Chapter 144: The Question of Dao
Keasal's answer to the question of dao lingered on Yaan's mind as he flew away from Blue Peak.
"I don't really understand his answer either." Yaan sighed.
The Immortal Ancestor's answer was shorter and seemingly simple, but it wasn't something that Yaan truly understood. He said that dao is cultivation, but all Yaan could infer from this was that to the Immortal Ancestor, cultivating was itself his own pursuit of dao. Of course, maybe Yaan had completely misunderstood.
As for Keasal's answer, Yaan interpreted it as Keasal's own understanding of the world. To Keasal, there was no difference between comprehending his dao heart and comprehending the mysteries of the world; they were one and the same.
Yaan could understand this logic on a rational level, but in his heart, it made no sense, as if these words were covered in a layer of blurry fog. He still did not understand dao.
"Teacher…" Yaan spoke calmly as he faced Fragment Peak.
The white haired immortal silently appeared before him.
"What do I need to achieve in order to pass your final test? What floor must I reach in the Tower of Mortal Dao?"
"A sufficient level to prove your dao."
"…"
"Good luck."
"…"
Yaan stared dully at the immortal. His eye twitched slightly, but there was nothing else he could do if this was the answer that he was given.
"What do you intend to do now?" The white haired immortal asked expressionlessly.
"Now…I'm going to return to the sect."
Not long later, Yaan found himself back in the core of the Fragment Sect for the first time in three years. There were no notable changes, but that was normal. A sect like this would be stable and unmoved, even after another ten, or even a hundred years.
As Yaan walked through the Elder Court, he nodded occasionally towards someone when he recognised them. Towards others whom he was more familiar with, he smiled and said a few words.
Before long, Yaan reached Court Palace. He did not enter immediately, but waited outside patiently.
After waiting for three hours, a few elders flew out, glancing at Yaan as they left. Yaan only vaguely recognised these people in name, he nodded towards them and clasped his hands before flying into Court Palace.
Since these elders had left, he knew that the meeting within should be over, it was fine for him to enter to find his other senior brother, Sect Master Brase.
"Junior brother Yaan!" Brase laughed and greeted Yaan warmly, standing up from his throne and taking large strides towards him. This man dwarfed Yaan in size, he was very large for a Qi master at around seven feet tall.
"Senior brother Brase." Yaan smiled back, greeting him whilst clasping his hands together.
"Haha, you truly have improved this time! Teacher announced that you were going into seclusion, but you must have received teacher's guidance, am I correct?"
"Senior brother is very perceptive, this is indeed the case." Yaan nodded.
Hearing this, Brase's gaze flashed slightly.
Yaan did not know this, but Brase had only received his teacher's guidance on two occasions since becoming his disciple 300 years ago! He knew that their teacher only provided his disciples with guidance at crucial moments and every time a disciple received this guidance, their strength would soar by leaps and bounds.
"Junior brother, did you have a reason for seeking me out this time?" Brase asked after some back and forth casual chat.
Yaan nodded.
"Senior brother, I have a question, I hope you can answer this for me. Could you tell me…what is dao?"
"Hmm?" Brase raised an eyebrow. His mind worked quickly, and after some deductions, he realised something.
"Has teacher instructed you to take the Xuqi Sect entrance exam?"
"Yes…that's right." Yaan was startled by Brase's ability to deduce this from very little information, it was quite impressive. He even wondered if Brase might practice psyche cultivation, to be able to draw such a conclusion so rapidly.
"I see…" Brase became silent for some time, but he eventually answered Yaan's question.
"Dao is change."
"Change?" Yaan repeated back.
"Yes." Brase nodded. "Dao is the constant ongoing change, both of people and of the world. Life and death, young and old, weak and strong…these are not opposites, but changes. All life eventually dies, the young become old, the weak become strong…everything changes, everything is eventually replaced, and thus the cycle continues. Hence, dao is change."
Coming away from this conversation, Yaan felt like he somewhat understood why Brase answered this way.
