"... Where is Wu Xian?" Xia Qingyue asked Jasmine who shot out of the guild, searching for me. But I was nowhere to be found here sensed,
"Qin Ling?" Qin Wentian father called out seeing Qin Kexin, Qin Kexin's eyes couldn't help but tear up seeing her big brother. She didn't even notice Qin Wentian and everyone else, her attention was fully on slapping someone.
"You're the old immortal?" Xia Qingyue's eyes widened in shock and joy seeing the old immortal was alive. Qin Kexin smiled seeing Xia Qingyue, she nodded lightly, before going over to her big brother as they had a lot to catch up on. Xia Qingyue can wait for a moment,
"... What did you want to talk about?" Yun Che asked softly seeing Xia Qingyue was all to herself now. Xia Qingyue sighed before turning to face him, wanting to end the marriage there, but she was stopped as Xiao Lingxi appeared.
"Before you go on, I think you should know that Wu Xian knew she had reincarnated," Xiao Lingxi said softly, she didn't want Xia Qingyue to go through with this without knowing what was happening. Knowing Xia Qingyue, Xiao Lingxi knew she didn't need to go into great detail for Xia Qingyue to understand what happened.
"..." Xia Qingyue sighed softly, before thanking Xiao Lingxi. But this wouldn't change her mind, she had already decided to become single. It looks like now she would be single and remain that way...
"I wanted to end our marriage." She said stunning Yun Che. Yun Che wasn't a fool and quickly realized I might have something to do with all of this, why else would Xiao Lingxi appear to tell her that?
For his woman to divorce him and leave him for another man, what was more embarrassing than this?
"All my life, I have done many things for the sake of others. This is the first thing I ever done that was for my sake... I never accepted this arranged marriage, but I went through with it for my father's sake. I'm not planning on leaving you to marry Wu Xian, I just want to be free." She said to which Yun Che could only grit his teeth, but in the end, he had no choice but to agree... although he would work hard to try and change her mind.
"Where is Wu Xian?" Jasmine asked calmly. How did Jasmine feel about me? In the past, saying she hated my guts would be an underestimate, but as late, she came to better understand me, which led to us becoming friends at some point. Not the best of friends, as she wouldn't mind beating me up from time to time
"I don't know, he might have left the heavens or something else." Xiao Lingxi said softly, normally my actions would have disgusted her. But the heaven part of her made her not care for my actions, which annoyed her greatly.
She wanted to welcome Yun Che back, but she was more worried about me. The heavens just put too much focus on me, leaving her helpless.
"Leave him, this should have been a huge blow to his ego." Xia Qingyue said while turning to enter the guild.
"To think his existence brought more pain than good to someone he cared about, would greatly hurt his ego. He has always faced physical hardship, and never mental hardship, hopefully, he would mature after this." Xia Qingyue said emotionlessly.
Her words were true, be it in this life or the last. I never really faced any mental hardship, I never made any mistakes that made me take a step backward to look at them. Even if I made a mistake... well, I was too prideful to truly see the mistake as anything great unless it was in martial arts or something like that.
I never grew, I never saw how badly my actions could affect those I cared for. I mean... someone as amazing as me, it's only right that everyone just benefits from being around me. It's their lifetime worth of good karma to even gain my attention... but was that true?
For the first time, I questioned whether I truly was that amazing. It was just a hard concept to wrap my head around. It was like trying to picture what a blind person sees. They don't see anything, not white, black, or any other color. They saw nothing,
So, for me to try and wrap my head around the concept that I wasn't so amazing, it was causing my false Dao Heart to crack. The fact someone so close to me would be better off never meeting me... that hurt. But this only made me realize something... did I know what it meant to be the strongest?
"I thought it would be a few more thousands of years until I saw you again." in the white cloud sect, I entered to see the old man, who looked younger than ever. Well, he was now a saint King.
"I have a question..." I said softly, to which he rolled his eyes. he expected as much, I wasn't the type to come over to see if he was still breathing if I already knew the answer. I was the kid who came to get something.
"Ask a way." He said while putting the papers aside to listen to me. Although I wanted to question why he was still working. It should have been around 50 or so thousand years since we last met, but I ignored that and spoke.
"I'm the most amazing thing to ever exist right?" I asked, to which the old man sighed speechlessly... but he had to be honest as it was pointless lying to me.
"Yes, in talent and mind. You go against all reason and common sense," he said to which I nodded,
"But that doesn't make you perfect." He said softly to which I nodded lightly. Perfection means pretty much becoming the all-mighty, an all-powerful existence capable of doing anything and everything... I wasn't that yet, and I didn't want to.
