Dao

The next morning, Chún rose before the Golden Crow stirred, lifting himself from the thin cotton pad in the loft of the abandoned barn where he was grudgingly allowed to sleep. He had told the villagers he did chores for that he would be travelling—'to broaden his horizons,' as he had phrased it—so there was no reason to linger until they began to wake. Best to be gone before first light reached the peaks.

With the ease of long practice, he bundled the sleeping pad and his two changes of castoff clothing into a tight roll and hung it on his herding staff. Well—walking staff, now.

Carefully descending the old ladder, Chún moved around the barn to gather his few remaining possessions into a worn sack: a fire starter, some hand-woven rope, and other meagre odds and ends collected over a childhood lived on the margins. Lastly, he took up the still-full skin of watered wine from the day before, and two small, withered apples the goose keeper had given him as payment for yesterday's herding—secured, naturally, before he'd mentioned he was leaving. He hung the wine at his right hip, and tucked the apples into the pouch on his left, alongside a few scavenged copper coins: the sum total of his worldly wealth.

He yawned, stretching out the sleep and adjusting his clothing to smooth away the worst of the wrinkles. Then, crouching, he tied a knot in the sack and slung the carry sling across his chest, the weight settling snugly against his back. Straightening, he took up his walking staff and stepped through the door without hesitation.

The barn stood on the village's fringe, and Chún set out directly toward the mountain. A glance at the star positions confirmed he had perhaps one kè before the Golden Crow rose. If he hurried, he could detour to a nearby waterfall—enough time to bathe and scrub his spare clothes before reaching the patch of Thousand Year grass.

---

The sky had just begun to pale behind the Golden Crow's nest, the last stars fading into Crow-rise. Birds were beginning their salutation to the Senior Ancestor as Chún reached the pasture where he had brought the flock the day before. Seeing no one nearby—and the air still cool beneath the trees—he returned to the boulder from yesterday. There, he unrolled his bedding and spread his freshly washed clothing across the flat top, placing it where the morning light would fall first and warm them dry.

With the fire of the Golden Crow slowly rising, Chún settled against the boulder's stone flank, still cool from the night air. He drew out an apple from his pouch, closed his eyes, and breathed in the morning stillness. He was free of that place. It felt as though a weight of a thousand catties had been lifted from his back. Whatever the future held—he was not going back.

He bit slowly into the apple, savouring its sharp sweetness. Recalling what his new Teacher had told him the day before, he gently pushed his Essence outward, seeking the rhythm of the mountain as it stirred with the coming light. Unlike yesterday's clarity, only faint echoes reached him now—chimes, distant drums, the bleating of a horn like the village headman's call to assembly. Stranger still were the tones he could not name—half-heard shapes and unearthly vibrations, like language spoken by stone and root.

As the Golden Crow's light crowned the peak, Chún's eyelids fell shut—just as the entire mountain rang like a vast, resonant gong.

Chún reeled. From the horizon came a flood of fire-natured Essence and pure energy, crashing into the mountain. The mountain drank it in, its glow shifting through jade, cerulean, and moon-white hues. All the living things upon it drank as well—and Chún's own body blazed gold in answer.

A feeling of strength and power burrowed deep into his marrow—far surpassing the ignition wave of the day before—yet imbued with astonishing gentleness. It swept away his weariness and left his very bones thrumming in harmony.

The mountain burned a deep, almost black emerald as every life form upon it—Chún among them—swelled brighter and brighter. Then came a flash: a blinding cascade as mountain, beast, and leaf alike released their surplus energy. Thousands of Essence waves, coloured and voiced, crashed outward in overlapping resonance, washing through the world.

All this takes many words to describe, yet it unfolded between one breath and the next. Chún gasped, his Essence abruptly slammed back into him, leaving him feeling as though he had been remade and trampled by a herd of stampeding cattle all at once.

Behind him came the amused voice of Yijing: "If you are not expecting it, Chún-xiǎo, Crow-rise can be a touch bracing..."

