Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 97: Creating the 《Heaven and Earth Blade Art》

Murong Lin’s life was a cycle of corporate servitude, the clock dictating his existence from nine to five. Friendships eluded him, and love seemed a distant notion, unnecessary in his solitary realm.

His grandfather, his sole kin, had succumbed to illness early on, leaving Murong Lin to navigate life’s currents alone.

His evenings were marked by a simple hobby: sipping tea in his room while immersed in books.

Then, on an ordinary day, chaos erupted as fire consumed his workplace.

Murong Lin was resting in the break room, on his way out when he realised that the door was locked.

It was locked from the outside.

Someone outside locked it.

Someone had just locked it.

Stunned and helpless, Murong Lin’s eyes were fixed on the advancing inferno. Desperation fueled his screams for aid and curses, but it fell on deaf ears.

It was as if everyone had escaped and left him here alone.

The room quickly filled with suffocating smoke, followed by the scorching heat of the flames. Murong Lin dropped to his knees, his pleas becoming desperate cries for salvation, but they seemed to dissipate into the chaos, unanswered.

Trapped and isolated, the absence of windows made escape impossible. Smoke had infiltrated the vents, erasing any hope of relief. The solid door taunted him, his attempts to break through proving futile.

There was no escape.

Was his entrapment an accidental twist of fate or a malevolent act of someone else?

The former seemed impossible given the circumstances.

Coughing relentlessly, Murong Lin remained prostrated on the ground, his futile attempts to find reprieve thwarted by the engulfing smoke.

Tears and mucus streamed down his face, a testament to the relentless coughs that wracked his body. His once-pale skin now glowed with a fiery red hue, the unrelenting assault of the smoke taking its toll. Despite the passage of time, no one came.

Within his racing thoughts, a bitter speculation took root: Was his predicament a result of someone’s malevolent scheme?

He mentally retraced his recent interactions, searching for any potential enemies, yet no one seemed to bear such intense resentment towards him.

Ultimately, he was left with a stark conclusion, one that sent a shiver down his spine: Perhaps this dire situation was born of a casual impulse.

The thought struck sent shivers down his spine.

It was as if a child had unknowingly poked a man’s eyes and rendered him blind, it was a seemingly insignificant gesture with grave consequences.

Such a notion suggested that someone outside had recognized his presence in the breakroom as they fled to safety.

And in a cruel twist of fate, they had chosen to lock him in, sealing his doom.

This wasn’t driven by hatred, and it wasn’t a crime.

It was a manifestation of pure, unadulterated evil.

Soon, the engulfing flames would consume the space, leaving no trace of the tragic events that had unfolded. Unbeknownst to anyone, a seemingly perfect crime was in the making.

Such a sinister prospect would thrill a certain kind of mind.

In the midst of it all, Murong Lin succumbed to despair, surrendering to the inevitability of his fate.

In the end, overwhelmed by despair, Murong Lin sank to the ground as his consciousness faded into oblivion.

But even after his reincarnation, his spirit remained burdened by an overwhelming emotion: hatred.

Since he embarked on his path of cultivation, his memory had grown sharper, each detail was etched with precision. This heightened awareness allowed him to vividly replay every facet of that fatal moment.

The footsteps beyond the door, their ominous pause, the audible click of the lock, the subsequent running, and the eerie laughter that followed…

These details in his memory only proved to serve his suspicions.

There had indeed been someone outside that door, someone who had purposefully locked it, orchestrating his demise.

No, this wasn’t a crime with a specific target; anyone else seeking refuge in that break room would have met the same grim fate.

It was pure evil.

The evils of humanity.

When individuals find themselves in situations where they can evade legal consequences, the constraints of morality and law often unravel, exposing the depths of their inherent evil.

Murong Lin was not exempt from this human condition.

He was not a saintly figure, untainted by mortal desires. He understood envy and anger, and he knew the taste of hatred and indulgence.

In the wake of his helplessly cruel demise, an unwavering resolve ignited within him—to grow stronger.

If he had possessed sufficient power, that very door would not have held him back.

As Murong Lin recounted his narrative, a cascade of thoughts tumbled through his mind. Upon concluding his tale, he turned his gaze to Xiao Die, who sat beside him.

While modern language might have been lost on her, the emotions that had saturated his account were palpable even across the language barrier. Xiao Die could sense the currents of sorrow and bitterness that had surged through Murong Lin’s heart.

She recognized that a person like Murong Lin wouldn’t resort to suicide.

In response, a sigh of relief escaped her lips.

“In that case, you must ensure to lead a fulfilling life. It’s the way to eventually uncover the identity of that evil person who had locked you in.”

Her sympathy was evident, and her lips seemed poised to convey something more. Yet, after a fleeting moment of hesitation, her words remained unspoken.

Murong Lin understood her intentions, she was trying to persuade him.

