Essence Devouring Art

After leading Lin Village out of poverty,

Lin Zongyao began to rein in his ambitions, feeling he had already stepped on the toes of some powerful factions.

If they continued down this path,

their Lin Village wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

The Stone Spirit they had always relied on would readily annihilate people and devour their souls.

Although its victims were wicked people who deserved their fate, provoking the wrong sort of trouble would bring disaster upon Lin Village.

So, Lin Zongyao decided to stop there.

After all, the wealth Lin Village had accumulated was enough for everyone to be fed and clothed. As for his descendants, they would have to make their own fortunes.

But unfortunately...

Lin Zongyao’s decision was met with opposition from nearly all the clan elders and members.

They believed that...

Lin Zongyao had gotten rich and forgotten his roots. He was being selfish, trying to prevent other clan members from prospering so he could protect his position as Clan Leader.

’He gets to eat well, but he only lets the rest of us eat our fill?’

’Why can’t we eat well too?’

’How can someone so evil exist in this world?’

He always helped the poor and weak, acting virtuous and humble. Who would have thought he was just putting on a facade, that his Heart Eye was so dark underneath!

It was just like the old saying:

A lifetime of good deeds can be undone by a single perceived transgression, inviting the scorn of thousands.

Whether the evil was real or not,

the world is full of people who want to step on others to feel superior.

Lin Zongyao couldn’t understand this.

He had wholeheartedly and tirelessly worked for the good of Lin Village. Why had he suddenly become a pariah?

「After this incident,」

Lin Zongyao fell into a deep depression, a sickness he could not heal himself from. He spent his days in gloom and soon collapsed onto his sickbed.

Normally, with Lin Zongyao having lost his prestige and fallen ill in body and mind, the matter would have ended there.

But unfortunately for him, he had a "good" cousin.

Within the clan, Lin Zongwen, head of the second branch and Lin Zongyao’s cousin, had always been jealous of the capable. His ambition was higher than the heavens, and he could never stand his elder cousin’s feigned righteousness.

He had coveted the position of Clan Leader for years, believing that if he took charge, he could bring unprecedented glory to the people of Lin Village.

So he seized the opportunity to kick a man when he was down, fanning the flames from behind the scenes and smearing Lin Zongyao’s name.

He spread rumors that Lin Zongyao’s home was overflowing with Silver, that he even ate from golden bowls.

That Lin Zongyao had taken a huge kickback from the profits of their collectively funded businesses, leaving the villagers with only the scraps.

That while Lin Zongyao appeared warm and righteous on the surface, he secretly cursed the villagers for being ungrateful fools.

Using every trick of rhetoric he knew, he painted his own cousin as an irredeemable villain, an unworthy descendant who had shamed their ancestors.

Gossip is a fearful thing, more ferocious than a tiger.

When most people have turned against you, all explanations become pale and powerless.

Of course, the baser aspects of human nature were also at play.

Lin Zongyao had governed the clan with benevolence and justice. His reputation for kindness spread far and wide, and in the past, he was highly respected, having built for himself a great Golden Body.

While there were those who secretly admired him,

there was certainly no shortage of those who were jealous. As the saying goes, people don’t worry about having little, but about having less than others. Deep down, no one truly wishes for others to be better than them, in any aspect.

Whether Lin Zongyao had done those things or not,

there were plenty of people who dreamt day and night of seeing the mighty Golden Body shatter, the high tower collapse, and the tragic sight of his miserable downfall.

As it happened, they had an excuse, and they had a ringleader.

So why not see for themselves what was really inside him?

And so, a trial in which the entire village participated began.

Lin Zongwen was very clever.

He incited the villagers to put Lin Zongyao on trial but didn’t put himself on the stage. Instead, he hoisted the banner of "public will," letting the Public Opinion Stone decide Lin Zongyao’s guilt.

More importantly,

if the Public Opinion Stone were to act...

then was Lin Zongyao guilty?

Yes!

The hearts of the people pointed to it; the will of the people judged it so.

In a feudal society, the awareness of law and the value of human life was far too weak.

Aside from the members of the first branch and a few neutral parties who didn’t participate, ninety percent of Lin Village believed Lin Zongyao was an unforgivable monster.

Thus, something incredibly ironic happened.

Lin Zongyao’s good heart had forged good karma, yet in the end, he died at the hands of that very same karma.

One wonders if, given a second chance,

he would still have saved that Daoist.

He most likely would have. Because even in death, Lin Zongyao never regretted the actions of his life. His conscience was clear.

「On the day of the trial,」

a heavy snow fell, blanketing everything in a sorrowful chill.

In a desperate plea for mercy, Lin Zongyao’s son went door to door, kowtowing and begging. His helpless, grief-stricken cries could be heard from afternoon until night.

But it was no use.

Most of the Lin Village clansmen were in a fit of anger at the time.

Combined with mob mentality and the interference of Lin Zongwen’s faction, everyone from the branch heads and clan elders down to the common villagers...

...refused to yield, no matter how much Lin Zongyao’s son bloodied his forehead from kowtowing or wore out his knees from kneeling. By the end of it all, both father and son died suddenly in their home that night.

Even more ironically,

afterward, someone suggested ransacking his house and dividing the kickbacks Lin Zongyao had supposedly embezzled over the years.

However...

after they turned the place upside down, they found no golden bowls or chests of Silver. They couldn’t even find a single decent possession. The account book they discovered clearly recorded every single income and expense.

There was no evidence of Lin Zongyao’s supposed embezzlement. He had always lived a frugal life, and almost all the profits from his business dealings had been given back to the village.

