The Innkeeper - Chapter 1311: The Spar I

“It was so basic,” Cornelius said. “You have to educate the student, just enough that they know what not to do, but not enough that they don’t have to think for themselves. Ensure a healthy diet. Ensure rigorous training. Make sure the student has a consistent, focused drive to excel. Give them enough real world experience that they can rationalize their growth, and compare it, but not so much that they think they’ve become experts.

“The actual document was one hundred and twelve pages long, and created the absolute perfect scenario that would be required to achieve perfection. The amount of detail he went into was so extreme. If he were alive I would have asked him if he was trying to be meticulous, or trying to prove that perfection was impossible. But he was dead, so instead I took a different meaning to his work.

“If a mere mortal, with his limited mental capacity and slow speed of thought could come up with such a detailed plan for perfection, then I could come up with an even more detailed plan following the same pattern. Then all I had to do was find a way to make it happen.”

“Quite a long story there,” Lex pointed out as he began to stretch his body. Cornelius, standing at a distance still only had the strength of a mortal, but there was something about his demeanor that made Lex feel like he was a very serious thought.

“Do you know what makes perfection, Lex? I know the question sounds different from my original question about the origin of strength, but you see, they both have the same answer. Perfection is not a singular state. It is an aggregate of countless individual things done perfectly.

“It is the same with strength. How you trained your body at the mortal realm affected your limits in the Qi training realm. How far you pushed yourself in Qi training affects the kind of Foundation you have. The limits of your Foundation determine the kind of core you can tolerate, and that can influence the strength and energy pool of your Nascent soul.

“How powerful your Nascent soul is then determines how quickly and easily you can sense laws, which in turn determines how effective your tenets are.”

“Wait,” said Lex, suddenly interrupting him. “I thought all tenets were the same, and there was no distinct advantage of one tenet over another.”

“That is true. Tenets, in themselves, are equal, but the quality of the tenet you build is definitely not. That, as I said, is determined, among other things, by the quality of your Nascent soul. The quality of your Nascent soul, in turn, comes back down to the quality of your body tempering, and the effect of your body tempering comes down to, not only your cultivation technique, but also your aim. Are you aiming just to shoot the target of achieving body tempering, or are you aiming for a greater target than that… a harder target to achieve.”

Lex was reminded of the analogy of the two archers – the teacher and the farmhand. They both achieved the basic result, but they had different targets from the get go, which brought about subtle differences.

“The trick, then, is how to achieve such a thing in mass? Not only for yourself, but for the whole human race? You’d need a consistent, clear threat to their lives and way of life for a long period of time, alongside sufficient guidance, as well as the right goal, right resources and so much more.”

“Are you telling me how to get strength, or giving me a confession about why you put your empire in harm’s way for hundreds of years?” Lex asked, solemnly. It was not his imagination. Cornelius began to radiate greater danger than he had ever felt from another Earth immortal.

“I am telling you… everything I have ever experienced in my entire adult life has been as a result of conscious choice, to hone myself in the crucible of war. While I want all of humanity to progress, that does not mean I have ignored my own training for a single moment.

“For hundreds of years, Lex, every single moment of my life has been dedicated to somehow honing myself in one way or another – whether people see it or not.”

“I am telling you… everything I have ever experienced in my entire adult life has been as a result of conscious choice, to hone myself in the crucible of war. While I want all of humanity to progress, that does not mean I have ignored my own training for a single moment.

“For hundreds of years, Lex, every single moment of my life has been dedicated to somehow honing myself in one way or another – whether people see it or not.”

Cornelius touched his armor once more, and his aura returned to that of an Earth immortal, and as it happened he was also a level 7 Earth Immortal. But that’s not what Lex was paying attention to.

No, his sight was on Cornelius’ aura, which was physically manifesting itself all around the man. It was not like Domination, which was heavy and oppressive. Instead, it was just black. The mountains faded from view. The valleys of sand faded from view. The sky and the earth all vanished, and instead was replaced by a deep darkness that flowed out of Cornelius’ body, as if he was an endless void.

“By the way, I also put myself through that teacher’s recipe for perfection, just to see what the results were like.”

Lex could see nothing. His eyes were drawn to Cornelius, the only visible thing standing in front of an eternal abyss. At the same time, his body was giving off such an immensely powerful aura that Lex felt compelled to look away.

“Did you end up building a tenet of perfection or something like that?” Lex could not help but ask as he pulled out Naraka. He was having trouble believing that even after all his countless advantages, someone in the same realm could threaten him this way.

Then again, it was Mary who mentioned Cornelius as an example of a very powerful Earth immortal.

Cornelius chuckled.

“Not quite.”

Then he put on his gloves, and aimed the bow towards Lex.

“Get ready, I’m going to shoot.”

“Don’t hold back,” Lex said, so Cornelius didn’t.

Lex never saw the arrow fly. He just felt it smash into his chest, launching him across the mountain range. The spar had begun.

Yes, yes, 2 more chapters on the way. Hold on. 😛