One-Eyed Monster

”A battlefield is a place of swift and constant change. Do you really believe your Purification Army can handle everything?”

”At least they can stand against a hundred.”

A fresh debate began to unfold. To others, the argument between Kuyi Tulan and the Great Mentor seemed meaningless.

Everything changes on the battlefield. Whether one can stand against a hundred isn’t decided by words alone.

They were people who had tumbled through many long battles, possessing a profound understanding of the battlefield.

Even though they had been silent in Guru Mountain all these years, they had not missed a single border dispute; occasionally, they even secretly gave some support, doing good without revealing their identities. They didn’t want the Guardian Army to see them in this state and would retreat immediately after helping.

They had the most say about the battlefield.

Don’t assume that someone who is usually brave and fears nothing will be the same on the battlefield. They might become unable to utter a single word. Courage shown off the battlefield means nothing once the fighting starts. Indeed, the battlefield is unlike any other occasion.

Those who are usually weak may become brave on the battlefield. It’s all uncertain.

There’s no need to fret over these things.

However, Kuyi Tulan and Great Mentor Guzan had no intention of ceasing their debate. They both continued to try and articulate their understanding, even though they knew they couldn’t persuade the other.

The Great Mentor felt Kuyi Tulan had become increasingly indifferent. From the moment he took this child from the blacksmith’s shop, he had sensed the boy’s unusual emotional depth.

Silent and reserved people generally keep their feelings well concealed, making them hard to detect. Back then, Master Guzan believed Kuyi Tulan was exceptionally patient and destined for great achievements.

Kuyi Tulan certainly met the Great Mentor’s expectations in Alchemy. His appointment as Chief of the Alchemy Workshop at such a young age was an affirmation of the Great Mentor’s guidance. However, no one foresaw that Kuyi Tulan’s secretive nature also concealed his ambition.

The emergence of this ambition left the Great Mentor helpless. He could stop his student’s progress in magical arts, but he had no way of curbing his student’s constantly growing ambition...

This burgeoning ambition transformed Kuyi Tulan into the man he was today.

”If we continue to face battle with such a stance, our territory will be steadily eroded.”

”Sigh, child, you still cannot understand the suffering of others.”

”Mentor, the world is changing rapidly; we truly cannot cling to our old ways. Look around us—everything has undergone heaven-and-earth-shattering changes. If we don’t change, everything will become terrible. The reform of the Alchemy Workshop is essential, and the Empire’s reform must also proceed. If no one is willing to take this first step, then let me be the one.”

Kuyi Tulan spoke with an air of great moral righteousness, as though everything he did was for the Empire. The things he guarded were those he feared losing; he did not want to see everything he held dear vanish before his eyes.

”Your pace is too fast, child. You’re getting a bit carried away, a bit excessive. If you go any deeper, you will fall into the abyss.” The Great Mentor was still very dedicated to this disciple of his. After all, Kuyi Tulan was one of his few disciples, and he couldn’t bring himself to give up on him.

Kuyi Tulan did have some selfish motives; his actions stemmed from his fear of loss.

But Kuyi Tulan was not an entirely selfish man. He genuinely wanted to protect the things he cared about. He cared for this Empire, and even more so for the Alchemy Workshop that had brought such change to his life.

He was determined to protect these things he cared about.

”My choices were made after careful consideration, Mentor. I did not act recklessly. You must believe me.”

”With all that you are doing now, how can I possibly believe you? All I see is you acting recklessly! What have you turned the Empire’s warriors into!”

”Mentor, I told you, those were accidents caused by immature magical arts. I had already begun to make changes, but the spell’s progression was too fast; it was too late.”

”So, Kevin and the others just deserved to become these inhuman monstrosities they are now?”

”They are semi-finished products, defective ones. I’ve said it before: give me time, and I can bring them back.”

”Time? In all these years, aside from trying to find me, have you genuinely thought about doing anything for them?”

”They voluntarily became part of my plan! I didn’t force them!”

”Then why confine them in cages? Isn’t that imprisonment?”

”The cages are temporary.”

”Temporary?” Great Mentor Guzan couldn’t understand what his student was saying. How could cages be temporary?

”Yes, Mentor. Those cages do not confine the warriors who will contribute to our future, but their powers!”

Master Guzan was a little confused, not understanding what his student was actually saying.

”The moment they signed the agreement, they had already decided to dedicate themselves to the Empire’s cause, hadn’t they?”

No one could have imagined that ’dedication’ in the agreement meant this.

They could only lament their excessive trust in Kuyi Tulan.

But now, they were rather calm. Having understood Kuyi Tulan’s character, they were no longer overly fixated on it.

Things having reached this point, they would neither grieve nor regret. They had long since lost trust in Kuyi Tulan and only thought about how to avoid falling into his traps again.

The Great Mentor was deeply disappointed with Kuyi Tulan’s words, but he had no better way to convince Kuyi Tulan.

He could only watch as his own disciple gradually stepped into the abyss.

Watching his own disciple walk down a path of no return, the Great Mentor was deeply distressed. It was as if he himself stood on the edge of a cliff, reaching out to grab his disciple, yet his disciple showed no appreciation, struggling against him instead...

Kuyi Tulan’s every action seemed to declare that he didn’t need salvation, that he was on the correct path.

The Great Mentor sighed deeply. Persuading Kuyi Tulan seemed hopeless now. Yet, why was I still so insistent? Why did I still hold out hope for Kuyi Tulan?

The Great Mentor’s heart was filled with complex emotions at this moment. He could never have imagined Kuyi Tulan would grow up to be like this. Thinking back on his life, his three disciples... they were truly a failing on his part!

The more he thought about this, the more despondent he became. Two of his disciples now stood before him, yet they had chosen paths so different from his own.

He couldn’t understand it. No matter how he thought about it, he just couldn’t understand.

”Mentor, you are a persistent man; that is beyond doubt. In the research of magical arts, you are more pure-hearted than anyone. The world is changing. I apologize, but I cannot continue down the path you envisioned for me!”