Chapter 371: Sword of Non-Killing (2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
That year, the master and disciple duo traveled to a place called the Qiankun Empire.
The name of this Empire might seem domineering.
However, in reality, this was a small Empire that only had a Core Formation stage cultivator at most.
Due to its insufficient strength, the days of the Qiankun Empire were not easy.
Not only were the commoners often bullied by the neighboring Empire.
Some large factions would even proactively come to the Qiankun Empire to take away individuals with promising cultivation aptitude.
Although this made the Emperor of the Qiankun Empire very unhappy, there was nothing he could do.
If he could not protect the talents of his own Empire, the Empire would not have any powerful cultivators in the future.
Without a powerful cultivator, the Qiankun Empire could only continue to be bullied by the surrounding dynasties.
This vicious cycle continued.
Song Zheng, who had traveled here, followed his Master to the Empire palace.
It was also on this day that Song Zheng found out his Master’s identity.
It turned out that his master was actually the emperor of the Qiankun Empire back then.
Everyone in the palace rejoiced at the return of the old emperor.
However, just as they thought that the old master had returned to support them, the old master actually said that he was only back to take a look and would leave soon.
Although the old master said so, the imperial family of the Qiankun Empire still tried their best to please them.
Because the old master was stubborn, their target was Song Zheng.
After discovering that Song Zheng was only eight years old and he had already reached the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation.
The nobles of the Empire were even more excited.
That year, Song Zheng was given countless temptations.
For him, who was only eight years old, these temptations were undoubtedly very tempting.
Among all these temptations, the one that Song Zheng missed the most was actually a new friend he had made.
The little princess from the Qiankun Empire, Princess Liuli.
Princess Liuli was only seven years old that year, one year younger than Song Zheng.
However, compared to Song Zheng, a princess who was born into an imperial family undoubtedly knew more, hence her thinking was also more mature.
Under Princess Liuli’s deliberate contact, Song Zheng had thought of not wanting to leave for the first time.
The old master seemed to know this as well. He did not force Song Zheng to leave. Instead, he told Song Zheng that everything he did had to come from his heart.
If his heart told him that he wanted to stay here, then he would stay here.
However, the old master reminded him of something.
That was, no matter what happened, don’t use your sword to kill people.
Song Zheng kept this in mind.
After saying this, the old master separated from him for a period of time.
The remaining ten years were Song Zheng’s days in the Qiankun Empire.
And these ten years were also the happiest time of his life.
By the time he turned eighteen, Song Zheng had already reached the Core Formation cultivation.
And it was a shocking Core Formation through the way of the heavens.
The Qiankun Empire, which originally only had one Core Formation Stage cultivator, unexpectedly welcomed its second Core Formation Realm cultivator.
If everything continued like this, Song Zheng might not have any doubts about his sword path.
However, he encountered the first thing that confused him in his life.
The year Song Zheng turned eighteen, the Qiankun Empire and the neighboring Great Wei Empire went to war.
The reason for the battle was very simple. The Qiankun Empire had discovered a spiritual stone mine at the border with the Great Wei Empire.
To the other forces, this spiritual stone mine wasn’t considered a particularly rich thing.
However, to two small empires, this kind of spiritual stone mine was enough for them to fight for it.
This was because the spiritual stone mine could not only be used to help the cultivators of their own Empire cultivate but it could also be used to curry favor with other cultivation forces in exchange for the protection of the Empire.
The Qiankun Empire had the confidence to start a war with the Great Wei Empire largely because of Song Zheng, an 18-year-old Core Formation Stage cultivator.
However, Song Zheng did not care about that.
Ever since he was young, he had almost never encountered a situation where he lacked cultivation resources.
Although he had not seen the old master for ten years.
He would still receive cultivation resources from the old master every year.
Otherwise, Song Zheng would not have been able to reach the Core Formation Stage Realm by the time he turned 18, just by relying on the cultivation resources of the Qiankun Empire.
Although he was not interested in the battle between the two empires, Song Zheng was still a genius.
Relying on his outstanding talent, Song Zheng easily defeated the Core Formation Stage cultivator of the Great Wei Empire.
In that year, the Qiankun Empire also successfully annexed the Great Wei Empire.
What was even rarer was that Song Zheng actually did not kill a single person.
His sword only defeated the enemy and did not kill them.
It was precisely because of this that the people of the Great Wei Empire admired him and were willing to submit to the Qiankun Empire.
It was also during this year that Song Zheng and Princess Liuli got married.
Naturally, he became a consecrator of the Qiankun Empire.
The following year, Song Zheng and Princess Liuli gave birth to a son.
After having a son, Song Zheng started to forget about his sword practice.
He even started to pay more attention to the development of the entire Qiankun Empire.
Such days passed for twenty years.
When Song Zheng was 38 years old, he had been stuck in the Core Formation Stage for a long time.
His first son had also grown to the age of twenty.
However, for some reason, his son did not inherit his exaggerated cultivation talent and appeared very mediocre.
And yet, his son was very arrogant.
In these 20 years, Song Zheng relied on his Sword of Non-Killing to unify several surrounding empires. The power of the Qiankun Empire had reached a considerable height.
However, it was also because of his first son that the Qiankun Empire’s rule encountered problems.
The reason was not complicated. His son had forcefully taken possession of a princess from a small country.
Song Zheng was furious when he found out about this.
Because he felt that his son was doing something outrageous.
However, because of his wife’s pleading, Song Zheng did not punish him too much in the end.
However, it was also because of this that Song Zheng regretted his actions.
His son had unexpectedly died in the country where he had stolen the princess three years later.
Song Zheng was furious and went straight to the country.
He originally thought that he would be able to easily investigate this matter. However, in reality, Song Zheng encountered the greatest danger of his life. This was because this small country had found a Nascent Soul cultivator from somewhere.
Song Zheng, who was only at the peak of the Core Formation Stage, was naturally no match for the other party.
And because Song Zheng did not kill anyone back then, the other party did not hurt him in the end.
He only said that his son had done something wrong in the past, and now he was only paying the price for what happened back then.
This was also the first time Song Zheng felt lost.
Logically speaking, his son definitely deserved to die.
However, psychologically, he couldn’t accept his death.
This was the first time he wanted to kill someone, but he was no match for the other party.
This was the first time he felt lost.
Song Zheng, who had returned to the Qiankun Empire, soon encountered a new problem.
This trouble came from his wife.
When his wife found out that her only son had died, she went completely insane and wanted Song Zheng to take revenge at all costs.
However, Song Zheng knew that he was no match for the other party.
Moreover, killing was the opposite of Song Zheng’s sword path.
Therefore, Song Zheng chose to go into seclusion. He was prepared to reach the Nascent Soul stage first before deciding whether to avenge his son.
However, after ten years, he did not have the chance to break through. Instead, because of the confusion in his heart, his realm had regressed.
This time, Song Zheng was even more unsure if his insistence on not killing was correct.
Just as he was in seclusion, Song Zheng unexpectedly learned that another person had disappeared.
Apparently, when he was in seclusion, his wife actually passed down his orders to launch a war against the small country that killed their son.
This battle had caused both sides considerable losses.
After this incident, the Qiankun Empire was shaken….