Evening Breeze swept through the courtyard, setting the tree shadows swaying.
Clearwind Courtyard was quiet and secluded, with none of the banquet's polite pretense or ostentation left.
Li Yun said earnestly, "I'd like to hear more!"
Ye Chen dropped all trace of humor. A rare, heavy weariness showed between his brows.
He looked up at the deep Starry Sky and spoke slowly, his voice sinking lower.
"Have you heard this saying?"
"What saying?"
"There were no roads in the world until people walked them..."
"Ordinary people often say it, but few realize it also describes Martial Artists. A road is a Dao..."
"Many Martial Artists know only that a Sage advances from Lower Sage to Middle Sage... Great Sage... Lord Sage... Saint Venerable... Saint Emperor, then Dao Sage and Supreme Sage."
"As if cultivating the Martial Dao were simply a matter of obtaining a higher-level Cultivation Technique and climbing from one realm to the next..."
"That thinking isn't wrong at lower realms. But once you reach the Saint Venerable Realm, thinking that way will leave you stuck there for life."
"You can forget about becoming a Supreme Sage. You won't even touch the Saint Emperor Realm."
"Because after Saint Venerable comes establishing one's nature, then establishing one's Dao, then walking that Dao... And there's no specific Cultivation Technique for any of it!!"
Li Yun grew thoughtful at his words.
"Establishing one's nature, then one's Dao, then walking it... Is that nature the legendary Emperor Nature?"
Ye Chen glanced at Li Yun, unsurprised.
"Exactly. One who establishes that nature becomes an emperor. That's why it's called Emperor Nature!"
"Then... what exactly is that nature?"
"Heh..."
Ye Chen chuckled and shook his head.
"I can't explain it to you. It can only be grasped, not put into words... But you can think