As the next day approached, Lute finished his cultivation session. Leaving his bed, he stretched and prepared for his first day of classes. Elias had already left, but Lute wasn’t too worried that they would be on hostile terms again; they had a deal and an understanding of each other’s resolve, cemented by vows to Heaven.

Donning his robes, Lute was just about ready to leave the dormitory when he noticed his cultivation. It had surprisingly moved forward, and unknowingly through the night he’d stepped into the fourth level of the Nascent Qi Realm. He was successfully an intermediate stage cultivator of the Nascent Qi Realm.

Lute sighed, “It’s nice to see that from such a stable foundation I was able to advance so smoothly that I didn’t notice. But, at this rate it will surely take longer and longer to advance, I will probably need to put in even more effort.”

Normally, this would be the perfect situation, anyone would be ecstatic at being able to advance so easily, seemingly without a bottleneck and with a near perfect foundation. But the only other person was Isla who knew Lute’s true situation. The root of the problem was much different than most would expect.

Within the Nascent Qi Realm, each level was expanding his Dantian’s capacity for Qi by four times. However, right now he already needed close to five times the Qi of another cultivator at his level to advance, and even before he was in the Nascent Qi Realm he needed close to four times more Qi than a normal cultivator of his level. This was because of his meridians.

When Lute had inherited the Spiritual God Meridians, they already were so large that it surprised Isla. They were the meridians of an authentic immortal from the Age of Immortals. With the additive effect of the Divine Chronicle of the Primordial Way which constantly expanded and strengthened the meridians alongside tempering the body, Lute was now leaving the bounds of what could be considered “Normal” in cultivation, even by the Divine Realms standards of “Normal”.

The meridians were the “Pipes” that were used when absorbing Qi into the body or expelling Qi from the body. If other’s meridians were like small pipes made of wood, Lutes’ were many times larger and made of metal. At the same cultivation level as him, virtually no one would be able to cripple Lute unless it was he himself who did the deed.

Perhaps if he was cultivating in the Divine Realm this wouldn’t have affected his speed of cultivation until many Great Realms later, but on the Crimson Tide Planet, the Qi quality was horrendous and thin. The density of Qi of the world was by far the lowest that Isla had ever seen Lute and anyone else on the planet were cultivating at a much slower speed than they could have if they were on a planet saturated with dense Qi of a high purity and quality.

Not only was his Dantian now expanding, his meridians were also expanding and strengthening, becoming more durable to deal with stress of the amount of Qi within his body which was only at the very beginning of the path of cultivation. His body as it was now, if he didn’t have the Primordial First Physique, with the amount of Qi his body contained Lute would’ve spontaneously combusted.

The total amount of Qi he had and its purity were that of an eighth or possibly ninth level Nascent Qi cultivator of the Divine Realm. But he wasn’t at this level of cultivation; his Dantian was much, much smaller than someone at this level, by all accounts he should’ve died a horrid death with no corpse left behind. It was truly a testament to how much of an abnormality his body was.

Lute felt like vomiting, the thought that the amount of Qi he’d need to advance cultivation in the future was just nauseating. If it was already close to five times now, how much would it be when he actually entered the Divine Path and became a Divine Realm cultivator? Even worse, for every path he opened from the Five Paths of Severance, his Dantian and Meridians would forcefully expand five times. It was a terrifying concept to think about how much Qi he’d have.

Lute already had a headache at such a thought; however there was a saving grace. He actually wanted to have a bottleneck.

“At the least, once my Primordial First Physique stagnates at the peak of the first level. The tempering of my body, the increase of bodily strength, the Qi intake rate, purification rate, bodily healing rate, and tempering and expansion of meridians will practically stop, stagnating where they are until I break through to the second level. Hopefully this will give me time to catch up in cultivation. At this rate, the others of my generation will advance many times faster than me until eventually they are multiple Great Realms ahead of me. The geniuses of my generation are probably already in the Spirit Opening or Earthen Practitioner levels within the Divine Realm. I can’t let the gap increase anymore. Instead I must shrink it.”

