Warhammer Cultivation: Cultivating the Tao Te Ching in the 40K Universe

He stroked the face of another Dao Guardian. Even in death, that Dao Guardian, with his broken body, had been fiercely protecting his companion behind him. But the狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) expression on his face, frozen in fear of death, gradually transformed under Hector's soothing touch into a peaceful smile… the smile of someone who had fulfilled their "guardian" mission.

When Hector slowly rose from the remains of the last fallen Dao Guardian, this steel hell filled with bloodshed and wailing was no longer hell.

It has become a... peaceful and quiet cemetery.

All the fallen warriors wore the same peaceful and serene smile on their faces. It was as if they had not died in a fierce battle filled with betrayal and despair.

Instead, after a grandest celebration, filled with glory and hope, it peacefully fell asleep.

"Rest in peace, my warriors."

Hector said softly to himself.

"I accept your 'debt'."

"I will personally avenge your 'grudges'."

He slowly raised his head. His dark eyes, like ultimate black holes, seemed to pierce through the thick, dim sky of this hive city, constructed of steel and exhaust fumes, gazing towards that distant, sacred place filled with power and intrigue…

He knew that this small, bloody battle that had taken place in Necromonda's lower nest was not the end.

This is just the beginning.

The prelude to a real war concerning "Tao" and "chaos," a war concerning "order" and "lies," has already quietly begun.

Hector Cain, and his "Intercepting Cult Academy," which had just painstakingly sown its first seed in this dark universe, would inevitably face more and more storms and make more and more sacrifices.

This is the normal state of this universe.

This is the true human empire.

His gaze became incredibly deep and icy.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps, filled with the distinctive aura of imperial soldiers—a blend of iron will and order—came from outside the factory's already dilapidated gates.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of Imperial soldiers dressed in black trench coats with cold expressions led squads of heavily armed soldiers, surging in like a black tide.

The leading officer had a gruesome, old scar running from his forehead to the corner of his mouth. His mechanical prosthetic eye gleamed with a cold, red light that signified absolute loyalty, scanning the excessively "clean" battlefield like the most vigilant hunting dog.

He saw those cult members collapsed on the ground, their faith long since shattered.

He saw the wizard kneeling before the altar, his soul already "formatted," like an empty shell.

He also saw those mysterious warriors in gray monk robes, who, though covered in blood and barely breathing, had eyes as calm and resolute as an abyss.

Finally, his gaze fell upon the black-haired, black-eyed mortal boy who stood before everyone else, as if he were the sole ruler of this battlefield.

The officer's heart skipped a beat! His will, hardened by countless trials of blood and fire, was uncontrollably stirred by a hint of... awe under the calm gaze of this mortal!

He forced down his inner turmoil, took steady steps forward, and gave Hector a standard hand-to-chest salute.

“This is Jürgen from the Imperial Ministry.” His voice was hoarse, yet full of power. “We have received top-level intelligence from Terra and have been ordered to assist. May I ask…”

He said "assist," but his eyes were full of scrutiny and questioning.

Hector did not answer immediately.

He simply, slowly, extended one hand.

Kyle, who was still able to move, understood and respectfully handed him a tattered flag made of gray cloth.

On that flag, embroidered with the purest energy threads composed of black and white energies, was a small Tai Chi diagram that seemed to contain the secrets of the entire universe.

Hector gently planted the flag on the cleansed, cold alloy deck.

Then, he turned around, looked at the wary imperial officer, and calmly announced the name that would resound throughout the entire galaxy and make countless gods and demons tremble.

"—Jiejiao Academy"

Chapter 155 Inquiry Order (6 Extra Chapters)

When the dark red assault cruiser "Seeker," gifted by Loka, silently slid into Terra's near-Earth orbit like a dried drop of blood merging into the sea, the bloody tragedy of Necromonda's lower nest, filled with rust and lies, was like a lingering dream of the previous era, completely isolated behind an invisible veil constructed of absolute authority.

On the bridge, the enormous holographic porthole slowly closed, sealing the cradle of human civilization outside—surrounded by countless starports and defense platforms, like a thorny thicket of gold and steel—along with its massive gravitational field large enough to distort spacetime, into everyone's memory.

