Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor

Chapter 1506 Spiritual Practice (III)

The conversation with the hermit was eye-opening, revealing new aspects about himself. However, Wang Wei could feel his spiritual practice was not perfect yet, and he was not ready to reach the peak. The world around him changed, leading Wang Wei somewhere else. He immediately noticed this world had little to no spiritual energy, meaning this was a Mortal World.

Wang Wei quickly scanned the world and understood its gist. This small continent was ruled by two ethnicities: the Yi people of the north and the Ye people of the south. These two ethnicities have different customs, cultures, and ways of life, and for many small and inconsequential reasons, they hate each other with a passion.

About three hundred years ago, the Yi people gave birth to a ruthless but military genius of an emperor. The Mad Emperor started a conquest of the continent by killing all the Ye people. In 50 years, he killed more than 70% of the Ye people. Luckily, the Ye were resilient and survived. Meanwhile, the Mad Emperor succumbed to his age.

Then, as soon as the madman died, the world's fate seemed to have switched to the Ye people. In just twenty years, they slowly reversed all of the Mad Emperor's achievements, and the Ye people not only reversed their plight of being genocide, but they also conquered the world.

So, what did the Ye people do after ruling over this world? If it were up to their leader, Emperor Yi Ling, peace between the two people would have been established, healing all their past and history. Unfortunately, Emperor Yi Ling was betrayed by his brother, who secretly assassinated him, took the throne, and blamed the Ye people.

Emperor Yi Di was nothing like his brother, except for maybe their brilliant political mind. Yi Di used the death of his brother to enact the vilest revenge on the Ye people. He killed as many of them as possible before enslaving the rest. He then created a caste system, ensuring the Ye people were slaves for life.

Three hundred years later, after countless failed revolutions, the Ye people are still in chains. Wang Wei looked at the place he was teleported to. A group of Ye people had just finished their work on the mines, the fields, or other construction works. Everyone was tired and thin, wearing coarse clothes that smelled or were probably itchy. However, Wang Wei saw something in their eyes: hope. These people were not spiritually defeated.

He was intrigued and watched. Soon, more than a hundred Ye people gathered and started a fire. People brought makeshift musical instruments, and everyone brought food they had starved themselves to preserve. Some even brought the alcohol they had secretly brewed. The Ye people shared their food with their neighbors and fellow companions before starting to sing and dance.

The music was inspiring as it told tales of their ancestry and the time when they did not live in bondage. It told of a better future that awaited not them, but their descendants. The music gave them hope and filled them spiritually. For that single night, every Ye person reconnected to their culture and dreamt of a better tomorrow.

'Would I be able to accept a single day of freedom?' Wang Wei asked himself as he watched these people lose themselves in their music and dance. He did not take this question lightly and pondered deeply. 'Maybe if I die the next day,' Wang Wei answered himself. During World History, he once read about an American Politician who said: "Give me liberty or give me death." Wang Wei agreed with that statement.

The Ye people's [Festival of Hope] ended, and the next day, they returned to their regular schedule. They won't have such an opportunity again until next year, and many of these people knew they would not survive to see the next festival. Wang Wei watched as three of the Ye people slowly left this area and he followed them.

As expected, they were part of the revolutionaries. After three hundred years, they have not stopped fighting for their people's liberation. In fact, the Hope Festival existed because of a negotiation between the revolution and the Yi people about 90 years ago.

The little festival might seem insignificant but it came at the right time. The Ye people had lost hope, and the rate of suicide had increased drastically. However, the festival allowed them to reconnect with their culture, showing them they were more than slaves. It allowed them to look into the future. Their lives might be bleak, but many hold on just to live until the day of the festival.

As Wang Wei watched these revolutionaries plan their next attack, he realized how valuable freedom was. His greatest obstacle to his dream was the Grand Dao, which was so far removed from the current plight of the Ye people. However, he was lucky to be born with many life advantages—lucky to be born in a world whose freedom was not completely restricted, lucky that Grand Dao had no sentience and was not acting like a tyrant.

'I am indeed appreciative of my circumstances, but this is feeling like propaganda,' Wang Wei thought. His suspicious mind made him believe Grand Dao was manipulating this experience to increase Wang Wei's favor toward him, even if it was by a small amount. He had no proof, and he might be wrong, but that's how he felt.

Wang Wei shook his head to remove these thoughts before focusing on the presence. He found one of the revolution leaders who appealed to him and entered the latter's dream. They only talked and played chess in the dream, but when the leader woke up, he suddenly realized he was a strategy genius.

'So, will you be the next Emperor Yi Ling, or another Yi Di?' Wang Wei thought before the world around him changed. He was still in a mortal world, but things were peaceful and quiet even. For this experience, Wang Wei found himself following the life of a young scholar about 22. The scholar had just passed the Imperial Exam and returned home to marry his childhood sweetheart, rejecting all the offers from the nobles in the capital in the process.

The scholar had a smile on his face that Wang Wei would never forget, and that's because it followed him all his life. After the marriage, the scholar was assigned to his small village despite how well he did in the exam. The nobles did not appreciate his rejection, so they stuck him in a menial position in the countryside.

However, the scholar did not mind and accepted the imperial order with a smile. Forty years and three children later, the scholar cared for the village. He never slacked on his job because the village was small or unimportant. He never slacked on his responsibility as a father and husband. The scholar was a model of an official, an exemplary family man, and an overall inspiring human being.

The world seemed infected by his smile and good nature, and quickly rewarded him. Someone from the capital noticed his work, and in the next twenty years, the scholar slowly rose through the ranks until he became Prime Minister. The emperor loved and trusted him because he was loyal and from a civilian background instead of a noble clan.

When the scholar was in his 60s, the Emperor died, and the dynasty started falling apart as everyone competed for the throne. He held everything together for fifteen years, preventing the dynasty from completely falling apart. He held on, smiling, when his son died while defending. He held on when his second son was assassinated, when his third daughter was implicated by her husband's family, and was killed.

The scholar even held on when his wife died soon after their daughter's death due to the immense grief. In his late 70s, the dynasty finally stabilized as a new ruler finally won the confrontation, and the first thing the emperor did after taking the throne was to fire the scholar. However, the latter only smiled and calmly accepted his fate.

The old scholar returned to his visage and continued caring for them until his 90s. On his dying bed, a line stood before his house as all the villagers came to send him off. Many people had already prepared shrines to worship him as a sage.

The old man looked at everyone who came to see him off. He told them slowly that they didn't need to, but everyone insisted. So, he smiled before the last light disappeared from his soul.

Wang Wei appeared right before his death and asked: "Why smile? Why did you smile through all the pain, all the ups and downs?"

The scholar was shocked, thinking the soul reaper had come to him. However, he then realized he was at death's door, so it made sense for them to come. He figured the question was a test before entering the afterlife.

"It's because I was happy — I was content," the scholar replied.

"So, this is the kind of freedom that is achieved by being happy and content," Wang Wei muttered. "It makes sense. If I let my obsession with freedom rule my life, will I be happy once I achieve my dream? With the ungodly powers, I may be able to create everything that makes me happy, but that won't change anything.

"I must get my priorities straight. I have to be happy and content with myself first before I achieve my dream, and that involves loving myself and cherishing the people around me, like my beautiful wife, family, and sect."

This realization completed Wang Wei's spiritual journey, but the effect of the stone was not finished yet.

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