It's You Who Are Not Up to the Standards of Yunmeng Pavilion

There are many principles in this world that make no sense at all.

Cui Hao had always firmly believed this.

The starlight and the moon's veil could not pierce the gloomy clouds and mist currently shrouding Huaze Village.

It was as if an endless, hazy black mist had completely swallowed this place.

Cui Hao took a light breath and walked inside with resolute steps.

He studied Confucianism, his family was inherently a prominent, wealthy clan in the local area, and his extraordinary intelligence was evident to everyone from a very young age.

Furthermore, he shone far brighter than the sun.

While an ordinary child required repeated instruction for a single matter, Cui Hao only needed a simple explanation. Moreover, he could easily grasp and apply his knowledge when encountering similar problems.

A family capable of becoming a prominent clan would naturally spare no effort in comprehensively cultivating someone like Cui Hao, whose birth seemed like a miraculous blessing from their ancestors' graves.

Regardless of whether Cui Hao belonged to a branch family, the moment he revealed such talent, he became the core of the main branch.

Surname Cui, given name Hao, courtesy name Puyu.

Cui Puyu of the Cui clan in Hehuan was renowned for thousands of miles.

From the moment Cui Hao could remember, he was the apple of his family's eye.

Apart from the elders, his peers—even those older than him—would take the initiative to bow to him first.

Arrogance and a sense of superiority defined Cui Hao's childhood.

Especially after he began studying Confucianism, his outstanding talent meant that even the teachers who instructed him would sometimes ask him for academic advice.

After all, Confucianism was a discipline that heavily relied on natural talent.

At that time, Cui Hao truly possessed the aura that all Confucian scholars in the world must bow their heads before him.

If things had developed normally, Cui Hao would likely have become a top-tier Great Confucian in the mortal realm. At the same time, his influence would have elevated his family, making them the undisputed number one clan in Hehuan.

An upright, unsmiling Great Confucian.

However, life always loved to play jokes on people.

Or perhaps, deep in his bones, he was never meant to be a serious person.

Cui Hao reached out and pushed open the doors of Huaze Village's ancestral shrine. Looking inside, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a white robe. The man had slightly dark skin and bristles on his face like those of a wild boar, yet his expression appeared amiable.

His appearance had almost completely shed its wild boar traits, clearly indicating that he had put a great deal of painstaking effort into it.

The old woman who had been basking in the warm sun at the village entrance earlier was also standing to the side, silently looking down at the ground.

The middle-aged man smiled and cupped his hands, speaking in a gentle tone:

"You must be the Envoy, correct?"

Cui Hao knitted his brows and looked him up and down, saying with a slightly contemptuous tone:

"Your cultivation level is a bit low. As expected, whatever is left behind is nothing good."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man put on an obsequious smile and bowed even lower.

Cui Hao naturally stepped into the shrine, his gaze casually sweeping toward the statue of the middle-aged man standing in the center.

His senior sister had a pure objective; the mission came first.

Regarding the plight of the common people in Yunmeng Marsh, she might feel somewhat moved inwardly, but her absolute rationality would keep her calm and prevent her from getting involved.

After all, provoking the interests of others would naturally draw their hostility.

Furthermore, things might have been like this here for thousands of years. Why go through so much trouble for the thousands of years to come?

However, Cui Hao did not think this way.

Someone always had to do some foolish things for this world to become a little better.

Even if his strength was small at the moment and he could not do much, he shouldn't just turn a blind eye. He should at least leave something behind.

As for the mission of the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect, his senior sister would accomplish it perfectly even without him.

Therefore, Cui Hao was going to do what his heart told him to do.

Living in this world, shouldn't one do the things they want to do?

Even if it seemed completely meaningless to others, the mere desire to do it held endless meaning.

Cui Hao lightly flicked his sleeves and looked carelessly at the humble middle-aged man:

"You have seen the item, and we know enough about you. Since you are willing to wait here, you must be mentally prepared, right?"

The middle-aged man immediately nodded in response:

"Naturally, I understand."

In his robes lay the crystal given to him by Chen Baiqing...

The wild boar demon had thought he had cultivated the divine path of incense to the pinnacle and pondered it to its extreme. But when he saw the crystal with his own eyes and sensed that wisp of divine charm fluctuating within it...

