CG Chapter 165: Outer Immortal, Inner Demon
Beneath the canopy of the blooming orchid tree, the pair didn't appear like a lord and a servant but more like a reclusive master and his eager disciple seeking the Dao.
With the influence of the young master and the guards fearful of his status, no one dared to breathe a loud word near him.
As for the only person who had such a right, he wasn't bothered by such mundane matters as long as Wei Lian completed his studies.
Being a patriarch, even for a small clan, came with its own battles. As someone who had to face and overcome such conflicts, he naturally came to understand that going too far in either direction would cause more harm than good.
Whether from the perspective of a parent or a patriarch, he understood the Dao of not exerting excessive strength. He knew that even hard lumber would break, let alone a young boy who had his own dreams and aspirations.
As such, Aretius knew that as long as he didn't cross the bottom line, the patriarch wouldn't interfere.
Still, having such a feeble guarantee alone wasn't enough for Aretius; henceforth, he planned on placing a new mask on his decayed body.
They moved from the carefree violet orchid to the pavilion where Wei Lian studied the four arts.
The pavilion's structure wasn't particularly grand, yet it exuded an ethereal quality.
If an outsider visited it for the first time, they would undoubtedly be unable to draw their gaze away from it.
The pavilion sat as the eye of the formation in the backyard's pond, surrounded by floating lotuses and the scent of freshly brewed tea.
Yet, instead of feeling joy at this majestic scene, Wei Lian only felt annoyance. To him, this place wasn't a haven but a jail for his dreams.
This undoubtedly made him feel irritation toward the person who made him come here. The only reason he didn't say anything was the last words spoken to him.
"I disagree with that truth!"
Those words still echoed in his mind, and the fact that Aretius refused to elaborate made him more curious to understand what he was playing at.
Reaching the pavilion, Wei Lian gazed at Aretius like a hungry ghost unable to wait for him to open his mouth.
Aretius had noticed Wei Lian's aggravated state from the very beginning. In fact, he wanted him to become even more unsettled; without such turbulence, he could not play a constant role long enough to etch his mark onto the boy's soul.
By constantly throwing Wei Lian into confusion and then pulling him out, he would become his only savior. A wise immortal, and His true master.
Aretius knelt in front of the pond with his back facing Wei Lian. He held a withered wooden stick as he played with the lotuses.
"Power lies with those who choose to take it. It is neither right nor fair. To walk the path of a Scholar or the path of a Martial Artist?"
He repeated, "The rich study literature, the poor study martial arts," before saying, "What a travesty!"
"The wise one doesn't choose one. Only he who carries both a sword and a sharp mind can rule the battlefield. To pick one and abandon the other is but a futile struggle. To have a brilliant mind without the strength to protect it will merely make you a fragile porcelain vase, trapped in a tall tower awaiting destruction."
Hearing the second part, Wei Lian felt exalted; it was as if he were finally being seen, even as he ignored the former.
"Yet, if one only trains his sword without a mind to sheathe it, then one would ultimately become a brute. No better than a beast. As powerful as it may be, in the end, it is just a mindless animal waiting to be slaughtered."
Wei Lian's face twitched. He wanted to agree, but at the same time, he didn't want to feel he had lost; he feared that if he nodded this once, then his head would remain lowered forever, agreeing with whatever Aretius said from now on.
With a slight grin on his face, Aretius patted himself as he stood up. This time, however, his hunched back seemed somehow straight, like that of a dragon's spine.
His aura transformed as his role slowly shifted from that of a worthless old steward to a revered immortal master.
This shifted his status among the people in the play. He had forced the play to conform to his new role or break.
Still, this didn't come naturally, as he needed to make the people most influenced by his role prior to his entry believe entirely in his lies and new role.
A rule one must understand is how to make people believe your lies. You don't need to concoct the most elaborate illusion. Instead, you need to create a facade that the person would want to voluntarily fall into.
Aretius's story might have been believable at first, but his wisdom didn't match his background.
The only reason Wei Lian ignored it, intentionally or unintentionally, was that he wanted to believe it. For such a young boy, having someone who agreed with him was more important than the title of the clan's patriarch.
For that person to not only unlock his cage but also paint the dream of obtaining both the sword he had dreamed of and the brush his father had ordered, made him ignore everything else.
Aretius, now clad in what appeared to be fine black silk, with his white hair combed into a topknot, positioned himself to seem like a true master.
"The path of the three hundred schools. The path of the righteous ones is to use the four arts as training for the heart and mind. But more importantly, they used it as a martial art to take down their enemies."
"The Carefree Sect to the West. The Six-Fingered Immortal with Great Wu. The Copper Gong Gate to the East. And last but not least, the Scarlet Heart Island within the Jade Mirror Lake, lying at the borders of Great Shen and Great Wu."
"Each of these four had mastered the four arts to an extreme. A state that mastered both the immortal and the demon. They understood that only by mastering the outer immortal and inner demon can one achieve eternal bliss and reach a state of nirvana."
The words of Aretius left Wei Lian speechless, his mouth wide open, big enough to fit a watermelon. The four arts. So close yet so far away. What he had once neglected was what he was looking for.
As for whether these four sects truly existed or if they were just another lie... That was a story for another day.