Chapter 1233: Zhang Clan (1/2)

Chapter 1233: Zhang Clan

Li Qiye came out of the hall and sat on a stone step to gaze at the vast sea and its unrestrained waves while the soft breeze blew. This went on quietly for some time.

Zhang Baitu didn’t know Li Qiye’s origin. In his eyes, the youth was too mysterious and simply impossible to speculate.

Zhang Baitu couldn’t help but ask: “Young Noble, where did you come from?”

“From where I should.” Li Qiye looked over at Zhang Baitu and said: “I see that your cultivation is needlessly complex and unrefined. There’s your own clan’s merit law, then there are the incantations from the sea demons and internal strengthening from the treants. This is very chaotic, so your blood energy isn’t flowing well.”

Zhang Baitu was surprised after hearing this. Li Qiye being able to see through him despite being so young made him feel quite dejected.

“After the seniors left, I couldn’t learn a lot beyond the elementary basics, so I had to go outside to find teachers. I joined many sects but failed to make much progress and had to return to the Hundred-Saints Hall in hopes of being able to live the rest of my life here like a falling leaf returning to its roots.” A great sadness was expressed by his eyes; there were too many words he wanted to say, but he kept it brief.

So it turned out that after the seniors of his clan passed away, he couldn’t learn the remaining merit laws as they were missing.

He wasn’t willing to give up, so he left his home to find masters. Who knows if it was due to his own inability or some other reasons? Either way, this search didn’t go smoothly.

In this process, he learned very slowly, and the same went for his cultivation. In fact, “very slow” wasn’t enough to describe his cultivation, “as slow as a snail’s pace” was a more appropriate analogy.

It was slow to the point where the sects he had joined agreed to let him leave. Sometimes he even left of his own volition.

For many sects, there was no leaving after joining. However, there was no cure for Zhang Baitu’s cultivation speed. To put it bluntly, even if he didn’t want to leave, they would want him to leave eventually. Having such a disciple was simply losing face.

Just like this, he joined one sect after another but amounted to nothing. He eventually joined too many sects in the Dragon Demon Sea and became quite well-known. Everyone called him Zhang Baitu. It referred to him being the disciple of too many sects. No one even remembered his real name. 1

In the end, he helplessly spoke with a dejected expression: “It is because I am too stupid and have an inferior constitution. I have let down my masters and seniors; I’m even weaker than a new disciple even after a lifetime of cultivation.”

He lamented with a sigh after saying this and felt despair. In the beginning, he thought that it was because he didn’t have a suitable merit law or a teacher. As time went on and he suffered many successive failures, he lost all confidence and began to consider himself stupid and unsuitable for cultivation. So in this way, he returned to his home, the Hundred-Saints Hall, to live out the rest of his life.

He mumbled to himself: “Maybe I was not meant to be a part of this world. I was born a mortal, why the need to enter the cultivation world?”

After joining so many sects and cultivating so many laws, he couldn’t blame anyone but himself.

Li Qiye looked at him and lightly said: “It is not that your constitution and talents are lacking nor is it due to your stupidity. All things in life have a cause and effect. It is just that you haven’t found your own karma yet.”

Zhang Baitu smiled bitterly and replied: “There’s no need to comfort me, Young Noble. Some seniors have told me the same thing. If it really isn’t due to my own constitution, then why haven’t I made a half-step of progress?”

From his perspective, Li Qiye was only comforting him with the same words he had heard many times before from the nice seniors of the other sects.

Li Qiye nonchalantly shook his head: “A child of the Zhang Clan is different after all. It will be fine if you cultivate your clan’s merit law.”

“Our own merit law?” Zhang Baitu’s surprise quickly turned into curiosity as he asked: “Young Noble, do you know our clan’s merit law?”

In fact, he was very interested because Li Qiye was able to open the wooden doors of the hall, something that no one else had ever done before. Thus, he suspected that Li Qiye was a legendary saint.

Of course, he didn’t know what a saint or sage was. They were only figures of the old tales after all. Despite all the rumors about the Hundred-Saints Hall being protected by the wise sages of the nine heavens and ten earths, the descendants of the three clans had never seen any of them before.