Seeking the Tao in the Mortal World

Chapter 51: Torture

The scene was completely silent. The soldiers, who looked at Li Qinglin, were all trembling and didn’t know what to say. Li Qinglin also didn’t turn his head back. His body had become thin and hunched. Qin Yi knew that what he saw when he turned his head was probably a wrinkled face. Li Qinglin was no longer the young and handsome Li Qinglin.

He took a deep breath and suddenly said, “Tao Friend Ming He, have you seen enough drama?”

The atmosphere was quiet for a moment, then a gust of fragrant wind blew; Ming He suddenly appeared beside him.

“Beastkin creatures were raging in the crown prince mansion, why didn’t you take action?”

“Since I don’t kill Ye Ling, I of course won’t kill the others. I have to be thorough to be a bystander.” Ming He was in a trance looking at Li Qinglin’s white hair with some ecstasy, and answered Qin Yi casually.

Qin Yi interjected, “Are you done watching now?”

“…” Ming He was silent. No bystander could have imagined this result, including Liu Su and Ming He.

A moment ago, she also felt that this South Li Kingdom situation was nothing more than that. No matter what kind of background it was, it could not escape the essence of the power struggle in the end. Liu Su also felt that it was boring and could not “add aftertaste to its long life”.

But it didn’t expect such an ending, to the point where a detached person like Liu Su and Ming He felt moved. Until now Liu Su was silent, not knowing what it was thinking.

The same goes for Ming He who had complicated emotions.

Qin Yi bowed deeply, “Please help Brother Li for once, Qin Yi will surely repay you in the future.”

“Even I’m helpless too.” Ming He sighed softly, “My cultivation may be higher than you, but not in all aspects of knowledge.”

Qin Yi asked without giving up, “Does your sect have some special spells, such as rejuvenation?”

“If we can help people rejuvenate, we can help people live forever. If there is such a spell in the world, why do we have to seek the way? Unless we get the real nine-turn golden pill or an extremely rare treasure, but these aren’t something that Ming He can get.”

Qin Yi was silent. Where to find something like this?

Ming He said again, “I can at most cast illusion to let the crown prince look the same in the eyes of all people in the South Li Kingdom. As for the subsequent matters…”

“That’s enough.” Li Qinglin said suddenly, “Please cast the spell.”

The voice was old and hoarse like an 80 old man.

Some soldiers couldn’t help crying.

With a wave of Ming He’s slender hand, a faint smoke brushed over Li Qinglin’s body. In the eyes of everyone, Li Qinglin’s back was tall and straight again, and his white hair turned black again.

He turned around slowly before saying calmly, “Get out of here first. There are still many things to deal with.”

After saying this, he strode out with firm steps. The soldiers heaved a sigh of relief. The hopeless feeling dissipated a lot. They lined up neatly and followed behind. Even though he was old, he was still that Li Qinglin.

Only Qin Yi looked at Dong Huazi’s corpse silently. The silver spear piercing through the corpse was not pulled out.

What situation would make a warrior forget even his personal weapon?

He knew that Li Qinglin’s heart was definitely not as peaceful as it appeared on the surface.

He silently pulled out the silver spear and said to Ming He, “Do you still want to stay in my broken yard?”

Ming He asked, “You still hope that I can figure out a way?”

“Yes, let’s discuss it. Maybe there is a way? After all, he is not really aging. He is just under a curse. Maybe it can be lifted?”

Ming He suddenly said, “Why do you care so much? Don’t you want to know how he will choose?”

Qin Yi said, “I know that there is a way of longevity in the world, but from the standpoint of a prince, I appreciate his idea of ??making the kingdom rich and the people successful regardless of longevity. Even if Li Qinglin will be fatuous many years later, he won’t be at least in the next few decades. To forcibly put a person in such a desperate situation to torture him, the answer will be meaningless. That will only be Dong Huazi’s distorted wishful thinking. For me, I don’t want to know his choice at all. I just hope that he doesn’t have to face this kind of situation.”

Ming He looked at him for a while, shook his head, and said, “Tao Friend… still doesn’t look like a cultivator.”

Qin Yi was really not in the mood to debate about this, and he was not in the mood to look at the matter from the outsider perspective. He didn’t say any more. He turned away with Li Qinglin’s silver spear in his hand, “I said, at least so far, I can’t see through it yet.”

…

After walking out of the underground palace, Li Qinglin was still standing outside. Most of the army was gone, and so was the old general Xie Yuan.

