Chapter 485 Half Human, Half Ghost: Ashes

Jie and Shen rode the wind and soon flew over the Nanmu Village.

Looking down from the air, the place is as peaceful as ever . Villagers are busy and orderly plowing the land and spreading fertilizers in the fields.

"Where is the target?" Jie didn't notice anything unusual in this peaceful scene.

"It's right here..." Shen sensed it carefully, then looked down solemnly at the group of villagers walking through the fields: "It's right here."

"What?" Jie was stunned.

The difference between living people and spirits should be visible to the naked eye.

If the evil spirit did not hide, but appeared here openly, then why does the village still look so peaceful?

"Because..." Shen's voice was also filled with shock.

This was a situation he had never encountered in his past career as an exorcist.

But his eyes were still firmly fixed on a figure on the path in the field: "The evil spirit used a human body to blend in among the villagers!"

"Or rather... the soul of this living person contains a breath that belongs only to the dead!"

Shen was then surprised to find that what he sensed was not an evil spirit, but a living being with the power of the undead.

“Transform the souls of the living into evil spirit-like entities, allowing the living to possess forbidden powers that belong only to the dead…” Jie’s expression instantly turned serious.

This kind of evil and powerful undead magic that pollutes the material world with the power of the underworld could never have been born in the primordial land that has followed the way of balance for thousands of years.

And those who use this kind of magic are most likely not good people.

Who is he and why did he sneak in here?

Full of doubts, Jie followed Shen's gaze and looked at the mysterious half-human, half-ghost man vigilantly.

He was a man with an iron staff and abnormally bulged shoulders.

At this moment, he was pretending to be a foreign traveler, and accompanied by village cadres, he was walking along the path in the field towards the outside of the village.

Jie originally thought he would meet a strange Gentile.

However, he only looked at the man carefully for a few times, and his face changed drastically just like Shen who reacted.

"Is it him?!" Jie and Shen both clenched their fists unconsciously.

"He's not dead?" They all knew this person.

This guy was a perverted murderer who once ran rampant in Zhiyun Province, committed hundreds of indiscriminate killings, and caused unrest in half of Ionia.

They once followed Master Ku Shuo, who was still a righteous master at that time, and pursued this cunning demon for four years.

During the pursuit, the other party's various and extremely cruel killing methods, as well as their twisted and crazy ideas, had a huge impact on Jie and Shen, who were still teenagers at the time.

After that, the man's physical features were deeply engraved in the minds of both of them.

"Golden Demon..." Shen recalled the nickname of this demon.

Zed called out his name: "Kada Jhin."

Kada Jhin, also known as the Fate Master, is the most deranged and cruel criminal in Ionia's history.

In this land that advocates peace, there has never been anyone as perverted and twisted as him, who takes pleasure in causing massacres in various ways.

Jie, Shen and Ku said that it took the three masters and apprentices four full years to catch this demon.

Both Jie and Shen believed that such a person who committed so many evil things should be sentenced to death.

But Master Kushuo adhered to the tradition of the Way of Balance and only sent Kada Jin to the prison in Tureng, where he was handed over to the local elder monks for supervision and education.

This incident had a huge impact on Jie's psychology, and was the beginning of his questioning of the way of balance.

Master Ku Shuo's strict adherence to the principles of balance allowed the evil Kada Jhin to survive.

As a result, he himself later...

“……” Shen and Jie both recalled the complicated past.

They fixed their eyes on this old friend whom they did not want to see again: "How did this guy escape?"

"He's not dead yet?"

Although the Ionians, who believe in balance and advocate peace, will not execute criminals, even a perverted killer like Kada Jin can live comfortably in prison and spend the rest of his life in peace.

But the leader doesn't play that game.

As soon as the leader arrived, he bluntly exposed the hypocrisy of this balance approach.

If we want balance and harmony, we cannot kill.

Then why are there so many untouchables like Zed, abandoned babies like Sona, and so many poor people dying silently in Ionia?

So many poor people died "naturally", but the masters didn't shed a single tear.

When faced with a murderer like Kada Jhin, they refused to sentence him to death.

If this isn’t hypocrisy, what is?

