Chapter 855
Chapter 0855: A World of Good and Evil
From Wu Yu's point of view, the Dignified Sword Elemental was without weaknesses . A cold-blooded entity that loved battle, compared to the more lively Ghostly Artificer . But there was also a chance . Between the two, the Ghostly Artificer should be easier to deal with than the Dignified Sword Elemental, and he might have a chance to kill him .
And against the Ghostly Artificer, he could also use the Skeletal Flame Dragon .
Also, Wu Yu had caught a glimpse of the huge castle of the Bloody Yan Cave previously, and he wanted to take a look within .
After spending most of a day traversing the swelteringly hot Infernal Inferno, he finally reached the Bloody Yan Cave again . The huge sphere was densely covered in skulls, and each barred access to the citadel .
The citadel of the ghostly cultivators .
Right now, many were coming and going from the Bloody Yan Cave . The strongest were at the Dao Querying Realm, while the weakest ones were at the Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea Realm . There were even some Jindan Dao Realm children sticking their heads out from within .
Wu Yu had already gathered information . He had captured many Ghostly Yan Tribe members before and questioned all of them . In the outer perimeter of the Bloody Yan Cave, there were quite a few spirit designs meant to stop the Yan Huang Tribe . However, they were of little consequence and would not be used often . After all, the energy expenditure was too great . But if any Yan Huang Tribe member barged in alone, they would immediately encounter a few major spirit designs .
From a distance, there were many spirit designs standing in Wu Yu's way . However, as he neared the Bloody Yan Cave, there would be fewer . There were only perimeter guards . If the Yan Huang Tribe could reach the vicinity of the Bloody Yan Cave, then they were pretty much doomed anyway .
Wu Yu had no idea how to control where his somersault landed, but after many tries, he roughly knew the distance it covered . Calculating backwards from the endpoint of the Bloody Yan Cave, he measured his starting point and readied himself for a single jump in . That way, he would not trigger the numerous Heaven and Earth Spirit Designs .
Of course, this was risky . A slip up would land him directly in the spirit designs . He would definitely raise all the alarms . Although Wu Yu was confident in jumping out again, he would be hard pressed to make another infiltration if they had their guard up .
"Best if I can succeed in one shot . "
Wu Yu was done estimating his position . The Bloody Yan Cave was a good distance away, and he needed an accurate landing . But the second tier of the Somersault Cloud did not have this ability yet .
"I'll just have to wing it . "
With luck, he would slip in unnoticed . Without, so be it .
After final adjustments, he took a deep breath . Firstly, he used his Lawful Embodiment of Heaven and Earth, not to become bigger, but smaller . At his smallest, he only reached the average person's calf, and Wu Yu's speed was also faster . It was easier for him to conceal himself . The Full Moon of Nanshan would have been even more suited to this undertaking, as he could camouflage himself directly, making him hard to be found .
The Full Moon of Nanshan would frequently use this technique to spy on babes changing clothes and the like .
"Go!"
Merging with his Somersault Cloud, he leaped with it at speed . In a flash, Wu Yu found himself pressed up against a soft but blood-drenched thing . On second look, he saw that it was the outer wall of the Bloody Yan Cave! As he neared, he saw that it was like the innards of an animal . It was disgusting, and smeared with blood .
The stench of blood here was extremely cloying . So the Bloody Yan Cave was not strictly a sphere . On closer examination, it was oval-shaped… . A stomach .
"Yuck! Yuck!" Ming Long hollered .
Wu Yu was currently physically shrunk . He looked about him, and realized that his luck was not bad . He had made it near the Bloody Yan Cave, and this was thanks to his frequent usage of the Somersault Cloud . Of course, his luck might not be this good next time . If he could succeed even once or twice out of ten, that would be considered decent already .
Looking around him, there were tunnels leading into the Bloody Yan Cave . There were also a few Ghostly Yan Tribe members about . Although they were weak, Wu Yu still kept his guard up . He first hid himself and then dived into a relatively small tunnel once he judged that the coast was clear . He charged in furiously, covering a few li[1] of ground . There was a faint light ahead, and after passing through, he found himself in a ghostly cultivator's world .
Within this huge sphere, the ghostly cultivators had built their citadel . This citadel was probably about the same size as the Immortal City of Northern Frost, albeit differently constructed . The citadel was built on the inner walls of the Bloody Yan Cave, and therefore especially fascinating . From the inner walls, Wu Yu did not see the sky and sun when he looked up, but rather another facade of the inner wall, almost pressing up against it .
But this castle was a baleful sight . The stench of blood clung everywhere, and it was dimly lit . Ghostly shrieks and howls echoed, and it looked genuinely hellish . There were indeed quite a few of Ghostly Yan Tribe members around, but it was not very crowded . Because most were cruel in their manner, even taking to killing and plundering on the streets, many hid in their houses, which presumably had Defensive Spirit Designs and were a little safer .
