Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Xiao Yan had already perused the voice from the remnant marks as Lei Lie was speaking. His expression didn’t really change as he just sat there without moving.
Tang Jun nodded at Lei Lie before he turned back towards Lei Jie. “If I don’t look at any light image remnants, I won’t even know how he looks like. My relationship with him is as dull and shallow as it possibly can be, without any emotional attachment at all.”
“He was the origin of the many sufferings and humiliations dished out to me ever since I was born.”
Tang Jun paused momentarily and continued, “My mother was the only one who had ever loved me. She grew melancholic and forlorn all the way to the end of her life because he stole the family treasure and left without saying farewell. She had long left us behind.”
“However, perhaps it’s because there’s no emotional attachment at all between me and my father besides our blood relation, I only feel a certain level of disgust and contempt instead of anger or rage.”
“And you – you were old enough to remember things before he left. He married into the Lei Family, and he even wore fake pretense in front of everyone. I can imagine that there must have had been some level of emotional attachment between you and him, and the father-son relationship was probably filled with happiness and doting.”
It was because of this that Lei Jie was particularly affected when Tang Wenhua departed with the stolen treasure.
When he was all alone and by himself, especially when he was thinking about and missing his mother, had Lei Jie every wondered if Tang Wenhua had unspeakable troubles the year he left?
When he discovered the truth, Lei Jie was shaken with hysterical rage and felt as if he had been deceived and humiliated.
This was especially so as he was not just an object in Tang Wenhua’s eyes – he was a failure. He was a bedcover and an experiment for Tang Jun’s eventual and successful production.
How could this not infuriate Lei Jie, he who had always been arrogant and proud? He completely lost control of his emotions and when he couldn’t find Tang Wenhua, the rolling waves of fury were poured onto Tang Jun.
“Enough! Shut up!” Lei Jie didn’t even care that both Xiao Yan and Lei Lie were on scene as he growled and glared at Tang Jun.
This face that was so similar to Tang Jun’s was starting to twist and contort.
Lei Jie had already reached the nascent soul intermediate stage, and it was rare for him to experience a loss of control over his emotions like that. However, there was no way for his mind to calm down or to find peace.
Tang Jun watched him calmly and shook his head. “You think I am deliberately embarrassing you, and boasting to you?”
“You and I have debts to settle, but I can’t be bothered to humiliate you and neither do I have the intention of boasting. In the end, whether we are successes of failures, we can’t be considered his flesh and blood. There is no emotional attachment at all between us and him.”
“Still, I am still grateful as my Fire Lord Body was indeed bestowed by him. This made my path of cultivation a lot smoother, yet it was also because of him that I had to endure many troubles and misfortunes.”
Tang Jun extended his arms and opened his palms before him. He glanced at the patterns in the center of his palms and said, “I developed a thought after hearing all those words. I am working hard on my path of cultivation, and my mastery is getting higher and higher while my strength is growing as well. I have managed to achieve some things today – could that be a covert proof of what he meant by ‘successful product’?”
“My continual success is actually a validation of his success?”
“Could it be that I am where I am today because he helped me create the Fire Lord Body? In the end, when I was in the Lei Family, my performance had been relatively unimpressive.”
Tang Jun’s tranquil eyes matched Lei Jie’s gaze as he smiled. “But that thought was fleeting and disappeared in a jiffy.”
“Whether or not it’s nature or nurture, whether or not I have the Fire Lord Body and whether or not I managed to join my master’s sect and with or without my achievements today, I have always persevered, and I have always worked hard. I have chosen to start on my path of cultivation and I will continue on with the best of my ability to discover the wonders and the profundities within.”
“Perhaps I would have been mediocre and ordinary if my physique hadn’t been changed inside his old residence. Perhaps I would have had a difficult life, but even so, I will hang on, I will persevere and I will endure.”
Lei Jie’s face twisted as he heard those words, but he gradually shut his eyes.
Every single scene ever since he was a child flashed by in his mind.
Lei Jie wasn’t a hedonistic son of rich parents, and he wasn’t excessively conceited or arrogant even though he was a proud and egotistical person by nature. He had worked hard since he was a kid because of Tang Wenhua so that others wouldn’t be mocking him from behind his back.
After his episode of intense rage after discovering the truth, he had put in even more effort in order to seek out Tang Wenhua in the future and to prove to him that he wasn’t a failed product, to prove to him that he was stronger than Tang Jun.
Yet, as he was toiling and exerting, he was plagued by anxieties and terror.
He used to believe that he was bound for greatness and success because of his natural-born Nine Qi True Thunder Form. The Lei Family had given him much attention because of this very fact and did their best to nurture him and didn’t vent their anger on him in spite of Tang Wenhua’s antics.
Even though Shi Tianyi, the Man of Polycoria, was stronger than him all those years ago, Lei Jie was full of motivation to overtake him.
However, once he discovered the truth, doubts and suspicions began to surface in his heart. Could he reach where he was today without the Nine Qi True Thunder Form?
Perhaps he would still have his own achievements, and he was still smart and intelligent in the end. However, how far would he have been from where he was today?
Most importantly, would the Lei Family have nurtured him like they did if he hadn’t displayed the Nine Qi True Thunder Form when he was a child? Would he have suffered the same fate as Tang Jun, would he have become the target of the Lei Family’s wrath because of Tang Wenhua?
