Chapter 75 - Intricacies of the Dao (2/2)
Modus opened his hands and two blobs of water appeared, floating above the palms. One blob became a cube of water, while the other remained ever-changing, mutating in shape every second.
”The cube represents orthodox martial arts. Orderly, easy to comprehend, straight-forward.
”This other one represents unorthodox techniques. Will, you are a extremely talented in swordsmanship, one might even say you were destined to become as sword immortal, but you are far too focused on your swordsmanship, neglecting your other power...”
The cube disappeared, leaving the blob that was constantly changing shape in the air.
”You can be described as having two skills; the sword and water. You have made quite a bit of progress in your sword arts, or rather to be more specific, your orthodox sword arts, whereas your water arts are lagging behind.”
”Before I continue to illustrate this, let me explain the elements: water, fire, wood, earth, and metal. Each of these elements have properties. Water and fire elements have the formless aspect, thus those like you who have water or fire abilities have an advantage when it comes to learning unorthodox techniques. Water puts out fire and rusts metal, water gives life to wood and washes away the earth. Fire burns wood and can melt metal and earth. Wood grows from the earth and gains life from water, it can grow around anything and restrains all with form. Earth gives life to wood and can hold water. Metal can poisonwood, becomes formless under fire, has a kinship to earth, and can also make water impure.
Each of the intents that are derived from the elements come with these traits. These intents are vast and very difficult to master, but their uses are nearly infinite. Look at water: it has an effect on all four other elements! Which means if you play your cards right, with water intent you can be invincible! Well in theory of course...
There are simply far too many intents within the Dao of water, and you can't possibly master them all, so it is best to focus on one aspect of water. After observing you, and seeing your ability to adapt to any situation, I believe you are perfectly suited to touching upon the Dao of Formlessness!”
Modus stood up and manipulated the water. It floated away from his palm and inserted itself into the ground: within seconds that piece of land had changed from a damp stretch of grassy earth into a long river, filled with multiple bends, stretching into the horizon. A few rocks were even jutting out of the water like spikes.
”Alright young man, enter the water!”
…
”Listen carefully now;
In the past, to cultivate, one needed to be able to feel the World Energy in an environment and take it into one's body. One's own aptitude determined whether one would become a Mage or a Warrior. Some bodies could only produce a Warrior's Qi, whereas, others could only produce a Mage's Mana.”
”There were three major factors that determined the quality of one's energy. The first was talent, which involved one's elemental affinity. The second was hard work, which depended on the amount of effort one would put in their cultivation. The third and last was the cultivation method one would use.
”In that world, all Qi and Mana were made up of at least one of the five
major elements. These are earth, fire, wood, water, and metal.
Most beings were born with little to no elemental affinity at all. Some were born with a high affinity to one element. Talented people were born with an affinity towards 2 elements. Prodigies with affinities to 3 or more elements were as rare as unicorns. One could even say they were practically myths.”
”Cultivation methods were instruction manuals on how to move Mana or Qi around your body in certain paths. In order for one to achieve the desired effect, like in an electric circuit, the more time one moved their energy around one's body in a particular path, the higher the quality of energy one would possess and the greater the capacity one's body had for energy.
This energy moved in blood vessels but was intangible and did not affect bodily functions. It only moved according to one's will.
Although having an affinity to multiple elements had advantages, it could also have disadvantages.”
”For example, if one's body had a perfect affinity to two elements, one could say he was a once in a lifetime prodigy. After all, it was better for one to have a perfect affinity to two elements than to have an average affinity to three. For affinity affects the speed of one's cultivation. In other words, it was how quickly one absorbed World Energy. You, young man, currently possess a near perfect affinity for water!”
Currently, Will was floating on the surface of the river with his eyes closed. He was going downstream, allowing the current to do what it pleased with him.
”The Water Gate within you is already within your grasp... Feel it, bring it out! Imagine yourself as a tiny drop of water, circulating as one of countless within the tumultuous river that we call space.”
Initially, Will's body would often bump into the stones that jutted out of the river. As time went on, however, there was a change, almost as if there was no impact when Will hit the rocks! No sound, no impact, nothing! His body would just slither around the rock as if his bones were made out of liquid rubber.
This was not the first time Will had attempted such an exercise. In King Yama's Gate, he had done this quite a few times, but back then he had not known what he was doing. All he had been trying to do was to build a connection with the water and try to understand it more. He had been like a bird flying blind in the vast skies...
But now, he had eyes!
He had the greatest eyes in the universe to guide him!