“I do want to find him. First, I’d thank him for bestowing upon me this chance. Then, without a hint of mercy, I’d subject him to torments beyond imagination, suffering more harrowing than death itself.”

With those words, he reclined, lying on the grass beneath him as he gazed at the darkening expanse of the night sky above.

In this moment, he had finally released the pent-up sentiments that had long festered within.

Throughout this life, whether interacting with servants, friends like Ma Jian Chou, or even foes like Sheng Yi, he had never harboured such thoughts.

“You should.” Xiao Die responded with a solemn nod.

Resolute determination flickered in her eyes. For her, the object of revenge was Lu Xiang Chuan—a man who had forcibly taken her, a man who had slain any who dared approach her.

She wanted to torture him, kill him.

However, facing the formidable might of Lu Xiang Chuan, Xiao Die knew she was utterly outmatched.

As the encroaching fog obscured her surroundings, she readied herself to depart. To her astonishment, the spot where Murong Lin had been lying was now vacant, save for a solitary bag.

Approaching cautiously, Xiao Die unfastened the bag and peered inside. A peculiar sight met her eyes—a hundred locusts, but these insects bore a bloody and malevolent aura unlike any ordinary locusts.

An unsettling sensation gripped Xiao Die, though her curiosity spurred her to pick up a piece of paper nestled amidst the creatures. It bore a message:

“Don’t you want your revenge? Within this bag are a hundred locusts possessing third-rate cultivations. By nourishing them with lives, you can enhance their reproduction rate and strength.

They shall heed your every command with unwavering loyalty. This is the sole assistance I can offer.”

Shock coursed through Xiao Die as she regarded the eerie locusts. Overcoming her trepidation, she followed the instructions inscribed on the paper, testing her newfound authority over the unsettling creatures.

As if bound by an unbreakable bond, each of the locusts obeyed Xiao Die’s will without question, becoming an extension of her very being.

With this, she effectively commanded a hundred third-rate realm creatures at her disposal. Her expression shifted as she grappled with the magnitude of this situation, but ultimately she returned the locusts to their original position and departed.

Murong Lin had no doubt in his mind—Xiao Die would return.

The fact that she had refrained from destroying the Blood Bat Locusts was a testament to her intent.

Meanwhile, Murong Lin’s relentless search continued. He scoured for individuals bearing significant luck and strength, coupled with festering grudges that they lacked the power to settle.

His search yielded seven such candidates, and through an array of methods and bewitchments, he divided the seven hundred Blood Bat Locusts among them.

And now, the last hundred Blood Bat Locusts remained in his command.

The initial step toward his grand objective—to consume this hidden realm—had been successfully completed. Now, the hunt for his opponents commenced.

In this world, a multitude of Sky Reaching realm experts existed, each a potential target for his challenges. Despite the time he would expend in confronting them, Murong Lin held no reservations.

Having witnessed Sun Yu Bo’s formidable might, he recognized that this realm presented an invaluable opportunity to sharpen himself and solidify his foundation.

Moreover, the insights gleaned from absorbing Sheng Yi’s memories had propelled his mastery of spiritual techniques to new heights.

After painstakingly completing the intricate process of assimilating the spiritual skills into the 《Lifelessness Law》, Murong Lin found his once-steady foundation trembling on unstable ground.

Sheng Yi’s memories had gifted him a trove of spiritual skills. Among these were four lower Vast grade skills, an impressive fifteen from the higher Barren grade, and hundreds from the lower Barren grade. This influx triggered a rapid evolution of his《Lifelessness Law》, aided by the additional fragments of knowledge he had gathered from the Xue clan and imperial palace.

The staggering amalgamation amounted to over a million scriptures assimilating with the 《Lifelessness Law》.

However, the overwhelming influx came with a drawback. The sheer volume of techniques at his disposal left him in a state of disarray. Amidst a battle, the multitude of options could cause him to falter, uncertain of which skill to employ at any given moment.

Determined to refine his combat skills, Murong Lin set his sights on blade techniques.

Among his repertoire, the 《Ten Direction Demon-Sealing Technique》held the pinnacle at the higher Barren grade, accompanied by the lower Barren grade techniques: 《Cold Emotionless Blade》and 《Godless Blade》. Unfortunately, his current cultivation restricted him from fully employing any of these techniques.

However, this didn’t stop him from embarking on an arduous journey to meld these three skills with the vast array of blade techniques he had accumulated. Infused with his innate talent of ‘Wrathful, selfish’, he crafted a blade technique uniquely suited to his attributes.

The gruelling process spanned three days, culminating in the emergence of three distinctive styles—’Sky Net’, ‘Catastrophe’, and ‘Dark Sky’. These newfound creations became the cornerstones of his ultimate technique—the《Heaven and Earth Blade Art》.

With this achievement, Murong Lin had successfully birthed his own ultimate technique, a skill that stood at the higher Sky grade.

Translator’s note

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