Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"Do you really think I can create my own Dao?" Lin Feilin asked, hesitation and uncertainty in her voice. She had lived for thousands of years, experienced and learned many things, so she understood the frightening difficulty in constructing one's Dao.

What was Dao?

Its ephemeral concept was like mist, seen but impossible to truly grasp. The majority of the cultivation world couldn't do so, but there were some who could breathe in this mist and form their own. Its not as if she hadn't tried to formulate her own, but she had no idea how to pursue it. 

Yan Zaizen had formed his own Dao without any knowledge of it. The ignition was the heavenly might that stimulated him, as well as extreme situations and an intense desire. However, these only acted as a catalyst.

Yan Zaizen and Lin Feilin sat within a freshly hewn cavern, forming a room, its walls as crisp and smooth as glass. It was structured like the training rooms he had entered in the Eight Extremes Mountain Range, Han Genji's home. They faced each other with merely a foot of empty space between them.

His amber-gold eyes met her pretty eyes that carried a trace of uncertainty. Calmly, he asked: "Dao. Tell me, what do you know of it?" 

Somewhat shocked by his question, Lin Feilin replied: "It's a form of energy that can stimulate cultivation, enhancing and advancing it. This included soul cultivation, qi cultivation, and even body cultivation."

Yan Zaizen's gaze was leveled, "A cultivation supplement? Is that what you believe the Dao is?" 

Lin Feilin bit her lips. The Dao was such a distant concept and even those who were bestowed Daos could not fully understand. Only those who've formed their own Dao, step-by-step could truly describe what it meant. She was obviously not one of those people and only honestly answered what she knew.

Yan Zaizen continued, "Dao. It is a Path embarked by cultivators. It can help support cultivation, but its so much more than that. It is everything, anything, and nothing. Allow me to show you."

He lifted his palm, flipped it, "Look." With those words, from his palm an amber-gold light started to emerge. When it appeared, the surrounding world descended under an unfathomable suppression, as if the heavens was threatening to fall.

Lin Feilin's breathing sped up, her heart pounded and she felt sweat form on her forehead. It was as if she was standing before a divine being that held the world in his hand. Was this what it meant to be a God? Her eyes flashed with all sorts of colorful emotions.

Yan Zaizen's Heavenly Dao Seed was naturally infused with the aura of the heavens, so it was quite difficult to not unleash this aura. However, it was this very aura that gave him the belief in helping Lin Feilin form her own Dao. When he was younger, he had absorbed the Heavenly Annihilation Light into his soul, and its aura had been refined into his soul.

It was this that subsequently led to his triggered formation of his Dao. He didn't fully intend to do the same to Lin Feilin, but it would help to its pure aura. Unlike normal heavenly might, the aura of the Heavenly Annihilation Light originated from the Heavenly Daos themselves.

Lin Feilin's gaze was drawn into the light, her eyes immediately became dazed. Her body started to profusely sweat, revealing her alluring curves and outline of her undergarments beneath her robes. It was a tantalizing sight, but Yan Zaizen was deeply focused. Too focused to enjoy this rare sight.

"The Dao. What is it?" Yan Zaizen said, using his Paragon Soul Realm's powers, exhausting himself even further, to reach Lin Feilin's very soul. His words were like a god speaking to her, causing her to subconsciously respond.

"It is everything." This was what she truly felt, as if she was staring at the very essence of the entire world and its profound inner workings. The tremors in her soul told her this.

Yan Zaizen lightly breathed, his amber-gold eyes started to rapidly fluctuate with bright light as he exerted a profound force from his soul. He was attempting to pull out the true essence of his Dao, away from the Heavenly Dao Seed. Almost immediately, he spurted out a mouthful of blood.

He didn't allow it to splash, and only clenched his teeth as it profusely leaked. The drops of blood touched his arm, hand, and Dao light. When those drops landed, the amber-gold color changed and became filled with warmth. Boundless, infinite, and unyielding warmth.

Lin Feilin's body shivered. "Yan Zaizen? I...it's you!" She responded, her eyes still dazed and her soul still immersed in a trance-like state. This aura she felt from the light reminded her of Yan Zaizen. Memories surfaced in her mind of him, his smile, his touch, and his actions. How he swooped in, saved her and departed. It was this warm feeling that would emerge every time she thought of him.

Yan Zaizen felt his entire body quiver from pain. What he had done nearly split his Heavenly Dao Seed and physical body apart. However, he kept a calm expression and said: "Yes. This is me."

