Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The reason a person is called a 'freak' is naturally that many aspects of that person differ from normal.

This person was very short. On the surface, Nanke appeared like a little girl of twelve or thirteen, but this person was shorter than Nanke by two heads.

This person was very ugly. No matter how beautiful the morning light was, it could only engender disgust when it shone on that seemingly randomly assembled face.

This person's back bulged upwards, indicating that he was probably a hunchback.

This person was dressed in black. His clothes had been washed until they were very clean, but for some strange reason, one could still smell some stinking odor.

Most people who saw such a thin, short, deformed, and stinking person would first feel loathing. After calming down, they might feel some pity or sympathy.

Chen Changsheng did not feel any of these things.

The moment he saw this person, his sense of wariness instantly soared.

It was the same feeling he had gotten when he first saw Zhou Tong standing under the crabapple tree in the alley of the Northern Military Department.

He felt that he was seeing an unreasonable, unpersuadable, undilutable, and perfect evil.

This person's evil was subtly different from Zhou Tong's evil, even more sinister and foul.

"Who are you?" Chen Changsheng asked the freak.

The person's ugly face showed a hint of anxiety.

Because the morning light was too bright and he had forgotten to cover his face with a hat.

He had been seen, making him feel inferior, and once more stirring in him a desire to destroy the world.

The moment he thought about destroying the world, the freak felt much more at peace and began to smile.

This freak's smile was also very freakish. The moment he smiled, the corners of his lips peeled back, revealing the terrifying sight that was those messy and sharp teeth that seemed more appropriate in the mouth of a beast.

"Since I can't kill you in secret, I can only try and see if I can't kill you right here."

This person's voice was also very unpleasant, as grating as two broken shards of porcelain being constantly rubbed against each other.

After saying this, he extended both his hands and made a gesture towards Chen Changsheng.

In the bright morning light, one could clearly see that his two hands were covered all over in fur and scales, making them seem rather repulsive.

Chen Changsheng did not pay any attention to this detail but to the gesture formed by the hands.

He had never seen this gesture used in reality, but as he was well-versed in the Daoist Canon, he had once seen it in an ancient Daoist scripture.

This was a most traditional Daoist array hand seal, an archaic technique that had ceased to be passed down in the Orthodoxy for many years.

Neither the Li Palace nor Holy Maiden Peak still taught this sort of technique.

This person exuded a fair and harmonious, even divine Qi.

But black Qi was gathering around his hands, lightning bolts flashing within while a foul and evil smell gushed forth.

Using the most traditional and ancient divine arts of the Orthodoxy to drive the most sinister and evil of attacks—what sort of monster was this?

Chen Changsheng's eyes narrowed as his right hand gripped the hilt at his waist.

It seemed like this impromptu battle was about to begin, but nobody expected what happened next.

The hunchbacked freak suddenly glanced upwards and then bellowed in exasperation, "Why do you have so many helpers!"

After saying this, he suddenly blurred, intending to retreat out the window.

But escaping in front of Chen Changsheng and Nanke could never be so easy.

Countless sword intents flitted around the kitchen, sealing off all escape routes.

In a clear stream of light, Nanke vanished from the ground.

Chen Changsheng was not worried that the freak might escape. At such short distances, no one was faster than Nanke, even if her two wings had oddly vanished. Yet… what happened next completely surpassed his imagination.

The moment Nanke vanished, so did the freak.

Countless streams of wind suddenly stirred. The steam gushing out from the iron pot was parted into innumerable strands while the rays of light coming in from the window incessantly twinkled.

It was evident that the two were currently traveling through the room at such high speeds that they were not visible to the naked eye.

Even with her lightning-bolt-esque speed, Nanke was still unable to seize the freak.

The wariness in Chen Changsheng's mind continued to intensify and he slightly strengthened the grip of his right hand on the hilt.

With a few shinks, several extremely distinct lines appeared on the roof beams, several swords stabbing through the morning light at a certain location.

A pained and furious howl shattered the air.

The freak was forced to reveal himself. His right shoulder bore a wound, with putrid blood slowly seeping out.

Several dark green rays of light howled through the air, grabbing at the freak's throat. They were Nanke's fingers.

Rip! The freak's clothes suddenly burst apart.

Two gray silhouettes appeared behind him, moving his body with unimaginable speed to the other side of the room, avoiding Nanke's attack.

The bulge behind his back had not been because he was a hunchback, but because he was hiding a pair of wings!

There were no feathers on these wings, just two disgusting gray lumps of flesh, but they flapped with incredible speed.

The gray wings beat madly, gusting up reeking winds. With a boom, the freak flew straight into the stove!

In a frenzy of swords, the stove was instantly annihilated, but the person had already disappeared.

Chen Changsheng and Nanke stood next to the ruins of the stove, looking silently at the hole in the floor.

Nanke drew back her spiritual sense and said, "It leads underground and is filled with impurity. I don't know how he passed through it."

Seeing this scene and hearing Nanke's words, Chen Changsheng fell into deep thought.

He had read a similar description in that ancient Daoist scripture as well.

It was a story from a very, very long time ago.

Tens of thousands of years ago, there was a Pope who, in search of the Grand Liberation Realm, became enlightened to an extremely sinister cultivation method. This was to separate oneself from one's vulgar thoughts and desires, creating an opposite self. By observing oneself, one would be able to comprehend the ultimate principles of the world and then, with a single strike, obtain true peace.

That Pope had made an incredible amount of preparations beforehand, but he did not realize that the evil soul was even more sinister and terrifying than expected. Using the impure Qi of the world, it matured at an unimaginable pace, and when he finally wanted to execute it, he did not completely succeed, and even suffered a backlash from the evil soul. He had no other means: when his soul was on the verge of being completely contaminated, he borrowed the will of twelves sages in the Great Hall of Light to forcefully kill both himself and that evil soul.

Just like that, the most knowledgeable Pope of unfathomable cultivation died.

This Daoist technique, given the name Corpse-Beheading, was naturally forbidden by the Orthodoxy and gradually was lost in the long river of history.

Who could have expected that this Daoist technique would re-emerge before him today?

Countless years ago, before that Pope departed, he had said to the archbishops of the Li Palace, "If the corpse beheading does not succeed, the Yellow Springs will appear."

Could that monster be the Yellow Springs?