48 The Happy one and the Unhappy one

"It's almost time."

Sect leader looked up the sky and saw the sun almost reaching the apex of day. Almost noontime.

Right now, he was walking down the open hall towards a large cave up ahead. Glancing back his shoulders was by Ben Li lying in on a stretcher that floated above the space and followed him. He thought about things in his head. Sect matters like the relationship between his subordinates, the progress of the disciples of his sect, the current status between their relationships with other sects, the updated news spreading across the world, CNN and fox news, what was he going to do after this...

Those thoughts were constantly processed in his head over and over until finally he swept them all away by curling his lips unto a smile.

Leave those problems to the hardworking me. That's what he always says.

For as long as he remembered, he never once heaves a sigh to all his problems. Since the beginning problem solving had made up half his life for almost 300 years. With problems piling up into an enormous mountain until it finally became a range of mountains, he realized that he couldn't solve them alone anymore despite his powerful cultivation level.

And then, 15 years ago. He finally found the solution to all his problems.

Wang Xie.

Honestly, he had to admit that it was so wrong to dump all your problems to the next generation but he had little choices now. He will try to lessen the burdens by conquering all the subtle things that will potentially transform into a hectic mess and advise as much as he could on where these children would go on their paths, but first he should probably prepare for his long-awaited dream for retirement.

After all, only with a goal in mind can one successfully achieve it with pure satisfaction. That was what the precious sect leader said to him after he retired his seat.

Anyway, sect leader never found himself to sigh whether in relief or in exhaustion and whenever he tries, his cheeks would cramp up and the next thing he knows was that his lips had curved upwards magnificently. He thought it was some curse or a genetic problem but he found out later on that the cultivation art he cultivated all his life didn't allow him to become unhappy at all.

You must always be sunny and cheerful with a bright smile on your face! It seems he skipped reading that part since he began cultivating that art.

Although he did find the creator of that art to be creepy for making the Cultivator smile without a hint of happiness, he didn't actually hate the 'unable to be unhappy' flaw and was actually a bit thankful that he couldn't get unhappy.

I mean, with all the problems piling up, it wouldn't be a wonder that he died from the exhaustion and unhappiness instead of looking at the bright side of things. Take a look at Wang Liu. That guy would not quit as long as there was still a problem piling up on his desk and his schedule was so tight that even a whole day wasn't enough.

It was scary that he could still smile like a ripped man for his age. Sect leader would have probably gone crazy from unhappiness if he was standing on his shoes.

Anyway, sect leader was walking down the hall enjoying the sun bathing on him in a leisurely pace. His footfalls resounded as it echoed on the marble floor and it pleased his ears. His robes comfortably flutter with the breeze brushing past as it cools his body. And he couldn't even be more happier walking on this open hall all day long.

It's times like these is where you don't even remember that you're alive but you just live.

He continued to walk like this until he finally reached the end, and what do you know, someone alone was waiting for him near the cave entrance.

He wore robes that were loose and flexible, his back hunched like an old man, the deep wrinkles on his face told he had a vast number of life experiences and he wore an eyepatch that covered his scar, making his left crimson eye more noticeable.

It was Xingjian, the well renowned demon lord who is head of the law enforcement of the sect.

Seeing him standing there with his sword aura dauntingly exposed and his sharp crimson eye staring back at him, sect leader's face cramped into a mirthless smile and spoked rather calmly.

"You really were serious when you proposed to cut young Wang's arm off, weren't you?"

"..."

Xingjian only responded with silence and a frown. Listening to his silence, sect leader only got wary of him. Even though the old man before him was frail with a Power Core cultivation realm, which sect leader can easily subdue with a finger alone, one must remember that the man in front of him was myth from the legends.

Like him, Xingjian was once a Holy Saint Daoist. And if the legends were true then Xingjian should be more powerful than sect leader back in his heyday.

But then, a mystery happened. And his cultivation realm had regressed by one realm with traumatic injuries and PTSD sustained. Causing him to take simple things extremely serious in his tendency.

Rumors circulated about him said that he was no longer worthy of wielding the swords of Judgement and had dethroned him from his seat of one of the 30 Conferred Sword Knights of Xuanwu Empire.

Another was that he had battled against a long time for who was rumored to be the murderer of his 2nd disciple in a life and death combat and end up in this messy state where his strength is 10 times weaker compared to his peak.

There were many rumors about him, mostly shocking and mostly blatant lies, but one rumor did spread across the continent and shocked the whole world in disbelief and immortalized his legend for many generations to come.

He, a knight who serves his sword to the empire, slit the emperor's throat!

Almost all the people who knew this story were completely skeptical about it. But the many witnesses who saw him swinging his sword in a horizontal arc and dug his blade edge deep into the skin of the most powerful being alive had burned that incident into their fearful hearts, forever to be a scar in the history of the empire for all time.

So yes, he slit the emperor's throat. Which was tantamount to making an enemy of the entire world... Did that kill him?

Apparently, no.

I mean come on, the emperor is the most powerful martial cultivator alive and if a slit to the throat could kill him then he would have been dead by now.

And as to why Xingjian did it, no one knows. And after that incident, Xingjian was sentenced as a traitor to be executed with his Soul drawn to suffer in eternal anguish where he will never reincarnate.

However, the emperor being an okay guy, gave him complete amnesty from his punishment with an excuse that he admired his strength and it would be a waste to have him killed like that.

Almost everyone was completely dissatisfied with the emperor's amnesty as they may know that Xingjian did not just slit one throat, in fact, he slit more than a hundred throats when he came storming into the celestial palace to face the emperor at the throne hall.

Amongst those hundreds of victims where Knights and aristocrats who were practically in the same Holy Saint realm as him or perhaps even higher and they still died under his sword!

So, he practically made a lot of enemies before even meeting the emperor.

Having made an enemy out of the world, Xingjian's life was constantly endangered. Until the emperor decided to command him one last time before his excommunication and sent him away traveling into the far west of the continent to meet someone who will become his benefactor and employ him.

What happened after that was a mystery and Xingjian had laid low profile for a century before finally coming out to join the Helios Dragon Sect.

At first, everyone who knew him wanted to kill him and claim his bounty but after receiving the letter of recommendation from his 'benefactor'... They had no choice but to suck it and take him in.