There were no ’preordained rules’ within the Divine Sect.
After Bai Qinghan arrived at Heaven’s Will Mountain, she wasn’t in any rush to cultivate.
Upon witnessing the predicament of the defeated Grandmaster, she didn’t panic or become perplexed but went to the archive room, where under the guidance of teachers summoned by the Divine Sect, she patiently read through the history of Heaven’s Will Cult and various records.
After spending a month poring over seventeen voluminous tomes and reading through the history of Heaven’s Will Cult, Bai Qinghan finally gained some understanding.
In the earliest days of the Divine Sect, there were no rules within the sect.
As long as one was strong enough, one could kill anyone they wished or take anything they wanted.
One could capture a few mortals and skin them to stuff straw simply because they were in a bad mood; or, if in a good mood, could open a Law Altar to preach and distribute Divine Skill scriptures for free as if they were giving away money.
One could also, in a good mood, capture some farmers and exotic beasts, arm them with swords, and enjoy a fight to the death, a battle as exhilarating as dragons and tigers; or save a group of displaced civilians from war between two nations, shelter them in the wilderness and help them rebuild new villages and lives.
One might choose not to study Martial Arts but to learn cuisines and play with spices; or seclude oneself quietly in a cave, indifferent to the outside world, reading only sacred texts.
The Ancestor of Heaven’s Will brought over hundreds of Martial Artists from different Sects and a variety of craftsman skilled workers from Zhongheng Dao Continent, he founded a Cave Heaven, established a mountain gate, but laid down no rules whatsoever, allowing a group of people who may have had hatred and discrimination among them, a mix of superior and inferior, to fight each other and enjoy an environment of boundless freedom.
After seeing this, Bai Qinghan had a realization.
She had lived in the wilderness for ten years after the disaster of Hanhai, where there were no laws or morals, where cannibalism was normal and killing was just routine.
But... even such a wilderness was not without rules.
There were not people who helped others unconditionally.
The large tribes of the wilderness kept each other at bay; killing someone from another tribe meant either death or combat. In the wilderness’s black market, one could cheat or steal, but if discovered, one would be hung on an old wooden frame to let sand insects make nests on their body, eventually becoming a breeding ground for the insects.
People murdered and plundered money, a massive brawl might end with only one victor, but even such endlessly killing Martial Artists, when passing by the cave where Bai Qinghan hid, would laugh heartily and toss down some pieces of dry food.
Just as it once occurred on Heaven’s Will Mountain.
Wherever there are people, whether it is the strongest who establishes order or people together spontaneously creating rules, sand will always gradually gather into a pile, the raindrops and dew bestowed by the heavens will always gather into an ocean.
Humans are similar to the heavens yet opposite; the heavens tend toward chaos and disorder while humans gravitate towards rules and order.
But humans will die, and the heavens and earth will nurture new life, the strongest Martial Artist can make heaven and earth honor their path, and such Martial Artists will also restore order from the chaos of heaven and earth, bringing new life.
This is the truth of the Yin and Yang of Life and Death, the way of motion and stillness, right and wrong, and is also the fundamental truth of the end of Supreme Yin and the birth of Lesser Yin.
Having understood this, Bai Qinghan looked back again.
She saw that the Resident Mountain Grandmaster who had defeated the foreign Grandmaster ultimately did not stay in the mountains, but presided over a Law Altar instead.
He said he could no longer stay carefree in the mountains, for he had anger and boldness in his heart, he wanted to create the Heaven’s Will in his own heart according to his own will.
He could, like the Western Patrol Envoy, collect blood taxes, devour other people’s lives, and construct his own destiny.
One could be like the Northern Patrol Envoy, blending into the Imperial Heaven’s Heavenly Ancestor, spinning webs like a spider, constructing the causal threads within this heaven and earth.
Or like the Ghost Patrol Envoy, mingling in the Youli Nether Sea, associating with ghosts and the dead, resonating and summoning, forming contracts as though they were a living law.
Or even like the Sea Patrol Envoy, cultivating sea beast spirits, completely dissociating from humans, focusing solely on creating the life they desire.
Blood tax devours humans. Cause and effect consume life. The rules of ghosts link life and death, regardless of good or evil, all return to the underworld.
The path of living beings is even more about the survival of the fittest, the number of lives lost to the giant beasts in the sea is far more than ten times those of the Western Patrol Envoy. But those sea shells and seaweed, how many of the people in the sea regions do they feed?
Bai Qinghan understood.
All of this was Heaven’s Will.
It is a pure principle within the heart, higher than the heavens, with only the Stars above the high heavens as its peers.
Every individual is unique, which is why they can compose the myriad dreams of this mortal universe, forming this endless world of all things.
In this world, there are no rules that mandate such actions, no strict celestial decrees that enforce them, no coercive doctrines that compel them.
Yet, naturally, under the impetus of free individuals, "rules" and "laws" emerge on their own.
At Heaven’s Will Mountain, no laws are enforced, no power follows the doctrines to automatically punish anyone, it’s just a conventional understanding, a tacit agreement on how to coexist—there might be ’law enforcers’ who forcefully implement punishments, but if you are stronger than the law enforcers, more fierce than those who govern the law, then even the ’doctrines’ of the Heaven’s Will Cult can’t restrain you.
Of course. Of course. The most powerful ones can set the most powerful rules. At Heaven’s Will Mountain, everyone is free, yet at the same time, not free.
Thus, the restless followers of Heaven’s Will leave Heaven’s Will Mountain.
Their hearts are restless, so they seek to create something.
The Northern Patrol Envoy, the Western Patrol Envoy, those dispatched to the outskirts, those who voluntarily leave Heaven’s Will Mountain, all the Heaven’s Will Demons, are all trying to establish a set of rules using their own methods.
Bai Qinghan softly recited the chant of the Heaven’s Will Cult, "Great is Imperial Heaven for creating this body, the ignorant people do not know their grace."
"Where do life and death, fate and tribulation return? Only my path is the guiding light."
"My guide is divine. Those who walk the divine path are heavenly. Those who understand Heaven’s intentions are holy."
"People of the Divine Sect, each holds different Divine Intentions, those who cannot comprehend the Divine Intention of Heaven’s Will, my intention and divine intention, will remain ordinary martial disciples and martial artists their entire lives, never to receive the True Transmission, even if I am the Mysterious Yin Goddess."
"After I came to this realization, I found my cultivation of the Imperial Heaven and Houtu Method to be smoother."
"And the next day, there was an ’Unblemished Pure White Elixir’ on my desk, a top-quality elixir made from celestial lunar qi, along with the ’Supreme Yin Tranquil Esoteric Chapters’ and the ’Lesser Yin Cave True Esoteric Scripture,’ two Fundamental Daoist Scriptures."
"Is this a reward, or a recognition? Or perhaps, a test? I do not know, I only felt, it was time to begin my cultivation, and so I cultivated."
"This is my experience in the Heaven’s Will Cult... a completely different heaven and earth from what I imagined."