Chapter 58: Merged Dao
Lin Yuan fell silent.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt truly insignificant.
Having just reached the Nascent Soul Realm, Lin Yuan had believed he was already only a few steps away from the pinnacle of cultivation. Yet after learning about the realms that lay beyond it, he realized just how narrow his previous understanding had been. Even the strongest expert he could currently imagine might be nothing more than an insignificant ant in the eyes of those who stood at the peak.
He slowly exhaled, "The heavens are truly vast."
His gaze gradually became resolute.
"But since I’ve already stepped onto this path, I might as well see how far it goes."
The youthful monk sitting upon the boulder watched the subtle, unyielding shift in Lin Yuan’s purple pupils and offered a faint smile. The winds brushed past them, carrying the scent of area.
"To possess such a steadfast Dao Heart after witnessing the chasm of your own ignorance is rare," the monk said gently. He tilted his head slightly, his golden eyes observing Lin Yuan’s aura. "Tell me, young friend. Did you comprehend another essence before entering this painting? I sense an underlying foundation within you that is terrifyingly heavy."
Lin Yuan did not hide it. "The Dao of Thunder."
The monk’s eyes instantly widened, a flash of genuine intrigue breaking through his serenity. "To comprehend the Dao that lays within the power of thunder... what profound comprehension!"
The monk chuckled. "I might be mistaken, young friend, but your comprehension isn’t just the same as mine when I was in the Body Integration realm. It far exceeds it. To grasp the subjective nature of rain and the primordial essence of thunder at just the Nascent Soul realm... I believe you do not just wish to cultivate a single path. You desire to cultivate the Origin. The Dao itself!"
Lin Yuan nodded in acknowledgment, but a faint frown creased his forehead. He swept his gaze across the area—the roaring rivers, the blossoming flowers, the eroding mountains.
"What troubles your mind?" the monk asked, noting the shift in Lin Yuan’s expression.
"Senior, I fear that my comprehension might be lacking, but I fail to see a particular essence in here," Lin Yuan observed. "I am looking for the essence of thunder. I do not see the Thunder Dao in this realm. Did you not cultivate it?"
The monk stroked his chin. "This painting is imbued with the intent of my Merged Dao. I have merged the essence of countless Daos I have cultivated throughout my existence. I found this the most efficient way to achieve the Greater Dao. As the saying goes: Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, three gives birth to all things!"
Lin Yuan’s eyes narrowed as he processed the concept. "Merged Dao? Do you mean it is about cultivating the intersection between the various Daos, rather than just simultaneously cultivating multiple different Daos in parallel?"
"Precisely," the monk nodded in profound satisfaction. "And to answer your question about thunder... my Dao Heart fundamentally goes against destruction. I did not use the destruction essence of thunder to forge my path. Instead, I used its creation essence."
"Because destruction is merely the precursor to rebirth," Lin Yuan interjected, finishing the monk’s thought seamlessly. "Thunder burns the dead wood to ash so the soil may be fertilized for new life."
The monk beamed, his eyes radiating warmth. "You have comprehended thunder to such a vast extent that you see it entirely beyond its destruction essence. Truly remarkable. But understand this: the creation essence of thunder is but a mere imitation. Thunder itself cannot truly create. The absolute power of creation belongs only to the Dao. What we cultivators can do is just imitate it. I used the thunder’s creation essence as a foundational brushstroke to create this painting. But ultimately, this painting is but an imitation of the mountain and river scope of the Heavenly Dao."
"I noticed it was but an imitation the moment I saw it," Lin Yuan replied evenly, his mind going back to the auction house, when he first saw the painting. "The reason thunder can imitate creation is because of the supreme power of karma. Cause and effect. Just like life and death... there is no death without life, and there is no destruction without creation. By reversing the destruction, one finds the creation."
The monk let out a long, deeply satisfied breath. "Such comprehension. You already knew all of this. Indeed, the balance of the universe is tethered by these undeniable strings. Life is the cause, death is the effect. Between them lies the karma one creates."
The monk stood up, walking to the edge of the precipice, looking down at the rivers carving through the stone. "There is a cause for every effect, and every life carries the weight of its own karma. The beginning of every death lies within a choice made in life. The beginning of every life lies within a cause buried in the past. This cycle of cause and effect is the brush by which the Heavenly Dao paints the cosmos."
Lin Yuan stepped forward to stand beside the monk, looking out over the same horizon. The profound weight of his Ten Thousand Ways Return to One Heart Sutra resonated with the monk’s teachings.
"I understand, Senior," Lin Yuan said, his voice completely calm. "Life and death are but two shores of the same river. Cause is the stone cast into its waters, and karma is the ripple that inevitably returns. By mastering the ripple, we imitate the stone."
The monk chuckled, turning to face Lin Yuan fully. "You truly see the shores of the river. So tell me, young prodigy, how do you wish to cultivate the Origin?"
Lin Yuan’s Dao Heart pulsed with unwavering conviction. "I will cultivate the various things of this world—thunder, rain, body, soul—and return them all to the One within my Dao Heart. I will create a singular origin within myself, and then cultivate that origin."
To Lin Yuan’s surprise, the monk slowly shook his head,
"Even with your comprehension, going for multiple distinct essences and attempting to force them into a single origin will just hinder you," the monk cautioned. "To cultivate the Origin, one must form various Merged Daos. In that specific intersection of the Merged Daos that sprouted the individual Daos, there lies an origin. By cultivating the origin of those various Merged Daos, one can truly cultivate the Dao! However... one cannot cultivate the origin in the lower realm. The laws here are simply too fragile to support it."
Lin Yuan’s brows furrowed in immediate disagreement. His understanding from the sutra rebelled against the monk’s teaching.
"I must respectfully disagree, Senior," Lin Yuan injected, his tone respectful but fiercely unyielding. "The Dao is the endpoint. You cultivate to approach it, but you do not cultivate it. What you cultivate is a Dao, which is not the endpoint, but one of the roads leading to it. By returning all roads to one, the destination reveals itself within the heart, regardless of the realm."
The youthful monk fell silent. He closed his eyes, letting the rain wash over his saffron robes for a quiet moment.
When he finally spoke, his voice resonated not just in the air, but across the very fabric of space and time.
"You are wrong, young friend," the monk said, carrying the weight of an entity that had seen the birth and death of stars.
He opened his eyes, and the golden light within them seemed to encompass the entire universe.
"The Dao isn’t just an endpoint. The Dao is the Dao. It is the way and the destination simultaneously. The Dao has no beginning, nor will it ever have an end. Because even nonexistence... is encompassed within the Dao."