Human Nature

Before long, Shi Lin passed through layers of formations and arrived at Dao Lord Penglai's secluded cultivation grounds. Yet before she could send out her divine mind to request an audience, Dao Lord Penglai's divine mind transmitted outward first. "Lin'er? Is something the matter?" As the mists ahead—used to veil and seal against spatial scrying—dispersed, an elegant courtyard emerged before Shi Lin. Deep within the courtyard, amid layers of formations, a silhouette flickered indistinctly, appearing to dwell in another time and space yet seemingly right within arm's reach. Yet whenever her form briefly surfaced, it carried a spine-chilling aura of destruction. It was as though if her true body descended, the mere dissipation of her latent might would suffice to grind the entire Penglai Immortal Sect into dust. "Master, you have emerged from seclusion?" Shi Lin asked joyfully. "Only taking a brief rest. What has happened? Has a demon sovereign appeared? Where is it located?" "It is not a demon sovereign..." Shi Lin hurried to say. "Master, have you taken a new disciple recently?" "I have not," Dao Lord Penglai replied. "Why do you ask?" Shi Lin promptly recounted everything that had transpired, focusing on the rumors surrounding Yaoguang. Hearing Shi Lin's words, Dao Lord Penglai sounded somewhat surprised. "Yaoguang reached Void Refining? How long has it been?" Shi Lin froze. Realizing something at once, her pupils constricted violently. "Master, you weren't guiding him in secret?" Right after, an intense disbelief seized her. "Then... how is that possible?! Without your guidance, how could he advance from Void Piercing to Void Refining in a mere ten years?! Could it be... the one truly nurturing him from behind the scenes is Dao Lord Juntian?" Dao Lord Penglai chuckled softly. "Do not assume that because you are mediocre, everyone in the world is the same. The world of a genius is beyond the imagination of ordinary mortals." She herself was the prime example. "Achieving Void Refining in ten years... That really comes as a bit of a surprise to me," she commented with a smile. From "interesting" to "a surprise"—this was clearly an enormous step up. "Then, Master... how should our Penglai Immortal Sect deal with him..." "I am currently at a critical stage in cultivating the Wheel of World Extinction. Once this Dao art is mastered, I will personally go see this genius... or perhaps... a future fellow Daoist?" A faint anticipation seemed to stir in her heart. Yet that wisp of anticipation lasted only a moment before she shook her head again. Be it Void Piercing, Void Refining, or even Void Shattering, in her eyes, they all belonged to the same broad realm. Anyone could manage it. There was no real danger to speak of. But the step from Void Shattering to Dao Integration was enough to drive countless Void Shattering cultivators throughout heaven and earth into despair. The peril of Dao assimilation still chilled her into silence whenever she recalled it even now. No matter how mighty a Void Shattering cultivator was, what did they amount to before the true power of the Grand Dao? With the strength of ants, how dared they vie against heaven?! A Dao Lord could live for one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years! In other words, even with an advancement probability of less than ten percent, the number of Dao Lords should have equaled that of living Void Shattering cultivators—yet in reality... True Dao Lords did not even amount to one in a hundred Void Shattering cultivators. One should not be misled by the considerable number of Dao Lord lineages on Beihai Star; that was merely because the allure of the Gate of the Immortal Realm had drawn Dao Lords from across the starry skies. If one truly relied on a sect's step-by-step nurturing... Let alone one in a hundred, whether even one out of two or three hundred Void Shattering cultivators could ultimately achieve Dao Integration remained entirely uncertain. At that thought, her curiosity cooled down slightly. Yaoguang, like Taiqingzi, Tianqin, and Qin Xianhuang, was merely one of the candidates she had selected to entrust her legacy to in the future. Her only expectation for them was to reach Void Shattering before the Gate of the Immortal Realm opened. A Dao Lord? "Across Beihai through all the ages, I alone stand." Dao Lord Penglai glanced at Shi Lin. "Enough. Going forward, I will still focus on cultivating my Dao art. Before it reaches completion, do not disturb me unless a demon sovereign appears or Yulin makes a move." "Understood," Shi Lin replied respectfully. Dao Lord Penglai nodded as mists began to rise before her. The Grand Dao of Destruction. It was one of the fiercest Daos when it came to offensive might. And the Wheel of World Extinction ranked among the very finest offensive Dao arts within the Grand Dao of Destruction. If she could master it, she would even possess the power to obliterate fellow Dao Lords. Once she could pose a fatal threat to Dao Lords... Many of the troubles confronting her would be solved effortlessly, and the perils of the "Dao contention" would dissipate like smoke. Seeing that her master seemed about to enter seclusion again, Shi Lin hurriedly asked for instructions, "Master, Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters have not seen you for a very long time and miss you dearly. Since you happen to be resting now, would you like to see them...?" Dao Lord Penglai pondered for a brief moment, already guessing what was going on. Her gaze lingered on Shi Lin for a moment with a quiet sigh of regret. Yet in the end, she said, "Given the talent of those three, if they cannot awaken to their true selves, they have no hope of ever becoming Dao Lords. And without becoming Dao Lords, ascending to the Immortal Realm is impossible. A thousand years from now, our parting will be forever." With a wave of her sleeve, her figure vanished entirely into the mist. Looking at her master vanishing into the formations and recalling that faintly wistful look in her eyes, Shi Lin felt a deep ache. She knew her own abilities were lacking; she had failed to hold up the