Chapter 40 My Peerless Journey

"Finally I am back." Mo Xiaowen sighed before entering his residence. Dropping his things, he then went immediately towards his bed and fell asleep, he had a long day. Later that day, there was movement at Mo Xiaowen's front door.

"Click."

The door opened, and a disciple entered his residence. "Watering the grass, watering the grass, du du du du, watering the grass." He muttered to himself his eyes wandering around the mess, before locking onto Mo Xiaowen.

His face immediately reddened in embarrassment, before he sighed in relief that Mo Xiaowen was still asleep. 'I guess I'll water them anyway, then I can ask for my payment.' With that thought the disciple made his way to the garden and began tending to the Body Tearing Grasses.

A few minutes later, Mo Xiaowen awoke from his slumber. 'Did I hear a noise just now...why's the door open?' The boy jolted up from his bed, before hearing a disturbance in the garden. In an instant he rushed over ready to fight at any moment.

"Watering the grass, watering the grass..." Instead of being alarmed, and starting a fight, the sight simply made him cringe.

"Ahem, Xiao Hua I'll give you your money tomorrow, from now on I can take care of this myself." Mo Xiaowen coughed, as Xiao Hua turned to him, his face completely red in embarrassment.

"Yes, yes! I'll be going now." Xiao Hua replied trying to run off as quickly as possible.

"The spare key." Mo Xiaowen demanded reaching his hand out, realising he'd forgotten to return the key, Xiao Hua turned around and tossed the keys before speeding off.

Putting them away, Mo Xiaowen then inspected his garden. "Not bad." He muttered to himself. Before heading off to the Verdant Forest he had hired Xiao Hua to tend to his Body Tearing Grasses. Otherwise he'd have to trust that they'd survive by themselves.

After finishing up some more of the gardenwork, the boy let out a breath of air. A sense of calm took over him as he tended to the garden, allowing him to relax a bit. Mo Xiaowen then moved towards the nearby woods.

Currently he was in his old residence, as he hadn't felt like trudging all the way to his new one. Passing by various trees, some of which he had damaged with punches, others almost completely destroyed, while some were unscathed.

'I'll look at Old Ox's request when I am ready, right now.....I'll punch these trees.' He pondered before facing a tree and punching out. It cracked, and bent under the force of his punch, but the boy wasn't pleased.

Compared to usual his attacks felt sluggish, and powerless. "Again." And so he continued punching a number of trees, one after the other, they sustained varied levels of damage from Mo Xiaowen's punches.

Normally he'd feel a sense of ease from punching out, but now it was only a jumbled mess. A part of him punched out of rage, another out of sorrow, while another felt as if by punching he'd regain a level of control of his life that he felt he lost.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Mo Xiaowen roared before collapsing. "Why can't I punch properly...." He sighed but answers didn't come at the drop of a hat. Picking himself up off the ground, Mo Xiaowen made his way to his new residence to tend to those Body Tearing Grasses.

Day after day, the boy only felt more and more lost. Like usual he trained, but it didn't feel the same. The only thing that still felt right was tending to his gardens. He didn't go to Sea Glass City anymore either, and simply stockpiled his Body Tearing Grasses.

"When am I going to look." He sighed, standing outside Old Ox's residence. Every few days he'd pass by to make sure no one was disturbing it. But he could never get himself to look at his friend's final request.

Going through the motions, only let someone go so far. He was like a machine, but Mo Xiaowen wasn't a machine, and one day he broke.

Standing in his new residence, the former residence of Zhao Wuji, the boy began throwing his things everywhere. Breaking whatever he could find.

"CRACK!"

"SNAP!"

"THWACK!"

A few minutes later he stopped, tears streaming down his face. "I just want to go back to how things were." He muttered to himself but he knew it was impossible. Even 2 months after Old Ox died he still couldn't put himself together. But how could he, when he didn't even know where to begin?

"W-What's that?" The boy asked himself, as he noticed an odd looking book amidst the mess. Reading the cover, Mo Xiaowen laughed to himself lightly, normally he'd cringe at such a sight but now he just laughed.

"Hahaha, My Peerless Journey!? What kind of title is that?" Opening the book he began to read through it, at first he thought it was fictional but the more he read the more he was certain of something.

This wasn't a fictional book, but rather a diary, Zhao Wuji's diary.

"I joined the Demonic Cliff Sect today at 12 years of age, from a humble farming village I rose, but with grit and determination I've managed to arrive here. I can't wait to see what my journey holds!"

"Training is hard, but I find it much easier than the others, I guess I must be talented. Maybe I'll reach the Qi Gathering Realm one day."

"Its been a year now since I joined the Demonic Cliff Sect, while others have barely reached the 4th Stage, I am already in the 7th. Compared to my peers, no, I have no peers. I am Peerless!"

"At the age of 13 years 11 months and 5 days I have completed Body Tempering. Even geniuses of the past can only hope to reach my speed."

"Finally after 4 months I've managed to reach Qi Gathering. It was my hardest and longest breakthrough yet, but its been the most satisfying."

"Cultivation has become boring, its taken me 6 entire months to reach the 2nd Stage of Qi Gathering. Cultivating for the sake of it is tiresome, maybe this isn't for me."

"I haven't written here in a while, at the age of 15 years 9 months and 7 days, I've reached the 4th Stage of Qi Gathering. During this time I've travelled a lot. Throughout the Flood Dragon Kingdom, the Glistening Sand Kingdom, the Four Peaks Alliance and even the Barren Plains.

Everywhere I've gone, people are ruled by the strong, dying unjustly, or even starving to death. People restrict others freedoms via might, I am lucky to have continued cultivating. From now on I think I've decided, not to cultivate just to cultivate, but to become so strong no one can restrict my freedom!"

"I, Zhao Wuji, was naive. To think I was peerless just because I reached the 5th Stage before turning 17, I was so ignorant. I was never special, I just lived in a small pond. How can I become the strongest and gain true freedom, when there are monsters like that lurking. Like I should've done a long time ago, I am quitting cultivation.

When I was a farmer, I looked up to cultivators, I wished to be one and so I did. When I became a cultivator I wished to be a genius, and I was. Now I wished to be the strongest, but I am not. And is there even a strongest? Doesn't cultivation theoretically go on infinitely. What's the point? Is there a point? What even is this? Some stupid joke, a dream.....I don't know. But I refuse to participate any longer.

The Barren Plains, barren as they are, are free from outside influence. I can spend the rest of my days there without fear of some random Core Formation cultivator oppressing me or squashing me like an ant."

"I leave this here for anyone lucky enough to find it, I was Zhao Wuji Batch 894, a naive idiot. Quit cultivation, you'll only regret continuing in the end."