Greed

Han Ming stood before Ye Lin, narrowing his eyes slightly. He smiled, as if unsurprised.

"Are you sure about your choice?"

Ye Lin replied, "I... I've thought it through..."

"Hmm... Have you forgotten something? In the second option... it's not just Hua Jinru who must die."

"You as well... must die."

Those words struck Ye Lin like a bolt of lightning to the heart. How could he have forgotten something so crucial?

His lips trembled, fear beginning to eat away at his mind little by little. His expression changed noticeably. And now, everyone who had been watching seemed to have forgotten that condition as well. But as they looked at Ye Lin's face, they saw it his expression betrayed the truth.

He was not ready to die.

Han Ming let out a quiet laugh. "No need to look so shocked..."

Ye Lin lay still for a moment, barely able to breathe. The tension surged through his body until his heartbeat lost all rhythm. He felt as though his brain had frozen over.

"Wait..." Ye Lin spoke, his voice so faint it was nearly inaudible.

Han Ming nodded slightly, his eyes calm and still. There was no contempt in his gaze, no anger only quiet indifference. Then Han Ming spoke softly.

"I understand... We grew up in a world that teaches us to sacrifice, to be good, to be heroes."

He paused briefly, then continued speaking in a cold voice.

"But this world... has it ever stood by your side? When you were hungry... when you were cold... or even when you were on the brink of death, did the world ever reach out to help you?"

"No," Han Ming shook his head slightly.

"There was only you... reaching out to grab something for yourself."

"Do you know, Ye Lin? Most people don't want to admit it, but it exists within all of us. That thing is called greed. Whether it's greed for women, greed for power, greed for wealth, greed for fame, or even greed for life itself."

Han Ming slowly walked toward Ye Lin. His voice sounded like he was telling an ordinary story, yet it drew the attention and emotions of everyone present entirely toward him.

"No matter how much good you do, no matter how many people you save, the moment a blade slices through your throat... death will peel away every layer of your so-called virtue, leaving behind nothing but rotting bones waiting to be scattered by time."

"The world has never been driven by sacrifice," Han Ming's eyes remained still.

"It turns on the axis of greed."

"The sweet words of those above are nothing more than bait... used to tame people like us and keep us inside the cages of thought they've built."

"They created the word sacrifice so that we would throw away our lives for their benefit."

"They created the word faith so that we would obey without ever questioning."

"They created the word hero so that ordinary people would be willing to die in place of the elite, and call our deaths 'honor'."

"In the end, we're just human beings... molded into tools to fulfill someone else's greed, someone who stands too high above to ever understand how much pain our lives carry, waiting to die meaninglessly in an endless cycle."

"But what's even sadder is... that it's not even wrong."

"My words may sound selfish, but they are nature. And nature... doesn't care how good you are. It only devours the weak, and lets the breathing ones walk forward."

"If you want to survive in this world, you don't need to be good."

"You only need to understand that righteousness doesn't exist. There are only the survivors... and the dead."

The atmosphere around them turned so cold it was hard to even breathe.

"In the world of cultivation, where the strong devour the weak, survival... is the highest virtue."

"The world may remember you as a hero, but history... is written by those who survive."

Han Ming gave a faint smile, the corner of his lips rising slightly as he looked at Ye Lin.

"So... choose carefully. The choice is already in your hands."

His voice was neither loud nor soft, but deep enough to echo straight into the hearts of anyone who heard it.

Meanwhile, high in the sky where Sui Zimeng and Wu Wen were watching, her eyes widened slightly before going still for a moment. She took a deep breath, then quickly regained her composure. A quiet chuckle escaped her lips as she spoke with a trace of excitement.

"Fitting indeed... that he is someone whose fate I cannot perceive. Even such simple words from him nearly pushed my cultivation into the next realm without me realizing it."

Her gaze remained locked onto Han Ming's figure. As for Wu Wen, though he had heard the same words, his expression was somewhat vacant. He understood... but only on the surface, unable to grasp the core.

Standing beside him, Sui Zimeng furrowed her brows as if something had clicked in her mind, then murmured softly.

"This brat... he noticed that the Heavenly Tao hasn't descended to help those people, so he deliberately elevated their value directly, to increase the pull... to force the Heavenly Tao to act."

"Heh... it's not just that boy who must choose between his life and the lives of others. Even the Heavenly Tao must choose whether to descend and save these children, or abandon these exceptional seeds... Impressive."

Below, the five female disciples of Pure Bamboo Peak, still lying weakly on the ground, heard Han Ming's words. It was as if something ignited within each of their hearts. Golden light reflected in all five pairs of eyes.

Some of them began to tremble slightly, spiritual energy surging like an awakened dragon. Others remained calm and still, but the force radiating from their bodies cracked the earth beneath them.

In an instant, their cultivation surged forward some breaking through an entire major realm, others piercing through two realms at once.

It wasn't just the five of them. The old man who served as Shangguan Tingting's protector also closed his eyes, sensing something shift within himself. His comprehension of power began to unravel, as if a heavy fog had been swept aside.

Even Hua Jinru, though so severely wounded she couldn't move, felt her body tremble from within. She too had gained something from Han Ming's words, though her injuries were too grave to allow her to respond to it.

In another corner, Ji Yiren, whom everyone thought was still unconscious... slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze remained calm, but deep within, an undeniable transformation was taking place. The aura radiating from her body was faint, yet vast as the depths of an endless sea.

She had broken through the Half-Emperor stage... and stepped into the realm of the Great Emperor in complete silence.

But no one noticed. No one sensed it. Because Han Ming... had ordered his system to conceal her aura entirely.

Amid the awakening rippling through everyone present, Han Ming's eyes narrowed. He turned to look at Ye Lin... who still lay motionless. Not in meditation, but with a gaze that was vacant, as though he were drifting in a world no one else could reach.

Han Ming furrowed his brows slightly.

"Looks like my words reached you after all..."

Though his voice was soft, it carried a trace of quiet satisfaction hidden beneath the calm.

While the entire area buzzed with the resonance of enlightenment, Ye Lin remained submerged in his own darkness. Han Ming closed his eyes for a moment, then let out a faint sigh.

"This is all I can do for you..."

Shaking his head slightly, Han Ming reached out and gently drew Hua Jinru's body toward him. He placed a fingertip lightly against her forehead. Then, without hesitation, pulled the still-dazed Ye Lin close as well, touching his forehead in the same manner.