Xuanxia

Chapter 530: The Forked Road (Part )

The ice that trapped Fu Qingzhou shattered into pieces.

That was the man in the black hat… He flicked his sleeves and a chilly wind blew past, shaking the ice away.

Fu Qingzhou walked out of the ice and exhaled a breath of cold air.

The moisture in the ice wet his hair and clothes. The cold air made his hands and feet a little stiff, and his left hand, which had not yet recovered, was in great pain.

He slowly practiced the Qi Ran Jue and looked up at the man in the black hat.

"Alliance Leader Jiang, what on earth is going on?" he asked.

The black hat man calmly asked back: "What do you think?"

"He has serious mental problems."

Fu Qingzhou frowned and said, "If my guess is correct, when he plays the role of Jiang Zongzhu, he is extremely righteous and kind; but when he plays the role of Xiyu Pavilion's Master, he becomes a sinister and cruel careerist."

After a moment of silence, the man in the black hat slowly said, "Yes, but it's not just that."

He was "floating" in the hall like a ghost, and said faintly: "When he was Jiang Baichuan, he only recognized himself as Jiang Baichuan. He remembered and knew about Xiyu Pavilion's identity, but he insisted on pretending that he didn't know."

"He firmly believes that he is just the leader of the Wulin Alliance, a sword fanatic who is devoted to seeking the truth, and a virtuous person who mediates the martial arts world."

"His belief was so strong that even Ning Baimei couldn't see it... He even gave Jiang Baichuan the Sword of Virtue, one of the Eight Swords of the Kingly Way."

"When he was Jiang Baichuan, he was the most gentlemanly, righteous, and benevolent person in the world."

The man in the black hat said grimly, "It was the same when I was the Lord of Xiyu Pavilion."

Fu Qingzhou frowned deeply.

He had never heard of such a situation.

In his previous life, he had studied criminal psychology in the police academy, had come across some "abnormal" cases, and knew a lot about antisocial personalities and mental illnesses.

Although he didn't learn this course very well, he still understood some typical complex psychological conditions.

Split personality? Not likely.

Split personality is also known as dissociative identity disorder. It is mostly caused by patients who have suffered major psychological trauma and weave a new role in their hearts. This role is mostly used to protect themselves and help themselves escape reality.

Generally, these personalities may be in a mutual amnesia relationship, in which each personality is unaware of the other personalities;

But at the same time, they may also be in a relationship of mutual recognition, where each personality knows every other personality, they can hear the other person's voice, and even talk to each other.

But the situation presented by Jiang Baichuan is more complicated.

He did not have two personalities. Jiang Baichuan and Zun Shang were both him.

He just had problems with his self-identity when switching between different identities, and this self-identity was very extreme and exclusive.

Fu Qingzhou had never heard of this situation. If he had to give Jiang Baichuan's mental illness a name, it would probably be... identity dissociation and identity extremism syndrome?
"Alliance Leader Jiang...why did he become like this?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

The man in the black hat was silent for a moment, probably thinking about whether to say the rest of the words.

But in the end, he whispered, "It's a long story."

"Many people know that Jiang Baichuan traveled all over the world in search of swords and teachings when he was young, but few people know what he went through."

"When he was young, he was born into a poor family. His family had four children, but two of them died in the drought, and they couldn't even feed the remaining two. He was the thinner and sicker of the two who survived, so his parents sold him to a nearby small sect for the price of five bowls of porridge."

"That small sect is really small. The sect master and elders inside are only at the sixth or seventh level of martial cultivation. They themselves don't have many resources. They accept some disciples just to have more people to farm and grab territory."

"But no one realized that Jiang Baichuan's talent was surprisingly strong."

"After he was accepted into the sect, he was just a little boy who helped to light the fire and add firewood. However, he watched the people in the sect practice swordsmanship every day, and holding a fire stick, he actually practiced swordsmanship himself... Later, he eavesdropped on the sect's master's method of opening the martial orifice, and secretly climbed up the mountain to open the martial orifice himself."