---

"Teacher," gasped Chún, trying to get to his feet but only succeeding in toppling awkwardly over onto his side. His body did not seem to be responding properly to his wishes and he flailed awkwardly, trying to get up.

"Stop. Breathe slowly, calmly and relax. Your body just underwent an extreme amount of refinement, while participating in a very large energy and Essence exchange, within the span of a few breaths. It needs time to adjust."

Chún ceased struggling and focused instead on his breathing. Slowly control returned to his limbs and he slowly lifted himself up onto the boulder next to his teacher, gingerly and then more confidently as his limbs responding with unexpected strength and clarity.

"Does that happen every Crow-rise, Teacher?" he asked after a few breaths of time, accepting the roll of mysteriously dry clothes the old man handed him and tying it to his walking staff.

"The world's energy and Essence, with a few exceptions, begins with the rising of the Golden Crow. All living things, including", the old man waved his hand about in a slow circle, "ourselves, take that energy in. They absorb it and it fuels life, which itself is a concept of Dao. And the expression of Dao is what creates Essence from all things - Essence is the energy created from the forming of Dao", he gestured expansively outward, "released back into the world".

"I thought Dao was a grand mystery?" asked Chún, "At least that is what the village storyteller says".

Yijing nodded. "Most people believe that. But Dao simply is. And for anything to be, it must also have Dao".

"So everything has Dao? Even the grass? And when we, gave it more, more energy it was able to change its Dao to a Thousand Year grass?", Chún puzzled out slowly.

"It did not change its Dao, Student, it is after all, still grass. It simply broke through to a higher level of Dao. And comprehension of Dao is the act of creation, which releases extra energy and Essence - so after there is more than before."

Chún was quiet, listening to the bird song and the chuckle of the stream at the other end of the pasture as he thought about what Yijing had said.

"If we are all living beings, Teacher, then we all have Dao? So that includes people?"

"Yes, student. But, unlike you and I, most will never naturally accumulate enough energy to allow their Dao to grow. The same is true for animals - most will never become an Essence beast. There are always exceptions - a person or animal exposed to so much Essence that their Dao spontaneously matures, they begin to generate more themselves and comprehend Dao - but that is a very rare event. Less rare, but still something not seen in a thousand million people, is the person who comprehends and ignites the natural growth of their Dao through contemplation or enlightenment and grows their Dao. They also can be considered True Cultivators."

Yijing paused and took a drink from his gourd. "It has been a long time since I spoke so much." Putting the stopper on the bottle, he frowned then started to speak again.

"From those people or animals who had fortunate encounters like that, or reached enlightenment - or like us were born naturally connected to Dao - their descendants came. And if a True Cultivator has children then those children will always have bodies inclined closer to the perfect form of their Dao than if they were born to ordinary parents. They still must comprehend their Dao to have growth, but they have an inherent possibility within them. Thus, Perfect Yang body, Perfect Yin body..."

The old man rolled his eyes as he spoke with an airy insouciance, gesturing with his hands as if to brush away flies: "...body of the Extra Excellent Kicking of the Donkey... and so on—do you understand, Student?" Yijing still had a mocking expression on his face as he spoke of some commonly known 'Heaven's Fortunes' bodies, that Consumers could be born with, or develop, with enough resources.

Chún laughed, hiding his chuckles behind a hand. "I have never heard anyone be as disrespectful to Culti - I mean Consumers - as you, Teacher".

"Trust me, once you meet a few, you will understand. Everything they do is built around artificially creating a Dao within their bodies, with 'cultivation techniques', disconnected from the Dao around them. It twists their minds - every one of them greedy for more resources and happy to step over everybody else to do it. The only reason we aren't completely overrun with them is that they spend so much time and effort killing each other off."

