Inwardly Disgusted

Jo Yuan stood in the stone formation, watching as Elder Liu met his end. Confused, Elder Liu looked around, not knowing who Jo Yuan was or why he was killed. The formation shimmered with power, sealing his fate. Jo Yuan felt a strange mix of emotions. He had done this countless times before, yet it never felt normal.

After the event, Jo Yuan sought out Master Feng. He approached the wise old man with respect and asked to become his student to learn about formations. Master Feng, impressed by Jo Yuan's talent, accepted him.

...

Under Master Feng's guidance, Jo Yuan showed he had a mid-level understanding of formations. Master Feng was impressed but knew there was much more to learn. He began teaching Jo Yuan how to advance from mid-stage to peak intermediate knowledge of formation.

"Jo Yuan," Master Feng said, "to attract the aura of heaven and earth is key to powerful formations." He explained the mechanisms clearly, and Jo Yuan listened carefully, eager to absorb every word.

...

Years passed. It took Jo Yuan five years to gain a decent understanding of the lessons. One day, Master Feng looked at him, puzzled. "Why are you having such a hard time?"

Jo Yuan felt ashamed. He knew he couldn't tell anyone about his power of regression. Deep inside, he always knew that he wasn't really talented. It was just the result of accumulation and many lives lived over and over again. His natural talent was very mediocre. How many lives he had lived now? 156, 158, or 167? Jo Yuan thought uncertainly. However, his learning speed was a little faster than previous lives though. Probably due to his built foundation and solid familiarity with the basics that he had repeated numerous times that he grew sick of it?

After 15 long years, Jo Yuan finally reached the peak of the intermediate stage. Master Feng praised him openly, saying, "Well done, my disciple!" But inwardly, Master Feng felt disgusted by Jo Yuan's average talent. He thought about how much effort it took to reach this point.

Master Feng was confused. At first that he accepted Jo Yuan, he obviously was already mid stage of intermediate knowledge. It should mean that this boy has excellent talent with formation. Then, why did he need to take such a long time for small progress?

Master Feng began to doubt if his teaching is the problem or the disciple in front of him had been secretly replacdd by someone.

'What am I thinking? My teaching isn't the problem! He's just dumb shit!'