Chương 114: The Dao of all Living Things

Leo logged back into the Azure Profound Continent the moment his cooldown finished. His hands were still shaking. It had been fifteen hours since he last faced Monarch Scatterstraw, and his body hadn't gotten the message that he was safe. He'd buried himself in formations practice, working on derivations until his hands cramped and his eyes blurred, because every time he stopped, the churning black air came back. The tendril reaching for his soul. The way it had noticed him. He needed to talk to Shen Tianyi.

He found Tianyi waiting on an observation platform they had built on Human Hut Mountain. Skyhome rose behind him in the distance, its granite faces catching the first rays of sun.

"Brother Chen." Tianyi inclined his head.

"I received your message from Mike yesterday, after you died." Yesterday, the first thing Leo did after he woke up in his pod was messaged Mike and had him pass it along to Tianyi.

"Thanks for coming." Leo joined him at the platform's edge. Below them, a formation-imbued cart rolled along iron tracks between rows of spiritual wheat.

"What I saw bothered me." Bothered. The word felt inadequate. What he meant was that something had looked at him from inside the dark, and the part of him hadn't stopped screaming since. Tianyi studied his face for a moment.

"Do you wish to speak of it?" Leo hesitated.

"The black air around the Monarch." He spoke the words carefully.

"What was that?"

"Slaughter Qi." Tianyi confirmed what Leo already suspected.

"I keep seeing it when I close my eyes." Leo's jaw tightened.

"The way it moved. The way it noticed me." He turned to face Tianyi directly.

"Was I really that close to being corrupted? To losing myself?"

"Yes." Leo wasn't sure what he had wanted Tianyi to say. Reassurance, maybe. Some explanation that would make the experience feel less dangerous in hindsight. But the frank response settled something in his chest. At least now he knew where he stood.

"And now I keep thinking about all those other times we entered the profundity. Were we playing with fire the whole time? What if we were already corrupted and we just didn't notice?" Tianyi raised a hand.

"You are not infected. Consider this. Your excavation sites remain intact while the holes the Stonehaven cultivators dug are already regrowing." A slight pause.

"You and your friends possess something special. I speculate that because you do not truly die, the profundities cannot affect you the way they should."

"So the reason that something different happened was because I used my ortho-k vision." Leo let out a breath.

"Before, I was blind to the Slaughter Qi. This time I saw it, and it saw me back." If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

"Likely," Tianyi said.

"Little is known about Slaughter Qi because scholars do not dare study it deeply. The more one studies it, the more one feels they understand it. The more they believe they understand it, the more they desire to harness its power. And when they attempt to harness it..." He trailed off.

"They become corrupted."

"Precisely." Tianyi met his eyes.

"Do not spend your time pondering Slaughter Qi, Brother Chen. It is sufficient to know that it is dangerous. Anything more invites corruption." Leo nodded slowly. The advice was sound.

"I'm not sure that will help with the nightmares. When I let my mind relax, the images come back." Tianyi studied him for a moment.

"Brother Chen, I believe we possess a solution for you." He reached into his sleeve and withdrew a bundle of incense sticks. He lit them with a touch of spiritual qi, and fragrant smoke curled into the air, mixing with the morning mist.

"Sit. Watch the incense burn. Let your thoughts settle." Leo lowered himself to the stone platform. The smoke drifted past his face, carrying a scent of sandalwood and something else he couldn't identify. He watched the glowing tips of the incense, the ash forming and falling away in thin gray lines.

"Deep breaths," Tianyi instructed.

"Let the tension leave your body." Leo breathed. In. Out. The rhythm steadied him. The knot behind his eyes began to ease.

"Now, repeat after me. Ohmmm." Leo glanced at him.

"Seriously?"

"Ohmmmmmm." Leo closed his eyes.

"Ohmmmmm." They sat together for several minutes, breathing and humming. The incense burned lower. Leo felt the knot in his chest slowly loosen. The images of churning black air faded to the background, still present but no longer overwhelming. By the time the incense burned down to stubs, he felt more like himself again.

