บท 272: Tale of the Strongest Fool (1)
POLL RESULT: 1
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{A/N: I know this isn't the correct background from the wiki... but the thought that Dragon God had a clan and stuff and grew to power by practice felt... too generic.
And this lore down Below will have hints of warlock of the magus world and Reverend Insanity. Reverend Insanity has actually described the law and dao of fiction quite completely so I really like it.}
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"Origin of cultivation, huh... In the purest sense, humans and beasts are alike in that the two sides are living creatures that desire growth in some form. However, at the beginning of time, there was only one creature."
The voice of the Lady in the Lake turned melancholic as Ja Sun lay on his side to view a reflection taking over the Emerald Lake.
A beast emerged from the reflection of the lake. The beast looked perfectly similar to a dragon but its rhombus scales were glimmering with nine colors that enchanted the dark space itself as if the beast was the constellation around which the planets should revolve.
"The Creature had no name until it gave itself one. A Dragon. Upon which its entire lineage was named and thus crowned the first living being as their God.
The Dragon God. Within the first creation brewed the powers of creation and destruction. Life and Decay. Stranded in the universe, it began to seek other creations. While the first living being to be formed by the universe, the Dragon God soon found various other creatures naturally formed by the planets through trillion of years of evolution.
However, the Dragon God found no kin for he was too strong. Too Noble... and too unique."
"Thus, using its powers, the Dragon God created the first of his lineage that would be regarded as kings. They were considered his children. All of them gained an attribute of the Dragon God and worshipped him.
The first and most elusive of all was the Jade Dragon King who inherited the attribute of time and commanded the flow of the river of time to his whims yet kept itself hidden most of the time.
The second and the strongest of the descendants was the Light Dragon King who manipulated spectrum of light that others couldn't even fathom.
The third and the most loyal of them was the Dark Dragon King who was the opposite of the second son. The very being of the Dark Dragon King threatened to destabilize space. Di Tian is the direct descendant of the Dark Dragon King and is known as the Golden-Eye Black Dragon King.
Then came the most frivolous twins— The Water Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King. One wielded cold as a blade and the other loved spitting waves of energy.
The Sixth was Taotie who gained the attribute of Earth but due to the nature of their surroundings that placed it at a distinct disadvantage, Taotie grew in appetite and accepted the law of devouring.
The Seventh was the Wind Dragon King, his voice as pleasant as bells and kept the Dragon God in company with its pleasant nature and intuitive ballads.
At this point, the Dragon God wanted to settle and delegated the task to its eighth creation, the White Dragon King, the darling of the spatial attribute, who, alongside the Jade Dragon King isolated and carved a working galaxy and formed a world to settle in.
Yet, at this point, the Dragon God and its descendants realized that their very existence was too overbearing on the planets they had adopted. For this, the Dragon God formed the Mountain Dragon King.
Although not as impressive as others, the Mountain Dragon King surpassed even the Dragon God in its size. Its body was perfectly capable of housing its siblings and thus, the Mountain Dragon King and its descendants turned to landmasses to support the growth of the Dragon Lineage.
Impressed by the Mountain Dragon King's benevolence, the Dragon God considered it the most impressive of all its descendants."
While the Lady in the Lake told the tale, she also made the pictures move within the reflection of the Lake so that Ja Sun could see all of it.
"Years passed as the Dragon Race began to develop. Unlike their ancestor, the Dragon Kings could not just create their descendants, so, they sought earthly beings.
By now, they had come to realize while heaven itself made them the strongest, the beings developed over the years from various cellular beings on a planet are not the same. Mating with such beings after taking their forms hardly ever provided any descendants as much as it did provide death. So, the Dragon Kings developed their own sectors of lands where the growth of the living beings would take a necessary direction to allow them to birth the next generation of dragons.
And thus, the Dragon Race began to prosper. The Dragons could most naturally manipulate the elements but their mates were weak. With foresight, the Dragon God knew that the future generation would grow stronger but it came with a method to achieve that growth through the manipulation of natural energy known as spirit energy.
The idea was to reach one's limits as early as possible so that they may break their shackles without completely exhausting their life and that is the beginning of cultivation."
