I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 524 Reversing Cause and Effect (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

In the scene woven by her inner demons, Jiang Yi watched Hua Gu dissipate, then left Jinli City in a daze, only to be spotted by someone in the shadows and die on the spot.

Later, when he joined the Cangling Sect, his memories of taking Hong Li and others at Tiebei Mountain all vanished like bubbles.

"Your companions are all gathered because of Lazy Root. Without it to repair the Cloud Demon Seed, where would Flower Maiden come from? And what makes you think you can stand on your own?"

The scene before Jiang Yi's eyes shifted again, showing the terrifying tribulation she encountered when she formed her core.

Without the immense laziness accumulated from the "Sleeping Immortal Technique" protecting him, and without the improvement brought about by his laziness, he was left without any further benefit.

That devastating bolt of heavenly lightning struck down fiercely, easily piercing her tiny body like a sheet of paper, her Dao foundation instantly shattering under the raging heavenly might...

"Wait a moment!"

The scene of the Dao Foundation shattering came to an abrupt halt with this shout, as if a pause button had been pressed, freezing the moment when lightning pierced through the Dao Foundation and the Dao Foundation shattered and flew away.

Consciousness manifested as a physical form, suspended above the dantian and dantian. Through the closed eyes of the five-colored glass nascent soul, in the darkness opposite was a woman who looked exactly like Jiang Yi, but with extremely sinister eyes.

That was her inner demon!
Jiang Yi has experienced countless dreams, and even in the illusions woven by her inner demons, she can quickly regain her senses. It has to be said that this is another advantage that Lazy Root brings her.

Through the Nascent Soul, the inner demon continued to question Jiang Yi, "Your innate source energy is a gift from laziness, and the Sleeping Immortal Technique helps you accumulate lazy energy! Without it, how can you withstand the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation? Abandoning it is tantamount to cutting off your path to immortality!"

"The Path of the Lazy Immortal lays the foundation for you; without it, you are nothing but a rootless duckweed! All your achievements depend on it! Those who abandon their foundation will lose their roots and will find it difficult to form a nascent soul! They are destined to perish!"

Jiang Yi chuckled lightly, "Let's put aside the matter of Dao Yun for now. Don't you realize your logic is flawed?"

Jiang Yi waved her hand, and the illusion between the two of them quickly reverted to the foot of the Xuan Ying Sword Sect, to the moment she self-destructed her golden core.

"Look at me, my golden core and soul are shattered, and my body is almost reduced to dust. Tell me, without my Lazy Root, how am I supposed to live? If I can't live, how will the rest of this happen? What's the point of asking so many nonsense questions?"

The inner demon choked, "Never mind that, just answer my question!"

Jiang Yi chuckled, "Then let me ask you, are you a beast worse than a pig or a dog?"

"What makes you call me an animal?"

"Never mind that, just answer my question!"

Inner Demon: ? ? ? ?

Jiang Yi said, "You're putting the cart before the horse, and your interrogation of me is utterly absurd. How am I supposed to answer you? Without the root of my sins, I would have died and perished outside the Xuan Ying Sword Sect's mountain gate, and wouldn't have even reached Jinli City. How could I have bought Hua Gu at the Demon Spirit Market? How could I have undergone the Core Formation and Tribulation in the North Sea? How could I have shattered my Core and formed my Nascent Soul today?!"

"Lazy Root was indeed the 'bridge' I encountered in my desperate situation, helping me overcome the near-death experience and opening up a new path! But that doesn't mean that all the paths and achievements that followed were accomplished solely by this 'bridge'! You've erased all my struggles, choices, the support among my partners, the guidance of my teachers, and even the opportunities presented by heaven and earth, forcibly attributing all the 'results' to Lazy Root as the sole 'cause.' Isn't that absurd?"

"The illusion you designed is nothing more than a crude and simplistic explanation of why I 'failed and died' at each stage, attributing it all to 'laziness,' then forcibly setting 'death' as ​​the 'effect,' and then reversing it to say that 'laziness is the cause,' in order to scare me. This is a complete fallacy of equivocation!"

The shadowy figure formed from the inner demon fluctuated violently, somewhat bewildered.

When ordinary people encounter inner demons during their Nascent Soul stage, they carefully consider how to answer the questions posed by the inner demons in order to understand their own mind and see themselves clearly.

But Jiang Yi refused to answer the questions and seized on the logical flaws in the inner demon's argument!
"Stop your sophistry about cause and effect!" the inner demon roared. "Answer me honestly: when you were tested for your spiritual roots during the Ascension Ceremony, if it weren't for your laziness continuously strengthening your roots, how could you have entered the Cangling Sect? If it weren't for the 'Sleeping Immortal Technique' helping you accumulate a vast amount of laziness, what would you have used to resist the might of Heaven's Punishment? Relying solely on your will? Willpower is nothing but dust before absolute power!"

"These 'fruits,' including entering a sect, successfully establishing a foundation, and forming a Heavenly-grade Golden Core... which one of them doesn't rely on the Lazy Root and the 'Sleeping Immortal Technique'? Without it, you're no good! You'd die on the way! Tell me! Isn't that right?"

As the inner demons approach, his eyes are filled with madness and obsession, clinging tightly to specific events and achievements, forcibly binding them to Laziness.

Jiang Yi still had that roguish smile. "Fine, just assume I can survive in front of the Xuan Ying Sword Sect without relying on my Lazy Root. Do you think I can't get into the Cang Ling Sect with my low-level Earth and Wood Spiritual Roots? Where do you put True Monarch Danxi? If she knew who I was, would she not let me into the sect?"