"Thank you." Leo opened his eyes.

"What meditation technique was that? It worked really well." Tianyi shrugged.

"Mike called it the Heaven Defying Placebo Art." Leo's face went flat. Tianyi spread his hands.

"It worked, did it not?" Leo let out a breath through his nose. He wanted to be annoyed. But at the end of the day his chest felt lighter than it had in hours. He would take the win.

"Let's just move on." Leo pushed himself to his feet and brushed ash from his robes.

"What did your grandfather say? Has he replied?" Last night, after Mike passed along Leo's message, Tianyi had written back saying he would consult his grandfather.

"He sent his reply a few hours ago via teleportation network." Tianyi produced a jade slip from his sleeve, turning it between his fingers. His expression grew complicated.

"I have been reading and digesting his message since then."

"Can I see it?"

"Half of it consists of him using your experience as an opportunity to criticize my own cultivation." Tianyi's mouth twisted. Leo gave him a look of understanding.

"My mom does that too. I get it." Tianyi laughed, then continued.

"My grandfather offers his congratulations. Realizing your Dao is no small matter. Most cultivators search their entire lives and never find it. Now that it has taken root in your heart, it will grow with you." Leo nodded. He remembered the inferno igniting in his chest. The way the wheat had responded. Shen Tianyi gave Leo a look.

"My grandfather says that the Dao you realized, 'The Dao of all living things' is the Heavenly Dao. The natural order of all existence. The collective desire for life shared by every living being." Leo stared at him.

"My Dao is the Heavenly Dao?"

"This should not surprise you. In truth, one could argue it is the most common Dao in existence. If you accept that the Heavenly Dao is universal, then you must also accept that every living being possesses some understanding of it."

"That makes sense." Unfortunately that made Leo feel a little less special.

"All living beings struggle to survive. That is their desire for life. Every creature that hunts or gathers. Every plant that reaches toward the sun. Every cultivator that struggles to advance in realm and lifespan." Tianyi paused at the platform's edge, looking out over the terraced fields below. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"But at a certain point every cultivator finds themselves unable to advance to the next realm. The vast majority will find that their journey ends at Qi Refining."

"For cultivators, the Dao is how they rationalize their struggle when they hit the limit of their cultivation. How they explain to themselves why they cannot advance while others do. Why they remain at Foundation Establishment while others become Nascent Soul Lords."

"When cultivators face this inequality, they begin to wonder if the Heavenly Dao is blind, or worse, actively cruel." Leo began to grow worried.

"Then how can I cultivate the Dao of all living things if cultivation is inherently unequal?"

"My grandfather offered a potential solution to this problem. But first he wanted me to go over common approaches that others have taken, to address this fundamental inequality, and why they are not compatible with the Dao of all living things." He raised one finger.

"First, the Kinship approach.

'I live so that those I love can live. My family. My sect. My brothers and sisters in arms.' The cultivator devotes their life to protecting the people closest to them. Most cultivators realize a Dao rooted in some variation of this path." He shook his head.

"The problem is that you cultivate the Heavenly Dao. The desire for life of all living things, not just those closest to you. A Kinship cultivator can accept that his family gains resources another family loses. You cannot. Your Dao does not allow you to draw that boundary." Leo thought of the war between the Thousandsteppes and the Lanternmarches. Protecting one had meant fighting the other.

"Second, the Distraction approach.

'The journey matters more than the destination. Live a happy life, a meaningful life. Leave a legacy.'" Tianyi glanced at Leo.

"From what I observe, this is the answer your country has settled upon. Your friends Arthur, Mike, and Kevin spend most of their free time on what they call 'TikTok' or 'Crunchyroll.'"" They distract themselves from the uncomfortable truth that no path to Gold Core exists for them in America. The Distraction approach quenches the fire of life until they grow too old to pose a threat." Leo wanted to argue. The words died in his throat.

