Chapter 215: What is the Dao?
Jack bit into the Dao Sprouting Pill. Its juices ran over his tongue.
Almost instantly, he felt the world screech to a halt. His eyes opened wide. Colors spread through the darkness until they filled it, then kept going. Shapes and geometric patterns materialized, floating haphazardly through the air, breaking and reforming at random, each bringing Jack new inspiration.
The small part of his mind that remained sober thought that this resembled the hallucinogenics of Earth. Except, those didnt work for cultivation. If they did, everyone would be an immortal already. They were just random neurons firing. This one, however This was the real deal. What he was seeing wasnt visions. It was the Dao.
Suddenly, Jack felt himself becoming one with the world. The environment around him unraveled, turning from rock and air to currents of the Dao, vibrating and oscillating as they wound around each other. The Dao was everywhere. It was the fabric and moving force of the universe, what gave everything meaning.
And it wasnt just particlesor maybe it was, but also so much more than that.
For the first time, Jack realized that the Dao was alive.
It was a laughing gale and a stubborn stone. It was carefree water and hungry fire. The Dao was the spirit of the world split into infinite tiny pieces, and each piece took on a form suited to its mentality. That was why understanding mattered. If the Dao was alive and had feelings, even the barest hint of sentience, it made sense that understanding it would allow you to resonate with that part of the Dao, even going as far as to make it cooperate with you.
Maybe even suck it inside your soul and make it a part of you.
Jacks eyes were opened. For the first time, he saw the true essence of the world. This was the Dao. Like a million tiny fairies, each capricious in their own way, sentient yet elementary in their intelligence.
Then, what did it mean to cultivate the Dao? What did it mean to absorb it inside you and form your own understanding of the world?
It meant to condition your inner world. It meant to invite in the Daos that suited you and teach them how to work together without flaws.
In the F-Grade, you contacted the Dao and resonated with it in small parts, letting tiny quantities inhabit your body and make you stronger, faster, smarter. You let them transform you in accordance with your desireswith your Dao.
In the E-Grade, you pulled in more. You resonated with more facets of the Dao, broadening the spectrum of the world with which you could interact. You pulled it in and expelled the irrelevant Daos from your body until your inner Dao composition became so attuned to your soul that you could control it with simply your will, the same way an oarsman controls the water.
And, in the D-Grade, you consolidated the Dao inside you to such a degree that you turned into a beacon of power. In the sea of diverse Dao, which was so sparse and chaotic as to be powerless, you became a dense mass of power guided by the will of a human. By forming a complete system of understanding and assimilating your inner forces, you became a part of the Dao. Then, its high concentration inside you allowed you to dominate your surroundings, which lacked a will of their own.
Jack felt breathless. So this was how the Dao worked. Come to think of it, Master Shol had once explained something similar, but Jack hadnt understood it then. How could he? Without experiencing reality first-hand, as he was doing now, it was like trying to teach a blind man what the color red looked like.
Hearing about something and actually experiencing it were two different things.
But now, Jack knew. Now, he realized what it meant to break through to the D-Grade, how and why he could achieve it.
Then, what were the meanings of roots, seeds, and trees? Where did that imagery fit into the larger picture? What Jack saw now looked nothing like plants.
He didnt ponder that too much. The effects of the Dao Sprouting Pill wouldnt last forever. Whether the plant stuff was imagery produced by the System to facilitate understanding, or whether it was some higher concept of the Dao that he was unable to grasp right now, it mattered little.
The Dao knew how to break through. All he had to do was follow itand hope his understanding was strong enough.
Good thing this state brought clarity.
Jack dove deep into his own body. He found his soul. Finally, he knew what it was: simply the lump of Dao that subscribed to his own will. The core of his conscious existence. Without it, he was nothing but flesh and bones. With it, he was a persona cultivator.
No wonder it didnt have a physical substance.