Except for true masters like Master Ku Shuo, most of the gentry and powerful people advocated balance and harmony in order to use this set of theoretical tools to maintain their position in the old order.

Sentencing criminals to death is not in line with the spirit of harmony advocated by this set of theoretical tools.

The silent death of the poor is a normal natural cycle in this theory.

That is why the masters can watch the untouchables die of poverty, disease and starvation with peace of mind, while they hesitate to sentence a serial killer to death.

Now that the leader has arrived, the rules have changed.

As a new generation of balance master, Shen did not object.

After all, the war has caused countless deaths in Ionia, so what would the death of a few more criminals matter?

So, after the Leaders took over parts of Ionia, they began to retry and resentence the serious criminals in prison.

Perverts like Kada Jhin, who pollute the air while they are still alive, are usually sentenced to immediate execution and dragged out and shot.

"How come he's still alive?" Shen and Zed hadn't paid attention to Jhin's situation for many years since he was imprisoned.

They had thought that Jhin had been imprisoned in Tolen's prison until he was sentenced to death after a retrial by the Wind Leader.

But now, this guy is standing here just fine.

Not only did he regain his freedom, he also appeared in the pilot village of the Leader in a strange state of half human, half ghost, and it is unknown what his intentions are.

"Shen?" Jie looked tentatively at Shen, the new generation master of balance.

But Shen had drawn his weapon before him: "Zed, let's go!"

…

"Mr. Raj." The accompanying village cadres called out the pseudonym that Jin used to cover his identity in a warm tone of entertaining guests.

"Are you from Zhiyun?" He chatted with him as he walked.

"Yes, that's my home." Jin grinned playfully, "I was born, grew up, and studied art there. Later, I lived in the Tulan Prison in Zhiyun Province for many years."

"Eh? Prison? Aren't you a traveling painter?"

“I can’t help it.” Jhin used a smile to diffuse the suddenly tense atmosphere: “You also know what Ionia was like in the past.”

“Those masters and elders who hold the power of discourse like moralists cannot tolerate my unorthodox avant-garde art style.”

"They accused my work of being immoral, violent and bloody, and destroying the balance of Ionia, so they arrested me and sent me to the prison in Tolen."

"Oh my god." The young village cadre couldn't help but speak up for him: "This is really too much."

"And how did you gain your freedom?"

“Nothing.” Jhin smiled. “Then, with the invasion of Noxus and the arrival of your Leaders, the cultural atmosphere in Ionia changed a little. My art style began to be welcomed, even fanatically pursued.”

"And the master who personally sent me to prison has also changed his mind."

"He managed to get me out of Toulon Jail, just to use my art to secretly generate income for himself."

"This..." the young cadre commented: "This master is really a hypocritical hypocrite."

"That's right." Jhin smiled and said, "He was quickly punished and unfortunately died before the war was over."

"I lost my employer because of this, and for various reasons, I started a period of silence."

"Until recently, by chance, I met a big sponsor who truly understood art and appreciated me."

“Thanks to that gentleman’s support, I have gained a deeper understanding and attainment of art, which has enabled me to embark on this journey.”

"I see." The young cadre nodded secretly.

He wanted to say something else, but when he saw Nanmu Village had been left far behind by the two men, he stopped quietly.

"Mr. Raj, the road to Weili City is ahead, I won't continue to send you off..."

As he spoke, the young village cadre's eyes accidentally collided with Jin's.

He saw Jhin's naturally ugly face without the mask, which seemed to have its own terrifying effect.

The gaze stayed for only a moment, then moved away silently.

"..." A barely perceptible coldness flashed across Jin's eyes.

But he still responded to the young cadre's enthusiasm with his harmless smile: "Thank you, comrade."

"If you hadn't taken me to visit Nanmu Village, I wouldn't have known that people could live so well by running a collective enterprise together."

"Haha. You're welcome. This is what I should do." The young cadre smiled sincerely and said, "As long as you use your brush to depict what you see and hear here after you go back, and share your experiences with the world, our work will not be in vain."

"Yeah, I definitely will," Jhin said.

He did not rush to say goodbye and leave, but instead gently glanced at the young cadre's face, then turned around and looked at Nanmu Village in the distance.

