“Because my ambition transcends you, your sect and this land, Wenjun Long.”

Yao Shen’s words echoed in Wenjun Long’s mind with the intensity of a thunderclap. He was Former Patriarch Wenjun Long of the Divine Mountain Sect and he carried in his hands the power to level the entire Serenity Mountain in his two hands. He was not one accustomed to the concept of ‘belittlement’. Never had Wenjun Long encountered a cultivator who dared make light of his ambition upon the land entrusted to him by his ancestors.

This was no mere belligerence. The word arrogance was not enough to contain Yao Shen’s audaciousness. It was an attack on Wenjun Long— on the Divine Mountain Sect’s prestige.

Although Kang Long managed to maintain a placid expression, the fluctuations in his emotions were too intense to escape Yao Shen’s perception.

It seemed like the wrath of the Former Patriarch was not to be underestimated.

Wenjun Long began to laugh.

“Many decades have passed since there was one who would address me with such audaciousness,” Wenjun Long’s words were sharp and biting as the echoes of his bellowing laughter still echoed down the length of the underground lair.

“Perhaps,” he continued, the tempo of his speech slowing while his voice was tinged with melancholy. “Perhaps, that is the very reason why we stand here today.”

Yao Shen’s expression remained an inscrutable mask as he took in Wenjun Long’s words, simply content to meet the older cultivator’s piercing gaze.

“You,” Wenjun Long cut an intimidating figure, still clad in the compressed stone armor while hoisting the Pseudo-Soul Emperor level artifact with his right shoulder and both arms as support.

Yao Shen chose to maintain his silence, noticing the distinct lack of hostility in the Former Patriarch’s address.

“Yao Shen, you are of the Heavenly Sky Sect,” Wenjun Long stated, his gaze turning expectant as his words abruptly tapered off.

Unsure of Wenjun Long’s objective but catching onto his intent, Yao Shen offered him a nod.

“Yet at the same time, you are not of the Heavenly Sky Sect,” Wenjun Long’s words were calm and measured as he uttered a sentence that could be construed as a grave insult, a serious, irrevocable insult to Yao Shen’s honor that would have caused any lesser cultivators in attendance to gape in shock and horror.

“I…,” Yao Shen’s expression darkened a little, the crack in his composure allowing a sliver of his past self, the cultivator who climbed through trials and tribulations to ascend to the position of Patriarch of the Heavenly Sky Sect, to leak, “....am not a member of the Heavenly Sky Sect?”

Kang Long couldn’t help but warily take a few steps back in trepidation as Yao Shen’s words almost devolved into a low growl near the end.

“No,” Wenjun Long blandly replied, his expression unimpressed at the display of hostility.

Very few things in the world could intimidate a powerful cultivator who had lived a full life; which was a wholly different concept from a mortal that had lived his pithy eighty years.

Wenjun Long had seen much and perhaps, somewhere along the winding path, he had grown weary of it.

“You are not a member of the Heavenly Sky Sect,” Wenjun Long reiterated, as if daring Yao Shen to act.

For a brief moment in time, a dark, cimmerian corner of Yao Shen’s heart pulsed in excitement. Then, he took a deep breath and reminded himself— reminded himself that he was no longer that person. Thought of those he loved and those he was oath-bound to protect.

Then, Yao Shen’s expression was inscrutable, placid.

“You are indeed, not a member of the Sect that my ancestors considered their sworn enemy. Your veins do not beat with the tainted blood of the enemies my ancestors had forced me to swear vengeance against, to never forget their treachery and never make the same mistake of extending a hand in trust,” Wenjun Long’s words were carried forward with, what Yao Shen could tell, was genuine emotion— an elusive, wispy white emotion that he was unaccustomed to catching sight of—

Tranquility.

“You, Yao Shen, are a child born out of mediocrity. The offspring of a mortal,” Wenjun Long continued, his words uttered without eschewing his unfiltered thoughts. “You have no real familial or blood ties to any of the legacy families. The closest bond you have is one of rivalry, with Zhou Hui— even then, you rarely speak with him outside of formal settings, the nature of your relationship making it too difficult to do so freely.”

Yao Shen’s eyes narrowed at Wenjun Long’s words, not perturbed but a little surprised at his willingness to reveal how deeply he had researched, nay, spied upon him.

“It could not have been easy,” Wenjun Long continued, his tone rising in both pace and pitch. “A mere outsider, the son of a mortal, climbing from Qi Formation to Foundation Establishment and then from Core Formation to Nascent Soul!” The Former Patriarch of the Divine Mountain Sect no longer withheld his tone, letting his voice echo from the walls of the lowest layer of the Serenity Mountainhold to Yao Shen’s soul.

Yao Shen understood the sly cultivator’s intentions. That didn’t stop snippets of memories from flashing by as he was inadvertently forced to remember the obstacles and thorns in the path he had taken to ascend to the venerable stage that he had.

“They must have watched your progress with jealousy and envy. Cast aspersions at your success and doubts when you fell short of expectations. Lesser cultivators would be crushed by the weight of the scornful eyes and visages colored by schadenfreude just waiting, waiting for you to fall. Waiting for you to fail. Waiting so that they could be proven right!”

For once, Yao Shen understood what it felt like to be at the end of his own Human Dao. Though Wenjun Long hadn’t called upon the mystical esoteric Dao, his words…cut deep.

“The son of a mortal could never possibly surpass the mighty bloodline of a legacy cultivator, now, could he, Patriarch Shen? Yet, you did. To the very top and then… beyond,” To Yao Shen’s utter shock, Wenjun Long lowered his knee— only a little, not subservient in the slightest but enough to indicate his acceptance of Yao Shen’s command.

“That is why, Patriarch Shen, you are not my enemy.”