Unfilial disciple, do not ruin your master's dream of ascension and peaceful life.

That was two hundred years ago, on an ordinary day in the Cangxuan Realm.

As usual, Qianjing was busy all day long.

The surrendered demon and human leaders are at odds again, and no one but him can appease both sides. The spiritual veins of the Great Swamp have gone out of control again; by the time other powerful figures arrive, countless civilians will have perished. It's better for him to intervene personally. The Heavenly Dao is sounding the alarm again; extraterrestrial demons are about to cause trouble, and it's unclear whether they'll come from outer space or the exile realm this time. Several Mahayana Realm experts are embroiled in a romantic dispute, and as an old colleague, he needs to mediate; otherwise, he'll have to clean up the mess later. Hundreds of newly promoted prodigies have reached a bottleneck, which is related to the excessive resources he consumed in his attempt to break through to the Saint Realm. He must take responsibility and help them with their enlightenment. Today, hundreds of millions more in the mortal realm are sick, all praying to the Heavenly Dao. As the representative of the Heavenly Dao, he should respond…

This happens every day.

Day after day, year after year.

Fifty years have passed since he became a saint.

During this period, in the vast Cangxuan Realm, among billions of intelligent beings, not a single one died an unnatural death, no major war broke out anywhere, the territory expanded more than five times, and evil spirits from outside the realm could not invade. The Cangxuan Realm entered an unprecedented golden age.

"Master, today marks the fiftieth anniversary of your sainthood. On behalf of all living beings under heaven, your disciple congratulates you!"

Look at his silly apprentice Ye Yinqiu, his face full of pride, I'm genuinely happy for him.

Look at the important figures from the cultivation world who came to offer their congratulations; how respectful and humble they are.

When did he start to feel annoyed just by looking at their faces?

"Holy Venerable Qianjing, your love knows no bounds!"

Shut up, stop flattering me.

"The Holy Venerable Qianjing is unparalleled in the world!"

Shut up and stop talking nonsense.

"The Holy Venerable Qianjing's achievements will last for ten thousand generations!"

Shut up, stop flattering me.

"Holy Venerable Qianjing!" "Holy Venerable Qianjing!" "Holy Venerable!" "Holy Venerable!" "Holy Venerable!" "Holy Venerable!" "Long live the Holy Venerable! Long live the Holy Venerable!!!!"

Please shut up.

Please give me some peace and quiet.

When did a thick barrier rise between me and all living beings in this world?

Whenever I try to humble myself, why do you all respectfully avoid me?

Am I not one of these living beings?

And you too, I'm talking about you, you damned Heavenly Dao.

Stop urging me, stop nagging me. I know that with great power comes great responsibility, and I know that the more you ask for, the more you have to give, but now it's all meaningless.

I know you're right, you'll always choose the optimal solution, and the current prosperity of the Cangxuan Realm proves you're right, but so what? Do you really understand how I feel?

There was no special reason or special opportunity.

This was just an ordinary day.

This was just another busy day, as usual, with no end in sight.

He suddenly felt that the sword in his hand had become very unfamiliar.

He suddenly felt that the outer world was so narrow and oppressive.

He suddenly felt that everything in the world had turned into a bronze mirror, reflecting his own empty, boring, and stupid face.

There's no particular reason.

The weariness in my heart outweighed the sense of responsibility to defend the common people, and the taut string suddenly snapped.

Therefore, at the grand ceremony commemorating his fiftieth anniversary of sainthood, while listening to the requests of various powerful beings, he suddenly interrupted everyone and said:

"I wish to dissipate all my power, give it back to Cangxuan, return to the mortal realm, and yield to all living beings. What are your thoughts?"

The moment those words left his lips, he felt a tremor run through him. Heaven looked at him in bewilderment, but he felt the pent-up anger finally released. "Alright, that's enough. It's over. I've said it, all things in the world, did you hear me? I no longer want to be a saint. I'm fed up, weary, tired, annoyed, or perhaps I don't need a reason at all; I just don't want to do it anymore. Feel angry, feel indignant, say whatever you want. Alright, you can be shocked, you can curse, you can spout nonsense. Come on, come on, at least this time, let's truly be honest with each other—"

"Master, are you saying that you plan to undergo mortal tribulations in order to reach a higher realm?"

"As expected of Saintly Venerable Qianjing, the Saintly Realm is indeed not your final destination!"

