Chapter 922: Artemis (1/2)
”Daddy, why don't you allow me to cultivate?”
Up in the highest world, a ten-year-old girl sat in a massive hall in front of a middle-aged man with black hair.
The man with black hair was the Opposer, and the child in front of him was his youngest daughter, Artemis.
When Gravis had discovered new love, the Opposer and his wife had felt their old love being rekindled.
When Artemis had heard about Cultivation from her friends, she had felt it to be wondrous.
People could fly around?
People could completely reshape the entire world?
She also wanted to do this!
”Artemis,” her father said. He tried his best to make his voice as soft as possible. He didn't want to scare her or suppress her with his authority.
”I love you, and you know that I only want the best for you,” the Opposer said with difficulty.
Artemis didn't react.
Her father told her so often that he loved her that this statement had no impact on her.
”But Cultivation is not as easy as you imagine,” the Opposer said.
”Cultivation doesn't lead to happiness. It can help you in securing happiness, but you first need to go through a black sea of pain and despair before you can truly find happiness.”
SHING!
A white screen that showed images from a village was summoned in front of Artemis.
”Do you see them?” the Opposer asked. ”These are mortals, and they are truly happy.”
Artemis saw several adults working together, and whenever the husbands looked at their wives, a long and deep connection between them could be felt.
”You want to be happy, right?” the Opposer asked.
”Yes,” Artemis said without any hesitation, ”but I also want to see more of the world. I want to become powerful and understand the world. I don't just want to spend the rest of my life in this city!”
The Opposer sighed. Why was raising this child so much harder than raising all the other ones?
In the past, he could just have directly shown them that they didn't need any power to be happy, but now, everything had become more difficult.
The Opposer had changed, and he was trying his best to be as good of a father as he could be.
Artemis didn't call him father but daddy.
Artemis wasn't surprised when her father told her that he loved her.
Artemis wasn't even a little bit nervous in front of her father.
As a young child, Artemis felt all of this to be natural.
This was just normal, right?
”I have told you what your big brother had to go through,” the Opposer said, referring to Gravis.
”He had accidentally killed his only friend in the lower world.”
”He had to decide between power and happiness.”
”He had to stay alone for so many years, and even when he made friends, he had to separate from them.”
”Even now, over 50,000 years later for him, he still hasn't met his earliest friends again.”
”If you step on the path of Cultivation, the world will become your enemy. At that point, you can't increase your power and be happy at the same time. As soon as you step on the path of Cultivation, happiness has to wait until you are powerful enough to protect this happiness.”
”Right now, no one is threatening your happiness. If you want to search for happiness, no one will stop you.”
”Are you truly willing to spend your entire life among blood and destruction just to be able to search for the very thing you can already have right now?” The Opposer finished.
Artemis frowned. ”So, that's a no, right?” she asked.
The Opposer sighed again.
”It's not that easy to make such a choice,” he said. ”Right now, you are only ten, and you're not able to make such a long-lasting decision.”
”I'm grown-up already!” Artemis shouted, aggrieved.
Some seconds of silence passed in which the Opposer looked with a complicated expression at his daughter while his daughter looked with narrowed eyes at her father.
”How about this? When you're 15, you can decide what path you want to choose,” the Opposer said.
”15!?” Artemis asked in shock. ”That's so long!”
Five years for a ten-year-old child might as well be as long as their entire life for them.
She had to wait for her entire life!?