Chapter 26.2: A Life of Humbleness Can Illuminates the Heart Part 2
Wang Wei becomes momentarily shocked for his failure in this trial. Then, he ponders the reason for such failure.
Obviously, he fails to recognize the lesson needed to learn to pass this trial. This was not according to his original design.
Wang Wei returns to his home, while preparing to enter the Pagoda the next day. The next trial proceeded exactly like the previous one.
Upon reaching the stage of malnourishment, famine, and dehydration, the same choice is once again given to him: eat the urinated piece of bread.
Wang Wei realizes that this trial's purpose is to teach him a lesson about humbleness, about giving up pride and arrogance--especially when one is weak and helpless.
Despite knowing all of these, Wang Wei still could not lower himself to eat that piece of bread. He always fails this trial when he reaches that part.
Soon, more than two months have passed. Wang Wei was still stuck in the Sixth Pagoda Trial. He has tried a total of nine times, each has resulted in failure.
As a result of this, many disciples--including Li Jun--have already started the Seventh Trial. Many people in the sect are wondering if the Young Sect Master has reached his limit.
At Tianwei Peak, a meeting of the Elders was taking place. Their discussion involves Wang Wei and his inability to pass the Sixth Pagoda trial.
The Great Elder of the Formation Hall--who has a great relationship with Wang Wei--asks: "Sect Master, should we do something to help the Young Sect Master?"
Upon hearing this, many people direct their gaze toward Wang Tian, who shakes his head in disapproval and responds: "There is no need to do this. This trial is designed to temper his Dao Heart. It will not do him any good for us to help him."
Great Elder Yan Mei asks: "At least, we can shut down the Vision Formation that allows people outside the Pagoda to watch the trial. The act of eating urinated bread is a great insult to the prestige of the Young Master--especially in the future if he manages to Prove the Dao."
The room immediately becomes quiet after hearing Great Elder Yan Mei's words. Many people are in fact worrying about this. What impact will this trial have on the image of a future Great Emperor.
What is a Great Emperor?
A being that has escaped the shackles of time, life and death. A manifestation of the Great Dao itself. How can such a being be humiliated.
Sect Master Wang Tian looks at everybody present in the meeting, then answers: "This is exactly the purpose of designing this trial. To teach Wei'er that no matter what height he reaches in the future, never forget his origin--even if he was the humblest of beggar."
"When he reaches such an unimaginable realm, his deeds and past will forever be glorified by future generations. However, before reaching such height, his pride and arrogance only shows his insignificant state of mind, his ignorance, and the fact that he is not yet worthy to be bathed in the light of true glory."
While the meeting is taking place, in the Wang family exclusive mountain. Wang Wei--who has been in a terrible mood the past two months--was invited into a room by his mother Yu Yan.
Upon entering the room, Yu Yan watches her disheveled son with distress. She can easily notice the difference from two months ago.
His eyes are bloodshed signifying the fact that he has not had enough sleep in the past few months. His clothes are no longer clean and tidy. His eyes--who once were full of wisdom, maturity, and confidence--are now full of doubt and confusion.
Yu Yan watches his son dotingly and wishes she could just go over and tell him that this trial is not necessary. Even without it, he could still accomplish great things in life. However, she knows better that this is not the time to be soft.
She said: "Wei'er, your father is in a meeting with the Elders right now. I'm worried that someone will use this failure to attack you. Come and watch so you could receive the information beforehand and be prepared for an attack."
Then, she takes out a mirror showing the scene of the meeting in Tianwei Peak. Wang Wei sits next to his mother and watches the Elders argue about how to deal with his recent failure in the Pagoda Trial. Then, he listens to his father's awe-inspiring speech about the relationship between humility and glory.
Then, something dawns on him. Where does this unfounded pride come from? It's true that he is born with great wealth and good fortune. Even in his past life, he was considered a second generation rich young master.
However, his birth rights have no direct indication for his future achievement--especially in this world of cultivation. Even the most humble beggar can one day sit in the Throne of Emperor overlooking Myriad Beings.
Emperor One-eye is a perfect example of this. He was born a slave of a family in the Western White Tiger Continent. However, one day, the family he served was brutally massacred.
As a poor mortal, he was forced to beg in order to survive. In one of his encounters during that period of his life, some random rich noble stabbed one of his eyes, permanently blinding it.
However, fate was in favor of such a lowly beggar. After a lucky encounter, he started on the path of cultivation. With his hard work and talent, he beat all the Heaven Chosen from powerful factions and Lineage and proved the Dao.
In fact, throughout his life, this Emperor never healed his blind eye--even when he became a Great Emperor. As a matter of fact, he even took the name One-eye after proving the Dao to remind him of his humble origin.
So, what is Wang Wei so called pride worth compared to the life of Emperor One-eye?
If someone asked him to throw away his pride, to be lower than a beggar, to be a slave in exchange for one hundred percent guarantee to become a Supreme Emperor, would he accept it?
Of course he would.
The starting point of someone is not something that can determine the limits of their achievement. Humbleness and humility are not disadvantages or vices, no, they are in fact great virtues. Virtues that teach people to never give up no matter the circumstances.
After realizing this, Wang Wei's eyes shine like the first sunlight that illuminated the world; the doubt and confusions were immediately swept away.
He suddenly turns toward his mother and says: "Mom, I'll be back tonight for dinner." Then he rushes outside where his head maid has been waiting for him. Soon, they both headed toward the area of the Pagoda Trial.
Yu Yan watches her son leave with a gentle smile on her face. Soon after Wang Wei's departure, Wang Tian appears beside his wife and says with excitement: "It seems that our little play works much better than expected."
"Why do you and the Elders have to go through all that trouble. Would it not be better to just tell him all of this?"
"Wei'er is an extremely intelligent kid. If we were to tell this things directly, it would not have such a good effect. Only when he realizes it by himself can he learns something and sublimates his state of mind. The only trouble we had with this plan is the fact that Wei'er might realize that this is just a play directed toward him. Fortunately, his state has not been ideal the past two months."
After leaving his home, Wang Wei directly enters the Pagoda for his Tenth time for the Sixth trial of the Pagoda.
This time around, the story follows the same trajectory. After his fall, Wang Wei still becomes a beggar. However, this time, his state of mind was different.
He has accepted the humility and humbleness of his life. He tries every means for survival, while trying to find a chance to change his life.
When the arrogant man handed him the piece of bread filled with urine, he picked it up without hesitation and ate it. He did show any emotion such as struggle, suffering, or humiliation--just the desire to survive and the hope of a better tomorrow.
And things did eventually get better for Wang Wei. After managing to barely survive the famine, one of his former loyal advisors from the sect tracked him down and provided him with a pill that could heal his crippled body at the cost of losing all his previous cultivation.
He did not mind all of these. He again starts from scratch and only took a few years to heal his shattered Dao and reach a height beyond his previous peak.
Afterward, he singularly slaughters all his enemies and the people who had betrayed him. He easily retook control over the Dao Opening Sect and led it to an even more prosperous era. Then, he went back to the slum where he used to live and rewarded the few people who helped him during those times.
The only thing he did not do was to humiliate or kill the people who did him wrong during his days as a beggar. In fact, he did not even hide the fact. As such, the story of the rise of the Sect Master of the Dao Opening Sect from an humble beggar to a Supreme Being spread all over the world as a form of motivation: a way to encourage people that humble origin does mean you could not succeed in life.
Soon afterward, Wang Wei exited the Pagoda with the message that he had passed the Sixth trial.