"Holy Venerable Qianjing, as lofty as the heavens!"

"May the Holy Venerable Qianjing live as long as the sun and moon!"

"Holy Venerable Qianjing, for the sake of the Cangxuan Realm, please reach the pinnacle once again!"

"Holy Venerable Qianjing!" "Holy Venerable Qianjing!" "Holy Venerable!" "Holy Venerable!" "Holy Venerable!" "Holy Venerable!" "Long live the Holy Venerable! Long live the Holy Venerable!!!!"

He was drowned out by the cacophony of congratulations and praises.

as always.

as always.

Just like his mother always has.

He felt the breath he had just exhaled return, sticking in his throat and blocking his chest.

He smiled.

In short, I find it ridiculous.

This happened the day before his ascension.

From that moment on, he resolved to leave this place, which he no longer felt any attachment to.

----------

----------

----------

"Shut up!"

Qian Jing smiled and stopped her incessantly chattering foolish apprentice.

"Don't you guys read my message before I ascended to heaven?"

"You mean the seven-character quatrain you left behind? 'Overtime, overtime, and more overtime, you stinking Feng Fu overtime, I'm running away and quitting, you guys figure it out'?"

Lin Zhiyu burst out laughing upon hearing this, and even Ning Ruozhi almost couldn't hold back.

Qian Jing's face twitched, then she asked:

"So... what are you thinking?"

"Of course we've been studying it day and night, but unfortunately, even after two hundred years we still haven't been able to decipher the profound wisdom it contains!"

"...Great wisdom?"

"The 'Study of the Holy Venerable's Absolute Verses' has become a required subject for all top sects. In order to understand your wisdom, many great beings have put forward their own interpretations, and many schools of thought have even emerged! For example, the 'Old Feng School,' the 'Stinky Fortune School,' the 'Runaway School,' the 'Do What You Want School,' and so on. By the way, I belong to the 'Stinky Fortune School.' Our school's research has progressed to the point of deducing the laws of the Heavenly Dao's cycle by combining the two characters 'stinky' and 'fortune' with the time of your ascension!"

"........."

"We are all extremely grateful to you. It turns out that these seven-character quatrains are also your means of benefiting the people and helping us to study the cycle of reincarnation. On behalf of all living beings in the Cangxuan Realm, your disciple expresses our deepest gratitude!"

"……………………………………well."

Qianjing's expression went from impatience to bewilderment, and now to helplessness.

He opened his mouth silently, glanced at his two equally bewildered friends, Lin and Ning, hesitated for a long time, and finally spoke:

"Xiao Qiu, is it possible that my farewell poem meant exactly what it said?"

"……what?"

"What if, I mean, what if, I've just been a servant to Heaven for too long, a beast of burden to trillions of living beings for too long, and no one understands me or wants to understand me, and my negative emotions have already overwhelmed my sense of responsibility, so I just pack up and leave?"

Ye Yinqiu's expression disappeared.

She blinked blankly, completely bewildered. These words had a tremendous impact on her, directly negating their two hundred years of sincerity.

Qian Jing simply flicked her forehead to knock her unconscious, then coldly said to Lin Zhiyu:

"Take her away."

"Take...take where?"

"With so many properties, why not just find one with a barrier that eliminates her presence and let her live there?"

"I'm going to Shanghai to report on this terrible incident soon, and I'll be gone for several days. I won't have time to take care of her."

"You don't need to do anything, just let her take care of herself."

"You... don't want to deal with her anymore?"

"When did I ever want to interfere?"

"That's not a good idea..."

"First, I was indeed angry; second, I owe no one anything; third, if she didn't even have the ability and luck to survive a near-death experience, I wouldn't have taken her on as my apprentice back then."

……

……

"……………………Why?"

When Ye Yinqiu came to her senses, she found herself in a speeding Volkswagen Beetle.

Lin Zhiyu was driving, and Ning Ruozhi was in the passenger seat. Both of them had subtle expressions on their faces.

"I think I just blacked out...? Sister Lin, Sister Ning, what happened? Where is Master?"

Perhaps due to the immense shock, Ye Yinqiu experienced a brief period of amnesia.

"Brother Jing...um..."

How can she tactfully tell her, "You've angered your master, and he's too lazy to care about you anymore"?

