"The Dao is formless. The ever-changing way is the mother of all things. It is by separating from desire that we delve into its greatest mysteries."

Shi Qiongtian walked around the square courtyard in loops holding a booklet in his hand. The words on the cover read "Building a Practitioner's Foundation". In the center, Ye Fan stood in a horse stance. His face was coated in a heavy layer of sweat and displayed an expression of great exertion. A few seconds later, he fell to the ground on his butt and let out heavy gasps. Expressionless, Shi Qiongtian stopped his steps but continued reciting.

"Heaven and earth do not act in benevolence. They treat all things as equal. Men are equal to ants. Immortals are no different from newborns. A sage is to act in kind. Then, is the path of immortality to seek to become heaven?"

Ye Fan had lowered himself onto the sandy ground of the courtyard as Shi Qiongtian was speaking. A minute passed in silence before Shi Qiongtian broke it once more.

"I was asking you a question, disciple."

Shi Qiongtian closed the booklet as he finished his words. Ye Fan sat up with great difficulty and smiled meekly.

"Can you repeat your question, Master?"

"What is the goal of immortal cultivation?"

Shi Qiongtian held his emotionless gaze, but his eyes sparkled for a moment of interest. Ye Fan was oblivious to this as he stared into the bright morning sky. After a few minutes of thinking, he carefully formulated his response.

"Master, is there an end to Immortal cultivation?"

Shi Qiongtian's eyes flickered with a hint of surprise but didn't hesitate in his response.

"The path of cultivation has no known end."

"Even beyond the Heavenly Dao?"

"Above the Heavenly Way is the Great Way."

Shi Qiongtian revealed a rare smile. Ye Fan seemed to have an epiphany as he began to scribble in the sand to sort out his thoughts. It wasn't long before he found his answer.

"Then, the goal of cultivators is to surpass Heaven! Only through breaking its fetters can we truly become strong."

Ye Fan reached for the skies and grasped his hand tightly. Showing a toothy grin, he looked toward his Master. Shi Qiongtian walked up to Ye Fan and ruffled the boy’s hair with his free hand.

“The most important thing to a cultivator is their Dao Heart. As long as you hold true to that, there’s nothing that you can’t overcome. Go get some rest, your final test will come soon.”

Ye Fan bowed to his Master with a cupped fist and excitedly ran out of the courtyard. Shi Qiongtian continued to stare at the courtyard entrance even after the boy faded from view. His ear twitched slightly. The booklet in his hand disappeared as he stored it in a separate space. Although there wasn’t a presence in sight, Shi Qiongtian began to speak.

“What is it?”

A disembodied voice responded to Shi Qiongtian’s question with great interest.

"Is he starting to grow on you?"

"I would be lying if I said he wasn't."

"It's been five years. Are you getting cold feet already?"

Avoiding the question, Shi Qiongtian replied to the voice with a question of his own.

"What do you think of him?"

Instead of getting angry, the voice went silent for a minute. It seemed to be carefully considering the question.

"I find him interesting."

A few minutes passed in silence. Shi Qiongtian's robes fluttered lightly in the wind and he closed his eyes to enjoy the breeze. The voice seemed aggrieved as it took the initiative to break the silence.

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"… Do you not want to hear my full answer?"

"Why should it matter to me what your full answer is?"

The voice exclaimed in exasperation.

"Aish! You're no fun… I'll be generous and tell you anyways. I find it interesting to see a Son of Heaven want to surpass Heaven."

Shi Qiongtian opened his eyes and watched the courtyard entrance again.

"… I see you have a guest. I won't be bothering you any longer. I just came by to remind you."

As the voice finished its sentence, a figure nervously stepped into view. The boatman bowed deeply as he spoke with great respect.

“This humble boatman is ready to serve the great Immortal.”

Shi Qiongtian walked to the entrance of the courtyard and stopped before the boatman. As he had many times before, the boatman bowed deeply before turning around. He began leading Shi Qiongtian down the dirt path. After taking a few turns, a lake came into view. At the close shore was a wooden dock with a canopied boat tied to the edge, the boatman ran ahead and gave it some last-minute tidying up before placing a wooden plank as a courtesy. Shi Qiongtian sat down lightly and the boatman untied the boat from the dock.

The lake was crystal clear. One could see to the bottom. As the boat began to slowly drift out with Uncle Hu's gentle guidance, Shi Qiongtian closed his eyes and leaned on the boat's side. His left elbow was resting on the boat's side and his left hand formed a fist that rested against his cheek.

"Today is the beginning of the final test. What do you think of your Young Master's improvements?"

The boatman revealed a surprised expression but quickly composed himself. Placing his oar down, he began thinking. After a few moments, he bowed and began speaking his thoughts.

"This lowly boatman believes that Young Master has an extremely firm foundation. His basic skills and knowledge form a foundation enough for self-sufficiency. Furthermore, this lowly one has heard the phrase: 'The body is the furnace and one's cultivation is the elixir.' Although young master's cultivation hasn't progressed much, I trust in the great Immortal's foresight."

The boatman was a bit nervous as he waited for Shi Qiongtian's response. Shi Qiongtian looked the boatman up and down.

"Your insight is great. The eyes of someone from the White Tiger's bloodline is truly wonderful."

Uncle Hu was taken aback and his expression paled. He prostrated before Shi Qiongtian and spoke with a trembling voice.

"T-This lowly one greets the Sage."

"Be at ease. I don't intend any harm to your Young Master. Explain to me why your cultivation has regressed."

