The objective of cultivators was to cultivate their true-self and achieve immortality. In the end, they would suppress all the things in the universe and shoulder the Will of the Heavens, becoming the one and only Wielder of the Will. From then on, they would surpass the concept of immortality, and become truly eternal and everlasting, transforming into the Will of the Heavens itself!
As a consequence, the Wielder of the Will was eternal, everlasting, indestructible, and unkillable!
Such being the case, what could have possibly happened to the Wielder of the Heavens’ Will? What problem did suddenly arise? Was it possible that shouldering the Will of the Heavens with the mere strength of a ‘human’ was too much, and some problems did arise in the long run?
The ‘Sage’ pondered for a while, and then said, “My old and worthless self is not sure how he can explain it properly… but the Wielder of the Will suddenly got bored.”
From the looks of it, the ‘Still Pond of Wisdom’ was a special space that could block all kinds of interferences. As such, the ‘Sage’ wasn’t afraid of being discovered, and directly mentioned the words ‘Wielder of the Will’.
“Ah?” Song Shuhang couldn’t help but call out.
“Ah?” True Monarch Fallout and Scholar Drunken Sun were likewise surprised.
The Wielder of the Will got bored? What kind of silly reason was that?
The Sage recalled it, and said, “That year, all the most powerful existences in the world—those Ninth Stage Tribulation Transcenders that had what it took to carry the Will of the Heavens—could feel that there was something wrong with the Wielder of the Heavens’ Will. From the looks of it… the Wielder of the Will got bored and ceased to do its job. Thereupon, it dropped everything it was doing. Although it sounds inconceivable, my old and worthless self got precisely this feeling that year.”
Song Shuhang felt that cultivators had it really hard back then. Having such a capricious Wielder of the Will must have given them quite a headache, right?
After saying this much, the Sage said indifferently, “Anyway, my old and worthless self felt precisely this way that year. Since the Wielder of the Will ceased to do its job, it was time for me to bravely step forward and personally shoulder the Will of the Heavens!”
The tone of the Sage didn’t have any emotion. At that time, he was unmatched in the world, and he alone was worthy of shouldering the Will of the Heavens.
It wasn’t only the Sage that was thinking this way… more than 90% of the cultivators in the world were of the same idea! Even the majority of those cultivators that had what it took to carry the Will of the Heavens and had found their own way to immortality, advancing to the ‘Immortal’ Realm, felt that the person that would ultimately shoulder the Will of the Heavens was the Sage!
Of course, it didn’t mean that everyone was of the same idea!
The Sage continued, “During those years, my old and worthless self fought against more than a hundred Immortals. Among them were cultivators, beasts, ancient witches, monsters, demons, and even the so-called ‘gods’.
“Some of those Immortals had concealed themselves from the world for a long time already; they were so ancient that not even my old and worthless self had ever heard of them or knew their background or origins.
“Everything related to them had long disappeared in the river of time, their heritage and their lineage had disappeared without traces… they alone were left due to having achieved ‘immortality’, gaining an unlimited lifespan.
“They had been patiently waiting for the day the Wielder of the Will was going to disappear. That day, they would return to the world and fight for the Will of the Heavens, becoming the new Wielder of the Will, and giving birth to their everlasting legend.
“Among them, there were some whose strength wasn’t below mine. But in the end, every single of them suffered defeat in the hands of my old and worthless self and lost the qualification to shoulder the Will of the Heavens, getting forced to return into seclusion again.”
Back in the days, I was so amazing that I defeated all the Immortals in the world by myself, are you convinced of my awesomeness yet?
After he had spoken up to this point, a bitter expression appeared on the face of the Sage. “However, just as I was waiting to shoulder the Will of the Heavens and become eternal, giving birth to my everlasting legend… a mysterious entity quietly approached me, advising me not to shoulder the Will of the Heavens and become the Wielder of the Will. Otherwise, I would later regret it.”
Not to become the Wielder of the Will because he would later regret it? What was the meaning of that?
Venerable White and the others were very curious.
Song Shuhang, in particular, felt that this information was very important. In addition, wasn’t this the information that Senior White Two wanted to know?
The Sage continued, “But how could my old and worthless self easily believe what this mysterious entity said at that time? Therefore, I ignored it. Next, I waited for the Wielder of the Will to disappear and personally shoulder the Will of the Heavens, becoming the new and everlasting Wielder of the Will. However, it wasn’t long before another ‘Immortal’ of unknown origin appeared in front of my old and worthless self.
“This ‘Immortal’ was very strange, and it was completely different from all other Immortals that I had seen. It wasn’t a human, ghost, beast, monster, demon, or ‘god’… it was an existence that didn’t seem to be from our world.
“Not only its body, but even the way it attacked and its power system were completely different from that of the practitioners of our world.
“My old and worthless self fought this enemy for tens of years. In the beginning, I held the upper hand, and managed to seriously injure this enemy multiple times. However, its restorative capabilities far surpassed my imagination. Even if it was severely injured and on the brink of death, it would thoroughly restore itself as long as it was given a little bit of time.
“My old and worthless self decided to put more strength in his attacks, but even after going all out, I was unable to kill it one move… and since I was unable to kill it in one move, it was impossible for me to defeat this undying enemy. My momentum started to decline, while that of the opposite party increased… in the end, my skills turned out to be slightly inferior.”
