Asking The Question

The tent was not large. There was only a low wooden table, three chairs, and a small lamp hanging from the wall. Quan Nha placed a kettle over the stove, and as soon as the water began to heat, the fragrance of tea slowly spread through the air.

Huu Liet sat opposite Hao Nhien with both hands resting on his knees. His expression was so calm that it was difficult to connect him with the man who had just stood in the middle of the medicinal fields and confronted another Deputy City Lord head-on.

Even so, Hao Nhien knew the man before him had not truly relaxed.

Quan Nha poured tea for both of them, then sat beside Hao Nhien.

For a while, none of the three spoke.

In the end, Huu Liet was the first to break the silence.

“Your pills are good. The one today was too. I’ll accept it.”

He lifted the teacup, breathed in the fragrance once, then looked at Hao Nhien.

“But don’t think one pill can buy me.”

Hao Nhien smiled slightly.

“I never thought that. The pill was to thank you for stepping forward to protect Lac Van. Consider it a fair exchange.”

“As for tonight, when you stopped Tien Phong from taking me away, that is another matter.”

Huu Liet placed down his cup and studied Hao Nhien for a moment longer.

“At least you know the difference.”

Hao Nhien smiled faintly.

“One matter is one matter.”

Just as he had observed at the auction, Huu Liet and Tien Phong were very different.

Tien Phong was accustomed to calculating step by step, keeping his pieces in hand until he was ready to place them on the board.

Huu Liet was more like a great stone.

Once he chose where to stand, anyone who wanted to pass first had to make him move.

But being a stone did not mean being stupid.

Huu Liet looked at Hao Nhien for a while before asking,

“You’re not planning to thank me a little more?”

Hao Nhien raised an eyebrow.

“You want another pill?”

Huu Liet glared at him, then burst out laughing.

“Fine. You really are a merchant.”

The laughter stopped quickly.

When he looked at Hao Nhien again, his expression had become more serious.

“Now let’s talk about something real. Where are you from?”

Hao Nhien did not answer immediately.

Huu Liet did not rush him.

Instead, he continued,

“Don’t tell me you’re just a wandering alchemist. You can refine pills the Medicine Pavilion needs, your cultivation is already at late Foundation Establishment, your physical strength is enough to take a palm from Tien Phong, the woman beside you is clearly no ordinary person, and Lanh Hoa—a man you claim works for you—is willing to fight a late-Foundation cultivator without retreating.”

“Giai Nhien, did someone like you really come to Heavenly Eye City just to sell pills?”

Quan Nha remained quietly seated.

Hao Nhien looked at the thin steam rising from his tea before answering.

“I travel.”

“Partly to find ingredients. Partly to cultivate.”

Huu Liet frowned.

“Travel everywhere to cultivate?”

“If you stay in one place too long, eventually you only see the same things again and again. Sometimes what prevents you from crossing into the next realm is not a lack of True Qi, but something you still do not understand.”

This time, Huu Liet did not laugh.

Hao Nhien continued,

“I’ve been to Dong Nguyen. I’ve also traveled through many places in the Western Wastes.”

“I watch how people live, how powers operate, why some places remain stable while others have people dying every day.”

“If you see enough, you eventually realize that some things you once believed were natural may not actually be right.”

Huu Liet tapped one finger lightly against the table.

“You sound like one of those old men who enjoy preaching.”

Hao Nhien laughed.

“Maybe.”

“But you are already at peak Foundation Establishment. You should understand that sometimes, if you want to take another step, the thing blocking you is not in your meridians.”

Huu Liet’s finger stopped.

Hao Nhien did not ask anything immediately.

He allowed the silence to stretch for a while before saying,

“Have you ever thought about leaving Heavenly Eye City?”

Huu Liet looked up.

“Of course.”

The answer came naturally.

“The position of Deputy City Lord isn’t something I plan to hold until I die. Once someone capable and loyal enough can replace me, I’ll finish my responsibilities and leave.”