Lute understood that he truly did have an advantage with this demerit. Once he was at the same level as his peers in cultivation. It was guaranteed; at least in the Mortal Realm that he would completely eclipse anyone in the total amount of Qi that they possessed. A war of attrition at that point would guarantee him the win in a fight. The problem was time, although he seemingly didn’t need to rush in order to advance, the quicker that he revived Isla, the better off he would be.

He was not going to relinquish the thought that someone in the Divine Realm who wanted Isla dead probably knew that she hadn’t truly died. To him, he was against a clock, someone somewhere must be searching for the Origin Soul Needle, Isla, and the Spiritual God Blood, and it was only a matter of time until they found Lute who was in the possession of two of those and shared a body with Isla. He was consigned to damnation if anyone found out.

Consigning to the fate that he’d be advancing slower and slower in the future, Lute sighed. But he finally left the Residence Hall, heading towards the shop where he could spend merit points. It was the first of a number of things he planned to do today.

First, he wanted to see if there was anything of use he could buy with seven-thousand merit points. Based on the general knowledge book, it was the equivalent of six months’ worth of requests. Then, Lute planned to go to the library, and search for anything of use. Third, he needed to attend his two classes. After, and probably the most important errand of the day, he needed to meet with Toros the Vice Sectmaster in order to use his reward, six hours in an Essence Gathering Formation. To finish his day, he was going to spend the rest of it, including the nightfall within the caves since he could now completely substitute cultivating for sleep. It was a truly busy schedule, with little to no time for rest or anything else such as a social life, but he never really had one to begin with, even when he was a child.

Walking with purpose, Lute approached the store where he could spend merit points. It was excessively crowded. Disciples were shoving each other and practically racing to buy what they wanted before someone else snatched the item they desired away. More often than not, the weaker disciple ended up buying the weaker store wares.

This store was for the outer disciples only. There were others that catered to inner disciples and core disciples. But within all the stores were myriad wares. Practically anything could be bought except for arts, those were restricted to the library and couldn’t be bought, but instead rented out for a weekly fee of merit points.

Stepping into the merit store Lute glanced around. The closest to the entrance were all of the weakest disciples. Towards the middle, where most of the more valuable items were, that was where the Late Stage Nascent Qi cultivators had crowded.

For anyone else of his level, it would seem like they were swaying like a small boat in an ocean with how crowded it was. But for Lute, his body was incredibly sturdy and with every step he was seemingly cemented into the ground as an immovable sentinel. Every time someone knocked into him, he didn’t move at all, instead they rebounded off him.

Lute paid no heed towards these people. Instead he calmly looked around at all the merchandise. There were many weapons, pills, apparel, and accessories, even Vicious Beast eggs that could be hatched in order to adopt as a pet. Most of the prices ranged from one hundred to four-thousand merit points. Naturally the higher the quality, the more expensive it was.

As Lute carefully searched, he made sure to remember Alda’s words to spend frugally and not make any insignificant purchases. As such, he had to put careful consideration towards the thoughts of what he could live without and what he absolutely needed.

‘Let’s see, pills are out of question. Despite how effective the rejuvenation pill was allowing me to advance an entire half-step into the Nascent Qi Realm, I highly doubt these pills for sale are of the same quality. As for weapons, my body itself is a weapon; I’ll wait until I can have my own spirit armament. I don’t have the time or patience to adopt a domesticated Vicious Beast yet. That leaves apparel and accessories.’

Cutting out the majority of the things for sale, Lute narrowed his sights on the shelfs of accessories and apparel. The accessories were the most expensive, the majority costing three to four-thousand merit points. Lute slightly furrowed his eyebrows; Alda said that seven-thousand merit points was the equivalent of six months of taking requests. With this in mind, he decided to look at apparel first which was relatively cheaper.

