Ezio and the Abbot sat in the small hut at the top of the mountain. Ezio was angry, he wanted to do something about the injustice, but he was helpless, he had never before felt so weak since he was reborn. He always knew the Tian Family wanted to kill him, but it had never occured to him that they would stoop so low in trying.
He just wanted to become stronger because he liked the feeling. Breaking limits and soaring to the sky! He dreamed of it, but on this path, he never set his heart. He always had other means of enjoying life, cultivation was only a convenience for him. He knew that getting stronger would allow him to laze around. Increasing his lifespan was just an extra boon.
But things were different from that point on. People had tried to claim his life and he could not defeat them. Each cell of his was filled with great determination. Even before he could cultivate, he didn't feel this weak.
"I need to get better," Ezio whispered silently, but Abbot heard it anyway.
"Now do you understand Little Ezio?"Abbot asked as he knitted his brows. He knew what Abbot meant, but he still couldn't understand, he was actually more confused. Abbot had said these things to him before, but he was still more lost than he could even comprehend.
"How can you still say that Abbot? If those old goats were not allowed to kill on a whim, how could they get out of this mess? Killing, taking someone else's life, how could it be that easy? I know that you had the power to stop those old goats from killing those disciples, what I don't understand is why you didn't?" Ezio was confused.
Abbot really did have what it takes to stop the Supreme Elders from killing the disciples. Although he was not much stronger than those old goats, he was the mountain's Supreme Ruler and had the heart of the formations. That's why his words were the law and therefore no one could openly oppose him. But Abbot chose to watch the playing of the sequence, without doing anything.
"I could indeed stop them..." sighed Abbot, "...but it would only cause more trouble. Those forces are trying to overthrow me from my throne, yet they have no guts yet to do so, but if I give them enough fear, there's going to be a bloodbath in the sect." Abbot said helplessly. In a world where the law of the jungle ruled and hard fists spoke, he wondered how there could be a person who could refuse to take a life.
Ever since he found Ezio, he knew he was different. He was destined to greatness. At first he thought it was the Elven Blood in his veins. But when he felt the aura around him when he dodged Tian Xu's attack, he felt it was more than that.
"You are still talking about prohibiting killing but what you should understand is you are leaving danger behind yourself every time you spare someone. They will run away, lick their wounds like some stray dogs, and they will come to bite you again.
What I am telling you to do is noble, you will remove the thorns of this society. I am not asking you to kill innocent people, but those who have killing intent towards you, deserve death, and nothing else." Abbot continued with a righteous tone. He firmly bent to believe it like that, and Ezio knew he was a good man, even the air around him was helping people, but this man could reap lives like wheat.
"There's no honor in murder. There's no turning back from that course once a murderer is always a murderer." Ezio spat with a low voice, he didn't know if he was speaking to himself or Abbot. He couldn't wrap his head around this notion. He couldn't understand how people of this world could kill so easily. Was he being naive?
"There's one less of it when you kill a murderer," Abbot answered his thoughts. "What if you become a murderer. I know you are a good person. You will be responsible for your actions, so there is nothing wrong with another murderer to be born, what I afraid are murderers with no conscience, with no morals." Abbot said.
"What is moral?" Even Abbot did not hear what Ezio was saying this time. Ezio had no idea what to think, had no idea what to do. He lived in a society where the murder was one of the greatest taboos. Taking the life of someone else's, even when leaving the people dependent on that person aside, just taking the life of a person should be the greatest negative karma that one could get.
"I need to get stronger. If I could stop damned old goats from murdering those disciples if I had enough strength… I could apply the laws of justice without killing, but I'm weak. In the end, without a strong fist, I am nobody."
While Ezio was trapped within his thoughts, Abbot lit some talismans. Surprisingly, they were red-golden in color. If Ezio knew this was one of the Sound Transmission Talisman for 100,000 kilometers, his jaw would fall to the ground. Although the Cleansing Buddhist Sect was the province's Supreme ruler, this talisman still remained one of the treasures Abbot kept onto himself.
On the other hand, Abbot was anxious because he didn't want to use this talisman, but at the moment he had no other choice. He didn't want to have Ezio meet his end, but in Ezio's mindset, he was hopeless.
He kept tabs on the Supreme Elders but he couldn't follow everybody in the Sect all the time, and Ezio could die at that point. And Abbot chose to send Ezio away from the sect to one of his close buddies he met when he was a young explorer.
"Ezio, I figured what to do with you. Want to go to the capital?"
***
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