At this point,

the people of Lin Village realized they had repaid kindness with hatred, that they had framed an innocent man and driven him to his death. They were filled with unspeakable shame.

But that’s just how people are.

When there’s a benefit to be had, they’re the first to jump in. When they’ve done wrong, most of them just make excuses, shift the blame. How many can openly admit their mistakes?

Lin Zongyao was gone. The dead can’t testify.

So they could shift the blame however they pleased.

And so, with Lin Zongwen’s silver tongue, a few trumped-up charges were pinned on Lin Zongyao.

Everyone said he was guilty.

So he must have been guilty.

Besides,

the Public Opinion Stone itself had acted, so Lin Zongyao must have done something shameful in secret.

Through all this self-deception,

the people of Lin Village were able to put their minds at ease.

「As for what happened next,」

everyone knows the story.

Lin Zongwen took over as Clan Leader and, boldly pursuing his vengeful ambitions, gradually forged a small society in Lin Village where the patriarch was revered above all.

Compared to Lin Zongyao’s benevolent way of doing things,

Lin Zongwen’s methods for development were far more extreme.

He used the village’s power like a tiger’s skin for a banner. Whether in business or in disputes with neighboring villages, he would readily call for a village-wide vote, using the will of the people of Lin Village to take lives.

There’s no need to detail how many miscarriages of justice resulted from this.

In short, under Lin Zongwen’s tyrannical methods, Lin Village prospered, but it also gradually became known to outsiders as a dragon’s pool and a tiger’s den—a place shrouded in an ominous, mysterious air.

「Within the borders of Tan County,」

there was even a saying whispered in secret: "It’s better to slap the County Magistrate than to offend Lin Village."

During those years, the people of Lin Village walked with their backs straight wherever they went. Arrogant and domineering, they became the undisputed Local Bullies of Tan County.

This situation continued until the rise of the White Whale Martial Arts Hall.

Only then did Lin Zongwen finally rein himself in.

The White Whale Martial Arts Hall was simply too massive.

Despite his blind worship of the Stone God, Lin Zongwen had no confidence he could face a behemoth like the White Whale Martial Arts Hall.

However, although Lin Zongwen had yielded to the White Whale Martial Arts Hall and stepped aside, his arrogant nature never changed.

Otherwise,

the incident where he made a County Branch Hall Master from the White Whale Martial Arts Hall vanish from the face of the earth would never have happened.

To be honest, after getting the previous Hall Master of the Tan County Branch killed,

Lin Zongwen still felt quite uneasy and terrified, fearing bloody retaliation from the White Whale Martial Arts Hall.

The White Whale Martial Arts Hall did indeed send people to investigate.

The investigators were not low in status or strength. They were led by a Deputy Head Hall Master at the Third Rebirth, accompanied by several at the Breaking the Cocoon realm and a squad of Divine Power cultivators.

But even a lineup like that,

faced with the unified resistance of Lin Village’s public will and with the Stone God acting from behind the scenes,

investigated for half a month.

Not only did they find nothing, but they also lost several experts one after another, ultimately forcing them to return in defeat.

「After this incident,」

Lin Zongwen’s confidence swelled to the point of utter arrogance.

’The White Whale Martial Arts Hall? What a joke!’

’When you come to my Lin Village, if you’re a dragon, you’d better coil up; if you’re a tiger, you’d better lie down!’

After a month of floating on this cloud of arrogance,

he met Wu Dao, a "barbarian" who didn’t follow Martial Virtue.

Lin Zongwen’s flight of fancy came to an end. He was dragged down from the heavens and had his brains splattered on the ground.

「On the threshing ground,」

When the "story" was finished, the field fell silent. The people from the White Whale Martial Arts Hall had complex expressions, filled with a mix of emotions—some felt it was a tragedy, others felt contempt.

"Well? Something you want to say?"

Wu Dao glanced at Zhao Jianji, who stood beside him looking like he wanted to speak but was holding back. Wu Dao’s expression was as cold as iron, his tone devoid of any ripple.

"No, it’s just that a man like Lin Zongyao... he was a bit..."

Zhao Jianji sighed and shook his head with a bitter smile. "Too pure."

"His end was inevitable."

Wu Dao stood up and swept his gaze over the people of Lin Village, who were hanging their heads in shame. He rolled his stiff neck and said coolly,

"In life, one cannot be entirely good, nor can one be entirely evil. Great good and great evil will ultimately harm others and oneself.

A person who is too pure...

...in this furnace of a world, is like trying to cross Flame Mountain in the heat of summer. At the start of the climb, they have a pure, sincere heart, striding with the vigor of a dragon and the gait of a tiger.

But by the time they reach the mountainside,

the turbid flames will be raging. They will either be unable to take another step or find themselves engulfed in fire. Only by igniting the turbid fire within their own hearts and burning along with the current do they have a chance to reach the summit."

"Neither entirely good, nor entirely evil."

Zhao Jianji muttered to himself, seeming to have an epiphany. It really did seem to be the case.

Lin Zongyao was greatly good and benevolent.

In the end, he brought ruin upon himself.

Lin Zongwen was selfish and utterly wicked.

Not only did he die a violent death, but he also nearly dragged all of Lin Village down with him.

Weren’t they perfect living examples?

"Then what kind of person are you, Hall Master? And how do you see this world?"

On some strange impulse,

Zhao Jianji asked this question.

The air grew strangely still.

The response Zhao Jianji received was Wu Dao’s eyes—as pure black as ink, unsettling pupils that resembled those of an Evil Beast from the Abyss.