Poor Taoist Qiu Chuji

Chapter 241: Becoming a Demon and Becoming a Taoist
People often say "it is better to unblock than to block". When encountering problems, most people instinctively choose to block rather than unblock.

Because everyone subconsciously believes that they cannot bear the unexpected consequences that may result from letting go.

Qiu Chuji also made the same mistake. His earlier arrangements for Yang Kang were actually to block his possibility of becoming a demon, and to tie him up with as many emotional chains as possible to stabilize his humanity.

But as the demon fetus was gradually unsealed, Qiu Chuji discovered that this method was not really effective.

Because the demon fetus has endowed Yang Kang with too many extraordinary qualities, even Mu Nianci may not be able to remain absolutely sincere to Yang Kang at all times. In the eyes of sensitive people, if sincerity is not absolute, it is absolutely not sincere.

They tend not to focus on their own indecision, but instead get stuck in a rut, complaining about themselves or taking their anger out on others.

This was the case with Yang Kang, so after the battle with Yang Kang at sea, Qiu Chuji's tactics changed subconsciously.

He began to let go, letting Yang Kang try, gain, and lose. He only occasionally competed with the demon fetus in his consciousness, showing a posture of resistance and control, so as not to let the demon fetus notice anything unusual, until the seal was unlocked 100%. The demon fetus was Yang Kang, and Yang Kang was the demon fetus.

He satisfied Yang Kang's desires, but did he really get everything he wanted?

He obtained power, money, beauty and other worldly desires in abundance, but emotionally, he fell into an endless desert.

Except for his adoptive father Wanyan Honglie, who no longer loves him but hates him to the core, all other emotions he cherishes have disappeared. Wanyan Kang's enemy is no longer a tangible, concrete life or individual, but death.

This is also the reason why Qiu Chuji also chose to "die".

In addition to the fact that he and Yang Kang have an emotional connection, it is also because if he does not die, then the target of Yang Kang's hatred and confrontation will always be him, and will always be him.

But when he 'died' and truly no trace of his existence remained in this world, Yang Kang's resentment lost its target.

Yang Kang lost his friends, lover, and relatives, and now he doesn't even have any enemies.

He gained ownership of the world, but it seemed like he had lost everything.

At this time, no matter what is discussed, whether it is good or evil, whether to become a Taoist or an evildoer, it is actually the most vague for Yang Kang.

Because all the things that limited him, locked him up, and defined him are gone.

If the demon fetus is merely composed of the evil nature in the dark springs of the underworld, then Yang Kang might become a demon king who destroys the world and will perish along with the world.

However, the basis of the demon fetus is not the evil nature in the underworld, but comes from the ghosts eaten by Qiu Chuji. It has their own desires and sins, as well as Qiu Chuji's suppressed and cut off desires and evil thoughts. These backgrounds also became a part of Yang Kang after the demon fetus and Yang Kang were completely integrated.

Strong desires force Yang Kang to maintain a complete human society, because if this society collapses or human civilization no longer exists, then he will have no way to fulfill his desires.

Whether it is destruction for the sake of destruction or destruction for the sake of survival, their means seem similar, but in fact they are completely different.

In this small world, Qiu Chuji's spirit temporarily returned to his body. As for his body, it fell into a state of suspended death that was almost like real death. It was placed in an ancient tomb and preserved with ice that had been there for thousands of years.

A similar operation was performed on Mu Nianci. Qiu Chuji used a talisman to temporarily store her soul in his body, causing her to fall into a daze and not feel the passage of time. The vitality of her body had indeed disappeared.

The physical bodies of both of them will be looked after by Lin Chaoying, Lin Xiaolan and Li Mochou of the Ancient Tomb Sect.

Even within the Quanzhen Sect, not many people knew about the existence of the Ancient Tomb Sect, and Ma Yu was the only one who knew that their bodies were transported into the ancient tomb.

When the Quanzhen Sect evacuated from Mount Zhongnan and scattered all over the country, it would be almost impossible for Yang Kang to dig out their bodies even if he wanted to.

Qiu Chuji gave Yang Kang time to think it over carefully after satisfying his shallow and superficial desires.

In fact, there is only a fine line between becoming a god and becoming a devil.

At this time, a long-lost guest came to Qiu Chuji's little world.

