"Origin of Sin" is the six hundredth chapter of Celestial Feast of Consumption, and also the title of the first volume's ending.
Her cousin No. N, Bai Chenge, interrogates Shang Daoling as to why he concealed his identity and lurked among the righteous path, and why he committed every evil deed, killing and performing Core Extraction, using slaughter to pile up his cultivation.
To this, Shang Daoling's reply is that, considering you too are about to be used to "pile up" my cultivation, letting you die with clarity is acceptable.
What follows is Shang Daoling's narration of past events in flashback.
Yes, regarding why this male lead is so utterly devoid of conscience, and what past he has, all of it exists only in his lines and a few sparse strokes of memory.
Just a touch and no more, for the sake of the male lead's mysterious swagger.
And the timeline she currently occupies is basically within those pitifully few "past events" of his.
According to what Shang Daoling says, this past event occurred many years ago at Gusu Terrace. The Jiang family of Gusu Terrace. He went to retrieve a Magic Treasure called the Myriad Spirit Furnace, but happened to witness the Jiang family casting "human sacrifices" into the furnace, refining them into Human Pills for consumption. Facing the crowd of prestigious righteous sects atop the mountain, he smiled leisurely and said, the Jiang family's conduct has truly given this Daoist a marvelous inspiration.
And right now, the System is livestreaming precisely this past event that "enlightened" him.
Those who had been captured were all mortals from the city, ordinary people. How innocent were these common folk?
Watching the System's real-time livestream, Rong Chunsong's expression gradually turned cold.
She poked at Shang Daoling's head across the void:
"Hey, those people are going to eat humans."
The outside world often speculated about what the Jiang family would ordinarily cast into that supreme-grade Magic Treasure.
So it was people after all.
Food carts emerged one after another in procession. Watching the ten living people about to be "cast into the furnace," the guests in brocade robes and fine garments grew ever more excited. Only Shang Daoling remained motionless, sitting in calm stillness, like a jade tree amid a foul, greasy gale.
He purely treated the hellish scene before him as entertainment.
The innocent commoners on the food carts were bound hand and foot, their mouths and noses gagged, able only to emit faint, despairing whimpers. Yet Jiang Yi was still waxing eloquent without pause.
"Humans are the most intelligent of all beings; refined into pills, they best augment spiritual energy."
"Though mortals have thin spiritual power within their bodies, with this supreme Magic Treasure, we have still extracted their meager worth."
His words moved the assembled guests to fervent agreement.
Shang Daoling watched the bizarre banquet before him with cold, smiling eyes, until that female ghost's voice rang out once more.
"Those cultists are about to eat people, and you're still sitting there like a fool?"
Otherwise? He still needed to steal the Magic Treasure. His employer hadn't required him to bring back a clean Myriad Spirit Furnace, so why should he expose himself so early?
Seeing no reaction from him, the female ghost poked his head with her finger, one tap after another. Exactly like teasing a cat or provoking a dog.
"This seat commands you to strike first and wipe out those criminals of an illegal organization in one sweep. Otherwise…"
Just then, the fervent crowd around them grew louder, and Shang Daoling slowly replied in a low voice: "Oh? Otherwise what?"
"Otherwise, they're about to gang up on you."
What?
"There's someone there… not on the banquet guest list."
Shang Daoling looked up and discovered that on the Cold Jade Staff in Jiang Yi's hand, densely packed eyes had suddenly opened.
In an instant, everyone's gaze turned toward him.
See? This is what happens when a little follower like you doesn't heed the words of the Heavenly Venerable.
According to the original text, before Shang Daoling killed Bai Chenge, he recalled the scene of himself infiltrating the Jiang family to steal treasures. He had disguised himself as a guest and watched coldly from the sidelines, but unexpectedly, the Jiang family patriarch's staff was inlaid with the eyes of his victims. They were both trophies and refined into Demon Beads, used to observe the surrounding environment. The eyes on the staff all turned toward him in unison—they had discovered that this person had not been invited.
Who are you? You are not welcome here! A fierce battle was about to erupt.
Shang Daoling, fighting alone against many, endured the Jiang family patriarch's torture of having his flesh carved and heart cut out before finally turning the tables and killing him. After the bloody battle, sitting in a pool of blood, he propped his chin on his hand and pondered a question.
Having roamed the martial world for so many years, this Jiang family patriarch was one of the few formidable opponents he had encountered. It seemed that consuming Human Pills really did have some effect. But—these cowardly fellows, if they wanted to kill and refine, they should just go kill and refine cultivators directly. Cultivators already had Inner Cores; extracting the Inner Core and refining it into a Spirit Pill was not only easier to form, but hunting cultivators was also more challenging.
