"Are you?"
"I..."
Luo Manping examined himself for a long while, then fell silent.
The grand age of the netherworld had five ranks corresponding to the five steps of the immortal path.
Cultivators at the fifth step could be crowned king.
Those were true kings.
Not "Holy Kings," a title used as a beautiful hope.
Luo Manping had only seen such a powerhouse from afar during the grand ceremony at the Eastern Peak King City. Even then, the other party had not descended in their true body.
"There are many geniuses in this world."
Luo Shentong looked into the distance. "Outstanding cultivators are as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river, everywhere to be found. Yet those who attain the Dao are few and far between, while those crowned king are as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Geniuses? Heaven's chosen? Dao heirs? Every generation has them."
"We should admit that some will arrive, but no one notices the far greater number who die."
Luo Manping refused to give up. "There will always be someone who can make it!"
"Who can attain the Dao, who can become immortal!"
"Who?"
"I don't know." Luo Manping shook his head blankly.
"Out of ten thousand geniuses, would even one reach your current realm?"
Luo Manping hesitated.
"What about a hundred thousand? A million?"
"Is my realm really that difficult to reach?" Luo Manping was not doubtful. He had simply seen too many cultivators at his own realm, as well as cultivators at higher realms.
Back in the Eastern Peak King City, saints had walked everywhere, leaving him with little sense of how rare they truly were.
"Difficult!"
Luo Shentong nodded. "Since you are already a dragon among men and a phoenix among mortals, you should believe in yourself even more, rather than