Jack observed his soul. When hed reached the E-Grade, it had become one with the Dao of the Fist. Now, he was it, and it was him. His entire existence was built around a lump of Fist.
Throughout his cultivation journey, he had added more Daos to the mix. Indomitable Will and Power were thereparts of the Dao that had been with him since the F-Grade. Life had been added laterthe Life Drop, a sphere that contained titanic quantities of Dao compressed to the limit of possibility. Jack gasped. For the first time, it felt like he had a nuclear bomb strapped to his heart.
Only now did he realize the significance of this Life Drop. It had no will of its own, but its sheer quantity was so large that it resonated with all the Life Dao around him, letting him control it even without fully understanding it.
He had no idea how this could be achieved, and he felt it a concept so advanced that considering it right now was simply a waste of time.
Belatedly, Jack realized that he actually hadnt comprehended any new Dao Roots while in the E-Grade. Huh. Still, he let the thought flow away. He had a job to do. He wasnt here to ruminate.
Forming a complete system of thought Lets see.
There were a few Daos inside him. How could he merge them into one homogenous whole, in such a way that they were perfectly aligned with each other?
The Fist would be the core. The other Daos would simply be feeding into it, refining its edges and turning it from a concept into his own, personal interpretation.
Jack started preparing. As if in a distant world, he sensed himself take another bite of the Dao Sprouting Pill. Under its effects, everything was made so much clearer, the world returning to its essence.
He had to break through.
In a trance, Jack grabbed the Daos with his will and started weaving them together. He placed the Fist in the very center, plugging in the others where they best accentuated the Fist. Contradictions spawned almost instantly. Every move he made sent ripples across the board, striking a dozen different spots and weakening them. It was like trying to weave a delicate fabric with fingers as fat as water bottles.
Jack gritted his teeth and pressed on. He had to find a way. His understanding wasnt perfect, but he had to make it. He had to iron out the imperfections.
It was difficult. Even with the clarity provided by the Dao Sprouting Pill, working with four concepts at once was impossible. There were gaps in his weave. Holes and bumps. Places where something was needed but he had nothing, and places where he had too much but needed little.
This clearly wasnt working.
He switched his mental image. He was no longer weaving the Daos together, but treating them like three-dimensional puzzle pieces. The Fist was his centerpiece, a rod-shaped object with bumps and holes. The other Daos were sheets he could wrap around his centerpiece, each with their own holes and bumps. To achieve a perfect breakthrough, he had to fit them together perfectly to form a smooth shapethe trunk of his Dao Tree.
Once again, however, the result was imperfect. There were holes he couldnt close. Bumps he couldnt cover. The Daos he had were finite, and there just didnt seem to be a perfect combination. The trunk he was forming was ugly and uneven.
Jack felt despair creep in. Was his breakthrough doomed to fail? Even if he succeeded, would he end up a mediocre immortal destined to stagnate in the D-Grade? This terror gripped his heart like an iron vise. He despised his own weakness. He did not want to be trapped. He did not want to stagnate. He wanted to grasp his own fate and use his strength to obtain freedom.
A mediocre immortal was still an immortal. He would still be able to fight until he fell, as the Fist and his soul dictated. He could lead a happy, fulfilling life.
So why did mediocrity feel like a curse? Why did powerlessness scare Jack more than death?
However, the dice were cast. All he could do now was shoulder on and try his hardest to make this breakthrough work. If any problems cropped up later, he would find a way to deal with them.
He kept on with his puzzle-solving, fitting the pieces together as well as he could, jamming them in where he could do nothing else.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, thunder rumbled in his soul; a sound strong enough to reach him even in this pill-induced trance. The Dao around him flew into disarray. His puzzle was broken. Everything was chaos. His breakthrough had been interruptedthankfully, he had still been at the early stages, so no harm was done.
Jack snapped awake. This didnt feel like a natural phenomenon. Had someone attacked him!?