There were numerous clothes made from Vicious Beast hides. One set of clothes included an undershirt, vest, and pants. Wearing those clothes, Peak Foundational Qi cultivators could probably block a full powered strike from a first or second level Nascent Qi cultivator for a short period of time. But, based on his body’s strength, there was no need to wear such clothes, at the most he would only where those if he cared for fashion…. To which he absolutely didn’t care whatsoever.

With a sigh, Lute once again returned to the accessories section of the shop. ‘Well, it seems these are the only things of use for now.’

There were numerous rings, necklaces, and earrings enchanted with formations upon them. For the most part, these were created by apprentice craftsmen and formation masters working together and splitting the profit. By doing this, based on the book he read last night, it was possible to forego taking requests from the request hall every month, and create these instead.

With a scrutinizing gaze, Lute read the descriptions of every single accessory; he had the time to do so since not many outer disciples could afford these. After looking carefully, there were two pieces that caught Lute’s eye.

The first was a spatial ring; within it was a separate dimension that was only a three meter cube of space to store objects. It was quite a small space. This spatial ring was low quality even among other spatial rings of the same level. However Lute didn’t know this since he wasn’t a formation master or craftsmen.

It was three-thousand merit points, but, compared to all the other spatial rings that were six-thousand it was a much better deal. Although they offered a larger dimensional storage, for him a three meter cube was more than enough.

As for the second accessory, it was a pitch black armband. The formation implanted into it was a three time use mirage formation, summoning four mirror images of the owner of the armband. This armband was 2500 merit points. The reasoning for wanting to obtain this was it was hopefully an emergency life-saving card he could withhold.

After thinking once again about whether he truly wanted to buy these, Lute finally came to the conclusion that he couldn’t have spent his merit points any better. He still had 1500 merit points left that he could spend within the library to rent out skill books that contained arts and their techniques.

Walking up to the lady at the register, Lute handed over his merit card. “I would like to purchase the minor spatial ring for 3000 merit points and the Mirage Armband for 2500 merit points please.

“Yes, please wait one second while I grab them.”

The lady at the register grabbed the requested items, removed 5500 merit points from Lute’s merit card and then handed him everything before pulling out a small needle.

“You need to bind them to you by blood. Then they will truly be yours.”

Staring at the small needle, Lute seriously doubted that it would be able to pierce his skin. He glanced quizzically at the woman before him but she only stood there smiling amicably at him.

“Hold out your hand please.”

Still doubting it, Lute put out his right hand as the woman then pressed the needle against Lute’s index finger. As expected, with his body nearing the peak of the first level of the Primordial First Physique, something as trivial as a needle was incapable of puncturing his skin.

“Oh, how mysterious, do you perhaps practice body tempering?”

The woman glanced at Lute with a knowing look. Lute just quietly put his left index finger up against his lips indicating for her to keep the secret. With a sly smile, the woman understood, it was better to keep all your secrets while you could instead of exposing them.

With a smile, instead of using the needle she injected Qi into her finger, and with ease she put a cut onto Lute’s finger.

Drops of blood fell onto the spatial ring and armband; they glowed with a crimson light before they lost the luster. Lute then put the spatial ring on his right hand and the Mirage Armband upon his left arm.

Turning around to leave, Lute heard the woman say, “Thank you for your purchase, and please come again.”

‘Heh, there isn’t much else that I would want from a place like this since not much is of use, I guess I will be spending merit points within the library from now on. Now then, what’s next on the list? Ah yes, the library is next.’

Bound to him by blood, Lute could easily feel his mind connected to the ring, with but a thought he was able to put his room talisman and merit card within. Then he trekked to the library and it was a massive ten stories tall building which held not only skill books, but also books spanning across any subject.

Entering within, compared to the merit store it was silent and almost empty. Most people valued learning in class over reading a book, they would mostly just rent out skill books, and anything besides those was left untouched.

However Lute understood that an Elder could only teach so much. Sometimes a new perspective was needed, and a book could provide that. With such a massive building, Lute thought that others were crazy for not taking advantage of the knowledge that could be found within.

Walking up to the librarian, a gruff old man who seemed grouchy, stout, and over all had an appearance like he belonged in an army as a soldier instead of being the librarian. Lute waited patiently, pressing the bell once to symbolize his arrival.

