# Chapter 1211: The Path
"Of course, it's just a form of address, not that important. In everyone's life, there may be many teachers. Many people, out of respect for their first master, dare not casually take another teacher or call someone else master again. Actually, there's no need for that. If you have each teacher you encounter in your heart and regard them as your master, that is the greatest respect for them. Everything depends on the heart."
Yu Huang said calmly. Lin Feng did not respond, only listened.
"However, you can completely disagree with what I say, because everyone has different views on things and different obsessions. Therefore, everything I say might be considered wrong in the eyes of others." Yu Huang seemed to be talking to himself.
Sensing that something seemed off, he finally turned back to look at Lin Feng and smiled: "Can you understand my ramblings?"
Lin Feng was stunned. Everything he had seen upon breaking through to the Beyond Heaven Realm had exceeded his expectations. Meeting a Martial Emperor had once again surprised him. It was hard to imagine that this casually speaking man, who seemed like the most ordinary middle-aged person, could be an Emperor—a Martial Emperor whose slightest stomp could shake the Eight Wastelands.
He looked far too unlike one...
"I understand some of it." Lin Feng smiled bitterly.
"I don't think you understand it all. For example, I will be your teacher from now on. Perhaps I will guide you in martial arts and correct your cultivation, but in reality, what I tell you may not necessarily be correct. It might be right for me, but completely wrong for you. So no matter what I say, you should look at it with a critical eye. Just like how everyone thinks the Beyond Heaven Realm is a land of immortals, but right now, the Beyond Heaven Realm is exactly what you see before you."
Yu Huang spoke slowly, surprising Lin Feng greatly. He looked at Yu Huang thoughtfully. Even what a Martial Emperor tells you may not be right. Everyone must walk a different path.
"You must still have questions to ask me." At this moment, Yu Huang smiled, then lay back down on the chair, gazing at the azure sky.
"Teacher, the last time I saw you, you were an old man. But this time, you are a middle-aged man. It's clearly the same appearance, yet why does it give me a completely different impression?"
"It's due to realm. Perhaps the next time you see me, you'll find a young man like yourself before you. What you've seen these two times are just two aspects of me. Perhaps I have a third aspect, a fourth aspect."
"Due to realm." Lin Feng murmured, then asked: "Then teacher, what connection did we have in the past?"
Lin Feng asked the question that had long puzzled him. Now that he had finally met Yu Huang's true form, he naturally wanted to clarify.
"That sword of yours, let me see it." Yu Huang said softly.
Although Lin Feng was puzzled, he still complied. With a thought, the Celestial Fate Sword appeared, floating before Yu Huang.
"Not bad, it has become so powerful!" Yu Huang's fingers lightly stroked the sword body, then returned the sword to Lin Feng, asking with a smile: "That worthless fellow Tianjizi, is he still well?"
"Tianjizi!" Lin Feng's pupils contracted sharply as he stared at Yu Huang. After a moment, his brow gradually relaxed, and he smiled bitterly: "The seniority seems a bit chaotic!"
"Not chaotic, we each have our own connections." Yu Huang shook his head and laughed: "Everyone has a different path to walk. In the past, Shi Huang and I left the Heavenly Lake, chose our own paths, and cut off everything. We would not interfere with the rise and fall of the Heavenly Lake. If that worthless disciple could let go of the Heavenly Lake and be willing to come to the Eight Wastelands, I would naturally help him a little. But I would still let him walk his own path, just like your nine senior brothers, and like you. In the past, I sent Qinglin to the Qian Domain because Shi Huang and I couldn't completely sever our ties with the Heavenly Lake. When we first recruited Martial Emperor's disciples, we wanted to see if the Heavenly Lake would send any decent disciples. If none came, so be it. If they came, I would naturally feel closer. Of course, if you yourself didn't strive, I wouldn't accept you either."
The path to becoming an Emperor—how rugged it is, how many hardships one encounters, how many grudges and debts of gratitude one accumulates—cannot be counted clearly. Everyone has their own path. If one can help, one naturally will, but everything still depends on how those people choose their own paths.
For example, a Martial Emperor cannot possibly guide every disciple's cultivation, cannot concern himself with what happens at the Heavenly Terrace, and cannot get angry because someone's junior was killed outside. From a Martial Emperor's perspective, these things don't count as matters. If one really had to manage everything, many Martial Emperors have millions of disciples—how could they possibly manage them all?
In the affairs of the mortal world, one cannot manage everything. Everything follows nature and the heart.
"Did you understand what I just said?" Yu Huang asked Lin Feng with a smile.
"I understand." Lin Feng nodded slightly.
"You don't understand." Yu Huang shook his head and laughed, making Lin Feng show a puzzled expression.