A brilliant inspiration suddenly flashed through the great protagonist's mind.
This was the beginning of his sins.
Rong Chunsong recounted the flashback from the book: "I'm saying, you originally planned to intercept them halfway when their attendants withdrew the Myriad Spirit Furnace, right? Because you also knew that directly confronting the Jiang family would be a bitter battle. Didn't expect it, did you? They discovered you first."
"You really are…"
Shang Daoling, drawing his longsword to meet the attack, retorted with a laugh: "Heavenly Venerable, please, next time you have a mission for me, just give me all your instructions in one breath, would you?" He deliberately called her Heavenly Venerable instead of Sect Leader.
Little did he know, Rong Chunsong had told him not to call her Sect Leader simply because "Sect Leader" easily reminded one of a big brother in red who loved embroidery.
Oh my, actually, if one didn't deliberately think of Dongfang ○ Bai, the title "Sect Leader" was quite mysterious and had quite a bit of flair.
This electronic pet thought that would anger her?
She sighed slowly: "You didn't execute my orders immediately, so now you're the one suffering. Fine, you fight first—it just so happens I can also see the strength of my newly recruited follower."
Having said that, she really did prop her chin on her hand and watch as if she were watching a livestream.
The sun set in the west, and night was about to fall.
Both because they wanted the "Spirit Pill" from the Jiang family and because they feared this unknown brat would leak their secrets, not only the Jiang family disciples but even some among the guests came to pursue him.
Shang Daoling leaped backward, dodging the several swords that flew at him in unison.
Because of that curse, his eyes had seemed a hundred times clearer than others' since childhood. The immortal swords flying at extreme speed appeared to him as speeds he could easily dodge.
After evading the flying swords, Shang Daoling moved like a ghost. With a tap of his boot, he was already standing on the tip of someone's sword like a pitch-black cold crow. Cold, bewitching, monstrous. After all, the "Daoist of the Nightmare Nest" was a ghost who had crawled out of a jungle where the strong preyed on the weak.
In the blink of an eye, his splendid brocade robes had transformed into a black Daoist robe.
You couldn't tell this great protagonist was quite stingy—she had thought that outfit earlier was new attire he'd purchased, but it turned out to be merely conjured with Illusion Arts.
Shang Daoling stood on the tip of another's blade, and slowly smiled. "I've only come to take a Magic Treasure. I have no intention of quarreling with any of you. Why must you make such a great fuss? I am kind to others, and I am most unwilling to contend with anyone."
What a poser.
After changing to a new face, he was even more of a poser, even more of a show-off.
Rong Chunsong watched this poser act so casually and carelessly, while with a wave of the long sword in his hand, the throats of the circle of people around him were immediately cut open in unison by the sword wind, blood spraying everywhere.
"Useless trash. What were you all doing? You can't even beat some brat from who knows where?" Jiang Yi waved his hand, and immediately another dozen or so retainers stepped forward with swords.
There were more and more enemies. The group had already fought with him from the hall all the way into the garden.
Using human-wave tactics, gradually, several people had already managed to attack up to Shang Daoling's front.
Several swords struck together.
"This person—this person's wounds can actually heal in an instant—"
The bloody cuts opened on Shang Daoling's face, chest, and arms were restored in the time of a single breath.
It seemed that Ghost Immortal had only repaired his appearance, and had not completely removed the curse from his body.
He was still an undying, indestructible monster, immune to blade and spear.
That curse had ruined his countenance, yet it had also granted him an eerie regenerative ability, enough for him to treat this blood-red life as a game.
Shang Daoling raised his right arm, displaying the hideous wound on it that had instantly closed, and said with a smile, "I say… there should be a limit even to being annoying. You're cutting up the new skin I just got like this, and I'm a little troubled."
He said that, but his expression was leisurely, completely unconcerned about those dozen or so wounds.
In any case, these wounds healed again in an instant.
"I already said I have no intention of quarreling with anyone, but since you insist on this, I have no choice but to seriously show a few moves," In an instant, he had already carved out a bloody path through the garden, speeding away like flying lightning, then slowly came to a stop in front of Jiang Yi. "Isn't that right, Mr. Jiang?"
He's getting cocky, he's getting cocky. This poser really is getting cocky. He's already challenging this small dungeon's boss just like that. Rong Chunsong sighed again and again.
Even Shang Daoling, who in the original work had already become the Nightmare Nest Path Lord commanding countless followers, also said that when he was young, he was too frivolous and reckless, and only after suffering a setback at Jiang Manor did he learn to hold his temper, learn to disguise himself and lie low.
Mm, right, so that's why he then lay low for three whole years in the camp of her cousin No. N.
