One Wish to Own the World



He read one out loud and pondered on its meaning. He walked around the room and read the rest of the engraving. 

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."

"Overcome anger with peace. Overcome evil with good. Overcome greed with generosity. Overcome liars with the truth."

Henry kept reading everything until he finished. In the center of the room, was a small tomb with the words "A banished monk".

"Those are wise words. Sorry for taking your water pool, I need it for survival."

He cupped his fist and turned around to leave. At that moment, the door leading to the pool room closed, and a few torches were lit inside the tomb room.

"Hello, young man. I sense you've never killed a man before."

Alarmed, Henry turned around and tried to find the speaker. No matter where he looked, he saw nothing.

"Who are you?"

"I'm nothing but a mere banished monk. Why haven't you killed before?"

"I don't think we have the right to take others' lives. Killing others is evil, and the dirty bloodlust cultivators have is the proof of its filthiness."

Henry said with a righteous tone. Ever since he left his village and became a cultivator, he never forgot the helplessness the villagers felt every time a cultivator arrived and took anything he wanted.

As a young boy, he was determined not to act the same way and oppress the weak.

"The mind is everything. What you think you become."

Said the old voice in his ears. Henry still walked around the room and tried to find an exit, but he didn't. The wall where the door was located formerly didn't budge from its place.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Didn't you read the scripture on the walls?"

The old man answered with another question, prompting Henry to think about what he read earlier. Since he couldn't leave before getting the voice's permission, he chose to listen first.

"I did. What are you trying to say?"

"One should not rely on mere words, but everywhere search for the intention behind them."

"Old man, I don't know what you're talking about."

*Sigh*

The voice sighed and Henry could almost vision an old man shaking his head.

"I'm a woman, not a man."

"Oh, sorry."

He answered awkwardly and the two remained silent for a few moments until the voice spoke again.

"Whether killing others is bad or not relies on oneself. If you perceive it as a good thing for freeing the world of bad people, then you will never develop the 'filthy' bloodlust. For example, why doesn't one develop bloodlust while killing beasts?"

The voice engaged Henry with a question about the essence of killing.

"Because they're not humans, and only killing humans makes us develop bloodlust."

Henry replied with the textbook answer everyone knew.

"Why are beasts different than humans?"

"Why aren't they? They are violent and have no intelligence."

"They are not violent; they only hunt for their basic needs. As for intelligence, they develop them once they get to the higher stages. Even fourth-rank beasts can easily understand your intentions when you speak to them. The reason you don't develop bloodlust while killing beasts is because you don't consider killing them as a bad thing."

"Are you saying I should stop hunting beasts?"

"No, it's the other way around. Just like hunting beasts is not wrong, hunting humans is not wrong either. After all, they're not much different from beasts."

The voice had a hypnotizing effect as the woman spoke, and Henry felt it was making a lot of sense. He suddenly remembered another sentence he read on the wall.

"The world is afflicted by death and decay. But the wise do not grieve, having realized the nature of the world."

"Exactly. There's no need to mourn the dead."

"But who are you and what do you want from me?"

Henry shook his head and remembered he was still stuck there. If he couldn't get out by the time the sand covers the other room, he will have to dig another tomb for himself.

"I'm a Grand Elder of the Peaceful Demon Sect. Have you heard of it?"

"The second-rank sect? Everyone heard of it in the cultivation world."

Demonic cultivation wasn't the same as evil cultivation. Demonic cultivation was the strengthening of the body through extreme means, developing a special Qi called Demonic Qi.

"I was banished from my sect and gravely injured for understanding the truth I just shared with you. The righteous cultivators claimed that my ideas were dangerous for the world. It's somewhat ironic that those who said that my beliefs will bring forth conscience-free murder were the ones who caused my death."

The old voice said, yet there was no bitterness in its voice. Everything was said in a peaceful tone, making Henry more inclined to believe the woman's scriptures were correct.

"But what does it have to do with me?"

"I want to pass my manuals to others. I was unable to train it since I invented my doctrine toward the end of my life, and I already had a firm foundation that couldn't be changed. The sect shunned my teachings, and nobody was ever given a chance at studying them. Would you agree to become my inheritor?"

Henry had a hard time trusting a voice that came out of a tomb.

"How can I trust you?"

"I will give you my manuals, techniques, and a large storage ring that contains all the resources you need for the near future. I've prepared everything for my future inheritor. Additionally, I can provide you with fake scriptures to show to your sect. It will hide the real inheritance from their eyes and keep you safe from their greed."

Henry contemplated hard about it. As a commoner and an outer disciple, he knew he will never be able to become truly strong. His foundation was horrible, and he'd never make it beyond the fourth or the fifth stage.

"I accept."