Actually, Qiu Chuji was not sure whether this man was a Taoist priest or not, but since he heard the sound of the Yuxu Bell and walked here along the starry sky, it meant that he was actually in the Tao, but perhaps a little bit unorthodox.

"Come! Fellow Taoist, please have some tea!" Qiu Chuji once again offered his 'Enlightenment' tea. Anyway, it was just to add a temporary status to the fellow Taoists who came to visit the small world. For him, it was a benefit without cost. He could gain favor and earn some favors, but there was no substantial expenditure.

Baiyue, with his hair loose and dressed in black, smiled gently and elegantly. He did not doubt that Qiu Chujie would not poison the tea. He just picked up the teacup and took a sip.

Then he closed his eyes and thought for a moment, revealing an even brighter smile: "Good! Good tea! Thank you for the hospitality, fellow Taoist!"

"I have a question, please help me figure it out."

Qiu Chuji made a gesture of invitation.

"I want to use my methods to change the world and make it operate rationally as I imagined. Am I wrong? Am I a devil?" Baiyue asked.

He was not a person who would easily open his heart to others, but Qiu Chuji's cup of tea played a guiding role.

And Baiyue is not lacking in decisiveness when it comes to making decisions.

He has too many doubts and needs someone to communicate with.

Qiu Chuji answered the question irrelevantly: "What is a demon?"

Baiyue frowned slightly and was about to answer, but Qiu Chuji continued speaking.

"Destroy the world? Forcibly interfere with the will of others and force the majority of people to do things they don't want to do? Or bring about radical changes and break the original rules and order?"

"Destroying the world, turning everything from order to chaos, from vitality to complete death and extinction, this is of course the devil... At least from the perspective of human life and death over hundreds of years, this can only be the devil."

"But other than that, whether it's interfering with or guiding the will of others, or changing the original rules and reshaping a new order, it shouldn't be called 'devil'."

"The ancestors started the fire and ended the practice of eating raw meat and drinking blood. The saints educated people and made them know propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame. They were all influencing and interfering with the original barbaric will of the majority of people, and using the framework of civilization to regulate more people. Are they demons?"

Qiu Chuji's rhetorical question made Baiyue ponder.

Qiu Chuji has also been thinking about it. As mentioned many times in the previous article, planting the devil in one's heart is not something that can be done overnight, nor can it be left alone after the seeds are planted.

Yang Kang only took on the specific hardships on behalf of Qiu Chuji, that is, "entering the calamity", but it does not mean that Qiu Chuji did not perceive or feel anything. In fact, Qiu Chuji basically felt the same as Yang Kang, and it was for this reason that once Yang Kang became enlightened, Qiu Chuji's soul would rise with him, climbing directly from the realm of Night Wandering God to Day Wandering God. Because of perception, there is comprehension and thinking.

Some ideas from feudal society become evil when applied to slave society.

King Wu attacked King Zhou not because King Zhou of Shang was extravagant and hedonistic, but because he planned to free the slaves and reduce human sacrifices. In the eyes of the slave owners at the time, this was a huge mistake and was worthy of being labeled a heretic and worthy of opposition from the whole world.

"So, I am right?" Baiyue asked.

Qiu Chuji shook his head and said, "The right time, the right place, the right people... the saints have already explained everything, but we are just mortals and cannot understand it."

"You haven't solved people's livelihood problems, and haven't found a way for heaven and earth and people to live in harmony. And yet you just talk about the system. How can you not be possessed by a demon?"

When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace; education also needs to be done after the stomach is filled and the clothes are warm.

If they have no food in their stomachs, thin clothes on their bodies, and hungry children at home, even the best people will be forced to become knife-wielding murderers, because they have no choice. If you talk to them about morality at this time, they will definitely tell you what killing is!
Baiyue was moved and stood up and bowed to Qiu Chuji.

"Thank you for your guidance, I understand!"

Qiu Chuji didn’t know what Baiyue understood. It was impossible that after he returned, he would not study astrophysics but study agricultural life!

If that's true, it wouldn't be bad!

Li Xiaoyao's love was infinite, but he found out that worshiping the moon had merits and was protected by golden light. That would be a big joke.

Baiyue just left like that.

As for exchanging spells or inviting me to visit the Fairy Sword World, I would have to wait for the right time.

These are things that cannot be rushed.

Qiu Chuji now has no shortage of ordinary means.

As long as his soul advances one more step, he can open another divine treasure house, allowing his soul to add a kind of Dharma transformation and gain more powerful magical powers.

