After saying this, Hongmao moved.
Afterimages trailed behind him. Before Shui Lingling could even react, she was struck by a sudden, unexpected Black Heart Baleful Palm and sent flying dozens of meters away.
"This..." Gui Jiujiu's pupils contracted sharply, an expression of utter astonishment on his face.
Just moments ago, it was an evenly matched battle. In the blink of an eye, Hongmao had completely crushed them.
'Could it be that he had been holding back his strength even in such an intense fight?!'
"Pfft… Hongmao... you...!"
Dozens of meters away, amidst a pile of rubble, Shui Lingling struggled to prop herself up, but could only cough up two mouthfuls of blood. All her meridians were severed, demonic energy invading her body.
Her eyes were filled with terror and shock, utterly unable to believe what had happened.
So sudden.
The Thousand-Handed Guanyin had just appeared, the secret poison had just been applied to Guanyin's hands...
She had considered the possibility of losing,
But only after a thoroughly satisfying battle of three hundred rounds, uttering a couple of tragic lines with reluctance, before slowly falling.
But now...
"I never considered you opponents. You aren't worthy."
Hongmao looked coldly at the couple, a sarcastic curve on his lips.
"The reason I fought for so long was, first, to see how shameless you could become."
"To decide whether a slight punishment, severing an arm, or outright killing was appropriate."
"Now it seems, killing you directly is most fitting."
Hongmao licked his lips, his tone sinister.
"Second, I was secretly searching for the whereabouts of my Seven Swords comrades."
"After experiencing so many great changes, I no longer trust the so-called integrity of the righteous path."
"If you used underhanded tricks to threaten me before I found the Seven Swords, I would be at a disadvantage."
Hongmao's disdainful words provoked indignation in both Shui Lingling and Gui Jiujiu.
Their Phoenix Martial Arts School was renowned throughout the land, its century-long open and honorable reputation.
How could it withstand such slander?
However, remembering their own earlier underhanded methods, this anger was suppressed.
The couple exchanged a glance, couldn't help but feel grief welling up, letting out a desolate, long sigh.
"And during that battle period, I manipulated my demonic energy and have already found the location of the Seven Swords. That's why I dared to fight without worries."
Hongmao laughed heartily, waving his right hand. A surge of demonic energy swept over.
The four Seven Swords' members, transformed into infants, slept peacefully within a cloth bundle, their faces calm.
"Hongmao, since you've calculated everything, my husband and I have nothing more to say. Matters have come to this, we can only die."
Shui Lingling looked mournfully at Hongmao, asking sorrowfully,
"But I have one question. Before I die, I want to hear you answer it personally."
"Speak." Hongmao gathered the four infant swords into his embrace, coldly uttering a single word.
"The Hongmao who once cared for the world, treated the common people with kindness, who would endure ten thousand arrows piercing his heart to protect all living beings under heaven... why has he become what you are now?!"
Shui Lingling spoke word by word, her voice like a cuckoo crying blood, her heart filled with extreme unwillingness.
Even in death, she wanted to know.
Why did the originally open and honorable Hongmao, the great hero who took protecting the world as his duty, become so aggressive and press forward step by step specifically before her Phoenix Martial Arts School?
Even to the point of wanting to kill Shui Dingdang, who was merely misled, whose 'heart was pure'?!
'Such decisiveness in killing, such believing oneself to be the only supreme being...'
'Only the Demonic Sect that shook the world ten years ago had such demeanor!'
"Hmph. 'Cared for the world,' 'protected all living beings'."
"Makes me want to vomit."
Hongmao smiled indifferently. The Demonic Rainbow Sword in his hand trembled, its overwhelming demonic energy transforming into a giant hand.
It grabbed Little Black, who had long been knocked unconscious by the shockwaves nearby, and brought him over.
"Do you know what he did to me?" Hongmao asked plainly.
Both Shui Lingling and Gui Jiujiu shook their heads, faces blank with confusion.
