Chapter 1011 Sorrow

“No, don’t do this, you can’t treat me like this.”

Xu Changfeng couldn’t believe it. The Elder of the Gate of Scenery, who had always treated him like his own son, would actually do this to him. He wanted to run up to the loft and kneel to beg for mercy, but was blasted away.

The scene was ugly,

The common folk all whispered among themselves: isn’t the Human Daoist Sect being a bit too heartless?

He just lost, that’s all,

Is it really necessary to go this far?

“The Daoists say, the highest good is like water. Daoism is heartless. This is the Dao.” The Sect Master’s tone was icy, claiming he was merely acting according to the rules of the “Dao.”

They were also being forced into this,

After that, the Sect Master announced, “It’s very clear. For the first line, Daoist Xuanwu wins.”

His tone was cold; anyone could hear that this Sect Master was unhappy—because he had lost.

“Victory and defeat are common things in the life of a Military Strategist. We are Taoists, we must learn to take it lightly, to…”

“Enough. I’m the one in charge here now.” Seeing the old Sect Master still trying to preach at him, the Sect Master’s voice grew even colder as he cut him off.

“If any other temples want to join the Dao Debate Conference, they can come up. If not, then the second round will still be between my Human Daoist Sect and the One-Heaven Monastery.”

He refused to believe it, that his own Disciples were this weak in their understanding of the “Dao.”

“I’ll go. I’m not like Xu Changfeng.” Bai Tang, that plainly dressed Disciple of the Human Daoist Sect, slowly walked out,

Among the Taoists of the Human Daoist Sect, he and the old Sect Master were both oddities. With a luxurious Dao Palace to live in, he chose instead to build himself a straw hut.

With delicious food available, he didn’t eat it; he ate only dry rations.

Others chose to become underlings,

He insisted on saying no.

He even said he was afraid of sinking into decadence; that if he wallowed in wealth and rank, in the pleasures of the mouth and the comforts of the flesh, then he would only grow farther and farther from the “Dao.”

Those words made the Disciples and Elders of the Human Daoist Sect scoff in disdain.

We’re also enjoying wealth, the pleasures of the mouth, physical comforts—have we been getting farther and farther from the “Dao”?

Look,

When we go out, who doesn’t call us enlightened experts?

Bai Tang walked up onto the Debate Platform, and an Elder behind him barked, “You’re allowed to win, not lose.”

…”Vermilion Bird, you go.”

The Monastery Master Azure Dragon of the One-Heaven Monastery said softly, “Remember, treat it with an ordinary heart. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter.”

Daoist Vermilion Bird nodded. This was the Dao.

The Dao knows no victory or defeat,

That was why he had joined the One-Heaven Monastery and not the Human Daoist Sect. Step by step, he walked onto the Debate Platform.

“You’re bound to lose.” Bai Tang said flatly.

“No, it’s you who will lose.” Daoist Vermilion Bird replied. He didn’t believe that the Human Daoist Sect could produce anyone who truly understood the “Dao.”

The Human Daoist Sect had long since lost the meaning of the “Dao.” Human Daoist Sect?

Heh, it was nothing more than a one-man show of the Sect Master.

…”Dad, who do you think will win?” The little one looked up at Wu Tian with big curious eyes and asked.

“A draw.” Wu Tian glanced at Bai Tang and at Daoist Vermilion Bird’s faces and said.

Ah!

So it would be a tie?

The little one nodded, trusting what his dad said.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Suddenly, a man dressed like a farmer happened to be nearby. Hearing Wu Tian’s words, he pointed at Wu Tian in anger: “I’m telling you, my son won’t lose.”

Your son?

Before Wu Tian and the others could say anything,

they saw that farmer in a crazed state, muttering to himself, “I’m just a farmer, I’m useless. But my son will definitely achieve something.”

“If he didn’t study when he was little, I beat him.”

“If he couldn’t measure up to others, I beat him too.”

