealed himself as the orphaned son of Marshal Wenren. Everyone rallied in support of him, and faced with his influence, the court had no choice but to exonerate the Wenren clan.
After laying low for ten years, Wenren Wu finally entered battle as a general, taking back the nine cities in one move and pushing the tribespeople back to the prairies where they didn't dare to emerge.
By this point, his natural talent in cultivation had brought him to the peak of Core Formation.
Wenren Wu had climbed to the Core Formation stage quickly through conflict, but at that moment, he felt himself reach a bottleneck.
No matter how many people he killed or how much territory he took back, he was unable to break through. Just as the manual had said, it was very difficult to break through to the Nascent Soul stage on the Path of Slaughter.
By now, that demonic cultivator returned. He made a suggestion—Wenren Wu had not yet forged a bonded weapon, but a meteor had just fallen onto the prairies, starting a fire which burned for half a month. The tribespeople lost their grazing lands and many of their livestock had starved to death. Wenren Wu discovered a divine metal within the meteor and forged it into a halberd with divine fire, but no matter what he did, he couldn't merge with it and make it his bonded weapon.
The prairie fire destroyed the foreign tribe's power, and they had no choice but to surrender, becoming vassal states who sent tribute to the imperial court every year.
The new emperor negotiated peace and the war that had lasted for three years finally ended. Wenren Wu was unable to accept this.
When his town was slaughtered, he had vowed to exterminate the enemy tribe, not leaving a single soldier or civilian.
The official that the court sent to negotiate surrender happened to be a branch member of the Zhongli clan named Zhongli Chu. He was also a Core Formation cultivator and had great prestige. In one move, he brought Wenren Wu under control, forced him to give up his leadership, and put him under house arrest.
Rage burned within Wenren Wu. Holding his newly forged halberd, his expression was dark and vicious, and he showed faint signs of deviation.
Yin Hanjiang was still tiny after fifteen years had passed. He had never seen his Venerable like this before, and hugged his leg, wishing he would return to normal, but Wenren Wu was submerged in his memories and didn't notice him.
"Tut tut, looking at your state, you'll probably never break through to Nascent Soul." The demonic cultivator had returned. He figured Wenren Wu should be forming a Nascent Soul any time now, so often hung around the border, waiting for his chance.
"The Path of Slaughter is indeed quick. I've never heard of someone making it from Qi Gathering to Core Formation in just ten years. But in the past five years, you've made no progress. Ah... the Path of Slaughter is easier to cultivate than other paths—you only need to kill people to advance, but the more you kill, the stronger your inner demons will be, and you'll be unable to pass your Nascent Soul inner demon tribulation. No wonder Nascent Soul is a threshold that no one can surmount on the Path of Slaughter."
Wenren Wu swung his halberd at the demonic cultivator, who quickly backed off. "Woah, you've become so addicted to killing, you even want to kill me. How about this? I have an idea for you. You've been unable to merge with that magic weapon, probably because it doesn't have a consciousness. Consciousness can be nurtured by heaven and earth, or created by sealing souls within it. Haven't you captured many prisoners of war? There are also herders who have fled the fires and come to the cities, and are being managed in the prisoner of war camps. All together, it probably comes up to a hundred thousand people.
"They're of different races and we can't see eye to eye. Since you have a grudge against them, you don't need to see them as people. Think about it—with a hundred thousand killings and a hundred thousand souls refined into your halberd, shouldn't you be able to break through to Nascent Soul? At Nascent Soul, what could the disciple of the Zhongli clan do to you?
"Can an exoneration make up for the over a hundred lives of the Wenren clan? You might as well declare yourself a king and slaughter your way into the capital, eliminating the corrupt officials of the court, making the emperor into a figurehead and ruling yourself. Doesn't that sound better?"
Those words, dripping with poison, ate at Wenren Wu. At night, he left the manor with his halberd in hand, breaking into the prisoner camp. His gaze slowly swept across the battered and exhausted prisoners, sleeping huddled together.
It was hard to recognize the tribespeople's foreign features. In Wenren Wu's eyes, their faces overlapped with the soldiers who had slaughtered his town years ago.
"Ah-Wu!" Still a five or six-year-old child, Yin Hanjiang grabbed Wenren Wu's leg, wishing he would wake up.
But this was only a memory, and all of Yin Hanjiang's actions had no meaning.
Wenren È raised his halberd, aiming it at a prisoner wearing tattered clothing. When he was about to strike, he heard the weak voice of a child say, "Mommy, I'm hungry." He regained awareness. Looking at the halberd in his hand, his body began uncontrollably shaking.
What was he doing?
Taking action against defeated soldiers, the elderly, women, and children, in order to seal their souls eternally within this halberd. It was the same as the deeds the tribe's heartless soldiers had once carried out against his hometown.
"Eh? What are you thinking?" the demonic cultivator said. "Why aren't you acting?"
Not long ago, he had sworn to protect the common people living at the border, but now he had become the same kind of slaughterer as his enemies.
When he refused his orders and insisted on slaughtering the foreign tribes, what had Zhongli Chu said?