Uncle Hu sat on his knees and began explaining his whole situation. Both Uncle Hu and Ye Fan's mother were a part of the Bai clan from the Immortal world that had the bloodline of a divine beast, the White Tiger. Her name was Bai Yuerong. When she was younger, she was sent to the mortal world for training with Uncle Hu assigned as her protector. She was schemed against by another competitor for the position of Saintess in the Frigid Snow Immortal Palace, one of the top Immortal Sects in the Immortal World. Jie Ranqing was originally the top candidate for the next Saintess of the Frigid Snow Immortal Palace, but her position was severely threatened by the appearance of Bai Yuerong who was able to reach the Heaven Immortal stage at the age of twenty. Uncle Hu was only able to kill the assassins sent by Jie Ranqing at the cost of his cultivation leaking. With his cultivation draining at a fast rate, they were luckily able to meet the kindhearted Ye Ning who brought them into his home. It was through the help of an heirloom that was able to slow Uncle Hu's cultivation leakage. By the time he used the heirloom, cultivation had already dropped to the Peak of the Three Aspects realm. In the present day, he dropped to the Golden Core realm and it wouldn't be long before he was no different from a mortal. It was a truly horrible fate for someone who was previously of the Golden Immortal Lord stage. As Uncle Hu incessantly operated the artifact to stem the flow, Bai Yuerong fell in love with Ye Ning and they had Ye Fan. Uncle Hu found it hard to disapprove of the couple considering how happy Bai Yuerong was and Ye Ning being his benefactor.

Shi Qiongtian nodded lightly as if it was all expected and commented to himself under his breath.

"As expected for a Son of Heaven."

Seeing that Shi Qiongtian didn’t give him any indication to stop, Uncle Hu continued his explanation.

"Madam Bai and Lord Ye instructed me to not inform the young master. They both wanted him to stay away from the cultivation world."

Shi Qiongtian nodded lightly as he interjected.

"That explains the unwillingness that Ye Ning could barely hide when I appeared at Ye Fan's birth."

"Yes, I was at the lower Three Aspects stage at the time and advised him to cooperate since I couldn't see your esteemed cultivation. Madam Bai was just a Heaven Immortal at the time and concurred. However, I never expected your esteemed self to be a Sage. If I had informed you that time, maybe Madam Bai would still be here to raise Ye Fan herself."

Uncle Hu's expression was filled with self-loathing and guilt. Shi Qiongtian promptly spoke up to reassure Uncle Hu.

"What has passed is in the past. Even the White Tiger itself can't change that."

"Maybe your esteemed self could negotiate with the Frigid Snow Immortal Palace?"

Although he wasn't qualified to speak to a Sage even in his prime, Uncle Hu wasn't afraid of losing his life if it meant that there was a small chance to save Bai Yuerong. Shi Qiongtian ignored his rudeness and responded promptly.

"I will guarantee her safety. The Frigid Snow Immortal Palace won't let a failed Saintess go so easily. After Ye Fan's test is over, I'll go deal with it. I probably won't be back for a long time. I'll entrust him to you."

Uncle Hu bowed and began to thank Shi Qiongtian profusely. Tears began to flow from his eyes in unending streams and he even began sobbing into his sleeves. Shi Qiongtian watched this for a few moments before his expression turned strange. He seemed in a hurry as he patted the boatman on his back.

"There's no need to cry any further. You've already done your best."

Hearing Shi Qiongtian's words, the boatman was finally able to compose himself.

"You're right, esteemed Sage."

"There's no need to change your address. We shouldn't let Ye Fan know there's anything amiss."

"I'll be sure to keep that to heart, great Immortal."

"You've done well. I won't hold you any longer. You can dock the boat and go rest before Ye Fan's test begins."

"Thank you for your generosity, great Immortal."

The boatman quickly steered the boat to the shore. Shi Qiongtian was impatient so he used his power to speed up the process. Within a few moments, the boat was docked and Shi Qiongtian bade farewell to the boatman. As he walked into the forest and disappeared from the boatman's view, the voice from before began speaking to him.

"What's wrong?"

"It looks like someone was able to fool my eyes and influence me without my notice."

"What? You're someone at the peak of the Almighty stage… Unless… Is there really a Creator?"

The voice was shocked at the revelation and immediately went silent. Shi Qiongtian's expression was grim and unwilling as he stared into the sky.

"Once again, I've been careless. I thought I had reached the top, but I'm still just a frog in the well. At most, I'm just a more important chess piece on the chessboard."

The voice didn't comment on Shi Qiongtian's lamenting words but instead elaborated on its previous conjecture.

"Remember the tale that you heard from that fortune teller?"

Shi Qiongtian's eyes squinted.

"The Teacher and his three disciples overseeing the Universe?"

"Right. I've always liked the youngest's answer to his teacher the most."

"It was the story that led me to be careful from the very beginning… but I never found any traces of the Teacher and the three disciples after I reached the Almighty stage so I grew complacent."

"Well, I've spent some time sorting through the karma. The other creator stories seem to all have some sort of origin, such as high-level cultivators. With one sole exception… I can't even find a trace of this fortune teller. It's as if he never existed. We can remember him clearly, but the traces left from karma implies otherwise."

Shi Qiongtian stared into the sky where the sun shone down past the canopy. His gaze was defiant.

"Even an ant would retaliate when it's stepped on, let's change the plan."

Although he was speaking to the voice, the first part of his sentence was intended for the supposed Creator. Having made his decision, Shi Qiongtian retreated to his small world.