Chapter 603: You Are The Best
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
This was the first time Wang Lu met with Daoist Master Feng Yin since his self-awakening through time travel dream.
He had gone through a lot of experience since their last meeting.
After his adventure in the demon world and time travel dream, Wang Lu returned to Nine Regions, and by chance coincidence, he met with Liu Li and then together they went to the group of immortal tombs. Then, because of the mark of the sword demon that was left in him, Earth Immortal Xuan Mo took a fancy of him and he was drawn into her immortal dreamland. In that immortal dreamland, he experienced a series of adventure, from asking the Heaven to starting the prelude of the grand competition.
During this period, Wang Lu and Feng Yin were two of the most important members. However, although the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals held many meetings, for various reasons, they had never been able to meet directly. The communication between them was just through letters.
When he saw Daoist Master Feng Yin again, Wang Lu's mind went into a trance, as if he went back to one hundred and fifty years ago… At that time, the present Daoist Master Feng Yin was still a clumsy young rascal. Because of his strong sense of responsibility and toughness, Ouyang Shang chose him to be the pillar of the golden generation.
At present, the young rascal had turned into a disgusting old ghost. And that immature sprout had truly become the towering tree that sheltered the Spirit Sword Sect...
It was not difficult to imagine how much exactly Feng Yin had paid for that. When he inherited the inheritance of many members of the golden generation, his qualification and insight were among the best in the world. However, in merely more than one hundred years, he had advanced from Jindan to peak Deity Stage, moreover, it was a peak Deity Stage that was comparable to a Supreme. To achieve all of these, he had, by no means, took a normal path.
This could also be seen from that withered old face—from Jindan Stage, the lifespan of a cultivator was around five hundred years. And when it came to Deity Stage, the lifespan could be around one thousand and five hundred years. According to this standard, Feng Yin was actually still very young, so he was not supposed to look that old at all.
Obviously, this was one of the costs that he had paid over the past one hundred and fifty years.
With these thoughts in mind, the complexity in Wang Lu's mind was beyond description. Ouyang Shang and Wang Lu, two individuals' identity continued to intertwine.
"Ah, right, Brother Wang, it just so happened that I have something to deal with. I will excuse myself."
Seeing that Wang Lu was in a trance, and considering that Daoist Master Feng Yin came here in a low-key way, it was likely that they had internal matters that they needed to discuss. Thus, Hai Yunfan very cleverly chose to promptly leave.
As soon as Hai Yunfan went away, Wang Lu also regained his senses and put on a warm smiling face.
"Please come in, Uncle Sect Leader, wait for me to serve you tea."
With that, he stepped forward, pushed open the door, and welcomed Feng Yin in. After which, he quickly brought Feng Yin the highest quality tea that was sent to him by a Sect Leader of a middle-rank Sects.
Feng Yin took the tea, took a sip, and then sighed. "It's really a good tea."
"The master of the House of Fragrant Tea sent it. Looks like they didn't toot their own horn, what they sent is indeed good stuff."
Feng Yin put down his teacup, smiled, and said, "Not bad, even the master of the House of Fragrant Tea would have to gift you."
Wang Lu said, "People couldn't possibly come with an empty hand while having requests on others. The House of Fragrant Tea intends to monopolize the supply of tea to all the members of Organizing Committee, thus, they have sent teas to all the high-level members of the committee. Unfortunately, you declined the invitation to become a member of the Organizing Committee. Otherwise, the tea you get could only be more than I got."
Feng Yin said, "In recent times, the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals is spreading your matter everywhere…"
Wang Lu asked, "The Legendary Adventure Curing the World sold that well? Tsk, Wang Wu really earned much writing remuneration from that."
While saying that, Wang Lu didn't waste time and began to deal with the official documents directly. In any case, Daoist Master Feng Yin didn't care about these overly-detailed formalities while on Wang Lu's side. After all, he really had a crazy amount of business to deal with.
However, Wang Lu initially planned to do the two different things at the same time, dealing with the official documents while chatting with Feng Yin. But while handling the official documents, the room remained silent for a long time—Feng Yin actually didn't say anything throughout.
It was not until Wang Lu finished dealing with the thick stack of documents in his hand, signed his own opinion on the front page, and then subconsciously prepared to ask Hai Yunfan to help publish it that he found his Uncle Sect Leader quietly watching himself at the table. He had actually been waiting for him for a long time.
"Em, Uncle Sect Leader, what's the matter?"
Who knew that Feng Yin actually remained silent, still quietly watching him. But the scary thing was that his penetrating focus was actually located behind him...
"Uncle Sect Leader, do you need a new pair of glasses?"
"…"
Wang Lu shifted several meters to the side but found that Sect Leader Feng Yin was still motionless! Were it not for the long gentle breathing, he would be like a dead person.
"... Is this a fire deviation? I'd better call master over to steal the Sect Leader's golden seal while he is still like this. Regardless of whether it ends up with success or failure, there would be a good play for me to enjoy."
Just as Wang Lu was about to contact his master, he saw that Feng Yin had finally woken up and then sighed. "Really similar."
"Really similar?"
Feng Yin meaningfully looked at Wang Lu and said, "The current you reminds me more and more of a friend of mine who had gone for many years."
Wang Lu asked smilingly, "First tell me if it's a male or female?"
"Of course it's a male… The best man in Nine Regions." Feng Yin said, "Originally, my position should belong to him."
Upon hearing this, Wang Lu put down his writing utensils and the documents because Daoist Master Feng Yin had already made the words very clear—he was talking about Ouyang Shang.