“If there is still an opportunity, I’ll continue cultivating. If not, I’ll find somewhere easier to live.”

“I have no intention of spending my entire life sitting here watching the people beneath me fight over a few spirit stones.”

Hao Nhien smiled.

“That doesn’t sound much like a Deputy City Lord.”

“I’ve never liked sitting behind a desk.”

“That part is obvious.”

Huu Liet lifted his tea and, this time, actually took a drink.

“But right now, I am still a Deputy City Lord. I still serve Heavenly Eye. And I still serve the God-Lord.”

Hao Nhien did not respond immediately.

After a while, he asked,

“Why do you cultivate?”

Huu Liet looked at him as though the question were too simple.

“To become strong.”

“And after that?”

“To have standing. To be able to stand firmly on my own feet. To not have to watch other people’s expressions, and to not fear someone killing me simply because he is stronger.”

A final source note: NovelPhoenix is where the author publishes this chapter, and the version here was copied without approval; reading there supports their work.

Huu Liet spoke directly.

“I started cultivating the moment I understood that.”

Hao Nhien nodded slightly.

“Then if I were stronger than you now, and killed you simply because of that, what would you think?”

Huu Liet frowned.

“Why would you kill me?”

“Because I’m stronger.”

“That isn’t a reason.”

Huu Liet answered almost immediately.

“You and I have no feud. I haven’t stolen anything from you, haven’t killed your people, and tonight I even stepped forward to stop Tien Phong.”

“What does you being stronger than me have to do with whether you have the right to kill me?”

Hao Nhien looked at him, then slowly nodded.

“Exactly.”

“You just said what I wanted to ask.”

The smile on Huu Liet’s face faded.

Hao Nhien looked toward the outside of the tent.

“If strength does not automatically give one person a reason to kill another, then does the strength of a faction automatically give it the right to force weaker tribes to submit?”

Huu Liet remained silent for several beats.

Then he said,

“You’re mixing two things together.”

“A power that wants to survive cannot allow everyone to do whatever they want.”

“If every tribe makes its own decisions, today they fight over water, tomorrow over land, and the day after that they start stealing people from one another.”

“The strong will still prey on the weak. The only difference is that there will be no one large enough to keep order.”

Hao Nhien did not deny it.

“Correct. I never said order itself was wrong.”

Huu Liet paused slightly.

Hao Nhien continued,

“I’m asking whether the people who create that order have limits.”

“Forcing someone not to rob or kill others without cause is one thing.”

“Forcing someone to believe something they did not choose, to obey an ideal they do not understand, or to sacrifice themselves for a purpose they never agreed to is another.”

Huu Liet frowned.

“Every order requires coercion to some degree.”

“I agree.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“So the question is not whether coercion exists.”

“It is whether coercion is used to stop people from harming one another, or to force them to live according to what someone else wants.”

Huu Liet fell silent.

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“You said cultivators must become strong so that others cannot casually decide whether they live or die. I don’t think that is wrong.”

“But if one day you become strong enough and then do exactly what you once feared most to someone weaker than you, where did that strength actually take you?”

Huu Liet’s finger, resting on the table, stopped again.

He did not answer immediately.

After a while, he said,

“You make it sound clean, but reality is not.”

“If you want to build a power, defend a city, or unify a region, people will die.”

“No order is built without blood.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“I don’t object to people choosing to pay a price for what they believe in.”

“I only distinguish between two things.”

He looked directly at Huu Liet.

“Sacrifice means paying the price yourself.”

“Choosing someone else and forcing him to die for your ideal, then calling that sacrifice, is something else.”

Huu Liet said nothing.

Hao Nhien did not continue immediately either.

He lifted his tea and took a sip.

After some time, Huu Liet slowly said,

“What if everything Heavenly Eye does is to serve a worthy God-Lord?”

Hao Nhien placed down his cup.

“You believe in the God-Lord?”

“Of course.”

“You believe the God-Lord can grant favor and protect those who believe?”

“Yes.”

Hao Nhien tilted his head slightly.

