Chapter 146: Proselytization

Ye Jiuyao glanced at White-Brow, waiting for him to make a decision, while Xinglingzi smiled, as if he understood what those people were intending.

White-Brow frowned and then said in a clear voice, "Open the mountain gate and welcome the guests!"

Just as White-Brow's words fell, the battle-scarred Qianye Sect opened its mountain gates once again, and a group of people filed inside.

Ye Jiuyao, White-Brow, and the others looked at the newcomers, and suddenly smiles appeared on their faces as if they knew the purpose of their visit.

Ye Jiuyao walked over to Xinglingzi's side, giving him an intentional or unintentional smile. Xinglingzi sighed and walked towards the most magnificent grand hall of the Qianye Sect.

With a leap, Xinglingzi landed atop the roof of the grand hall and waved at Ye Jiuyao.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Jiuyao also leaped up and landed beside Xinglingzi.

"We pay our respects to the master!"

"Very well, since you are all here, I shall speak on the Dao of cultivation."

Xinglingzi was long used to this. After all, his cultivation was earth-shattering and heaven-defying, and wherever he went, wondrous phenomena followed. It was no surprise that these people knew of it.

Moreover, he had spent his entire life teaching. Some of those below might have listened to his teachings on cultivation in the past, so calling him "Master" was no big deal.

"Thank you, Master."

Each person found a spot and sat cross-legged. Seeing that everyone was nearly seated, Xinglingzi began to lecture on the principles of cultivation.

However, his lecture was quite brief. Mostly, he urged everyone to uphold a sense of righteousness and strictly avoid petty, heinous, or conscience-corrupting deeds.

"If you have any confusion, you may ask now."

As he finished speaking, his gaze swept across the crowd below, and his voice followed closely.

"Master, this disciple has cultivated for twelve hundred years and has now reached the realm of the Sage, with a lifespan of three thousand years. Yet, I have been unable to make a breakthrough. Why is that?"

"Ah, I see that your talent is good and your foundation is decent. The reason you cannot break through is because you have attachments in your heart. If I remember correctly, you are the ancestor of the Zheng family, aren't you?"

"Master has piercing insight!"

Sitting to the side, Ye Jiuyao watched the scene below, then turned his gaze to the ancestor of the Zheng family before shifting it back to Xinglingzi.

"Sever those worldly matters. Breaking through is nothing more than a single thought to attain the Dao right on the spot."

"This disciple understands!"

The man fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, an overwhelming aura surged violently as he stepped directly from the peak Sage realm into the Sage Monarch realm.

After the mortal realm comes the Sage realm, which is further divided into Sages and Sage Monarchs, followed by the realm of Saints.

One could say that once one reached the Sage realm, every breakthrough was exceedingly difficult. Yet, under such heavy attachments, the ancestor of the Zheng family had been enlightened by a single word from Xinglingzi.

This was sufficient to demonstrate the kind of status Xinglingzi held in the eyes of these people.

"Kid, do you understand?"

"Understand? What am I supposed to understand?"

Hearing the sudden telepathic transmission from Xinglingzi, Ye Jiuyao wore a completely bewildered expression. In his own cultivation, there was no such thing as a bottleneck.

Especially after acquiring the second layer of the [Eating and Sleeping Art] and learning that devouring the Heavenly Fiend Fire could greatly enhance his strength, Ye Jiuyao had never once worried about cultivation.

Furthermore, his cultivation path was somewhat flamboyant. While others had to fight tooth and nail, he didn't need to. If he couldn't make a breakthrough, he would just take a nap.

If one nap couldn't solve it, he would take two naps. If that still didn't work, three naps, four naps... there was simply no need to make a big fuss over it.

Therefore, he truly didn't understand what Xinglingzi meant by "understanding."

"You are a piece of uncarved wood, impossible to mold!"

"It means you shouldn't carry too much emotional baggage, otherwise your bright pearl will gather dust..."

Ye Jiuyao: "............"

What did he mean by a bright pearl gathering dust? He came with innate and extraordinary talents of his own. Perhaps he could even break through just by drinking water; why would he worry about so much?

With that, Ye Jiuyao rolled his eyes and replied with a face full of disdain.

"Old man, do you know how old I am?"

"Early twenties? Given that the great era has descended, the appearance of someone like you is hardly strange..."

"Bah! I am eighteen years old this year, and my cultivation has only been... well... less than a year, I suppose..."

"Barely reaching the Sage realm, it's truly embarrassing to the point of shame. Cultivation is just too hard. Two-thirds of my time was spent sleeping, eating, and drinking, and of course, hanging out with my little Qingyu..."

"Cultivating, breaking through, cultivating again... thinking about it this way, it really is so difficult!"

Ye Jiuyao instantly put on a mournful face, looking at Xinglingzi with profound sorrow, as if he had suffered unimaginably great trauma.

Xinglingzi, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded.

Who am I?

What am I doing?

Where is this?

...

Xinglingzi could genuinely be said to be dumbfounded at this moment. How could there be such a shameless person in this world? Being strong in cultivation was one thing, but how could you possibly be dissatisfied with it?

The crucial part was that he wore an expression as if life had lost all meaning. If it weren't for the crowd present, Xinglingzi would have loved to beat Ye Jiuyao to death.

Even if he didn't beat him to death, making him unable to take care of himself for half a month was an absolute must.

After all, who told him to show off in front of him and steal his title as the number one show-off? Back in the day when he was at this age, he was still struggling just to fall in love.

Now look at this—this bastard had everything, and his cultivation progressed at lightning speed. The key point was that his showing off wasn't forced; he actually had the real strength to back it up.

Xinglingzi sighed and looked back at the people below once again, using them to alleviate the exhaustion in his heart.

"Hmph, serves you right for trying to show off in front of me, old man."

Actually, Ye Jiuyao wasn't lying. Having experienced numerous events on this journey, only a few years had truly passed. If one were to strictly count his actual time spent meditating and cultivating, it was practically negligible.

Therefore, Ye Jiuyao wasn't even bragging, but he simply wanted to tick off this old man since this fellow was entirely too arrogant.

Seeing Xinglingzi return to lecturing the crowd, Ye Jiuyao stopped paying attention and simply listened in.

However, for some reason, Ye Jiuyao truly disliked this style of lecture-based instruction, and before long, he began to feel drowsy.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Soon, soft snores began to echo from atop the golden peak.

Xinglingzi wore a look of utter helplessness. He wanted to fly into a rage, but thinking of his reputation as a master of a generation who couldn't afford to ruin his good name, he held it in.

The members of the Qianye Sect all wore dark expressions. Such a prime opportunity had been snatched away by Ye Jiuyao, yet this fellow didn't cherish it at all.

They all harbored the urge to beat him to death, but unfortunately, their strength fell short. However, the core disciples were different; every single one of them was rubbing their fists and wiping their palms, waiting for an order from White-Brow or Xinglingzi.

As time passed, someone finally couldn't help breaking the silence.

"Master, may I ask about the person beside you..."

"Him? He's just a scoundrel..."

"Master, should the disciples make a move?"

"Hmm... then you can all go together and clear him out."

"Understood!"

Instantly, as soon as Xinglingzi's words fell, a hundred voices responded in unison.

Meanwhile, Cao Sisi, Wild Bear, and a few others felt a tinge of worry, as they felt Ye Jiuyao was actually quite alright.

With that, Xinglingzi stepped aside, retreating into the sky above, and watched Ye Jiuyao with a look of schadenfreude.