"He disguised himself as a divine beast. My Seven Swords, for the sake of 'all living beings under heaven', for the sake of protecting peace, followed him all the way, wanting to get a clear explanation.'
"But he refused to listen to our explanations at all. Malicious at heart, he led us into the deathtrap… the Fountain of Youth!"
"Five of the Seven Swords turned into the infants before you, frail and weak."
"The remaining Lantu and I... one lost decades of martial arts, the other lost her memory and was blown away by the storm."
"Tell me, should such a vile, petty person be killed?"
"He should be killed." Gui Jiujiu and Shui Lingling spoke in unison after exchanging a glance.
They glared venomously at Little Black. It was all because of this opportunistic, rotten-to-the-core black chicken that they had been brought to this state.
"However, if it were the original Hero Hongmao, even persecuted to this extent, he would not have laid hands on Shui Dingdang, whose heart is pure."
"Hongmao, where did the demonic energy on you truly come from? If you are truly possessed by an evil spirit, please let your true heart awaken! Don't be deluded!"
Shui Lingling's eyes flickered, still trying to use words to make one last effort.
She couldn't believe it.
Couldn't believe that the extremely naively righteous Hongmao would undergo such a complete personality change just because of one frame-up by Little Black.
Her Shui Dingdang, although she did wrong...
Her heart was pure.
"'Heart is pure'? Hahahaha! What a great 'heart is pure'!"
Hearing Shui Lingling's question, Hongmao laughed heartily, laughed madly.
In the end, he laughed until tears streamed down his face.
This was the funniest joke he had ever heard!
"'Heart is pure' is her reason for distorting right and wrong, believing slander, knocking me out and kidnapping me?"
"'Heart is pure' is her excuse for being eager for quick success, acting rashly, snatching the infant from my hands?"
"How many instances of calling a stag a horse, how many ulterior motives are hidden behind one 'heart is pure'?"
"How many good people have been rendered speechless by suffering, unable to seek revenge, because of one 'heart is pure'?"
"Can everything be explained clearly with just one pale, empty phrase like 'heart is pure'?!!!"
Hongmao's questions came one after another, each more vehement than the last, each more soul-stirring.
They left Shui Lingling and Gui Jiujiu pale and trembling, unable to utter a single word in response.
"Once, I also believed the heart was most important. That those who did bad things, as long as their hearts were pure, could slowly change and eventually reform..."
Hongmao let out a light laugh, mocking those before him and also himself.
"Later I discovered, there's no such thing as damned 'heart is pure'!"
"If you do wrong, you must pay the price!"
He pointed the Demonic Rainbow Sword,
Lifting the demonic-energy-shrouded Little Black high, and declared loudly, "A foolish ruler's heart is pure, but he believes the slander of treacherous ministers, resulting in fields full of starved corpses, lamentations everywhere. Is that good or evil?"
"A great hero's heart is pure, but he believes the lies of villains, mistakenly kills innocent commoners, is used as a tool. Is that right or wrong?"
"Your Shui Dingdang's heart is pure, yet she treats the words of those with ulterior motives as imperial decrees to be executed."
"She treats the explanations of truly chivalrous people as wind blowing past her ears, ignoring them."
"This crime of aiding a tyrant, of adding fuel to the fire..."
"How should it be judged?!"
Hongmao's words fell, each phrase a gem, forceful and resolute.
The full extent of his grief and indignation, the pent-up grievances of the past,
The countless hatreds he had swallowed because of 'heart is pure' flashing before his eyes, all surged in Hongmao's heart like a torrential river.
"If one pale, empty phrase can explain everything, then tell me."
"What is 'heart is pure', and what is 'utter wickedness'?!"
As he finished speaking, the black energy on the Demonic Rainbow Sword in his hand surged violently, materializing into a sharp sword ray.
It pointed directly at Little Black's throat.
This time, he would never again let those who harmed him go in the name of 'heart is pure'.
Kill! Kill! Kill!
Everyone in this Phoenix Martial Arts School who opposed him, who attempted to put him to death...
Regardless of their 'heart', as long as they acted, they all deserved to die!