Yijing sighed, his posture folding in on itself, suddenly looking much older as he dropped his voice to a weary tone. "The worst part of it is that most of the time the Dao they practise is not the one their body is born with. So that is why you hear of Consumers becoming cripples from trying to use a particular 'cultivation' technique, dying, going crazy, struggling with 'breaking through'—whatever. The ones who succeed with a 'cultivation' technique are worse: they are rebuilding their bodies around flawed Dao—so of course they themselves are now broken in mind and spirit—and do not see it."

Chún watched his teacher in silence. There was a hollowness behind the old man's voice that made Chún's chest ache—a weight of grief and disillusionment too heavy for words. He wondered how many had stood where he now stood, only to fall into ruin by walking the wrong path. And how many Yijing had tried—and failed—to save.

Yijing's eyes gazed off into the morning sun, distant. Chún had the feeling his new Teacher no longer saw him, but was looking at something only he could see.

---

Chún waited respectfully, enjoying the feeling of sun and wind on his skin, the scents of plants and water on cool morning air, and the sounds of birds and insects. Somewhere else in the corner of his mind he also heard a gentle hum of happiness from the mountain around him, which he found relaxing and peaceful, so he was content to sit in silence with his eyes closed.

Without conscious thought his Essence flowed out into the world around him, easier than it had earlier, allowing him to see the currents of colours from the Essences of all the Dao of everything around him. He could see his own body breathing in and expelling Essence back into the world around him, refreshing his energy and sending the excess he produced back out. Gentle ripples of colour leisurely proceeded outward from his body, brightening each thing they touched momentarily.

"Life gives, life takes

All is one

All is Dao"

As he sang, the ripples from his body brightened and the plants around the pasture that he could sense feel into the beat of his song, their colours brightening and changing shades with his voice as the ripple that moved out of his body touched them. Some of the closer ones seemed to tremble, with ripples of their own colours rippling from them in a chain reaction, motes of energy and curls of Essence drifting off them like smoke from a fire. The whole meadow seemed to be a wave of combining energy waves and brightening Essence - as each life form was hit with a ripple of energy, it expelled its own as it absorbed it. Touches of colour were exchanged between different things - some brown in a rock, some blue in the creek, some green in a bush.

"Water runs swift;

Earth is strength,

Reborn in Fire;

Air is life.

Dao is all

All is one"

Chún sensed his Teacher stirring; in his Essence sense, Yijing was a blazing fountain of brilliant energies constantly flowing outward - barely any flowing inward. Chún supposed his Teacher had comprehended his Dao and was creating his own energies without needing any from the World. Instead, wherever he went the world's energy was strengthened and deepened. Already Chún could see that the Essence and energies of the mountain around him much more complex and heavier than what he had sensed the day before.

Odd curls of Essence almost looking like characters or pieces of interlocking structures seemed to be both flowing to and from his teacher and the mountain. Chún could almost sense something like the odd diagram that he had briefly seen when the Thousand Year grass had advanced and ignited its Dao forming within the mountain's energy as it grew heavier.

---

"Well done student. It is unfocused and weak, but you are channelling Essence to strengthen the world around you - the singing helps direct and focus it. It is your Dao, so you should continue to work on it."

Chún stopped pushing his senses into the Essence around him as he opened his eyes and turned to his teacher. "Your Essence flows outward without ceasing, Teacher".

"If you survive this world and become one with Dao, yours will also - you will create more than you receive - like those World-level existences I mentioned yesterday, but without having to consume more than you create".

Chún nodded. "Teacher, you said all Consumers use flawed Techniques. Surely some Techniques are correct and as long as someone found one that matched their Dao, it might help them comprehend their Dao quicker..."

Yijing smiled at Chún fondly. "Student, I am glad that you are thinking about what I teach and not merely accepting it. Unfortunately, while it is possible to match techniques with one's Dao, few Consumers do so - even the great Families and Sects often choose for their youngsters based on tradition and what is expected rather than because their Dao matches." The old man raised his palm and and curled down a finger.

