What followed would be a manhunt from all quarters. He could never roam the streets again like he did in the past, or even develop the Shenzhou Charity Company to earn merits of good intention. Even if he escaped arrest, he would surely die because of the lack of treatment fees.

But when he thought of those girls who were hideously slew, and Bai Sheng's coercion of Qing Zhui and Bai Jing, he felt an irrepressible rage arise in his heart. Facing this wicked fiend, his malicious side had surfaced and it would be hard for him to control it. This was the reason why he pulled out this refined Mauser pistol.

” 'I rest within the womb, listening to the sound of the Way.' ” Ning Tao's heart quietly chanted the first line of Your Text.

Dong!

The divine bell tolled, resonant and reverberant.

Ning Tao's heart and mind began to calm down. His rage had died away. He holstered the refined Mauser pistol, only keeping the Unbreakable Fan in his hand.

A flicker of astonishment flashed across Bai Sheng's eyes. “My good son-in-law, I felt a murderous malice emanating from your body just now. You really wanted to kill me. But why didn't you?”

Ning Tao suddenly hit out a fist on Bai Sheng's face.

Pow!

Bai Sheng's body flew into the air, landing a few meters away. A few teeth and some bloodied saliva were spat out from his mouth. His whole face was contorted.

Ning Tao dashed forward and caught hold of Bai Sheng's face. He tugged at it forcefully and instantly, pulled out Bai Sheng's human mask.

Lying there was no Bai Sheng, but some youth resembling him both in build and features. He had some demon aura on his body, but it was not strong.

Ning Tao s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the restroom by the waiting room. “Come out. Why are you hiding in the restroom?”

Suddenly, from the restroom came the flus.h.i.+ng of the toilet. Then the door open and Bai Sheng emerged.

It was clearly a sinister plot. If Ning Tao had pulled the trigger, blasting off the head of the Bai Sheng lookalike, he would have fallen into the pit Bai Sheng had dug for him.

This was Bai Sheng. He would not be Bai Sheng if he did not spend his life ensnaring or harming people.

Bai Sheng said blandly, “Leave us.”

The imposter crawled up from the floor and picked up his broken teeth. Then he wiped the floor clean with his s.h.i.+rt sleeve, leaving the waiting room without a word.

Bai Sheng stared at Ning Tao.

Ning Tao stared back at Bai Sheng.

Their four eyes were staring at each other.

A few seconds later, Bai Sheng broke the suffocating silence in the waiting room. “My good son-in-law, why do you want to kill me so much? The last time, you wrecked my temple. I bore with it. I was worried that you still wanted to kill me. That was why I got an imposter to test you. As expected, you pulled out a pistol at me the moment we met. Is there such a great feud between us? My two daughters have been abducted by you, and yet you still dare to treat me this way. I ask you: did I owe you a debt in my previous life?”

This was Bai Sheng. He could talk black into white. He was obviously the one setting the trap for him, yet now he was claiming it was all Ning Tao's fault.

Ning Tao sneered. “You have an earlier life? You have always been a snake demon, conceived from the heaven and the earth. You slew your mother and harmed so many people, engaging in all sorts of heinous misdeeds. Do you really think that Heaven is blind and you can do anything you like?”

“Ha ha ha… ” Bai Sheng let off a string of hearty guffaws. “Is Heaven not blind? The spiritual energy between the heaven and the earth is dissipating. Humans no longer fear divinities. Morality has been corrupted and demons are free to act any way they like. This means that the supreme authority is changing hands. Can't you even see this? What sort of cultivator are you?”

“So that's why you are doing all these wicked deeds?”

Bai Sheng said, “Divinities only exist if humans believe in them. If they don't, there will be no G.o.ds. In the past, there were river G.o.ds in the rivers and mountain G.o.ds in the mountains. Even the cooks had their kitchen G.o.d. Look at the world now. Mountains are being leveled and resources are nearly completely mined. Rivers are polluted and excrement and urine flowed into them. So where are the river and mountain G.o.ds now? The air is fogged with pollutants and the earth is devastated and scarred. Officials are corrupt and traders dishonest. Yet they are still living in clover. So what did your Heaven do to punish them?”

Ning Tao was rendered totally speechless.

“Your thoughts are too backward. See what the contemporary world believes in! It's money, power, and hedonism. If you have the money and want young pretty girls, they will offer you their bodies. If you want to give orders, someone will obey you. If you want others to charge in battlefields, another person can do that for you. Aren't these the same as divine powers? The ancient G.o.ds and immortals no longer exist. But newer G.o.ds and immortals have emerged.” Bai Sheng took out a cell phone from inside his coat pocket and added, “See what this is?”

Ning Tao only stared at him.

Bai Sheng said, “I feel that this is a G.o.d.”

Ning Tao felt a tremor in his heart.

