Chapter 25: Moon Worship Suicide!

After seeing Ling’er off, Haoyun grew impatient waiting for the Sacred Maiden and the others. With a single step, he arrived directly where Baiyue was.

He found Baiyue standing by the shore of a vast lake, his gaze deep and contemplative.

Haoyun called out, “Baiyue, long time no see.”

“National Master,” Baiyue replied, turning his head with an ethereal expression—indeed, ethereal was the only word that could describe him. He seemed almost otherworldly.

“You tell me, why must this world exist? What is its purpose? A world without love, one driven solely by self-interest—does such a world need to exist?”

Caught in an existential dilemma, Baiyue pressed the National Master before him: “Your Tang Dynasty enlightens the people, promotes compulsory education, teaches all kinds of scientific knowledge, astronomy, geography. But can you tell me, what is love? What exactly is love?”

Haoyun scratched his nose, realizing that not only in past and present lives, but even in this small world, geniuses often carried some form of flaw.

Baiyue, under the improper tutelage of Shi Gonghu, had developed psychological issues born of a lack of love and security.

Otherwise, how could a brilliant scientist—one whose talents rivaled Newton’s—spend all day pondering love? Was he dabbling in philosophy instead of science?

Even Newton himself only turned to philosophy later in life!

“Do you feel deeply unloved? Or do you believe there is no love in this world at all?” Haoyun asked, growing somewhat sympathetic. Though Baiyue’s fate was sealed, he wished to fulfill his dying yearning for love.

“Yes. I lack love. I don’t believe love exists anywhere in this world,” Baiyue confessed openly. “Everything I’ve done is to prove this: that neither familial love, romantic love, nor friendship exists when faced with extreme self-interest and threats to life.”

Haoyun chuckled. “Perhaps you’ve been in a high position too long. Come, I’ll show you what love really is.”

With a step forward, fragments of countless news stories from his past life, his own experiences, and deeply buried moments of emotion flared like sparks, touching Baiyue’s mind.

Suddenly, Baiyue’s vision blurred, and his consciousness was transported to a world both strange and familiar.

He saw a mother unleashing a hundredfold of her strength to save her child, only to perish tragically; parents who had exhausted all their wealth in decades-long searches for a lost child; couples enduring hardship and poverty together; warriors who bravely dammed raging rivers to protect their homeland...

He saw doctors and nurses fighting on the frontlines of epidemics, undercover agents sacrificing their lives to eradicate drugs, and countless touching moments and heroic deeds surfacing one by one in his memory.

When Baiyue finally emerged from the illusion woven by Haoyun’s memories, his eyes no longer held the cold detachment of before, but a glimmer of human warmth.

“Is there really love in the world?” Baiyue asked Haoyun, his gaze flickering.

“There has always been love. You just couldn’t see it because you were blinded by a leaf,” Haoyun smiled. Every dynasty has its moments of genuine affection. Baiyue had witnessed many, but his disbelief in love made him subconsciously overlook them.

“Did my adoptive father truly love me?” Baiyue asked again.

Haoyun sighed. During the year Baiyue disappeared, Shi Gonghu had been killed by him... The answer might be hard to accept.

“He did love you, but he never expressed it or showed it. He was a typical feudal man who believed that, as his son, you should shed blood but not tears, fight fiercely on the battlefield, and face sacrifice with a smile. He simply didn’t know how to guide a sensitive and intelligent child.

“In truth, he loved you deeply.”

Haoyun triggered another memory—this time, Shi Gonghu’s anguished scene after Baiyue fell off a cliff.

“I... so there really was someone who loved me, who loved me deeply...” Baiyue looked at his own hands. It was he who had sent the person who loved him most into hell.

“Father, I regret it...” he whispered, severing his meridians. His body transformed into pure spiritual energy, dissipating into the air.

Haoyun sighed. In the original storyline, Baiyue had committed suicide. After all, possessing five spiritual pearls only balanced the earth’s power; even with the power of the human-faced pendant, the difference in combat ability between Li Xiaoyao and Baiyue made it impossible for Baiyue to be instantly defeated.

The real reason was that, having seen love, Baiyue chose not to resist. Unexpectedly, this time he still followed the same path and was swiftly silenced by Haoyun’s verbal onslaught.

Had his mission been completed?

“System, Baiyue is dead. Can I submit the mission now?”

“No,” the system responded promptly. “Host, please note: your five-star mission is to educate Li Shimin to become a qualified human emperor and fundamentally change the status of humanity.

“Li Shimin’s conduct during his reign is barely acceptable, but humanity has yet to stand alongside the heavenly order. The world remains under the control of the Celestial Court.”

The system’s words practically whispered in Haoyun’s ear: you need to destroy the Celestial Court.

Haoyun scratched his nose. Destroy the Celestial Court? With his current strength, he doubted he could defeat the Heavenly Emperor.

After all, the Heavenly Emperor was an immortal. By classification, he was at least at the pinnacle of the Heavenly Father rank—essentially a Golden Immortal. How else could he control a world? Haoyun, a mere Heavenly Immortal, challenging a Golden Immortal? Was the system overestimating him, or doubting his willingness to fight?

To leap two major realms was an absurdly difficult task.

“Well, I’m not from the Sword Immortal world after all. Is it really suitable for me to challenge the Celestial Court? The human race must strive for strength on its own; the path of humanity in this world must be forged by themselves.

“What I should do is spread the idea that ‘my fate is mine, not decreed by heaven,’ guiding humanity to resist the Celestial Court, rather than acting as a nanny and handling everything myself, right?”

Haoyun firmly refused the option to personally assault the Celestial Court. What a joke—he was just a human, not the protagonist, and couldn’t skip levels like that.

He preferred to hide away and cultivate until his power was overwhelming! Enemies like the Celestial Court should be left to the world’s true heroes—Ling’er and her companions!

“The system is calculating the future evolution of the Sword Immortal world…”

The system seemed swayed by Haoyun’s words, pausing for a long while as it carefully considered the implications.

Haoyun waited expectantly. Ten minutes later, the system completed its calculations and approved Haoyun’s request.

“According to the system’s computation, the human race has already planted the seeds of self-reliance and the belief that ‘my fate is mine, not decreed by heaven.’ Given time, they will surely rise against the Celestial Court, overthrow the heavenly laws, and allow the world to develop naturally!

“Congratulations, host. You have completed the three-star and five-star missions. You may return now!”