However, Tang Ze had said too much in a fit of anger.
"Heh," Ling Kuang said. "So you admit it! You might try to hide it, but your true colors have now finally been shown to the world! Openly threatening to beat up a woman in public - is this what a 'righteous' man would do?"
"Believe me, she has it coming," Tang Ze said. "Alright, I am indeed Tang Ze. But I'm not the person you're looking for. I've never met you before - you're probably confusing me for someone with the same name."
The Raswatian Empire was huge - and had existed for over a hundred thousand years. There were multiple instances of people having the same name.
As an example, Tang Ru and Tang Ze were not related whatsoever, despite having the same last name.
The surname 'Tang' was actually quite common, and when Tang Ze had first joined the sect he would often have members approach him asking, 'Hey - I know this person with the surname Tang who is an alchemist near the city. Are you related to him by any chance?'
Of course, Tang Ze could not be related to them, as he was not originally from this world, but the point still stood that it was common enough as a surname that the chances of someone sharing the same first name as well were not insignificant.
The chances that there was someone else in this country named Tang Ze who was the person whom this Ling Kuang actually had a problem with was rather high.
"No," Ling Kuang said. "I know it's you - tell me does anyone in this sect know where this man is from? Who his parents are, and not their names, has anyone met them or seen records of them? What his home village is? I looked into those things - and it was as if this man had appeared from the ether itself!"
"So what?" Tang Ze asked.
"What kind of man has no history? That's right, a demonic cultivator, a man who has made an entirely new identity for himself," Ling Kuang said.
"I still don't get what you're getting at here."
"Still playing dumb? Fine then, I'll spell it out before the rest of your sect starts thinking of me as the villain," Ling Kuang said. "In my previous life, I went by the name of Hei Tian. During that time, I ran into a demonic cultivator by the name of Tang Ze. He was a fiend and notorious flower thief. I apprehended him, but he was able to defeat me. Still, I swore my vengeance, but news of him eventually faded over time. The scoundrel must've met with an early death at one point, but I knew… I knew that one day he would reincarnate and cause trouble once again! And so, I've found you! Why do you have no home village or known family? The answer is simple - because you were reborn as someone else, but now, you've awakened your old memories and chosen to take on your old mantle and spread terror throughout the world again!"
"Huh - so was Tang Ze really a demonic cultivator in his old life?'
"We make fun of him for getting no bitches - and it looks like the situation was the same even back in his previous life when he couldn't find a willing woman."
Those were the comments from the crowd, Tang Ze, however, needed a moment before he found the words to express his feelings. "I'm sorry are you intellectually disabled or something?"
Ling Kuang hadn't been expecting that kind of response and started sputtering angrily.
One of his lackeys, who was probably an elder of the Astral Winds sect given he seemed to be a Golden Core cultivator said, "Junior, you dare talk to Senior Elder Ling Kuan like that! You're courting death!"
'Ah, finally, someone who means it actually said those words,'- Tang Ze thought.
"What makes you think that I would reincarnate, and then call myself by the exact same name in my next life? What kind of idiot would do that?" Tang Ze asked the obvious question.
"Ah, but I do have proof that you are the same Tang Ze who I found a lifetime ago," Ling Kuang said. "You see, the reason that Tang Ze was so successful at defeating so many righteous cultivators was because of a demonic technique that caused even the most powerful among the righteous sects to fear him. I, myself, fell prey to that demonic technique once - [Monkey Stealing Peaches]!"
There were cries of agony from some of the male cultivators at the mere mention of that name.
"Yeah, so, what does that prove?" Tang Ze asked.
"I have it on good authority from some members of the Diamond Dust sect that you threatened to use that technique on them," Ling Kuang said, smirking. "That demonic technique is forbidden and any scroll that could teach it was burnt and the ashes scattered to the wind. Teaching of this technique was forbidden under pain of death. So how could it be that, you, someone so young, could know that technique? It is only possible if you had learned it during your past life! That, and your name - it can't possibly be a coincidence!"
"Uh, I don't actually know that technique though, I was just threatening those people," Tang Ze said.
"Ha! As if anyone would believe that- you've been doing nothing but lying since I saw you here!" Ling Kuang said. "First about your name, and now about this."
"It seems that you dug this grave for yourself, junior," Elder He Xuan said.
"You don't need to tell me…" Tang Ze said. "But how was I supposed to know that lying would have consequences in the future?"
"But I'll tell you what - you're only at the Qi Condensation stage right now," Ling Kuang said. "So, were I to attack you, people might call me out for bullying the weak. Hmph! Kowtow a thousand times and I'll consider the matter sett-" He paused, because before he could even finish the sentence, Tang Ze had already begun kowtowing!
Did Tang Ze want to do this before this idiot who had no clue what he was talking about?
No, but on the other hand, he didn't want his sect members to suffer either.
