Whenever great undertakings were raised, it was rare for things to go smoothly, to advance with the force of splitting bamboo. More often, they had to weather many rises and falls, countless hardships.
Thus, as early as more than a dozen generations ago, a great Confucian had sighed: monks and Daoists rebel, yet success is never seen—because before success can be achieved, they have already withdrawn.
But Zhao Cheng knew that Yellow Heaven Daoist was an anomaly. In this world, those who cultivated the Dao were mostly selfish people; selfless ones were rare. If they were not selfish, why would they leave home to become monastics?!
After all, leaving home meant abandoning one's parents and family.
You could say it was for the pursuit of the Dao, the pursuit of the self, and there was indeed nothing wrong with that. Yet it did not change its essentially selfish nature. The grace of being born and raised, the bonds of love and affection—cast aside with a single word.
Of course, such a disposition could not be called wrong. Every person had their own aspirations. To abandon everything in pursuit of the Dao was perfectly fine.
But when such a mindset was applied to rebellion, it became a serious problem.
Yet Yellow Heaven Daoist, even after the Yellow Heaven Army had suffered one crushing defeat after another, had not seized the chance to slip away. Instead, he still persevered, attempting to rally the scattered forces and begin anew.
One had to know that if he were willing to take one step back now and cast aside the mortal world, he could ascend to immortality in a single stride and directly attain the fruition of a Golden Immortal.
But if he persisted, then it would be one thing if things turned around after