"Truly insidious," Yang Qing softly said as his gaze fell on the heart-quenching mulberry dew. "Just like the instructors," he added with a wry smile, shaking his head slightly to wave away the lingering image of Ma Yuan’s departing smile and the lifeless body of his daughter, Ma Ling.

Yang Qing took a small sip of his wine, his gaze growing distant as he attempted to sort out his mind and heart in the wake of what he had seen. A few seconds later, he sighed, the heaviness in his gaze lifting.

"We may have god-like abilities, but we are not gods. We are but twigs being guided by the flowing current of life, with the only difference between us and those who cannot cultivate being that we see more than they do. But when it comes to deciding how the river flows, we are just as helpless as they are. You can only do what you can do. Make peace with that..." Yang Qing murmured.

It was something the Vice Chancellor of the Institute had said during the assembly on Yang Qing’s first day at the Institute. Before making that statement, he had told the first years to look to their left, then their right, their front, and their back, and that for the faces they had seen, there was a chance that for one reason or another they would never see those faces again, because that person would have died. Such was one of the possible endings awaiting those who joined the Order, and the Institute’s job was to prevent or reduce those endings as much as they could, so that Yang Qing and the others would not have to grow accustomed to burying the faces of those they had seen, interacted with, and even come to consider friends.

He then proceeded to emphasize that, as thorough and as extensive as their training was going to be, and as much better prepared as they were going to be because of it, the Institute was neither an omniscient nor an omnipotent institution.

They had powerful cultivation arts and spells, possessed countless resources, and had the understanding to produce powerful cultivators, but ultimately, they had their limitations. As much as they prepared them for the future, it didn’t mean they could tell how the future would unfold, and whatever preparations they gave them, as thorough as they were, would still not be able to cover all of life’s never-ending surprises.

As such, they needed to prepare themselves to slowly grow comfortable with the fact that there were things that no matter how powerful they became, they would never be able to avoid or prevent, at times. In their hearts, they needed to carry the understanding that at some point in the future, there was a possibility they would bury and mourn one of the faces before them, whether it be a student from the same year or another from a different one, an instructor, or even the Vice Chancellor himself.

He emphasized this last point by noting that, despite being a soul formation expert, he could still lose his life for one reason or another, or find himself incapable of saving the lives of those he cared for, of which he gave a few examples where he had indeed failed to do so.

Among those losses were four of his personal disciples, his parents, and siblings. For his disciples, two were killed while roaming the continent, one he outlived when they exhausted their lifespan, and the last failed their tribulation and died. As for his parents and siblings, them he outlived as well. At least it was some comfort that old age had been their cause of death.

Yang Qing and the others had to slowly grow into accepting that they would encounter things in their lives that, however powerful or prepared they may be, they would not be able to avoid or prevent, because there are limits to what cultivators can do, however powerful they are.

They needed to make peace with their limitations when those moments arrived, but at the same time not remain permanently confined to them, because cultivation at its essence was to defy fate. Accept what you cannot do, but continuously expand what you can.

That advice at the time hadn’t carried as much weight as it should have with the young Yang Qing. His mind back then was occupied with celebrating his newfound freedom from his clan, daydreaming about the potential the future held for him now that he had been accepted into one of the most powerful organizations on the continent.

All he was thinking of at the time was how he was going to stand out so he could be lavished in resources, praise, and all the wonderful treatment that special talents receive. He wasn’t interested in talk about limitations, and as far as accepting limitations went, he felt at the time that he was already ahead of the curve in that regard. After all, wasn’t it his realizing his limitations and seeing them clearly that had led him to the Order’s doors?

That quick acceptance was what led him to immediately flee for his life when he started noticing strange gazes from his grandfather and the other clan members whenever he walked about. They smiled at him. Offered him food, and to his dismay, he found out they were actually pretty good cooks. One wouldn’t have imagined it, given the bitter potions and disgracefully cooked spirit herbs and meats they used to give him, with barely any consideration to it. If not for his mother’s cooking, he would have truly grown to hate food entirely and avoided it completely when his body evolved to the point of not needing it for nourishment.

Thankfully, things didn’t get that far.

It was his acceptance of his limitation in being unable to change the Yang Clan’s obsession with the body refinement realm and their life-threatening regimen that allowed Yang Qing to immediately decide to flee for his life the moment he realized his clan members were being a little too nice to him.

So, the Vice Chancellor’s words at the time did not resonate that deeply with him. It was only after he started working as a judge and began handling endless cases that showed the abyss of the cultivation world that those words started striking a chord in him with every case he handled and every valuation he oversaw when he was outside, and as he got to see and experience the harshness of out there up close.

But it truly, really sank in when news came that Lai Lei had been severely injured, to the point of not only entertaining the possibility of him becoming crippled, but also potentially losing his life in the process.