Chapter 326: Cultivation is Also Cultivating the Heart

“Lord Ao, how do you plan to persuade them?” Vice Minister Huang asked mockingly.

In the eyes of these pro-cession officials, now that the banner of Zuoqiu Ming had fallen, how could a junior like Ao Ye possibly raise it again? Huang had already decided that after the court session, he would send a message to General Li outside the city, instructing him to “take care” of this young upstart and make him understand that matters of war were no concern for armchair strategists like him.

“Traitors and rebels deserve to have their heads severed and their clans exterminated! That is the true method of ‘persuasion’,” Ao Ye declared, sweeping his gaze across the assembled officials before bowing to the Emperor seated on the throne.

“Your Majesty, I request permission.”

The Emperor gazed at Ao Ye’s resolute expression and granted his request.

This scene naturally infuriated the pro-cession faction.

After the morning court session, the Emperor met privately with Ao Ye and another minister. The Emperor studied Ao Ye, silent for a long moment. He knew Ao Ye could have chosen an easier path. Had he aligned himself with the pro-cession faction, he could have amassed limitless wealth. Yet he had chosen the most arduous road.

The people of the realm were not mere empty words for Ao Ye.

“I will surely annihilate the rebel forces,” Ao Ye vowed to the Emperor, his resolve unshakable. To him, wealth, beauty, and sensual pleasures were fleeting illusions. His sole purpose was to carry on his Teacher’s legacy, restore the nation, and reclaim the Imperial Court’s former glory.

“If we fail…”

“If the rebels are not vanquished, Your Majesty may entrust this matter to Zhang Zheng.”

The Emperor’s eyes welled with tears at these words.

The ruler and his minister were no longer young. In Zuoqiulong’s time, with the Prime Minister in his sixties, few had noticed their advancing years. But now that the great tree had fallen, they realized both sovereign and subject had passed forty. Zhang Zheng, at forty-nine, already showed streaks of white in his hair.

Time waits for no man.

The Imperial Army clashed with the Rebel Army.

After a fierce battle, both sides suffered casualties. When Ao Ye arrived, he found the Imperial Army’s morale low. Many mid-level officers, sympathetic to the surrender faction, treated the war with passive indifference, content to hunker down behind city walls. On his first day of oversight, Ao Ye purged these officers and promoted a large number of those loyal to the Imperial Court. He then personally led reconnaissance missions to assess the enemy’s strength and devised strategies. Under his leadership, the army crushed the rebels in a frontal assault, its momentum unstoppable.

The defeated rebels fled in disarray.

Ao Ye pursued relentlessly, slaughtering all who fell into his hands. As he advanced, his aura grew increasingly formidable; the mere whisper of his name struck terror into the hearts of the enemy. Finally, he stormed the rebel stronghold. The thirty-year rebellion was crushed, and every participant in the insurrection was beheaded.

Annihilation!

At that moment, Ao Ye’s prestige reached its peak. He returned in triumph, personally welcomed by the Emperor.

He was forty-nine years old.

Winter.

Heavy snow.

Chen Luo’s hair had also turned white. At fifty-seven, he had weathered the storms of life, his face etched with wrinkles. Ao Ye rode beside him, their horses’ hoofprints fresh in the snow.

“My lord, it’s terrible! Something has happened at home!”

A servant waited outside the palace gates, crying out as soon as he saw Chen Luo. They turned to see the Zhang family’s housekeeper—the oldest servant who had served Chen Luo the longest. Chen Luo’s expression remained calm, his understanding clear.

“Go ahead, Brother.”

Ao Ye clasped his hands in farewell and turned away. In today’s Capital, no one dared to commit murder. Anyone who dared to raise their head had been beheaded by Ao Ye. His power had reached its zenith, fulfilling his past promise.

He sat atop his horse, letting the snow fall on his face.

The snow was icy cold.

Ao Ye tilted his head back, as if in tears.

Amid the silent falling snow, surrounded by swirling feathers of white, Ao Ye murmured:

“Teacher, I’ve finished what you left undone.”

Chen Luo rushed home.

A wisp of Tribulation Qi coiled around him as he strode directly to the rear courtyard. Just as he had feared, his sister-in-law, Xin Hong, lay dying in her sickbed, her fading gaze clinging to life.

Hearing the door open, she instinctively opened her eyes and saw the familiar figure.

“Uncle is back? Are you hurt?”

Her voice was as gentle as ever, but the woman standing by the bed wore a sorrowful expression. Compared to Chen Luo, she had spent the most time with Xin Hong in this household. While Chen Luo was away at war, she had managed all the family affairs. Now, seeing Xin Hong in this state, she felt the most heartbroken.

“I’ve worried you, Sister-in-law.”

Chen Luo sat down by the bed and took Xin Hong’s rough hands. Her hair had turned white, and her face was etched with wrinkles. He vaguely recalled the bride who had worn wedding robes and married into the Zhang family fifty years ago.

That same winter, the family had received devastating news: his father and brother had fallen in battle, and his mother, unable to endure the loss, had passed away soon after.

The same cold winter.

The same biting chill.

Heavy snow.

Nineteen-year-old Xin Hong wiped the tears from her eyes and learned to support herself and care for her nine-year-old younger brother. Mountains of clothes soaked in icy washwater, the bone-chilling cold a constant reminder of her sorrow. Through this grueling labor, she earned just enough to keep them alive.

Those hands had begun to roughen that year.

“As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters. When I’m gone to the underworld, I’ll be able to…”

A faint smile appeared on Xin Hong’s face.

