The quality of a weapon could, to a great extent, determine how far a person could go.
Once, a group of people devoted themselves to forging the finest blades in the world. They called themselves the Celestial Blacksmiths.
Nine of them stood above all the rest.
In that era, no one could surpass those nine in the art of forging, so they decided to compete among themselves.
Each would forge a blade that embodied everything they knew.
If one of them outshone the others, he would become the leader of the Celestial Blacksmiths.
The nine agreed that their contest of skill would never harm their friendship. Then each set off on his own forging journey.
In private, they were close friends. Though they wanted to see who was best, they still visited one another.
That, however, caused a serious problem.
One would visit a friend and happen to see that his friend's blade surpassed his own. Uneasy, he would hurry home and start over.
The next time he visited, he would see that his friend's blade fell a little short of his own. Reassured, he would stay for tea. But as soon as he left, that friend would begin forging anew.
The same thing happened to each of the nine in turn.
As a result, even at the end of their lives, none of them had produced their finest work.
It was a loss for the Celestial Blacksmiths!
The book told this story and recorded the clues the nine had left behind.
The passage that followed read: "They spent their lives trying to forge the strongest weapon, but none succeeded. As their lives drew to a close, they changed course and each focused on forging one part of a blade. This brought them breakthroughs, but they no longer had time