Chapter 29: Dao Heart

While resting with Elaine, I opened my eyes when I felt movement and saw Elaine crawling on top of me; grabbing her into my arms, I got off the bed and made my way downstairs, where I saw father and mother talking amongst themselves.

"Are you feeling better now, Elif?" Asked Maria.

"Yes." Answered Elif, letting Maria take Elaine out of his hands.

"I'll go and feed her; she's probably hungry by now." Muttered Maria as she walked out of the house before vanishing.

Seeing mother leave with Elaine, I looked out one of the windows to check how much time I had till nightfall as I still planned to go to the royal library.

'It's a little darker than before, but it's still bright, so I have some time.' Thought Elif as he walked a little closer to Marcus.

"Father, can you take me to the Royal Library?" Asked Elif.

"Sure, but why do you wish to go there?" Replied Marcus curiously as he got up from his seat and made his way outside with Elif following behind him.

"Earlier, when I visited mother before leaving the Royal grounds, I saw mother create a giant golden hand to grab ahold of a Royal guard; she said it was called the Royal Elf's Palm, an offensive technique, and she said I could learn it by going to the Royal Library. Also, do you know why mother randomly attacked that Royal guard? I meant to ask, but I kept forgetting about it?" Replied Elif, while following his father outside the house to see Tyler sitting down drinking some tea with Illumia's help and Tiana still concentrating on her wood carving sculpture.

"Ahh, that's why you wish to visit the Royal Library; the Royal Elf's palm is one of our strongest offensive techniques and one of the few techniques required to learn to become the Emperor. For the Royal Guard, he was a spy sent by some outside forces, and we usually would've dealt with any spies that make it into the Royal guards quietly, but Maria didn't want any spies near you while you're outside of the Castle, so she got rid of him." Answered Marcus.

"Ohh, no wonder, hmm, doesn't that mean I've technically found a spy then?" Asked Elif with a smile of victory on his face.

"Haa, I guess." Said Marcus with a shake of his head.

As I was feeling good about myself, I called along Illumia so father could take us to the Royal Library. However, when I saw Illumia serving grandfather, I was slightly annoyed as Illumia's supposed to be my maid, not grandfather.

"Illumia come on, father's going to take us to the Royal Library, and grandfather, stop forcing Illumia to serve you tea; you're a grown man; you can do it yourself, or at least don't use Illumia." Said Elif as he watched Illumia bow to Tyler before walking back toward him.

"Hahaha, I'm an old man now, Elif; I can't move like I used to, so I need some help, that's all." Replied Tyler while laughing when he saw Elifs annoyed face.

"Hmph, please do you take me for a child, grandfather? I know enough about cultivation that the higher your cultivation base, the longer your lifespan, so you're probably not even that old relative to your cultivation base, are you, grandfather?" Stated Elif, feeling smug as he believed he was correct in his analysis.

"Hmm, you're right about that; I'm indeed quite young relative to my cultivation base, but you're only four; of course, you're a child! Hahahaha." Said Tyler seriously before laughing loudly, while Elif's face twitched in annoyance as he couldn't deny his grandfather's claim.

"Will you be quiet, Tyler? Your obnoxious laughter has caused me almost to mess up!" Said Tiana angrily while staring at Tyler, who immediately stopped laughing when he saw her expression.

"Oh, Elif, when did you get here?" Asked Tiana as whenever she's concentrated on her wood carving, she completely ignores everything around her, at least unless something is too hard to ignore.

"I've been here for a while, grandmother, and I'm about to go and visit the Royal Library." Answered Elif normally, as he had already experienced this.

"Ok then, also when you're done, don't forget to come to see my finished sculpture as I'm almost completed." Said Tiana with a smile before focusing back onto her sculpture that she keeps enveloped in fog using her Qi, so no one other than her is allowed to see it.

Well, I didn't get to respond as our scenery suddenly changed, and now we were standing before the Elden tree, or as I call it, the Royal Library.

"Alright, here we are; grandfather is inside, so call him if you need any help, and since I doubt Maria told you, the medallion she gave you is more than just an object of authority and identity. By injecting Qi into and thinking of where you wish to go, it'll teleport you to anywhere within the Royal Grounds, including places such as the Royal Library that are situated within another dimension." Informed Marcus before vanishing from their sights, leaving Elif excited as he could now teleport wherever he wished, at least within the Royal grounds.