"Firstly, almost no Consumer knows Dao as a part of them. They believe it is reached by progressing through Cultivation techniques, which artificially create Dao fragments within their body - if they are lucky their Dao accepts it and changes - if not..." He curled down a second finger.

"Secondly, while some Consumers do have an idea of the concept, they usually think of it in terms of family lines - a family practices the so-called 'Three Faced Donkey Fart Technique'—one of those mock-named, overhyped family legacies for example - and because their ancestors passed it down and also 'cultivated' it or even because it was the Dao of the family Ancestor that passed it down, it matches generally with their Dao and so they have a good measure of success. But it will almost never match them exactly and thus they may do well in their youth and become less able to progress as the grow older - you often see a lot of sect and family based cultivators stuck at the middle layers of strength, unable to move forward, no matter how much 'Heaven-defying' resources they burn". Yijing glared heavily and closed his palm into a fist, speaking emphatically.

"Finally, there is an insurmountable problem. ALL Consumer's techniques are incomplete by their very nature."

Chún blinked. "How can that be - surely they would have noticed..."

Yijing laughed ironically. "Oh they have. They say that a true student of Jianghu or whatever must comprehend their own techniques to really grow or whatever. But they are overlooking the fact that most of them are working off an incomplete base".

Chún shook his head. "I do not understand".

His teacher waved his stave in the air, sending it is chimes ringing. "The source of creation, power, cultivation - whatever you call it. It is Dao, yes?"

Chún nodded in confusion. "It grows from within us - constantly changing and growing stronger or weaker?"

"Precisely", his teacher agreed in satisfaction, "So, can you understand all of Dao? Even your own?"

"No... you can only become one with Dao - a part of it and every Dao is part of all Dao....even the village storyteller said that". Chún frowned.

"And what did I say a Technique was?" Yijing rested his hands on his stave and looked at Chún expectantly.

"A way... to... artificially create a... Dao.." Chún straightened up in realisation, "But if Dao cannot be completely understood... then a technique cannot contain all of Dao... and so it is flawed."

Yijing snorted. "Correct. Only a Dao knows how to be what it is, so only by following its direction can it be created within you. Techniques are like trying to write a description of the world on a scroll and expecting the world and the scroll to be the same thing."

Chún crumpled in disappointment. "So you cannot teach me any Dao or Techniques to survive on my own, Teacher?"

"They would be useless to you if I did," said the old man smiling indulgently and then poked Chún in the chest with the tip of his stave. "Your Dao is in here. Listen to it and it will show you what it needs to grow." The chimes on the top of the stave sounded as his teacher grounded the staff again with a thump that seemed to resonate, startling a nearby flock of grass pigeons who flew off, cooing in warning.

"This is what separates True Cultivators from Consumers - we can sense the Dao within us and the Dao around us - we strengthen it and it strengthens us. Consumers force their bodies to follow whatever flawed Dao they choose - they use energy from the resources and Essence they consume to remake their bodies to match. They are not connected to the world as we are, so they hold that energy within themselves and are mortal when it is exhausted or destroyed."

Chum rubbed his chest, feeling slightly hard done by. He was an orphan that had barely been allowed to grudgingly learn basic characters due to the villagers wanting him to be able to do some bookkeeping chores. How would he know all this? "But Essence beasts do not use techniques...", he grumbled, then paused at a sudden thought, "Oh...beasts are naturally more connected to the world and follow their instincts... so Essence beasts cultivate their Dao naturally?"

Yijing nodded "Good. You reason well. That is why Essence beasts are themselves Essence resources - even low level ones. Humans must begin to generate more of their own Essence than they consume before they become meaningful resources, generally speaking."

"There is another exception that happens reasonably regularly," he continued. "The Consumer who, for one reason or another does not have access to established techniques and resources of a Family or Sect and comprehends their Dao out of great need or desperation, either through fortunate encounters or following their instincts from the start. Generally, while they may consume resources, they are often the ones that Heavens and Earth provide for them and they do not require an excess to achieve results, far outpacing other Consumers of the same level."

