Chapter 841 Faith Spring
If Ryu thought that Sarriel was fearing for her life, he was correct, but not in the way that he might expect. The only thing that could make Sarriel feel fear was failure, and the only way she could fail in her eyes is if she never met her goal to resurrect her Clan and seek revenge on those that had eradicated them to their final member.
Whenever she felt fear, it was because of the weight on her shoulders. If she had nothing to care for but her own life and death, there would be nothing that could make her even flinch in the face of a tall mountain.
In this respect, Sarriel’s trauma was even deeper than Ryu’s own. Ryu’s mother was still sealed in a mountain of ice, his father’s whereabouts were still yet unknown, and his great grandfather was very much still alive and doing just fine.
Ryu didn’t understand what it meant to be the last. He didn’t know what it meant to be the final hope. He didn’t understand the weight that came with it.
In the cultivation world, it was possible to die just because someone who had lived a hundred times longer than your lifespan, let alone the life you had actually lived, just felt like it. A sneeze, a bad day, a casualty in a battle that had nothing to do with you from the beginning…
This happened so often that it was mind numbing. If you asked Ryu how many times he had killed someone who wasn’t necessarily the focal point of his rage, he would have probably already lost count of the number, and yet he had only truly been in the cultivation world for how long…? Far less than 10 years?
Now imagine someone with an even worse temperament than Ryu, someone who still had the backing of their large Clan or Sect, one from their mother, another from their father, maybe a couple more from their maternal sides of the family too… Just what kind of devastation would they wrought?
Ryu could understand where Sarriel was coming from, but there was one thing she was wrong about. Even if he truly was the last, he wouldn’t allow anyone to make him lower his head.
Sarriel might say that she wasn’t lowering hers. In fact, she was just proceeding with caution and being aware of pitfalls. However, to Ryu, any time he acted differently than he otherwise would simply because of the power of the person before him was another slap to his own face. He refused to allow it.
‘Was I wrong in my assessment of him?’
This was the only thought Sarriel had when hearing Ryu’s calm response. Regardless, what was clear was that after Ryu’s attraction for Sarriel had plummeted, he had little desire left to stay by her side. Still, because he could tell that she had every intention of leaving once she got the opportunity, he realized that he needed to understand one more thing before she did.
“Tell me the truth, how was a Sect like this allowed to grow?”
Sarriel looked at Ryu’s side profile and for once decided to respond without a berating sort of a tone.
“Sacrum has it wrong. You always frame Faith through the lens of goodwill. Your Sects are unwilling to enrage the public, your Clans are careful with their underhanded deeds, and you both use this as a leash to keep each other in check because god forbid mortals you don’t even care about to begin with think ill of you…”
Ryu narrowed his eyes. This was true. In fact, he had relied on this a lot to this point, ironically to protect his own life. Powerful individuals couldn’t just kill him out in the open for fear of what that might do to their reputation. But, it seemed like Sarriel thought differently…?
“However, your concept of Faith is only half-baked. Just as there is Faith through goodwill, there is also Faith through infamy. In fact, it is only by combining these two types of Faith together can a balance be found and the true foundation of a Sect be built.
“In wider Existence, this true state of Faith is represented by the Faith Spring of a Sect that holds all their accumulated Karma. Only by properly nurturing a Faith Spring can Faith take physical form and help a Sect or Clan to weather the storm of Eternity.
“There are two major divisions of Forces in Existence, those with Faith Springs and those without… I’m sure you know which the Hidden Blade Sect is now.”