Penglai Immortal Sect on her own, forcing her master to personally intervene in so many matters across the Deep Blue Sea. She also knew her junior brothers and sister could be unreasonable at times. Just like earlier, when Junior Sister Leng Qingqiu had engaged in twisted logic. Yet... She really had no other choice. If things escalated to disciples drawing blades against each other and drifting apart, wouldn't that bring Master even more disappointment and sorrow? And if Master had to step forward to clean up the mess in the end, wouldn't that squander Master's precious time for nothing? Serving as this sect master was truly no easy task. "Sigh." Shi Lin sighed, took to the air with an escape light, and soon landed back at Penglai Pavilion, where the sect's affairs were handled. Here, Leng Qingqiu, Zhan Xiao, and Shui Yunhan were waiting. Seeing Shi Lin return, they quickly crowded around, full of anticipation. "Eldest Senior Sister, how did it go? What is Master's attitude toward that Yaoguang?" "Eldest Senior Sister, is Master willing to guide my cultivation? If Master truly guided me in person, I definitely wouldn't need as long as Yaoguang did. With my talent, it might take only three or four years to step into the Void Refining Realm!" Shi Lin waved her hand. "Enough. You are all mistaken. The reason Yaoguang could achieve Void Refining within ten years of breaking through to Void Piercing was not because Master taught him hand-in-hand. Rather, his innate talent is simply extraordinary; with peerless natural gifts, he crossed from the early Void Piercing Realm to the Void Refining Realm in ten years." At these words, the three nearly blew their tops. "Master didn't guide him?" "That's impossible!" "Without Master's personal guidance, how could someone step from a newly minted Void Piercing into the Void Refining Realm in such a short time?!" Leng Qingqiu, Zhan Xiao, and Shui Yunhan were unwilling to believe it from the bottom of their hearts. Leng Qingqiu especially began to question her: "Eldest Senior Sister, you didn't even request an audience with Master, did you? Are you deliberately using these words to brush us off?" "With my talent, looking across all the Void Piercing cultivators on Beihai Star, I can rank among the top ten! Yet I have lingered in this realm for over forty years, and achieving Void Refining will probably take another several decades or even a century. Even if Yaoguang has the greatest talent on Beihai Star, twice as good as mine, going from Void Piercing to Void Refining would still take fifty years!" Shui Yunhan chimed in, and as he finished, he sneered, "Advancing to Void Refining on his own in ten years? Heh, there cannot possibly be such a person in this world!" "Those were Master's exact words. Are you questioning Master?" Shi Lin snapped sternly, casting a glare at Shui Yunhan. "Master said: do not assume that because you are mediocre, everyone in the world is the same. The world of a genius is beyond the imagination of ordinary mortals. Just because you cannot do it doesn't mean others cannot either." Berated so sharply, Shui Yunhan turned pale, yet he still refused to admit he was wrong. "It's impossible... That's impossible..." "And the two of you as well." Shi Lin looked at Leng Qingqiu and Zhan Xiao. "Master said that if you do not change your temperaments and awaken to your true selves, none of you will ever become Dao Lords in this lifetime." Leng Qingqiu and Zhan Xiao fell silent. Especially Leng Qingqiu. She knew their Eldest Senior Sister's character. Shi Lin would never lie to them. In other words... Could it be that Yaoguang had truly cultivated to the Void Refining Realm on his own in such a short time?! What... What astonishing talent was that?! If it was true, and he was allowed to keep growing, wouldn't he reach Void Shattering in another few decades or a century? Perhaps... He might even have a shot at becoming a Dao Lord in the future?! She pressed her lips together, utterly unwilling to acknowledge such an insurmountable gulf between them. "Qingqiu, there is no irreconcilable grievance between you and Perfected Lord Yaoguang. Isn't he going to the Southern Domain to take up his post? Go there on behalf of our Penglai Immortal Sect, present a generous gift to congratulate him, and transfer the contribution points from his hunt of Demon King Tuntian and his cohort to him as a token of gratitude..." Shi Lin said. Leng Qingqiu understood. Eldest Senior Sister wanted to use the pretext of congratulating Yaoguang to apologize to the perfected lord, even having the sect supply the gifts for the apology. That way, Leng Qingqiu wouldn't have to pay anything out of pocket, and it would somewhat salvage her face as a deputy sect master. However... Force her, a direct disciple of a Dao Lord, to bow her head? "I'm not going!" Leng Qingqiu said coldly, "When it comes down to it, was that Yaoguang completely blameless in this matter? Why should I apologize to him?" With that, she glanced at Shi Lin. "At worst, we simply won't associate with each other in the future. I have nothing to ask of him anyway. Besides, I don't believe that even if he reaches Void Shattering in the future, he would dare come to our Penglai Immortal Sect to act wild." "Junior Sister..." "Regardless, I won't go." Having spoken her piece, Leng Qingqiu ignored Shi Lin's calls completely, took to the air with an escape light, and left Penglai Pavilion. Shi Lin was helpless. Zhan Xiao and Shui Yunhan immediately said, "Eldest Senior Sister, we will take our leave as well." With that, they hurriedly departed. Seeing this, Shi Lin sighed. At that moment, her heart was filled with envy. If only... If only she possessed talent like Yaoguang's! Then she could focus entirely on cultivation without needing to spend her energy managing the affairs of the Penglai Immortal Sect. Even if her talent was merely on par with her junior brothers and sister... Presumably, Master would not have placed her in the torturous position of acting sect master. Shaking her head, Shi Lin could ultimately only ask a palace master to step forward and make a trip to the Southern Domain.