Chapter 41 Righteousness

Time paused, stopped in Zhang Huaiyi's memories.

He was a little dazed because he was quite familiar with this patterned corridor. Qiao Yuan couldn't drink much. Once, he got drunk and it was Zhang Huaiyi who carried Qiao Yuan home.

Zhang Huaiyi was very angry and wanted Qiao Yuan to drink less, but Qiao Yuan always waved his hands, hiccuped, and said in a daze:

“When drinking with a good friend, a thousand cups are not enough.”

When drinking with a good friend, a thousand cups are not enough.

Zhang Huaiyi squinted his eyes. There was wind at the end of the corridor, which made his eyes hurt.

Qiao Yuan often said to Zhang Huaiyi:

"Huaiyi, you are just too straight."

"You always think there has to be a reason for everything, but there are so many things in this world that don't make sense. You always think there has to be an explanation for everything, but there are thousands of explanations. Which one do you want?"

"But I envy you so much. You try to find a reason for something that doesn't make sense, and you only want one explanation out of thousands."

"You will suffer, but you will always be you."

“Politics is like a battlefield. If one day I don’t realize I’m wrong, then the only person I can judge is you, because even if you don’t do it, you’ll still do the right thing.”

“I only hope you won’t be afraid of not starting out in time enough, and won’t regret doing the right thing too late.”

“It’s never too late to mend.”

…

The wind moved, and Zhang Huaiyi raised his phone. His thin, rugged face was reflected on the screen . He straightened his collar, stood up straight, and said in a voice as correct as possible:

"Greetings, people of Xia Country. My name is Zhang Huaiyi, and I'm the secretary to the mayor of Shangcheng."

"It is now 8:37 PM on August 3, 418, the fourteenth day of the Daoxian invasion of Upper City."

"First of all, I must affirm Xia Cheng's conclusion about Daoxian. Daoxian are evil and strange. Their so-called evolution is like honey mixed with arsenic, like the sugar coating on a cannonball."

"In order to quickly expose the Taoist Immortal's disguise, my close friend Qiao Yuan and I recently conducted a human experiment."

“The experimental results are now announced.”

"Daoist immortals are skilled at imitating humans and bewitching their minds. During their cultivation, not only do they have to endure horrific pain, but just when they are about to succeed, they become food for the immortals, and their true bodies are replaced by fake ones."

"From the information we have so far, it seems the fake body, after being replaced, will perfectly inherit all the information of the real body, from its behavior to its personality, exactly the same. This has also been confirmed during the incident. It's for this reason that we haven't dared to make a definitive conclusion about the Daoist Immortal, allowing the spread of Daoist Immortals. There are always people who, clinging to a lucky break, believe in Daoist Immortals."

"Today, this situation was finally overturned by the experiment conducted by Qiao Yuan and me."

"I will take everyone to see the truth."

"Bang!"

Zhang Huaiyi raised the hammer and hit the door lock with all his strength, causing it to bend and crack.

The hearts of the people across the country suddenly stagnated. Zhang Huaiyi's arms were numb from the shock. He relaxed and said expressionlessly:

"Based on the experimental results, the previous theory is now revised—"

"A Taoist immortal can perfectly imitate all the behaviors of his true self before becoming an immortal, but... he doesn't know what humans will be like after becoming an immortal."

"Bang!"

Another hammer hit the door lock, and it was knocked crooked. Zhang Huaiyi's voice became much louder, with a sense of urgency, sadness, madness, and calmness in it.

"Even though they can perfectly imitate humans, their actions are still doubted by countless people because their thinking is wrong."

"They believe that humans are always selfish and profit-seeking. If humans could truly cultivate, they would look down on those who haven't. If they could truly cultivate to immortality, countless people would yearn for it. If they possessed power, humans would fight for it."

"Back then, when I asked a Taoist follower why they were fighting, he looked puzzled. He couldn't give an explanation and didn't understand why I asked."

"Because they believe that when people have power, they will naturally fight, and they don't need a reason."