"I told you earlier, my words may not be correct. So that speech might be more suitable for me, but not necessarily for you. For example, when I became an Emperor, my closest relatives had long since died, so I had no attachments and could cut off worldly affairs. But you—you are still so young. Even if you become an Emperor one day, your closest relatives will still be alive. Can you ignore them? Not care about them?"
Lin Feng was stunned, then smiled bitterly. He had been caught in Yu Huang's trap.
"Now, do you understand?" Yu Huang asked again.
"I understand!" Lin Feng replied with a smile.
"What do you understand?"
Lin Feng looked at Yu Huang and smiled calmly: "Everyone has their own path. Teacher's path may not be suitable for me to follow. I only need to follow my own heart and pursue my own path!"
"Good, you have already understood the path after the Venerable Realm ahead of time." Yu Huang smiled.
"The path after the Venerable Realm?" Lin Feng murmured.
"Yes, after the Venerable Realm, one walks in realms and walks one's own Dao. No one can help you walk it; they can only guide you. What suits you is the most correct Dao!" Yu Huang said calmly. This was the purpose of his guidance just now. After the Venerable Realm, the path must be walked by oneself. The paths others walk and the methods others tell you may all be wrong, even if they are Martial Emperor-level experts.
"Senior Shi Huang, is he in this space?" Lin Feng asked.
"Shi Huang has also gone to walk his own path. I heard that the precious stone that fellow Shi Huang had back then is also on you. You've managed to hold the two treasures that Shi Huang and I once had in your hands." Yu Huang chuckled lightly, lying there casually, as if reminiscing. Back then, he was the peak master of Tianji Peak, while that fellow Shi Huang was the peak master of Tianxuan Peak.
The Celestial Fate Sword and the Heavenly Jade Stone—they had once carried them as treasures. Thinking back now, it seemed quite interesting.
"Come, let me take you to see your senior brothers." Yu Huang said to Lin Feng. Then his body stood up, his hand lightly resting on Lin Feng's shoulder. With a twist of his step, a single casual step contained countless variations. Both their bodies instantly disappeared from where they stood. That single step had already covered an unknown distance.
After Yu Huang and Lin Feng left, a footprint remained at the spot. But that ordinary footprint seemed to contain infinite changes.
Soon, Yu Huang brought Lin Feng to a city. It seemed to be a very ordinary city, where the martial cultivators were not powerful at all, very common. In Lin Feng's line of sight, there was a monk begging for alms, tirelessly knocking on door after door. Even when driven out, he still greeted people with a smile.
It was hard to imagine that this alms-begging monk was a terrifyingly powerful expert, a being who could destroy this small city with a flip of his hand.
"This foolish child cultivates a golden Buddha body and walks the Buddha path. He must have a heart harder than gold for his Dao to be firm and his Buddha to be firm." Yu Huang said lightly. Then his body trembled again and disappeared without a trace. When they appeared next, Lin Feng sensed a completely different aura—a terrifying killing intent. He was now standing on a battlefield.
This battlefield was filled with extremely terrifying Venerable experts. Lin Feng's expression trembled violently. Every expert possessed the power to destroy heaven and earth, fighting until the sky was about to split and the earth was continuously torn apart.
On the battlefield, there was a figure in a black long robe, covered in blood, holding a sword in one hand, slaughtering endlessly—killing gods when gods blocked the way, and slaying Buddhas when Buddhas obstructed.
This person was none other than the number one disciple of the Venerable Realm, Ruoxie!
"Ruoxie proves the Dao through slaughter. This is his path." Yu Huang spoke again. His form flickered once more. Moments later, Lin Feng found himself back at the original place—that quiet village. Everything was as usual, as if nothing had happened.
Yu Huang had already returned to his chair, looking at the azure sky, and said with a light laugh: "Everyone has their own path. Your senior brother Mu Chen doesn't pursue things deliberately but follows his heart and takes things as they come. That is his Dao."
"This world of martial arts is far more complex than I imagined." Lin Feng murmured. The battlefield Yu Huang had taken him to was filled with Venerable experts everywhere, with strong practitioners as numerous as clouds. Where was that place?
"Teacher, what if a senior brother dies in battle?" Lin Feng asked.
"The path is his to walk." Yu Huang said calmly: "In the Eight Wastelands Realm, conflicts between major powers are too common. Martial Emperors generally do not participate and break this peace. Unless another Martial Emperor tears off the mask first. If Martial Emperors also casually involve themselves in disputes between disciples, who could grow? This world would be in chaos!"
Lin Feng pondered for a moment, then nodded deeply in agreement. This was perhaps a kind of unspoken rule. If Martial Emperors could casually strike out and kill others' juniors, then you kill my disciples and I cut down your descendants—who could still grow? That would be a disaster, a catastrophic one!
PS: Thanks to all brothers for the tips and support!