The border between Yaoling and Xuanhe was mostly populated by humans, split in a few villages. Despite their particular position, these were not
"Ahh… ahh, thank you, o great cultivator! I will never forget your kindness for as long as I live!"
Shouting this, the mortal beggar prostrated himself to the point that his head crashed against the ground once, twice…
Before he could do so a third time, Hanliang stopped him:
"Now, now, it's alright" he said. "I helped you because I wanted to help, not because I enjoy seeing someone thanking me to the point of making their forehead bleed. Just go on with your life and try to get back on track, that's all I'm asking for"
"Yes! Yes, thank you for your kindness, great cultivator!"
Thanking him warmly once again, the beggar bowed one more time before hastily going home, a large pouch of money in-between his hands.
"So, junior Zhang, what do you think of this person, just now?"
As Baotian watched him walk away, he looked at Hanliang:
"Senior… I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you are asking" he replied. "Your actions just now were benevolent, there is not much more I can say"
After the griffin had revealed what he knew about his transmigration, Baotian had not had much choice other than to follow his whims, and did not have the slightest idea why he took them there.
"No, no, I am not asking you what do you think of my actions, but what do you think of this person just now?"
"You mean, the beggar? Well, I find it sad that it's so common for people to end up in such a state, but beside this there is not really much to think about. It'd be good for him to get his life back on track, but that's it"
"Hmm, that's as good of an answer one could expect from someone who has no ties with this person" Hanliang said. "Now, let me tell you a bit about this person.
His name is Xi En. He was previously a carpenter but his shop was destroyed due to a conflict with a cultivator. He is twenty-two, and currently has a wife and a young son he has to take care of. He already works as much as possible but, as it is not enough, he is forced to beg on the side as he did just now. He has had many hardships, and also many moments that made me side with him when I read his history, that made me want to side with him.
It is barely more than two decades of life and yet, there are so many interesting things about him. And now, with this money, he may be able to climb out of the abyss, and may not be. Either way, be it the way it impact his family, the way they will support him, what he decides to do with this money, all of it will lead to a new unique, interesting story, his own"
Hearing that, Baotian felt enlightened. Because of his nature as a transmigrator, while he was conscious that the true protagonist of this world would be Zhenyun instead of himself, he tended to believe himself to be part of the main cast. And in a sense, he was right: it was simply that such a main cast existed everywhere, simply at lesser scales most of the time.
"And I'll tell you another interesting thing about this, Baotian" Hanliang continued. "This man is not someone on whom I've set my sight earlier. He is simply someone I found on the spot, ten minutes ago by examining the surrounding mortals' pasts"
Hearing this, Baotian's eyes widened. Seeing this, Hanliang smiled:
"Do you understand now? Interesting stories are everywhere, mortals or cultivators, it doesn't matter" he said. "Everyone has the potential to develop their own, and much more often than most believe, they do so. I am not trying to blame you for killing so many of these people throughout your life, as I know these were necessary for your own story to continue. While it is sad, it is how life is: sometimes, a marvelous one and others, a man-eats-man one"
Suddenly, he completely changed topics:
"Baotian, I practice the Extreme Yang Divine Lightning Mantra" he said. "Putting it bluntly, it is a scripture where, at many crucial points, a man has to dual cultivate with another man to walk further down the path of cultivation. Do you think I have relationships with men because of it?"
Baotian was at a loss for words, not knowing what to answer.
"No, I'm doing it because I am born this way, preferring the touch of a man to that of a woman" Hanliang said, answering his own question. "Baotian, do you know why, despite having many techniques allowing to change the gender, or even transcend it in higher realms, most cultivators tend to frown upon seeing a relationship between two men, much more often than mortals?
It is because in their eyes, it goes against the principles of cultivation: for them, there is but a single, fixed path of cultivation that leads to heaven, through the formulas of each realm. These are the fixed principles that lead to immortality in their eyes and, in the same way, the procreation through yin and yang union is what will allow their bloodlines to live on and keep aiming for immortality even if they themselves fail to reach it.
But Baotian, if you listened to everything I have said, and gave your attention to everything I have shown you until now, you know it is not true. Everyone has their own story, and everyone has their own particularities. From my youth and on, as I was recognized as a genius, both by my tribe and my nation, I felt as if living up to all their expectations was my duty. And so, I forced myself to ignore the true nature of my love, to hide who I was. I was ready to choose a normal scripture, a kind woman as a partner, and live my life this way.
