"Chen Shao, there's no one else here, and I, old Fei, don't mind you laughing at me. Honestly, look at me — the Sect Master of
"That goes for the Qianlan Northern Palace, the Qianlan Southern Palace, and the Duobao Dojo too. Their situations are definitely better than mine, but when it comes to their higher-ups, toss them into the Treasure Tree Sect and they're nothing special. Not many Treasure Tree Sect disciples would give them the time of day. In the eyes of real sect disciples, anyone fooling around in secular kingdoms is a washout — rejects from the sect with no future to speak of. Does that make sense, Chen Shao?"
"Hm? Chen Shao, don't tell me you're a sect disciple too? Otherwise…"
Jiang Chen waved his hand. "I'm no sect disciple. I come from the Eastern Kingdom — all of that is on record. All I can say is, I've been luckier than your average secular martial artist."
Elder Fei fell into thought, then said earnestly, "Chen Shao, allow me one more word. With your talent and the breadth of your knowledge, it would be a real waste if you never joined a sect. In my eyes, you absolutely qualify for the Treasure Tree Sect — and once inside, you'd take the place by storm!"
"Perhaps. If a sect turns out to be a boulder I can't go around, then stepping inside for a look wouldn't be the worst thing."
Jiang Chen did have a certain distaste for the
At the end of the day, Jiang Chen had inherited the mindset of a ruler from his previous life. If a sect was an obstacle that couldn't be bypassed, then he would simply climb over it and walk right through.
Seeing Jiang Chen's unexpectedly even-tempered reaction, Elder Fei was briefly stunned. He couldn't quite figure it out — was Jiang Chen simply unfamiliar with the sects, or was his experience so vast that he had already transcended their limitations, feeling none of that burning desire?
After thinking it over, he decided it must be the latter.
This Chen Shao didn't come across as some ignorant country bumpkin. Could a man who handed out Wash Dust Plain Heart Pills like cabbages really know nothing about the sects?
Setting everything else aside, if Jiang Chen were willing to offer up the formula for the Wash Dust Plain Heart Pill, that alone would secure him an excellent position within a sect. If he presented it to some powerful figure, he might even gain a formidable backer.
"But why doesn't he do that? His cultivation doesn't seem to be at the Spirit Realm level. Could it be that the mysterious expert behind him is merely an alchemy master, with nothing remarkable in the martial arts department?" Elder Fei couldn't quite make heads or tails of it.
Jiang Chen didn't pay much mind to Elder Fei's musings. He patted the old man on the shoulder. "When the road seems to end, willows and flowers will reveal another village. Old Fei, you were cast out of the sect decades ago, and yet you're still this loyal. I believe that one day, you'll return to the Treasure Tree Sect in glory."
Elder Fei gave a bitter smile. "I hope so. The way I work so hard to run Qingyang Valley — really, it's all a small contribution to the Treasure Tree Sect. I hope that someday it touches the heavens, and the higher-ups learn that there's someone named
Jiang Chen let out a soft sigh. These four great dojos truly harbored some remarkable individuals.
Elder Ning was a die-hard member of the Appearance Appreciation Society, obsessively fixated on looks.
And old Fei was a fanatical devotee of the Treasure Tree Sect — abandoned by it, yet utterly determined to return.
Such were the myriad facets of the human condition.
Jiang Chen found himself mulling over these people, sensing something in each of them.
"Strange. How did I suddenly become so sentimental? That's odd." Even he found it puzzling — he had no idea where these thoughts were coming from.
And yet, naturally, they surfaced one after another, and he couldn't help but glimpse the full spectrum of human lives through their attitudes.
In that instant, Jiang Chen seemed to seize hold of an insight. His heart stirred. In the blink of an eye, countless thoughts rushed in like a meteor shower, unstoppable and overwhelming.
"Old Fei, keep watch for me a few more days. I'm going into seclusion."
With that cryptic instruction, Jiang Chen returned to the alchemy chamber. This time, however, he wasn't going to refine pills — he was going to meditate.
Those fleeting thoughts had given him a thread of inspiration, a glimmer of some subtle truth.
Elder Ning, Shi Xiaoyao, old Fei…
Each of these individuals, each of their lives, represented a particular attitude toward existence.
And within those attitudes lay the perfect raw material for the enlightenment of transcending the mundane and entering the spirit.
Why were Elder Ning and Shi Xiaoyao the way they were? Clearly, they must have been cast out by the Treasure Tree Sect — disciples with no future left there, who had come to the secular world to enjoy life and the pleasures of worldly power.
And old Fei, equally cast out by the Treasure Tree Sect, had simply refused to surrender. He could never let go of his dream of returning, and now, old and frail, he still clung to that same wish.