Terra, the planet that holds memories of two lifetimes, evokes a complex and indescribable emotion in Hector Kane with each return. It is not the homecoming of a wanderer, but more like a solitary chess player returning to the grander, colder central chessboard after a fierce border battle.

Hector Kane slowly opened his eyes from his deep meditation that had lasted for days.

His dark, abyss-like eyes reflected the cold, data-flickering control panel on the bridge, yet seemed to penetrate the warship's thick armor, pierce Terra's eternal artificial light and heavy industrial clouds, and gaze directly at the deeper undercurrents quietly spreading beneath the supreme radiance of the golden throne.

He no longer needed to deliberately "see"; the "qi" of the entire universe, under the resonance of his self-contained inner universe, naturally presented its most authentic appearance to him.

He didn't get up immediately. His divine sense, like an invisible and gentle tide, instantly covered every corner of the entire warship. He could clearly "hear" the breathing of the surviving Dao Guards in the medical cabin at the lowest level of the warship, which had been temporarily converted into a place filled with the meaning of "stillness." Their breathing had become extremely deep and long because they had experienced the tempering of life and death and the breakthrough of their Dao hearts. It was like a dormant volcano slowly accumulating energy.

He could "feel" that Kyle's Dao heart, which had broken through the illusion by choosing to sever it with his own end in his final despair, was now as clear and bright as the sky after a rainstorm, without a trace of dust.

His originally sharp "qi" has now gained a touch of "stillness" like a deep pool, leaving no trace but concealing a deadly intent.

Barrow, the leader who lost his brother, did not break his already rock-solid will after experiencing extreme grief and protection. Instead, like a diamond tempered by the endless pressure deep within the Earth's core, it became even more profound and lonely.

The hatred that originated in Monakia has been completely contained, transforming into an inextinguishable, protective warmth within his Dao heart.

They all survived. In a way that transcended physical existence. But they also each lost a part of themselves forever. Their mortal innocence, weakness, and sense of luck had been completely burned away in that bloody battle filled with betrayal and despair, leaving only a pure will as refined as tempered steel.

“Your Excellency, Commander.” The captain’s reverent voice crackled through the internal communicator, rousing Hector from his silent meditation. “The Imperial Guard’s guidance signal has been received. They… are waiting for you.”

Hector slowly rose to his feet. His simple gray monk's robe, under the slightly gloomy lights of the bridge, seemed utterly devoid of any worldly air, as if it were out of place with the surrounding environment filled with cold technology, yet it created a strange harmony.

He knew that when he stepped out of the ship's hatch, he would be facing a war that was completely different from, yet far more dangerous than, the bloody street fighting in Necromonda.

A bloodless war, fought with "rules" as swords and "human hearts" as the battlefield.

Sure enough, when he walked alone down the cold gangway of the "Seeker," he was not greeted by the familiar, meticulously prepared summons of the Imperial Regent, nor by the respectful greetings from the students of the Inquiry Academy.

Two rows of Imperial Guards clad in dark gold power armor stood silently on the vast, empty tarmac of the airport, large enough for a squadron of Thunderhawk gunships to take off and land, like two rows of unyielding walls forged from gold and silence. They released no killing intent; even their breathing seemed to blend into the pure, filtered air around them.

But their imposing presence, akin to that of the empire's highest military force, was enough to solidify and subjugate all the free energy in the surrounding space.

The centurion of the Imperial Guard, leading the group, walked steadily, as if surveying the earth, to Hector. His armor was more magnificent than Aurelius's.

He neither bowed nor spoke. He simply presented a square data board, its surface jet black and cold to the touch, crafted from the oldest, unmelting "Soul Ice" from beneath the Terra polar glaciers, with a ceremonial gesture, holding it with both hands.

On that data panel were two emblems imprinted with absolute authority and brooking no argument. One was the seal of the Ministry of Law, a fist clenched with lightning, symbolizing the highest judicial authority of the empire.

One emanated a cold, white aura of energy, representing absolute justice and merciless judgment. The other was a double-headed eagle, surrounded by countless gears and laurel wreaths, symbolizing the empire's vast bureaucratic system—an edict from the Executive Yuan. That emblem exuded a massive, bloated, and decaying aura, filled with millennia-old "inertia" and "rules."

"Your Excellency Dean Hector Kane." The voice of the Imperial Guard centurion came through the speaker on his helmet, cold, steady, and devoid of any emotion, as if he were reading a pre-prepared, unalterable death sentence.