······
In July of the second year of the New Sui Dynasty, many rebel armies from south to north responded actively and began to raise dust, intending to overthrow Yang Kang's rule. Just like in the late years of the Previous Sui Dynasty, many powerful families rose up and vowed to destroy the Sui Dynasty and rebuild the country.

Generally speaking, great order will follow great chaos.

But Emperor Yang Kang was too willful. It was not that he did not know how to compromise politically, but he was too tough and too stubborn. Such behavior made many people and many forces extremely dissatisfied.

Yang Kang even planned to remove everyone's privileges and retain only his supreme status as the emperor, even going so far as to 'deify' the emperor. He wanted to be an emperor for thousands of years and did not need a successor.

However, he was unwilling to grant even nominal nobility to those who submitted to him and followed him to build the empire, which made many, many people dissatisfied.

Therefore... it is imperative to overthrow the tyrannical Sui Dynasty.

Generally speaking, Yang Kang's behavior is tantamount to digging his own grave, because those who follow him also want to gain power and become the superior people both in reality and in name, but that is only generally speaking.

Given the extraordinary nature of the demon fetus, many key figures in the new Sui court are actually Yang Kang's yes-men, and will obey all of Yang Kang's instructions without any "self".

Therefore, most of these rebellions were quickly suppressed within one to three months.

Having no one in power may be unacceptable to the masters, but it is definitely a good thing for the common people.

Because everyone's political status is equal on the surface, even if the masters want to gain something, they have to secretly think of a name and set a trap before taking action, and there is no guarantee of success.

If there is no equality, the masters can destroy the families of ordinary people with just one word.

Yang Kang went against the general trend. In the eyes of many people and in written records, he was a tyrant and a devil. But from the perspective of the common people, it didn't matter how many people Yang Kang killed, how many concubines he had, and how many rare treasures were collected in his palace. He gave the people more living space, and he was a very good emperor.

In order to find some purpose of existence, Yang Kang often disguised himself and wandered among the people.

Because of this, he heard many people's more 'real' evaluations of him as an emperor.

These comments left him feeling confused.

Many of the things he did were not for the benefit of the people of the world, but for his own selfish interests.

He was unwilling to have anyone share his power and majesty, and regarded everyone as his private property. Therefore, even those who held great power and governed a region for him were treated like pigs and dogs by him. He could kill them at will without giving them the slightest bit of face, or giving them extraordinary treatment and rewards.

But what was fed back to him was a positive and active response. The tyrant in the eyes of his ministers was praised as the "Holy Son of Heaven" by the people.

So is he doing good things or bad things now?
Yang Kang fell further into confusion about his own existence.

At this time, Yang Kang was like a rebel. He believed that Qiu Chuji wanted to guide him to be good, to defeat the devil and enter Taoism, so he insisted on becoming the unparalleled devil.

Only in this way could he catch that trace of remaining breath and continue to fight against Qiu Chuji and continue to find opponents, instead of leaving his sword in vain and looking up at the sky with his hands.

After returning to the court, Yang Kang began to hint to his ministers that he could be granted titles or even be made a king. He wanted to be a foolish and extremely stupid monarch. He wanted to distribute the power in his hands and let those guys who got the advantage to exploit the people at will, causing the people to suffer.

What Holy Son of Heaven? He doesn't care!
However, after the previous massacre, the ministers had long been accustomed to the emperor's mood swings and did not believe that he was telling the truth. They only regarded this as a test and declined, fearing to accept it.

Then, Yang Kang killed another group of people.

When the matter of conferring titles or making kings was mentioned again, all the ministers could only kneel on the ground and tremble in fear, and no one dared to look at them, so the matter could only be dropped.

All the ministers and officials acted more cautiously and did not dare to bully the people. Yang Kang's prestige among the people became higher and his reputation became better.

This is like a vicious circle. There are emperors who kill their officials on the grounds of corruption and abuse of power. As a result, the more corrupt officials are killed, the more they become, and the more powerful officials become more and more cunning.

Yang Kang killed officials at will, not caring whether it would affect the normal operation of the court. Instead, those officials became honest and efficient, allowing agriculture and commerce that had collapsed due to the war to recover quickly. He became what people called the "Holy Son of Heaven."

Looking at Yang Kang again at this time, is he a Taoist or a devil?
(End of this chapter)