“Then would a being that powerful need fear to force the weak to believe in him?”

Huu Liet’s expression immediately darkened.

“Watch your words.”

“I am.”

Hao Nhien answered.

“I am not insulting your God-Lord.”

“I am only asking whether, if a faith is truly noble, its value lies in people choosing it willingly, or in people kneeling because they are afraid to die.”

Huu Liet looked at him, his gaze colder than before.

“You speak as though everyone outside Heavenly Eye is being forced.”

“Not everyone.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“There are certainly people who genuinely believe, people who benefit, and people who choose to follow willingly.”

“But there are also many who were never given a choice.”

Huu Liet shook his head.

“They don’t understand.”

“So because they don’t understand, they must be forced?”

“There are people who will never understand unless they are forced.”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“You truly believe that?”

“I’ve seen too many tribes slaughter each other over a few wells and patches of grass.”

“If no one strong enough forces them into one order, they will continue killing one another.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“That is a reasonable argument.”

“But if the goal is to stop them from killing one another, why must they also be forced to believe in the same God-Lord?”

Huu Liet did not answer immediately.

Hao Nhien continued in the same calm tone.

“Order may require strength.”

“But faith that can only survive through fear is, at the very least, worth questioning.”

“I am not telling you to abandon your belief.”

“I am only saying that a truly strong belief should not be afraid of questions.”

Huu Liet slammed his hand onto the table.

The teacups trembled.

“Giai Nhien, some things are not for just anyone to say.”

Quan Nha remained seated.

Hao Nhien’s expression did not change.

“Then I won’t say any more.”

The answer came so quickly that Huu Liet paused.

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“You can think about it yourself.”

The tent fell silent for a long time.

Finally, Huu Liet exhaled sharply through his nose and shook his head.

“You really know how to irritate people.”

Hao Nhien smiled.

“I thought you liked people who spoke directly.”

“Direct doesn’t mean poking at places you shouldn’t.”

“I’ll remember.”

Huu Liet looked at him as though unsure whether to be angry or amused.

In the end, he picked up his cup again.

“Continue.”

Hao Nhien raised an eyebrow.

“You still want to hear more?”

“You’ve already said this much. If you stop now, I’ll be even more irritated.”

Hao Nhien was silent for a moment before saying,

“I think cultivation is not only about becoming stronger.”

“There is something else.”

“Correcting yourself.”

Huu Liet frowned.

“Correcting yourself?”

“Knowing where you were wrong and changing it.”

“Understanding one more thing, then taking another step.”

“Sometimes I travel far not because I’m searching for something outside, but because I want to look back at myself.”

Hao Nhien looked at the tea in his cup.

“I’ve been wrong before.”

“I’ve also nearly died because I was wrong.”

“Only afterward did I understand that if you know a road is wrong and still keep walking it simply because you have already walked too far, that is not conviction.”

Huu Liet did not argue.

But neither did he show agreement.

After a while, he asked,

“What does any of this have to do with Duong Long?”

Hao Nhien looked up.

At last, the question he had been waiting for had arrived.

“It does.”

Huu Liet’s eyes sharpened instantly.

“You know him?”

“Yes.”

“How well?”

“Well enough to talk to him.”

Huu Liet slowly placed down his cup.

“Giai Nhien, you know a great deal.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“Mm.”

“Because I’ve already spoken with him.”

Huu Liet remained motionless for several beats.

Then he abruptly stood.

“Duong Long is alive?”

“He is.”

“Where?”

Hao Nhien turned toward Quan Nha.

“Tieu Nha, bring him here.”

Quan Nha stood.

“All right.”

She did not ask anything else before leaving the tent.

Huu Liet remained standing, his gaze locked firmly on Hao Nhien.

“You captured him?”

“Yes.”

“What about the people who were with him?”

“They’re still alive.”

Huu Liet’s expression changed slightly.

“Why didn’t you kill them?”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“Because I wanted to ask questions before deciding.”

Huu Liet fell silent.