Looking up from his book, the librarian looked at Lute. “So you are the new blood within the sect as of this month? What brings you here; you don’t even have a book to sign out?”

Bowing deeply to show his respect before an Elder, Lute addressed him with as much sincerity as possible. “Sir Elder, I am new here, this young outer disciples name is Lute, as you stated I am the new blood. Forgive my ignorance, but how many novels and also skill books can be rented out at one time?”

The librarian narrowed his eyes, seeming to probe Lute in his entirety. But rather than answer his question, he responded with one of his own. “What is a book worth to you? Most will just learn from an Elder and choose to learn arts that the Elder tells them to, it is far easier and the Elders are quite wise as well as powerful.”

Lute thought for a moment before replying, “A book to me… If I had to say it, they are the records of all those before us. A fountain of knowledge that many forget to tap into, only so much can be learned from an Elder within the sect. Sometimes one should take it upon themselves to learn instead of relying on someone older and wiser to tell them what to do. While talking in person can be valuable, personally diving into a book to come to your own conclusions and new insights is just as important. I am certain that the arts and knowledge an Elder can pass on are powerful and important. But… if everyone decided to learn from only those Elders then they will all have the same arts and techniques, they will all think the same way and they will all have the same flaws, all of this passed onto them from an Elder. There are books most certainly written by Elder’s who have long ago died. But their knowledge and wisdom still remains in the novels that they wrote, so why wouldn’t I take advantage of them. If others could learn from only a few Elders in person, I could learn from an infinite number of Elders from the wisdom they pass on through their novels and combine all their wisdom into something profound that aids me on my path of cultivation.”

After Lute finished speaking, he looked the librarian directly in the eyes. He spoke his mind, these were his true thoughts. While Isla said that these planets cultivators were wrong, and that they didn’t cultivate properly, while that may be true, Lute was sure there was some wisdom they could pass onto him that Isla couldn’t. Everyone was different and unique, each one with their own personal view of the world before them, if he only learned from Isla, then he would only look at the world from her point of view which could lead to his demise if he wasn’t careful. It was better to view the world from many angles, not just one view.

After a long stalemate of silence where they just stared at each other, the Librarian finally broke the ice between them. “A young lad such as you can just call me Cal. You are one of only twenty disciples in the last seventy years to answer like that. You are correct. Take the initiative to try researching and learn something by yourself before seeking the aid of others. That is something I have always believed in. As per tradition, since you provided an answer to my liking, you can take out up to seven skill books instead of five. You can also take out as many non-skill books as you heart desires. The loan price is also half for every skill book and you can pay biweekly instead of weekly. Lastly, you can come into the library even when it’s closed for the night.”

‘Well that was unexpected, but I shall make great use of this. I’ll get as many books as my spatial ring can hold.’

Lute bowed once again, “Disciple Lute thanks Elder Cal.”

“Just call me Cal or I’ll smack you over the arse young’un.”

“Alright, I’m going to search for book Cal.”

Right as Lute walked off, he heard another disciple fail to answer the question of what a book was worth to them which made Lute smirk as Cal said, “Just get a book and I’ll loan it out. Stop bothering me with useless drivel!”

Before he even looked at the skill books, Lute spent a few hours looking at books spanning across many topics. He could’ve spent all day in the library and still not have read the title of every book. Rather than look at them all, Lute narrowed down his search to specific topics he was interested in. He decided to grab the most informational books on etiquette, blood essence, geography, advancing past the Nascent Qi Realm, formations, alchemy, crafting, the worlds history, politics and diplomacy, economics and trade, negotiating, types of plants and beasts, rare treasures, legends, cartography, books that detailed the dangers of taboo subjects, and lastly, a book that caught his eye titled: A Compendium of all known knowledge on Auras, Intents, and Domains.

There were many other topics within the library, some going extremely in depth. But there was no way Lute planned to read them all in one day. Each book ranged anywhere from six-hundred to one-thousand pages, but as a cultivator memorizing these books was a simple manner, but whether he understood and comprehended what they explained was a different matter altogether.

