Cultivator’s doubts

“Elder, why do you say the sect is wrong?”

“I’ve been at the edge of ascension for a long time, you know this, right?”

“Of course! You’ve challenged and one many in your time, and become famous for your greatness and power! Why would you doubt yourself now?”

“Well, ever since reaching this bottleneck in my cultivation, I’ve been able to see when others ascend.”

“There’s only been one other ascension though.”

“No, there’s been one-hundred and thirty-two ascensions since I became able to see them.”

“What? How come no one knows about them?”

“They weren’t famous. I didn’t recognize a single one.”

“Is this related to why you occasionally put out posters asking if anyone knows about a person?”

“Correct. No one ever knows them. No one has ever seen them before. They are simple unknowns who somehow ascend.”

“How can that be? Everyone knows the greatest cultivators are the ones winning the great tournaments and acquiring great and valuable resources in old ruins.”

“Except there are plenty of people ascending who never participated in those.”

“I’m sorry Elder, but I must doubt your claim. Perhaps they are not cultivators at all? Or maybe they are immortals who descended and are returning?”

“I’ve seen immortals descend and return, those are not the ones I’m speaking of. No, the vast majority of ascending cultivators are people who are completely unknown. It makes me question if the path we teach is the right one. If only one famous conqueror ascended, while one hundred and thirty-one unknown people do, then perhaps the ones who have evaded notice are doing something right the famous ones aren’t doing right.”

“What could it be?”

“Maybe they just aren’t constantly fighting each other to the death. I haven’t even bothered to count how many people I’ve killed on the way here. While I won’t say I regret it, I can’t help but wonder if that’s why so few famous cultivators ascend. Few of them will even live long enough to reach that point. I’ve killed many famous cultivators myself.”

“How can anyone get enough resources without taking those risks though?”

“Heck if I know. Maybe it doesn’t take as many resources as we think? I mean, I reached the level I’m at in just one hundred years. Then proceeded to remain stuck here for another thousand. If I took my time instead of rushing, perhaps I’d reach this point after 500 years instead, and end up with a better understanding since I’d have done things the hard way, instead of relying upon pills and herbs and other shortcuts to power.”

“There’s no way to know what that would be like. You can’t just relive your life.”

“... maybe… maybe I can. Maybe I should just start over and try again.”

“What? Are you mad? Throwing away all your cultivation!?”

“At the very least, redoing things would be less frustrating than being stuck on the same issue for another millenia.”

***Author note***

That wasn’t the ending I’d planned on… but once the claim was made, I realized: Maybe they could start over for real… and thus, the story went in a different direction and shifted from just an old cultivator wondering “what if” to one making a plan for beginning a new story (that I’m not gonna write). A story about a world where the most successful cultivators, are the ones no one has heard of.