The Choice

Hearing the words of the Qi Emperor, Bai Lingmiao’s hands slowly clenched into fists. The look on her face turned exceptionally ugly, and her body seemed unsteady, as if she might fall at any moment.

The Native Land of True Emptiness existed; this was something Wusheng Laomu had said herself. Her family was living there now, free of worry.

After she died, she would be able to rejoin them—this was something Bai Lingmiao believed with absolute certainty.

But when that belief was set against one million, eight hundred and ten thousand human lives, her heart began to writhe with conflict.

If the Native Land of True Emptiness is real, then death is merely moving to another place to live. If that’s the case… then why am I so resistant?

At this moment, the Qi Emperor pressed his advantage. “Miss Bai, think it through. A mere million or so old, weak, and disabled—you exchange them for nine million devoted followers in the future. What deal has ever been so secure, so profitable?”

“Look at it this way. I win, you win, and even Wusheng Laomu, far away in the Native Land of True Emptiness, wins. No one loses, right? So what is the Holy Maiden still hesitating for?”

Hearing these words, Bai Lingmiao took a deep breath. The hands she had held clasped to her chest, trembling faintly, suddenly dropped. She seemed to have made a decision.

“Your Majesty—is this a transaction? Is that how you calculate the accounts? Do you know… they are people! Living, breathing people! Even if they are crippled! Even if they are broken! They are still living human beings!” Bai Lingmiao thought of everything in Niu Xin Village.

“Do you know how many hearts will be broken by their deaths? Do you know how painful it is to lose your family?!”

The Qi Emperor and the fat general beside him looked genuinely astonished. They had not expected the leader of a sect that favored human sacrifice for the White Lotus to say something like this. It was as if the sun were rising in the west.

“And, Your Majesty!” Bai Lingmiao said, after calming her emotions for a moment. “Of that one million, eight hundred thousand you speak of—more than half are your own subjects! Have you not considered them at all?”

Hearing such an absurd statement, a trace of anger flickered across the Qi Emperor’s face. “Hmph! Why should I consider them? Do you have any idea what I sacrificed to reach this position?! I earned it through hardship!”

“What I must concern myself with is my empire and my throne! Without the empire, this emperor is nothing but a defeated king! As for those commoners… they are merely the grass growing on my land. Even if you cut them down, given time, they will always grow back.”

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao’s grip tightened. Her sharp nails bit into her palms, but she still did not let go.

“Your Majesty!” Bai Lingmiao’s voice turned sharp. “I cannot comply! They are not grass! They are people! They cannot die like grass! Death is the end—there is nothing after!”

“Oh?” The Qi Emperor looked perplexed. “What? Haven’t you understood yet? They’re not dying. According to your teachings, they are all going to the Native Land of True Emptiness.”

“What, could it be that the great Holy Maiden of the White Lotus truly believes there is no Native Land of True Emptiness? That Wusheng Laomu was just lying to make you believe in her?”

Bai Lingmiao took several heavy breaths, forcing the anger in her heart to settle. “Your Majesty! The Native Land of True Emptiness exists! But Wusheng Laomu has given a sacred decree! Self-destruction defies the Heavenly Principle! Those who take their own lives cannot enter the Native Land of True Emptiness!”

“Ridiculous! I have never heard your White Lotus use such an argument before.” The Qi Emperor’s brow furrowed. He felt she was simply refusing him.

“I am the Holy Maiden of the White Lotus. I hear the will of Heaven directly. If I say Wusheng Laomu said it, then Wusheng Laomu said it! This matter is not up for discussion!” Furious, Bai Lingmiao finished speaking and rose to leave.

“Wait!” The Qi Emperor stood before her once more, his expression angry. Scales began to appear on his body. “Think carefully, Miss Bai. Think carefully about who you are opposing!”

Bai Lingmiao, who had been keeping her head lowered, slowly raised it. The corners of her mouth curled upward slightly, and her entire demeanor began to change.

“Your Majesty~” Bai Lingmiao’s voice carried a new, sharp edge. “These days, isn’t the Fa Sect still swarming over Si Qi? If you really had any ability, why don’t you go retake the lost territories yourself? Ah, right—back then, you had to be rescued from the Fa Sect by us.”

With her black-nailed finger, she stabbed at the dragon robe on the Qi Emperor’s chest, one deliberate poke at a time.

“I am a subject of Da Liang, not Si Qi. And besides, you are currently a monarch whose kingdom has fallen. A phoenix on the ground is worse than a chicken. I am opposing you. What can you do about it?”

“Send your military to suppress the White Lotus? What a pity… Your Majesty, you don’t have a single soldier left. Just a bunch of old eunuchs.”

Bai Lingmiao glanced sideways at the fat general beside the emperor, whose hand was on his sword hilt but who had yet to draw it. She let out a disdainful laugh. “Still putting on airs for me. Your choice of attendants is so dire you have to bring out… this kind of quality?”

The Qi Emperor trembled with rage. But he dared not do anything to Bai Lingmiao. Whether he could defeat her or not, he could not afford to make an enemy of the faction that had helped him reclaim his throne.

Bai Lingmiao walked out of the grand, three-courtyard manor. As she walked, the expression on her face gradually softened. Silently, she walked through the chaotic city.

The voice of the Second Spirit sounded in her mind. “What do you actually think? Do you believe in the Native Land of True Emptiness or not? You’re confusing even me.”

Bai Lingmiao did not know. She could no longer tend to her own affairs.

She realized that, at some point, the lives of over a million people had come to rest on a single thought of hers. If she chose to, she could truly command these people to die.

Without her noticing, her power had grown to this terrifying scale. The weight of it, invisible but crushing, filled her heart with panic.

Bai Lingmiao continued walking forward, watching the myriad scenes of life among the White Lotus faithful in the city.

Under the shadow of war, life for the common people was never easy. But people could always find ways to eat a little better, to live a little better.

She had seen this before. But now, what she saw seemed… different.

On the roadside, a crowd was gathered around a large black cauldron billowing white steam. They clutched long chopsticks, eager and ready.

This was zheluo cai—leftover scraps. Some people stacked the remnants of meals into a pile and brought it to the street to sell. For one copper coin, you got one scoop with your chopsticks.

It was dirty. But the more chaotic the times, the more thriving this kind of business became. People often showed up early, afraid the good morsels would be picked over first.

Because here, for the least amount of money, you could taste something with grease in it.

A girl of thirteen or fourteen, dressed in patched clothes with a white lotus painted on her brow, clutched a single copper coin in her hand. She hesitated for a long time.

Finally, she dropped it into the bowl set out for payment.