《GrandMaster Dao》
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Not really a spoiler:
This chapter is just here to link to an imgur of the full resolution version of the book cover which is obviously stated in the title that you probably read before clicking here and/or scrolling down here. To make this chapter reach the 500 characters mark, I will ramble on about reaching the 500 character mark until now, which I''ve probably reached right now with this word hopefully.
Prologue
Ssssssssssssssssssss.
A deep breath was exhaled slowly. The once greatest man in the world, on his last breaths.
Surrounded by countless enemies, friends,acquaintances, faces both smiling and scowling.
Some were crying, some were celebrating, each with their own reasons and causes.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
"Ling Chi, you look weak and pathetic."
"Ling Chi, why must you go?"
"Ling Chi, how does it feel to be on the receiving end of death down?"
"Ling Chi, I''m so sorry."
Having mastered the Dao of Death many, many years ago, he finally allowed the Death Qi, that had been blockaded from his heart solely by his cultivation, to invade his body. He dissipated all the spirits around him. It went quiet, deathly quiet. Something he hadn''t experienced in a long time.
Drawing his last breath, he whispered, "If only I had..."
Shutting his eyes, waiting for the feeling of death...
Chapter 1
Out of nowhere a large amount of information started flowing into his consciousness, with it, was unbearable pain.
"AHHHHHHH!"
Wanting to scream, but had no outlet to let out the pain as Ling Chi¡¯s body would not move. It was unlike anything he ever experienced before, none of the torture, pain, even combined, would add up to this.
Slowly, after what felt like decades, the pain dissipated. Then, he remembered.
Drawing a deep mental breath, "So, it all began with the Dao of Life and it shall so end with the Dao of Death, how fitting. The Dao of Everything. Such an unfathomable Dao. Hah."
If not for finding such a Dao in a mysterious cave that he stumbled upon many lives ago by chance, he would have never had known about the Dao of Everything. Wanting to return to the cave, he only found it to have disappeared the very next day.
Suddenly, he felt his shoulder being pulled back and forth.
¡°Ling Chi, wake up, or else you¡¯re going to be late for training again.¡±
As he expected, he woke up in a body, reincarnated from his death. Upon his release from the world, he gained a myriad amount of memories. He remembered his past selves, his goals, the reason why he embarked upon the path of the Dao of Everything.
108,000 times I have reincarnated. To have retained all this knowledge throughout all these lives. Truly a heaven-defying Dao. Eh, what¡¯s this? Why is this happening?
Ling Chi put on a puzzled face.
¡°Ling Chi, if you don¡¯t wake up, I¡¯m leaving you. Alright, bye!¡±
Realizing he hadn¡¯t responded to the voice, he called out in reflex, ¡°Coming!¡±
But it was too late, the voice had already gone away.
Currently, what troubled him wasn¡¯t anything major, but rather, he couldn¡¯t quite get a firm grasp on the memories of this life. He started also using his mental power to try and secure his memories
Mental power isn¡¯t something that just any cultivator could use, one had to train the soul along with the mind to a certain degree, but Ling Chi had done just that, as in two of his previous lives, he had both trained and mastered the two Dao of the Soul and Mind.
When he sent his mental power into his consciousness, he found that his consciousness was actually quite sizable for an inexperienced cultivator, about ten or twenty meters big.
He looked around until he found a tiny ball of memories and surrounded it with his mental power, but the tiny ball kept evading it with water-like slipperiness. And his mental power was no joke, although being unaware of it, he had lived through so many hardships, so many trials of the heart, that it had increased his mental power to a godly level.
It took him a full ten minutes before his relentless attempts at grabbing the memories finally succeeded, which meant that any average cultivator wouldn¡¯t be able to do it, even with hundreds or even thousands of years of time.
He unraveled the memories and started assimilating with them, like he had done many times previously. Absorbing the knowledge slowly, but surely, making well to not miss a single detail.
As he almost finished untangling the bunch of memories, he found a small Yin Yang at the center of the memories, presumably what made the memories so hard to catch. He tried to examine the Yin Yang using his mental power, but, just as expected, it slipped away the moment his mental power even had a thought of trying to capture it.
He didn¡¯t feel any malicious intent coming from the Yin Yang and nothing gave it off as hosting from a first glance, and oddly enough, he felt strangely attached to the Yin Yang, as if it was a part of him that he simply couldn¡¯t control.