"By the joint resolution of the 'Nicaea Code Compilation Committee' and based on the emergency report jointly submitted by the Governor's Office of the Necromonda Sector, local law enforcement agencies, and the Technological Sages of the Mechanicus, we hereby issue the highest-level interrogation order to you and your directly subordinate action unit, 'The Wayguard'."

Hector calmly accepted the cold "bill".

He activated the "Aura Observation Technique." In an instant, the world before him transformed once again into a more realistic picture composed of different "qi".

He saw that this interrogation order, which seemed to be just a collection of data and words, was entangled with a huge, bloated, stagnant and decaying "bureaucratic air," just like the mountains of old, neglected files piled up in the Executive Yuan.

And another, sharper, colder aura, filled with absolute logic and rigid rules, like a "law and reason aura" constructed from countless white rays of light.

Behind these two massive "auras" representing the "open" rules of the empire, he also "saw" wisps and strands of even colder, more sinister "aura of authority"—auras filled with jealousy, greed, and an instinctive fear of "change," like venomous snakes lurking in the deepest part of a swamp—belonging to the old nobles of Terra.

He knew that Terra's "old friends," the hyenas who had miraculously escaped from the ruins of the "Dark Realm," had finally succumbed and taken matters into their own hands. They dared not resort to such low-level methods as assassination anymore, but instead learned to use the Empire's most prized "rules" to weave a flawless net capable of annihilating any hero.

He slowly turned his gaze to the cold screen of the data panel. The text on it was logically clear and well-organized, filled with the unquestionable ruthlessness of imperial bureaucracy. Every word was like a cold scalpel tempered with deadly poison, precisely aimed at the heart of him and his newly emerging "Intercepting Sect Academy".

Chapter 156 Re-entering the Hall of the Scales of Truth (7 Extra Chapters)

Article 1: Hector Kane, as the supreme head of the 'Intercepting Cult Academy' chartered by the Imperial Regent, without the joint authorization of the Imperial Supreme Navigation Command and the Holy Navigator Family, arbitrarily mobilized the strategic asset—the assault cruiser "Seeker"—for an unguided, high-risk emergency warp jump. His actions have seriously violated Article 312 of Volume VII of the Imperial Supreme Navigation Law, concerning the "Priority of Sacred Routes," posing an incalculable threat to the safety of the Empire's vital strategic assets and the lives of the hundreds of loyal crew members on board. This constitutes the crime of "dereliction of duty."

Article 2: Its directly subordinate operational unit, the "Daowei," disregarded the jurisdiction of local law enforcement agencies during its operations in the hive world of Necromonda. Without any official authorization, it arbitrarily used tactics of mass destruction, initiating armed conflict in the densely populated Lower Hive region. According to preliminary statistics from the Executive Yuan's Post-Disaster Assessment Team, this "illegal military operation" directly resulted in the deaths of over three thousand Imperial citizens, including seventeen registered law enforcement officers, indirectly caused the displacement of over one hundred thousand hive residents, and resulted in direct property losses exceeding ten billion Imperial Credits. Its actions have severely disrupted local "social order" and "economic stability." This constitutes the crimes of "overstepping authority" and "sabotage."

The third, and most fatal, point is this: According to the on-site energy residue report submitted by Colonel 'Carius,' the new enforcer of Necromonda, and triple-verified by 'Victor,' the Martian Mechanicus sage, as well as the joint testimony of over fifty 'survivors' who witnessed the disaster, the core energy fluctuation pattern of the blasphemous 'Heretical Altar,' which triggered the entire Lower Nest riot and has been confirmed as a creation of the Tzeentch cult, has a resonant frequency at the level of law with the 'unknown,' 'harmonious, and orderly' mysterious power used by 'The Guardians' in the battle. This resonates with the 'unknown,' 'harmonious, and orderly,' mysterious power they used in the battle. The similarity is over 97 percent.

The report concluded with a suggestive and malicious final conclusion: Based on the above evidence, the committee has ample reason to suspect that the "Way of Silence" taught by the "Intercepting Sect Academy" may not, in essence, be a new and controllable system of psychic cultivation, but rather a more sophisticated and covert variant of chaotic corruption. Its so-called "order" may simply be another disguise for Tzeentch's endless "changes."

