Unsheathed

Old Man Yang glanced at the hunchbacked and slightly adrift Zheng Dafeng, revealing, "Cui Chan's actions and desires as well as his secret philosophies have taught me some extremely valuable things. I've benefited immensely from them. I racked my brain for nine thousand years in the past, yet I was still unable to come up with a good answer for my dilemma. I thought about many things, yet I only made insignificant progress. In fact, I made more progress during two casual chats with Cui Chan. As such, I need to repay Cui Chan for this unexpected benefit.

"In other words, it won't matter much even if I lose everything pertaining to my bet on Chen Ping'an."

"Master, there's something that I'm very curious about. Out of all the disciples that you've taken, is there anyone that makes you very happy or very sad? For example, is Master relatively satisfied with Senior Brother Li Er having the potential to reach the Divinity Tier of the tenth tier?" Zheng Dafeng asked.

"No," Old Man Yang replied with a shake of his head.

Zheng Dafeng pointed at himself and asked with a sheepish grin, "Then what about me? I'm already so pitiful, so does Master not feel a modicum of sadness for me?"

Old Man Yang replied with a snigger.

There was a look of grief in Zheng Dafeng's eyes as he lamented, "Master, even though I was already prepared for this, I still can't help but feel a little hurt after hearing your answer."

Old Man Yang couldn't be bothered speaking nonsense with his disciple anymore, and he suddenly said, "In order to stay alive, and to live a better life after staying alive, it's necessary to compete with the entire world. Children are naive, youths are hotheaded, ignorant people are courageous, those in the cultivation world are righteous, scholars are strong-willed, generals are loyal, and ruthless leaders are risk-takers. All of these paths will allow one to stride forward with a clear conscience. However, some people insist on fighting with themselves, so how can they untie the complicated knot that they've made in their hearts?

"It's difficult for cultivators to cultivate their hearts nowadays, and this is because of a... restriction that we established for cultivators back then. It's because of this restriction that cultivators are inferior to even ants. However, we didn't imagine at the time that it was coincidentally this handicap that became the so-called sparks that Cui Chan speaks of...

"Forget about it. Focusing on the hesitant and indecisive nature of the human heart alone, it's as if someone is wearing soaking wet clothes as they climb a mountain. Their clothes will feel heavier and heavier, and the halfway point of a journey of one hundred kilometers will become ninety kilometers. In the end, it's a profound topic regarding how one can wring dry their clothes and continue up the mountain in a relaxed and refreshed manner.

"However, everyone was caught by surprise that these ants actually managed to make it to the peak of the mountain. Of course, some people might have considered the possibility, yet they paid no heed to the matter because they only cared about their pursuit of immortality. They mistakenly thought that after the ants reached the mountain peak and saw the jade pagodas in the heavens, it would still be a very long journey for them to fly up from the mountains even if they grew wings. Thus, they could simply crush the ants to death at that time.