However, sweeping his surroundings with his perception revealed nothing. The Dao was slowly recovering from the disarray, but there was no hint of anyone present. Jack still felt suspicious. He knew what hed sensed. Someone or something had deliberately interrupted his breakthrough.
Who could it be? And why?
The trance was still in effect. Jack felt his mind drift as he tried to focus on mundane matters, but he forced it to attention. Suddenly, he was cautious.
Who could do this? he wondered.
Nobody. There was no way an E-Grade cultivator could mess with the Dao in this way. Some treasure? Possibly, but there was nothing in his vicinity. Even if there was, why would it happen right at that moment? Was it a hellish coincidence?
The Final Guardian?
That was an immortal. Jack didnt know the limits of its powerperhaps it could detect his breakthrough and stop it. But why? It was supposed to be just a testing tool of Trial Planet.
Wait. Did Trial Planet itself interrupt me?
He quickly ran over his information. Immortals were not allowed in Trial Planet. Lords were considered the apex existences. So, why would the B-Grade factions not send in someone at the very precipice of breaking through? They could enter as E-Grades, break through, then dominate the entire planet. Even the Final Guardian, who had never been defeated, wouldnt be that difficult.
There was only one reason why all these didnt happen.
How could I have missed this? Jack thought, overcome with despair. Trial Planet itself doesnt let us break through. No cultivator can become an immortal here. We are forced to deal with the trials at the E-Grade, or the entire system would break.
Wait. Then, what about Naujas dad? He was an immortal.
Jack frowned. Maybe Trial Planet only stopped delvers? Maybe breaking through was possible, just more difficult? Maybe there were other conditions to be met?
He did not know. The fact was, his breakthrough had just been interrupted, and looking down, half of the Dao Sprouting Pill was already gone. There was no time to waste. He only had enough for one more attempt.
What if Trial Planet just stopped him again?
But did he have another choice?
I do! he realized. In this state, with my powers of understanding through the roof I could try to comprehend another Dao Root. Coupled with the Life Drop, maybe it would be enough to let me escape this cave. And then what? Breaking through with four Dao Roots would be even more difficult. My path would be cut short.
Nothing else came to mind. Jack had two options: attempt to break through again, or try to develop a fourth Dao Root.
If he tried to break through, Trial Planetor whatevermight stop him again. Then, his Dao Sprouting Pill would be wasted, and he would probably die of thirst soon. Even if he succeeded, he could sense that a perfect breakthrough was currently impossible. At most, he would become an average immortal, and he would progress no further.
On the other hand If he developed a fourth Dao Root, Trial Planet wouldnt stop him, and he would become stronger than Lords. He would dominate the E-Grade. In return, breaking through in the future would be almost impossible. He would be biting off more than he could chew.
But almost impossible wasnt the same thing as impossible. Indeed! Why not develop a fourth Dao Root? Jack could bite off as much as fit in his mouth. If he couldnt chew it, that would only be the result of his own weakness. If he could, not only would his path not be cut off, but it would instead become even grander.
After all, there had been people in the history of the galaxy who broke through with four Dao Roots. If they could do it, why not him? Why would he not try?
Aim for the top or die trying. Punch high. Fight until you fall. Was that not the path of the Fist? Was that not what Jack preached?
Suddenly, he opened his mouth and laughed out, letting the harsh sound echo against the cave walls. So what if his throat was torn from the effort and dryness? So what if the air was stale, and ingesting it made him want to puke? So what if he was cornered into a life or death decision?
So what? He was Jack Rust! He followed the Dao of the Fist! Since when was he scared of a challenge? Since when did he choose the easy road?
How had breaking through with only three Dao Roots even crossed his mind?
All thoughts of breakthrough, all weaving and puzzle-solving were tossed out of the window. Jack would double down. He would form a fourth Dao Root. He would aim for the very top. And, in the future, he would just work hard to succeed.
He had made his decision.
But what Dao Root?
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