Arthur nodded in understanding. He said, "Nothing is truly free. The greater the benefit, the greater the cost."
Jason laughed again. He shook his head and said, "I thought you were crazy. Who would have thought that you were also smart?"
Arthur shook his head. "I'm not crazy."
His reply made Jason laugh harder. He winked at Arthur and said, "Sure, you're not. I believe you."
Jason continued, "Anyway, you're right. The greater the benefit, the greater the cost. In this case, the better the sect, the higher the competition and the greater the danger."
"At home here, I don't have to encounter any danger to my life for whatever resources I get. I just need to work hard. But in the sect, there are people everywhere trying to kill me or at least beat me up."
"I say this to you as someone who has a good chance of entering a sect after the next regional sect examination. If you're not up for the danger and challenge, then don't bother. Stay here in the family and be a local champion."
"If you're lucky, you might reach the third mortal coil in the family. That's 250 years of life span right there. If you're not lucky, you will only stay at the second mortal coil. That's still 150 years of life span. Either way, you will rarely experience the danger of someone trying to kill you."
Arthur raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "How do you know that I have a chance to enter a sect?"
Jason scoffed. "I am not blind like the rest of my family."
Then he scratched his head and said truthfully, "OK, I am blind like the rest of the family. If I hadn't fought you that day during your challenge, I wouldn't have known that you existed. And the kind of power you showed as an eleven-year-old boy made me certain that you were sect material."
"Then there is today. You were given a gift by a patriarch of the family. That only happens to kids that the family wants to support for the sect examination. So it means that even though you are a bastard, the patriarch thinks you have a good chance of passing the sect examination."
Arthur nodded and said, "I guess you're right. I do have a chance of passing the regional sect examination and entering a sect."
Jason nodded too. Then he said, "In that case, think about it carefully. It is good that you're smart, so you can think about it. Only participate in that examination if you are willing to suffer and do anything for power. If not, then stay at home and enjoy your life. The road to better resources is built on the corpses of ambitious people like you and me."
Arthur looked at Jason again. He thought to himself, "He must have experienced a lot of drastic things to make him become like this. I wonder what those things are."
His first impression of Jason is a cheery man with a sunny personality and bright disposition. Yet, here was the man with a smile always on his face being gloomy and talking about death.
He could imagine what kind of things Jason had seen and experienced to make him like this. It resonated with it him because he didn't think there was anything that could bring Jason's mood down.
It is welcomed, but he doesn't need Jason's warnings. To be honest, he is not willing to suffer, and if there was a chance not to suffer and gain power and life span, he would take it.
But there is no such chance. He can only make up his mind to suffer and be willing to do anything to acquire power because he is determined to acquire power and longevity.
His goal doesn't stop at the fourth mortal coil either. He wants to achieve the fifth and the sixth and the rest until there are no more coils to transcend. He wants to reach the peak and have an unlimited life span.
He knows that his motivation is grand and his goals are far-reaching. He has also lived long enough to know that his goal cannot be achieved without opposition, resistance, and enemies. So he doesn't need Jason's warning.
In fact, he doesn't take the sect examination seriously either. It is just like Jason said; it is only the beginning. The danger will increase, and the power of his enemies will become higher from then on.
Jason took him to speak with his uncle. And just like Jason had warned, the man had a bad mouth. But Jason was able to bear it because the man was stronger than him and because the man didn't mean any harm.
The strength of the man and the strength of the Dyson family, which supports the uncle, are the most important things here. It didn't matter if he took offense or whether the man meant any harm at all. All that mattered was strength.
If the man didn't mean any harm but he was strong enough to kill the man and destroy the Dyson family, then the man would be in trouble no matter what he said. In fact, the man would be in trouble even if he didn't say anything.
He knew this, which was why he could never be satisfied with being the local champion. He couldn't give up on any chance to grow stronger.
If he gave up in the sect examination and chose to remain in Agate City, running a business. Maybe one day, someone from out of town will come and claim that his business is cheating him. Then that person will proceed to beat everyone, cripple him, and force him to move his business underground.
Such a thing is rare, but it has happened before, and it can happen again. Since it happened to someone before, it can happen to him next time.
If it does happen to him, it won't matter if he was cheating the customer from out of town or not. What would matter is who has the bigger fist.