Original Aspiration

Everything in the Spirit Tomb was clearly visible in the Haotian Mirror.

What each person was doing could also be seen clearly.

Some people rushed off as soon as they entered, frantically searching the locations they had learned about through advance tips. When fellow disciples around them asked for help, forget helping them—they would sooner lose than spare them a second glance.

Chu Xinghe, by contrast, turned no fellow disciple away when they came seeking help.

Set side by side, the difference was plain as day.

"Our Vast Heaven Sect ranks as the number one sect under heaven. Every disciple under our roof is extraordinarily gifted, but while talent is important, character also determines one's future. What do you all think?"

The grand elder spoke softly, but his voice reached every elder's ears. While the sect master was in seclusion, the grand elder managed the sect's affairs in his stead and naturally oversaw every elder as well. Though he had not spoken plainly, everyone understood what he meant.

Wasn't he telling them, "Look... what the hell are these favored disciples you picked doing?"

Every last one of them had abandoned their fellow disciples for their own sake. Were these the disciples they had chosen?

"Your rebuke is well deserved, grand elder. We will reflect and change our ways."

The elders were ashamed.

It was a case of people paling in comparison. In the past, everyone had behaved much the same way when the Spirit Tomb opened, so naturally no one had said anything. But Chu Xinghe's performance today was so dazzling that everyone else had instantly become a backdrop.

Most frustrating of all, even when the grand elder rebuked them over Chu Xinghe, the elders had nothing to say. What could they say? Blame Chu Xinghe for helping his fellow disciples?

Though the Vast Heaven Sect had many mountain factions and palaces, it had always been an exceptionally united sect. It was no accident that it had become the number one sect under heaven. But these newly admitted disciples clearly did not yet understand that. They thought only of themselves, forgetting that the Spirit Tomb Gathering was not a martial competition where they had to fight to the death, and that the people beside them were not enemies or opponents, but fellow disciples, branches joined to the same trunk.

Inside the Spirit Tomb, the young women from Hill Forest Palace followed in Chu Xinghe's footsteps, and they were not alone. More and more people joined him.

Everyone was thoroughly won over by this core disciple, who was willing to spend his own time helping guide his fellow disciples.

No wonder he was a core disciple. He was truly benevolent and righteous.

"Junior brothers and sisters, like you, this is my first time entering the Spirit Tomb. Although I've heard some senior brothers talk about it, I don't know all that much. Choosing a spirit weapon depends on your own fate. I can guide you, but what kind of spirit weapon you ultimately obtain depends on whether your own fate with it has arrived. If you don't obtain a spirit weapon you're satisfied with, please don't blame me."

Chu Xinghe's words immediately brought tears to the eyes of the junior brothers and sisters behind him.

"Senior Brother Xinghe, we'll remember your kindness in our hearts."

"There's no need to say that, Senior Brother Xinghe. You've already done more than enough by guiding us."

"Senior Brother Xinghe is so handsome!"

Wan Lin followed behind Chu Xinghe, little stars filling her eyes. She had only intended to give it a try, but she had never expected Senior Brother Xinghe to be so kind.

Under Chu Xinghe's lead, everyone pressed onward. As they continued, the variety of spirit weapons around them gradually increased. Clearly, this should be the right path.

There were countless paths through the Spirit Tomb, and some might even lead to places with no spirit weapons at all, so taking the wrong path would be troublesome. The path Chu Xinghe was taking was the route he had obtained earlier, but he was not taking everyone to the divine sword's location at the end. He was going to...

Soon, after rounding a bend ahead, Chu Xinghe found the place he was looking for.

This place was a little different from the others, because a stone stele had appeared before them.

"The Spirit Pool!" Wan Lin made out the words on the stele ahead. Everyone knew about the Spirit Pool.

The Spirit Pool could be considered the very center of the entire Spirit Tomb. It was also where the Vast Heaven Sect's earliest Spirit Tomb had been, and after the sect's ancestors died, their spirit weapons had been laid to rest here.

Upon seeing the Spirit Pool, Chu Xinghe spoke. "This is the place. Junior brothers and sisters, you can choose the spirit weapons you need here!"

After speaking, Chu Xinghe pointed toward the Spirit Pool.

But the moment the words left his mouth, countless people around him, Wan Lin included, were dumbfounded.

"Senior Brother Xinghe, don't you know what this place is?" Wan Lin asked, stunned.

"I do. It's the Spirit Pool!"

"Then why are you telling us to choose spirit weapons here, Senior Brother Xinghe?"

"That's right... the Spirit Pool is where the Vast Heaven Sect's earliest Spirit Tomb was. The spirit weapons here are also the oldest batch..."

"Exactly! Many of these spirit weapons are even damaged, and the ones that aren't are still the worst. What do you mean by this, Senior Brother Xinghe?"

"Choose spirit weapons here? Aren't you setting us up?"

The crowd erupted into an uproar. Just as everyone had said, the Vast Heaven Sect's earliest Spirit Pool held the spirit weapons of its earliest ancestors. But at the same time, the Vast Heaven Sect of that era had not yet been the number one sect under heaven. The spirit weapons in its Spirit Pool back then had been nowhere near as plentiful or varied as they were now, so whether in their abilities or other respects, they were not as good as the current ones.