This was very strange. In regard to the matter of Ouyang Shang, except for Wang Wu, Wang Lu had never told anyone else. And he believed that Wang Wu would not easily reveal this secret. So, how did Daoist Master Feng Yin know?
Could it be that it was because he had gradually separated himself from disciple status, walking on the front of the stage, his temperament changed, which made people involuntarily think about Ouyang Shang?
It shouldn't be… in terms of temperament and characters, the difference between Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang was still quite big. Otherwise, people in Spirit Sword Mountain would've already long seen him as the reincarnation of Ouyang Shang.
Or could it be that his stellar divine eyes were sophisticated enough that he was able to understand all the secrets in the world?
That shouldn't be, either. Feng Yin's stellar eyes was an acquired magical ability, so it was basically hopeless for him to further it into the highest realm of understanding everything. His cultivation of divine eyes was only for the purpose to pave the way for Zhu Shiyao.
After mulling over it, Wang Lu actually wanted to know how did Daoist Master Feng Yin know his real identity. However, this question was not important. The more important thing was what would Feng Yin do after knowing the truth.
"Over the years, I have been wondering what would it look like if that person was in charge of Spirit Sword Sect instead of me. Every time I think about it, I couldn't help but feel ashamed."
Hearing this, Wang Lu's heart turned heavy. He wanted to explain but found that the eyes of Daoist Master Feng Yin had become somewhat vacant, so he immediately realized what was happening.
What Feng Yin needed was not an explanation, but a quiet listener...
In the official history, Ouyang Shang perished together with the Earth Immortal, leaving behind the remnant of the golden generation, like defeated soldiers, to return to Spirit Sword Mountain to rebuild it. However, there were many things to be done on Spirit Sword Mountain, so how could a group of Jindan Stage disciples retain their sect's membership of the Five Uniques?
Everyone in Heavenly Sword Hall had made great efforts and sacrifices for it—among the Elders of Heavenly Sword Hall, the top three were already grey-haired and old looking. However, Liu Xian, Fang He, and the others at least had this Big Brother Feng Yin to shelter them from the winds and rains. Feng Yin alone, however, had to carry all of the difficulties.
In this way, it was easy to understand the repressed emotion and anguish in the heart of this Sect Leader of Spirit Sword Sect.
Thus, Wang Lu began to deal with the official documents again while at the same time quietly listened to Feng Yin's incessant talk. However, from the beginning to the end, he did not say a word.
Feng Yin's purpose of coming here, Wang Lu more or less could already guess it. As far as Feng Yin was concerned, as long as the Big Brother whom he worshiped was still alive in this world, there was no reason for him to continue to unjustly occupy the sect leader position—he naturally had to abdicate his position to the person who was more qualified.
However, for Wang Lu, Feng Yin's decision was unacceptable, whether it was just a whim or the result of a deliberation.
The reason for this was very simple—from the standard of a sect leader, he was far less suitable than Feng Yin.
It was true that, in some management methods and ingenuity, Wang Lu was more astute and flexible than Feng Yin. However, the leader of a sect needed not ingenuity and wisdom in management, but connections and prestige.
The present Spirit Sword Sect has not been the one that was born from the ruin one hundred and fifty years ago which was having nothing at all. The two were completely different. The elders of Heavenly Sword Hall had already become giants whose power shook the Nine Regions. And the sect had already made friends from all of the world in the past one hundred and fifty years and established cooperation with many top-rank sects, becoming a truly indispensable part of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals.
And these sects recognized Sect Leader Feng Yin as the one in charge, not Ouyang Shang who should've died one hundred and fifty years ago, nor a young Jindan who had just recently came to prominence. Wang Lu's sudden succession to the top position within the sect would only make Spirit Sword Sect become a laughingstock in the eyes of countless people, and the sect's one hundred and fifty years of accumulation would dispel like flowing water.
Let alone Wang Lu didn't have enough energy to run a sect right now. His goal had never been to become the sect leader of Spirit Sword Sect. After going through another world, he had a more important goal.
Spirit Sword Sect had Feng Yin, Heavenly Sword Hall, Liu Li, Zhu Shiyao, and other rare geniuses. The sect's rising momentum had long been unstoppable. There was no essential difference between having Wang Lu or not. Nevertheless, there were some things that only Wang Lu could be able to do.
After no one knows how long it took, Wang Lu finally finished handling all of the official documents on his desk. Thus, he said to Feng Yin, "Uncle Sect Leader, although my cultivation time hasn't been long, my knowledge could be considered as extensive. In my opinion, there is no one better suited to be in charge of Spirit Sword Sect than you. I implore you not to underestimate yourself and don't just obliterate the hard work of you and the people around you for the past one hundred and fifty years.
"At the same time, I also urge Uncle to prepare to continue the struggle because now is still far from when you can unload the burden. You have helped Spirit Sword Sect from its precarious position to this day, so you should know that any imaginary savior is not as realistic as yourself who is competent and with feet firmly planted on the ground. If you really think that there is someone in this world who can do better than you, then try to be as good as that person."
Being persuaded by Wang Lu using the tone of one who was proud of his age and experience, Feng Yin didn't find it annoying. Instead, he merely softly smiled.
"You're right, I'm not a child anymore, but here I am having an unrealistic dream just like a child. Very well, since even you, the lead disciple, have said so, then I will continue to struggle for a few more years in this sect leader position. I only hope that when everything is over, that person… would not blame me."