He released his Mental power and left his consciousness back into the material world, pushing this matter to the back of his head. After having digested the memories, he found that his current identity was that of an eleven-year-old boy in the Ling Clan located in an obscure part of an obscure continent. He looked like a pretty boy with long, silky, black hair, and a face that would be considered by everyone to be extremely handsome and beautiful.
His parents had died on a mission several years before, and the previous Ling Chi had mourned for them for many days. His parents were top genius in the clan, his father was already recognized as the next patriarch of the clan.
In all his lives, he had always had the same name, the only reason that history didn¡¯t find this weird was because each time he was reincarnated, his name and his legend had already been erased by the steady flow of time.
His starting place was quite terrible, in both the density of Qi in the air and the level of cultivated of the people around him.
It seemed that this area, at best, only had only cultivators of the second lowest stage, the Qi condensing Stage. The average level was merely that of the 3rd Body Tempering Stage.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
His own cultivation was merely that of the 2nd Body Tempering Stage, but in this area, his cultivation at this age is considered to be at high level, although not quite reaching the genius level. Most others in the clan at his age were all at the 1st Body Tempering Stage, but there were a few geniuses that were at the 3rd Body Tempering Stage, which was quite impressive.
He climbed out of his bed, pulling back his covers, and got dressed, leaving the shabby place he called home. The only reason he had this home was because of the prestige his parents had left in their passing. It was a small house on the edge of the clan living areas where the conditions were not very great, but it was still relatively nice, especially since it is free for Ling Chi to live in.
He looked through his memories and found where he was supposed to go, to the clan training grounds and started idly walking that direction. All the younger generation of the clan was supposed to go there every morning to look at a senior perform martial arts and learn from them in order to advance their own cultivation and insights.
It seemed that the level at which battle techniques were at here were also at a low level, on par with the cultivation techniques. Their level of Dao comprehension was also terrible. One could compare this place was a mere water droplet while Ling Chi¡¯s knowledge was vaster than the heavens and oceans combined.
*Bump*
Distracted by his thoughts, Ling Chi walked right into the gate to the training ground.
¡°Hahahahaha¡±
The other children in the training grounds started laughing at him.
¡°Brother Chi, I know that the gate is closed, but you can use your hands to open it, you know.¡±
Ling Chi looked at the voice, it was the same voice as earlier, his best friend in the clan since his parents died, Ling Chen.
¡°Chi¡¯er, you¡¯re late again!¡±
Right after, an angry voice rang over. It was his uncle, Ling Yong.
Filling in the role of the previous Ling Chi, he replied, ¡°Ah heh, heh, you see, I was ah¡¡±, while scratching the back of his head looking sheepish.
¡°No excuses, next time it happens¡¡± Ling Yong motioned a throat slitting action.
Ling Chi put on a frightened face, ¡°I-i-it won¡¯t happen again.¡±
A few of the other children started chuckling when looking at this, this act was put on nearly every morning as a joke between Ling Chi and Ling Yong.
¡°Well? What are you waiting for, get in here!¡±
¡°Yes, right away.¡±
Ling Chi opened the gate with his hands instead of his face this time and entered the training grounds, which couldn¡¯t be considered spacious, but large enough to fit all the younger generation inside.
¡°Haha, I always knew you were a little dim witted, but this is a little too much. What were you doing?¡±
Ling Chen asked with a goofy smile on his face while walking towards Ling Chi.
¡°I was thinking about a dream I had yesterday.¡±
Ling Chi sheepishly scratched his head while he replied.
¡°Oh? And what was this dream about?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t really remember what I was dreaming about, that¡¯s why I¡¯m wondering about it now.¡±
Ling Chi couldn¡¯t reveal what he was really thinking about, not only would no one believe him, but it may attract unwanted attention later on, or cause danger for his clan.
¡°I see, while that doesn¡¯t matter anyway-¡°
¡°Well, it¡¯s nice to see you using your head for once, even if it isn¡¯t how people normally use it.¡±
An obnoxious voice rang over from across the training grounds, bringing snickers along with it.
Ling Chi looked at the origin of the voice. It was Ling Chao, someone who had made things difficult for Ling Chi ever since a small conflict they had when they were children where Ling Chi had found a 10-year-old Ginseng in the forest their clan owned. They had saw the herb at the same time, but Ling Chi ended up taking it due to his parents having a higher status in the clan then Ling Chao¡¯s patents. Ever since Ling Chi¡¯s parents passed away, Ling Chao has taken every opportunity to embarrass or harass Ling Chi.