The Lady of the Lake understood Ja Sun's desire to know the details and thus shared them. The basic concepts. The Soul Origin, and the growth by eating valuable materials. This was everything Ja Sun already knew but it was contained around beasts. Until now, there wasn't any mention of humans and at this point, she inquired, "What do you understand about the law?"
"Nothing," Ja Sun replied without any pretenses, his gaze saturated with greed and hunger, "But... I want to know all."
"So does every ambitious man," Lady of the Lake chuckled, "The Law is the very structure of everything including living beings. Also called a concept or Dao in myriad worlds, a Law is part of the Greater Unity that forms the natural order. For instance, the Law of Fire, isn't just about the manipulation of flames but its more intricate abilities such as healing, destruction, and even venom, too.
Every living being is made from the natural order of birth and creation, and thus, follows a law, too."
"So how do I have it?" Ja Sun frowned.
"Have what?"
"Laws of the world."
"Oh, I forgot how charming ignorance looks like," she chuckled, "Haven't you already made contact with the laws of the world?"
Holding the illusion that the mysterious being was smiling breezily, Ja Sun couldn't help but frown slightly as she explained.
"Consider this statement for a second.
There was one. One created two. Two created three and then everything came to be."
She grew silent, allowing Ja Sun to consider the meaning of her words as he hesitated for a second and heaved a deep sigh before answering, "It's a layer?"
"Close, but there's something more. It's a layer of puzzles!" She answered.
"Puzzles?"
"Yes. From the words, you probably understood that every law comes from the same origin and imagined it into a sophisticated layer. For instance, the law of fire comes from yang. Yang comes from origin. And thus, a layer is formed.
But have you considered if the Law creates natural order then maybe all the spirit skills and spirit techniques are... an expression of law?"
Ja Sun instantly fell into a daze.
Until now, Ja Sun realized that a 'law' was related to one's understanding of certain concepts. Di Tian claimed that the law is pivotal for a domain and vice-versa but he had never considered things in a more simpler manner. As his level grew, his skills in array grew more complicated and thus he instinctively felt that 'understanding' something higher than his own comprehension would naturally be quite complicated. But what if he didn't overthink it and kept it simple? Of course, the time needed won't reduce essentially but isn't this the same thing he had done from the very beginning?
Learn by watching?
He understood the manipulation of water and spatial attributes from the memories of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale and the Evileye Tyrant. He began from basics and came to a certain understanding. If the Lady of the Lake is saying the truth and the law itself is the very basis of nature then by constantly utilizing aspects of spirit techniques related to elements and whatnot, gaining a deeper understanding of such skills, isn't that the same as understanding a very minute portion of a law?
As if capable of seeing through the mask of calm and observing the comprehension flickering deep within his pupils, the Lady let out a throaty chuckle and concluded, "The techniques and the ability to manipulate elements and concepts through spirit energy are shards of Greater Law. When you study these elements with the spirit energy, mental energy, or internal energy as the medium then your comprehension deepens into this shard and you can move on to another shard of law in the form of another skill.
Just like pieces of a puzzle, a spirit master or a spirit beast begins to form a unique structure from these shards. If fortunate, these shards resemble the very Fragment of a Law— a layer higher than the shards. For example, spirit skills of certain elements that can perform effects of other concepts.
Like fire and water elements adopting the effects of yang and yin.
As one slowly builds on these fragments of law, they will eventually find themselves staring at the complete structure of law.
This is the essence of a domain but the mortal mind is unfortunate and cannot comprehend the essence. Those with innate domains or from spirit rings or bones have a shot at understanding a complete dao.
A domain doesn't just suppress and boost the opponent and the user respectively... It is one's domain. You are the ruler. An aspect of the law is completely under your command.
Why the hell won't you study it?"
Ja Sun's ears were buzzing. He wanted to stop right here and start experiencing things at once but forcefully exhaling deeply, he spoke with a deep voice, "What does it have to do with the cultivation of humans and beasts?"
She revealed quite calmly, "I will get to that point. Although the understanding of the law can be divided into various levels and categories, as I said, there are only three or four broad layers to it.