As Lute finally made his way to the section of skill books he made a new resolution to himself. “My time here is precious. I should make a concentrated effort to become an educated person across many fields. As I used to live in an impoverished world, I am severely lacking in any and all fields of knowledge compared to others. Because I grew up knowing nothing, I understand that there is no such thing as useless knowledge. By the time I leave this sect forever, I shall have read every book it has to offer.

With this resolution, Lute finally made it to the highest floor of the library. This floor didn’t have anywhere near as many shelves of books. However there had to be at the least, four hundred different arts. However this floor was different. Lute didn’t plan on learning any and all arts even though Isla wanted him to because of the Laws of Severance. Instead he seriously began to ponder how he would fight in the future. Then he wanted to only incorporate arts that would be of use to him.

Instead of searching through the skill arts, sat down and began to meditate.

‘What way do I want to fight? First and foremost, I want to create an infinitely evolving art. It should change to match me in the future as I change. I know that I want to use lightning. I am a frontline fighter, one who doesn’t shirk from close combat. But at the same time, I must not be disadvantaged when at range. It would be best to rely on my body as its own weapon, or at least a spirit armament that takes the form of a fist weapon and boots. Auras such as Slaughter Aura are important to me. Arts that rely on the soul would be important as well, it would be useless for me not to utilize my soul when I have the Origin Soul Needle. Bows do not suit me, so perhaps when at range, instead I can use an eye technique or illusion technique to disorient my opponent while I use extreme movement speed to close the gap and force a close range fight. Stealth and illusion are also important; I cannot always just march into a fight head on. The day will come when I have to assassinate someone, I am sure of it, so an art that aids in concealing my presence is also important.’

Meditating on his fighting style and what he wanted to do in the future. Lute finally stood up and began to choose his seven skill books. The types of arts he was looking for fell into the categories of: Martial Arts which emphasized arts executed through the body, these were used for close combat. Lightning Arts which was self-explanatory, they used lightning. Then there were arts that emphasized the manipulation and use of Aura’s, Intents, and Domains. There were also Soul Manipulation Arts, which focused on using ones soul in various ways such as suppressing an opponent; Illusion Arts, arts executed through the eyes and also sealing arts, all of which would aid in ranged combat. Lastly he wanted extreme movement and concealment arts.

Since he wasn’t in the Spirit Opening Realm or Soul Opening Realm, Lute discarded the thought of finding any soul manipulation or lightning arts. He would find arts for those in the future. Instead, after carefully reading through more than a hundred skill books, he chose his seven.

After much indecisiveness, Lute finally chose these seven arts for three reasons. First, he truly felt that they were compatible with how he wanted to fight in the future. Second, they were the best arts to make up for what he thought were his current weaknesses when fighting. Lastly, and most important, Lute had a hunch that he would be able to improve these arts to the point they would be useful even in the Divine Realm after he severed them from Heaven, it was almost as if his bloodline was guiding him in picking arts that would be able to improve the most after being severed from Heaven’s Way.

In order they were Illusionary Mirage Steps, Aura of the New Moon, Falling Sky Scripture, Shadow Snake Mesmerizing Gaze, Shadow Binding Tome, Mortal Chronicle of Aura Manipulation, and Wings of the Mortal Heavens.

Storing everything in his spatial ring, the three meter cube of space filled quite a bit, with more than thirty large books all over 800 pages a piece. Then there was the skill books that he was carrying in his arms personally, while they weren’t anywhere near 800 pages, the profoundness within them would no doubt make up for the lack of page count.

Lute descended the floors of the library until he was on the bottom floor. Approaching Cal, he rang the bell once again.

“Well Lad, how’d you make out, you spent a much longer time here than I thought you would. You are quite nit-picky when it comes to deciding what books to read aren’t you?”

Lute smiled thinly then with a mere thought, he extracted every book he wanted to loan out. Seeing all the novels, Cal’s jaw slightly dropped before a wide grin spread across his face.

