Wang Wei watched as a young man walked into the Sect Master Hall. The young man looked presentable, at least on the surface. His clothes and hair were perfectly arranged; however, he had bloodshot eyes.
A depressing and defeated aura emanated from his body despite trying to hide it.
‘A broken spear, huh,’ thought Wang Wei as he watched the young man before him. If the previous Jin Mengyao was a tall and mighty spear that dared to pierce anything between Heaven and Earth, the current him was a rusted and broken one.
‘His Origin Essence is constantly fluctuating, showing he lost control. His spiritual power and Blood Essence from his fleshly body are also constantly leaking. Forget about entering the Void Shattering Realm, his life span will also drastically decline.’
He frowned since he did not expect this kid’s Dao Heart to reach such a terrible shape. Wang Wei looked at the elders, and many people lowered their heads. They tried to reduce Jin Mengyao’s arrogance but crippled him instead, ruining such a talent for the sect.
‘The sectarian sides were happy to have two Emperor-Potential Talents like Cai Song and Jin Mengyao, and asked the other families not to interfere too much in their training. However, they ruined him instead.’
Wang Wei did not blame them as he understood their approach. They did not want Jin Mengyao’s ambitions to prove the Dao in this generation to ruin the good relationship between the two factions. And given how monstrous of a talent Wang Wei was, they knew the latter had no chance.
And it did not help Cai Song was very close to his Wang Clan because of the Puppet Legion despite being a member of the sectarian faction. Unfortunately, the way they attempted to curb the latter’s arrogance was too much and basically destroyed Jin Mengyao instead of helping him.
‘And now I have to clean up their mess,’ thought Wang Wei, secretly shaking his head. Anyway, this was his job as a sect master.
“Jin Mengyao has seen the sect master,” said the young man before properly bowing. Despite trying to remain calm, Wang Wei could detect the trembling of his body and the desolateness in his voice.
Wang Wei nodded to him before asking, “Do you know why I call you here?”
“Disciple does not know.”
“It’s about your Heart Devil.”
Jin Mengyao could not hide the trembling of his body, and he had to clutch his hand tightly to control his emotions.
“Do you think I call you to gloat or establish my superiority?”
Jin Mengyao did not answer. A part of him felt this was true, while the other thought the person in front of him was leagues above him and had no need for such petty things. As such, he was conflicted and chose to lower his head and not answer.
“It’s this mindset that got you in the current situation. You are a talented disciple of the sect. So, your success and glory will also be my success and glory. Do you understand?”
“Y-Yes.”
Wang Wei knew these words were insufficient to convince him or deal with his current situation. But he had an idea and decided to test it out first.
“Watch this,” he said, puzzling Jin Mengyao before seeing an image appear before him. It was a great battle of the sect master.
“Impossible!” accidentally yelled Jin Mengyao as he watched this fight. “This is not real.” He almost screamed these words.
“It is,” calmly said Wang Wei. “It appeared right after I entered the Primordial Spirit Realm–your current realm.”
Jin Mengyao could not believe what he was seeing. The man he thought was a monster beyond human understanding, the man who hunted him in his dream, the man who made him question his talent, worth, and future–he was losing to someone else. More than losing, he was maltreated as this battle was a one-sided beating.
“No, this can’t be real.”
“It is,” replied Wang Wei. “This is the first defeat of my life and the only one I fully acknowledged. I lost that battle–if it can even be called such.”
Jin Mengyao watched this fight with his mouth open. The sect master’s defeat was more miserable than the one he suffered in the Battle Pagoda. He knew the sect master became scarier the higher his cultivation and could not compare to the Primordial Spirit version he fought. Even then, he did not expect the battle to be so one-sided.
“After that defeat, what do you think I did? Do you think I wallowed in self-pity, swearing at the Heavens how unfair the world was? Curse that I did not have a better talent? Do you think I gave up and accepted my fate?”
Jin Mengyao lowered his head before muttering, “Sect master, it’s not the same.”
“How is it different?”
“I’m sure you spend some time cultivating before defeating your opponent and regaining your lost honor. Me? I have no chance.”