What a... flawless web. What a... sword of Damocles, forged from law and lies, powerful enough to nail any imperial hero to the pillar of shame.

They even lobbied the conservatives within the Cult of Mechanics, cloaking this lie in the most irrefutable, "scientific" guise. Hector stared at the cold "bill," his eyes, as calm as an abyss, showing no anger, no panic, only a... knowing smile.

He knew that this show would eventually have to be performed. And he had already prepared a "return gift" that would drive all the audience crazy for this grand performance.

“I accept questioning,” he said calmly to the Imperial Guard centurion before him, a figure as imposing as a golden statue. His voice, though not loud, echoed clearly across the airport, a place filled with absolute authority and silent rules. There was no fear in his voice, only the calm anticipation of a chess player after making a move, awaiting the impending storm.

......

When he stepped into the "Hall of the Scales of Truth" again, a place filled with rules and shadows, he could clearly feel that, compared to the previous "debate" filled with philosophical speculation, the air today was less inquisitive and more... filled with undisguised murderous intent.

This is not just a feeling, but the most authentic manifestation under the "Qi Observation Technique".

This time, the lineup was even larger and more hostile than before. As the magnificent gate, carved from black basalt and wide enough for a Land Raider tank to pass through, slowly closed behind him like a sarcophagus in a tomb, he felt as if he had stepped into a slowly shrinking cage constructed by the "old order" of the entire empire.

Above the dome, the enormous golden scales, composed of pure energy, radiated a light colder and brighter than ever before, like the emotionless eyes of a deity about to deliver final judgment. It was no longer a backdrop, but an active participant; every imperceptible turn of its scales seemed to weigh the weight of every piece of evidence in this judgment.

The obsidian round table was already filled with people. They were the core gears and bearings of the empire's massive war machine, the most turbulent undercurrents surging beneath the ancient glacier called "Rules".

The Chief Minister of the Executive Yuan remained the same massive, bloated, stagnant, and decadent bureaucrat. But this time, deep within that swamp, a malicious churning, like marsh gas, arose from the threat to his core interests. A polite smile graced his swollen face, but his small eyes gleamed with a greedy intent to devour Hector, this "budget black hole," whole and everything.

The Chief Justice of the Ministry of Justice remained the same "Lattice of Law," filled with cold white light yet riddled with cracks. But this time, through the cracks of that lattice, wisps of dark golden light, imbued with the decay and privilege of his "new allies," seeped out. He was no longer merely a guardian of the "rules"; he had become a weapon of the "rules."

Beside them, this time, were several new yet incredibly ancient faces.

They were councilors from some of Terra's oldest noble families, "living fossils" who had been masters of this planet long before the rise of the Emperor. They wore magnificent gowns made of the most luxurious silk and gold thread, adorned with intricate patterns, and every movement exuded an impeccable elegance passed down for tens of thousands of years.

But under Hector's "aura-reading" technique, they appeared as massive, decaying masses of gray-black "aura of authority," filled with jealousy, greed, and an instinctive fear of "change." That aura, like a colossal, rotting serpent coiled deep within an ancient tomb, exuded a nauseating, cloying sweetness and stench of privilege. They were the true plaintiffs in this "trial."

They are the hyenas who narrowly escaped the "Land of No Light" incident, but have now learned to arm themselves with "law".

Chapter 157 The Rehearsed Interrogation (8 Extra Chapters)

Even at the other end of the round table, in the seat that belonged to the Chief Star Language Master, Lucius Vero sat there quietly like a ghost. His face, covered by a black cloth, revealed no expression, but the "aura of resentment" emanating from him, like a frozen ocean, was even deeper and colder than before.

It was as if that defeat, instead of making him reflect, froze his heart, already consumed by prejudice, into an even harder, more stubborn rock. He was the most silent, yet most fatal, "witness" to this trial.

The atmosphere in the entire hall was filled with a repressive, almost tangible hostility towards Hector, this "outsider." It was as if he were the true culprit who had caused all the disasters in Necromonda. It was as if his "way of silence," which attempted to bring "new life" to the empire, was the most fundamental "heresy" that caused all this chaos.

The questioning session officially began with a dull thud of the gavel, like the tolling of a death knell.

With a voice as dry as turning the pages of an ancient legal code, the Chief Justice read out the carefully prepared, seemingly irrefutable "evidence" one by one.

