Chapter 174: Mocking Fate’s Incompetence, Chen Changsheng You Are Going to Get Beaten by Baldies
Chapter 174 – Mocking Fate’s Incompetence, Chen Changsheng You Are Going to Get Beaten by Baldies
Listening to Aoxue Hongmei’s words, Chen Changsheng smiled and spoke.
“You speak the truth. Even Immortals are not omnipotent. There are times when beseeching the heavens truly falls short of relying on oneself.”
“I am taking him away from this place. Do you wish to see him one last time?”
“There is no need,” Aoxue Hongmei said, shaking her head. “Thirteen and I have already met within our hearts.”
“To see each other in the flesh again would merely be superfluous.”
Gazing at Aoxue Hongmei, Chen Changsheng pondered for a moment before asking, “Do you know what kind of man Zhao Ke is?”
“I know.”
“You truly will not leave?”
“I will not leave.”
Receiving this resolute answer, Chen Changsheng nodded and said, “I once believed that fate was irreversible.”
“And the annals of time have proven that it indeed is.”
“Yet, you two have illuminated a third path for me, one that lies squarely between submission and resistance.”
“To bear the crushing weight of fate, yet refuse to let it break your spine.”
“You stand at the very pinnacle of the world to mock fate’s incompetence. You have truly amazed me.”
In response to his profound praise, Aoxue Hongmei merely offered a gentle smile before turning back to her bronze mirror.
Meanwhile, Chen Changsheng’s figure gradually faded into the ether, vanishing from the room.
……
Outside the dilapidated temple.
“Whoosh!”
Chen Shisan executed his sword forms with rigid, meticulous strikes, though the weapon in his grasp was nothing more than an ordinary tree branch.
Returning from his excursion, Chen Changsheng found a shaded spot beneath a ruined eave and sat down.
He watched in tranquil silence as the youth practiced. Chen Shisan did not halt his relentless swinging upon sensing Chen Changsheng’s return.
One watched, and one practiced.
Time slipped away in wordless synchrony. Chen Changsheng observed for an entire day, and Chen Shisan swung his makeshift blade for an entire day.
Only when the sun finally dipped below the horizon did Chen Shisan, his coarse robes plastered to his skin with sweat, cease his movements.
Seeing this, the eternal spectator finally broke the silence.
“Why stop now?”
“Given your iron-headed temperament, I fully expected you to practice until you collapsed senseless into the dirt.”
“That would certainly serve as adequate proof of your determination to grasp power!”
Hearing this mocking tone, Chen Shisan cast a sidelong glance at him and replied flatly.
“I wield the sword solely to grow stronger. I do not do it for you, nor do I have any interest in proving my resolve to you.”
“A fair point.”
“However, why do your sword forms appear so bizarre? Even with your abysmal innate talent, you shouldn’t be butchering a foundational sword manual this severely.”
Without a word, Chen Shisan retrieved the ancient manual Chen Changsheng had tossed him earlier and said,
“I followed the manual you gave me. But I cannot read, so I could only mimic the illustrations.”
Chen Changsheng: “…”
Hearing this blunt admission, Chen Changsheng stared blankly at the boy.
He snatched the manual from Chen Shisan’s hand and flipped open the worn pages.
After glancing at the sparse dozen or so ink wash drawings contained within, Chen Changsheng was rendered completely speechless.
“The scriptures written in this manual dictate the flow of Qi and the precise generation of force for each strike.”
“If you merely mimic the poses, aren’t you afraid of snapping your own tendons through cultivation deviation?”
“Furthermore, if you are illiterate, you could have just opened your mouth. I could have simply taught you the characters.”
Confronted with this exasperated logic, a faint blush crept onto the unyielding Chen Shisan’s cheeks for the very first time.
Lowering his gaze, he muttered, “I assumed you would refuse. After all, we only struck a transaction.”
“Since it is a rigid exchange, you have no obligation to provide anything beyond the bare minimum of our agreement.”
Hearing this absurdly rigid logic, Chen Changsheng rolled his eyes so hard they nearly stuck.
“Fine, that is my fault. I failed to account for your sheer stubbornness.”
“From this day forth, address me as ‘Mister.’ I will not merely toss you the methods for power; I will personally instruct you on the Dao of strength.”