'That's amazing, though I wish mother would've told me that when she gave me the medallion; at least I know about it now.' Thought Elif while walking towards the giant doors.

Once I was before the doors, I was going to call out great grandfather; however, I stopped as, unlike last time, now I'm a peak Nascent Soul Cultivator, so I might be able to open the door by myself. Smirking, I reached forward, putting my hands against both doors, and pushed with everything I had, though after a little bit, I stopped when I noticed I couldn't even make the doors budge, let alone open them.

"Haa, disappointing. Great grandfather, you there?" Shouted Elif to the door in hopes of getting Charles' attention.

"I'm right here; no need to yell, Elif." Answered Charles standing Behind Illumia and Elif.

"Can you not do that next time, great grandfather?" Asked Elif, feeling slightly startled as he wasn't expecting Charles to be behind him.

"Hoho, an old man can't have a little fun? So anyways, what did you come here for, Elif?" Said Charles with a little chuckle.

"I came here because I wanted to learn the Royal Elf's Palm as it looked cool and interesting when mother used it." Answered Elif in excitement.

"Hmm, well then, follow me, as I know right where it's located." Said Charles as he waved his hand and opened the doors while walking ahead of both of them.

Following behind great grandfather, we headed to the area with the towering shelves filled with books, but we didn't stop and continued walking past them until we arrived at the other side where the teleporter was. Once all three of us were inside the formation, we got teleported to a different area, this new area had a shelf, but it was much smaller than the previous ones.

Standing before the shelf, great grandfather waved his hand, and a thin book from the top shelf floated out towards me.

'Royal Elf's Palm. Offensive technique. High Immortal tier.' Thought Elif as he read the contents on the cover.

"There it is, and before you ask, the power of a technique is categorized just like how you would a spirit root, with High Immortal being the best; however, the downside of learning such a powerful technique is the difficulty in comprehending it, so when you plan on learning some more techniques make sure to take that into account Elif." Informed Charles, as he didn't wish to see Elif make such a foolish mistake.

"Thanks, great grandfather, and since I'm here, I might as well look at some of the other techniques." Replied Elif while putting the technique into his dimension ring.

"Well then, I'll leave you to it; just call me if you need any help." Said Charles as he vanished before Elif and Illumia.

With great grandfather gone, I went ahead and started browsing through the books, and I didn't read them all; I just skimmed through them to understand what they do as I wished to see if there was any technique other than the Royal Elf's palm I will be interested in.

'Grasp of the Demonic King, Wrath of the Dragon, Golems Indestructible Body, Heavens Belief, Chaotic Fist, The Chaos Lords Cultivation Technique, Heavenly Scripture of the Twelve Primordials, Abyss of the Infinite Void, Devastation of the Ten Commandments, Etc.' Thought Elif as he read several different techniques, some of them with bizarre names, while others were straight to the point, such as Golem's Indestructible Body.

As I set down a Book called Yin-Yang Cultivation Technique, I grabbed the book right next to it, which was unnaturally thick compared to all the others, but that made me even more interested.

'Dao Heart, what's that? It doesn't sound like a technique name, but then again, some of the others didn't as well.' Thought Elif, with an even stronger interest as he opened the book and read the contents of the first page.

~The Dao Heart is the perseverance in the search for knowledge and truth, the willpower to face and overcome any challenge, the mental aspect of cultivation, and your very being. With an unshakable Dao Heart, even if a cultivator has poor talents or practices a common Cultivation Technique, it is still possible to reach the apex someday; on the contrary, countless genius with high talents but a weak Dao Heart have failed to become Legendary Figures in the past. In short, the Dao Heart is the most important thing for a cultivator; it's their very foundation. – Lordess.~

I understood the words engraved on the page, but I couldn't fully comprehend the meaning behind them; however, what I managed to comprehend was that my incredible talent seemed meaningless if I had a weak Dao Heart, something I didn't even know I possessed, and the only reason I took those words to heart was that Progenitor Lordess said them herself.

'If the Dao Heart is so important, what's my Dao Heart?' Pondered Elif deeply.