Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 199

Chapter 199 – Human? Are Cultivators Still Considered Humans?

Li Yu’s indignation was like river waters trapped behind a dam, repeatedly ramming against the blockage just outside his mouth. He tried his best to speak, but unfortunately, he was merely an ordinary man. Even after his face had turned completely red and sweat was pouring down his face, he still wasn’t able to utter a single sound.

“Where do you stay?”

Gu Suihan finally broke his silence, but the person he was asking was instead the terribly antsy woman with Li Yu.

“West of the city, the Li manor!”

The woman was feeling more and more uneasy. She knew well what her young master’s status within this manor was. The promise she made earlier was merely a desperate attempt to avoid death.

She dared not say it out loud, and she dared not even allow herself to look worried. Everything she witnessed along the way helped her to see that this young man, who seemed as lazy as a rich man’s son, had absolutely no regard whatsoever for human life.

The carriage slowly landed back on the proper road and continued on its way. The wildebeest seemed used to flying already and actually started braying in protest when it landed before finally giving up and pulling the heavy carriage along with its head bowed in dismay.

“Dwarves, barbarians, and rockmen.” Gu Suihan leaned against Taohua and pulled the curtains back leisurely to look at the busy street outside as he commented, “There are actually demons too. What an eye-opening experience.”

Besides humans, there were three to four-meter-tall rockmen covered entirely in rocks, barbarians with bulky muscles and aggressive expressions on their faces, and even some strange-looking demons and other mythical creatures.

It was too bad. This place wasn’t Earth, so there weren’t any idiots yelling stupid things like, ‘those of a different race definitely harbor ill intentions against me’. There were no experts insisting on dumbass theories like ‘humans were intelligent beings at the top of the food chain’.

Anybody who said that must have become some creature’s poop by now.

Here, everyone was equal. Any sense of superiority that any race had been torn to shreds by the Qin Empire a long time ago. If you wanted to live, then you had to listen to what the empire said and follow its laws. Of course, if you insisted on trying to challenge the empire, you could… legend has it that there were dozens of statues made from the bones of the races the empire annihilated right outside the entrance to the capital city. Making one more wouldn’t hurt.

“Oho! This is definitely not something human strength can accomplish!”

Gu Suihan walked out of the carriage and looked up at the city wall that was a hundred meters tall, majestic, and well-fortified. It gave off an oppressive murderous aura, and the two sides he could see spanned thousands of meters. It looked like a giant dam. The sheer size was enough to make someone feel pressured.

After taking a quick look around, he murmured, “This is merely a commandery, yet it is already this magnificent. What about the capital city of Xianyang? I can’t wait to see what it looks like…”

He spread his spiritual sense over a vast area for a split second, and that was enough for him to sense the formidable auras within the city. He withdrew his spiritual sense without hesitation, and his gaze darkened.

“Only then…will I be able to catch a haul!” As he stopped to think, a faint smile slowly spread across his face.

The carriage slowly approached the city gates, and Gu Suihan’s pupils constricted immediately after looking at the guards outside the gates. Even the low-ranked guards at this station were already at a stage where they could absorb qi into their bodies.

“How many?” asked the guard keeping records without even raising his head.

“Five,” said Taohua in a sweet and gentle voice.

“Purpose of visit?”

“To do business.”

“Any cultivators among you?”

“My young master is one.”

Her sweet voice made the guard raise his head, but when he saw her expensive clothing, he lowered his gaze warily and smiled deferentially at her as he passed her a small booklet and said in a warning voice, “Miss, this book contains all the laws of Fengyang. Make sure you don’t break any of them.”

“Thank you, Sir!” Taohua smiled gratefully, bowed politely, then returned to the carriage.

“Phew!” The guard finally breathed a sigh of relief after the carriage had entered the city. He mumbled to himself, “What the hell is going on? Why do these cultivators keep coming to Fengyang of late? Is there some new secret realm in there or something?”

After they entered the city, Gu Suihan got the woman to drive the carriage. She knew the way, so getting her to drive them would save them a lot of trouble.

Meanwhile, Gu Suihan looked through the little booklet in a leisurely manner. The sly look in his eyes intensified as he flipped through it.

“We’re here?” Gu Suihan called out when he felt the carriage come to a stop.

“Y-Yes…” The woman looked timidly at Gu Suihan with a pleading look on her face.