"I will use my art to paint this place into the most beautiful and moving picture."

"Then I'll leave it to you." The young cadre said gratefully.

"This is also my job." Jin said with a smile.

Then he asked casually, "By the way, comrade...from your accent, I don't think you are from Ionia, right?"

“Yes,” the young cadre said frankly, “I am from Zuan.”

"As expected, you look like a cadre from Zaun who came to support us." Jhin asked casually, "The other staff members in the village, including the professors and students doing research that I met, should also be from the Twin Cities, right?

"Yes." The situation in Nanmu Village is rather special.

This is not only a pilot site for rural collective enterprises, but also the newly established Agricultural College of Piltover University, an important research base in Ionia.

The scientific community in Shuangcheng has also done some research on agriculture. After all, Shuangcheng's major customers are agricultural countries, and there is a great demand for agricultural products.

But that doesn't include Ionia.

In the past, Ionia had always been on the fringes of the world trade system. It was only after Noxus roughly opened its doors that Ionia followed the leader and joined the big family of globalization.

Therefore, faced with this nascent land that urgently needs to be developed, many Twin Cities scientists and agricultural college students have come here from afar in order to study the impact of Ionia's special environment infiltrated by magic on agricultural production.

Therefore, Nanmu Village is home to a large number of foreigners from Shuangcheng, and they are not just grassroots cadres who are leaders.

"But we have been here for more than a year, so we can be considered half Ionian. Haha." The young cadre laughed.

"Half Ionian?" Jhin also smiled. "So when you die, will you go to the spirit world of our Ionians, or to Mitna Lachen of your Valoran people?"

"Uh." The young cadre was stunned: "I really haven't thought about this..."

"It seems you are not Ionian yet." Jhin smiled even more brightly: "You are Zaun."

Ionians only go to the spirit world after death, and do not open the rift to Mithnarachon. But foreigners do.

It will take these people to open the road to Mitnarach in Ionia.

Jin thought to himself.

The young cadres couldn't guess what Jin was thinking.

Seeing Jin's inexplicably frightening short silence, he couldn't help but ask with some concern: "Mr. Raj, why are you asking these questions..."

"Nothing." Jin calmly made up an excuse: "I'm just curious. There are so many people from Shuangcheng in the village, but why don't we see many machines? Aren't those tractors and harvesters all made in Shuangcheng?"

Jin looked away nonchalantly after he finished speaking, and the young cadre answered seriously without noticing, "Well... it's not that the organization doesn't have money. They only support people and not machines."

"The main thing is that what we are doing in Nanmu Village is a pilot project."

"The pilot project must, of course, be based on the real conditions prevailing in the vast rural areas of Ionia, so that the advanced nature of rural collective enterprises can be truly tested."

"We in Zaun can only provide management support and agricultural technical guidance, but we will not directly support agricultural materials."

"Otherwise, if we support agricultural machinery and fuel, and invest a lot of agricultural materials that other villages cannot afford, how can Nanmu Village's production efficiency be low?"

"If you try this way, you can only create an artificial model of success. How can you realistically test out real results?"

The results of the leader's social experiments will not be affected by external interference due to the political inclinations or personal interests of the project managers.

Grassroots officials dare to report problems truthfully when they discover them, and middle-level officials will not falsify or conceal information for the sake of political achievements when receiving feedback.

All problems that arise in the experiment can be fed back to the center in a real and effective manner, allowing the top management of the leader to make the most correct judgments and decisions based on the actual situation.

…

The young cadre spoke a lot with great enthusiasm.

Seeing that Jin hadn't responded, he said awkwardly, "Ahem... Mr. Raj, I'm sorry for delaying your departure."

"No, I am very interested in what you said." Jin smiled elegantly and said, "Thank you for your hospitality."

"You're welcome. Have a nice trip and I hope we'll see each other again."

"Hmm..." A hint of amusement flashed in Jin's eyes: "We will definitely meet again, for sure."

"Huh?" The young cadre looked puzzled: "Are you planning to come again?"

"certainly."

"When?" the young cadre wanted to ask again.

Jin, however, was already leaning on his iron staff and taking slow steps forward.

All he left was: "Faster than you think."

After he said this, the young cadre stopped asking questions.