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“Senior, what a coincidence. We meet again.”
Long Chen hastily stood. This elder had given him an extremely deep impression. The first time Long Chen had come to the Pill Institute, he had asked this elder for directions.
Furthermore, the first time he saw this elder, he had a kind of feeling that this elder was definitely not ordinary.
When Long Chen had been surrounded by law enforcement disciples, the Seven Star Elder He Ziyu had come, and even with his status, he had acted reverently toward this elder. That confirmed Long Chen’s guess.
Now that he saw this elder again, he hastily rushed over. “Senior, how about I help you sweep?”
“No, with that tyrannical qi in your body, this broom can’t endure your power. I’ll do it,” said the elder.
“Senior, how long have you been sweeping?” probed Long Chen.
“How long? I don’t remember. I’ve swept through the spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I’ve swept through ice, frost, rain, and snow. I’ve swept through fine black hair to white strands. I’ve long since forgotten time.” The elder shook his head and suddenly asked, “Young fellow, how is your temper?”
Long Chen was startled. The elder had asked him the same thing the first time that they met, and now he asked him again. Long Chen answered, “It’s alright. It can’t be called good but also not bad. Perhaps it should be said to be sometimes good and sometimes bad.
The elder nodded. “You see yourself quite clearly. You should know that it’s easy for people to see others clearly, but seeing themselves is truly difficult. But you’re the opposite. You see yourself clearly, but can’t see through the things around you.”
The elder was seemingly tired. Upon spotting the stone bench, he placed the broom to the side and slowly sat there.
Long Chen hastily helped him sit. The elder seemed almost doddering, and it didn’t seem to be an act. His Blood Qi was truly dried-up, so he could be considered to have one foot in the grave.
“Senior, at such an age, why are you still working?” Long Chen sat down with him.
“No, this isn’t working. It’s a kind of cultivation.” The elder smiled at Long Chen.
The elder’s eyes were turbid as if he was blind. But within those eyes, Long Chen seemed to see primal chaos and strange lines. There was something that he could not describe within them.
“Cultivation? Forgive this disciple for his foolishness, but could senior give me some pointers?” asked Long Chen.
“When you can repeat the same simple action over and over again without any vexation and instead feel joy, you will understand. When I sweep the ground, I’m not just sweeping the leaves and dust. I’m sweeping away the vexation in my head, the dust in my heart. Once you understand the principle, you will find that the world is contained within a grain of sand; the cosmos is contained within a leaf. Every tiny thing has the potential to allow you to comprehend the mysteries of the grand universe’s Daos,” said the elder.
Long Chen was shaken. The elder’s words showed him another kind of cultivation, opening another viewpoint of cultivation for him.
The world was contained within a grain of sand; the cosmos was contained within a single leaf. To look at what was big from what was small was an unchanging principle since ancient times.
No matter how big the world was, it was built from the tiniest specks of dust. Through each speck of dust, it was possible to look at the entire world.
The world was like this, so the Heavenly Daos were also like this. This was why it was said that all ten thousand Daos were built on the most fundamental building blocks. As long as you could grasp those basic fundamentals, you could comprehend all Daos.
With just a few words, the elder had opened a new door in Long Chen’s mind. Countless fantasies were born within his imagination. It was like a valve had been turned on, and the feeling of enlightenment delighted Long Chen.
“Do you understand?” asked the elder.
Long Chen shook his head. “No.”
The elder nodded. “Good. Your comprehension skill really isn’t bad. Speaking of which, my memory isn’t very good at this age. At the very beginning, what did I ask you?”
“You asked me why I was vexed. In truth, I’m extremely disappointed in this academy’s rules. It feels like the dean is a fool…”
Long Chen suddenly looked around to make sure that no one else was around to hear him insulting the dean.
“Oh? Why?” asked the elder.
“The academy’s rules and laws are filled with holes, resulting in all kinds of injustice. There’s also the Chu family’s people who have taken the entire academy to be theirs…” Long Chen explained all the various unjust treatments he had encountered in the academy.
When he spoke about Chu Huairen, he couldn’t help unleashing a few coarse curses. For even those two magistrates to get off freely was extremely vexing.
The elder listened to all of Long Chen’s complaints before asking, “What would you do if you were the dean?”
“If I was the dean, I’d slap all these idiots to death and seal all those holes. Although it wouldn’t stop injustice completely, it would at least be reduced and things would be somewhat fair. An orderly system would rapidly raise the academy’s unity and rate of growth.”
“And then?”
“And then? And then the academy would get stronger and stronger, no?” asked Long Chen.
“After the peak of growth comes a decline. Once things reach one extreme, they can only go in the other direction. When the academy grows to its limit and is unable to keep growing, it will start declining. You might say that such a thing won’t occur while you’re here, but you can’t possibly live forever. If you’ve already pushed things to the limit, how will someone else take over for you?” asked the elder.
“They…” Long Chen was dumbfounded. He hadn’t thought of such a problem.
“If you were the head of a large clan, then in your generation you could raise the clan to its limit, sweeping through all your enemies. But without you, the clan will start to break down. The more glorious you were, the greater the destruction of your clan.”
Long Chen was dumbfounded. He had never thought of such a thing, but he had to admit that what the elder spoke of was reality.
“After reaching a peak, things must decline. This is an iron principle that has never changed. Some people skyrocket only to powerlessly fall afterward. Some are even stronger and smash right into the limit of these heavens. As for the result, there’s no need to say it. Unless you can smash through the limit of this world, you cannot touch that barrier. All things are governed by laws. The heavens have the Heavenly Daos. These laws are like cages around every single existence. It just so happens that in this world, there is a special group of people who like to smash into that heavenly ceiling. Even if they have to die for it, they leave their blood as a mark on that ceiling. They’re a group of fools but also a group of true brave warriors. They are called by the domineering and resounding name of nine star heirs,” said the elder, staring at Long Chen.
“What?!”
Long Chen shot up, staring in shock at the elder.
“Senior, you…”
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