If to distinguish a G.o.d or immortal, one needs to take into account how many followers it has, the adoration it enjoys, and the irreplaceable status it holds in its followers' hearts…. then that cell phone in Bai Sheng's hand must surely be a divine presence for most people.

Although such a preposition seemed very absurd, looking from another angle, it had its own logic.

Will the young people today believe in any G.o.ds or immortals? But they know the internet, pop music, bars, and their cell phones. Some cannot even remember their parents' birthdays, but they can recall that of a certain celebrity. They do not know what their partners like, but know the favorite color and food of a star. Aren't all these absurd too?

“Do what I say make sense?” Bai Sheng was looking into Ning Tao's eyes.

“Yes.” Ning Tao only said this word.

“So why are you so stubborn? Take my two unfilial daughters and live a fast life. I won't take revenge on you, but you too must leave me alone. If I did anything to make you hate me, you too have abducted my daughters and wrecked my temple. So let's call it quits between us,” Bai Sheng said.

Ning Tao also looked into Bai Sheng's eyes. “So this is what you want to tell me by calling me here?”

A pleasant smile appeared on Bai Sheng's face. “Revenge breeds revenge and the cycle will never end. A new era is coming. I don't have time to fight you. You should treasure this opportunity I'm offering you.”

Ning Tao snickered. “So why do I feel that it was a wolf telling me it would eat gra.s.s in the future?”

“You must try and trust in another man.” Bai Sheng walked towards a vase.

Ning Tao was wondering what he was doing. He secretly upped his vigilance.

Bai Sheng drew out a branch from the vase. Then he turned around and offered that branch in his hand to Ning Tao.

It was an olive branch.

An olive branch symbolizes peace. There is a story in the Bible. A long, long time ago, G.o.d found humanity to have lost their morality to an unsalvageable degree—all except for Noah and his family. He decided to punish human beings, but not before notifying Noah to build an ark and get ready dry rations and water, as well as animals and plant seeds. In the end, the flood came and only Noah and his family in the ark survived. Left in his floating ark for 40 days, Noah's ark finally came to rest in a high mountain. Noah released a dove and it brought back an olive branch. This olive branch signified something—that the land and vegetation had revived and all was at peace.

Ning Tao took the olive branch from Bai Sheng's hand.

Bai Sheng smiled. “Isn't this the right thing to do? There's no enmity in this world that can't be resolved. A new era is beginning. Perhaps in the future, we will have a chance to work together.”

Snap!

The olive branch in Ning Tao's hand suddenly snapped. He threw it casually on the floor.

The smile on Bai Sheng's face vanished and his eyes turned cold too.

But Ning Tao started to laugh. “Ha ha ha… ”

Bai Sheng asked coldly, “What are you laughing at?”

Ning Tao said with a smile, “I'm laughing at your Dissociative Ident.i.ty Disorder. You're getting more and more absurd. When I first came in, the person I saw was your stand-in. You let your stand-in enrage me to lure me into killing him. A brilliant idea, killing with another's hand. In the blink of an eye, you have now handed me an olive branch, claiming that a new epoch is about to begin and we can cooperate. Can your personality fracture even more?”

Bai Sheng was silent for a while before saying, “If you had opened fire and killed my stand-in, I wouldn't have to show you this disgusting face of mine. Nor would I need to offer you this olive branch. Wouldn't it be great? But since you did not fire, I have to set my alternative plan in motion. That's very normal, isn't it?”

“Have you finished?”

Bai Sheng stared very calmly at Ning Tao. “Yes. You want to act now?”

Ning Tao turned and headed for the door.

“My good son-in-law, you have chosen this path yourself. After going out of this door, don't blame me for being heartless,” Bai Sheng said.

Ning Tao turned back his head and said, “Show me what tricks you have up your sleeve. I wager with this head on my neck—a villain like you will come to no good end. Your wicked deeds are all recorded in my ledger. On that day you need to repay your debts, there will be no path left open for you in this heaven and earth.”

Bai Sheng shook his head and said very disdainfully, “Tut, tut. Such macho braggadocio in your words. No wonder you can kidnap those daughters of mine.”

Ning Tao ignored his sarcasm. He continued, “One thing more. The new era you claimed to be beginning does not exist. Although your words make sense, it's all a sophism. The world is indeed sick, but as long as there are doctors around, it will be cured.”

Bai Sheng sneered coldly, “You mean you are that doctor yourself?”

Ning Tao said, “Yes, I am. You are treading the way of money. I will go by the ways of heaven. My cultivation path is as hard as attaining heaven and every step upward is difficult. We may be cultivators, but aren't this heaven and earth cultivating as well? This phenomenal change in our climate might only be a hurdle in our cultivation path to heaven. A calamity. But you and those with you are fated to fall in this calamity.”

Bai Sheng's lips quivered, but he said nothing.

His earlier words had touched Ning Tao's cultivator's heart. Now, Ning Tao's words had likewise touched his.

Ning Tao opened the door and left without shutting the door.