The tea shop was illuminated by a soft golden and silver glow, a faint light spilling out of Avery’s runic body.

While it was hard to judge the improvement of his cultivation precisely, the growing tint of gold in his runes revealed his rapid progress. He had a feeling that when his body turned entirely golden, he would reach the next stage of cultivation, whatever that was.

He was already anticipating the next level of runes. His gateway level rune's ability to call down the shadow of the Tao was one of the major reasons his cultivation was going so smoothly, and the next level was sure to be even better.

His study of the system didn’t go quite as smoothly, but with time and effort, it still made steady progress. He was already convinced it was a broken off part of his home world's Tao-equivalent entity. What was left was to figure out how to use that to his advantage, which was easier said than done.

Suddenly, a soft crack was heard, and the rune he had been condensing shattered into a million specks of light. Avery hardly noticed, distracted by the comforting feeling of weightlessness, as if a heavy burden had been suddenly removed from his shoulders.

Watching a karmic thread dissipate into nothingness, he knew one of his few customers had died, leaving this world for the underworld, to drink from the river of forgetfulness and be reborn anew.

He felt no sadness and grief over his first customer's demise, only a deep feeling of emptiness, brought on by the unfortunate realization that he would never again learn anything from her.

Her story was complete, and the slate was going to be wiped clean, ready for a new tale to be written in its place. Meanwhile, his story would continue, stretching out forever, mortal lives being nothing more than a meteor shower, decorating the past of a timeless being.

He sent a long look at the wooden coin hovering in front of him, contemplating divining the circumstances of her death. Eventually, he sighed and put it away. There was little meaning in knowing the end of a story that was already completed, and a karmic link with an immortal was never easy to bear. It was best he not interfere in his friend’s reincarnation and let the Tao take its course.

Wishing his friend good luck in her next life, he got back to work, determined to make sure he would never follow in her footsteps.

He had been an overall positive influence on her life, so her death had caused him to gain the little merit she owed him. Then, he saw the system latch on to the incoming energy, devouring it and converting it into familiar points.

Ding, congratulations on receiving scattered merits. +386 point

This was not the first time Avery had seen this, as it happened each time he drew a rune, gaining the approval from heaven and prompting it to reward him.

The system was actually quite a simple thing, akin to a secret technique converting merits into weapons, tools and knowledge. That was certainly impressive enough, and Avery would be incapable of doing it on his own, because converting energy into matter was much harder than converting matter into energy.

However, for a system that had been confirmed to be a “tiny fragment of a foreign Tao”, it seemed underwhelming. If it was a force of creation, why did it require external energy?

This brought into question the sanctity of the Tao. He already knew it wasn’t unique, as different worlds with different rules existed, but this discovery implied that it followed the laws of conservation of energy.

But if it was not self-creating, where did the energy it ran on come from? Was there something greater than the Tao? Was becoming a Saint really the end of cultivation? Was there a stage after that, where true creation would be achieved?

He wasn't reconsidering his goals. He had fallen in love with the Tao, and had no intention of abandoning it, not even for bigger and better things.

He could accept the Tao being limited, he only wanted to understand its limit, to learn all he could about the love of his life, to understand it to the fullest.

In the end, what was the Tao? If it wasn’t a force of creation, where did its majesty come from, and what was its purpose? Was it created by some supreme being, was it a natural occurrence?

He had only met about a dozen people in the past few years, and still had much to learn, but he wondered if it was time to move his shop, and make a trip to the heavens. If he was careful, he believed he was capable of meeting a few immortals without anything bad happening, and it might be the fastest way to get the answers he yearned for.

Not right now, he would probably wait to reach the next level of cultivation, but he could not hide forever. Well, he could, but it would be inefficient.

Actually, was it really necessary to be efficient? Life was good, he was advancing steadily, so was it really wise to go out of his comfort zone? It was fine if it was only a matter of discomfort, but the risks of dying or losing his Way while meeting fellow immortals was much higher too. Should he really risk everything just for some cultivation speed?

It was useless to think about this now, and he would cross that bridge when he came to it. He even slightly regretted requesting one of his customers introduce him to his devil cultivator friend, despite his curiosity.

In retrospect, it had been a rash move, trying to play with forces powerful enough to be banned from heaven. He had always planned to study devil qi, but there was a smart and cautious way to do so, and there was the way he had chosen. To panic as soon as it was mentioned, throw caution to the wind and practically beg for a meeting.

He still had no clue what devil qi was or why it was dangerous, or even if it really was dangerous, and not just banned because of some ideological differences. How was he supposed to prepare against something he knew nothing about?

Adding to all his worries, his search for the Elder had not gone as well as he had hoped. Most of his plans had failed, and while he had learned a lot from observing the dreamworld, he was far from piercing the veil of mysteries.

So many troubles, so many headaches, why couldn’t he just cultivate in peace? Why did he always find himself in a mess he had created for himself? Perhaps he was like Audrey, a little hyperactive, unable to sit still and think?

What a horrid thought.