"Hey, little junior brother, are you crying?"

Hong Ya noticed Feng Mu's silent tears and seemed to recall her past self. She said with a cheerful smile,

"When Master picked me up back in the day, and I tasted Aunt Wei's cooking for the first time, I inexplicably cried my eyes out, probably because I'd never had such delicious food before."

Recalling her own embarrassing moment, Hong Ya continued, "I heard from the senior brother that the second senior sister and sixth senior brother also cried, especially the sixth senior brother, who cried so much that he vomited up his food. The remaining senior brothers didn't cry and were instead scolded by Master for being so worthless that they even forgot to cry."

Feng Mu wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes and stared at Hong Ya, lost in thought.

Feeling a bit embarrassed by his gaze, Hong Ya bit her lip and picked a chicken leg from her bowl, placing it in Feng Mu's.

Feng Mu picked up the chicken leg and, under the watchful eyes of his junior sister, tore it apart with his teeth. The juices burst in his mouth, and the latter swallowed with difficulty before reluctantly looking away.

While chewing on the chicken leg, Feng Mu casually asked, "Did Master say anything else?"

Hong Ya, with her mouth full and speech muffled, replied, "Oh, I remember Master said something else, but I didn't quite understand it. Just one thing stuck in my mind."

"A living corpse soaked in a dead pool for too long, its flesh revived but its spirit rotted, leaving it a mere walking dead, pitiful and hateful!"

Listening to his junior sister's words, which he couldn't quite grasp, Feng Mu suddenly shivered as he understood.

"Walkers, walking corpses, walking corpses."

Feng Mu repeated softly, and as if a horrifying image appeared before him.

In the massive city, skyscrapers towered, and dense buildings were arranged like ant nests.

And inside these buildings lived nothing but decaying corpses, peering down from the heights, while the streets were filled with the same rotting bodies.

These corpses walked, stood, sat, cried, laughed, loudly greeting each other, some even nestling and embracing each other, letting their decaying bodily fluids drip onto one another.

The faces peering out from vehicles moving or parked on the road were hollow, merely skin and bones, resembling ghosts or corpses, anything but living humans.

"So, the truth is, we're all living corpses?!!" Feng Mu shivered, not daring to look in the mirror these past few days.

"Oh? Old Eight, you've made yourself cry over a meal and even scared yourself. What interesting image did you think of? Share with your teacher."

Li Guishen suddenly appeared in front of Feng Mu, with a cigarette holder in his mouth, keeping his gaze fixed on Feng Mu.

Hong Ya ran off to serve Master a bowl of food.

Feng Mu looked at the old and muddled-eyed Li Guishen, to whom he felt an inexplicable reverence.

But he really wanted to know if the images that surfaced in his mind were indeed the truth.

Thus, Feng Mu honestly answered, "Master, I seemed to be hallucinating, feeling like legions of living corpses were dancing around the world?"

Li Guishen's eyes glowed with an eerie green, commenting curiously, "Your body may be weak, but your spirit certainly doesn't seem nurtured by eighteen years of poison."

Feng Mu's heart skipped a beat, thinking his biggest secret was about to be discovered.

Simultaneously realizing that a principal reason for identifying his body's plea was evidently a result of a soul swap inside of him.

If it were the original soul, corrupted and deceived for over a decade, perhaps even crying would have been long forgotten.

Fortunately, Li Guishen didn't delve into Feng Mu's secret, but instead coldly chuckled, "What you've seen, your second senior sister and sixth senior brother have also seen."

"Afterwards, one's heart turned toxic, perceiving murder not as murder, but as collecting corpses to do them a favor."

"Another's eyes turned bad, feeling that the living are hard to portray, only in death does the face become clear."

Li Guishen paused, knocking the ash from his pipe onto the stone table, then asked Feng Mu, "And you, what are you thinking now?"

Feng Mu hesitated, thinking for a moment, the anger and fear after being deceived slightly subsiding. He answered, "I'm not thinking much, just pondering that I should eat this food from now on and always have a few more bowls."

Li Guishen neither agreed nor disagreed, smiling, "You certainly are pragmatic."

Feng Mu then asked, "Master, did I see an illusion?"

Li Guishen took a puff of the cigarette, exhaling a smoke ring that blurred his old face, "Of course, it was an illusion. How could the entire world be living corpses, let alone dancing?"

Feng Mu breathed a small sigh of relief only to hear the next statement, "Though perhaps half of it is!"

Half, perhaps?!!

Instantly, Feng Mu's scalp tingled almost to the breaking point, the illusion not turning fully real, yet halfway merging into reality, should he cry or should he laugh?

Feng Mu's fingers stiffened around the rice bowl, his expression froze, "Why?"

He was asking why such a situation arises and also questioning the purpose behind such circumstances.

Li Guishen did not answer this time; maybe he didn't desire to speak, or perhaps he too didn't comprehend the reason. He merely uttered, "Eat."

The sheer magnitude of shock was evidently not something that could be digested in an instant, leaving no other option but to eat.

