The Dao of Suppression

Heavy footsteps could be heard trodding through the snow ridden ground, as a pair of legs stepped out of the nearby shrubbery.

Behind this strange figure, red snow covered the ground as a field of disembodied heads sat behind him. Each head holding on to an expression of anger as their bloodshot eyes were directed toward the direction of the figure.

Puffing out a breath of cold air, the figure took the scarf wrapped around his neck and tightened it a little.

"Just a bit more... soon soon."

Walking off in a random direction, the man lightly snapped his fingers as a herd of beasts suddenly appear out of nowhere and began to ravage at the fallen corpses on the ground.

________

"That's the third village this month, what the hell are you doing if not investigating this incident!"

The outraged voice of the guild master shook the guild hall as he lividly stared at the cultivators around him.

"Sir, there just aren't enough of us. We can't be everywhere at once, why not send out a request to all of the lettered hunters to assist in the investigation?"

"And what could those losers do that you cultivators can't!? Even if we spread them throughout every village near the city, more than likely they'll just be killed in the ensuing chaos!"

At this point, one of the younger cultivators who was more prideful than the others spoke out, "Why do we even have to deal with this issue? What's the point of protecting those places that have no affiliation with us?"

He was sick of the guild master's complaints to them. His talent in cultivation had always been impressive, plus with the fact that he rarely had any setbacks made him more arrogant than the others.

To him, he saw the poor villagers as nothing more than ants.

"If you have so much complaints about doing your duty as a hunter, then no problem. But I'll be having you return everything the guild ever gave to you, including your cultivation..."

Hearing the underlining threat within the guild master's voice, the young man quieted down and shrunk himself within his own seat.

He worked hard for his level two cultivation, and he was just a step away from reaching level three. The thought of losing all of that power frightened him immensely.

Of course the thought of retaliating did pop up into his mind, but anyone who knew this guild master knew that was a foolish idea.

Not only had he broken through to the fourth level recently, but how could anyone hope to battle against someone who was in the fourth level AND an earth elemental cultivator.

One of the other people sitting at the meeting table raised his hand up slowly.

"Well then why don't we summon that one guy, Yong Heng? Wasn't he the first to discover these attacks nearly three months ago?"

The guild master nodded solemnly, "I considered it, but his mission lately had been too important. The beasts within the forest have been getting more agitated lately. If it wasn't for the fact that cultivators within the third level and higher were all defending the border of the forest to our city, we wouldn't be dealing with such a shortage in manpower. This includes the backup we've received from other branches of far off cities mind you."

Sighing to himself, he waved away all of the hunters before him and commanded to be left alone.

"Altogether, six villages have been slaughtered. What is the goal of these bastards?"

Setting his sights toward a small red pebble which sat casually on his desk, the guild master shook his head while muttering to himself, "Not just yet... not just yet."

________

Tossing the beast cores within his hands into the air, Tian Hai stood before a group of fallen beasts while whistling into the air.

"So let's compare, how many did you collect?"

And there sitting behind him, Tian Kai was sitting on the ground with a tired expression on his face.

And even further behind him, a single child hung upside down from a tree with his legs wrapped around the branch.

Xue Chang looked over at Tian Hai and casually tossed over a pile of beast cores onto the ground.

"I think I win." Winking over at his friend, Xue Chang removed himself from the tree.

"As always, we still can't beat you at all."

________

Three months ago, when the strange power emanated from Xue Chang's body, it had caused a huge change to occur within him.

Back then he was only able to get his emotions under control after a short period of time. And afterwords, he felt as if he had changed in some way.

His mind felt sharper than ever. And he realized that a large influx of information suddenly entered into his brain.

"What happened to me?" His inner voice rang within his head as he partially entered purgatory.

"I thought you wouldn't trust me again?" And of course only Yong Heng was there to answer.

"Just answer the question, I don't like you Yong Heng, but I also know you wouldn't lie to me about my own situation. You need me, and lying to me can put both of us at jeopardy. So answer truthfully."

Yong Heng spoke with an icy tone as he answered, "You've awakened your true power."

"Huh?"

"Xue Chang, originally when you were using your abilities to affect the world around you, what did you think you were doing exactly?"

Xue Chang thought to himself for a moment before coming up with an answer.

He didn't even need to say his thought as Yong Heng quickly read his mind.

"Wrong, you weren't just using your powers to affect your surroundings. You were doing so much more than that. Imagine that when making gold coins you have to go through a specific process. Melt down the metal, pour it into the mold, and finally allow it to cool down."

As he said this, Yong Heng created a manifestation of the process for Xue Chang to see.

Waving his fingers around, he allowed the vision to alter itself as he continued his grand speech.

"But you changed the process. You completely take out the melting down section and replace it with another step. This causes a chain reaction that transforms the entire action as it will bring in an entirely new result. So back in the cavern a while back, you changed the air within the cave from just remaining stationary to either put immense pressure on your enemies or dragging your allies away from an attack."

Sighing slowly, he held out his hand and a strange power rose from his palm, "But that ability of yours was never yours to use. This entire time you've actually been using MY powers. That ability is actually mine and not something you yourself developed. I didn't stop you from using it because I thought it would speed along your growth, but it seemed to have held you back instead."

Xue Chang thought back to Yong Heng's words weeks ago, "You mean your 'Dao'"

"That is correct, you've peeked into my Dao and have been using my powers, but you were never able to progress with them. That is until now. Your strength has taken a drastic leap, and this is because of the death of those villagers."

The vision morphed once again to the mangled bodies of Wanwan and her grandma.

"Your mind blanked out and an unstoppable desire for revenge overtook you. This cause your innermost desire to take over, and even to my surprise you developed a Dao from it. This isn't like before where you were only using my abilities, you have just completely unlocked your own strength, completely unique to only you."

Xue Chang listened carefully to his words. Looking down at his palms, he held out his hands and concentrated.

He could feel it, the world around him bending to his will. It was like a nobleman bowing before a king, it followed his orders.

No that wasn't correct. He was making it follow his orders.

And this strength, it wasn't right. It felt foreign and muddled to him. As if what he was wielding was only the surface and he had yet to touch upon its very essence.

"What is Dao?"

Yong Heng looked over to Xue Chang nodding, "I... don't know. Isn't that the question everyone wants to answer? What is Dao? That is up to you to find out. Even I, in all my years, have yet to discover the answer to this question.

Pausing slightly to collect himself, Yong Heng asked one simple question, "But at the very least you should know what your Dao is called right?"

Xue Chang nodded while looking at his palms.

In the real world he held out his palm lightly. And with a simple glance, the house the corpses of the little girl and her grandma were in shattered apart and collapsed.

It wasn't destroyed by him however; but by its own design.

It was as if it felt like it wasn't worthy of standing before him and destroyed itself.

It was completely suppressed by Xue Chang's presence.

"The Dao of suppression."