Regressor Sect Master

The room was the same as it always was. Nothing changed. Anna knew it was. 

But something felt different. Anna’s eyes looked at her father, and she wondered why everything felt similar yet different. Her father’s spirit extended outwards, and she felt like she could sense it doing what it did. It reached for the little spots of energy, and packed them together. 

“How was the 3rd mind clarity pill?” Tundra asked.

It had to be something that happened to her. 

Anna didn’t know where to start. It felt normal, and yet at the same time, slowly, it almost seemed as if she could feel its difference to her mind. She began to realize the interrelations of things beyond herself, and wondered whether this was what genius was like. 

“I feel like I can see the cause and effects-” Anna started to explain, but needed to take a moment to find the right words. “It’s as if I could see the presence of greater systems, when all I see were the lesser ones before this.”

Tundra was pleased. “That is one way the mind grows. We grow in our ability to comprehend how faraway things can be linked. How pouring water on a plant can feed it, and also kill it. Cause and effect exists at all levels.”

Anna looked at her father, and could even see it in him. His dream was the cause, and his actions now were the effects. All things are chained to one another. 

Tundra turned to face the other students in the room. “What about you, Larian?”

Larian nodded. “I have not yet reached the enlightenment Anna obtained, but there are glimpses of it.”

“Good. I will find ways to make more. The mind’s contribution to cultivation is indirect. It makes scripture easier to understand. It makes it easier for your mind to wrestle with certain concepts and form the structures that power your spiritual techniques.”

“But grandfather, we hear stories of those people who do reach great heights without being ‘smart’ or ‘talented.” Anna’s nephew, Sonia, asked a question. She was in the 1st realm, and lately has made great progress. She would reach the 2nd realm soon. 

“With all things, there are exceptions. In the vastness of the world, we will eventually encounter geniuses who reach great heights almost innately, as if they understood certain cosmic truths within their hearts. These people are monsters. They are unique, and really, really hard to replicate. They are not those you should strive to follow. They can cultivate in a day and ascend four major realms. You can cultivate for four months and only ascend a minor realm.”

Anna thought that applied to her father too. His understanding of alchemy was monstrous. There’s a belief among cultivators that it is best to learn from those who took a long time to climb to the top, because they’ve made all the mistakes. Geniuses have so much unspoken understanding that they often fail to translate to others. 

She shook her head. Why was she having these sorts of thoughts? Was this the effect of the Mind Clarity Pill 

“But- is it in our souls? Our bodies? Is it something that we can copy?” Sonia asked. 

Tundra nodded, revealing a rare, pleased smile. “Good question, Sonia. It’s something I am trying to do with all of you. The mind clarity pill is one of these things. It may not be possible to replicate the full gift of these favored by the heavens, but some of them should be possible.” 

“That means we can be geniuses, too?”

“Not likely. But at least, you will not be considered stupid.” Tundra said. 

Sonia looked happy. Anna didn’t know how to feel. It was relative, after all. A genius in a small pond is no more than an average cultivator in a medium sect. The genius of a mid-sized sect is no more than an average cultivator in a great sect. 

What did it mean to be a genius in a small-

“But progress is progress.” Tundra said to Sonia. “Though a cultivator is never truly satisfied, and their eyes are always looking upwards, for every step we climb, there are hundreds more who fail to make that step. Greed is something we must manage. Our lust for power, if not controlled, is what sends us down a path where our choices become less than proper.” 

Anna looked around, and noticed a person that was strangely missing. She leaned closer to Larian, and whispered. “Where’s Edison?”

Larian looked at her, and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

***

Celestia didn’t think she should be here in Elly’s part of their home. Elly’s part of their home was decorated with various paintings and sculptures. There was a large painting of a lake, of their home. But she felt honored that Elly asked her to be there, for a talk with Elly’s son. That makes Edison her step-son. 

“Edison.” Elly said, and gave her son a hug. Or attempted to. Edison stepped back.

“Mother, I’m not young anymore. And especially not with Lady Gale present.”

“You’re always my son.” Elly laughed. “Is a  hug really a problem? And Celestia’s family.”

Celestia felt happy that she was considered family, but she understood how Edison felt. Cultivator families were strange in the eyes of mortals, because their parents often don’t look like their parents. Elly’s current appearance looked younger than Edison’s, and it is so expected that it would feel unusual and strange. Edison sat next to his mother. “Why’d you call me, mother?”

The three sat, and Elly began with the usual pleasantries and small talk. It was something Elly was better at, compared to Celestia. She always thought of herself as a little more straightforward. 

Celestia noticed Edison’s natural wariness fade. But it was still there.

Then Elly asked what she really wanted to ask. “I’m not sure how to open this, but your father wants to help you be a better cultivator.” Celestia was there when Tundra asked, but she thought Elly would’ve made the question seem as if it came from her instead. 

“-I don’t want his help-”

“Edison.” Elly said with a rare firmness. “You really don’t like him, and he wants to know why.”

“Why?” Edison said, his voice a little tense. “Why, mother? Really?”

Elly nodded, and held her son’s hand. She looked at her son with a mix of concern, care, and somehow, a lot of love. Celestia rarely saw this side of her, she never knew her as a woman capable of deep emotions, and realized that Elly hid a lot of her own emotions.

But it connected to her son. And her son vented. “Yes. I’m suspicious of his change of heart. I’ve lived my entire life under his shadow, and he didn’t offer any help in the past century and some. Now he wants to come back and change everything? Offer to help now? Why, mother? Why?”

Elly closed her eyes, and vented. “I agree. It wasn’t right of him then. It’s not how our family would’ve done things. We pool our resources to lift the heir up, so that he can stand higher than our enemies.”

