Chapter 59: Eternal Dao
Bai Chen sat cross-legged as he went through the rhythms of breathing in and breathing out, as if he were really cultivating spiritual energy. But in reality, he was using the low spread of his Divine Sense to scour the surrounding area, trying to find out where these supposed Daoists were holding his sister hostage.
The man who came to know as Jiang Yuntian had finally revealed what he wanted from Dan Woo.
He wanted that portable, spiritual-energy-rich domain he walked around with.
It looked like the man had an entire organization that cultivated under the "Eternal Dao," called the Eternal Dao Sect. They believed in cultivating immortality and whatnot, drawing from the concept itself of the "Dao." But they weren’t really good cultivators. The land was barren and had little to no spiritual energy, only for Dan Woo to come along with his portable spiritual energy.
Of course, the 1,500-year-old alleged man couldn’t let this gift, as he thought of it, slide.
And now Dan Woo was being held hostage, with his sister nowhere to be seen.
But Dan Woo wouldn’t take it lying down.
He spread that mist as if going along with the whims of the man. Even though he tried, however, he couldn’t find her.
As he did this, he didn’t find anyone. But when the people around him sat down and tried to take in the energy, they could feel their bottlenecks loosen.
At the same time, Dan Woo felt that there was a deep resonance with his own Meaning.
The more the people used his domain to cultivate, the richer his Meaning became.
It was almost a similar situation to those "stars," but this one felt a bit different.
He logged it in the back of his mind as his thoughts wandered to his supposed stars.
How were they?
And that door in the west with its obsessive knocking... Was that the Church of the Forgotten Gods?
He didn’t have time to deal with that right now.
He turned his mind back to his domain.
The sect master, that man who had supposedly lived for more than 1,500 years, was the one hiding his sister, and his domain seemed to not be able to peer through his Meaning and concealment.
It was like there was this higher power that couldn’t be pierced through.
But Dan Woo wasn’t willing to give up.
He tried to see if he could use the foreign Meaning around him and use resonance with that surge of Meaning, turning it against Jiang Yuntian and maybe getting a chance to see his sister again.
Yes.
That was the way.
He drifted back to that state of being one with his Divine Sense as he resonated with about 50 people, with many of them being at maybe the first or second stages of being Ascendants. There was this bouncing back of feedback as everyone got a turn at this rich ball of Meaning, with people breaking through slowly by slowly, step by step, being pushed to the next level of their "cultivations."
They all turned out to be grateful for the opportunity, not knowing they were slowly feeding their Meaning to Dan Woo, who was happy to receive it.
Because the more, the merrier.
Step by step, phenomena after phenomena, when suddenly, he felt something deep in his Dantian.
Something was moving.
The solid core that had been filled slowly began cracking as his consciousness was being pulled all over the place.
As this happened, a soft luminosity could be seen through his entire skin, his eyes even gaining a profound radiance. There was a subtle tingling through his nasal cavity as he breathed in and out, feeling the breath of air at a much deeper level.
There was this stirring in his eyes as the cracks on his core continued to form, as if there was a rustling wind. He could feel something akin to a bird’s crow on his crown and a rumbling deep inside his abdomen as orbs of energy continued to pulse with heavy, thunderous waves.
As this happened, there was a wave of exciting energy that flowed through the area, as a powerful spirit pressure engulfed the area, with all the spirit energy gathering around Bai Chen.
He could feel his consciousness being pulled into his own Dantian as he came face to face with his collapsing core, four orbs of powerful energy condensing around him as the core continued to break.
It was as if the energy being gathered from it was a chick hatching from its egg.
Instinctively, he knew he had to completely break the core.
The power of the Void began to leak from it.
Before he could understand what was happening, he found himself entering into the Void, made of matter that couldn’t be described.
At first, it was pure darkness, with nothing.
Before suddenly, a table formed.
A subtle radiance could be seen emanating from a soft, luminous body.
"Welcome."
The words reverberated around the entirety of that space.
"Please have a seat."
Dan Woo looked at the luminous being before turning to look around the space that seemed to be an endless expanse of nothingness, yet it had everything within it, with a feeling that it was connected to the endlessness of everything.
Was this the Chaos Realm?
Dan Woo couldn’t help but ask himself.
He turned to the luminous body before taking a seat in front of it.
When he did, he couldn’t help but gasp at the physique and likeness of the body.
It looked like a golden visage of Dan Woo, taking into every form he could think of.
He walked onto the table and took a seat.
"It’s been a while, old friend."
The man made of golden light spoke, his voice as clear as a spring and majestic as a phoenix.
Dan Woo couldn’t help but feel invited as a cup of hot tea materialized from the Void.
Dan Woo was confused by the familiar tone and warmth.
Was he familiar with this entity, or was it because of his constellation?
Maybe it was his constellation.
But then again, it looked like him, so maybe this wasn’t an external entity, but an inner self, like his Semantic Shadow, or maybe an inner demon as observed by a climb into the Nascent Soul.
But no.
It didn’t feel that way.
This was something different.
He could only bluff and react to however anything went.
He looked down at the tea provided and took a small sip of it.
An experience of the world mixed together hit his tongue and flowed through his body, but he didn’t give it away, maintaining a calm outward appearance.
"Why did you summon me here?"
He finally spoke.
"I see that you are still you," the golden visage said as it took the form of a male child.
"I just wanted to say sorry for whisking you here like this. You know, with the upcoming war, we can’t be too careful."
Dan Woo took the words as he leaned towards this being an external entity, maybe a constellation, perhaps even the very constellation that these people worship and associate themselves with.
"So what was the reason for the summons?" Dan Woo said, hiding his thoughts to himself as he took another sip.
"It wasn’t anything necessary. Sorry. Jiang Yuntian may have lived a lot of years, but he’s still very much a teenager at heart. Leaving this world the way he did to visit the myriad worlds doesn’t change that nature of his. So when he found out about your presence... You know."
Dan Woo just took in the words in stride, not sure what conversation this was.
"Your human will very much be given back to you. So don’t worry about it. As for the emanation of my concept..."
Dan Woo was confused by the words and wasn’t sure what the entity was talking about, but he remained silent, not letting anything out.
From the conversation, there was a possibility his constellation had something to do with this constellation, but he didn’t know what it was and could only take another sip.
"My sister, please. Then we can talk."
The child made of golden light looked at Dan Woo as if he was searching for something before chuckling.
"It seems you are still incomplete. I will leave it to you, and don’t worry. You will have your sister back."
When Dan Woo heard the words, he didn’t know what to feel. He seemed to have been discovered, yet the other party wasn’t giving him any trouble.
What was the story behind his constellation and this entity?
Suddenly, the world of Void and darkness started to recede.
"We will talk once more when you are complete again. For now, enjoy the hospitality."
Suddenly, Dan Woo felt he was back in that small room he was in.
Still in the body of Bai Chen.
But something felt different about his body.
His spiritual pressure and overall physique felt more refined. His Divine Sense also seemed to have at least doubled, maybe tripled, in size.
And the solid core that had been in his abdomen was no longer there.
It was replaced by a hint of something that was akin to that Void world, but a bit different.
A powerful Meaning emanated from it.
Was this the power of the Nascent Soul?
He stood up.
As he turned to the door to go and talk to the old man, he opened it up only to find a plethora of people waiting outside.
"Congratulations on forming your Nascent Soul."
The unified voices rang out through the area as 50-plus people bowed in reverence to Dan Woo.
He felt startled by the action, but kept calm.
He only needed to find his sister.