But then, when I first grasped the extent of my Instant Exploring Eye, I finally discovered the truth, the one I try to show you right now. So what if we all are Spirit Beasts, so what if we follow the same formulas?
Everybody cultivates a bit differently, everyone is their own person and, in some rare cases, even those oh-so-absolute cultivation norms were bypassed by some individuals. I met one of these, a modestly talented lady of a human clan, not even an Earthly Talent, who managed to directly create her Qi Components in the early stage of Qi Refining.
If I, back then a mere grand perfection Body Tempering cultivator, could find such an individual with such easiness, then wouldn't it mean that they weren't as rare as most cultivators pretend? Wouldn't it mean that, in the end, those norms are simply general directions that won't necessarily fit one's path?"
Hanliang stopped for a few seconds, out of breath from talking this much with an injury, before resuming:
"That day, it clicked. I decided to abandon my original scripture and switch to the Extreme Yang Divine Lightning Mantra, a cultivation technique that amplifies the spiritual energy during dual cultivation through the connection of two yang's, creating an explosive phenomena that allows one to force through the critical points.
You can imagine it but, well, my tribe were not very happy with my decision! If I had not been an Earthly Talent, they would have likely damaged my cultivation and forced me to restart from the beginning. Happily, I was and, just like humans and their Qi Building realm, Spirit Beasts cannot switch to incompatible scriptures in the Foundation Establishment realm or above.
And so, because it was the only way to fully develop my talent, they did not stop me from having the relationships I wished for. Several times, my partners were cultivators with the same tastes as me and, most of the time, they were those that did not care much about their partner's gender, simply wanting to break through their bottle neck that way. I always made sure they were fully consentant, and had no problem with such relationships.
The rumors about me started when some of them, who had previously kept it under wraps, were discovered by their tribes and shunned. Under the pressure, they pretended that I forced them, spreading such rumors against me. At first, I wanted to clear these but, realizing that these would make my reputation but enough to keep the royal family away from me, I decided to go with it.
I can't tell you much about it, Baotian, but if you manage to reach the Nascent Soul realm and show prospects of reaching Void Shattering in your lifetime then, as much as you can, stay away from any royal family"
Hanliang left the warning float in the air for a good minute, ensuring that the younger man would engrave it in his mind, before continuing:
"To conclude, that's why I appreciate you so much, Baotian. You are the embodiment of everything I believe in" he said. "Someone who, while not that different from others, has a unique worldview, a unique past, lived through many hardships and, using them as a springboard, managed to achieve things that should not be possible with simply the 'norms' of righteous cultivators, such as slaying Wu Leihao or bypassing a heavenly blockage to reach Qi Building.
Even compared to demonic cultivators, you are different. Usually, the demonic cultivators are ready to slaughter mortals for their cultivation, when they aren't pure evil beings taking pleasure to do it, force themselves not to see them as humans, so their heart wouldn't be burdened. But you, you're afraid to stop seeing them as humans instead.
In the grand scheme of things, it might be true that you're a bad person… no, it most likely is. Even then, you still represent everything I root for, Baotian. If I allowed you to choose 'this' particular reward for the contest, it's in hope that one day, you will have an occasion to use it to come back to the righteous path. But in the meantime, I just want you to know one thing: I, Hanliang of the Griffin tribe, am rooting for you"
Baotian, listening to him, wanted to say something in response but, strangely, no word came out of his mouth. His throat felt sore. When he tried to move them, his arms also felt weak and, when he looked at them, he saw his hands shaking. No, not just his hands, his entire body was shaking. As he wondered what was happening, he felt something wet on his cheek.
"Ahh…"
He tried to take a step toward Hanliang but stumbled, and was catched right in time by Hanliang, who took him in his arms to stop him from falling:
"It's alright, Baotian: I'm not your enemy, I'm not your lover, I'm not your judge, and I'm not aiming to exploit you in any way, I'm merely here to listen now. All this time, you must have kept your emotions to yourself, thinking that a demon like you had no right to voice his pain to others. That after all the suffering you caused, in comparison, your own was so insignificant that it would be a disgrace to even voice it.
You may even have hated yourself for feeling so bad about what you did when you were perfectly conscious of your choices, hating even the fact that you wished someone listened to you. But I'm here to do just that, Baotian: I'm here to listen to you. If you don't think you deserve to be heard, then just think of it as me wanting to hear you instead, so you can truly express yourself without any chain holding you.
Go on, Baotian. Say everything you need to say, I will listen"