Elder Cai Kun signaled the disciples to sit down. After a moment of silence he started speaking

‘’Today I will be speaking about the essence of cultivation, and the truths behind it. Can anyone tell me what cultivation is?’’

A young boy at the front said ‘’cultivation is the means to obtain power’’

‘’Wrong’’ said elder Cai Kun ‘’Cultivation is not a means to obtain power, it IS power itself’’

The lecture was still going after one hour. Tianshen was listening while lying on a tree not too far away. In this one hour he sighed so many times in disappointment.

‘’It is no wonder this sect has fallen so low in the past thousand years, if every Elder here is as incompetent as this one then things will only keep getting worse’’ thought Tianshen. This elder obviously did not know what he was talking about. He was not speaking because he had something to say, but because he wanted to say something. When the second hour went by Tianshen could not take it anymore and jumped down from the tree. He started walking towards the small stage in the middle of the square. When the elder saw him he stopped speaking, everyone’s eyes focused on Tianshen. The Elder Cai Kun frowned when he realized who it was, but he quickly tried to put on polite face and cupped his fists towards Tianshen, which did not escape Tianshen’s eyes of course.

Before Cai Kun could open his mouth Tianshen lifted his hand and signaled him to stay silent. Cai Kun gritted his teeth, the difference in status between them was like heaven and earth but Cai Kun still thought that Tianshen owed him some respect because he is a senior.

Tianshen walked onto the platform with his hands crossed behind his back and stopped in front of Cai Kun and said in a calm tone ‘’It is no wonder that nobody here can gain enlightenment and make a cultivation breakthrough, since what you spoke of for the past two hours has nothing to do with the true essence of cultivation’’

Some students gasped, they never thought that Tianshen would be so forward. Some thought that Tianshen just came to cause trouble and show off his legacy disciple title. Some others secretly rejoiced. Finally there was someone that spoke up to this tyrannical elder Cai Kun, many people hated him since he did not care about the disciples here and never accepted any other knowledge from anyone besides of what he knows, not to mention he endorsed bullying and violence from stronger student towards the weaker ones.

Elder Cai Kun said through his gritted teeth ‘’what could the legacy disciple mean by that? Perhaps you have a better idea of what is the true essence of cultivation?’’

‘’You can drop the fake niceties with me, any person here with a bit of brain can tell that you hate me. And even more that you don’t care about the progress of these disciples. Which in turn also means that you do not care about the prosperity of this sect’’ said Tianshen in a calm but imposing manner.

The disciples were taken aback, this fellow was sharp with his words, and his gaze contained a natural superiority. It is a gaze with which a ruler gazes at his subjects. Under such a piercing gaze people could not help but feel inferior, but at the same time it filled them with respect and veneration for the person standing in front of them.

Cai Kun could not take it anymore and was about to burst, but at that moment Tianshen released some of his now mostly sealed soul power, his eyes started shining a bright blue color and Cai Kun suddenly felt a majestic pressure pushing him down, it is like this pressure was commanding him to kneel. If Cai Kun’s cultivation was not in the late stages of the Core Formation realm and that the majority of Tianshen’s soul power was now sealed, Cai Kun would be laying down on his face a long time ago. The pressure was contained to only the stage so the disciples did not feel it, but they understood what was happening, this was soul power, everyone had it in them, but not everyone could control it, not to mention at a low cultivation level like Tianshen’s.

Tianshen then spoke ‘’I did not give you a permission to speak’’

By this point Cai Kun has lost all face, and was scared shitless. He had heard the rumors from other elders that this Tianshen was a like an ancient demon inside a boy’s body but he only believed it to be rumor and that it was all exaggerated. At this moment he understood that all the rumors did not do this little demon justice.

Tianshen retracted the soul pressure and spoke once again ‘’from now on you are only to speak when spoken to, understand?’’

Cai Cun gulped while staring at Tianshen and nodded.

‘’Good’’ said Tianshen ‘’now let me ask you Cai Kun, how can you claim to know what is the essence of cultivation?’’

Cai Kun did not know how to respond but felt like he had to say something anyway so he replied ‘’I have lived for many years and experienced things that these youngsters have not, my cultivation level is much higher than theirs, therefore of course I know what is the essence of cultivation’’

‘’So you base your knowledge only on your age and on the fact that you have more experience than these disciples, to me it sounds more like you are trying to feed your own ego, and feel superior to others. Looks like you are even more of an idiot that I initially thought. Everyone listen carefully because I only say things once and never repeat myself unless absolutely necessary’’ said Tianshen while turning to the disciples now.

‘’The initial question was ‘what is the essence of cultivation’. You cannot answer that question before you understand what the meaning of essence itself is. Essence can be understood in a couple of ways, it can be the nature of something, its indispensable quality. Now think, what is the nature and indispensable quality of cultivation?’’

At this point many people closed their eyes and fell into a deep meditation, while others were still trying to figure out the words of Tianshen. Suddenly people felt a lot of spontaneous surges of Qi, some people had a breakthrough on the spot.