But now, Ling Chi was no longer the original Ling Chi, he was the Ling Chi who has lived 108,000 lives, learned all 108,000 Dao, and reached the pinnacle of power 108,000 times.
¡°Ling Chao, would you dare as to compare you head to mine? Let us compare our battle strength.¡±
Ling Chi aggressively attacked Ling Chao verbally, because Ling Chi knew that even if Ling Chao retaliated, he would not be able to so land a scratch on Ling Chi¡¯s body with his low cultivation of 3rd Body Tempering Stage cultivation. Although it was one stage higher than Ling Chi, Ling Chao¡¯s battle experience and martial skills were no where close to being the level of Ling Chi who had his senses and movements honed by thousands of years of life and death battles and experiences, not to mention, the subpar cultivation techniques that the Ling Clan possessed.
¡°You think your low cultivation of 2nd Body Tempering Stage could compare to my 3rd Body Tempering Stage?¡±
Ling Chao belittled Ling Chi with a face of arrogance. His cultivation level allowed Ling Chao to be arrogant to the other children, but in front of Ling Chi, his arrogance can only be said to be ignorance.
¡°Cultivation that relies so much on herbs and dans can only be said to be pathetic.¡±
Ling Chi immediately retorted, his keen sense of smell immediately detected almost negligible traces of herbs on Ling Chao¡¯s body. After Ling Chi¡¯s parents¡¯ deaths, Ling Chao was discovered to be a genius and was immediately elevated in status. Even the patriarch, Ling Qiang started favoring Ling Chao and personally taught him, taking Ling Chao as his personal disciple.
¡°Ling Chi! You do not know the immensity of heaven and earth!¡±
Ling Chao ran towards Ling Chi, preparing his most prominent martial arts skill, Iron Fist. A low level martial skill that caused one¡¯s fist to increase strength and toughness taught to him by Ling Qiang himself. This skill could only be learned after reaching the 3rd Body Tempering Stage, which Ling Chao had.
Ling Chi stood still as if he was dazed and stared at the oncoming Ling Chao.
¡°Given up? Let your grandfather teach you a lesson.¡±
Ling Chao misinterpreted Ling Chi¡¯s actions as an act of fear, his confidence soared as he raised his speed.
Right when Ling Chao was about to hit Ling Chi, a gust of wind flew by as a blur ran in front of Ling Chi.
BAM!
Ling Chao¡¯s fist solidly landed on a palm of the figure that protected Ling Chi. As the wind settled down, it was revealed that the one who blocked the fist was their uncle, Ling Yong. A very light-yellow aura surrounding his body revealed that his cultivation was at the 1st Qi Condensing Stage.
¡°If you want to battle so badly, do it at the family competition in half a year, otherwise, while you are in the clan training grounds, no fighting!¡±
Ling Yong reprimanded Ling Chi and Ling Chao, although his actions could be taken as protecting Ling Chi, because Ling Yong knew that Ling Chi¡¯s cultivation was lower than Ling Chao¡¯s cultivation and that Ling Chi¡¯s father was Ling Yong¡¯s little brother. Ling Yong continued his lecture for a few minutes until he was satisfied with the result. Both Ling Chi and Ling Chao apologized, although insincerely, to each other.
Chapter 2
After reprimanding Ling Chi and Ling Chao, Ling Yong started his lecture on martial arts, he began demonstrating a very basic martial skill that anyone at the 1st Body Tempering Stage could learn, Iron Skin, which could temporarily increase the toughness of the skin further, although not quite to the extent of Iron Fist. The skill was an incredibly basic skill that did not even use Qi.
Ling Chen started walking towards Ling Chi after Ling Yong finished demonstrating Iron Skin and told everyone to practice the skill before leaving the training grounds.
¡°You were being reckless.¡±
Ling Chen said to Ling Chi, neither of them needed to practice Iron Skin. Ling Chi because he could easily perform the skill without any practice and Ling Chen because he was a semi-genius much like the old Ling Chi and had practiced Iron Skin before. His cultivation was the same as Ling Chi, 2nd Body Tempering Stage.
¡°He was the one who was being reckless. With such a low cultivation, he couldn¡¯t hope to match up to me.¡±
Ling Chi retorted Ling Chen.
¡°Haha, since when were you so confident that you could beat him? Did yesterday¡¯s dream cause you to jumble your head?¡±
Ling Chen chuckled, of course he didn¡¯t believe Ling Chi and thought that he was just putting on a tough front.
¡°So?¡±
Ling Chen asked Ling Chi.