"Wu Xian, being perfect doesn't mean being all-powerful. Other things make a person perfect. You refuse to see the fact that perfect can come in all shapes and forms. Perfect means without flaws, ignore the all-powerful stuff for a moment, and just look at your flaws... you're super narcissistic... no, super doesn't do it justice. It matches just how freakish you are." He said with a sigh, normally he wouldn't go so deeply into this. But he realized something huge happened, and he needed a cruel reality check.
"... but everything I say is the truth," I said with a frown, not liking his words. Sure, I was amazing in all possible ways... but not to the level of a narcissist.
"No, there is one lie you always tell yourself... you're not humble. Just because you hang out with those you see as below you, doesn't make you humble. it shows you're lonely, and the only way to deal with that loneliness is to hang out with those you look down upon." He said with a sigh, leaving me just sitting there, not knowing what to say... I never looked at things like that.
"I guess you are right..." I said while sitting back, lost in thoughts. I wondered what other lies I ever told myself. I had no one, so I had to play with ants... what did that make me?
"Thanks, I guess I have to go figure things out myself," I said softly, my old man said nothing else. He knew me well enough, that I wouldn't get mad with the truth, he instead felt disappointed in himself as we never had this talk until now. He saw the problem and ignored it.
"... What does it mean to be humble?" I asked while stopping at the door, the old man thought for a moment at my words before speaking.
"Well, if you have to keep reminding yourself and others that you are humble... then there is a good chance you're not humble. A humble person doesn't show off that they are the best." He said to which I sighed softly... was I not always saying just how humble I was?
"See you later..." I said while disappearing, leaving my old man sighing helplessly while getting up to go for a walk...
On a battlefield... well, it couldn't be called a battlefield. One man could be seen fighting against an army, doing everything in his power to buy time for his family to escape. Injuries filled his body, but the number of lifeless bodies that dropped to the ground didn't slow down.
"You killed a lot of my man... but if you haven't noticed, some got passed you." A red-haired man said while sitting on top of a red horse. At his words, his army came to a stop, allowing the man to catch his breath. Even so, he had countless arrows, swords, spears, and other weapons stabbed into his body.
"..." The man struggled to turn behind him, wanting to see his family. But all he saw was those who passed him. He wanted to move, ignoring his body which cried in pain, wanting him to rest. But he ignored it. He shot forward, shooting toward the soldiers running after his family.
But an arrow shot through the air, hitting the back of his neck. His eyes widened seeing this, he fell towards the ground, his brain no longer able to send information to the rest of his body. He was crippled from the neck down.
"..." He looked towards where his family had disappeared, before closing his eyes, slight tears falling from his eyes. But after a moment, his eyes shot wide open, unwilling to just accept death while he still had a breath in him.
"..." But he paused seeing how the world had paused. Time had come to a standstill, and in this world standing in complete stillness, a white-haired man with a blindfold could be seen walking towards him... well, that was of course me.
"How are you?" he asked softly, someone capable of stopping time shouldn't be on this backwater planet which had no cultivation.
"I'm just someone searching for the strong. I have been watching you for some time, and I came to ask you a question... what does it mean to be strong?" I asked calmly while stopping over his body.
This man was once a powerful Saint King, but after suffering serious injuries, he was forced to flee to this planet where he rested to heal. Here, his cold heart melted as he fell in love for the first time, and even had a son... but it was all being taken from him.
He had a strong mindset but was also low-key. He was arrogant but treated everyone equally and fair. Not because he was too arrogant, but because he didn't see people any differently. In his eyes, there were allies, neutral, and enemies. There were some special people, like families or rivals.
"Being strong? It means having the strength to protect those dear to you." He said softly,
"What if those you want to protect happen to be those that stab you in the back? If your whole reason for power is for others, what would happen when those you put so much care into are gone or leave you?" I asked lightly, to which he went quiet for a moment before looking deeply into my eyes.
"I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Everyone dies, but they will live on so long as I hold on to their memory. If someone betrays me, then death is the only answer. Thinking too deeply about such nonsense is the act of a coward." He said seriously, to which I looked him deeply in the eyes for a moment,
"I like your answer..." I said while turning and walking away, and in just 2 steps, I disappeared. The man watched me disappear, disappointment in his eyes. He had hoped I would have helped him, he would have even put aside his pride and do anything, but I just left... but as time began to return to normal, he found his injuries disappearing, and his former strength returning to him.
Instantly, the whole planet shook as his aura shot out, shaking the planet. He slowly stood up, pulling all of the weapons out of his body, while slowly turning a death glare to the horrified red-haired man...
