"Isn't it so? Every major sect in the Ancient Alliance teaches the Foundation Establishment stage in much the same way—these are ironclad principles proven over centuries and millennia. So tell us, Uncle-Master Xin, which one of the things he just said conforms to any of them?" Xue Jianfeng sneered.

The senior brothers leading the other sects all nodded in agreement. Judging by their own understanding of Foundation Establishment, much of what Wei Zhao had just said was outright heresy, wildly at odds with mainstream Ancient Alliance doctrine. Surely Wei Zhao could not be the one man who was right while the entire Ancient Alliance was wrong?

"Oh? And what does the Ancient Alliance say?" Wei Zhao was rather curious now. Apart from a few personal insights into cultivation, much of what he had just told them was in fact mainstream understanding on Cloud Terrace Island—not merely his own private opinion.

The other secular-world cultivators exchanged uncertain glances. Those of a slightly more suspicious turn of mind immediately began to back away, and the looks they cast at Wei Zhao now held a measure of doubt. So it was all heretical nonsense after all—and they had taken it for pearls of wisdom!

"Grand-Uncle-Master, what you just described truly is somewhat different from mainstream Ancient Alliance understanding," Xin Yijie said honestly.

"So he really was leading the young astray! I wondered why he'd be so kind as to share cultivation insights with us..." Several Five Luminaries Sect disciples promptly put distance between themselves and Wei Zhao, wearing the aghast expressions of people who had nearly fallen for a swindle.

"And yet, Grand-Uncle-Master's words just now were in no way heretical. They were incisive, original insights—in many places far superior to our Ancient Alliance's mainstream understanding. One might say they strike the ear like a thunderclap. Even this disciple benefited greatly from hearing them. It is simply that certain people fail to recognize quality when they see it." Xin Yijie's tone took a sudden turn.

"Oh, I see." Wei Zhao understood at once. Cloud Terrace Island stood on a level far above the Ancient Little Jianghu—how much higher than a single rung, he could not say. The gap between them was by no means merely a gap in the strength of their top experts; even their theoretical foundations were separated by a vast chasm. It was like the difference between modern scientific theory and the scientific theory of an earlier age—a natural generational gap. Someone of Xin Yijie's higher level could still discern the subtlety in what he had said, but to the ears of Foundation Establishment experts like Xue Jianfeng, it was nothing but heretical, schismatic nonsense.

"What? We fail to recognize quality?" Xue Jianfeng choked on the words, then burst into wild laughter as though he had heard the joke of the century, rocking back and forth and pounding the ground, gasping for breath as he pointed at Wei Zhao. "Uncle-Master Xin, are you trying to tell us that *he* is the one who's right, and that the principles our Ancient Alliance has hammered out through centuries of true gold tried in fire are wrong instead? Even if he is one of your own from the Cangwu Sect of North Island, and even if you want to shield him, kindly use a little sense, would you? Do you really think we're so easy to fool?"

"Indeed. In front of so many quasi-disciples, Uncle-Master Xin, you had better be responsible for what you say. 'Leading the young astray'—that is a charge I doubt even you can bear," the senior brothers leading the other sects chimed in one after another.

"Casting pearls before swine!" Xin Yijie was speechless. These people lacked the cultivation to follow him and their thinking was rigid; they simply assumed that whatever they had learned before was immutable law. They could not hear the brilliance in the guidance Wei Zhao had just offered. Even if he argued with them now, it would do no good—they would only take it as unprincipled favoritism.

Wei Zhao did not much care. He had shared those cultivation insights purely out of goodwill; whether anyone listened was their own affair. As for what the senior brothers leading these Ancient sects thought of him, that mattered even less.

"I'd say he's simply run out of arguments," Xue Jianfeng said with a smug smile. Stirred up by his prodding, the senior brothers leading the other Ancient sects now regarded Wei Zhao with unmistakable hostility. Anyone would be sickened as though they had swallowed a fly by someone who schemed to mislead their own quasi-disciples—but unfortunately, Xin Yijie was present. The crowd was merely displeased and dared not do anything to Wei Zhao; otherwise, with a little more goading, they might well have come to blows on the spot.

"What are you still standing there for? Do you mean to keep listening to his heretical brainwashing? Get over here, now!" The senior brothers leading the various Ancient sects frowned and snapped at their quasi-disciples.

It was not only the Five Luminaries Sect. The other secular-world cultivators, having heard all this, were now wavering as well. Facing the sharp rebukes of their own sect's senior brothers, they offered no resistance and stepped away without hesitation. The looks they turned on Wei Zhao no longer held even a trace of the gratitude and admiration from before; instead, there was a measure of distaste and ill will.

By now, only Leng Leng, Qiu Lingshan, and three secular-world cultivators remained at Wei Zhao's side—all of them quasi-disciples of the Cangwu Sect of North Island. Though what they had just heard set them murmuring doubtfully in their hearts, Xin Yijie had declared it incisive and original insight, and they were inclined to believe him. In any case, even if they had not believed it, they could hardly move farther from Wei Zhao—Xin Yijie was right there beside him, after all.

"Are all of you blind? Have you forgotten how much Wei Zhao has done for the secular world? Do you really think he would harm you?" Qiu Lingshan was grinding her teeth in fury. She did not mind suffering a little indignity herself, but she could not bear to see Wei Zhao wrongly accused.

Leng Leng, too, felt aggrieved on Wei Zhao's behalf, but she said nothing. Instead, she regarded the senior brothers leading those sects with the look one might give an idiot. What Wei Zhao had said was not profound; think it over carefully and even she, a mid-Foundation Establishment expert, could taste something of its subtlety—and much of it did not even conflict with mainstream Ancient Alliance understanding, it was merely more incisive. Were these people all pig-brained?

"We haven't seen him do anything for the secular world. He's just trying to establish his authority while he has the chance—that little scheme is plain enough to us. We're not fools..." a Five Luminaries Sect disciple retorted with a cold laugh. He was now a quasi-disciple of the Snow Sword Sect, and in saying this he was in fact declaring his loyalty to Xue Jianfeng. So long as he could smoothly join the Snow Sword Sect in the days to come, what could Wei Zhao do to him?

Though the Five Luminaries Sect's new sect master had become Patriarch Xuanzhen, most of the disciples left behind were still Patriarch Xuanchen's people—especially those of higher cultivation. As for the disciples Patriarch Xuanzhen had newly taken in, it was already quite good enough if they could reach the Profound Rank at this point.

So naturally they had long found Wei Zhao an eyesore. Now that there was a chance to mock and disparage him, they were hardly going to let it pass.

Sure enough, the look Xue Jianfeng gave him turned considerably warmer. The man's aptitude might not suit the Snow Sword Sect particularly well, but seeing as he knew which way the wind blew, he could be given a few pointers in the future. (To be continued.)