Chapter 340 The First Time and the Countless Times
"But—" Master Shen quickly added, "Only this time."
"We are willing to help the Wind Leader overcome the difficulties and resist Noxus's siege of the Wind Leader. As for what happens next, the Order of the Balance will never continue to participate."
"Huh? Why?" Akali, who was about to cheer for the master's important decision, suddenly fell silent.
She thought this was the beginning of the Order of the Balance's emergence, but she didn't expect Shen to take a step forward and then quickly pull it back, as if testing the water temperature with his hand.
He disobeyed his ancestors, but not completely.
Shen has his own concerns about this: "The Leader is a secular force after all, and has its own goals and ambitions."
"If we help him once or twice, it might be good for the balance—"
“But if we cooperate with them for a long time, it may not be a good thing for balance in the long run.”
After all, Shen was unable to forget his duty as the Eyes of Twilight.
He could still accept the short-term cooperation and fighting Noxus twice together;
If he formed a long-term cooperation with the Leader, then in fact he would be using the huge reputation of the Order of the Balance in Ionia to publicly make a political statement and build momentum for the Leader.
The Order of the Balance, which has always been aloof from the world, has in fact become a secular political organization.
At this point, the Order of the Balance itself has become a force that disrupts the secular world, so how can they maintain balance?
Not to mention, once involved in the secular world, implicated in politics, and entangled in various interest disputes in the world, the gods will become charlatans and the saints will become ordinary people.
How can the Order of the Kinkou continue to maintain the balance of all things in Ionia with its detached high-dimensional perspective?
It's like... if Master Wuji went down the mountain to manage the sect's territory and do business, then could they still focus on practicing swordsmanship and cultivating immortality, and still guarantee absolute fairness and selflessness when supervising village affairs to create the paradise that is Wuji Village?
Definitely not.
After coming down the mountain, Kenshin became confused.
So this is exactly what is strictly prohibited in the canon tradition, and what the Twilight Eyes of all generations have tried their best to avoid.
"The Church of the Balance may be able to leave the seclusion, but it must not enter the secular world." Shen said seriously: "And..."
Moreover, to put it bluntly: "I also don't want the power of the Order of the Balance to be used by anyone to achieve their personal ambitions."
"Ambition?" Master Yi was slightly stunned.
He realized that Shen didn't trust the Leader enough.
"No, we leaders are different." Yi quickly advised: "We have ideals and beliefs, not ambitions."
"That's what everyone says." Master Shen interrupted decisively: "The Presidian Resistance, the Navoli Brotherhood, the Shadow Cult... Everyone says they have ideals and they are for the people of Ionia."
"Besides, it's not that I don't believe in your ideals."
He is willing to believe that everyone truly has noble ideals.
But the problem lies in the fact that “everyone has ideals”.
You have your ideals, I have mine...our ideals are different from each other, and even mutually exclusive in many areas.
Wouldn't they end up fighting each other to death and make Ionia more and more chaotic?
"That's because they are not strong enough!" At this time, Akali couldn't help but interrupt.
Kennan has mentioned similar issues before.
The answer she came up with with her 10-year-old brain was: "As long as the Leader can rely on the powerful power of the goddess to defeat other forces as soon as possible and unite the entire Ionia as soon as possible—"
"Wouldn't the chaos be ended sooner, and balance restored sooner?"
Shen: “…”
He was silent for a moment, then he said to his junior sister helplessly: "This is what I am worried about, Akali."
Unify Ionia soon...
Coincidentally, the Navoli Brotherhood said the same thing. And look what they did?
One Brotherhood is enough to deal with, and if another "Brotherhood" is thrown into Ionia, won't the situation become even more chaotic?
It would be better if there were as few people who wanted to be emperor and had the ability to be emperor as possible in the same era.
Otherwise, look at the Darkin War, where those god-warriors fought each other for years and tortured the mortals so badly... Then you will know what the result will be if there are too many kings in a game.
"I understand..." Master Yi finally understood Shen's concerns.
He was no longer in a hurry to persuade Shen to sign a long-term cooperation agreement with the Leader now.
Because Shen's concerns cannot be dispelled by just a few words or rhetoric.
Leaders must use practical actions to let Shen see their pure beliefs and their powerful abilities.
"We will show you that only the Wind Leader can end this chaos and restore balance to all things!"
"I hope so." Shen replied .
Master Yi was not annoyed by this.
After all, the mission goal given to him by Zed was to "trick" Shen over.
As long as Shen is willing to come, then... since he is here, he will slowly accept and recognize the leader.
Leaders have this confidence.
In this way, under the cordial and friendly conversation between the two sides, the Leaders and the Order of the Balance fully exchanged views, increased mutual understanding, and signed a short-term military cooperation agreement on issues of common concern to both sides, such as anti-Noxian invasion and Barue humanitarian aid, thus forming a strategic partnership.