‘’For those of you who are still trying to find the answer, let me help. The nature and indispensable quality of cultivation is what YOU make it out to be. Do not forget that your path in cultivation is your own unique path, only you can give yourself the correct answer to that question’’ said Tianshen calmly. Now even more people started to break through, at this point about ninety-five percent of the people present had cultivation breakthroughs, some very talented ones even had two in a row. And there were two people that had three in a row. One of them was the little girl Xia Bingyue, and the other was Qiu Wentian. Tianshen smiled when he saw this, he indeed had good eyes for people. He then turned back to Cai Kun and asked in a serious manner ‘’do you understand now?’’

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Cai Kun looked perplexed and still very angry inside, but this time he did not show his anger in any way. He replied ‘’yes legacy disciple, I will keep your words in my mind’’

Tianshen turned away and prepared to leave, but then stopped and spoke with his back to Cai Kun ‘’from today onwards Qiu Wentian and Xia Bingyue are dismissed from the outer sect and will be joining me at the lonely peak, make sure that their personal things are delivered there as soon as possible’’ then he just walked away into the distance.

As soon as Tianshen left Cai Kun finally regained his composure, but deep inside a seed of jealousy and hatred was planted in him. He swore to himself at that moment that he would someday avenge the shame Tianshen caused him today. At the same time Qiu Wentian was very excited that he will be living on the lonely peak with Tianshen, he really felt grateful, while Xia Bingyue was just blushing endlessly while thinking to herself ‘’this Tianshen really IS a pervert’’.

Soon after Tianshen returned to his peak and resumed cultivation. Word of what happened in the outer sect quickly reached everyone and even got to the ear of the nine elders and Chief Cao Chen. Most of the elders were happy and felt like they made the right choice, while some others were not so happy. Kong Zhi now fully understood that Tianshen will be a thorn in his back that needs to be taken out no matter what. He secretly made the decision that he will do his best to make trouble for him and take him out as soon as possible in order to proceed with his plan to take over the sect.

Meanwhile Qiu Wentian and Xia Bingyue were making their way up to the top of the lonely peak. Bingyue was keeping silent almost the whole way so Wentian tried to break the ice

‘’I see that there is something troubling you junior sister Bingyue, you can speak your mind’’

Bingyue turned to him and asked in a shyly ‘’why has senior brother Tianshen picked me of all people to join him? I am only at the 3rd Qi accumulation stage, how am I going to be of any help to him? Or…is it perhaps for other reasons?’’

Wentian was surprised and also embarrassed, how did this little girl know anything about adult things? She looked barely eleven years old. He replied ‘’Tianshen is a mysterious figure so I couldn’t possibly know why he picked you over others, but if had to guess it is because he sees potential in you. Oh… and rest assured, he is not the kind of person you think he is’’ laughed Wentian.

Bingyue was relieved and cheered up, she was much more talkative the rest of the way and bonded a lot with Wentian. When they arrived at the peak, they knocked on the door ‘’you may enter’’ said Tianshen.

They both entered, while Wentian just went straight in and made himself at home in the first empty room he saw, Bingyue was still standing there looking at Tianshen sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. He suddenly opened his eyes and gave Bingyue a gentle look while smiling ‘’from today you don’t have to call me big brother again okay?’’

Bingyue smiled ‘’okay’’

Tianshen was relieved, he thought that it would be harder to approach this little girl and make her feel more comfortable around him but it seems Wentian did the job for him. Bingyue occupied another room and then they all gathered in the middle of the courtyard. It was almost nighttime and the sun was just about to set. Some stars started to shine down and behind the clouds you could see a bright moon.

Tianshen suddenly got serious and looked at them both ‘’I am going to ask you both a question and depending on your answer, the fate of your whole life will be decided’’

They both looked at him with a curious but at the same time a bit anxious expressions.

Tianshen then fell into a deep silence for some minutes as if he was contemplating or calculating something.

He then asked them ‘’what is it that you guys dream of? What is your deepest goal or desire in life?’’

Another big moment of silence followed, then Wentian spoke ‘’my dream is to be at the top of the cultivation world in order to protect my loved ones and gain their respect and approval, while at the same time strike fear in those who wish to harm them and destroy them’’

Tianshen nodded in approval then turned his head to Bingyue.

She thought for some moments then replied ‘’I think being too strong will come with a big burden…’’ Tianshen was astonished for a moment and lost his usual calm demeanor for a second. ‘’This girl is indeed worthy’’ he thought. ‘’Continue’’ Ha said.

‘’…but as long as I am not the only one that gets to become strong, and I can be besides my friends while doing that, then I think it will not be so bad’’

Tianshen smiled at both of them ‘’I have one last question for you guys…’’ this time he looked straight at them with a piercing gaze and with a hint of excitement within his eyes, they felt like he could see straight through their very souls. ‘’…do you guys wish to reach the apex with me?’’

At the time Wentian and Bingyue did not think too much about this question and answered instantly with a ‘yes’. The reason for that was that Tianshen’s idea of the apex and theirs was like the difference between heaven and earth. Tianshen’s idea of apex was to rule the starry sky with his friends while also being free from worldly affairs. While the apex Wentian and Bingyue thought of was to reach the Saint realm, little did they know. It would be only many-many years after this night that both of them would realize that they signed up for much more than they ever expected. And they would laugh about how smart and how stupid was this decision at the same time.