Lin Zhiyu and Ning Ruozhi were both struggling with how to phrase things more tactfully when Ye Yinqiu suddenly said weakly:

"Did I... make Master angry?"

Ye Yinqiu is pure of heart, but that doesn't mean she's stupid.

Even though she was terrible at reading the room, she realized that Qianjing was really unhappy.

Ning Ruozhi considered for a moment, then asked cautiously:

"Can you tell us what Qianjing is like in the mortal realm? He rarely talks about his hometown."

"Well..."

……

……

In the Cangxuan Realm, the "Great Ascension" realm is theoretically the highest realm. Until the once-in-a-millennium super genius Qian Jing emerged and broke the upper limit of the realm, the "Saint" realm came into being, which is also the realm closest to the legendary ascension.

As the only Saint Realm expert, Qian Jing is hailed as Saint Venerable Qian Jing, shouldering the heavy responsibility of the entire Cangxuan Realm.

In the Cangxuan Realm, the regeneration and reuse of resources is an extremely slow process; in other words, the resources the world can generate within a given period are limited. This means that while some people are constantly breaking through their cultivation levels by acquiring resources, many more will inevitably lose the opportunity to become stronger.

Under such circumstances, the emergence of a top-tier powerhouse—such as the Mahayana Realm—would consume enough resources to sever the path to power for billions of people. Qian Jing's breakthrough to the Saintly Realm would be even more significant; it's likely that no new Mahayana Realm expert will emerge in the next few hundred to thousand years.

"With great power comes great responsibility" is the fundamental law of the Cangxuan Realm—the underlying logic of "Heavenly Dao," which everyone tacitly agrees to abide by. Under such basic rules, the strong naturally bear more responsibility, and if any strong person disobeys, they will eventually lose everything under the invisible force of fate.

In layman's terms: In the Cangxuan Realm, the more you gain, the more you must give. The price of becoming a top expert is to work for the Heavenly Dao and maintain world order.

Thus, Qian Jing became the strongest cultivator and also the strongest civil servant in the Cangxuan Realm.

Hearing this, Lin Zhiyu and Ning Ruozhi roughly understood.

Before Qianjing appeared, there were nine Great Venerables in the Cangxuan Realm who were at the Mahayana stage. The nine of them worked together and served the Heavenly Dao, sharing the pressure with each other.

But after Qian Jing broke through, his realm surpassed everyone else's, and the situation changed completely.

In the Cangxuan Realm, Qian Jing's power is simply too strong, overwhelmingly so. Entrusting him with major tasks like repairing the Great Dao, suppressing the demon race, and defeating the alien demons is always the safest bet.

What's even more infuriating is that many things, big or small, are far more efficient to "hand over everything to Saint Venerable Qianjing" than to "let everyone work together under his leadership."

Thus, the Heavenly Dao, like a capitalist who only pursues maximum efficiency, relentlessly exploited Qian Jing.

Qian Jing did indeed fulfill the duties of the strongest. He traveled far and wide, fought endlessly, cultivated talents, and expanded his territory... However, he had too many responsibilities and too much work to handle. Even a saint would be exhausted.

However, many cultivators, including Ye Yinqiu, did not find anything wrong with it; on the contrary, they were genuinely happy for Qianjing.

Because they don't care about Qianjing?

Because hundreds of millions of ordinary people don't know what's good for them?

of course not.

Because that is the Cangxuan Realm, another world.

Different worlds have different rules, different social structures, and of course, different values. The Cangxuan Realm is a world where the strongest bear all the responsibilities, just like the saying "when the sky falls, the tallest person holds it up." Qian Jing is the tallest person.

So, Qianjing got tired.

Tired, annoyed, weary, fed up, and lost, I severed all ties with the natural order and left.

His former cultivation was no longer needed, as it dissipated upon ascending to Earth, essentially returning all the resources he had consumed, thus severing all ties completely.

It's that simple.

Analogous to Earth, this is the story of a talented, responsible, and enthusiastic genius who was given important responsibilities at a young age, but was overworked and exhausted by his boss and public opinion, and eventually ran away with his bucket because he couldn't stand it anymore.

This kind of thing happens every day on Earth.

"Dark humor, huh..."

~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~

(Author's note: This is absolutely not an allusion to any particular internet giant with a strong factional culture. There is no truth to the claim that art imitates life. I am completely devoted to this internet giant.)