58 The End

Shura had been chasing after an answer to a question for a long time. Although he couldn't say that he had been doing it all his life, since it only started after he became a cultivator, he still spent the majority of his life with it at the back of his mind.

What was the right thing to do? What was the true path? What was the right way? Was it right to live naturally as a mortal? Or was the right thing to struggle, to strive to go against nature, to dominate over nature and become a strong, powerful cultivator who would only grow in strength and lifespan the more powerful one became?

What was the right thing to do? Was being a cultivator the right thing? WAs it right to ever be greedy, striving for higher and higher peaks and having your soul chained down by desires? Or was the right thing to be content with oneself, whether one was a weak mortal or a cultivator of some strength?

Strength could protect everyone and everything important to him and force his will upon others and even go against nature itself. Power was alluring and could corrupt the most virtuous of saints.

But such a life was filled with endless desires. More. More… More! More!!! More of everything… such a way of living was very exhausting to Shura. Perhaps others didn't see it that way, but that was how it looked to him. Maybe him not being able to cultivate was the most fitting and perfect fate for him. And yet he had been unhappy and unsatisfied with being ordinary.

Some people also couldn't choose. The him who never encountered the fortuitous encounter would be among those. They would've been a mortal all their lives.

Shura pondered on this question for a long time, until he finally arrived at an answer. He had no one to tell him the answer, and even if someone did tell him, it would not be something that he had arrived at himself.

His answer was simple: It didn't matter. It was a ridiculous and simple answer, yet it was something that took him great effort and pains to arrive at.

There was no right answer. One can live either way, and it still wouldn't matter because there was no right answer.

Shura never had anything. The common path that he shared with other cultivators was the practice of cultivation and the pursuit of power. That was all that he had ever possessed. When he let go of it, because he couldn't reach the peak, he had nothing left. In letting go of that obsession, that desire for the ultimate peak and power and being left with nothing, Shura had obtained everything else instead.

He began to appreciate the small things of life. The days of frenzied cultivation as if everything depended on it was long gone. Other things arose to fill in the void. He accepted that there were things he could do, and things that he was powerless to do anything about. He accepted that not everything could be controlled by him. He accepted that he wasn't some almighty cultivator whose words could shake the world. He also accepted that his life was finite and he would be gone one day.

He also didn't struggle against anything anymore. Since everything was already determined, he would just live. Although the word 'happiness' was nothing but a vague concept that was quite nebulous, he was confident that he had obtained a sliver of it at least.

Although he was quite powerless to resist even the weakest of cultivators now, he was content.

Although he wasn't very wise and intelligent, he was content.

Although he wasn't very strong and healthy all the time, he was content.

Although he didn't have a high status filled with respect and being fawned over by others, he was content.

Although he wasn't very wealthy and owned many things, he was content.

Although he would die one day, and that one day might be as soon as some random almighty being's battle's shockwave randomly arrived at where he lived, he was content, free, and happy with his lot.

The sky was very blue today. Shura was lying down on a field of grasses. The weather was not hot nor cold, just right. The wind was not too strong, but there was enough of a breeze.

This weather was really perfect for a nap. Yes, that's what he'd do.

"Not bad at all."

Shura smiled and closed his eyes.