“Ah, I see now. You are the opposite, there were so many books that you wanted to read that instead didn’t know which ones to pick?”

“Yes, that is the case. I will be a frequent visitor here Cal, I hope you get used to seeing me.”

Cal chuckled as he loaned each book out to Lute one by one. “With such a bookworm as you, you’re always welcome here. I’ll tell you what, these skill books, are originally fifty merit points a week. You can already pay biweekly. I’ll let you pay twenty five merit points instead especially those are rather hard for you to learn at your level. While they can be learned before the Spirit Opening Realm, they can only reach their true potential after you are in the Spirit Opening Realm, do you know why that is?”

Lute blankly looked at Cal, he had a guess that it might have to do with the enhancement of his senses when he reached that point and it probably dealt with the Dao which he planned to research.

Before Lute spoke, Cal began to explain. “I originally used to teach at the academy building before I got annoyed with teaching snot nosed brats, but toady I’ll make an exception. Follow me.”

“Uh, ok.” Lute quickly stored away every book he just gained. Quickly jogging after Cal. Cal closed the library and then they went behind the reception desk into a staircase that climbed up a tower which was attached to the library. Upon reaching the top, Lute found himself in a simple room full of books, a bed and a dusty desk full of ancient historical documents.

Cal sat at the desk and stared directly at Lute. “This is my office and bedroom. I live here. But anyway I brought you here so we won’t be disturbed. Are you ready to learn?”

Lute blankly stared at Cal, who would’ve thought that he’d receive a lesson before he formally went to class, which he still had a few hours before he had to attend anyway.

Regaining clarity, Lute quickly bowed in obeisance. “Disciple is ready to learn from Sir Elder.”

“Good, then sit down, I will first explain and then demonstrate. You won’t be able to do this until you are in the Spirit Opening Realm, but if I let you experience if before you are in the Spirit Opening Realm, it will make the breakthrough easier.”

Lute sat down, and then began to listen with intent. This had to do with realms beyond the Nascent Qi Realm, he already planned to research the topic so it was all the more important to listen if an Elder was going to go in depth and explain it to him.

“I know that you’ve heard of the Dao, but do you actually know what it is?”

After thinking for a moment, Lute confirmed, “No, I do not know what the Dao is, all that I know is what Elder Alda said. She explained that when I enter the Spirit Opening Realm my view of the world will change, I will sense the Dao and I will awaken Spirit Sense.”

“Well she is right. Your view of the world will change. Well… I will start with Spirit Sense. Spirit Sense is basically a perception of the world down to the smallest speck of dust. With Spirit Sense, you know all that happens in an area around you. Think of it as a bubble or sphere around you. Within that area, you can sense all that happens, nothing escapes your notice. As the strength of your Spirit Sense grows, this bubble or sphere increases in size allowing you to sense more. Then if you were to achieve the Divine Path in legend, it is said to evolve into Divine Sense, supposedly you can even sense karma itself. Are you able to comprehend this?”

“Surprisingly, I did understand it on the first try. Is this why concealment arts are increasingly important the stronger you are?”

Cal’s eyes grew stern. “Concealment is everything, the moment your opponent knows you’re every strength and weakness, the moment they know where you are going to move in a fight, it’s all over, you die. Concealment isn’t just about concealing your aura, its far more profound than this, but in short, yes the better you conceal yourself, the more of an advantage you have.”

Those words opened Lutes’ eyes to new possibilities to the future. It made him feel all the more assured that although he didn’t pick a concealment art for the reason that Cal dictated, he was till content that he knew well enough that he should have one.

“Disciple understands what you have taught, I will make sure to strive for advancements on this path and not forget concealment is more than just making my aura imperceptible.”

Cal nodded his head, glad that Lute could catch on slightly. “Now then, I have already explained Spirit Sense, but I didn’t tell you the most important reason you need a strong Spirit Sense…. Spirit Sense allows you to sense the Dao.”

“What is the Dao? I have only heard of it.”

