"You damn bastard!" the old man said as he stood up, "Are you cursing me?!"
"No, don't take it the wrong way, what I meant is, what is the reason for you to live so many lives, you basically lived more than a hundred mortal lifetimes, do you have any reason to live so long if you don't wish to obtain at least the seat of one of the kings?" I asked.
"No. I lived this long seeking the truths of the heavens!" the old man said.
Eliciting a few nods from the people around him.
"Then I'll say the same thing I said to that scholar. Why haven't you fallen yet?" I asked.
My question seemed to be ambiguous but if they thought about it for a moment they'll figure it out.
Suddenly someone muttered.
"My god…"
"What in the…"
And more seemed to be coming to the same realization.
Just to make everything clear again, I spoke the same words I told Zhang Tian that day.
"What is mortality severing?" I asked but I didn't wait for a reply I spoke the reply myself.
"It is to severe your mortality, your greed from the mortal world to ascend to a better plane of existence, to become a person that can search for the truth."
You all seek to severe your mortality to cut away the greed of the mortal lives, while in fact you still bring it with you to the upper plane of existence, you all seem to think that your greed for mortal possession such as gold, spouses' children is all you need to severe, while in fact many of you made families, hoard Spirit Stones, and have descendants and dynasties of your own. You all seem to think that mortal greed and Immortal greed are different, perhaps you inherently believe that immortal greed is far more superior or perhaps even not greed in itself. However, if you take all matters to their truest form, you only cut your ties with the mortal world to escape your mortality severing, instead of actually cutting away your greed by its entirety."
The words I spoke would seem far too complicated for a mortal, but for these people who lived their whole lives believing in a lie what I am speaking is against their entire existence.
"You speak as if you had seen the blade of immortality severing! Though your words make logical sense, they cannot be applied, they may sound convolutedly right, but they are still false because you cannot be given the right to Ascend without cutting away your immortality and your greed!" spoke the elder.
"Then do you agree that I am a man of greed?" I asked.
"Of course, you have yet to severe it, unless you swear upon the descending blades of immortality severing that you'll cut away from your ties with the mortal words, all you're speaking is nothing but theories, all you're speaking is nothing that can be achieved, the immortality severing blade will split you in half," The old man said.
"Then if I survive the Immortality Severing Blade, do you think that my words will be true?" I asked.
"That is not possible, people with even a grain of greed to their mortal lives have died instantly upon the descent of that blade what makes you different?" he said, "And also, you need to be at the cusp of Soul Transformation to be able to even call down the Immortality Severing Blade otherwise you'll instantly die, so your words cannot be confirmed to be true, thus they're false, you can argue all you want but unless you prove it with action, your whole theory is nothing but the ravings of an old crazed man," the old man said.
"Funny thing you're saying, then," I said as I looked up at the skies, opened my arms in a T-pose, and welcomed the heavens as I spoke.
"Mortal Blade of Heavens, come forth and severe my mortal ties."
The old man's eyes widened up as if he just saw the dumbest shit in the universe.
"YOU BLASTED BASTARD?!"
"You really are crazy," Master Rain's eyes looked up at the skies.
The world in its entirety seemed to be split in half, the skies split apart as the dark atmosphere of deep space seemed to be manifesting within the clear blue skies.
A curved object seemed to be manifesting from the high heavens as the skies began to rumble and rattle.
"You're risking your life, no not even risking you're not even at the Soul Transformation stage, you're literally killing yourself to try and prove a dumb stupid theory, are you fucking insane?!" spoke the old man.
The curved ethereal shape slowly came down.
"Well, theories are unproven facts, might as well prove them now," I said grinning as the massive curved object seemed to be descending at an increasing pace.
"Why is there an Immortality severing blade here? Who is severing their mortality in such a crowded area? This is gonna kill us all!" someone spoke loudly from the yellow lines.
Taking a look at the man I realized he was an excluded person from master rain's sound-preventing curtain. He probably didn't realize that Mortality Severing Blades won't harm anyone but the person that summoned it.
The white robes were panicking but after an elder reconfirmed my words through a mass divine sense everyone sat back down though they clearly looked uncomfortable when they were seeing a blade the size of a massive island coming down upon the stage.
"Now you've done it, I never saw someone as stupid or as foolish as you, beckoning heaven's wrath upon yourself in order to attempt and prove a theory full of falsehood, do you think yourself better than all the Immortals that went through the Immortality severing blade? Do you think that you alone are some sort of chosen being? No, you will die here, and I'm willing to bet my life upon it, such a foolish man you are," the old elder spoke.
"I wouldn't risk my life upon something I don't know anything about," I said.
"BUT YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING?!"
"Oh, I wasn't talking about myself, I was talking about you, you're betting your life upon my survival of this Immortality Severing blade without knowing me fully, don't you think you're the foolish one," I grinned as the blade continued descending.
"Barks and no bite, you can speak all you want for as long as the blade is descending, but once you're dead I'll make sure to laugh at your corpse, enjoy your last few moments," the old man said then folded his arms and waited for the blade to descend.
The sword seemed rather slow as it came down.
"Hey, you gonna speed this up a bit or no? I'm kinda in a hurry," I spoke in complete mockery to the descending blade.
My words couldn't seem to be any less than complete blasphemy against the heavens as it made everyone around us gawk in complete stupefaction at the absurdity of what I was saying.
Not only was I someone below the Soul Transformation Realm, but I was actively provoking the heavens to send down its mortality-culling blade to cut me in half.
If not a crazed man, then what am I?
Even master Rain couldn't help but cough at my words and seemed to slightly step aside from my side, perhaps he didn't really like being seen in the same 'picture' as someone who was being blasphemous towards the Heavens, or maybe it was simply because he would honestly believe that heavens might strike me with a lightning bolt and he was too close for comfort.
The massive sword seemed to vibrate as it accelerated its descent and thus it was far faster than before as it came down towards me at neck-breaking speeds.
"The heavens wish to ask what I want to severe, is it my family? My greed for the mortal world? My greed for wishing to gain more and obtain more, my fear of death or my pursuit of worldly desires," I spoke.
"But, I wish to severe Non! I am a man of greed, and I'll keep my greed with me, and take it with me, why severe what I cannot be without, I am my own greed, severing it is severing myself, and thus, I wish not to be severed, I will continue on the path of cultivation, as greedily as I can, taking what I want, learning what I can, and getting what I need thanks to my own greed, I severe non, I keep all, Mortality Severing blade, now that you know this, what can you severe?!" I uttered and immediately the blade seemed to be roiling as it further increased its speed shooting down like a meteor about to break the entire Heavenly Academy.
"Here your life ends," the old man spoke as the massive blade was inches away from my forehead.
"Here your whole knowledge of cultivation will shake!" I spoke back and immediately the sword went right through me not stopping in the slightest as it crashed into the ground into a massive gust of dust and harmless vapor that spread all over the avenue.
The vapor dissipated almost as fast as it appeared revealing the stage. Safe from harm as well as me, standing in a T pose still.
Everyone was waiting, to see how this will unfold.
The blade though massive would have been more than capable of splitting me in half without me even noticing it, this was the way this blade works, if a cultivator fails to severe what he wishes to, they will be cut in half and only will realize that they died when their bodies are split after the blade had descended and disappeared.
And now, the blade had descended.
And now, the blade had disappeared.
However. I still stand.
I looked at the crowd, then flexed my limbs, "Yep, seems like everything is perfectly fine," I grinned.
"So," I turned to the old man with the gawking eyes and said, "You bet your life on my failure, it would be a shame if you were to go back on your word now, wouldn't it?"