Shen said that the Noxian Empire gangs were the common enemy of all Runeterra. He was willing to work with the Leader to resolutely crack down on all terrorist acts against the civilians of Baru and promote the Order of the Balance to play a more active role in Ionia's anti-imperialist and anti-aggression war...
"Alright, alright!" Akali shouted, interrupting Shen and Yi who were already in the stage of exchanging pleasantries.
"Be careful." She shouted to the head brother without respect, "Have you forgotten that we still have a battle to fight?"
"Fight?" Shen was stunned.
Then he suddenly remembered...
"The Noxians are still outside the mountain, heading towards Xuannain Village!" Akali reminded loudly.
Shen originally didn't intend to take care of this matter .
But now, the situation is different:
"Now that you have decided to go out and support the Barue Province, you can't just ignore the Xuannain Village in front of us, right?"
Shen fell silent for a moment.
Yes, he even wanted to save the civilians in Barue, so he couldn’t not help the villagers at his doorstep, right?
But the question is... After you take care of Xuannayin Village's "idle affairs", will you take care of the affairs of other villages? After you save the civilians in Barue Province, will you save the civilians in Zhiyun, Shangzan, and Navoli Provinces?
If they rescued everyone they saw and were stuck in the secular world, unable to break free, could the one foot that the Sect of Balance had stepped out of the mountain gate be able to retract cleanly as Shen expected?
"This is trouble..." Shen realized the problem.
It's like a person cheating. Once the first time, there will be countless times afterwards.
After all, this time he broke the thousand-year-old principle of the Balance Sect.
Once the principle is compromised, it is very difficult to close it.
"No!" Shen realized that he had to close this loophole as soon as possible: "We can't go to Xuannayin Village."
"Why?!" The little girl's eyes widened, and she was so excited that she looked like she wanted to eat someone: "Brother! You promised to rescue the civilians in Barue, but you don't care about the things happening at your doorstep?"
"Akali." Shen tried to calm down and put on the dignity of a leader: "Don't forget, we are the Order of the Balance! Our duty is not to save people, but to..."
He was preparing to give another long lecture.
But Akali just retorted: "Since you still insist on sticking to those rules, how can you agree to help the Leader?"
Shen: “…”
Isn't there a documentary playing here? He really couldn't bear to say he wouldn't help.
"How could you bear to see the people of Xuannain Village suffer?" Akali delivered a series of soul attacks: "Just because they are not in this 'comic strip', you didn't see it with your own eyes?"
Shen: “…”
He couldn't find any other reason to refute, so he had to bite the bullet and say:
"No one in Xuannain Village will be in any danger."
"The Noxians only want food... Didn't they kill people indiscriminately when they came here before?"
That is indeed the case.
Since Noxus occupied the southern part of Shangzan, it has been operating this place as a frontline base.
They came here just to collect food, and they didn't want to kill all the villagers. They even left enough food for the villagers to live on.
After all, everyone has to survive so that they can continue to grow food for the imperial army next year.
It was only after careful observation that Shen confirmed that the Noxian army did not commit indiscriminate killings here that he gradually gave up interfering and completely stayed away from the country.
"Akali, don't worry..."
Shen Zheng was advising like this, when suddenly:
"Not good!" A disciple who was ordered to guard outside the mountain used his superb swiftness to rush over from the mountain gate: "Master Shen, the Noxians are not here to collect food this time, but to massacre the village!"
"What?" Shen, Yi, Kennen, Akali, the members of the Church of the Balance... everyone present suddenly changed their expressions.
Shen no longer cared about principles and traditions, and asked anxiously: "Have the Noxians arrived in Xuannain Village?"
According to the information sent back by the patrolling disciples, Noxus should be quite some distance away from Xuannain Village.
Master Yi also specifically asked him this.
Otherwise, Master Yi would not be in the mood to chat with him here instead of going down the mountain to rescue people.
"No, they haven't reached Xuannain Village yet." The disciple explained, "I just overheard their commander shouting to the soldiers during the march, asking them to 'get ready' and 'this time we are going to raze this place to the ground'..."
Razed to the ground...
The purpose of the Noxians' trip is almost self-evident.
"Senior Brother!" Akali looked at Shen anxiously.
"Master Shen!" The followers of the Church of Balance said the same.
"Alas..." Kenan sighed helplessly, but still took out the shuriken from his arms firmly.
"Follow me, I will take you flying!" Master Yi said without even having time to change into the Jade Sword Immortal's pose, he just picked up his sword and flew into the sky. He also urged the strong wind to lift Kenan and the others into the air.
"..." Shen hesitated for half a second, and finally silently pulled out the steel sword from behind.
There is no other way, he told himself. Human life is at stake, so let's put principles aside for now.
Anyway, just this once...
twice……
