Sky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 42- Expected Conclusions
Added 2026-02-03 15:00:21 +0000 UTCComments
TFTC
Wrenn
2026-02-17 18:58:00 +0000 UTCIf not egg, then why egg-shaped?
Hakurei06
2026-02-04 15:58:01 +0000 UTCAlternatively, maybe he rolled a nat20 and never has to talk no jutsu Mao again Edit: clarity
EvilLittleThing
2026-02-04 03:03:17 +0000 UTCTian to Mao -You're not embracing life, you're fleeing death. And so you're caught in between, unable to go forward or backward. Your friends need what you can be when you're no longer afraid. When you know who you are and why you are and what you want. When you are no longer looking for reasons to live but can simply be.
Logan
2026-02-04 02:09:29 +0000 UTCRolled a 1 on the Talk no Jutsu. That's rough. I'm curious if this itchy feeling is just how Tian is describing his intuition of the dissonance in others actions and speech or if he's actually sensing something external to himself. Maybe a friction between merits and sin?
Sol
2026-02-04 00:24:12 +0000 UTCwas this also a way of saying that the higher ups are taking the discussion the same way mao is?
Person
2026-02-03 21:23:37 +0000 UTCIt's a hard lesson to learn that not everything can be fixed and that to truly fix or even help another person can be an impossible thing. An even harder lesson to learn that you hurt someone deeply and irreversibly when you were trying your best to help them. Tian still has so much growing to do. I hope he connects this to constantly striving for betterment instead of perfection
Jackson Sherrod
2026-02-03 19:53:21 +0000 UTCAlmost every chapter with Grandpa in it, I wonder how it would have gone without Grandpa there. Having that set-apart perspective in his head - I wouldn't dare call it objective, Gramps clearly has a very lived view of the world - gives Tian such an incredible measure of himself and his own actions. Gramps could be seen as a whisper of the Tao, giving him tangible and evident hints towards the way.
Tim Gonsalves
2026-02-03 19:37:19 +0000 UTCNah see it aint about age. Its about identity. The human mind is lazy and will literally try and push itself to any alternative if a idea contradicts what it already "knows". And what you "know" makes up your identity. Unless that is you coach the idea in rhethoric symmetrical to what a person thinks of themselves. It never mattered that Tian was young, beyond his appearance making Mao perhaps thinking he isnt worthy of any viable ideas in his own labeling anyway. What really mattered was Tians framing threatened his sense of self so he got defensive instead of introspective. His sense of self wasnt fluid enough to properly integrate new info so he ran.
Veridescent
2026-02-03 19:35:56 +0000 UTCThe difference is in this world esoteric shit is real.
Eike M
2026-02-03 19:19:12 +0000 UTCTian is very young, and this was admittedly a huge overstep. Well-intentioned, but unsurprisingly ineffective. It’s hard to know if Mao would have listened to him if he was 10 years older, but regardless, Tian needs to be less condescending if he wants to be a spontaneous therapist. Because that was condescending as fuck.
kapo
2026-02-03 19:07:42 +0000 UTCMao is conservatism, or continuing traditional hierarchical structures because they are putatively a meritocracy. The social structure and requirements from participants are pre-defined and static. Tian is progressivism, or pursuing social solutions that enable decent living conditions for people, independent of hierarchical status. The social structure and requirements from participants change according to need and efficacy of attempted solutions.
EvilLittleThing
2026-02-03 18:35:33 +0000 UTCMao has a sieve that prevents the flows from moving through him cleanly, an opaque window that prevents the inner light of his heart from being the source of all he does. This metaphor stuff is hard, I understand why Tian hates it.
zero
2026-02-03 17:58:03 +0000 UTCThat kind of problem solving is generally something he doesn't involve himself in, since Tian solving it for himself gives Jun energy. The collapse of the Eight Directions Palace isn't well known to the ACM, they only have speculation as to why it collapsed
Leon Calvit
2026-02-03 17:39:53 +0000 UTCNow I’m rooting for Mao all the way.
Leaf
2026-02-03 17:39:43 +0000 UTCBut who is Tian to say that he is wounded, what does this wet behind the ears, self-proclaimed ascetic, lucky son of a heavenly person to say that I, Mao, a strong warrior who has lived for 170 yrs am wounded while he is not. We know Tian as the protagonist, we know his struggles and grapples and ability to see the heart, and his education, Mao doesn’t know any of that, how is he supposed to take this upstart calling him wounded. Just trying to explain that your view on this may be biased by Tian’s spot in the story, and considering Mao’s characterization, his reaction is understandable. Warby is a good writer lol
Nikolai Beckel
2026-02-03 17:30:08 +0000 UTCI've been on the receiving end of this type of conversation. Though it was some kind of lady claiming esoteric knowledge and understanding because she pays big money for "REAL" horoscope readings. You know the type. Someone who hardly knows you dishing some life-altering truths to you in vague, cryptic statements. Dolling out enigmatic, unactionable, unspecific advice. Sounding 2 sentences away from selling you her branded miracle product that could help you get your 3rd eye aligned and your chakra rivets WD40-ed. I can only imagine the level of pissed I'd be if a smartass-teen did this to my over-a-century-old self. "...A pain you ignore, but are never rid of. You know it’s in there somewhere, but your mask is blinding your eyes. You will never be free of the pain until you remove the mask."-How infuriating.
