Chapter 623: Ling Xiao’s Sheltered Upbringing
Ling Xiao's personality was indeed a much-needed comedic feature in their dangerous world. He had left the Diviner's temple because he felt that it was not the life he wanted, and after traveling alongside Xue Wei and the others for a long time, his true character had long since surfaced.
He had been taken to the temple at a very young age, and his entire childhood had been sheltered. He did not know much about the outside world, but his hunger for knowledge, and his curious nature made him escape the temple time and time again, with the purpose of learning about the real world.
It was not that Ling Xiao was ungrateful to the old men who had raised him, but he was smart from a young age, and he could sense the eccentricity in the way they tried to influence him. The constant belief that beasts were all evil and that the world needed them to subdue these beasts and make them work as slaves.
The way these old men had told him about the gruesome stories of destruction caused by the Primordial Beasts and their hordes of fierce beasts made him feel that while it might be true, there had to be some sort of scale that had gone wrong somewhere.
He would listen to the double standards of how the beasts were ruthless and cruel for not treating human lives as important, but at the same time, they, as Diviners, treated these beasts the same way.
From a young age, he found it hypocritical, and he began to listen to their words with a grain of salt. He wanted to see what the real world was like, but the old men would never let him leave.
Once he had fled and hidden in a brothel, and the experience had truly caused him to be traumatized for life. Although he had not experienced any of the services offered at this place, he had seen how the many beautiful women and men were treated as goods that could be used for satisfying the wealthy people.
He could see the despair in these prostitutes and their helplessness as they had to offer themselves to the rich.
The reason he managed to escape the brothel was due to a prostitute who got too despaired and murdered her customer, after which she began laughing manically and killed herself.
He witnessed how the entire brothel was thrown into chaos as the man's identity was special, but the poor woman was ignored, and many even felt that her death was too simple.
To her, no matter how gruesome the death would be, it would still be freedom. Such recognition made Ling Xiao realize that the world he was fighting to protect was not black and white.
He was not able to protect these people who could act like beasts, and harm the beasts who had done nothing wrong.
After that event, he returned to the temple, stole the staff, and then fled. It was only later that he encountered Xue Wei, and began to realize that the world was beautiful but cruel. He should fight for his own survival and those he considered dear to him, instead of caring for some noble course. In the end, history was written by the victorious and the winner became the king, while the loser turned into a bandit.
However, no matter how much he had matured, he had grown up in a sheltered environment, and he did not see as much blood and gore as the rest. During battles, he would not mind it much, as he would feel the thrill of the fight, but now, knowing that these flowers had grown by absorbing the corpses beneath the ground, he could not help but shiver in fear. How uncomfortable!
Ling Xiao felt the constant shivers run down his spine, but he tried to force himself to calm down. His outburst was already not suitable, and if anyone were around, their location would be noticed without a doubt. His actions could bring danger to everyone around him.
However, Xue Wei and the others did not blame him. They found Ling Xiao's somewhat naive personality very reassuring and made them keep touch with human emotions. Often, they would feel that the coldbloodedness needed to murder again and again would numb their minds, but when they encountered horrible scenes, Ling Xiao would sometimes erupt in the most unexpected way, bringing their moods back to a balanced state.
It was the same here. This zone was much more taxing on their minds than any of the previous ones. The story about the evil peony spirit had made them all feel frustrated and also caused them to contemplate about how big a difference it was when the corruption became a part of the spirit's core from creation, but none of them had been too bothered by the plants that grew by absorbing nutrients from corpses. To them, the dead were already dead, so it did not matter much.
However, seeing how agitated Ling Xiao had gotten, the heavy aura that had surrounded them all was instantly cleared up, and they managed to look at the whole situation from a different angle.
It genuinely did not matter what origin the peony spirit had. It did not matter how it acted or if it was evil or corrupted. To them, it was an enemy, and if it arrived, they would have to fight it.
Right now, it was unknown whether or not the original spirit was present, and they should focus on the flowers in front of them instead. For now, these flowers were the real danger they were facing.