The Beginning or The End

The process took Tian Yi Ren only a few moments before he managed to locked into what seem like a spirit vessel and the next thing he knows, the scenery around him has changed. When he opened his eyes, three majestic building stand tall infront of him. All three of the buildings have different designs but they radiate the same reverence and majestic feel.

The building on the left looked like a bigger version of a black box, rectangle in shape with only a small gap infront which seemed like a door. There are millions, if not billions of runes and strange words moving and floating on the surface of the walls.

On the right, the building looked like a pyramid, standing tall with the top hidden from view. The walls are carved with drawings and pictures of weapons, humans, beasts and other weird looking species.

The building in the middle was coated with what seemed like rainbows and there were lotuses as floor panels to step on. It is shaped like a pagoda, and similar to the building to the right, the top cant be seen.

Yi Ren was amazed by the view that he didn't notice an old bald man walking towards him while grinning.

"Hey boy, snap out of it will you! They are just 3 old, forgotten buildings that no one has any knowledge about any longer." said the decrepit old man.

Yi Ren was still staring at the building with excitement twinkling in his eyes, ignorant about the presence of the old man, he subconsciously said, "How can this 3 big buildings fit into my heart? Hehe, is it because I have a big heart? True that, the aunties in the village always praised me for having a big heart. Hehehe.."

The old man was amused by Yi Ren, his grin turned bigger that it looked somewhat sinister. He slap Yi Ren at the back of his head. "Wake up boy! What rubbish are you mumbling about?!" said the old man.

Yi Ren finally managed to peel his eyes away from the buildings and looked at the old man, he shouted out loud, "Hey who are you?! What are you doing in my heart?! Are you possessing me just because I am a mortal and looked weak? Let me tell you, I might look weak but to hell, I will fight to death with you if you wanna take possession of my body?!"

Yi Ren jumped a few steps back and raised his fist, preparing to have an all out brawl with the old man. In his eyes, there are no fear, only determination and weirdly some excitement.

"HAHAHAHAHA... I must say you are one funny boy!" roared the old man.

"Hmph, I was the one who called you in, without me, you won't even be allowed in here. As for who am I, like i told you outside, I am the guardian spirit for the Land of Heaven. Before I was a guardian spirit, i was a mighty warrior, the bravest of the bravest, the strongest of the...." the old man talked non-stop.

Yi Ren can't stand the boasting of the old man, thus interrupting him, "Hey! Hey you stinky old man. Stop being long-winded. Where am I? And what do you mean when you said that I have a spirit vessel?!"

The old man was embarassed from losing himself and started boasting. With a red face, the old man pretended to be serious and said, "Of course you have a spirit vessel, and it is the only one in all universe. There can only be one of such spirit vessel at one time. For a new possesor to come along with the same kind of spirit vessel, the previous possesor would need to be dead. It is one of the most obscure kind and the way to cultivate using it takes countless cultivators and heritages billions of years to figure it out."

Yi Ren was listening with rapt attention, his ears perked up while absorbing the information from the old man. After awhile, Yi Ren raised his eyebrows and looked at the old man, "So what kind of spirit vessel is it? When can I start integrating with a spirit and start cultivating?" asked Yi Ren with excitement in his voice.

"You can't! Your spirit vessel is different from the others. First of all, let me ask you, what is spirit? How do people integrate spirit into their spirit vessel?" said the old man while trying to be mysterious.

Yi Ren was surprised by the question. He had never question about spirit and had never came across any reference about it in the piles of books he read. He was stumped by the question and tried to come up with an answer based on how he understand it. He slowly enunciate, "Err, I think spirit is life! We take spirit as an alternate life form which can then be stored and integrated with our spirit vessel? Aha! I think I am right! Thats why some people who integrate the same kind of spirit might have different kind of power and different rate of cultivation boost!"

Yi Ren was excited about getting it right.

The old man was also surprised by the answer, after ruminating over the answer for a moment, he spoke "You are right but also wrong. What you all call a spirit is actually a fragment of Dao. Dao has life but also has no life. Its everywhere but also nowhere. Thats the reason why some people that integrates with the same spirit has different kind of power. Thats due to the depth of understanding of the specific Dao."

Yi Ren was getting more and more confused after the old man told him about Dao. "Stop trying to trick me old fool! What do you mean I am right but also wrong? What is the Dao you spoke of? Stop contradicting. Damn it, do you even know about it? And you damn old fool, you still haven't told me what kind of spirit vessel I have!"