SlaveToMyWhims
2026-02-03 16:57:12 +0000 UTCTyfc! I am a bit surprised we didn’t hear it come up during the discussion. But, what is Grandpa’s opinion on the status quo. As the technically most experienced person in the room they may be able to provide information that the general sect may be missing. Also, on another topic, do the Elder’s know what caused the collapse of the ancient big sect? Since they were so separated from mortal’s it’s unlikely they “choked on mortal air.” But I’m a bit surprised that the Elder’s have not passed down why a “bigger fist” sect failed to the younger generation, if they did know.
BlueJayCash
2026-02-03 16:49:31 +0000 UTCMao is stagnation and complacency.
Dog City
2026-02-03 16:46:01 +0000 UTCUnlikely. To do so, he would need to throw away his identity as a properly behaved, honorable, orthodox hero daoist. He is so invested in his current role that he can't be honest enough with himself to have a productive conversation with Tian. There's no way he would discard it to become actually evil. Mao can continue being an effective antagonist by strictly representing the failed status quo. Tian kills heretics, but struggles with the status quo.
EvilLittleThing
2026-02-03 16:16:44 +0000 UTCI think it's not that simple. Some elders probably wanted the meeting to be a while wash, echoing the party line, they picked Mao. Others figured that if Tian was invited, things would play out differently. The reform faction wanted something like what happened, others honestly thought Mao would work. This whole thing was a political dual between factions, Tian gave the reformers a overall victory.
Zenopath (AEV)
2026-02-03 16:05:46 +0000 UTCYeah. Cultivation as i see it is always about bettering yourself, but sometimes to grow you need to brake, this is what Tian tried to show Mao i think, but the man refused to see it, i think Mao knows subconciously that Tian is right, but his pride and the age difference reinforcing that pride makes it so he closed up instead, refusing to better himself by confronting himself.
NoAriGuy
2026-02-03 16:01:46 +0000 UTCTftc!
James Faulkner
2026-02-03 15:51:42 +0000 UTCI wonder if Mao will eventually break through, but in a heretical, villainous way, and become more of an antagonist
G&S Gaming
2026-02-03 15:47:46 +0000 UTCHe probably expected to resolve the bad blood from the conflict that happened before...
Cisby
2026-02-03 15:44:12 +0000 UTCMao didn't even know he had been set up to get kicked down. Despite refusing to consider the words of those below him, he really thought he'd been trusted by those above him to keep them in order. When Tian sympathized with him for being so quickly sacrificed, Mao was initially surprised, then brushed it off. Apparently it's easier to blame Tian, the rising dragon with an indulgent, powerful father, for getting uppity than it is to imagine that Rui and the elders intended for him to be defied and displaced.
EvilLittleThing
2026-02-03 15:42:48 +0000 UTCtftc
Samuel Sever
2026-02-03 15:40:43 +0000 UTCDid Tian destroy Mao? Or did Mao simply fail to overcome the challenge that Tian presents to him? The dao is in all things. Mao ran into a difficult truth and turned away, burying himself in the comfort of soothing lies. This is not the way.
Ano Ano
2026-02-03 15:39:34 +0000 UTCI think part of Tian's dissconnect with people like Mao is his primary experiance with these kinds of conversations is in the hospital. He is used to speaking with the wounded and the dying who are often blunt and often appreciate bluntness. He sees Mao, percieves him as wounded, and immediatly offers an ear and comfort, to help bleed the pus from a wound that is swollen. The issue is that Mao does not know he is wounded, and is insulted that anyone thinks he needs help, and so spurns the offer and dooms himself to gangreene.
Noroh
2026-02-03 15:35:44 +0000 UTCIt's literally sky pride I believe.
Robert Mullins
2026-02-03 15:28:29 +0000 UTCCan someone please remind me what Tian Zihao means? I assume Sky Pride is a close-ish translation but I'd like to better understand what Mao said.
ioajfidsnmfomds77
2026-02-03 15:26:55 +0000 UTCReminds me of this expedition 33 line: "Art can be a Window and art can be a Mirror. And great art –great art is both. ... you’ll never be a true artist if there’s always a mask between you and the viewer, especially when the viewer is you"
Robert Mullins
2026-02-03 15:26:43 +0000 UTCThat didn't seem to go how Mao expected. I wonder what he was expecting when he went there?
Kenny
2026-02-03 15:26:30 +0000 UTCI wonder if dynamics of like face and ageism arent often effectively personilization. Putting ones own struggles as examples of methodological superiority as the totality of your picture of reality while ignoring the reality of how all things struggle and the inherent value then in other perspectives even if they are "smaller or different in form". Quite relevant for cultivation I think and the nominal aspect of literal all things cultivating.
Veridescent
2026-02-03 15:18:48 +0000 UTCHaunting. He's a side character, yet that was still such a blow to read. I hope it works out for Mao, or he comes back having turned into a demon :) I swear you're getting better with this writing stuff. I get to the end of chapters so often and think, that was incredible - And it's in different ways - Good going!
MorningDawn
2026-02-03 15:16:57 +0000 UTCThese last 15-20 chapters have become some of my favourite chapters so far
Diarmuid McGinnity
2026-02-03 15:16:42 +0000 UTCSmh, it's all such a shame sometimes. One's dignity and pride are important parts of out humanity, yet can also be massive impediments to our personal growth. Good story
Pinpenny the great lithian
2026-02-03 15:12:09 +0000 UTCIts kinda insane how every chapter is back to back peak like this
Cameron Bacon
2026-02-03 15:06:45 +0000 UTC