"Brase is the sect master of such a giant sect, but he understands that his position is only temporary. He is currently strong and full of vitality, but he will eventually grow old, weaken and die. Then, someone else will take over his position. Eventually, the next generation of disciples will become elders, then this will repeat, again and again, constantly changing…"
This encounter did not truly answer Yaan's question, but it made him think about the disciples of the Fragment Sect and how eventually, these disciples would become powerful elders.
Thinking along these lines, Yaan decided to revisit some old students of his.
"E-Elder Yaan?!"
"Ah, Elder Yaan!"
"Oh lord, we're not being trained by Elder Yaan again, right…?"
After Yaan returned to the Disciple Plaza, he sought out his old class, finding them relatively quickly. He waited patiently for their current class to finish, then casually greeted the elder teaching them as he walked into the lecture hall, stopping all of the disciples in their tracks.
Yaan smiled lightly, their reception was more or less within his expectations.
He looked around, studying the various expressions of the disciples. He recognised each and every one of these individuals, he had taught them for three months after all, but some were more memorable compared to others.
Yu Xan, Dan Shi, Ji Tulia, Shia, Ji Suzu, Hian…
They had all improved their cultivations, whilst Yaan immediately noticed that their mindsets seemed to have grown more mature compared to the last time they all met.
Yu Xan still stared at him with a sharp frown, but he remained silent, standing tall and proud, but not making a scene.
Dan Shi did not seem to be contesting with Yu Xan to the same extent as before.
Ji Tulia was standing close to Yu Xan, she looked positively glowing, Yaan's appearance did not ruin her mood. Yaan guessed that she and Yu Xan had finally become a couple.
Shia stood alone, away from the others, but her expression was calm and unmoved.
Ji Suzu was asleep…
Hian's eyes were full of caution, but he wasn't visibly shaking at least.
Yaan was met with a barrage of questions at first, the students naturally wondered what he was doing here, seeking them out like this without any prior warning. They were all worried that he had been assigned as their teacher once again.
The last time they were taught by Elder Yaan, they improved noticeably in terms of strength and mindset…but they were beaten like dogs for three months straight, then forced into a survival trial just because Elder Yaan declared it!
As Yaan silently assessed the class, silence descended upon the hall. To the disciples, this silence was stifling, something that Yaan quickly noticed.
'I'm not particularly trying to pressure them…it seems that I have already reached this point, my presence alone can make those Qi Temple realm disciples feel tense and uneasy.'
After thinking this, Yaan finally spoke.
"If anyone can give a satisfactory answer to my question, then this class won't need my…teachings."
A few individuals swallowed, whilst others narrowed their eyes and paid close attention.
Seeing that he had caught their attention, Yaan went on.
"Could you tell me…what is dao?"
For a while, there was silence. After a short period of time, Dan Shi spoke out uncertainly.
"Elder Yaan, you want us to explain dao to you…? Couldn't another elder give you a better explanation?"
"No, I don't think they could." Yaan shook his head lightly.
The disciples looked confused, but Yaan didn't bother to explain.
After some time of uncertainty, someone finally spoke up.
"Dao refers to the laws of this world. There are 3,000 earthly daos derived from the heavenly dao. These earthly daos can be categorised into principle, partial-principle, elemental, unique and derivation daos. There is also the dao heart, which is the innate nature of a cultivator." Ji Tulia was the first to give her explanation.
It wasn't strange that she knew this, information was not restricted and controlled so severely in the Southern Continent, Many lower realm cultivators knew about matters far beyond them.
Yaan shot her a glance, thinking that this girl was quite stupid.
Sure, she provided the common definition that cultivators used to explain dao. But why would Yaan seek out some lower realm disciples if he was looking for a common definition that could be found in any textbook throughout the sect? Seeing that Ji Tulia looked proud and confident with her answer, it was obvious that she had not even thought of this.
"Elder Yaan, I believe that you're not looking for this sort of common explanation, right?" Shia cut in. Ji Tulia glanced at her and snorted, but she did not say anything.
"Then, do you have an answer?" Yaan asked Shia.