He and his friends had the Azure Profound Continent, so they had a path of advancement. But what about the rest of America? Were they really just doomscrolling until they ran out of time?

"Third, the Afterlife approach.

'Death is a transition, not an ending. There exists reincarnation, or eternal rest, or a paradise beyond.'" Tianyi's voice remained measured.

"Again, you seek the Desire for Life, not the Desire for Death. Furthermore, no evidence supports any of these outcomes." He hesitated.

"In truth, studies into the Netherworld seem to indicate that it is a deeply disturbing place." Something cold crawled up Leo's spine.

"Can we circle back to that later?"

"I would prefer we did not." Tianyi raised his fourth finger quickly.

"Fourth, the Acceptance approaches.

'Certain people are fated to become Eternal. Certain bloodlines possess the spiritual roots for immortality. Only those who achieve sufficient merit can ascend.'"" The Acceptance answer is, in many ways, the opposite of the Desire for Life. It asks you to deny that desire rather than address it. To believe that your limit was determined by your birth." The old legacy sects of Earth ran on this logic before it was replaced by 'cultivation for all'.

The sects claimed that cultivation belonged to the aristocratic families and those with heaven defying spiritual roots. They claimed that longevity belonged only to the fated few.

"Fifth, the Struggle of Cultivation. Challenge impossible odds. Man against Heaven." Tianyi lowered his hand.

"The difficulty here is universalization. If everyone defies death through struggle, the result is eternal war. The strong devour the weak. Spirit veins change hands through slaughter. Sects rise and fall in endless cycles of violence." He paused.

"This is, arguably, the current state of the Azure Profound Continent." Leo thought of the identity token he had found in the wheat field. The cultivation world was cruel. The strong took from the weak, and spiritual resources flowed to those who could hold them.

"Then what approach does your grandfather suggest?"

"The hardest one. The Pioneering Approach." Tianyi's expression grew serious.

"The belief that we have all been cultivating incorrectly. That somewhere along the way, the true method was lost and the Way was perverted."

"Perverted how?"

"The higher a cultivator ascends, the more they stand in conflict with the Heavenly Dao. Every sect and family teaches this as the Way. But if the Way demands that you wage war against Heaven to advance, perhaps it was never the Way at all?"

"When a Nascent Soul advances to Deity Transformation, they must test themselves against heavenly tribulation lightning." Tianyi paused.

"Without exception, every divine infant is damaged. Every Monarch who survives must replenish their leaking divinity." Leo thought back to the Heart of Flesh technique. The section warning that cultivators with calcified Dao Hearts could not survive refinement.

"The lightning meant to liberate them instead annihilates them," Leo murmured. Tianyi's eyes sharpened.

"Possibly. This is the great problem of Deity Transformation: how to repair the damage from heavenly tribulation. The most common solution is faith power. Worship from mortal followers, gathered and consumed to replenish what leaks out."

"In truth, many scholars theorize that faith power feeds on the worshippers' own desire for life. That every living being carries a fragment of the Heavenly Dao within them, and Monarchs who rely on faith power are consuming those fragments to fuel their own cultivation."

"For you, a Heavenly Dao cultivator, this presents a fundamental conflict." Tianyi met his gaze.

"You must respect the desire for life in all living things. You cannot accept a system that permanently places a few above the many." Leo's stomach hollowed out. Everything he'd been working toward, Gold Core, Nascent Soul, the realms beyond, and at the end of that road was a door he couldn't walk through without betraying everything that had gotten him there"So I'll never be able to advance to Deity Transformation without abandoning my dao?"

"If you were an ordinary cultivator, that is correct. But you are no ordinary cultivator, Leo Chen." Shen Tianyi smiled.

"You have an opportunity. In fact, you were the one that discovered it." Leo looked confused.

"The Singular Formation." Leo suddenly understood. The pieces fell into place.

"Luo Mingxia's Singular Formation. The one we found back at the Pond Gazing sect." His pulse quickened.

"Do you think I found it because I have karma with it?" Shen Tianyi gave him a wiry smile.