Cal snorted in annoyance, “Don’t get ahead of yourself child, I’m getting there. To put it plainly, the Dao is the Laws of the Universe. They are what govern how this world works. The stronger you Spirit Sense, the easier a time you will have sensing the Dao. So just like your body, soul and Qi, don’t forget to train your Spirit Sense.”

‘Laws of the Universe, so that’s what he meant by the arts I picked can’t be used to their full strength.’

With understanding dawning on Lute’s eyes, he realized just how profound cultivation would be as he advanced; it wasn’t just about increasing Qi quantity and tempering the body and soul.

“So in order for these arts that I picked to work, I need to merge them with a specific Dao?”

Cal withdrew a pitcher of water from his spatial ring. “Do you want some water?”

“No thanks.”

“Ok then…” Cal poured himself a cup and took a large sip before continuing.

“Within the Mortal Realm, there are Mortal Dao’s. They are infinite, new Dao’s are being created every second as well. It is impossible to master every single Dao. For every Dao you comprehend, it becomes harder to learn another. In order to merge Dao’s you have to fully comprehend two Dao’s. But merging Dao’s is so hard that most will never attempt it. Also, if you merged the Dao of Fire with another Dao and someone else merged those same two Dao’s as well, the results will always be different because although you both fully comprehended those two Dao’s, your understanding and viewpoint of it might be different than the other person. You fully comprehend the Dao in a way that suits you and only you, don’t try to mimic others. Do you understand?”

Lute’s was struggling to comprehend, but he thought he had the gist of it.

“So in the Mortal Realm, there are Mortal Dao’s and there are an infinite number. For every one I comprehend it is harder to learn another. It’s even more difficult to merge two of them. Also if I was to comprehend an entire Dao and someone else comprehended the same one even if we used the same art and infused it with the same Dao that we both mastered, there would be differences in the way the art is used by us individually?”

“That is it. Also, I should mention this as it’s important, if you even start to comprehend one Dao, such as the Dao of Fire. Then it will become extremely difficult to comprehend the Dao’s of Ice and Water. Sadly I can’t tell you how to advance to the Divine Path. All I can speculate is that since the Mortal Realm has Mortal Dao’s, then in order to enter the Divine Path, you need to comprehend a Dao that Surpasses the Mortal Dao’s.”

Lute smiled slightly, “That is fine, and you have already enlightened me more than enough. I hope to repay the favor someday.”

Cal chuckled, “It’s the duty of the old to guide the young, but I am not done yet. Mastering a Dao doesn’t have anything to do with cultivation level, remember this; it can give you an advantage, or it can be a disadvantage. If you haven’t comprehended a full Dao and you are of a lower cultivation, and then run for your life, your only chance to live would be if you were significantly higher than you opponent in cultivation if they mastered a Dao and you did not. Now then, as my final lesson, I’ll immerse you in a Dao.”

Lute fidgeted slightly in his chair, although he didn’t want to show it, he was excited. “Which Dao is it?!”

“Forgive me for being biased. Most of the arts you picked are especially compatible with Mortal Dao of Darkness. I have completely comprehended the Mortal Dao of Darkness. So I shall ask. If I forcibly immerse you in the Dao of Darkness, are you prepared? Although you aren’t in the Spirit Opening Realm, if I do this, then when you do reach the Spirit Opening Realm, although it’ll be easier to sense the Dao of Darkness, it will be many times harder to sense the Dao of Light. Once again, are you willing at accept me preemptively dictating which Dao’s you struggle with comprehending and which ones you excel in?”

Lute went into deep thought for a minute. But the only thing at the moment he wanted to make sure this didn’t interfere with was the Dao of Lightning.

“Is it compatible with lightning? That is all I wish to know. I know for sure that in the future I will use lightning. If it will affect this negatively, then no I don’t want to experience it.”