After saying this much, the face of the ‘Sage’ returned to normal. “In the years my old and worthless self battled against this strange ‘Immortal’, he got the feeling that the opposite party was someone that lacked emotions. Since it lacked emotions, it had no restraints, and dared to do anything. If my old and worthless self was defeated, how would this Immortal deal with the scholarly school of thought that he had founded? In addition, this enemy didn’t belong to any faction of our world of cultivators… as such, how would it deal with the various fellow daoists in the world?
“After I discovered that my skills were slightly inferior, I knew that I wouldn’t come out of that battle alive… my old and worthless self and that mysterious ‘Immortal’ had battled each other for tens of years, and the two of us couldn’t coexist anymore… the battle would end only after one of us was dead.
“As such, in my final moments, I decided to make use of a certain ‘innate skill’. It was an innate skill that my old and worthless self awakened after he built his own path through the scholarly philosophy. It was an innate skill that I had never used in the past.
“After this innate skill was used, it would swallow down part of the ‘existence’ of the target. This skill was very abstract, and even my old and worthless self wasn’t too clear about the principle behind it.
“However, if the innate skill succeeded, the ‘existence’ of the target would become incomplete.
“This ‘existence’ I’m talking about isn’t related to the body or the soul… in fact, that mysterious enemy was standing in front of me undamaged even after suffering the effects of the innate skill. However, even if it was ‘standing’ in front of me, part of its ‘existence’ had already disappeared, and it was no longer complete.
“After that, that ‘Immortal’ became the new Wielder of the Will, and my old and worthless died in its hands, getting destroyed both in soul and body.”
After speaking up to this point, the voice of the Sage finally stopped.
His life had ultimately come to an end.
Both his soul and body were destroyed!
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Since both his soul and body were destroyed, it meant that the ‘Sage’ was thoroughly dead and wouldn’t have the possibility to reincarnate in the future.
Such being the case, what was the deal with the ‘Sage’ before their eyes?
“Is this something akin to a video recording?” Song Shuhang asked in puzzlement.
True Monarch Eternal Fire, True Monarch Fallout, and Scholar Drunken Moan were likewise confused.
There were no fluctuations of spiritual energy coming from the body of this ‘Sage’ in front of them. Moreover, from beginning to end, the ‘Sage’ had narrated the story of his amazing life, and hadn’t paid any attention to Song Shuhang and True Monarch Eternal Fire when the two of them had tried to talk to him.
Perhaps it’s something similar to the recording that Immortal Cheng Lin left behind…? True Monarch Fallout thought to himself.
True Monarch Eternal Fire forced a smile, and said, “The Sage has already passed away, and nothing can change this fact. Why was I even getting my hopes up?”
Just now, he’d really wished for the Sage to be alive so that he could lead the scholars to a new golden age.
Even if the Sage didn’t do anything after coming back and only hid behind the scenes, it would still be an incredible boost to the morale of the members of the scholarly faction.
I have to overcome this inner demon, True Monarch Eternal Fire thought to himself.
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Just as all the fellow daoists were sighing with emotion, Venerable White held his chin, closely examining the video recording of the ‘Sage’.
Song Shuhang silently sighed. From the looks of it, the lustrous scholar left behind that sentence—’Overturn the Mountain of Myriad Books, the Still Pond of Wisdom…’—so that they could find the video recording of the Sage and come to know about the past events related to him…
Well, perhaps this information was very valuable for scholarly disciples, but it wasn’t of any use to Shuhang!
But right at this time, Venerable White laughed, and said, “Both the body and soul of the Sage were destroyed… in that case, what kind of method did he use to make you appear in this place?”
Since the Sage had died while battling against the new Wielder of the Will, who left behind this recording?
The content of the recording was the autobiography of the Sage, and the events narrated were seen in hindsight, after the battle between him and the new Wielder of the Will took place.
However, the ‘Sage’ in front of them didn’t move and didn’t reply to the questions of the people present.
“Shuhang, go pinch the Sage,” Venerable White said.
“Ah?” Song Shuhang pointed at himself, and then looked at the nearby True Monarch Eternal Fire. The person in front of them was the Scholarly Sage; wouldn’t True Monarch Eternal Fire get angry if he were to pinch him?
“Leave it to me!” At this time, True Monarch Eternal Fire gritted his teeth and took a step forward, stretching out his hand and preparing to touch the ‘Sage’.
However, True Monarch Eternal Fire’s hand had yet to reach its destination when his body was suddenly sent flying and fell to the ground. He fell in a rather tragic manner, but something of the sort was unable to cause True Monarch Eternal Fire any harm.
True Monarch Eternal Fire’s eyes immediately lit up. “Sage!”
The Scholarly Sage was still alive!
“I’m sorry, but I got distracted just now. Has the broadcast of the last words of the Sage ended?” The ‘Sage’ turned his head around, and said, “At this time, I’m communicating with you all through a method that is hard to describe with words. Therefore, I frequently get distracted.”
The way he was speaking this time was different from before, and he didn’t refer to himself as ‘my old and worthless self’.
In addition, he talked about the ‘last words of the Sage’. In other words, that super amazing tale from before was really a recording?
“Let me introduce myself again.” The ‘Sage’ faintly smiled, and said, “I’m the Still Pond of Wisdom.”
“…” Song Shuhang.
First, they met that Mountain of Myriad Books that liked to stand upside down, and now this human-like ‘Still Pond of Wisdom’ that can speak…?