It looked like territory was very important within the Bloody Yan Cave . Because with territory came the ability to create Defensive Spirit Designs and protect one and one's family . Otherwise, over-exposure to the outside would make one prone to becoming a corpse on the street . Even with a house, they were vulnerable to break-ins and killings . All that he saw was shocking . This world was vast, and all sorts of societies existed . This one was a world of death .
No wonder the ghostly cultivators were so savage and cruel . In such a harsh environment, only the harshest survived . Only the most cunning could design their survival . To live in such a world, one would have to treat and cultivate with great caution, and constantly leave a margin of safety or face deadly situations .
Wu Yu's current goal was modest . He was good at being slippery, and this Bloody Yan Cave had a confusing layout that was easy to hide in . He could see that there might be many people here, but the limited space meant that the war over territory was very intense . As for the world of lava outside, those who headed out would be slain by the Yan Huang Tribe . Or they could face the heat of the Bloody Yan Cave . Some of the Ghostly Yan Tribe members could linger outside, but there would always be family . Once the children were born, they could not live outside . They could not go anywhere before reaching the Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm . That was why the ghostly cultivators had to carve their own spaces within the Bloody Yan Cave .
Or be eliminated!
That was the harshness of their milieu . . . .
This was what the Yan Huang Tribe had forced them to .
However, the Yan Huang Tribe was not in the wrong . The ghostly cultivators were mean-spirited, and they would wreak havoc when they cultivated outside . The Yan Huang Ancient Region could not allow them to sully the environment outside .
Besides, the Yan Huang Tribe had given them a lifeline . From the Yan Huang Tribe's perspective, the polluted tribes could live within this restricted space . Not committing genocide was already generous .
"If both are not in the wrong, then where does the wrong lie?"
Wu Yu started to have his doubts about this cruel world, and was even a little discouraged . Before, he had dichotomized the world clearly into black and white, but now he knew that everyone was a victim of bigger forces at work . No one had chosen to become a Ghostly Yan Tribe member, just like Wu Yu had not wanted to be a mortal . When they were born, their environment decreed their way of life and molded them into viciousness in order to ensure their survival . As for the children, what else could they fill their blank slates with?
Wu Yu realized that he had thought too simply of this world . This world was not populated only by good and bad people . It did not mean that those outside were white and those here were black . It was all a tangled mass . Everyone had their own fate, and no one could mock another's life . All one could do was fight and take . Each person would move towards the direction they thought best .
"This world is full of conflicts . I must stick to my own principles . That is my dao . "
He took a deep breath .
He only experienced this blow after entering the Bloody Yan Cave . Right before his eyes, he saw Ghostly Yan Tribe members break through a family's Defensive Spirit Designs and quickly slaughter all within . They snatched the precious treasures and left cackling with glee . Wu Yu was so shocked that he was unable to help . Such things happened constantly throughout the Bloody Yan Cave, and he was powerless .
"There are so many immortals up above . Do they not care about such wretched circumstances . . . . "
Wu Yu thought of the Sky Palace for the first time, and he thought of the Jade Emperor, the Queen Mother, and other household legends . . . .
Suddenly, he understood what the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal had told him over and over again . Why he had to constantly break the rules, and why he constantly had to straighten things out . It was because the Sky Palace was not a place of justice either . . . . .
Wu Yu was still a human, and he did not dare to dream too wildly . But what he currently saw had planted the seeds . He could not forget the piteous cries of the Ghostly Yan Tribe's children as they watched their parents dismembered, and they themselves slain soon after . Their spirits were snatched away, imprisoned within the spirit designs of others . The stronger the despair, the stronger the dao treasure .
"The law of the world is too deep to be measured . . . .
"Good and evil cannot be determined . Devouring, plundering . . . all of it leaves one conflicted . Life or death, cruelty or suffering, all of it leaves one confused . Since it is all so confusing, I will not care about right or wrong for now . Perhaps I will understand it when I grow stronger . "
He calmed down . His priority was to flesh out his dao a little more .
This did not affect his resolution, but simply broadened his perspective . He was no longer restricted to looking at a small part of dao, but could see the truly great dao, a dao that was more farsighted . He understood the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal better, and just what kind of being he was . . . .
As he flitted about here and there under concealment, no one would even dream that a Yan Huang Tribesman could enter the Bloody Yan Cave . Therefore, there were not many defenses in the Bloody Yan Cave . Many were at the Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea Realm, and a few at the Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm . There were even fewer at the Dao Querying Three Disasters Realm, and those around him were hard pressed to discover Wu Yu .
"Do you know where the Ghostly Artificer is?" Wu Yu had secretly caught someone who seemed to have come from a higher status . He did not let his victim see who he was as he questioned him .
1 . 1 li = 500 meters or 1,640 feet