Only then did he realize just how laughable his cultivation of the incense path truly was.

A mayfly resting beneath a parasol tree considers the mere inch in front of the tree to be the entire sky.

Only when a chance breeze lifts it to look upon the jade firmament does it realize it has spent half its life trapped in a shallow puddle.

The wild boar demon had managed to cultivate to the late Golden Core stage and take control of this village in Yunmeng Marsh, a place swarming with great demons, precisely because he yearned for the boundless Great Dao. Otherwise, wouldn't it be more liberating to just be a wild pig demon outside of Yunmeng Marsh?

At this moment, carrying a path straight to the heavens in his arms, how could he resist?

Opportunity was also a risk, but how could one ascend the Great Dao if they feared death?

The wild boar demon held his breath and concentrated, saying:

"What are your orders, Senior?"

Cui Hao glanced at him and said:

"Naturally, we must expand quickly. What can you possibly accomplish in this tiny patch of land?"

The wild boar demon's tone was rather helpless, yet mixed with a trace of anticipation:

"Envoy, there is no longer any unclaimed land in Yunmeng Marsh. With my cultivation level alone..."

"You haven't established a single shred of merit, yet you're already scheming for rewards?" Cui Hao looked at the wild boar demon with a teasing gaze.

The wild boar demon immediately bowed and cupped his hands, saying:

"I wouldn't dare. It's just that..."

"As expected, you're just a wild monster from the mountains," Cui Hao sneered, cutting him off. "This Yunmeng Marsh is governed by the Yunmeng Pavilion. If we had the power to steamroll through Yunmeng Marsh, why would we need to come here and mess around with a wild boar like you?"

"We would have long since become one of the Eighteen Immortal Sects instead of coming here to look at your stupid pig face."

Hearing these belittling words, the wild boar demon naturally felt angry. No matter what, he was still a late Golden Core cultivator who had managed to bite off a piece of meat in this Yunmeng Marsh.

However, he did not dare show it on his face. He kept his head lowered without saying a word.

Cui Hao waved his hand and said calmly, "Your vision is shallow, and you don't understand how things work. You think that having some cultivation allows you to run rampant, but no matter how overbearing you are, can you be greater than the Yunmeng Pavilion?"

"The only reason you demons can stir up trouble here is that the Yunmeng Pavilion turns a blind eye."

"The Yunmeng Pavilion can naturally ignore demons slaughtering each other, but if a major case involving humans is stirred up, they cannot feign ignorance. Their reputation is on the line, and there are also disputes among the Eighteen Immortal Sects."

The wild boar demon began to understand upon hearing this.

What Cui Hao meant was not to seize territory through slaughter.

"The hearts of the people are like water, and the movements of the people are like smoke," Cui Hao stated firmly, his gaze looking outward. "In Yunmeng Marsh, if you want to vie for great things, you must rely on this principle. Nowadays, there is no pure land in Yunmeng Marsh; it is merely a place where great demons exploit the weak, swallowing people whole without spitting out their bones."

The wild boar demon seemed to grasp a certain truth and understood what Cui Hao was trying to convey. He stammered slightly:

"But... why would the great demons ever agree? In the end, wouldn't we still have to fight it out?"

Cui Hao grinned and sneered, "Naturally, we will let the Yunmeng Pavilion handle the matters within Yunmeng Marsh."

The wild boar demon replied cautiously, "The Yunmeng Pavilion hasn't meddled in affairs here for a long time."

"That's because you lot aren't worthy of their attention."

Cui Hao cast a disdainful glance at him and drew Wanban from his waist.

The wild boar demon looked on in confusion, watching Cui Hao draw his sword.

Seeing that Wanban had absolutely no intention of cooperating, Cui Hao hurriedly pleaded through his divine sense, "Senior Wanban! I beg you! Please do it for Master's sake!"

Perhaps it was because of Cui Hao's devout tone, or perhaps what Cui Hao wanted to do had gained Wanban's approval.

The next moment.

Wanban's divine charm was fully displayed, its profound Daoist rhyme descending like the heavens themselves.

The wild boar demon felt his very soul seized, as if he were facing a heavenly abyss.

He could not muster a single shred of resistance; there was only submission.

His body collapsed onto the ground.

Such a divine aura...

Which immortal sect could it be this time, looking to stir up a storm in the Yunmeng Marsh?