879 Endless Dao's
The Grand Abbot was stunned to his core, which was something that hardly ever happened, if ever. He was a man of knowledge. A man of intellect. A man of experience. Everything told him that John was telling the truth, that he was not of this world. A youth like John would not joke about things like that, at least not to a level that would fool the Grand Abbot.
And yet, John had moved towards the World Dimension Seed without being slaughtered as an intruder, an outside parasite. The World Seed could not be fooled. It was far too profound to fall victim to trickery of any sorts.
Yet despite what should have happened, John moved towards the World Dimension Seed. The Grand Abbot’s mind shook, trying to figure out what was going on. John, a youth who was definitely not of this world, was accepted by the World Seed. It baffled him. It was something he could not figure out.
Ignorant of the Grand Abbots shock, John floated slowly towards the World Dimension Seed. Movement in this dimensional realm was strange. He couldn’t utilize his Qi effectively, and so all he could do was lean in the direction he wanted to move, at which point he would slowly start to move in that direction. No matter how much he urged his Qi to propel himself forward, it did nothing at all.
‘Strange,’ he thought. It was as if the laws in this realm were different from the outside realm he lived in. It was as if the World Dimension Seed was the god of this realm, and everyone else had to bend to its rules.
As he approached, he could feel the natural pressure emanating from the beautiful world seed increase, but despite the increase, it did not push him away.
John paused, no longer leaning forward. He came to a halt within the void, staring at the seed in the distance. It was still hundreds of yards away, which was a distance easily traversed in normal situations, but would take some time within this strange, beautifully colored void.
He floated there for some time, unmoving. The endless streams of radiant colors raced by him, while the Grand Abbot watched in rapt attention. He was a man who was rarely surprised, and yet he felt excitement at the moment, an even rarer experience for him. He had no idea what was going on, what would happen, and that filled him with excited anticipation.
John hovered in place, studying the streams of colorful energy that raced past him every second. Blue, yellow, red, gold, orange, black, white, and everything in between. Every color he knew of existed here, and many colors he had never imagined could exist raced by as well. It was as if he was experiencing a new reality at the moment, one of a higher level that he had lived in all his life.
It was as if he was experiencing the truth of the world. His heart rate increased, sending blood coursing through his veins. It was rare for him to feel this excited outside of battle. He turned around towards the distant Grand Abbot once more.
“How long can I stay here?” John asked, his questions surprising the Grand Abbot.
“Technically there is no limit,” the Grand Abbot replied, “but the longer you stay, the more overwhelmed you will become by the Dao’s streaming off the World Dimension Seed. You will be driven mad if you stay too long. But for a true genius, a few weeks should be no problem.”
‘So those are Dao’s,’ John thought, his guesses confirmed. He nodded towards the Grand Elder thankfully. This information was truly useful.
He turned around once more, and faced the World Dimension Seed, glowing brightly in the near distance. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and nearly snared John into a daze once more. He shook his head to shake the ensnared daze, and then closed his eyes.
He could move towards the World Seed, but decided against it. His instincts told him that he had an incredibly rare opportunity before him, one that was worth delaying his retrieval of the World Seed.
His legs crossed underneath him, as if he were sitting on something within the void. It was the position he assumed whenever he fell into a true meditative trance. His legs crossed, his eyes closed, his mind focused.
His soul attuned with his palace realm, falling instantly into a meditative trance. The trance felt so right, so perfect at the moment, as the streams of colorful Dao’s raced by him with haste. The Grand Abbot eyes widened, instantly realizing what John was about to do.
“He’s going to break through to the Dao Transformation Realm!” he mumbled. He regarded John for a short while, and then smiled, nodding in utmost approval.
“Despite the heavenly treasure existing just before him, he still prioritizes his cultivation above all else. In all my years, I have never seen such a steadfast genius, one so focused on increasing his strength,” the Grand Abbot said softly. “If he cannot obtain this World Dimension Seed, then I’m afraid it will remain unclaimed for all time. I eagerly await the outcome of what’s to come.”
The Grand Abbot then fell silent. He knew how important this advancement was for a cultivator, and did not dare disturb John for a singular moment. His eyes fixated on John, eagerly awaiting the outcome of his ascension.
John’s eyes were closed, his mind was empty, his soul was relaxed. He felt as if he were floating in a void, not only physically, but within his soul as well. It was as if he had been returned to a nascent state, one completely in tune with the universe.
He felt the streams of energy brush against him, flooding his mind and soul with comprehensions he never had before. His face shuddered as he felt his mind flooded with new information. Even with Daos’ he had never known existed, he found himself grasping their initial concepts, becoming familiar with their existences.
There were too many Dao’s to study, too many Dao’s to focus on. His mind and soul became nearly overwhelmed by the countless Dao’s flooding his mind, and so he focused only on grasping the very initial states of each Dao.
When it came to comprehending Dao’s, the hardest part was comprehending the initial state of the Dao. Dao’s were almost always ethereal and abstract concepts, and thus getting that initial insight required a lucky opportunity, such as finding a heavenly treasure that emanated that Dao, or coming from a powerful clan or sect that had such treasures to study. Here, however, the abstract Dao’s had become real, real to the point that grasping them couldn’t have been easier. This place was an absolute marvel. A pinnacle treasure of incomparable value.
Some cultivators spent their entire lives studying a particular Dao, only for them to never grasp even the most basic of initial states. It all came down to comprehension ability, natural compatibility with the Dao, and a multitude of other factors that were hardly understood.
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As such, John focused only on the most basic parts of each Dao he felt. As soon as it entered his mind, he focused on it, studied it, comprehended it if he could, and then discarded it, moving on to the next. It was unlike any meditation session he had ever done before. Other sessions had a singular focus on which he would put all his effort into focusing on, but here, it was like he was flipping through a book of the heavenly Dao’s, scanning a page briefly, and then turning to the next page.
Time lost all meaning as he did this. The Dao’s came and went, each like a tick of the clock, continuing endlessly. The pain he felt in his mind and soul increased with each new tick. It was an overwhelming amount of information to comprehend, but thanks to his heaven defying soul and will power, he was able to resist the pain and focus on the task at hand. The information kept flooding into him, like an encyclopedia of the Dao’s being etched into his mind.
Fire. Ice. Death. Life. Space. Time. Gravity. Wood. Metal. Lightning. Illusions. Scythe. Sword. Saber. Spear. Wind. Earth. Water. Blood. Darkness. Light. Nature. Alchemy. Chaos.
The endless Dao’s continued to flood his mind without pause. Some he studied and grasped, others he discarded with disinterest, and others he gave up on, unable to grasp them despite how much he focused on them. The ones he failed to grasp filled his calm mind with slight disappointment, but that feel faded away instantly as another Dao appeared for him to comprehend.
Time continued without meaning. Dao’s were comprehended without pause. Pain continued to grow in his soul, reaching a point that he felt as if his mind was about to split apart, or soul was about to burst from within. The pain eventually reached a level that even he was unable to continue, as the pain was an indicator that he could not continue; his soul was at its limits. It was unable to proceed forward.
His eyes snapped open, firm, determined, profound. It was as if the multitude of Dao’s he had comprehended were contained within his gaze. His dantian suddenly surged with power. His blood began to race through his veins.
It was time to break through to the Dao Transformation Realm!