Seeing this behavior, for the first time, Ling Kuang began to have a seed of doubt in his mind. Tang Ze had been incredibly arrogant - at least, the Tang Ze whom he had fought with. He would never have agreed to kowtow like this, which is why he had uttered those words to goad him. They were not meant to be taken seriously!
But what now? He had no real intention of forgiving Tang Ze even if he did do this, but he had already spoken those words.
'Just like one cannot take back a fired arrow, one cannot take back a promise.' - a saying that applies well to this situation.
"A - stop that you demon!" Ling Kuang said. "This is clearly your ploy to gain sympathy! I won't forgive you no matter what - come at me and let's battle!"
"Hey - that's not fair! Tang Ze already was doing what you asked him to!" a voice rang out from the crowd.
There were jeers and yells at Ling Kuang from the Rising Phoenix sect members, though he didn't care for any of them. After all, what could they do before the might of a Nascent Soul cultivator?
Why was he being so stubborn?
Because at this point, he had no choice but to forge ahead with his plan.
Nascent Soul cultivators were powerful beyond belief by mortal standards. The mere fact that he had crossed another sect's borders could have been taken as a declaration of war.
It was the equivalent of a country moving several tanks and military aircraft into the territory of another nation. Naturally, no sovereign nation would tolerate such an action.
It would be one thing if low-ranking cultivators like Li Wei crossed borders, as a matter of fact, it was even somewhat encouraged in order to give the lower-ranking cultivators some combat experience by participating in such skirmishes so long as both sides agreed to certain rules to limit damage to non-combatants like mortals. However, at the Golden Core realm and above, you could forget about it.
Ling Kuang, as such, knew that he had broken several very strict rules between the sects. Still, he went forward with this plan anyway.
He had several reasons for doing so. First of all, the Astral Winds sect was more powerful than the Rising Phoenix sect - because the Astral Winds sect had an Eternal Soul cultivator among them. Eternal Soul cultivators were the equivalent of walking nuclear weapons, and as such, the Astral Winds sect could place great pressure upon the Rising Phoenix sect.
Secondly, he would justify himself by saying that he was merely here to strike at a demonic cultivator, and would frame the scenario as one where the Rising Phoenix sect was knowingly harboring and nurturing a demonic cultivator. Even if Tang Ze was the Tang Ze that Ling Kuang was looking for, this would not be true as the Rising Phoenix sect would be in the dark regarding his origins. Although Ling Kuang knew that, he also knew that they had no real way to rebuke such an accusation.
Disregarding those two reasons, he had a third, even bigger reason.
He really hated Tang Ze! Not the current Tang Ze, mind you, but the one he had fought in his past life!
Even if he had to endure censure and was rebuked for his actions, he would consider it a fair trade if he could finally get his revenge! Also, this was the only real way that he could get his revenge.
Would any court in the land seriously consider 'this man caused me harm in a prior life' to be a valid argument?
Of course not! Even if it was true, how would other people possibly believe such a statement? Very few people could remember the details of their past lives, after all.
'If I want justice for my past life, I will have to take it with my own hands!' - this is what Ling Kuang had realized, which is why he had crossed the border completely disregarding the consequences.
He had hoped that perhaps Tang Ze might slip up and admit to wronging him in a prior lifetime, but he hadn't.
However, these emotions had clouded his judgment. For one, he had reached the wrong conclusion - this Tang Ze was not the person he was looking for. The 'clues' he had found had misled him, but he had been so enamored with the idea of getting revenge these past few decades that he had warped the facts in his mind and convinced himself that this Tang Ze, was indeed the person he was looking for. As it was, given that this was a matter that had taken place during a prior lifetime, it wasn't as if he could easily get any more reliable evidence.
If Ling Kuang had thought over the matter with a somewhat cooler head, he might've even realized such.
However, the die had been cast, and it was too late now for him to second-guess himself.
Even if this Tang Ze was innocent, Ling Kuang could not let him go. If he just walked off after Tang Ze had kowtowed a thousand times, what face would Ling Kuang have left? He would not be satisfied, having not really gotten his revenge in any meaningful way, and later on, when this matter would be investigated, if it turned out that Tang Ze really was innocent it would be a huge loss of face to the Astral Winds sect.
It might even end up invoking an inter-sect war, with the other seven sects rallying against them for this action. They would not survive such a conflict, given that two other sects also had Eternal Soul cultivators with them, not to mention that the Imperial Family may also end up getting involved.
The only outcome that Ling Kuang could accept was one in which Tang Ze was dead. That way, there would be no one to stand witness against him and his sect.
It was too late for Ling Kuang to back out of this situation. He could only double down!
That was why even if he had started to have some doubts regarding this Tang Ze's guilt, and even if he had promised to spare him if Tang Ze kowtowed a thousand times, he had to disregard both of these things!