33 The Path

Chapter 32: The Path

Van was in his own world at the moment. He was walking on what seemed to be extremely clear water. The surface would ripple with every step that he took. The space inside his mind was extremely vast. He could see stars and what seemed to be distant galaxies off in the distance of his soul.

Flames of differing colors surrounded him: Red, Blue, Green, Brown, etc. All the elemental flames were there. Van was shocked.

Is this what my affinities are? I wonder what the vast expanse here represents then.

Van considered this thought as he observed the rather odd world around him.

Is this my consciousness? Or maybe my Inner Dantian? But how did I get access to it so quickly?

Van continued to explore the new world that he seemed to have been transported to. The last thing that he remembered was going to the Celestial Heavens City's Palace with the senior guard to meet with the City Lord before blacking out.

Strangely enough, the stars started to become brighter after Van emerged from his thoughts.

Am I seeing things? Or is the world I'm currently in actually getting brighter?

For a few moments, everything became extremely bright and Van lost his vision for slightly more than a few moments. When his vision came back, Van could feel his connection with this world become stronger. In fact, he could see a small transparent strand leading to one of the stars in the starry sky.

He could see a slight outline of some transparent letters. It took him some squinting before he could barely make out what it said. The letters read: "Whenever one loses sight of their path, they must look to the stars."

Van suddenly felt a rush of energy come through him. He had the sudden urge to look out at a particular star and reach out towards it.

This particular star wasn't too abnormal. It was a small red colored star. There were many of them in Van's space. One of its strange features was its distance from Van's current distance. It was one of the furthest stars from Van and was strangely bright.

Van reached out his hand and grasped the transparent strand connecting him to the star. His body tensed. He could feel a strange rush of power flowing through his body.

Van hadn't realized it yet, but at that moment, he had broken through to the Initial Stages of Inner Discovery.

Another strange verse flowed through his thoughts, they had an ancientness to it that the previous verse did not have. There was a domineering aura that came from being in a state of stable power.

"The Celestials of Old have fallen. It is time for New Blood to take up the mantle of the Old."

Without Van's notice, the Ancient Crown in his Dantian had stirred and was the source of this verse. It quickly calmed down, but not before sending a strand of a strange red ancient Qi that flowed through Van's body.

Van could feel his body strengthening. His muscles grew at a noticeable rate. Before, he would be considered a scholarly youth. Now, he looked like one of those muscleheads that focused on building their muscles for grabbing female attention.

Van started to smile wryly to himself. He would have to consolidate his foundation and body. Having a ridiculously muscled body wasn't exactly Van's idea of a perfect body.

Van continued to strengthen his connection with the star. He started to inspect the star and contemplate the intricacies of the mysteries of the Universe. By doing this, he had unknowingly grasped understanding in the Great Dao. Despite it being an extremely minuscule portion, it was still a great accomplishment especially for Van who was only at the 1st Stage of Inner Discovery.

Many of those that were in the Saint stage hadn't even accomplished such feat. Van was, of course, oblivious to all these miraculous accomplishments that he had made. He kept contemplating the Great Dao, making breakthroughs in the Laws. In the future, he would be able to jump even more substages. This means that he would be able to fight those at a much higher substage than him and maybe even a full realm.

The Heavens are infinite. There is a balance to everything. Dust forms Stars, but eventually, the Stars will also return to dust. It is like the cycle of reincarnation, everything eventually returns to its beginnings.

Soothing mantras and verses flowed through Van's head. Many of them, Van had never heard before. But a strange outside source continued to help Van on his journey through the harsh world of cultivation.

The previously practically invisible strand was now visible. One could see that it wasn't made of ordinary material. It refracted a silvery light. If Yu Lin wasn't in his orb, he would've recognized it as being made out of Grandmist Energy. The primal energy that birthed everything. It is the energy from the beginning of the Universe.

The Mist that envelops the Universe and all its creatures. There is also Chaotic Destruction energy. The reverse of Grandmist energy. Like Yin and Yang, the two intertwine and are interrelated. There cannot be one without the other.

During this opportunity, Van had really stretched it out to the maximum. He had gained enlightenment of the Great Dao, albeit a negligible portion and he had gained enlightenment of Grandmist and Chaotic Destruction energies.

Without this chance encounter, it would've been nearly impossible for Van to have grasped it before he reached the God stage not to mention the 1st Stage of Inner Discovery.

Strands of Chaotic Destruction Qi and Grandmist Qi circled around Van as his consciousness projection meditated. A domineering aura of destruction and the comfort from the feeling of a mother's embrace was emitted from Van causing a rather conflicting and strange feeling for any that would have been nearby.

A few moments later, Van's eyes opened. One of his pupils had turned black, embodying the energies of destruction. While the other eye was a whitish grey, embodying the Grandmist energies of Creation.