By telling everyone to choose here, Chu Xinghe was clearly setting them up.

For a moment, everyone looked at Chu Xinghe with doubt and anger. He had promised to guide them, so what did he mean by setting them all up like this?

It was not just the people in the Spirit Tomb. In Haotian Palace, the grand elder and the elders before the Haotian Mirror also turned pale, because none of them had expected Chu Xinghe to bring everyone to this place. What had happened to his supposed benevolence and righteousness? Wasn't he blatantly setting them up?

Inside the Spirit Tomb, Wan Lin was also full of confusion. What exactly was Senior Brother Xinghe trying to do?

Wasn't he blatantly setting everyone up?

The disciples around him grew more and more agitated. A few of the hot-tempered ones were already about to start cursing.

They declared that even if Chu Xinghe was a core disciple, they would submit a joint complaint over the way he had harmed them and make him pay dearly!

"All of you, shut up!"

Amid the clamor, Chu Xinghe let out a great shout. His roar shook the surroundings and succeeded in silencing every other voice.

"You think I'm harming you? That I'm making you choose the worst spirit weapons?" Chu Xinghe's words drew nods from countless people.

"Hahahaha... how sad... this is the greatest tragedy under heaven!"

Grief written all over his face, Chu Xinghe swept his gaze over the crowd and slowly spoke.

"A thousand years ago, our Vast Heaven Sect's first-generation patriarch, Great Emperor Haotian, walked out of a small mountain village. He had neither incomparable talent nor any divine weapon of peerless sharpness, yet he founded the Vast Heaven Sect through his own strength."

"Over the next several hundred years, countless sects under heaven rose and fell, toppling into the rolling river of history. Yet our Vast Heaven Sect, once an obscure little sect, pressed onward against every hardship, hacking through thorns and briars!"

"Four hundred years ago, the tenth-generation Great Emperor Haotian of our Vast Heaven Sect appeared, a genius blessed by heaven. He slew the demon chief and struck down the leader of evil. That day, four words appeared above the gates of our Vast Heaven Sect: number one under heaven!"

"For the next four hundred years, our Vast Heaven Sect sat in the position of the number one sect under heaven, and no one could shake it in the slightest. But today, I want to ask you, junior brothers and sisters: who still remembers what the first-generation Great Emperor Haotian's spirit weapon was? And what was the tenth-generation Great Emperor Haotian's spirit weapon?"

The entire crowd was silent, not even a sparrow making a sound.

"I'll tell you! The first-generation Great Emperor Haotian's spirit weapon was called the Black Iron Sword! It is the very one before your eyes!" Chu Xinghe pointed behind him at a spirit weapon planted at the highest point. "A thousand years have passed, and it is long since mottled and damaged beyond recognition, but those very marks and that damage tell of its former glory."

"And the tenth-generation Great Emperor Haotian's spirit weapon was called the Mercury Sword. It too was an obscure spirit weapon, and it is right before your eyes!" Chu Xinghe pointed once more, this time at the Mercury Sword, another spirit weapon that looked utterly unremarkable.

"A thousand years have passed, from obscurity to sitting high at the summit today. How many still remember the past? How sad, how lamentable!" Chu Xinghe looked utterly grief-stricken.

"We entered the Vast Heaven Sect and came to the Spirit Tomb to choose our own spirit weapons. But did we come only to choose spirit weapons? No! We came to behold the past our ancestors left us and learn of their former glory! Yet today, you look at these spirit weapons before you and actually tell me they're trash? But which of you remembers that every one of them once followed its master in battle for the Vast Heaven Sect until the very last moment?"

Silence... at this moment, the Spirit Tomb was utterly silent.

"The path of cultivation is difficult, as difficult as ascending to the heavens. A spirit weapon can make that path much easier for us, but ask yourselves: the tenth-generation Great Emperor Haotian wielded the Mercury Sword and still led the Vast Heaven Sect to the summit. Why can't we?"

"Four hundred years ago, our ancestors had no divine weapons of peerless sharpness, yet they still won the Vast Heaven Sect the title of number one under heaven. But today, four hundred years later... all of you favored children of heaven stand here thinking only of obtaining a spirit weapon to make your cultivation path smoother. Are you worthy of being Vast Heaven Sect disciples?"

Silence... at this moment, it was not just the Spirit Tomb that fell silent. Even before the Haotian Mirror, all was quiet.

The grand elder and the other elders all sank into thought.

Four hundred years ago had been the Vast Heaven Sect's golden age. Even now, it seemed the sect had never again been able to surpass that peak.

Everyone had asked why. The Vast Heaven Sect had more resources than it had back then, and its disciples had better aptitudes, yet it could not recreate the glory of those days. Why...

And today, Chu Xinghe had given everyone the answer!

"Original aspiration. We've all forgotten our original aspiration..."

"We want stronger spirit weapons and more resources, but on the path of cultivation, external things are external things in the end. Only by finding our original aspiration can we restore that glory. Now I ask you: do you still think the spirit weapons in this Spirit Pool are ordinary?"

Chu Xinghe finished in one breath, his voice choked with tears. As the saying went, to hoodwink... ahem... to move others, you first had to move yourself. Whether they believed it or not, he certainly did...