Feng Mu nodded, and forcefully gobbled down his rice, not leaving a single grain behind.

Call him selfish, call him cold, but in any case, Feng Mu had not the slightest desire to save the world.

The world was too vast, his heart couldn't contain it; his heart could only hold himself.

Upon seeing Feng Mu so obedient, Li Guishen was slightly surprised, knowing that back then, Laoliu locked himself in his room for several days, and another one cried so much that they wouldn't even eat.

Li Guishen's eyes flickered with a trace of appreciation, thinking, "As expected, a seedling sent by the ancestors, indifferent by nature, perfectly suited to the ways of our sect."

Feng Mu placed the bowl on the stone table and looked at his master.

Hong Ya bounced back, handing a heap of bowls and chopsticks to Li Guishen.

Li Guishen calmly took a bite of food and said, "If you have questions, ask quickly."

Feng Mu then asked, "What was the 'divine' you mentioned earlier, Master?"

Li Guishen: "If life is a sea of suffering, the body a raft, then the divine is the oar that rows, the only ray of light in the vast darkness, as the ancients said, it sounds so mysterious."

Li Guishen sneered, "But to me, the divine is just like the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, it's just another organ."

Feng Mu: "The divine is an organ?"

Li Guishen nodded: "Yes, only it's an invisible organ, the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys require food for nourishment, but the divine needs no food, it requires the five senses for nourishment."

"So when the five senses deceive you, the divine loses nourishment, it withers, and over time, it dies. Even if the body lives on, it can no longer see itself, becoming a mass of rotten flesh without realizing it."

Feng Mu seemed to understand partially, and asked, "If the body dies, can it be revived?"

Feng Mu understood that when Li Guishen spoke of death, he didn't mean literal death, otherwise, death would be true death, it must be a metaphorical expression.

Li Guishen took another bite: "Eating sustains life, and flesh and blood can be replenished with more."

Feng Mu asked again, "Then if the divine dies, can it be revived?"

Li Guishen's appreciation for Feng Mu became more pronounced, admiring Feng Mu's acuteness and agility to grasp the crux.

Back then, the others, even after several months, only realized and questioned the issues I deliberately raised.

As for the eldest, the eldest was an abandoned baby, raised from childhood by me, and did not have this confusion.

The seventh was simpler, she never realized the issue, but was already on the right path with her senior brothers and sisters.

Li Guishen answered indifferently: "If the divine is dead, it cannot be revived by oneself, it must rely on others."

Feng Mu felt close to the answer, and repeated, "Rely on others, how so?"

Li Guishen put down his bowl, burped contentedly, like a master guiding his disciple patiently: "If you lack something, others have it, what will you do?"

Feng Mu, without hesitation, blurted out, "Naturally, take it!"

As soon as the words were out, Feng Mu understood.

Li Guishen showed an expression of a teachable youth, chuckling as he asked, "What do you think martial arts are?"

Feng Mu pondered for a moment, "Martial arts are killing skills."

This time, Li Guishen's expression of approval was apparent, he burst into hearty laughter, his face turning frightfully grim: "Exactly, killing is seizing the divine, the skill of killing is to cultivate the divine, so that's why the more people a martial artist kills, the sharper their five senses, the greater their martial arts, isn't it?"

Though he had guessed the answer, hearing it truly made Feng Mu shiver all over.

Li Guishen's smile grew more rampant, his face frightfully grim: "What is said by martial arts reaching the divine, is that the one who kills the most, plunders the most from others, ultimately cultivates the true divine within their body, isn't it?!!"

Feng Mu knew that this was his master instilling the Ronggui Sect martial arts philosophy in him.

This was but his master's perspective, martial arts need not be explained this way, it's likely a distorted doctrine, yet horrifyingly, Feng Mu felt what Li Guishen said was chilling but insightful, making seven-tenths sense.

Three-tenths were missing because it was too blatant, lacking embellishment, thus making it hard to become a mainstream explanation.

Additionally, Feng Mu thought that the 'divine' his master spoke of might be better described by another term—'Resentful Energy', which might be more accurate!

"The human body contains 'Resentful Energy', killing is to seize 'Resentful Energy', but in the Lower City, most are living corpses, their 'Resentful Energy' has withered and died, only by killing other living corpses can you cultivate your own 'Resentful Energy'?" Feng Mu thought.

Li Guishen waited a few minutes, allowing Feng Mu to digest the principles he spoke of, before changing to a kindly demeanor, and said seriously, "I've told you the martial arts philosophy of our sect, do you reject it?"

In his heart, Feng Mu did not reject it, on the contrary, he was somewhat pleased, for killing is quite different from killing living corpses, the guilt inside is entirely different.

Feng Mu shook his head, "Disciple does not reject it; disciple feels every word Master says is like a gem, profoundly thought-provoking."

Li Guishen, greatly satisfied, then said, "Since that is the case, today I will teach you the true skills of our sect."

...

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