Peerless Martial God

“Of course, it’s just a name, so it doesn’t really matter. Everyone has many teachers in their life. Many people won’t ever leave their teacher because they respect them too much. Actually, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you think of all your teachers as your masters deep in your heart, let it be that way. Doing things with your heart, that’s what’s most important.” said Emperor Yu. Lin Feng didn’t reply, he just sat and listened.

“But you can also refute everything that I’m telling you, everybody has different opinions. Everything I say might be wrong for other people.” said Emperor Yu as if he were whispering.

He didn’t talk with insistence, instead, he turned his head and smiled at Lin Feng, “Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m not very clear sometimes.”

He didn’t look like what Lin Feng would have expected.

“I understand a little bit.” said Lin Feng smiling wryly.

“I think you don’t understand everything I’m telling you. For example, I’m your teacher, I will guide you on the path of cultivation, I will correct things I think you don’t do properly, but everything I tell you might not be precise. Maybe the things I say will be right for me and my own body, but maybe that for you they will be entirely wrong. Therefore, no matter what I tell you, you should always engage in critical thinking. It’s like most people think the sky above the sky is a celestial place, in fact, it’s just what you have in front of your eyes.” (editor’s note: I believe sky above the sky refers to this new place Lin Feng is at)

“You probably want to ask me questions.” said Emperor Yu smiling. Then, he lied down on his stone long-chair and looked at the sky.

“Teacher, last time I saw you, you looked very old. Now you look like a middle-aged man, you clearly changed your appearance.”

“It’s caused by cultivation. Maybe the next time you meet me, I’ll look like a young man, just like you.”

“Caused by cultivation!” whispered Lin Feng. Then he said, “What brought me to you?”

Lin Feng had wanted to ask that for a long time and now he was finally meeting the emperor in person.

“Show me your sword.” said Emperor Yu.

Even though Lin Feng didn’t understand what his intention were, he had his Tian Ji Sword appear. It was then floating in front of him.

“Not bad! It became so strong!” Emperor Yu caressed the sword and gave it back to Lin Feng. He smiled and said, “How’s Tian Ji Zi that old dude? Is he alright?”

“Tian Ji Zi!” Lin Feng frowned and stared at Emperor Yu. After a while, he relaxed and smiled wryly, “Seems like things are chaotic.”

“Nothing is chaotic, it’s just that everyone makes different choices.” said Emperor Yu shaking his head. “Everybody makes their own choices, back then, Emperor Shi and I left Tian Chi and decided to walk our own path. If a disciple leaves Tian Chi and comes to Ba Huang, I’ll help them, but they’ll still have to make their own decisions and walk on their own path. Just like your nine fellow disciples, and you. Last time we sent Qing Lin to Gan Yu because we could never really forget about Tian Chi. We organized a recruitment process for the first time so we wanted to see if someone from Tian Chi would come or not, would there be disciples who are similar to us? If you hadn’t come, no problem, but since you’re here, of course we feel closer. Of course, if you hadn’t taken such great efforts, I wouldn’t have insisted either.”

Becoming an emperor was difficult, it was a complex path with many obstacles. Those walking on the path to become an emperor had to have many enemies and had to kill many people. Even with some help, people still had to make their own decisions.

For example, emperors couldn’t directly teach every single disciple, they couldn’t care about every single thing happening in Tiantai, they couldn’t get angry because someone had been killed outside. Those things were not problems for them. Could they manage and handle dozens of thousands of disciples’ directly and take care of all their problems?

That was impossible. He would have to isolate himself from the world.

“Did you understand what I just told you?” asked Emperor Yu smiling at Lin Feng.

“I understand.” said Lin Feng nodding.

“You don’t.” said Emperor Yu shaking his head and smiling. Lin Feng looked confused again.

“I told you, everything that I say is not necessarily true for you. For example, when I became an emperor, all my family members were already dead so I wasn’t attached to anyone emotionally, that’s why I could isolate myself from the world. But what about you? You’re young, if someday, you become an emperor, will you not be worried about your family anymore?”

Lin Feng smiled wryly. Emperor Yu was challenging him.

“Do you understand now?” asked Emperor Yu again. “I understood!” said Lin Feng smiling.

“What did you understand?”

Lin Feng looked at the emperor calmly and said, “Everybody has their own destiny, their own path. Your path is not my path. I must listen to my heart to find my own path.”

“Alright, you already understand what life will be like after becoming a Zun cultivator.” said Emperor Yu.

“Life after becoming a Zun cultivator?” whispered Lin Feng.

“Indeed, after becoming a Zun cultivator, you’ll walk on your own path and nobody will be able to help you anymore. You will have to teach yourself and see what’s the best for you.” said Emperor Yu calmly. Lin Feng suddenly understood everything Emperor Yu had told him and why he was telling him those things.

“Is Emperor Shi here?” asked Lin Feng.

“He’s also walking his own path. I heard that Emperor Shi’s precious stone is with you now. Now, you possess the two treasures which belonged to me and Emperor Shi.” said Emperor Yu smiling. He was lying on the stone chair, looking at the sky and chatting. In the past, he used to be Tian Ji Peak’s leader and Emperor Shi used to be Tian Xuan Peak’s leader.

The Tian Ji Sword and the Tian Xuan stone used to belong to them.

“Let’s go see your fellow disciples.” said Emperor Yu to Lin Feng. Then, he stood up, put his hand on Lin Feng’s shoulder and shook it. The space around them was suddenly distorted and they disappeared.

After Emperor Yu and Lin Feng left, there was a footprint where they just were. It looked strange as if it were changing every second.

Emperor Yu and Lin Feng arrived in a city. It looked like a normal city where cultivators weren’t so strong, where cultivators were only ordinary. In Lin Feng’s field of vision, there was a monk begging alms patiently knocking at each door. Even when people kicked him out, he continued smiling.

It was difficult to imagine that the beggar was an incredible cultivator who could destroy that place.

“Chi Er is practicing Buddhist cultivation and the Buddha golden body transformation, he has to be extremely determined while pursuing that path.” said Emperor Yu indifferently. Then, they disappeared again. Lin Feng sensed a different Qi, it was a terrifying Qi. Now, they were on a battlefield.

There were many Zun cultivators fighting and it was terrifying. All of them seemed like they could destroy the world.

There was someone there, a cultivator in black clothes soaked with blood and holding a sword.

It was the first Zun cultivator of Tiantai: Ruo Xie!

Ruo Xie is a killer, so killing is his path.” said Emperor Yu. Then, they disappeared again and appeared in the sky place again. The atmosphere was calm, it was as if they had never left.

Emperor Yu went back onto his long stone chair and lied down again. He smiled and said, “Everybody is different. Mu Chen follows his heart’s desires, he doesn’t constantly look for opportunities. He is able to adapt himself to different circumstances and he feels at home wherever he is.”

“The cultivation world is even more complex than I thought!” whispered Lin Feng. The emperor had just taken him to a battlefield where there were so many Zun cultivators, what was that place?

“Teacher, what if my fellow disciple died on the battlefield?” asked Lin Feng.

“He makes his own choices.” said Emperor Yu calmly. “In the Ba Huang Province, influential people come out all the time to fight, but emperors don’t mind. It’s normal. Unless another emperor comes out, emperors tend to keep to themselves. Otherwise, how else would emperors allow their disciples to grow up?” This world is a bit chaotic!”

Lin Feng remained silent for a few seconds and nodded in a profound way. There were rules. If emperors came out to solve everybody’s problems, disciples wouldn’t learn for themselves. Emperors would end up destroying everything and then each other. That would be the end of the world.