“You’re wrong,” said Wang Wei. “I recently had an encounter with that person, and according to my calculation, I have less than a 30% chance of defeating him.”
Jin Mengyao looked at him with eyes that were trying to determine if he was telling the truth; he could not believe it. No, he refuses to accept it.
“It’s true,” said Wang Wei, lying more comfortably in his seat and sighing. “Thirty percent may not sound much. But back then, I had zero chance of ever winning. That person was an unsurpassable mountain that would suppress all my hope. But I did not crumble.
“I climb that mountain, step-by-step, to reach the current 30%. And by the Heaven Will Battle, I will conquer that mountain.”
As he said these words, his body released a mighty aura. It did not suppress anyone but displayed his unwavering Dao Heart to everyone in the room.
“Failure is nothing but an opportunity for learning. You should have learned this lesson from the Dao Heart Pagoda.”
Many thoughts flashed into Jin Mengyao, thinking about everything he had experienced since the beginning of his cultivation journey. After entering the Dao Opening Sect, he tempered his Dao Heart through the Pagoda. However, his competitive nature overtook him after seeing he did not beat Wang Wei’s records. So, he convinced himself the Pagoda had something wrong, and the upper echelons tempered with it to keep Wang Wei’s Heaven Chosen’s status.
Jing Mengyao then focused on cultivating and using his strength to show them their talents. However, after his overwhelming defeat, he could not convince himself it was rigged, no matter how he tried.
“Sect master, I want to ask you something; please answer truthfully.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can I conquer the mountain you’ve set on me?”
Wang Wei paused for a moment. “I will be honest: throughout the Endless Void, since the creation of the lower dimension, there are probably less than 50 people in the same league as me.”
Wang Wei thought for a moment before flicking his finger and sending a light into his Sea of Consciousness. A shocked look appeared in Jin Mengyao’s eyes as knowledge about the Nine Extremity Foundation entered his mind.
“You should understand the difficulty?”
“I-I do.”
“And this is not the limit of my abilities as I never stop trying to be better than my predecessors. So, although I won’t say it’s impossible, it won’t be easy.”
An even greater aura of sadness and depression enveloped Jin Mengyao, worrying some elders. “Then, what am I supposed to do?” His voice almost cracked as he tried to control his emotions.
“You have two options: trying to climb the mountain with a steady, dedicated, and firm heart. You need to have the mindset that even if I don’t reach the top and conquer it, the journey will sublimate my mind and allow me to achieve great things in my cultivation path.”
‘Indeed,’ thought Jin Mengyao as his eyes brightened a little. “What about the second option?”
“Follow your own path. Forget about me, my accomplishment, or how bright my light is. Follow your heart and focus on your journey of reaching the pinnacle of the Dao and beyond.”
“Follow…my…own path,” muttered. The answer is so simple and obvious. Yet, he never thought about it. Maybe some other elders said the same word to him, but he never cared. But coming from the man who drove him to this stage, these words seemed to contain magical power.
“Yes, why do I need to leave under someone else’s shadow? Maybe I am not the brightest star in the sky, but I can also shine,” muttered Jin Mengyao. “I have my own path.”
He remembered the first time he picked a spear. Some soldiers came to his village when he was a child to ask people for food for a war with the neighboring country. Nothing terrible happened to the village. But he was suddenly curious and picked one of the soldiers’ spears.
The moment he touched the spear, he fell in love with it and was naturally gifted.
“On that day, I swore to reach the pinnacle of the spear. Although I was nothing but a simple mortal villager, I planted a seed of ambitions. And now, I have strayed from that oath, pursuing power and prestige instead.
“My path is the spear.”
His aura suddenly changed, becoming straight, sharp, and overbearing–like a spear that dared pierce the Heavens. His eyes were no longer listless or dazed but full of confidence and fierceness.
“Thank you, sect master, for your teaching,” said Jing Mengyao.
“No problem. You can use the Samsara Array for your final tempering.” The Samsara Array is the one Wang Wei used to create his Everlasting Dao Heart, and it has become another foundation for the sect.
Jing Mengyao bowed again before leaving; his Dao Heart was not completely healed. But after using the array and experiencing different lives as a spear wielder, he would not long heal it but sublimate it.