When he said that, even Li Qingshan was stunned. Sir, aren’t you rebirthing for the sake of paving a path?
“The likes of us devote ourselves to cultivation, but for what exactly?” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes seemed to be asking them, but he also seemed like he was merely talking to himself. His eyes were clouded.
“To achieve immortality,” Chao Tianjiao answered without hesitation.
“And after that?”
“Then… obviously to do whatever you want!” Chao Tianjiao hesitated. Achieving immortality was already a very distant goal to her. There did not seem to be any reason for her to think about what came after that.
“Except to do what?” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes furrowed his brows as he smiled.
Li Qingshan said, “To be yourself.”
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes clapped his hands and said in praise, “Exactly! No wonder you were chosen, little bro.”
Chao Tianjiao was unconvinced. “What’s so difficult about that?” However, she furrowed her brows slightly and sank into her thoughts.
Li Liehuo shuddered inside and could not help but ask himself how he was supposed to be himself. Along the way, he had spent his entire time constantly fighting beneath Black Cloud city, rising up step by step in the Myriad sect, like he was climbing up a mountain with only one path up. Everything had been very clear to him, such that he almost did not have to make any choices at all.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes smiled. “Yeah, what’s so difficult about that? My disciple Tianjiao, my disciple Liehuo, you’re both natural-born cultivators, possessing great aspirations and advancing along valiantly. Little bro Li goes even more without saying. However, I am just a wastrel without any proper aspirations.”
“How can you say that, master?” Chao Tianjiao asked. Her master was indeed rather casual, but no one would connect a renowned True Immortal from the heavens with the word “wastrel”.
“The Five Absolutes Immortal?” However, Li Qingshan had vaguely guessed what he meant by “wastrel”.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes smiled. “That’s right. Actually, apart from the path of the sword, the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting were all useless to cultivation, much less suited for combat. They’re only for interest.”
Li Qingshan said, “If you reincarnate as an immortal, you can obviously do as you please.”
Beneficial to cultivation and suitable for combat were basically the only standards that cultivators used to judge anything. “Interest” definitely was not one of them.
Only wastrels could participate in cockfighting, race horses, and make poems in their leisure, while regular people had to race around for the sake of their livelihood, unable to loosen up for even a day.
However, the Elder of Heavenly Tomes said, “When I was still a mortal, the thing I loved most was studying abroad. Sigh, actually, I just used the excuse of studying abroad to travel everywhere. Whether it were renowned mountains and rivers or cities and towns, I’d want to go and check it out as long as I haven’t been there before. I ended up squandering the fortunes left by my parents, becoming renowned for my depravity among the descendants of my clan.”
“But I regretted none of it. I thought this was the only way to live a life worth living. Afterwards, I came across a fortuitous encounter deep in the mountains and set off on this path of cultivation. It’s quite shameful when I mention it, but my colleagues all devoted themselves to cultivation, even spending many years in secluded cultivation, while I viewed secluded cultivation as the greatest source of pain in the world. I didn’t think I had the talent for Foundation Establishment either, so I learnt some flight techniques and began travelling again. Who knew how many times I was scolded by my master. Afterwards, I had a fo-”
“Fortuitous encounter, right!?” Li Qingshan had already begun to lose his temper.
“Sigh, how did you know? I had a fortuitous encounter.” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes seemed to turn into a regular old man, sighing away emotionally as he narrated his entire life.
In summary, he travelled and had a fortuitous encounter, then travelled some more and had more fortuitous encounters…
“Master, what exactly are you trying to say?” At the very beginning, Chao Tianjiao had even been rather happy for being praised for possessing great ambitions, but she had lost her temper now as well. In order to reach where they were right now, just who didn’t face countless hardships and difficulties? Yet the Elder of Heavenly Tomes had become a True Immortal through “fortuitous encounters” alone.
It was like a wastrel lamenting, “You’re all so impressive! You know how to work and labour in the fields, and you can put up with hardships. I know nothing at all. All I can do is inherit my family’s bank, silk shop, and the many fertile fields…”
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes smiled. “I’m trying to say that I’m just a useless person. I also regularly admire the great determination and aspirations of others, but at the end of the day, I can only be a useless person.”
Li Qingshan could not help but think of Gu Yanying, which made him feel a hint of envy. He was obviously aware that the Elder of Heavenly Tomes’ path of cultivation was nowhere near as easy as he described it to be, but right now, he was like a prisoner draped in shackles, peering through the bars and seeing a free person.
The desires of the heart became shackles. Only with no yearning in the heart could he be free.
Li Qingshan became slightly dazed, but he recovered his determination very soon. Even if he was stuck behind bars, wracked with agony, this was the path that Li Qingshan wanted to walk. He would continue until he tore off all of the shackles and broke free from all the restraints!
This change in him vanished in a flash, but everyone present possessed keen senses. Nothing would escape their eyes.
Chao Tianjiao sighed inside. This kid sure possesses determination like steel!
However, Li Liehuo seemed to find some kind of inspiration from that. Flames lit up in the depths of his eyes.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes said, “When I first began travelling, I often rode mules, then I rode the winds, then I controlled the sword, and now, I control the clouds. But to me, they’re actually all the same, while the Dao is just a mule that isn’t very good.”
“Impressive spirit, old bro!” Li Qingshan shuddered inside.
The Dao represented endless power, paramount authority, and undying existence. Even the True Immortals in the heavens only dreamed of it, so who viewed it as a mule?
Li Liehuo lowered his head and looked at his hands. For the sake of increasing their cultivations, cultivators truly stopped at nothing, like they were mad. For the sake of becoming more compatible with the Heavenly Tome of Scorching Fire, he had changed his name. In the eyes of the Elder of Heavenly Tomes, it was probably as strange as a normal person suddenly changing their names to “Mule Li”.
However, his exact wish was to burn and roar like fire!
“You flatter me, you flatter me.” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes waved his hand in a hurry. “Sigh, it’s quite late, so we better attend the banquet!”
By now, the sky had gradually begun to dim. It was already dusk. A magnificent afterglow lit up the horizon.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes summoned the auspicious cloud again and gazed at the blue sky. A few dim specks had lit up. His eyes shone with hope. “During the time we spoke, a few months have already passed in a few worlds. Can you imagine the passing of seasons, just how many joys and sorrows, separations and reunions, have occured?”
At that moment, he seemed to take off his worldly-wise mask, returning to his true self, that wastrel who neglected his duties and liked to travel.
What demand for surrender? What crisis of the world? That was all part of a boring job. He was like a regular person, in a hurry to complete what was on hand so that he could live the life he wanted to live.
He wanted to go to some world, enter some restaurant, stand by the rail, gaze at the moon, and have a drink.
Beyond the Nine Heavens was perhaps the home to gods and buddhas, but it was not his home. His home was in the depths of the sea of stars.
The heavenly emperor’s path was the true dragon’s path. However, some dragons wanted to soar beyond the Nine Heavens and stand above all else, while other dragons only wanted to lurk in the abyss and roam around freely.
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