Then, he directly clenched his hand into a fist, encapsulating the Dao light. Its light was trapped, leaking between his fingers. He clenched harder, as if he was intending to crush it.

"No!" Lin Feilin cried out, but besides a faint shake of her body and eyes, she didn't move. 

Yan Zaizen felt the repulsive might from his Dao light, pushing his fingers away, prying them open and revealing a tyrannical ferocity unlike any other. The Dao light attacked Yan Zaizen!

He felt his vision turn black. Luckily, he remained conscious and forced himself to withstand its retaliation. 

This was his Dao. 

When it was threatened, it pushed back with everything and displayed the utmost ruthless and decisiveness within. 

Lin Feilin's dazed eyes revealed confusion for a moment. It lingered for a while before enlightening seemed to spring within her soul. 

Yan Zaizen could never tell her with words what a Dao was. That wasn't possible. If he did, he could only explain that it was a path that one embarked, but that was too simple. Could he say it was the personification of a sense of self? That wasn't exactly right either.

The Soul Source Path required introspective insight and understanding to progress. It revealed the truest sense of self, but did all those in the Astral Core Realm have a Dao? If so, why not?

That was because there was a very thin film of distance between them, one sufficient enough to make them entirely different things. What was the Heavenly Dao? It was the representation of Heaven's Will, no? 

However, if he had to explain it, then it would be: "It is a Path. No, it is THE PATH." He could only hope that what she showed was enough.

"I see," Lin Feilin spoke. However, whether she truly saw the truth or not wasn't something Yan Zaizen knew. He had used the purest heavenly aura that encompassed and carried the trace of Heaven's Will, his Paragon Soul Realm to forcefully place Lin Feilin into a state of empty-mindedness and utmost clarity, and displayed his Dao to her.

This was the most he could do.

"What is Dao?" Lin Feilin asked, her voice lost its monotone nature and seemed to be infused with spirit and profound emotion.

Yan Zaizen unhesitantly answered again, "It is a Path. It is everything, anything, and nothing." The blood from his lips continued to flow, his Dao light brightening the room like a miniature sun.

"A Path…" Lin Feilin murmured. 

Then, it hit her.

Yan Zaizen saw it in her eyes. He saw her memories. He saw her emotions experienced from every second in her life. He saw the light of herself arrive. No, of her truest self and her own way.

"The Dao is a beginning to an end." 

Those words she spoke struck like lightning bolts in Yan Zaizen's mind. That's right! It was a path, the beginning to an end? And what was that end? Why was the Dao graded by levels? Why was the Dao capable of being bestowed to others? Why did it require one's Origin Source to truly evolve?

It was because it was a Path to one's self. It was different from understanding one's self and who you are, like the Soul Source Path. Its believing in what you want to be. Is the Dao you choose correct? 

This question was often mentioned by scholars and high-level cultivators often, but what did that mean? It meant if the Path they've chosen to embark, the way they've decided to live, was its synchronized with one's origin? It is a path that can not be halted once entered, and your Dao either dissipates, shatters, or becomes complete. There was no other option.

Yan Zaizen's Dao was the Dao of Sovereign Ascension. It was his truest way of life and the path he'd chosen to embark. At the end, he would've ascended to become a Sovereign. 

The previous Xiantu Realmlord's Dao was the Dao of Belief. At the end, his faith in whatever he believed in, the faith that personified and led his every thought, would solidify into an untouchable, invincible, unshakeable belief.

Yri's Dao was a Dao related to obsession and she pursued that to its utmost limit. When she reached the peak, obsession would become all she is. 

It was a path that led to a certain end. It led to one's own truest self, both personality-wise and existentially. 

Yan Zaizen could not say this, but he could only attempt to allow her to see. Even the Heavenly Aura that embodied the Heavenly Dao that encompassed the world wanted to be the world!

It can be everything, anything, or absolutely nothing!

Lin Feilin's body started to suffuse an aura of the Dao. Her eyes flashed with traces of golden light as her Nascent Dao started to slowly form.

Yan Zaizen clenched his bloodied teeth as he forcefully exerted his Heavenly Dao Seed aura to encapsulate the both of them. While he was happy with the formation of her Dao, the Heavenly Dao, or the Heavenly Gods would send tribulation towards those who wished to form their Dao. This meant even the Heavenly Gods feared the Dao of others, and he knew it was for good reason.

"You can do it!" He wished her luck. While the Nascent Dao formation was just the start, it was the most difficult. You had to find and truly invest your everything into a singular path. This path was also incredibly fragile, and if broken, your Dao would shatter into nothing.