Every syllable of his was imbued with legal rigor, every word as precise as a scalpel. He defined the actions of the Daowei as an "unauthorized and serious violation of imperial law and order, an illegal military uprising whose nature was only a hair's breadth away from rebellion."

The Minister of the Executive Yuan followed suit, projecting carefully "embellished" data reports, full of exaggeration and misleading information, onto the center of the round table in his smooth, bureaucratic tone.

On it, marked in glaring red, were the “enormous” economic losses that Daowei’s actions had brought to Necromonda and the Empire—a “direct property loss” of 13.7 billion treasury dollars, accurate to two decimal places, and an even more alarming “indirect loss assessment” of 500 billion treasury dollars, concerning “potential tax revenue and productivity losses over the next hundred years.”

He even categorized those purged cult members as "the Empire's precious and irreplaceable labor force," and their deaths were a "heavy blow" to the Executive Yuan's human resource reserves.

The entire process unfolded like a perfectly rehearsed play. They were the judges, the prosecutors, and... the jury. Hector, however, was the sole "defendant," whose guilt had already been predetermined.

He simply listened quietly, offering neither rebuttal nor explanation. His handsome face, imbued with the essence of "Tao," even carried a polite, scholarly smile, as if he were appreciating a farcical performance, rife with logical fallacies and detached from his own experience.

This composure, this calmness, was itself the most silent yet sharpest form of mockery, instilling in those aristocratic councilors, who thought they had the upper hand, an unprecedented and heartfelt anger.

Until everyone had finished speaking. Until the Chief Justice's gavel, imbued with absolute authority, struck the obsidian table one last time with a resounding thud, like a final verdict. Until the entire hall fell into a superior silence, awaiting his final confession—

He slowly stood up from his seat.

"My lords." His voice, though not loud, echoed clearly in the hall filled with rules and shadows, like a clear spring dripping into a quiet ancient pool, instantly dispelling the suffocating oppression. "All your accusations, all your evidence, all your... 'logic,' are based on one fundamental premise." He slowly raised his head. In his dark, abyss-like calm eyes, a light that saw through all illusions, belonging to the "Tao," calmly swept over every face present—from the greed of the nobles, to the rigidity of the Grand Justice, to the hypocrisy of the Minister of State.

"—That is, Necromonda, before my Dao Guard arrived, was 'orderly'." These words struck everyone's hearts like an invisible hammer! "But is that the truth?" He didn't say another word.

He simply snapped his fingers lightly in the center of the empty, obsidian-polished round table.

A crisp snap of the fingers, devoid of any harshness.

The sound was faint; in this magnificent hall, carved from black basalt and capable of absorbing all sound, it should have been as fleeting as a grain of sand thrown into an endless desert. Yet, at this moment, it was like a thunderclap of creation, violently shattering the barriers of arrogance and prejudice that had long bound the minds of all the imperial giants present!

With Hector's simple, almost "rude" gesture, a holographic image from the "Silent Cellar," possessing the highest level of encryption in the Empire and impossible to interfere with by any means, unfolded instantly in the center of the obsidian-polished round conference table in the Hall of the Scales of Truth, like an irrefutable final divine decree descended by a god!

The content of the video was not any of the explanations that people had expected—there was no raw data stream of fierce battles, no philosophical debates full of logical traps, and no reinterpretation of imperial laws.

It was a...interrogation.

The interrogation took place neither in the Ministry of Justice's torture chambers filled with cold instruments of torture and desperate cries, nor in the Trial Court's mental purgatory capable of breaking even the strongest will. It was a quiet, empty room, devoid of anything except a futon carved from white jade. The tranquility there mirrored Hector's "Mind-Questioning Studio," imbued with the essence of the Tao.

The person being interrogated was the key "witness" in the irrefutable accusation report submitted by Necromonda's new law enforcement officer—the traitorous law enforcement officer, Colonel "Carius," whose "faith" was severed in battle, thus regaining a sliver of clarity, and who was ultimately captured alive by the surviving Dao Guards.

In that video, the person in charge of the interrogation was not any of the ruthless Imperial Guards or judges.

There was only one figure.

A figure dressed in a gray monk's robe sat cross-legged opposite the traitorous officer, his eyes as calm as the universe itself.