Cal laughed at upon hearing Lute. “You don’t have to worry. A Dao only affects each other negatively if they are polar opposites, which are all you have to remember. The closer they are in similarity, the better. Otherwise if they have no relation you won’t have to worry much. The same goes for merging Dao’s, the more in commons between the two, the easier it is. In all honesty though, the Dao’s of Darkness and light are rare down here in the Mortal Realm. There aren’t even established sects for them. That goes for all the rarer Dao’s; they won’t have sects built around them.”

Lute’s gaze penetrated into Cal, he clearly picked up on the hidden meaning, “So that’s why you offered to help me sense the Dao of Darkness. How rare are cultivators who walk the paths of the Dao’s of Darkness and Light?”

Cal shifted slightly in his chair, surprised at Lute’s question. “Well, you mentioned lightning right? Well…. If the ratios for them are one out of every ten-thousand, then the ratio for a cultivator of the Dao’s of Light and Darkness would be about one out of every ten-million. They are exceedingly rare down here in the Mortal Realm. But even so there are Dao’s in the Mortal Realm that are even rarer. The quickest one I can think of is the Dao’s of Life and Death. Although Death and Darkness are similar just as Light and Life are similar, their ratios are one out of every hundred-million. Even more so, there are some Dao’s that have never been comprehended down here in the Mortal Realm.”

‘Never been comprehended? Wait?! Didn’t Master once mention that there was much more to Slaughter Aura? I at first assumed it had to do with manipulating it, but what if it has its own Dao?’

Lute’s demeanor changed once again, his eyes became colder and more ruthless, “Then…. Is there a Dao of Slaughter?”

Cal dropped his glass cup; it shattered all over the floor. The air temperature in the room seemed to drop by more than twenty degrees. Cal’s eyes narrowed and he became furious. “Boy! Don’t you dare walk the path of evil! Over a hundred-thousand years ago, there was a single man who comprehended the Mortal Dao of Slaughter who was dubbed the Heavenly Slaughter Emperor. When he was a peak Heavenly Emperor, he was the absolute summit of the power on this planet, second only to the Divines. Wherever he walked, thousands upon thousands of lives were lost. It took ten Peak Heavenly Emperors working together to finally kill him. Even then, nine of them were killed and the last one ended up a cripple. Although there is much bloodshed in the cultivation world, cultivators that focus solely on killing are a taboo in society. That is considered walking the path of a devil, I am absolutely sure it would be the same in the Divine Realm. Since that time of darkness, there hasn’t been a single person who comprehended the Mortal Dao of Slaughter or any other Dao that walks the path of killing and the path of the devil. BANISH SUCH THOUGHTS FROM YOUR MIND! Do not ever walk this path unless you want the entire world to turn against you.”

‘Who would’ve thought this was the answer? Just what are the origins of Master?’

However, Lute could only depressed make smile inwardly as he put on a fake smile outwardly.

‘It’s too late, I am already resolved to become a demon to protect what I want to protect. Just because it walks that path of killing it doesn’t mean I have to forego my humanity, I will not become like the Heavenly Emperor of Slaughter, I won’t take thousands of lives because I want to. I will instead kill all who intend to impede me when it doesn’t involve them or affect them in anyway.’

Lute then faked a smile to Cal, with a warm smile that was an illusion to what he truly felt, Lute replied, “Perish the thought, I was only curious because it’s like you said, there are infinite Dao’s, and the cultivation world is full of bloodshed which is what made me think that there was such a Dao. If there is something so evil, I doubt that I would be able to sense such a Dao. Instead, let us begin, I must attend class soon. I would be honored to let you immerse me in the Dao of Darkness.”

Cal gave a relieved sigh, thinking that his warning made it through to Lute when in reality it hadn’t. “Well then, let us precede young’un. I am not getting any younger, I hope you can be a cultivator of the Dao of Darkness so that when I die, I know that someone still can represent this Dao in the Mortal Realm and show others that the Elements, Weapon and Martial Dao’s aren’t the strongest. Call it biased pride, but I think the Dao of Darkness if more terrifying than any of the Element, Weapon or Martial Dao’s.”

With that final prideful remark, Lute’s vision went black.