"It shouldn't be difficult for True Monarch Danxi, a Nascent Soul cultivator, to help me rebuild my Dao foundation, right? You say that without Lazy Root, I can't form my core and undergo tribulation? Then I'll say that without Lazy Root, my Core Formation Tribulation wouldn't be so severe! Besides, with True Monarch Danxi and Demon Master Xuanhui here, a mere Core Formation Tribulation can kill me? What a joke!"

"You! You're being unreasonable!"

"Oh, you're in such a hurry already?"

"I'm not in a hurry! I'm not in a hurry! Even if you can form a core without Lazy Root, what about your demon spirit companions? If you don't have Lazy Root, you won't meet them!"

"If we don't meet, we don't meet. Every choice in life is unique. In the hypothetical life you insist on giving me, I don't even know they exist, and they don't know I exist. Neither of us will have any regrets, so why dwell on it?" "You're avoiding the main point!"

Jiang Yi and her inner demons engaged in a fierce and profound debate. No matter how many times the inner demons repeatedly emphasized that "you will die and fail if you lose Laziness," Jiang Yi remained unmoved.

The debate intensified, and the inner demon, unable to completely crush Jiang Yi, became increasingly distorted and ferocious due to its rage.

Just as Jiang Yi was about to push the inner demon to its breaking point, the inner demon suddenly stopped, as if it had discovered something. It suddenly appeared in front of Jiang Yi, grinning maliciously as it stared into Jiang Yi's eyes.

"You keep dodging the question, is it because...you're scared?!"

Jiang Yi's pupils involuntarily contracted slightly, and the inner demon immediately burst into a triumphant laugh.

"Yes, yes, you're scared. You're not afraid to acknowledge the benefits that Lazy Root brought you in the past. You're afraid that without Lazy Root as your bridge to heaven, your future will be full of thorns, unknowns, and dangers!"

"You're afraid that if you leave it, you'll become just another face in the crowd, like in those dreams you've experienced, or even perish halfway through! You're afraid you can't bear this rootless future! So, you dare not face my question! You dare not admit your fear of losing your roots! Isn't that right?!"

This question, like the sharpest needle, precisely pierced Jiang Yi's heart, striking at the deepest, most buried fear.

If she truly didn't have this fear, the inner demons that tormented her during her infant formation wouldn't have constantly revolved around this issue.

When she was breaking the lazy root, she had indeed figured it out, but knowing is easier than doing, and she still couldn't control her worries.

Jiang Yi fell silent, her ears filled with the maniacal laughter of her inner demons, who had finally found a loophole in her mind.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Yi slowly raised her head, her face no longer sharp as during the debate, but with a strange calmness.

She felt no anger, no shame; her clear eyes met the oppressive gaze of her inner demon.

"Yes." She answered frankly, her voice not loud, but unusually clear and firm, "I admit, I'm scared."

The inner demon's laughter stopped abruptly. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yi did not try to deny it at all. Wasn't she afraid that if she admitted it, her mental state would collapse and she would perish?

However, Jiang Yi's nascent soul did not begin to decline because she acknowledged it.

Jiang Yi said slowly, "I'm afraid of the hardships ahead, afraid of returning to an ordinary life, and even more afraid... of failing Hua Gu Hong Li, Zhen Shan Duan Jin, Qing Xiao Zhu Xin, and Zhao Ming Yao Ling's expectations, and of letting down my master, grandmaster, grandmaster Su Hua, and even Dao Jun Chong He. Is it wrong to be afraid?"

“Cultivators are not made of wood or stone, but of flesh and blood, with seven emotions and six desires. A normal person, walking on this path of defying fate and fighting against the heavens, facing the abandonment of companions for hundreds of years and the foundation of their existence, facing a future full of uncertainty, feels fear and hope, is both brave and timid, both frank and escapist... Isn’t this perfectly normal?”

“But,” Jiang Yi’s voice suddenly rose, “should we cower in fear of tomorrow’s storms and dare not move forward today? Tomorrow’s events have not yet occurred. Can the fear of today be a reason for me to stop and waste today?”

"If you're talking about fear... the demonic tide is still raging, and the cultivation world will eventually collapse. Does that mean that because of the fear of that possible doomsday, everyone should stop drinking tea, appreciating the scenery, protecting their relatives and friends, and seeking the path in their hearts? Should they just commit suicide, their bodies and paths extinguished, without even a struggle?"

"I don't deny the immense help that Lazy Root has given me. It saved my life, gave me a foundation for freedom, and helped me reach my current state. But so what? Every pill I've taken has also helped me. Does that mean my path will be ruined if I don't take those pills now?"

"Everything that has helped me get to where I am today is a 'bridge,' some bridges are big and long, some are small and short. I am the one who crosses the bridges, not the one who is carried forward by the bridges. On this path of seeking immortality, I will encounter many bridges. A bridge is just a bridge; it is not my entire path!"

Jiang Yi's words were like a resounding bell, each one striking the shackles of fear that distorted the cause and effect of one's inner demons.

She stopped dwelling on the details of her inner demons' unreasonable questioning, and went straight to her heart, frankly acknowledging her fear and allowing the existence of fear, and even all other emotions.

On this path of cultivation, she will encounter many bridges, but she will not stop for them. She will continue on the path beneath her feet, even if the road ahead is thorny and tomorrow is unknown. She will walk on and see what happens today.

As long as you keep moving forward, the outcome is always better than standing still, right?
Click!

As Jiang Yi became more composed and resolute, the entire inner demon illusion shattered like glass, and the twisted and furious face of the inner demon crumbled inch by inch, turning into ashes.

Within the dantian, the five-colored nascent soul suddenly opened its eyes, its eyes igniting with a silver, clear mirror-like inner fire, radiating Daoist charm and a carefree spirit.

A perfect, flawless, and completely stable Nascent Soul aura surged forth from her broken body.

At this point, she had finally entered the Nascent Soul realm.

(End of this chapter)