"Dao is survival. Survival is the most basic law of all life in this world. In a righteous society like the Southern Continent, it is not as obvious…but we are still bound by the rules of survival. We do what we must to survive and to make our way through this world. That is dao."
"Is this answer attempting to appeal to me?" Yaan asked with a slight smile.
Shia looked taken aback for a moment. She frowned and shook her head.
"No, this is what I have come to understand."
Yaan stared at her for a moment, realising that she was being truthful.
'This girl…it seems I had quite a big impact on her, she was still obsessed with Yu Xan the last time I saw her…she must have experienced a lot since then.'
The next to answer Yaan's question was Yu Xan himself.
"I believe that no matter what I say, Elder Yaan will not be satisfied with my explanation of 'dao'. However, I can explain to you my own dao."
"Go on." Yaan nodded.
"My dao is pride. It always has been, and it always will be. The form of this pride has changed over time, but at my core, I live by the principle of pride. Pride in myself and my strength. Pride in my clan, my sect and my heritage. Pride in the righteous path that I abide by. Pride in my ability to thrive, no matter the situation."
Yu Xan paused and stared at Yaan for a moment, before saying:
"This is my pride, my dao."
'He has changed, but he is also the same.' Yaan smiled slightly. He didn't say anything, but turned towards Hian.
"Eeeh! H-how did y-you know that I-I was going to s-speak?!"
'He's stammering slightly less compared to before.' Yaan noted.
As Yaan silently observed him, Hian swallowed, but mustered up the courage to speak.
"I-I don't know w-what dao is."
The hall became silent for a while. Eventually, Yaan felt the need to push for an actual answer.
"Could you tell me what you mean by that…or at least why you bothered to answer?"
"Eh?" Hian blinked and looked around. Seeing everyone staring at him oddly, he frowned.
"I-I have no idea w-what dao is! P-people always say d-dao is this, d-dao is that, b-but they're a-all just trying t-to sound smart. I d-don't know any d-dao, n-nor does anybody e-else. Th-that's dao."
"I see." Yaan nodded.
"You do…?" Someone else muttered.
Hian's answer was strange, but at least he answered. Nobody else in the class seemed inclined to provide an answer, or perhaps, they just felt that their answers were worse than those already given.
When some people thought about Hian's answer, they realised that it was actually very accurate.
What was dao exactly? Thinking about it, they really had no idea!
"Suzu." Yaan spoke normally, but his voice carried with it an illusory power which entered Ji Suzu's mind. Immediately, she opened her eyes and sat up.
Seeing this, the students were shocked. This…wasn't this the power that could only be exhibited by those in the Origin Soul realm?!
Actually, Yaan was also surprised. He acted just now without really thinking about it, but it was true; the ability to imbue casual actions with traces of dao comprehension, this was an ability usually only seen by those at the Origin Soul realm!
He did not know if he could do this because his dao comprehension was extremely high, or if it was thanks to his Vital Qi Core realm cultivation that he was able to manifest this ability. Perhaps, it was related to his incomplete pseudo-domain…
After Ji Suzu was caught up to speed, she gave her own answer to the question.
"Dao is sleep."
After saying this, she immediately fell back asleep. Everyone was stunned by her audacity, but Yaan simply laughed and shook his head.
"All of your answers pass."
With that, he departed from the lecture hall. He also left the Disciple Plaza and started flying away from the core sect, towards a region much further away.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SpicyDaoist
SpicyDaoist Announcement!
As of today, I have started to release my 2nd novel: Demonic Shaman.
Firstly, don't worry, I'm still writing A Desolate Life, the release rate is also staying the same right now :). I have a huge backlog of chapters for my 2nd novel, so it's not a problem to release them both side by side. For now, I will continue releasing 'A Desolate Life' 4 times each week, whilst 'Demonic Shaman' will be released daily until it hopefully builds up some momentum.
My 2nd novel will have some similarities and differences compared to my 1st. There will be less moral ambiguity, and more of the main character being an unapologetic villain, haha.
Lastly, my new novel is being released as an entry to webnovel's WSA 2022 competition, so it is only being released on webnovel. Go ahead and give it a read if you're interested!
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