“It’s time for you to give me the reward you’ve promised,” said Gu Suihan with a chuckle. He undid the invisible shackles around Li Yu and sent the young man out of the carriage with the flick of a finger. The curtain fell back over the window as his frosty voice said, “You have 15 minutes.”

Li Yu had a bitter expression as he stood at the entrance to his own home, while the woman behind him had a worried look in her eyes.

“It’s a disaster I can’t avoid.” Li Yu pulled himself together and quietly encouraged himself as he thought, “It’s better that he isn’t going inside with me. That will make it easier to get things done.”

“My my! Isn’t it the Third Young Master?”

One of the guards at the entrance took a few steps forward and realized who it was. His expression shifted slightly, and his tone of voice was sarcastic as he said, “Didn’t you storm out after refusing to get married? Why are you back again?”

Another guard had a slightly disdainful look on his face as he said, “Back then, you made such valiant promises. Have you forgotten? You’re not a young master of the Li family anymore. You were chased out three years ago.”

“Hoho! There’s some drama, eh?” said Gu Suihan with a tinge of schadenfreude. He could hear everything perfectly well from inside the carriage.

“Young Master, it seems like this young man isn’t welcome in his own house. Do you think they would…” Lihua became a little worried about whether Li Yu could come up with the reward he promised.

“Don’t worry, they’re just a bunch of ants.” Gu Suihan leaned against Taohua and pointed at the books next to him as he said emotionlessly, “Humans are just a bunch of lowly and shameless creatures. Their uncouth and despicable disposition often makes them do brainless things. When the difference between doing something and not doing something isn’t great, they usually choose to be rebellious. But when the difference is extremely great, they quickly choose to go with the side that would benefit them the most and do anything to stay on that side, even at the cost of their own pride. Our situation and their situation are the same. The Li family? They’re just an influential family comprised of trash that have barely reached Foundation Establishment. If they don’t give me what was promised, then…I’ll just kill them all.”

Taohua and Lihua fell silent again after hearing Gu Suihan’s cruel and unfeeling words.

Cultivators and ordinary people.

They both looked like humans on the outside. There was no discernible physical difference.

But once a human went down the path of cultivation, they were no longer human. This was an upgrade of strength, a change in attitude, and a difference in capability.

You could put it this way: an ordinary person was no different from an animal when faced with any creature with great power and strength, like a cultivator. Or maybe there was one difference. Human meat…was pretty yummy…

While Gu Suihan was teaching his maids about the attitude of one in a higher position than others, Li Yu finally managed to convince the guards to let him in with the little bit of standing he had left in the family.

After much effort and being stared at in contempt and puzzlement by all the servants, maids, and butlers in the house, Li Yu’s request was finally granted. He was allowed to see his father, the head of the Li family, Li Xingjian.

“Father…” Li Yu bowed politely, then looked at his father with a conflicted look on his face. His heart was equally in turmoil.

“Why are you here?” Li Xingjian finally let out a long sigh after he stared at Li Yu for a while. The younger man had kept his head bowed the entire time.

“Three years ago, I refused to get married and left home, and I swore that I wouldn’t return until I had made it in life. But…I succeeded, and I failed too,” said Li Yu slowly as he sat across the table from Li Yu and bit his lip hard.

“What do you mean by that?” Li Xingjian was a little confused.

Li Yu could taste the blood from biting his lips too hard. He replied in a depressed voice, “I succeeded because I was able to achieve something. But I failed because I was robbed on my way back, and everything I had achieved went to waste. Thankfully, a cultivator rescued me, and I was able to survive the attack.”

Li Xingjian fell silent for a moment after listening to his son’s story, then said in a deep voice, “What reward did you promise that cultivator?!”

He was the head of a large family, after all. It didn’t take him long to figure out why Li Yu was in this predicament.

“I promised him…all the books that the family has,” said Li Yu slowly. As he spoke, Li Xingjian’s expression grew angrier and angrier. He looked like he was about to explode.

“You bastard!” Li Xingjian couldn’t hold it in anymore and threw his teacup at his son.

When he saw that Li Yu did not dodge at all and allowed the teacup to smash his head and cause him to bleed, another thought struck him. “What level of cultivation is he at?”

“Not too high. He seems to be at around the same level as Second Brother.” Li Yu suppressed his thumping heart with all his might and spoke as casually as he could.

“Yun’er…” Li Xingjian’s expression calmed down a little as his highly strung heart finally felt relieved. If this cultivator was only at Mid Foundation Establishment, then his family could still handle him.