"Who do I put so much value on?" Walking into an unknown space, I walked towards the next person I had been watching. It's been 10 years now, of me just going around seeking those with who I considered strong, and with every passing moment, the meaning I had of the word strong kept growing to swallow other meanings. For example, the next person I'm going to was someone who in the past, I would considered a dirty ant... but not anymore.
She was an average-looking woman, currently in a hotel with some dirty old man on top of her, using her body however he so wished. Although it looked like she was enjoying it, with my sharp eyes, I could tell she was just acting and was thinking of someone else the whole time.
I watched as a few seconds went by, and the old man soon finished, and fell to the ground, unable to go on. She got up, and took the payment for her job with a fake smile, before getting all cleaned up and rushing out.
She rushed all of the way to the hospital, where she took out weeks of hard work and gave it to the staff there, so her mother could stay in the hospital just a bit longer in hopes that they could save her.
Once all was done, she entered her mother's room, where she sat next to her mother's bed. Her mother wasn't always so sick, but after her father died, her mother fell ill. She tried everything in her power to help her, and the job that paid the most was... well, selling her body.
"W-what?" She suddenly asked as the world suddenly went black and white. She was confused as she realized the time had frozen. The bird flying outside was no longer moving, she was confused, and her mind couldn't help but start racing. Was she going to awaken a physique? She had read many stories about such things, was this it?
"Why put yourself through something like this, when the best thing to do is to just let her die?" She looked back towards her mother, just to freeze seeing I was standing over her, looking at her mother. She was shocked, but as I spoke, my words held this attractiveness that made her want to speak the truth.
"This is my mother, who the fuck do you think you are to say something like that?" She said angrily, even if it meant to sell her soul, she would have done it for her mother's sake.
"Why? What do you gain in all of this when you lose your respect and dirty yourself to the point you can't even look yourself in the mirror? You have no life outside your job and her... you lost your golden age to be a cultivator, all so you can be with her. No matter what I see, it's foolish to fight this. Just because she births you, doesn't mean you are forever chained to be her slave." I said lightly, she could have become a cultivator, but if she did, it meant her mother would have died. She could only pick one thing, and she picked her mother... which was stupid in my eyes.
"You sound like the type of person who has no true bond with your own parents. A selfish man who put himself above everyone else in his life, unable to care about anyone else so long as you're happy." She said to which I said nothing.
I have seen her birth and how she and her parents raised her. She and her mother were best friends pretty much, doing everything and anything. If her mother dies, it's her losing more than a mother... but her losing a key person in her life. She already lost her father, and many of her friends already lost touch with her.
"If I just let her die like this... would I ever respect myself? This disgust I would feel for myself would outweigh the disgust I feel now. I will give her everything if she still doesn't make it..." She had a hard time saying her next words, but after a deep breath, she spoke.
"if she dies, I can live on with myself knowing that I did everything in my power to save her. I could live with myself, as I would have no regrets. This is my mother, my everything." She said with some tears, I looked at her for some time before sighing.
"I guess I must be selfish If I can't put anyone else before me," I said while turning around and disappearing. The woman looked towards me in shock, questioning how I just left. But her eyes widened seeing time moving, and the first thing she heard was the cough from her mother as she woke up.
She looked at her mother in shock, it's been years since her mother last woke up. She was happy, but she froze the next moment as something inside her came to life... she had become a cultivator.
"Who can I put before my pride?" I asked myself while appearing under a tree, and looking out into the 99 heavens. This was truly a complex question, who can I put before my pride other than myself?
Who would I sacrifice my body for? Who would I give up everything for? The answer was a hard NO ONE.
I have come to understand myself well in the past 10 years... I never saw anyone as an equal. Be it Wu Yun or Xia Qingyue, I never really saw them as someone as an equal. I was lonely and just selfish... I mean if I had no one I valued that highly, why would I think of others or something like that?
But this was a humbling journey for me. I got to see so many people who were stronger than me in so many ways shapes and forms. I came to truly respect these people from the deepest levels of my heart... and in the end, I came to the understanding, that I'm weak... but thats okay.
I couldn't sell my body for the sake of others... but that was okay. I couldn't give my everything to anyone else but myself, because I was weak... and thats okay. I can't force myself to be someone I wasn't. But I can start viewing everyone with a bit more respect.
Strength comes in so many shapes and forms, and everyone is strong in their own rights... everyone should be treated equally, and one shouldn't judge others... I know right? Profound. My mind had truly gone through great changes...