Chapter 5101 — Leading the Young Astray
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
"Isn't it so? Every major sect in the Ancient Alliance teaches the Foundation Establishment stage in much the same way—these are ironclad principles proven over centuries and millennia. So tell us, Uncle-Master Xin, which one of the things he just said conforms to any of them?" Xue Jianming sneered.
The senior brothers leading the other sects all nodded in agreement. Judging by their own understanding of Foundation Establishment, much of what Wei Zhao had just said was outright heresy, wildly at odds with mainstream Ancient Alliance doctrine. Surely Wei Zhao could not be the one man who was right while the entire Ancient Alliance was wrong?
"Oh? And what does the Ancient Alliance say?" Wei Zhao was rather curious now. Apart from a few personal insights into cultivation, much of what he had just told them was in fact mainstream understanding on Cloud Terrace Island—not merely his own private opinion.
The other secular-world cultivators exchanged uncertain glances. Those of a slightly more suspicious turn of mind immediately began to back away, and the looks they cast at Wei Zhao now held a measure of doubt. So it was all heretical nonsense after all—and they had taken it for pearls of wisdom!
"Grand-Uncle-Master, what you just described truly is somewhat different from mainstream Ancient Alliance understanding," Xin Yi'an said honestly.
"So he really was leading the young astray! I wondered why he'd be so kind as to share cultivation insights with us..." Several Five Luminaries Sect disciples promptly put distance between themselves and Wei Zhao, wearing the aghast expressions of people who had nearly fallen for a swindle.
"And yet, Grand-Uncle-Master's words just now were in no way heretical. They were incisive, original insights—in many places far superior to our Ancient Alliance's mainstream understanding. One might say they strike the ear like a thunderclap. Even this disciple benefited greatly from hearing them. It is simply that certain people fail to recognize quality when they see it." Xin Yi'an's tone took a sudden turn.
"Oh, I see." Wei Zhao understood at once. Cloud Terrace Island stood on a level far above the Ancient Little Jianghu—how much higher than a single rung, he could not say. The gap between them was by no means merely a gap in the strength of their top experts; even their theoretical foundations were separated by a vast chasm. It was like the difference between modern scientific theory and the scientific theory of an earlier age—a natural generational gap. Someone of Xin Yi'an's higher level could still discern the subtlety in what he had said, but to the ears of Foundation Establishment experts like Xue Jianming, it was nothing but heretical, schismatic nonsense.
"What? We fail to recognize quality?" Xue Jianming choked on the words, then burst into wild laughter as though he had heard the joke of the century, rocking back and forth and pounding the ground, gasping for breath as he pointed at Wei Zhao. "Uncle-Master Xin, are you trying to tell us that *he* is the one who's right, and that the principles our Ancient Alliance has hammered out through centuries of true gold tried in fire are wrong instead? Even if he is one of your own from the Cangwu Sect of North Island, and even if you want to shield him, kindly use a little sense, would you? Do you really think we're so easy to fool?"
"Indeed. In front of so many quasi-disciples, Uncle-Master Xin, you had better be responsible for what you say. 'Leading the young astray'—that is a charge I doubt even you can bear," the senior brothers leading the other sects chimed in one after another.