Poison God's Heritage

"Why would the seed become a tree? How come that happened, why did it create roots that sought water and nutrition from the earth, and how did it grow into a sapling, then into a trunk and branches? Why would it make leaves, than flowers? Why would the permanent shade of the tree cause weeds around it to die? Why would the bee fertilize the flowers? And why would the flower make fruit? And why is there a seed in the fruit?"

The old man remained silent.

"You all must be thinking that it is because of a greater will that this happened, but it is because of Dao. The Dao of the world, the Dao of life, and the Dao of death. Everything happens for a reason and for a purpose, everything that has a beginning must have an end. And in this cycle, the cycle of seed came the beginning, and once the end which is the fruit that the tree produced came, another beginning starts which is the seed in that very fruit.

Life progresses forward, forever, like an endless cycle. In it we live, and in it we will certainly die. But our life will bring upon many opportunities to others, the same as the flower brought the opportunity to the bee, and at the same time, our lives will bring many ends, the same as the tree brought an end to the weeds around it.

And in the end, we shall return to the ground. Our bodies turn to dust, which will nourish another seed. We live to live, and we live only to die, but in our life, we bring life and death, and in our death we also bring life. The world is in a perfect balance but we fail to see. We seek knowledge in the grand and the mystic but fail to see the majesty of the mundane... thus I know what is Dao because it is all around us, but I still don't understand it, because I have yet to understand how can seed become a tree."

The old man didn't speak, and remained calm and collected many thoughts coursed through his mind as his eyes seemed to no longer be focused, he was no longer with us.

Zhang Tian waved his hand and a visible barrier seemed to encompass the old man.

"I'm always impressed by how you see things, Shen Bao," said Zhang Tian.

"What's this?" I asked.

"You don't know?" Master Rain spoke.

"It looks like a protective sound barrier, and his eyes look like the same eyes of the old man from the heavenly academy when I crossed the Mortal Reminder. Enlightenment? At such an old age?"

"How envious," said Old Beast who seemed to be sighing.

"Interesting, I didn't think that those simple words would have such an effect, but I'm still confused about one thing," I said as I looked around.

"I know what you're about to ask, but you shouldn't bother," Master Rain said.

"Why?" I dumbly asked.

"You're thinking, how come this old man gained enlightenment when no one else did?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking," I said.

"It is for the same reason why your own words didn't enlighten even you, that old man needed those words. Personally, his pursuit of Dao was narrowing his view of Dao. Your words resonated with him deeply, but not with us because our Dao is different. I do not seek Dao to enlighten myself nor do I peruse the end of cultivation, thus your words had no effect on me. As for Old Beast, your words cannot move him since he is of the beast tribe which is highly attuned to nature, the Dao you speak of, he needs not understand it, because he lives it. As for the rest of the people around us, their understanding is still not at the level to fully grasp the meaning behind these words. I even think that even you do not know the full value of the words you spoke. For you, Dao is something that is visible but not easy to understand, for them Dao is invisible but can be grasped. Your point of view differs thus they couldn't understand it. Unlike Old man Zi Qin who had sought all points of view and failed to realize his Dao, you came in with a different approach that no one else had, and this caused him to gain enlightenment."

"Do you have any words for this old man? I've been stuck trying to understand the Dao of Life and Death," said Old Beast.

I shook my head, "How can I know of the Dao of life and death?" I questioned.

"My apologies, I thought I could also gain some enlightenment," he said as he sighed.

"I'm not a walking Dao encyclopedia, but you can't be asking me something like that, because I'm not qualified to answer," I said.

"I don't think so, you spoke words far wiser than your age, but you are right, perhaps I was too rash," Old Beast said.

I shook my head, "It has nothing to do about rashness, I'm just not qualified to speak about the Dao of Life and Death for a simple reason," I said.

"What is this reason?" asked Old Beast.

"Well, it's simple. I have yet to fully experience life to speak of the Dao of Life, and I have yet to experience Death to speak of the Dao of death." I shrugged.

The Old Beast as if a thunderbolt had struck through his head stuttered and then suddenly sat down in a lotus position.

His eyes were completely out of focus.

'Are you serious?'

Zhang Tian waved his hand and another protective barrier immediately went over the Old Beast.

Then he began laughing, he laughed and laughed as I looked dumbly at the two around me.

"Never in my life had I ever thought to see something like this. A cultivator not even in his second decade of cultivation was able to enlighten two of the oldest beings in the world of cultivation, may your deeds spread all over the vast expanse Shen Bao!" Zhang Tian held his glass of wine and drank a toast.

Old Rain looked at me worriedly for a moment and then shook his head, "You better watch out from now on," he said through Divine Sense.

"Why? What did I do?" I asked.

"Your actions right now, giving enlightenment to two of the most ancient powers of the Vast Expanse, everyone will think of you as a walking Dao connoisseur, they'll bother you with questions on how to achieve their own Dao, it's going to be annoying for you from now on..."

And just as he finished his words, a dam worth of divine sense messages came to me at the same time. Everyone in the room as they began asking about their Dao and how much they would reward me for enlightenment.

It was enough for me to wince. Yet with a single cough from Zhang Tian, all the Divine Senses stopped.

"I will not permit this to happen again, I will never allow you to bully my younger brother into enlightening your Dao, if anyone repeats this, then by the power behind me, they shall become an enemy of the Wind Realm!"

With Zhang Tian's words, everyone seemed to calm down. Yet their pleading eyes were like a puppy asking for a snack.

I shook my head. These couple of enlightenments weren't something I was aiming for. It happened just by coincidence. If I were to claim that I'm able to guide people into achieving their Dao, then I'll be nothing but a hack. Still, this should give me a good standing with the people here. Having connections is good. And I can use this later since I'll be needing to head to a dangerous place soon.

"My younger brother is probably exhausted from the Dao debate. Shen Bao, I'll have a few of my servants personally accompany you to one of my accommodations. Once I'm done here I'll join you shortly. Master Rain, you may accompany Shen Bao."

"Right, I should," Master Rain said, his eyes went up and met the Queen's eyes, and immediately shied away. He was probably thankful that Zhang Tian asked him to accompany me since it would create distance between those two.

As for me, it was good to get away from this place. I needed to meditate for a bit to cement my new cultivation realm.