59 IN THE PITCH-BLACK NIGHT, VENGEFUL TALONS CARVE BLOOMING FLOWERS IN THE AIR (2/2)
The man nodded in a carefree manner, chuckling as he pressed down on his wounded chest with some cloth, ”Indeed, that you are. However your skills are the real deal… To be defeated so easily, it seems the peak of my martial arts is even further up than I had anticipated. Although I did not consider myself too highly, I was still much too haughty. Meeting you was just the wake up call I needed to realize this!”
Xiao Wu smiled underneath her pale mask, ”Eheh, fellow disciple exaggerates.” She then bowed elegantly and added, ”Thanks again for agreeing to my request tonight. It was a fruitful experience for me as well… also, good luck in your journey!”
”Mm, it was my pleasure, young genius!” The youth bowed himself. ”By the way, is there-”
Is there a chance for us to meet and spar again… was what he was going to ask. Unfortunately, by the time he looked up, that enigmatic azure-clothed, black robed figure had already disappeared. He could only sigh and lament: ”So fighting me has no more value now that you've cut me down, has it? Just like on the battlefield, a dead enemy is in the past and one should only look ahead, that's the way of a true victor!”
The sound of an axe cutting through the wind could be heard as the youth began to swing the axe while recalling the clash from earlier. Other than understanding the fearsomeness of his opponent's might, he had also come to an understanding of his own strengths and shortcomings.
”After that fight, I feel like my attainments that have staled for so long are finally ready to improve again… It's time for some training!”
...
Xiao Wu's next stop was a house ten minutes from the previous one. She once again stopped in front of an isolated hut and waited patiently.
After a few more minutes, a man in his late years came out.
Long ago, when he had still been middle-aged, the ignorant people around him had congratulated his strength and his attainments.
Blinded by their flattery, he had followed their suggestions to join some kind of School or Sect to make his way higher up in the social ladder.
Eventually, he had decided to come to the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect
Unfortunately for him, the truth revealed itself early on: at his age, unless he had a cultivation of the Advanced stage or higher, the Sect would pay no mind to someone as old as him. After all, he had surpassed his golden age long ago, and yet had only managed to achieve Low Level Basic Stage. As he got older and older, his attainments staled, to the point where to this day he had yet to reach Middle Level. It was a classic example of people stumbling upon cultivation methods in their youths, yet having no one to guide them or to compare notes with.
Later on, those people would never be able to achieve greatness and would eventually burn out, destined to never leave a mark in the world as they returned to dust…
And now, he was on the verge of turning eighty.
”I apologize in advance for any trouble my selfless actions might cause to you,” respectfully shouted the emerald-eyed child in azure clothing, black Sect robes and wearing a pale mask.
Having experienced the vicissitudes of life first-hand, the old man had deep understanding of the hidden motions in the world.
In his long years, how many young fighters had he seen rise up or heard tales about? And among those, how many had he witnessed falling due to their own haughtiness and vanity? They were simply too many to count…
Therefore, even if he could tell the other's youthfulness with his own eyes, he still bowed back as a sign of respect.
He saluted the black-robed figure standing in his yard without the least bit of presumption at all. The old man was not arrogant in the least regarding his standing in the cultivation world; on the contrary, he knew where he belonged to extremely well: he was the bottom tier, his role that of a stepping stone.
And he also understood that, to fight a mysterious rising star such as the one before him, the bizarre Night Challenger, was a rare chance of a lifetime. To a nobody like him, what better way could there be to leave his own, miniscule yet indelible mark?
That way, no matter how insignificant he might seem in the bigger picture, his actions would be molding the future path of the chosen one that would be shaping the future!
If he lost, nobody would dare laugh…
And if he won, he would have a story to tell in a far distant future, when the cub of now grows up into a full-fledged tiger!
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Author's Note
These are the two philosophies of the one that is winning and of the one that has lost: the latter wishes to etch a mark so as to not be forgotten; the former is merely looking to attain the peak, and therefore legends are left behind wherever he trails, irregardless of his intentions.
And contrary to popular belief, I believe that it is the state of being that defines the mentality, and not the other way around. Ultimately, it is all up to fate, luck, chance, occurrence, or whatever one might call it: if things don't align, a person's 'Will' alone doesn't have the power to carve into the real world...
And that is why in this miraculous world that I have created to find refuge, I most definitely won't have it be so.
~ Cookie