Chapter 57 — To Sea
劍問蒼天 · Page 6 of 6
After all, for a young disciple raised from childhood in a great and renowned sect, to suddenly accept that his own magic artifact was a cursed thing of the demon cult—that was no easy matter.
At this thought he could not help looking at the black iron staff again. Gazing at the blood threads, now clearer than ever, he thought: how many wronged souls has this magic artifact sent to their graves?
The blood within it must harbor the resentful spirits of many people.
He could not suppress a shudder.
But then a sudden thought struck him: if Wan Rengui had spoken the truth, then what was that "Ancient Sword That Slays Immortals" in the Illusory Moon Cave of Jietian Peak on Canglan Mountain?
Were justice and evil in this world truly as his master and senior brothers had taught him—present since ancient times, unchanging and eternal?
All at once a thought such as he had never had before rose in his mind: who was it that said we of the righteous path are necessarily just?
At that thought Zhang Qingyue sprang to his feet. Without the slightest hesitation he shut his eyes, and first—crack, crack—
—struck himself a heavy slap across the face, crying aloud, "Wretch! You deserve death! How dare you harbor such treasonable thoughts!"
Note 1: "Classic of Mountains and Seas, Volume Nine—The Eastern Wasteland" records: In the Eastern Sea there is Mount Liubo, seven thousand li out into the sea. On it dwells a beast shaped like an ox, with a blue-black body and no horns, and but one leg. When it comes and goes, wind and rain must follow. Its light is like that of the sun and moon, its voice like thunder, and its name is Kui. The Yellow Emperor obtained it and made drums of its hide, with drumsticks of the bones of the Thunder Beast; the sound carried five hundred li, overawing all beneath heaven.