Tang Wenhua’s gift to him had let travel on his path of success and greatness, but this father that viewed him as an experiment, as an object and as a failed product, was the source of his fury and his feelings of humiliation.
Perhaps he would have felt a little better if Tang Jun, the “successful product”, hadn’t been there for comparison.
However, with Tang Jun’s continuous soaring and rise to power, the pressure heaped onto Lei Jie grew ever greater.
This conflict in his mentality had always been in the recesses of his mind. Even though he was already in the nascent soul stage, this mentality issue was still there.
It hadn’t diminished and hadn’t disappeared. It was there, waiting for a complete release and eruption when the time came.
Lei Lie glanced at Lei Jie and he sighed faintly. He could tell that Lei Jie’s mentality was smoothening, but the effects were ultimately limited.
Even though Lei Jie tried his best to calm himself down so that Lei Lie wouldn’t have to worry, how could he not tell that Lei Jie was just forcefully suppressing his feelings?
If this situation was allowed to continue, even though Lei Jie was already in the nascent soul intermediate stage, it would be extremely difficult for him to reach for him to reach the nascent soul advanced stage.
The checkpoint from the nascent soul intermediate stage to the nascent soul advanced stage and forming the cosmic form was extremely easy for cultivators with the Nine Qi True Thunder Form. At least, people with the Nine Qi True Thunder Form would find it a lot easier than other cultivators. Lei Jie would have found it a lot easier than his ascension from the nascent soul beginner stage to the nascent soul intermediate stage under normal circumstances.
However, this was an overwhelming challenge given his current mentality. Even if he did reach the nascent soul advanced stage in the end, breaking through to the immortal soul stage was almost impossible.
He possessed the Nine Qi True Thunder Form. He had a chance to challenge Shi Tianyi’s status all those years ago and he was touted as the extraordinary prodigal son born into the Lei Family – and he was about to be stuck in the nascent soul advanced stage without any chance of reaching the immortal soul stage. This was an intense embarrassment, but it was something that was very real and was very likely to occur.
Lei Lie glanced at Tang Jun as contemplated and heaved another sigh.
Ever since Tang Jun’s transformation inside Tang Wenhua’s old residence, Lei Lie and the rest of the Lei Family had reevaluated this person, he whom they had previously and despised and viewed with contempt.
Many things that had been overlooked and were treated by others like jokes were revealed and spaded.
Even though his Innate Ability and Talent values were average, he was hardworking and determined. His level of effort and unshakeable motivation could be said to be the highest amongst the other youngsters from the Lei Family and could be even be said to be higher than Lei Jie.
Even though his improvement in cultivation wasn’t that pleasing, that didn’t cause his determination and his beliefs to waver. Time was nothing to him and following his growth throughout the years, he only became even more hardworking and diligent.
He was pressured and ostracized and the fact that others deliberately messed with him meant he rarely had chances to officially learn mantras. He could only slowly probe around by himself and he hardly had any opportunity to display his skills and prowess. There was a sudden and serendipitous revelation one day and when Lei Lie and the others reminisced the old days afterwards, they felt a little astonished as Tang Jun had displayed bedazzling levels of wit and comprehension back then.
Perhaps Tang Jun wouldn’t be where he was today without the Fire Lord Body, and it would be hard to say whether he would have been able to join the Celestial Sect of Wonders all those years ago. However, with his heart of cultivation and his talents in other areas, it was likely that he would have forged out a path for himself. Even though it wouldn’t have been so splendid or ravishing, he was destined to be more than an ordinary person.
Lei Jie closed his eyes and his face started to contort while even his body began to shake and quiver unwittingly.
He had a thought from the very beginning that Tang Jun was trying to mock him, and that Tang Jun was looking down on him from a higher point. When had he dwindled to a level such as this, when he had to be lectured by Tang Jun?
Just as Tang Jun had said, the two of them were in the same boat in some sense, but the realities of their circumstances were different.
Lei Jie’s relationship with Tang Wenhua was a little more complicated. Without considering emotions, the fact that he was considered by Tang Wenhua as a failed product that was inferior to Tang Jun made Lei Jie think that Tang Jun was being sarcastic and mocking him.
“How about we switch positions, and you can try standing in my shoes?”
But Lei Jie very quickly recovered and awakened from this nightmare.
If he continued to wallow in such emotions, he would be left in the dust by Tang Jun who had caught up from behind a long time ago. Lei Jie would never be able to match Tang Jun and he would probably never reach the immortal soul stage either. There was a chance that he couldn’t even reach the nascent soul advanced stage.
Lei Jie’s expression grew calm once more before he opened his eyes and gazed into Tang Jun’s eyes. “Are you trying to attack my spirit with these words? The Celestial Sect of Wonders is not enough for you to maintain your self-confidence?”
These words arrived on the tip of his tongue but Lei Jie swallowed them back.
Tang Jun’s eyes were clear and serene as he stood before him, and there was only unwavering determination and self-confidence in his expression. He was motivated to travel his own path, and he would never be shaken, and he would never waver.
He had a thought in his mind as he continued to watch Tang Jun.
He knew that if they switched positions and Tang Jun was in his shoes, Tang Jun would still have been the same as he was now.
He wouldn’t say things like he didn’t need the Fire Lord Body as the latter had give him much convenience in his path of cultivation. This was the objective truth, but without the Fire Lord Body, his mentality wouldn’t really have been affected and he wouldn’t have been shaken off the path that he chose to take.
Good fortune or without it, I would travel on my path with unshakeable determination.