"Marshal Wenren, you're a genius commander with unrivaled martial arts. You can single-handedly wipe out all life on the prairies, but what good would that do? When the spring breeze blows, the grass will sprout again. The vast prairie needs people to manage it, herd cows and sheep and raise horses. After you kill these people, where will the court find people to raise herds? Do you want the border army to manage the lands while you make yourself king of this territory? Or do you want exiled criminals to be sent there, so in a few generations, a new enemy tribe emerges?
"You are a general, so you want to slay the enemy and defend the kingdom. But prolonged military campaigns will only empty the country's treasury, and the fighting will disrupt the lives of the civilians living at the border. Only by letting the enemy feel the pain of a defeat, then educating and overseeing them, opening up trade and commerce, can we truly defend the border and ensure lasting peace.
"You say that your grudge from fifteen years ago for the slaughter of your town is still unavenged, and I understand you. But looking into the future, this grudge must stop here."
Back then, Wenren Wu just thought he was full of it. Because he hadn't suffered, he didn't understand how deep this grudge ran.
But now, he stood in the sky and watched the prisoners living lives like animals in the prison camps.
If he killed them and used them to refine his weapon, he could break through to the Nascent Soul stage and truly become a god of death. If he let them go, he would never have any possibility of advancing, and the demonic cultivator next to him was coveting his golden core.
Wenren Wu's sight slowly turned from the prisoners to the demonic cultivator. The man, who called himself Wanderer Yinsha, said suspiciously, "What are you looking at me for? The ants below you are your targets. With all these people here, even if you aren't willing to kill them, I'll take their souls. After experiencing the tragedies of the war and fire, they're each filled with resentment, so they'll make top quality materials! It's hard for me to even let you have them!"
Wenren Wu raised his halberd, but instead of pointing to the prisoners, it now pointed at Wanderer Yinsha.
"What are you doing?" Wanderer Yinsha asked.
"Even if they're barbarians, they can be educated and become our citizens. A general's duty is protecting the common people. I won't kill prisoners of war, and I won't allow someone to take advantage of warfare to capture souls for evil arts!"
As he spoke, his black halberd thrust toward Wanderer Yinsha.
The Nascent Soul stage Wanderer Yinsha calmly took out an item, a doll stained with Wenren Wu's blood. He stuck a needle through its chest, and Wenren Wu felt deep agony there. Bearing the pain, he continued to attack, but he had no way to defeat the demonic cultivator who was a realm higher than him and was captured within a few moves.
"Forget it, I've wasted fifteen years without any point. The Path of Slaughter isn't as strong as it's said to be, nothing but empty words. At least I still have a golden core and these resentful spirits, and after I refine them, they should be perfect for breaking through to Deity Transformation, so it wasn't a complete waste." As he spoke, Wanderer Yinsha reached toward Wenren Wu's dantian, about to take his golden core.
The doll painted with Wenren Wu's blood had already been taken apart by Wanderer Yinsha, and with each limb being removed, Wenren Wu felt himself lose control over part of his body. Now he lay powerlessly, unable to move, only capable of watching.
He raised his head, looking up to the myriad stars dotting the sky above the prairie, and felt unwilling. Fifteen years ago, he hadn't been able to protect his family and the civilians at the border, and now, fifteen years later, he was still unable to protect his former enemies, the prisoners of war.
Wenren Wu gripped his halberd tightly. It was covered with fresh blood. The halberd had been forged from the meteorite's iron, and no matter how much blood it absorbed, he was unable to control it and couldn't use it to fly.
Right now, Wenren Wu had one thought left. The common lives at the border no longer needed Wenren Wu, so then the only use he had for this life was protecting peace and securing the future.
Kill! Kill this demonic cultivator!
Killing intent filled him, but the intention to protect allowed him to maintain his rationality.
At the moment Wanderer Yinsha took out his golden core, that halberd which had never responded before moved. It absorbed the blood covering it and let out faint golden rays of light.
In the sky, Polis shone, the power of the star called down by the light of the halberd. The halberd flew up and slashed through the night with a streak of golden light, severing Wanderer Yinsha's arm. The golden core returned to Wenren Wu's dantian.
Wenren Wu's upper robe fell away, revealing the scars crisscrossing his body which he had gained in years of fighting at the border—the proof of him protecting his homeland.
As starlight descended, Wenren Wu circulated his spiritual energy. While his halberd did battle with Wanderer Yinsha using the power of the stars, he needed to break through to Nascent Soul.
Only a battle that put his life on the line could have a chance of killing his opponent.
At this point, whether or not he could pass his inner demon tribulation and whether or not he would survive was no longer important to him. All he needed was the burst of power at the instant he formed his Nascent Soul.
The inexhaustible power of the stars restored Wenren Wu's injured body. With a thought, his halberd returned to his hand. All the deaths he had caused flashed before his eyes, but Wenren Wu wasn't shaken, clutching the halberd firmly. With the spiritual energy from the formation of his Nascent Soul, his halberd thrust through the sky, aimed for Wanderer Yinsha.