Hao Nhien continued,

“Duong Long once lived with the Hoa Ky people.”

“They saved him, gave him a place to stay, and trusted him.”

“But from the beginning, he was carrying another mission.”

“I wanted to know how long a person could live with both of those things inside his head without ever asking himself what he was doing.”

Huu Liet looked at him.

“You want to use him to prove what you just said?”

“No.”

Hao Nhien shook his head.

“I want to let him speak for himself.”

Footsteps sounded outside.

A short while later, the tent flap was lifted.

Quan Nha entered first.

Behind her came an old man wearing ordinary clothes, without armor or weapons.

His late-Foundation aura was still present, but his True Qi had been completely sealed.

Huu Liet stood frozen.

“Duong Long?”

Duong Long paused for a beat before cupping his hands.

“Deputy City Lord Huu.”

“It really is you.”

“It is.”

Huu Liet looked at the seal on his body.

“He captured you?”

“Yes.”

“What exactly happened?”

Duong Long did not answer immediately.

Instead, he looked toward Hao Nhien.

Hao Nhien stood.

“Ask him whatever you want to know.”

Huu Liet turned.

“Where are you going?”

“To rest.”

“You’re leaving me alone with him?”

“Mm.”

Huu Liet frowned.

“You’re not afraid he’ll tell me something you don’t want me to hear?”

Hao Nhien smiled faintly.

“If I were afraid of that, I wouldn’t have brought him here.”

He looked at Duong Long.

“The same goes for you.”

“Say whatever you want. There is no need to look at me.”

Duong Long studied him for one extra beat before nodding slightly.

Hao Nhien turned toward Quan Nha.

“Let’s go.”

The two left the tent.

Behind them, Huu Liet and Duong Long remained facing one another.

And once Hao Nhien stepped outside, he had no intention of listening in.

After returning to his own tent, he stood beside the entrance for a long time before looking into the darkness outside.

Tien Phong’s people were still stationed in the distance.

Huu Liet’s people were holding the other directions.

Lac Van was trapped between two rings of surveillance.

Yet that was not what Hao Nhien was thinking about.

Quan Nha sat down and asked,

“What are you thinking about?”

Hao Nhien remained silent for a while before answering,

“I’m thinking about how to fight something when what needs to be broken is not a person, but a belief.”

Quan Nha looked at him.

Hao Nhien continued,

“A person can be killed.”

“A city can be destroyed.”

“A statue can be smashed.”

“But belief has no form, no body, and cannot be cut apart with a sword.”

“Yet it can make thousands of people willingly walk in the same direction, even willingly die.”

“Duong Quang did that.”

“Duong Long devoted most of his life to it too.”

“The others in Heavenly Eye may be the same.”

Quan Nha asked,

“You want to prove that belief is wrong?”

“Perhaps.”

Hao Nhien said.

“But if I only destroy it, what remains is an empty space.”

“And then they may simply find another God-Lord, or something else to kneel before.”

Quan Nha tilted her head slightly.

“Then you want to give them something else to believe in?”

Hao Nhien turned toward her.

“I don’t know yet.”

He smiled very faintly.

“I’m still asking.”

The two fell silent.

The night wind lightly moved the tent flap, and the lamp on the table flickered with each draft slipping through the seams.

After a while, Hao Nhien looked toward the tent where Huu Liet and Duong Long were still speaking.

He did not know what Duong Long would say.

He had no intention of interfering.

Because if a person truly wanted to change, the first step was not hearing someone else’s answer.

It was having the chance to ask the question for themselves.

Tomorrow, the four Deputy City Lords would sit together.

Tien Phong wanted to know where Duong Long had gone.

Huu Liet had now seen with his own eyes that Duong Long was still alive.

Ta Minh and Trung Vu had yet to show how they would view the matter.

Hao Nhien exhaled softly.

“Sleep.”

Quan Nha nodded.

The night was still long.

And in another tent, the conversation between Huu Liet and Duong Long had perhaps only just truly begun.