At the beginning, the author even used an oblique style of writing to depict this great male lead as one who uprooted the strong and supported the weak, aiding those in danger and relieving those in distress, and the early villain was a fellow called the Daoist of the Nightmare Nest. So later, when it was revealed that the protagonist and the Daoist of the Nightmare Nest were the same person and that he had also wiped out all the righteous sects, the comment section exploded immediately.
In order to keep this great male lead from cultivating his scheming to such a deep level, should she, when it was time to act, act, so that he would not learn wisdom from a setback, and help him preserve his current flamboyant, show-off nature?
After thinking for just a short while, in the "livestream," Shang Daoling had already started fighting with Jiang Yi.
Just how much cultivation can be improved by swallowing the so-called Human Pill?
When he was observing that grotesque banquet, he had also been pondering this question.
At this moment, fighting Jiang Yi, he finally knew.
It really could… improve one's cultivation by quite a lot.
But what was the point of "hunting" a group of ordinary mortals with no strength to truss a chicken? Like an ignorant child who cannot beat others of his own kind and so has no choice but to go bully ants and bugs, he felt it was very low-class, very lacking in style, very unartistic.
On the other side, the shameless Jiang Yi slammed the Thousand-Eye Staff into the ground, and instantly a thousand eyes opened in the air, their eerie, stacked gazes locking onto him like steel needles and iron nails.
Not only was the pain excruciating, but he couldn't move at all.
Rong Chunsong watched and shook her head. See? The big protagonist was just gloating a moment ago, and now he's taken a fall.
In the original text, this was the exact moment when Shang Daoling, who had always roamed the world unchallenged, suffered a crushing defeat—pinned down by Jiang Yi, then sliced into a bloody mess by a thousand cuts. With his immense pride, this setback deepened his obsession with power, and his evil path of killing and Core Extraction began from here.
Right now, Jiang Yi was already striding toward him with his staff, ready to deliver the final blow—
[Skill "Lotus Step Light Shift" activated.]
Shang Daoling, who had already seen Jiang Yi pass a nearby screen, watched in disbelief as the head of the Jiang family, who had been putting on an air of refined nobility, suddenly shifted from a dignified stride to… dainty, mincing steps?
He burst out laughing on the spot. What was this? Absolutely ridiculous.
[Skill "Lotus Step Light Shift": Upon activation, the target's toes gently tap the ground, soft as a swallow skimming water, exuding a natural charm and languid springtime grace. With slow, delicate steps, the golden lotus moves, leaving traces of fragrance in its wake.]
Ahhh.
So hard on the eyes!
Watching a man in his thirties walk like that was truly unbearable!
Rong Chunsong couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to shut off the livestream, but she took a deep breath and told herself, I still need to show off my divine power in front of this big protagonist. Endure it. Don't turn it off yet.
She cleared her throat and spoke into the void:
"What are you still standing there for? This Venerable One, out of compassion, gave you a hand. That should be enough time for you to break free from those eyes' restraints."
So it was that Ghost Immortal again…
Shang Daoling gritted his teeth against the pain in his meridians, channeled his energy, and climbed back to his feet.
The Lotus Step Light Shift had a time limit—ten minutes per use, with a ten-minute cooldown.
Sure, that Jiang Yi wouldn't be able to walk over in ten minutes with those steps, but big protagonist, is it really wise to pull out a talisman and slap it on the Myriad Spirit Furnace instead of counterattacking or running away?
Seeing his magic treasure being stolen and himself humiliated in public by some sorcery, Jiang Yi's face bulged with furious veins: "You bastards—don't let him steal the furnace! Trap him!"
The disciples around him, seeing their master in such a state, were all desperately holding back their laughter.
Fortunately, they had received professional training. They would absolutely not laugh… absolutely!
Scattered snickers broke out here and there.
"Lord—of—the—Cult, you're watching, aren't you?" Shang Daoling beheaded a dozen pursuers with a single sword stroke, speaking through the air to Rong Chunsong. "You told me to wipe them all out, didn't you? How about lending me your divine power again? With your 'guidance,' I'll have that Jiang Yi's head off in no time."
Rong Chunsong saw him putting on airs again and decided she wouldn't indulge him.
"You, a mere little believer, dare address this Heavenly Venerable as 'you'? Use the proper honorific."
Shang Daoling smiled without sincerity: "Fine—then would you kindly give me another hand?"
Rong Chunsong tapped his head again: "Your attitude as a little believer isn't exactly reverent, you know. After today's business is done, I'm fining you—copy the word 'you' a thousand times."
As for now, let's just wipe out this so-called Jiang family that disregards and destroys life.
[Skill "Supple Body" activated.]