She chattered on and on until, finally, she fell silent. The smile lingered on her face, as if she had simply fallen asleep.

Beside her, Wen Wan wept openly, and some of the servants who were close to Xin Hong also shed tears. Having endured hardship in her youth, Xin Hong had been kind to everyone around her. Though not the matriarch of the Zhang family, her position was uniquely special.

Chen Luo lowered his hand, feeling inexplicably uneasy.

This was the Demonic Heart Tribulation.

His tribulation.

If he hadn’t known this was the Demonic Heart Tribulation, could he have remained so calm?

He pushed the door open and stepped outside, gazing at the falling snow.

He was fifty-seven years old.

Standing in the snow, he extended his hand, and once again, a black stone appeared in his palm.

After defeating the Rebel Army and stabilizing the Imperial Court, the ambitious schemers who had been lurking in the shadows, their ambitions restrained by Ao Ye’s formidable reputation, finally suppressed their desires. The realm enjoyed peace, and the Emperor bestowed rewards for meritorious service.

Ao Ye, the victorious commander, ascended to the position of Prime Minister, succeeding his teacher.

Chen Luo also reached the pinnacle of ministerial rank, becoming a high-ranking official of the first grade.

With the ambitious schemers neutralized, the three of them revitalized the nation. They purged the surrender faction, promoted capable officials, and eliminated corrupt administrators. The Imperial Court’s decline was reversed, and it began to regain its former glory. Its prestige spread beyond the borders, reaching the ears of foreign nations and barbarian tribes.

Years later, the Emperor passed away.

A new Emperor ascended the throne.

Prime Minister’s Residence.

The courtyard where Zuoqiulong had once brewed tea with them.

Ao Ye, now with graying whiskers, sat in the main seat—where Zuoqiulong had once sat. Chen Luo sat across from him. Just as they had many years ago, the two sat in the pavilion, warming tea and discussing court affairs.

“Someone sent me a letter.”

Ao Ye placed the letter on the table, as if reliving a scene from the past.

Once again, a choice.

Life is nothing but a series of choices, and each choice is a life.

“Regent?”

Chen Luo picked up the letter and glanced at it. It was unsigned, containing advice urging Ao Ye to temporarily assume the powers of the Son of Heaven and govern the nation. The letter warned that if the new Emperor couldn’t control the arrogant soldiers and generals after his ascension, the Empire would again decline, and all their years of effort would be wasted.

The words revealed genuine concern for the nation and consideration for the world, but a single purpose was hidden beneath the text:

Power.

Familiar Tribulation Qi emerged. This time, it manifested not only around Ao Ye, but also around Chen Luo.

At this level of power, one more step would change heaven and earth.

Few who have tasted power can ever relinquish it. Given Ao Ye’s current standing, no one in the Imperial Court, not even the new emperor, would oppose him if he assumed the powers of a Regent. Should his ambition grow further, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to follow in Wang Mang’s footsteps and usurp the throne.

On one side lay supreme power, on the other, a return to ordinary life.

“How will you choose?” Chen Luo asked, gazing at Ao Ye. He, too, wondered if, after decades of navigating the turbulent sea of officialdom, Ao Ye could still hold fast to his true self.

Ao Ye shook his teacup, slowly pouring the steeped tea leaves into it. Mimicking his Teacher’s actions from the previous day, he picked up the letter on the table and tossed it into the fire. The words on the paper burned to black ash alongside the flames, and with them, the ambition to wield supreme power.

“It’s time to withdraw,” he said.

He stood up, not glancing back at the letter, and turned to go back to the inner chamber.

With this choice made, the Tribulation Qi surrounding Ao Ye dissipated by more than half. The energy from the Demonic Heart Tribulation surged wildly into the Demon Seed. Chen Luo also stood up. As Vice Chancellor, he could have made the same choice as Ao Ye. But this tribulation had been summoned by him in the first place; how could he fail to see through it?

The next morning…

Two senior ministers submitted their resignations, sending shockwaves through the court and country.

For the Imperial Court, these two men were like pillars of the state, especially Ao Ye. The land he had once stained red during the suppression of rebellions still bore the lingering hue of that bloodshed. If both men were to deliver speeches, their combined influence would be immense.

The new emperor tried to persuade them to stay several times, but ultimately agreed to their resignation.

Two carriages departed from the Capital.

Ao Ye returned to his hometown, where his life was even more austere than Chen Luo’s. After resigning, he was left with only his wife, a servant, and an old horse. Chen Luo, too, had few dependents. Apart from his wife, Wen Wan, there remained only a housekeeper and two servants.

Under the slanting sun, the two bid each other farewell.

The carriages rolled away.

Inside the swaying carriage, Ao Ye lifted the curtain, gazing at the receding Capital with a touch of melancholy.

In the end, I’ve let go. Lightness fills my heart.

Chen Luo was also looking, but upward, observing the Tribulation Qi swirling in the world. The Demonic Heart Tribulation arose from within, and only those with unwavering Daoist resolve could overcome it. As one who cultivated the Demonic Heart Art, he had long studied this tribulation. The nature of the heart was elusive, something few could clearly define, yet its existence was undeniable, influencing every cultivator.

Like the annals of history, those who made their mark—whether great sages or great villains—all shared one thing: unwavering conviction.

They understood their purpose and lived in pursuit of that goal.

Immortal Cultivators are likely the same.

The Heavenly Tribulation sifts out the true Immortal Cultivators—those whose hearts are singularly devoted to immortality alone, and only then can they become Immortals.