Her son nodded. “Exactly, mother! All this while he only cared about the Sect. This stupid sect.”

Elly then released a long sigh. It was one of the longest sighs Celestia’s seen in a while. “But let’s not care about your father. He wasn’t there for you for the last century, and the progress you made was all your own effort. It’s all yours.” 

Edison agreed. “I’ve made it quite far by myself.” 

2nd realm. Celestia thought that really wasn’t much. So many others achieved higher realms truly by themselves, and not in an environment surrounded by cultivators. 

Elly smiled. 

“Yes, you did. I was only in the 3rd realm for so long, and you’ve reached the 3rd realm faster than I did.” It was only recently that Edison pushed through to the 1st stage of the 3rd realm, Elly really gave her son a lot of leeway.

Celestia wondered whether this relaxed attitude was partly the problem. Cultivation is cruel. Maybe it’s not cruel for those extremely talented, but for most cultivators, it is a reminder how the heavens’ only favor those with talent, and those without them have to toil endlessly for meager gains. Why did Elly hide this from her son? Or he knew, but it was just easier for them to pretend it wasn’t?

“Do you feel like you want to go further? If your father is the problem, I think the offer to learn from the Mystical Harbors Sect would really help you.” Edison looked at his mother, and Elly looked at him. 

“Is he sending me away?” Edison asked, suspicious. “Is the goal to strip me of my status as the heir?”

Elly frowned. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t think so.” Elly looked at Celestia, and that was when she spoke. “Do you think Tundra’s sending Edison away to strip him of his position as heir?”

Edison seemed suspicious, but then he reluctantly nodded. 

“Don’t have to be polite, young master. Would you like to hear my thoughts on the matter?” Celestia asked.

Edison grunted. It was as good as an acknowledgement she’ll get. 

“I remember when I was a wandering cultivator. I was in the 3rd realm then, and I thought I was doing quite well as a cultivator. After all, we don’t often encounter cultivators in the higher realms. Especially if we don’t go where they often meet.”

Celestia asked Tundra once where the high powered cultivators were, only to hear an answer that was obvious in hindsight. 

“Everywhere. But everyone in the higher realms learn how to cloak our presence. Maybe there’s a sixth or seventh realm cultivator, hiding in plain sight and I don’t know about it.” 

“Then, by some fluke or chance, I helped a merchant convoy through some spirit beast attack, and was given an invitation to a banquet. It was organized by one of the subsidiary sects of the Silent Mountain Sanctuary, the Temple of the Quiet Forests, and then, in that banquet, I was probably the weakest ten in the few hundreds of cultivators present. Well, excluding the mortal merchants and servants, of course.”

Elly paused. 

Celestia sighed. “I’ve never met so many cultivators in the sixth, seventh realms. Then, The Grand Elder of the Silent Mountain appeared, I truly felt small. As if my existence was no more than a small candle flame he could snuff out with a thought.” 

“Did anything happen to you?” Elly asked, worried. It was not uncommon for wandering cultivators to be targeted, since there were often no consequences. 

“No. Thankfully not. None saw me as something worth the effort. Even the young masters thought I was a servant. Still, I thanked the merchants that invited me and left early before the spirit wines intoxicated the guests.” 

Edison, who was initially suspicious, looked sad. The world was not a nice place, and cultivators are known to take what they wanted. 

“There will be a day that you will attend these banquets, Edison. Just like that day when you sat with us at your father’s ascension banquet. Then you will ask yourself how you’ve wasted your time so far, because you were mad at your father.”

Edison looked away. 

“I didn’t like how I felt that day, and that was one incident that made me realize that it was time. 

Celestia looked at Edison, and then at Elly. Elly was listening intently. 

“Time to stop wandering. It was nice to see the world, at first, but I was a drifting coconut husk floating from island to island. My growth was slower than I expected because resources were just so hard to come by, even if I did experience more things. So, it was time I found a place to settle.”

Both Elly and Edison likely couldn’t relate. The Great Sects and their subsidiary sects were incredibly powerful, at least, relative to where they were. They lived in a part of the world where the general quality of energies and resources were on the lower side. 

Most Great Sects clustered around areas of tremendous natural energy, and they fed on those energies to supercharge their cultivation. 

“And your father will outlive you.” Celestia said. “As you are now, you have another four to six hundred years left. Your father will live to the tens of thousands. Even if you manage to hold on to your status as heir, it is a meaningless position. You will never succeed him. Even if he steps aside and grants you the position, your hold of the title is entirely because he exists to support your claim.”

Edison looked at Elly, and Celestia, and picked up one of the porcelain bottles filled with a kind of rice wine. 

He looked at Elly, and then asked. “Mother... what if I’m not good enough? What if I tried, and I can never even come close? What if I don’t have the talent? What if I actually go and show people how mediocre I am?”

Celestia felt that doubt in her heart too. It’s a common feeling for those who live next to a genius. That one’s struggle is pointless. No matter how they try, they can never even hope to touch the peak. 

Elly held her son’s hand and understood. It was a familiar feeling. A lack of self-worth, twisted into defiance. A sense of protection. A fake pride and arrogance because of his own incompetence.

It was not the first time that cultivation families have less than competent heirs. 

Celestia looked at Edison. “Do you want the bitter truth, or a pleasant lie?”

Elly wanted to protect her son then. Edison, in a rare moment of vulnerability, buried his head in his mother’s bosoms. Maybe he was crying.

The truth had to be said. “I will say the truth anyway. You either shape up, or you will grow old, die, and a better heir will be appointed in your place.”