Yijing smirked, "Those Cultivators I do not have as many issues with - they tend to drive the established Consumers mad with frustration as so called 'trash' out performs them at every turn - and because they develop their Dao, they are more connected to the world than other Consumers. Those that survive reach True Cultivation levels quickly, returning what they consumed to the world and often adding to it."

Yijing paused, then shook his furiously chiming stave at Chún, "Can you think of why a Cultivator starting from nothing often has greater success than a Consumer?"

Chún nodded. "Yes, Teacher. Based on what you have said, if a Cultivator is following natural Dao, even without knowing it... then, they will create a technique of cultivation close to their own Dao and have better results. And... if you follow natural Dao... then you are aligned with the Heavens and it will grant fortunate chances... like finding suitable techniques and resources for their Dao... because Dao always works towards completion?"

Yijing nodded excitedly. "As far as True Cultivators have been able to observe that is the case. Hence, you must always strive to follow Dao and not try to create shortcuts".

The old man took another long drink from his flask, then passed it to Chún, who took a drink of his own as his teacher resumed speaking, "Student, there are still quite a few things I must teach you before I leave - so do not worry. You may not learn the 'Three Headed Donkey Fart Technique' from me, but I am still qualified to be your teacher. Now, come", the old man hopped off the boulder and gestured to Chún as he turned towards the stream and the trees, " the sun grows too warm to stay under its full strength".

Chún faltered, staring at the old man. "You... you are leaving me, Teacher?" He scrambled off the boulder and rushed after him.

"In no more than a day or two, Chún-xiǎo. It is necessary. You must follow your Dao, not mine - and if I stayed, even with the best intentions, you would follow my Dao more than yours and become flawed. Additionally, the longer I stay, the greater chance the mountain gathers enough Essence to form its Dao and become a Treasure Mountain. For your sake, the increase in Essence gathering here is a good thing, because it will be easier for you to grow if the Essence here is strong, but if the Mountain wakes entirely without your help, you will be overwhelmed. You must be the one who ignites the Mountain's Dao, it is already a part of you - the process will be excellent training - with you here on your own it will grow with you and strengthen you as you strengthen it."

"You make it sound as if the mountain will be my partner, Teacher," panted Chún.

Yijing nodded as they crossed the pasture meadow, his stave's bells jingling with each step. "Yes. When True Cultivators take our first steps, each of us has a connection to someplace more than anywhere else. This is an excellent place - originally I stopped here because I saw signs that a True Cultivator had formed a connection with the mountain and I wished to find out who it was." He winked at Chún, "I was amazed to find someone I did not know - new True Cultivators are rare and according to True Cultivator law - as the one who discovered you, it is my responsibility to evaluate and instruct you."

He thumped his staff on the ground for emphasis. "A locus - such as a mountain - that we form a connection with, continues to help us grow and defend ourselves through the land we stand on, no matter how far away we are - and it benefits from any excess Essence we channel. Eventually, we produce more than we use - and no longer rely on loci - but that takes thousands of years."

Chún tripped over his feet and fell to the ground as they reached the stream bank. The flowing water seemed to chuckle in laughter at the sight. "Thousands of years... what?"

Yijing extended a hand down and pulled Chún to his feet, rolling his eyes again. "Constantly renewing flows of energy, following your Dao to grow... you will not die, Chún-xiǎo, unless some Essence Beast takes a liking to you or a hot-headed Consumer runs you through with a sword... or hits you with a technique..."

Chún stared at his Teacher's receding figure as Yijing hopped over the stream, his voice carrying over his shoulder as he walked into the trees, "...or you get hit by falling rocks...immolated by a Dao ignition...hit by more Tribulation lightning than you can absorb...choke on a chicken bone..."

Chún sighed and rolled his eyes in exasperation, muttering to himself, "Maybe it is a good thing Senior is leaving...?" Raising his voice he called after the eccentric old man, "Teacher, wait for me!"