Yi Ren was fuming, thinking that the old man was playing around and tricking him. He was eager to know the kind of spirit vessel that he has. He was separated from his family because he was deemed a cripple without spirit vessel. Now some strange old man suddenly appeared and told him he has one and also the most unique one.

"You are just being ignorant boy. Dao is evolved from the Origin source. The kind of origin the people cultivate will determine the kind of Dao they will comprehend. For example, many cultivators in your world, most of them have combined the weapon dao with the origin or to say combined with their spirit vessel, and that is how they comprehend their Dao."

"But the Origin Dao is the Origin Dao while Weapon Dao is the Weapon Dao. They are completely different concepts. They have forcefully combined two different natures together. Although some of them have comprehended Dao, their Dao lacked foundation and not complete. It can't be categorised into any type of Dao. Those people are destined to never reach the very peak of cultivation." the old man stared at Yi Ren and kindly explained.

Yi Ren was deeply shocked by the revelation. He was speechless and do not know how to respond.

The old man looked satisfied at Yi Ren's dumbfounded face and continue, "There are 3000 Grand Daos in the world and many more minor Daos that make up the Grand Dao. But there are also Daos that are not classified as Grand Daos or minor Daos. They are Heavenly Daos and also specially comprehended Daos. The Dao is everywhere around you if you can sync with nature and feel it with your heart, but it is also nowhere around you if you shut yourself away from nature."

"Everyone has a spirit vessel after they're born, and with the spirit vessel, deep inside, they will also have one inherent Origin Dao, or you can call it spirit. By cultivating their own inherent Origin Dao, they will be able to tune with nature better and comprehend faster. By integrating with other spirits, it will only be blocking your future path. But for some extremely talented individual, with high comprehension, they will also be able to comprehend other Origin Dao."

"And kid, what you have is special. Your spirit vessel is called Origin Spirit Vessel. Its the origin of all, before anything exists, there is already chaos. Only then, there are Yang and Yin. One begets two, two begets three and three begets all. Therefore, your inherent Origin is Chaos. There will only be one at all times. So you're lucky kid to have a origin spirit vessel." the old man looked at Yi Ren amusingly.

Yi Ren scrunch his eyebrows after hearing that, and asked, "But why did they say that i do not have a spirit vessel then?"

The old man laughed and answered, "You are both lucky and unlucky to have been born with an origin spirit vessel. What is origin? Origin is the beginning of all. The little apparatus the people of your world developed will not be able to detect the existence of it. If you cultivate properly, you will be extremely powerful and win fights like no tomorrow. You can step on everyone and looked down on all! Are you excited for your future kid?!"

The old man started to get excited and spoke faster and faster.

But sadly, Yi Ren does not share the same happiness as the old man.

"I don't like fighting. It's so stupid. I want to see the world, read all the available books, taste all the delicious foods, make many new friends best humans or beasts, look at amusing stuff and visit many interesting places! Hehe, so exciting!" exclaimed Yi Ren while waving his clenched fist.

The old man was amused by the reply and smiled wryly. He thought to himself, "This is one special inheritor. He hates fighting. Hehehe.... All the previous possessors of the chaos spirit vessel were either caught to be experimented or fought in wars and battle for supremacy their whole life. This is gonna be exciting..!"

"Hehe, like I said before, what a funny boy you are! For other people, if the grade of their spirit vessel is above the green grade, they will be able to feel the existence of their inherent Origin Dao after they're born. People like that are deemed a genius and will be able to cultivate faster. There are 7 grades that are universally agreed upon by for spirit vessel, from low to high, based on the rainbow's color, starting from red and the peak which is violet. This is the grade for cultivators, there are also mortal spirit vessel before it and divine and origin grade after it. Mortal spirit vessel allows integration with spirits, but they will never be able to absorb the breath of origin to start cultivating. Normally, you are required to integrate with a spirit, either with your own Origin Dao or external spirit to fully open the spirit vessel and transform it to be suitable to absorb the breath of origin."

"Anyway, because you have an origin spirit vessel, the way you cultivate will also be different. Where others would have to comprehend one concept in the beginning before starting their cultivation journey, you will have to comprehend numerous concepts with each concept comprehended to 5% and creating your physical manifestation of the spirit vessel using those comprehensions all over your body. The more concepts you comprehend, the more solid and better your spirit vessel will turn out to be. It is the same concept as the chaos giving birth to the universe and the many worlds. Which also means you will not be able to integrate with external spirits or Dao fragments. You can only feel the nature with your heart and soul and slowly comprehend the Grand Daos. After completing that step, then only will you be able to locate your inherent Origin Dao, which is Chaos/Grandmist and integrate with it."

"You have a long road ahead of you boy!" snickered the old man.