Fu Qingzhou listened quietly, his eyes moved.

In the indifferent and emotionless narration of the black hat man, Jiang Baichuan's life was vividly unfolded in front of him like a long scroll. When he was young, Jiang Baichuan was punished by the sect for secretly learning swordsmanship, but later he was reused because of his excellent talent.

The sect taught him a very basic and ordinary Taoist technique, but that technique was already the best the sect could offer.

Jiang Baichuan was grateful for his master's kindness and participated in many battles for the sake of the sect. He was quickly promoted within the sect because of his many contributions.

Not only was he promoted, but his realm also improved rapidly.

Before he was sixteen, he had already reached the fifth realm; when he was twenty, he had already stepped onto the edge of the sixth and seventh realms. In the entire sect, except for the sect master, there was no one stronger than him, and he had already learned all the sword techniques in the sect.

Under his leadership, the sect expanded rapidly... and naturally, it also made enemies.

One day, the enemy paid a huge price and hired a group of killers to attack the sect at night.

The small sect didn't have much power to fight back, and was completely wiped out that night!

What was Jiang Baichuan doing at that time?

"At that time, he was actually no longer interested in the sect." The man in the black hat whispered, "He felt that his swordsmanship had reached a bottleneck, so he began to move around, looking for a more advanced and sophisticated swordsmanship... When his master's sect was destroyed, he was seeking advice from an escort agency in a neighboring city and learned a new swordsmanship."

"Unexpectedly, when he returned to the sect, he saw only ruins. Not a single person from his former sect was left alive."

"Then... naturally, he wants revenge."

"But when he found out about the assassin organization and thought of his enemies, he suddenly realized..."

The man in the black hat said grimly: "He is no match for those people."

Fu Qingzhou frowned slightly.

He seemed to have guessed what was going to happen next.

As expected, the man in the black hat continued, "Although he was extremely talented at that time, the skills he practiced were too ordinary, and the swordsmanship he mastered were all extremely ordinary. He also had no connections in the martial arts world. In order to get revenge, he had only one choice."

"That is, join that killer organization."

Hearing this, Fu Qingzhou was surprised even though he had expected it: "Alliance Leader Jiang, you used to be a killer!"

"Otherwise, how could he have founded Xiyu Pavilion?" the man in the black hat asked quietly.

Fu Qingzhou sighed softly: "What happens next?"

"after?"

The man in the black hat said calmly, "Of course he learned something and then he slaughtered the killer organization completely."

Fu Qingzhou's pupils shrank.

"But he left one person behind."

The man in the black hat said slowly: "A young man who joined the organization after him, who has always been protected by him, and who has never killed or injured anyone before."

"That young man came from a declining medical family. He possessed a miraculous healing skill - Lingshu Qiyuan Dafa. When Jiang Baichuan was seeking revenge, he followed behind him and helped Jiang Baichuan heal his injuries."

Fu Qingzhou's brows twitched slightly.

Lingshu Qiyuan Dafa, isn’t that the method that Wu Yanxiu practiced?
It turns out that everything in Xiyu Pavilion...had already been laid down since then.

So, what about the Wulin Alliance?
Why did Jiang Baichuan become what he is now?
He didn't ask in a hurry, because he could see that the man in the black hat seemed... also eager to find an opportunity to speak.

"Jiang Baichuan led the young man and killed everyone in the assassin organization. In just one month, he also killed all the enemies of his former master."

"That day, he stood in the courtyard full of corpses, covered in blood, facing the rising sun, and spoke to the young man."

There seemed to be a sudden hint of life in the black hat man's tone.

"He said, Ah Cheng, although the world is covered with dark clouds, there is always a ray of light that can break through the clouds and mist... I want my sword to be that ray of light, piercing through the filth of the world!"

(End of this chapter)