C44 - Books and Learning

An hour passed. The bottom floor complete, Yin Kai moved on to the second floor.

Reaching out for the first book on the shelf, he shoved it into the Ancestral World, repeating the process for every book on the shelf.

When this was complete, he went back and put the books back in the exact order he found them.

He began to repeat this for every shelf on the floor.

Meanwhile, in the library pavilion of the Ancestral World, the three scribes he had received from Flower City were madly copying texts at a speed greatly enhanced by the dao of time.

That being said, they desperately wanted a break. However, the books. Kept. Coming.

Yin Kai finished the second floor, continued onto the third floor, fourth floor and stopped at the fifth.

Theoretically, the fifth floor was only available to the sect master and those he appoints.

However, considering he had just received the green light from the man downstairs, he didn't hesitate. He slipped past the curtain and jogged up the stairs.

A single, white, three-shelved bookcase sat on the right. In the center, on a golden pedestal was a small orb.

Yin Kai, ever the cautious man, copied the books first. Once that was complete, however, his SATTAT's kicked in. Placing both his hands on the swirling orb, he squeezed.

Nothing happened.

Trying another path, he sent his qi into the orb Immediately, with reckless abandon, everything around him changed. A ripple passed through his surroundings. Downstairs, the elder behind the shelf spoke softly.

"And so it begins."

Yin Kai's lips met the back of his cheeks as the pressure of the limitless dao pushed against his body. Then, he was fully in tune with another reality, another place, another time.

"These are my comprehensions." A voice bounced through the endless plains as Black obelisks towered into the sky.

"Touch an obelisk, and your comprehension shall be tested. I will give you five failures before I kick you out. If you can climb to the top of an obelisk, I will allow you to choose another. These are the rules of my inheritance."

Pheobe spoke up from inside the Ancestral World. "Another Inheritance? Quick, climb them. This is an inheritance from the upper realms. As long as you can climb to the top, you can learn one of the 3000 Dao."

"En." Yin Kai walked up the first. It was the flame dao. Switching to his Fire God body. he put his hand on the tall, monolithic structure.

Both his mind and body entered a trance state. As his foot pressed onto the statue, he felt flames begin to lick his boot.

Pressing forward, he imitated the fire qi and spread it away from himself. He continued walking until he met a wall of fire. Imitating it, he raised his flames until they met the opposing flames.

In the next section, a cold wind travelled theough the area and suppressed the flames. Yin Kai had to anticipate when the waves of wind came and when they left so as to not run out of qi.

The inheritance, he quickly realized, was giving him a body somewhere shortly after the Immortal realm. He was not his own self; rather, he was the 'self' that matched the inheritance's testing.

Close in strength to the cultivators of the world of the inheritance's master, the body was set to perfectly comprehend the obelisks in front of him.

One thing was clear: the inheritance was not from his world.

Blue and white flames rose to meet him. With a casual wave of his hand, they parted. Flame Dao obelisk, complete!

A pillar of white light rose from the obelisk to meet the clouds of the night sky.

"You can now be considered to have completed the 'root' of the Flame Dao." Pheobe told him. "In the higher worlds, its nothing big at ALL, but, collect all of them and you'll be able to form the Rules God Body."

"Sounds good to me," Yin Kai responded as the light above the obelisk faded into the clouds.

Turning, he walked over to the next obelisk in a long line of obelisks. 'Ice Dao. Sounds about right.' Switching bodies again, Yin Kai continued his learning streak.

As he stepped foot, a piercing, cold wind met him. It began to turn his surroundings to ice. He had to quickly imitate it, or lose his chance. But to lose a chance was the very concept of something unnacceptable to Yin Kai.

He inmediately lashed out with a torrent of what quickly became ice qi. Taking the moment to brace himself, he set forward.

He never once wavered until it was complete. As the obelisk lit up, he continued to the next.

Staunch. Unwavering. Determined.