"Similarly, no practitioner has ever said that cultivation is bad, because they believe that people are obsessed with good things and lack rationality."

"The practitioners always look down on people because they believe that if people gain power, they will work to distinguish between classes and high and low."

"They use this as a benchmark to imitate humans who have cultivated to immortality."

"But they are wrong. Humans are not like that."

Zhang Huaiyi laughed, laughing at Daoxian's naivety and also at his own belated realization.

"They took into account human selfishness, but failed to consider the greater good ."

"Bang!"

Zhang Huaiyi hit the door lock hard with the hammer in his hand, and his voice trembled.

“There are always people who gain power in order to eliminate classes and for equality.”

"Bang."

“There are always people who gain power for peace and for not fighting.”

"Bang."

“There are always people who gain power in order to save others from suffering and to give up when faced with difficulties.”

"Bang."

The hammer head fell to the ground, and the door lock was finally broken open. Zhang Huaiyi staggered two steps due to inertia. He leaned back, staring blankly at the scene in the room, breathing heavily.

On the windowsill, a familiar Buddha statue stood, facing outside.

"So, even if they haven't revealed a single flaw, there are still countless people questioning the authenticity of Daoxian cultivation."

"Because they will never learn the righteousness of mankind."

"Are you right, Qiao Yuan?"

Zhang Huaiyi's throat surged and he saw the scene in front of him clearly.

The fake body placed the statue on the windowsill, forcing Qiao Yuan to watch humanity fall into the abyss step by step.

This was the greatest torture for him.

The statue was trembling, his body unable to make big movements, but he knew clearly, he had always known clearly.

He can trust Zhang Huaiyi.

Zhang Huaiyi walked into the room and approached the statue.

"Daoists are very cunning. They will also display their greatest vulnerability in the most obvious place. The most dangerous place is the safest."

"They even knew that I had installed hidden cameras in Qiao Yuan's home, so they placed the statues where the cameras couldn't see them to prevent me from discovering them."

"It was this attempt to hide something that made it more obvious that led me to discover the answer."

Zhang Huaiyi blew his nose and spoke with a strong nasal tone. His eyes were red and every word he spoke was hysterical.

"People of Xia Country, look, where have the real people been replaced?!"

Zhang Huaiyi rushed forward, took two steps at a time, lifted the statue on the windowsill high, and then threw it down hard.

"Bang!"

This is a signal of rupture and a clarion call for awakening.

The fragments were scattered everywhere, and the real Qiao Yuan was revealed before everyone——

This was a piece of flesh that had been squeezed and deformed infinitely, with all the organs mixed together. His body was trembling slightly, and he was breathing weakly. His body stretched as the porcelain statue cracked, but it could never return to its original appearance.

“I, I…”

Zhang Huaiyi breathed with sobs, his chest felt stuffy. He knelt down at a loss, tears dripping from his eyes. He propped his cell phone on the edge of the stool, wanting to pick up Qiao Yuan, but he waved his hands but didn't know where to start.

He wanted to say something, but after a while, he could only say:

"Qiao Yuan, I'm late."

"Um!"

Hearing Zhang Huaiyi's voice, the indistinguishable pieces of flesh suddenly began to vibrate violently. He tried his best, at the cost of accelerating his own death. He tried so hard that his flesh was about to break apart. Death was chasing his sanity. He used his last bit of strength to say the last words.

The bloody piece of flesh uttered four unclear words and then fell silent. No one could hear clearly what he said.

But Zhang Huaiyi knew what he was going to say.

That was the goal they fought for, and that was the answer they exchanged for countless lives.

Boycott Taoist immortals.

Zhang Huaiyi raised his phone, wiped away the tears that could not be stopped, raised his arms and shouted:

"Boycott the Taoist Immortal."

The people of the South raised their hands, shouting with anger and sadness:

"Boycott the Taoist Immortal."

The people of the north roared with clarity, desolation and despair:

"Boycott the Taoist Immortal."

The people of Xia raised their hands, tears streaming down their faces, no longer confused, and shouted angrily with a desperate determination:

"Boycott the Taoist Immortal!"