Lu Wu, Yu Shuren, and Jin Xun had all dragged themselves back to their cabins to replenish their qi reserves, but Ji Kang stayed sprawled out on the deck, looking up at the beautiful azure sky dotted with fluffy white clouds and thinking.
He had noticed from the demographics of Azure Grove Sect that there seemed to be a very high mortality rate for cultivators below Core Formation and he was wondering if the issue was rooted in the attitude that others approached conflict with.
Maybe if a Qi Condensation stage cultivator avoided fights whenever possible and focused on achieving their objectives within fights without caring about winning the fight itself, they wouldn’t overextend themselves, thus being able to ensure their own survival most of the time.
Then a vivid image was pulled from his recent memories back into his mind’s eye. He once again saw the look in the eyes of the deckhand who had been struck in the throat by the arrow meant for Ji Kang. That man did nothing wrong, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and he lacked the ability to save himself from random misfortune.
That seemed to be the fate of the powerless. This thought had been impressed upon Ji Kang while he was standing over the man’s body and had been a constant refrain in his thoughts ever since.
Just being careful would not guarantee safety, danger could strike out of the clear blue sky at any moment. Only one's own power could guarantee their safety, and there was no substitute for strength. With power he could set his own course in life, without it he had no choice but to suffer what powerful people did as best he could.
Ji Kang was reminded of a saying his father had told him in the depths of a drunken binge: the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
The crucial question for Ji Kang then, was how does an imperial system cultivator like him gain power? From what he could tell there were three factors, cultivation resources in the form of pills and weapons, having a suitable high quality cultivation manual, and persistent effort over long periods of time.
Of those three factors, only the last one couldn’t be snatched through force of arms. Power begets power, by succeeding once you could set yourself up to have a better chance of succeeding a second time, and then again and again forever. The only issue with that strategy is that if you failed in a contest with other cultivators for either of those things you were likely to be killed.
This world was a chaotic and dangerous place, like an ocean during a storm, and all the people living in this world were floating on the waves of that ocean struggling to avoid drowning.
A beggar on the street had nothing to help them survive the storm, they were wading water and any second a slightly larger wave could sweep over them and they would be dead.
A wealthy man might have a plank or two of wood, something to buoy them up and help them stay above water, but ultimately that plank could be wrenched from their hands if they were careless for even a moment.
A powerful noble had a sturdy raft built from intersections of wealth and military might. Such a noble could withstand most of the ordinary waves without issue, but were still imperiled by the largest upheavals and they had no rudder to chart their own course. The reason for this lack of control was that their raft wasn’t truly their own, it was assembled with the help of countless others, people from all walks of life lending the noble their authority and power. Because their power relies on others, they must act in the way those giving them their power expect and demand or fear having it taken away.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Cultivators however, were all in boats. Qi Condensation cultivators had fragile rowboats with a single oar, while Nascent Soul cultivators sailed around in enormous warships.
No matter how the waves of the ocean moved, Nascent Soul cultivators would be safe, their only remaining worry was other warships.
The purpose of cultivation was to gather power and concentrate it on the cultivator. By accumulating power on the individual a qualitative change could be achieved, elevating the individual from helpless victim of circumstance to master of their own destiny.
Cultivation, like every process of accumulating power into the hands of one person, is an inherently selfish act. You could justify it however you wanted to yourself or others by talking about making yourself strong so you had the power to help others, or whatever rationalization you wanted, but in the end those pretty words were just rice paper screens in front of the fundamental truth.
Cultivation is selfish because power is a zero sum game. By accumulating power you are denying that power to others who might have used it. When the Lu family chose Ji Kang for the disciple spot in Azure Grove Sect, he took that opportunity from whoever else might have gotten it. When disciples fought each other for the right to be in the inner sect, the losers were demoted, losing the opportunities, prestige, and resources those inner sect disciples were given.
Choosing to cultivate is to choose to elevate yourself at the expense of others, your actions will inevitably ripple out and negatively affect people you might not have even met.
People didn’t seize power to help others, they did it to help themselves. Helping others could feel nice, but charity and generosity were nothing but the way those with power soothed their consciences.
In a world with a staggering wealth disparity, the idea of a benevolent rich man is a myth. If they were truly generous they wouldn’t let beggars starve in alleys one hundred feet from their house. If they were truly kind they wouldn’t demand that their servants demean themselves in order to feel petty superiority. If they were truly good, then they wouldn’t still be rich.
All of these thoughts swirled in Ji Kang’s mind, spiraling around and repeating themselves as his breathing and heartbeat slowed back to normal.
In truth, Ji Kang used to think he perfectly understood the nature of the world and of power back when he was living in Jidong, despite having seen very little of the world and never having had any power. Now his perspective had dramatically shifted and he was trying to reconcile his preconceived notions with the world he saw since becoming a cultivator. Like the philosopher who said that the more they learned the more they realized how little they knew.
At the end of the day Ji Kang understood that he was just a teenager. No matter what ideas teenagers had about the world, they would almost certainly be wrong, so for now he was trying to keep an open mind and take in all the lessons the world was teaching him.
With life experience these lessons would be tried and tested against each other, and eventually he would develop a comprehensive worldview from whatever remained.
Ji Kang chuckled quietly to himself. Even that perspective of accepting things as they came and expecting to have the opportunity to grow up was a marked difference from his mindset before he joined the Azure Grove Sect. Like a man dying of thirst, the slightest sip of power and freedom had reinvigorated Ji Kang and was almost making him an optimist.
Actually, it occurred to him that one way to guarantee his safety could have been to remain inside the Azure Grove Sect, cultivating in safety for dozens of years until he had enough strength to walk unfettered in this world. That was the path Ji Kang would have taken in an ideal world, but in reality it was impossible.
Ji Kang couldn’t allow Lu Wu to mature and gain wisdom. If he waited too long to make a move against Lu Wu then Lu Wu would eventually stop making stupid mistakes and stop putting himself at risk unnecessarily. But Ji Kang was weaker than Lu Wu and was bound by the contract to obey his commands, in order to escape the contract he needed to exploit Lu Wu’s mistakes and risky behaviors.
As these thoughts were winding down, Ji Kang finally stood up and made his way to the cabin he shared with Yu Shuren. He needed to replenish his qi and then continue cultivating.