“But before we worry about defying the heavens, we should fill our stomachs.”
With a wave of his sleeve, Chen Changsheng ushered Chen Shisan back into the ruined temple.
……
“Sizzle, crackle!”
Fresh meat popped and hissed as the roaring flames licked the fat. Sprinkling coarse spices over the skewers, Chen Shisan’s Adam’s apple bobbed heavily.
Yet, even as his starved stomach growled in fierce protest, he carefully presented the first perfectly roasted cut to Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng smirked. “Is this an attempt to curry favor with your new master?”
“No.”
“You provided the flesh of the beast, while I provided the labor of the fire.”
“Though I have earned the right to eat, the first portion naturally belongs to the provider.”
Staring at the boy’s solemn, uncompromising face, Chen Changsheng broke into a brilliant, genuine smile and accepted the fragrant skewer.
Chen Changsheng ate at a leisurely pace, taking small bites, while Chen Shisan immediately resumed his duty at the spit.
Abruptly, the perpetually taciturn Chen Shisan broke the silence.
“What is the realm of Immortals truly like?”
Pausing mid-chew, Chen Changsheng gazed up at the soot-stained ceiling in thought before waving his skewer.
“The Cultivation world is infinitely more vast and breathtakingly magnificent than this mortal dust.”
“Yet, beneath that splendor, it is far filthier and unimaginably more brutal.”
“Then do you believe I can survive there?”
“Most likely, no.”
“There are chosen children of heaven with peerless spiritual roots who are just as unyielding as you. They survive because they possess overwhelming power.”
“A mortal like you—cursed with rigid bones but devoid of talent—would be rendered a nameless corpse in the wilderness within three days.”
Hearing this stark judgment, Chen Shisan lowered his head, his voice barely a whisper. “I apologize. I have doomed your investment to a loss.”
“Not necessarily. After all, my means are somewhat profound.”
“While I dare not guarantee you eternal life, I certainly won’t let you perish so prematurely. If you die before fulfilling our pact, I truly would be taking a loss.”
Digesting this assurance, Chen Shisan lapsed into silence for a long moment before speaking again.
“It returns to the same question: why choose me? The mortal realm is vast; you must have had vastly superior options.”
“Because you are stubborn!”
“The Cultivation world is governed by the absolute iron law where the weak are prey to the strong. Countless geniuses have bowed their heads to the heavens simply to cling to life.”
“But the moment their knees touch the dirt, their Dao heart fractures. They forget their original intent. And once that foundation crumbles, how can they ever hope to reach the true zenith?”
Frowning in confusion, Chen Shisan asked, “Do all Immortals fear death?”
“Of course not. Immortals and mortals are cut from the same worldly cloth.”
“The vast majority fear the void, yet there are those who sneer at the reaper.”
“However, beneath the heavens, it is not merely the threat of life and death that forces a man to bend his spine. Power, greed, despair… a thousand heavy things can crush a man’s pride.”
“The ancients say, ‘Never forget your original intent, and you shall witness the grand finale.’ Yet, an initial spark is easily ignited, while maintaining that fire through a millennium of storms is impossibly rare.”
“A stubborn, unpolished iron mule like you… you are precisely the kind of monster capable of maintaining that fire.”
“Only by fiercely guarding your original intent does the blade in your hand earn the metaphysical right to strike at the strongest existence beneath the heavens.”
With those profound words delivered, Chen Changsheng casually tossed his polished skewer into the fire and stretched out comfortably upon a bed of dry straw.
“Rest early. When the sun crests, we abandon this city.”
“Your spiritual roots are abysmal. I must find a method to reforge your mortal flesh into something formidable.”
“Sweeping my gaze across this world, there are numerous sects devoted to the Dao of Body Cultivation, but the absolute pinnacle lies within the Northern Desert.”
“Oh, and steel your mind. The baldies wandering the Northern Desert hit with an exceptionally heavy hand.”
Hearing this casual warning, Chen Shisan’s brows knit together.
“Why would these ascetic monks strike us?”
“Not us. You.”
“Why?”
“Because I possess a rather deep karmic grudge with that temple of baldies. But since they cannot possibly defeat me, they will inevitably vent their fury upon you.”
Chen Shisan: “…”
I want to curse, but I simply don’t know where to begin.
……