"Go on."

"I've been doing formation work all these past months. Formations focus on separating spiritual qi into different parts so they can be combined back into systems. The Singular Formation is special because it is never divided and recombined." Shen Tianyi prodded him.

"And why does this matter?"

"It matters because in order to advance from Gold Core to Nascent Soul, you have to engrave an array rune on your Gold Core before feeding it to your divine infant. However, all array runes are only a specific component of spiritual qi. An incomplete part of the whole." The implications unfolded in Leo's mind. If the Singular Formation could preserve wholeness, if it could avoid the division that must have corrupted higher tier cultivation... Tianyi nodded.

"Exactly. That is the dream of the young. Learn the singular formation, engrave it on your gold core. And become a Nascent Soul like which the world has never seen." Leo smiled.

"I think I can do it. We have the singular formation. We have the computing power of Earth's GPUs. And best of all, if I fail I can try again." He stood straighter.

"This is my dao, my goal. This is what your grandpa sees in me."

"Exactly." Shen Tianyi smiled.

"But I must warn you, the Shen Clan has made little progress on the Singular Formation you provided to us. You are welcome to examine our research when you are ready, but my grandfather suggests waiting until you have the divine sense of a Nascent Soul formation master." He paused.

"Using Earth terms, this would mean an Si of six hundred thousand." Leo sat with the information for a long moment. Six hundred thousand Si. He was currently somewhere around ten thousand. The gap seemed immense. But for the first time, the path ahead felt clear.

"However," Tianyi continued, "it is crucial that you understand the relationship between Dao and cultivation. Before in the conversation you said 'how can I cultivate the Dao of all living things.' You do not cultivate your Dao. Remember, you cultivate spiritual qi."

"I don't understand." Tianyi set down the jade slip.

"A common misconception exists among young cultivators. They believe that following their Dao will grant them power. That if they perform deeds aligned with their principles, the heavens will reward them with advancement." Leo frowned.

"Then what's the point of having a Dao at all?"

"The Dao is how you see the world. It affects how you perceive and interact with everything around you." He gestured toward the terraced fields below.

"Look at what you have built here. A common mistake is to read this story backwards. To say, 'Leo wished to help the refugees, and the heavens rewarded his compassion with power.' Or even, 'Leo worked hard toward his goal, and his effort was rewarded with success.'" Tianyi shook his head.

"That is not what happened. You studied formations to win your competition. You earned ortho-k vision through your own potential. You gained the power to perceive what others could not."

"Then, simply by being here, simply by seeing what you saw, the world around you changed. The bridge between crane and human knowledge did not emerge because of your efforts and labor. It emerged because your cultivation in other areas granted you power, and that power naturally reshaped the world around you." He walked slowly to the platform's edge.

"This is the nature of cultivation. As your heart aligns with your Dao, your mere existence reshapes what surrounds you. This harvest is not a reward for your effort. It is the natural consequence of a Heart of Flesh moving through the world." Tianyi paused and turned back.

"I believe there is a question you are too afraid to ask. Why did you survive the Slaughter Qi? Why did your heart ignite when it should have been corrupted?" Leo's breath caught. Tianyi gestured at the fields behind him.

"The answer lies here. Your heart ignited because the Dao had been kindling it for years. You merely struck the spark it had already prepared." Tianyi said nothing more. He clasped his hands behind his back and left the platform. Some questions required silence to answer. Leo sat and watched the fields. Below him, the cranes were waking up, hopping down from their roosts on the boulders and stalking eagerly between the rows of wheat, snapping up insects in the early light.

Their calls drifted up to him, sharp and bright against the quiet morning. He thought about what Tianyi had said. His Dao had been kindling for years. Maybe it started when Lord Newmont gave him the Heart of Flesh Technique. Maybe it traced back to his education on pre-transmigration Earth. Or maybe it was just something about the way he saw the world. For the first time since his last death, he wasn't thinking about the Slaughter Qi.