Seeing Qin Yi bring the spear out, Li Qinglin smiled wryly, took the spear and said, “Thank you, Brother Qin.”

Qin Yi asked, “Don’t you still have things to finish?”

“I ordered someone to seal off the palace first. Anyway, I have already mobilized troops in the city, and I ignored the imperial decrees. It is impossible to have a smooth handover. It will still have to come to this in the end.” Li Qinglin paused, and he said in a low voice, ” To be honest, at this point, I’m not in the mood to consider other details.”

Qin Yi wanted to say something, but Li Qinglin waved his hand and said, “I know Brother Qin is noble. There are some things that are inconvenient to reveal in front of soldiers, and even inconvenient to tell Qingjun… but I can tell you.”

Qin Yi took back his comforting words and said, “Okay, I’ll listen.”

“Dong Huazi tried to murder me, I already knew about it.” Li Qinglin looked into the distance and said slowly, “I thought this way before, if I die from his plan or if this operation fails, then The South Li Kingdom will be handed over to Qingjun. Therefore, I will not marry her to Mang Zhan no matter what, and I will not let her have any accident.”

Qin Yi nodded and said, “You’re sincere in this. The jade pendant can prove everything.”

“But Brother Qin…” Li Qinglin still looked into the distance as if he didn’t dare to look at Qin Yi directly, and he said in a low voice, “Now I know that I can’t live long, and even my energy is low, but… I don’t want to give up the throne to Qingjun. The throne is right in front of my eyes, and I found that I can’t say the words to give up. I’m a little confused. What is my ambition? Did I even deceive myself, thinking that I did everything for the South Li Kingdom, but in reality I’m just doing it for the throne?”

Qin Yi didn’t laugh, but said seriously, “It’s normal… I’m not asking you to be a saint. If you say that you are wholeheartedly for South Li Kingdom without any selfish desires, it would be a hypocrite instead.”

Li Qinglin seemed relieved. He finally turned around with a smile, “Brother Qin is really a true friend.”

Qin Yi said, “Actually, Qingjun is not suitable to take on this burden. If you really leave the throne to her, it might be worse than Dong Huazi’s resurrection.”

Li Qinglin laughed, “It’s very possible.”

Qin Yi hesitated for a moment, and he finally said, “After all, you are an Innate Stage warrior. Your energy and vitality are stronger than ordinary people. Even if you are old, you still have some lifespan. You just persevere. I will try my best to find a solution in these days…”

Li Qinglin’s eyes suddenly became strange, and he said slowly, “I thought Brother Qin would say you will teach me to cultivate.”

Qin Yi’s heart skipped a beat.

Li Qinglin suddenly laughed again, “Forget it, that’s what Dong Huazi wants to see, right? Obsessed with cultivating the Tao, messing up the family and kingdom? I won’t do what he wants.” He paused, then said, “After talking to Brother Qin, I feel much better. Brother Qin must be tired today too. Go back to rest and be with Qingjun.”

After that, he strode away.

Qin Yi looked at his back and was speechless for a while.

Liu Su said, “There is a great horror between life and death. I usually thought I can laugh it off, but when I really faced it, I was still shaken.”

“Encountering such a situation, the person who is shaken mentally is a real person. At least, he didn’t turn evil directly.” Qin Yi sighed, “If I were him, I might not be as calm as him.”

Liu Su asked, “If Li Qinglin still asks you to teach him cultivation, will you teach him or not?”

“Can you allow me to leak the codes casually?”

“That’s just basic code, I don’t care.”

Qin Yi pursed his lips. He avoided Li Qinglin’s clear request just now, besides not knowing whether Liu Su would agree, the main reason was his own hesitation.

Li Qinglin’s understanding of “indulging in Taoism leads to mistakes” was actually not accurate. According to this understanding, as long as he had enough self-control, then he could do well in kingdom affairs and cultivating right?

That wasn’t the case. The real reason was that a pure mind without obsession needed to cultivate the Tao was in essence contrary to the attributes of the throne. Both couldn’t coexist at all. Either one gave up the throne and cultivated with peace of mind. As long as one was still on the throne, he would be an “emperor without longevity”.

The biggest possibility was still making mistakes on both sides. One would neither achieve longevity nor manage the kingdom’s affairs well. Countless emperors had repeatedly proved this point in ancient times.

Li Qinglin had already admitted that he couldn’t give up the throne… If he was taught to cultivate again, he would really go back to his father’s path and become what he once hated the most.

Qin Yi could understand him, but he really didn’t want to see such a thing happen.