Chapter 223: Chapter 15: Exploring the Heart Realm, Slaughter Heart (Major Chapter)_3 Chapter 223: Chapter 15: Exploring the Heart Realm, Slaughter Heart (Major Chapter)_3 Listening to these words, Li Fei slightly furrowed his brow.
He considered himself of resolute will, and if it was just a matter of killing some who deserved to die, he would not be shaken.
But if the number of people he had to kill increased to thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions, he felt he couldn’t remain completely unshaken.
“Let me share a story with everyone.”
With her gentle voice, Wen Ke began to tell a story:
“You must have all heard of Ao Yun, a famous general in the history of the Da Lan Dynasty?”
Ao Yun could be ranked among the top ten military strategists in the history of the Da Lan Dynasty and was also a notorious divine slayer.
He held the record for the most city slaughters and the greatest number of executed surrendering soldiers in the history of the Da Lan Dynasty.
Directly or indirectly, as many as a million people had died at Ao Yun’s hands!
“In the ‘Great Blue Chronicles,’ there is a little story about Ao Yun. During the seventh year of Jia Xu, Beimo Country invaded our borders, and Ao Yun led troops to quell the turmoil. It took him less than a month to defeat the invading Beimo army and even captured more than twenty thousand surrendering soldiers.
The military was fiercely divided over whether to execute these twenty thousand plus people. Annoyed by the squabbling, Ao Yun took a few attendants with him to clear his mind in the mountains nearby. On his way, Ao Yun came across a woodsman heading into the mountains to cut wood. He stopped the woodsman and asked, ‘All the plants and trees in the world have life, and they are a form of being. Do you not feel reluctance cutting them down for wood every day?’
The woodsman replied to Ao Yun, ‘If I don’t cut trees, how can I make a living?’
After hearing this, Ao Yun laughed heartily and then returned to the military camp with his attendants. He immediately ordered the execution of all those twenty thousand plus surrendering soldiers! Later when asked why he did this, his answer was: ‘The woodsman cuts trees in order to live, and we kill people for the same reason, there’s no difference.'”
Having told the story, Wen Ke looked at the students assembled:
“What do you think of this story?”
Right away, a student raised their hand, “Professor Wen, are you suggesting that the Slaughter Heart means treating killing like chopping wood? But the woodsman cuts trees because he has no choice, whereas General Ao Yun did have a choice. Isn’t there ultimately a difference between the two?”
Wen Ke smiled faintly, her gaze landing on Li Fei for the first time: “Li Fei, what do you think?”
All eyes in the room turned to Li Fei.
“In the seventh year of Jia Xu, there was a severe drought, and famine plagued the grasslands to the east. People were dying in both the Beimo kingdoms, and there wasn’t enough food internally, forcing them to invade the Da Lan Dynasty. They brought tens of thousands of able-bodied men into the Da Lan Dynasty; one reason was to plunder enough food, and the other was to reduce their own population. That is to say, if they couldn’t plunder enough food, dying part on the battlefield was still a chance to survive the famine.
So even if General Ao Yun hadn’t killed those twenty thousand plus surrendering soldiers and had let them go, they wouldn’t have survived; they might even have been sent to attack the Da Lan Dynasty again. As for feeding those people, the Da Lan Dynasty didn’t have enough food for its own citizens; there wasn’t a reason to take food from the mouths of our own people to nourish the enemy.”
When he first arrived in this world, the ‘Great Blue Chronicles’ was the book he liked reading the most. He had seen and remembered the story about Ao Yun, so he was able to respond now.
The other students, hearing Li Fei’s response, were suddenly at a loss for words.
Wen Ke looked at Li Fei with admiration and nodded with a smile:
“Li Fei is correct. In fact, General Ao Yun had no other choice at that time; executing those twenty thousand plus surrendering soldiers was the only way out.
I told this story to let everyone learn from General Ao Yun’s perspective, but it’s not to make you see killing as cutting wood. The important thing is to remember that killing isn’t the most crucial part; the most important thing is to understand why you kill.
If one day you can keep hold of your true nature and unveil the true nature of killing, you can understand the Slaughter Heart even without taking a single life.”
The students present were struck with thought and seemed moved.
Li Fei looked at Wen Ke and suddenly asked:
“Professor Wen, I want to know if there are any auxiliary means to help us comprehend the Slaughter Heart?”
He didn’t believe that the esteemed professor would just tell stories in class without a point.
“Of course, there are.”
Saying that, she took a bottle out of a drawer:
“These pills inside the bottle are Killing Pills, a drug that can stimulate one’s anger and killing intent. It is usually given to soldiers who are new to the battlefield. However, this drug causes great harm to the body; even with a martial master physique, it can’t be used frequently.”
A student looked at the bottle of Killing Pills, “Do you mean for us to take these Killing Pills, then try to resist the drug’s influence to comprehend the Slaughter Heart?”
Wen Ke shook her head: “Not only that, I also have an Extraordinary Ability that can stimulate a person’s killing intent. Combined with the drug, this ability can make you completely lost in the desire to kill. Your task is to strive to remain clear-headed under this influence.
When you are able to spar with me while being conscious, that’s when you will have passed the assessment for this course.”
This method of assessment sounded very difficult, especially since it involved an Extraordinary Ability wielded by a powerful Tao Foundation Stage individual, compounded with the drug’s influence.
“Everyone, follow me.”
Wen Ke picked up the bottle of pills from the table and walked out of the classroom.
Following this, Li Fei and a dozen other students exited the classroom, following Wen Ke to an open training ground.
“Everyone take two Killing Pills.”