¡°So¡ what?¡±
¡°What are you going to do about the family competition in half a year? There is no way that you will catch up to him with only 6 months left.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, if you want to worry about someone, you should worry about Ling Chao.¡±
¡°Why are you so sure that victory is yours? You can¡¯t just beat someone who is a full cultivation stage above you.¡±
¡°I realized that if I would stay the way I was, I would never reach successful heights. I would only stay in the clan, and the most I could hope for is the position of a low level elder in the clan.¡±
Ling Chi spat out some gibberish off the top of his head to deflect questions that Ling Chen was throwing at him.
¡°Hm¡ well, if that¡¯s how you feel, I can¡¯t do anything about it. Just be careful. I don¡¯t want you getting hurt at the competition. Although you won¡¯t get killed since Ling Chao is your family member, if he was anyone else, they would immediately kill you.¡±
That¡¯s right, Ling Chi thought, this is a world ruled by strength, without strength, you are nothing.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
¡°Oh, you¡¯re thirteenth birthday is coming up, right? Your almost an adult. That means that you can go to the family pavilion to get a suitable cultivation technique and good battle technique along with an Iron Body Dan.¡±
¡°Yeah, I guess I am. I¡¯ll go pick them up in a few days, thanks.¡±
Ling Chi smiled at Ling Chen, the latter smiled back at him.
After saying their goodbyes, Ling Chen walked back to his house and Ling Chi started journeying back to his house.
Ling Chi opened the door to his house and went to his room. Earlier in the day, he hadn¡¯t had enough time to analyze his body. He unleashed his mental power and started looking into his body looking at his dantian, five viscera, six bowels, acupoints, and meridians. What he had hoped wouldn¡¯t be the case had happened. Due to his low starting point and the low Qi density factor in the air as well, the quality of his body was also very bad. If he were to cultivate, he wouldn¡¯t be able to make it very far before his body would break under the enormous pressure of a high cultivation. He searched his memory for a suitable cultivation technique that could also upgrade his body while also able to advance his cultivation level steadily and firmly, he chose a suitable one that would also allow him to employ multiple Dao in the future.
As the cultivation technique was about to flow into his consciousness through his mental power, the usually quiet Yin Yang sprang to life. It intercepted the white stream of memories flowing in his mind.
Hey! What are you doing?
Ling Chi realized that he was slowly forgetting the cultivation technique, he tried to use his mental power to grasp the Yin Yang and any method to stop or destroy it, but just like earlier, the Yin Yang avoided his mental power like a slippery snake.
Ling Chi was powerless as all he could do was watch as the Yin Yang munched up his memories of the cultivation technique and fall silent again. He had fully forgotten the cultivation technique that he had chosen to practice. He didn¡¯t really mind that the cultivation technique was lost as he had a library of cultivation techniques in his mind, but the Yin Yang had just eaten up his technique. Being powerless to stop it had angered him, but also piqued his curiosity.
He tried again and pulled another cultivation technique from his memories, this time closely observing the Yin Yang as it sprang back to life and once again intercepted the white stream of memories containing the cultivation technique falling silent after the whole memory was absorbed.
Ling Chi tested again, but this time he pulled normal memories from his mind that didn¡¯t involve cultivation. The Yin Yang stayed silent as the memories flowed in his mind.
¡°Hmm.¡±
Ling Chi further tested, using memories that partly contained a cultivation technique and partly containing normal memories. The Yin Yang activated again and caught the memories, but as it consumed the white stream of memories, a small part of the white stream passed through the Yin Yang.
When Ling Chi looked at the memories that passed through the Yin Yang, he concluded that the Yin Yang was only absorbing his cultivation techniques.
He formed a conjecture in his head, and hoping his conjecture was correct, he pulled all memories relating to cultivation techniques into his mind. A huge, white, ocean-like current of memories ran around in his mind, but it was no problem for the Yin Yang. Active again, it started greedily gulping down the memories. At an incredibly fast pace, the Yin Yang had completely eaten all the memories in a matter of minutes.
Ling Chi was absolutely astonished. It was no easy feat to consume 108,000 lives worth of cultivation techniques. The Yin Yang started vibrating, before a black stream of memories had started flowing out of the Yin Yang.
Yes! My conjecture was right!
Ling Chi had predicted that the Yin Yang could refine his cultivation technique together into one that encompassed all concepts of each individual technique. He practiced the Dao of Everything, a Dao that encompassed all other Dao and ideas contained within them. He had thought that the Yin Yang was a result of practicing the Dao of Everything and luckily he was right.