The first is understanding the shards. I call this realm the mastery of a law. After all, even mastering the tiniest piece of this grand puzzle is no simple feat. For that, I do congratulate you. You have mastered your skills well enough but as I said, you have yet to move on to different 'shards' and make something of them.
The second layer is known as the realm of Grandmasters. Those who are intuitive or fortunate enough to master a number of shards and form something truly brilliant and complex... you may even call it an unfinished painting ready to reveal a whole world.
The third layer is known as the realm of Great Grandmasters. Those divine beings who can build these complete fragments into something truly unique and all-encompassing to the point that the element around them is for theirs to command. As you may sense, an individual with a domain has the potential to reach this level in their lifetime. Of course, potential doesn't necessarily mean the correct mindset.
But... there is something even above this complete picture of nature."
There was a hint of mischief in her tone as she continued, "The realm of Great Grandmaster means that one has fully realized nature's law on a particular concept or element. What this element can be shaped as, its effects, its communication with other laws, its potential, to a Great Grandmaster, such things are clear.
But nature is limited. While there is a law of everything in this world, it needs innovation. And a being who can innovate past the already vast painting of a particular law is known as the Supreme Grandmaster."
"A... Supreme Grandmaster..." Ja Sun hummed thoughtfully, "So, if I consider a particular law, say, Law of Light a 100 points worth of comprehension, there is something beyond that 100?"
"There are many things beyond a horizon. If you one cannot see it, it only means they aren't entitled to do so just yet," She replied.
Giving Ja Sun enough time to digest these revelations, she continued, "But as you have already experienced even after reaching the pinnacle of cultivation that is allowed to you, just mastering a single shard of this grand puzzle means that you are probably at the top. However, the Dragon Kings and the Dragon God were the beings of law. Even Di Tian is a Grandmaster in the Law of Darkness and Space. He has a base. But the Dragon Kings... they were Great Grandmasters with the perfect compilation of this grand painting and the Dragon God, the creator of these Kings, was a Supreme Grandmaster with multiple laws.
So, it is clear that the hopes for growing increasingly stronger lie in understanding these laws. For this, the Dragon God finally made a method for all the beasts.
Spirit Energy.
Spirit Energy, in its truest form, is also a law. In fact, this is a law that you and Ja Yin are capable of understanding due to your bloodlines.
However, this law is too pure and has the potential to adopt the properties of almost all the other laws. Thus, under Dragon God's methods, his isolated world that spanned across the deepest space, the spirit energy became available to every beast.
These beasts would start by using the Spirit Energy to strengthen themselves and communicate with attributes they have affinities with. These beasts began to have long lives due to the blessings of the Dragon God so that they can grow stronger for the Dragon Kings and produce an even richer generation of descendants.
It was during this time Dragon God came across the first civilization of humans and brought them to his realm. However, humans had biology different from the beasts. Despite the Dragon God's interests and blessings, the humans couldn't surpass certain biological limits such as their expected life and even the Dragon Kings soon lost interest in them, allowing the humans to grow at their own pace under the threat of the increasingly growing population of beasts.
But this didn't stop here.
With enough draconic descendants, the various kings brought in other interesting species spread far and wide in this universe. Their realm grew and grew. Cultivation prospering with a few spirit beasts getting stronger to the point of building their own fragments of the law and entering the ranks of the divine beasts... until he came along."
The kindness in the voice of the Lady of the Lake dropped to a negative as her chilly tone even made goosebumps spread across Ja Sun's furry body.
She spat coldly.
"Until the Evil Sage entered the realm."
The image on the lake shifted from the divine dragons to a sickly pale woman with a thin stature and a head full of greasy dark brown hair. Her cheeks were sunken and her eyes feverish as if she would fall down at any second.
"The Evil Sage?"
Ja Sun repeated softly as the Lady of the Lake grew silent.
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A/N: Hey guys, I hope I didn't bore you. There is still another chapter for the lore planned. And if you have any questions about the law, feel free to ask me. It's a bit different from what you may find in another novels or fanfics but I think I did a solid job by working on the Reverend Insanity's description of the dao and giving the example of painting and puzzles... at least, I hope so, lol.
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