“When he was seven, he said he didn’t want to go to the Human Daoist Sect. I beat him as well. The Human Daoist Sect is a Daoist Sacred Land—how can he not go?”

“He went, then he snuck back home and said his fellow Taoists looked down on him, and I beat him again.”

“A true strong man is forged through hardship.”

“After that time, he never snuck back again, and he never cried again.”

“My son has already become a man of black iron.”

“He’s invincible.”

Wu Tian and the others shook their heads. The little one clutched Wu Tian nervously, just hoping this dad of his would never treat him the way Bai Tang’s dad did.

“Well? Are you going to change what you said now and admit my son is bound to win?” The farmer yelled at Wu Tian like a madman.

Wu Tian: “…”

He couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to this farmer. So Bai Tang turned out to be a farmer’s son. Of course, Wu Tian didn’t look down on him for that,

he just felt sorry for Bai Tang—pitied him for having such a father. Not because his father was a farmer, but because his father was ignorant.

For a child,

the most important thing is his childhood!

Bai Tang being looked down on in the Human Daoist Sect was a given. Just think about how the Taoists of the Human Daoist Sect conducted themselves and you’d know.

Bai Tang,

he had poured his heart out to his father in tears,

telling him he was living in hell and begging his father to save him,

but his father did nothing.

From then on, when Bai Tang was beaten, he stayed silent,

when he was cursed at, he stayed silent as well,

because Bai Tang understood that all the suffering and grievances had to be swallowed down into his stomach.

Suddenly, Wu Tian’s Investiture of the Gods gave a faint response,

“Name: Bai Tang.”

“Previous life: Lan Caihe!”

“And the life before that, the Barefoot Immortal.”

“Cultivation: Foundation Establishment, Seventh Grade.”

“Life experience: ‘When Heaven is about to entrust a great responsibility to a man, it must first distress his mind, exhaust his bones and tendons, starve his body, empty his possessions, and frustrate his actions, to strengthen his resolve and increase his capabilities’!”

…Wu Tian hadn’t expected that this Bai Tang would someday be a member of his Heavenly Court?

…”Begin.”

From the loft’s high platform, the Sect Master of the Human Daoist Sect gave the order.

In that instant, the True Disciples of the Human Daoist Sect all shouted, “Little farmer, you’d better win.”

“Little farmer, if you don’t win, from now on don’t even talk about dirt in your rice. Even if we add piss in the future, it won’t be a problem.”

“Don’t disgrace us.”

“…”

From the words of the True Disciples, one could well imagine how badly Bai Tang was bullied in the Human Daoist Sect for being so unconventional, for being out of place due to his status,

Of course,

there were also poor children who lived quite well in the Human Daoist Sect—that was because they had given up their dignity and become dogs,

but Bai Tang did not. He let them beat and curse him, but he refused to be a dog!

…The shouts of the Human Daoist Sect’s True Disciples also reached Bai Tang’s father, that farmer, but he remained unmoved.

The little one in Wu Tian’s arms was depressed and asked in his milky voice, “Hey, didn’t you hear what kind of life your son is living in the Human Daoist Sect? There’s dirt in his rice every day. I think his suffering is more than that. Like, whenever someone’s in a bad mood, they just vent on your son, and so on.”

“So what?” The farmer, Bai Song, gritted his teeth and said, “Only suffering can temper a true strong man. And I believe in the Human Daoist Sect—it’s a Daoist Sacred Land. They wouldn’t let anything too excessive happen. Those True Disciples just now might not be telling the truth; maybe they were joking. Or maybe that so-called dirt isn’t the kind of dirt we imagine, but some kind of seasoning.”

“…”

The little one stared, dumbfounded, utterly at a loss for words.

Wu Tian said nothing. Fathers like this—how could Bai Song be the only one?

There were plenty in the Earth City. They say school is a place to learn knowledge, but once you leave school, how much of that knowledge is any use?

When a son comes home and says he’s being bullied at school, how many parents actually believe it?

Saying it is the same as not saying it. Little by little, the gap between parents and children is born.