Rays of frosty light shone out. At the last moment before daybreak, the halberd pierced Wander Yinsha's dantian. Wenren Wu stood in the sky, gazing silently at the ground below.
Polis shone above his head, reflecting the golden patterns of light on the halberd.
Before the power of the stars, Wanderer Yinsha's soul was scattered. Two streaks of blood ran from Wenren Wu's eyes. In the end, he hadn't been able to take his revenge.
"Marshal Wenren's righteousness fills this one with admiration," Zhongli Chu said respectfully as he slowly walked up to Wenren È. "I followed you here, originally intending to sacrifice myself to stop you, but I didn't imagine that you would show great virtue, abandoning your vengeance and martyring yourself. Today, Marshal Wenren has used battle to stop the dagger-axe, and truly deserves the name of 'Wu'."
Wenren Wu glanced at Zhongli Chu and said in a low voice, "You don't need to worry about me using a cultivator's power to mess with imperial matters. From now on, Wenren Wu no longer exists in this world. There is only Wenren È."
When war broke out once more and disaster descended to earth, Wenren È would be there.
That night, Wenren Wu died from old injuries the night before peace was negotiated, being posthumously awarded the title of the North Defender King.
Not long after, a new Nascent Soul stage expert suddenly appeared among the demonic sects. In just a few months, he destroyed several sects who had harmed the public. He wielded the Seven-Killing Halberd, surrounded by the aura of death, calling himself Wenren È.
At the end of the memories, Yin Hanjiang was ejected from Wenren È's consciousness. Having relived the past, Wenren È also slowly opened his eyes.
Within Yin Hanjiang's soul, he saw that the bloodstain that had prevented him from approaching had transformed into a vast circle of light. Wenren È looked into it and found it was every moment of little Yin Hanjiang's experiences in his memories.
The circle of light carried Wenren È up into the sky, hanging at the peak of Yin Hanjiang's consciousness and beginning to absorb all the lights around it.
The points of light like stars gathered together, becoming blinding radiance that illuminated the previously dark expanse of Yin Hanjiang's soul, causing all the bloodstains to vanish under its light.
Wenren È smiled. He left Yin Hanjiang's consciousness and reappeared in the real world.
Yin Hanjiang opened his eyes, and for a moment, didn't know where he was.
He looked around himself. All the Wenren È's crowded in his sight vanished one by one, only leaving the one least resembling him, before Yin Hanjiang.
No, it wasn't the one least resembling him. It was the true Wenren È that he had never seen before.
Admiration and reverence had led him to deify this man. Thinking that he could never match up, he had automatically retreated from him and put up a boundary between them.
Yin Hanjiang extended his arms to the man before him, holding him tight. "My Ah-Wu," he said quietly.
Even if he was unable to touch him right now, he needed to hold him.
However, when Yin Hanjiang's arms tightened, he touched a solid body.
Even Wenren È was shocked. He had already returned the divine blood to Baili Qingmiao, so how was his body solid?
"Where's the Seven-Killing Halberd?" Wenren È felt in his storage space for it. Since he had no material body, he had been unable to store it inside his body and kept it in a storage space all this time, but it was no longer there.
The Army Crushing Spike lying by the bed hummed toward Wenren È's chest, as if greeting something.
Yin Hanjiang, linked to the Army Crushing Spike's intent, placed his hand against his Venerable's chest. "In here."
The Seven-Killing Halberd had been forged from a heavenly meteorite. Back then, the goddess in charge of disasters had flung it to the earth to bring devastation to the prairies, so the iron contained the power of the primordial goddess. Because of this power within it, Wenren Wu had been unable to awaken it as his bonded weapon, and also because of it, after it awakened, it commanded the power of the stars and absorbed Wenren È's blood.
Within his memories, Wenren È had relived everything that happened back then and once more awakened the divine power within the Seven-Killing Halberd. It fused with his body of primordial chaos and, without knowing it, he had reformed his physical form and cultivated a divine body.
Cultivation was about cultivating the mind. While treating Yin Hanjiang, Wenren È had returned to his origins and rediscovered his original desires that had set him down the path of cultivation.
Wenren È clasped the hand Yin Hanjiang had placed on his chest. "Yin Hanjiang, I've returned."
"Welcome back, Venerable," Yin Hanjiang said respectfully, but he still had his arms around Wenren È and was unwilling to release him.
"Can Sect Leader Yin return this Venerable's robes to him?" Wenren È said.
After reforming his body, his illusory clothes had disappeared. The two had just awakened from their soul communion so weren't in a normal frame of mind and hadn't noticed until now. But with Yin Hanjiang hugging him, Wenren È began to feel a bit awkward.
"No!" Yin Hanjiang said stubbornly. "The Venerable bestowed it to me himself."
"...This Venerable has just returned to Xuanyuan Sect, and his subordinate has left him without even his clothes?" Wenren È said with a smile.
"That's right." Yin Hanjiang looked at Wenren È, his expression the same as his child self.
Wenren È smiled and leaned over to take back his robe. They struggled for several days, until Yin Hanjiang was exhausted, lying contentedly in Wenren È's arms.