36 First Class; Truth of Cultivation

After much wailing from Ye Zuliao and gnashing of teeth from the rest, Cyrus made it to the mountaintop. Close behind him was Ji Tianshan and, last, was Ling Jian'er.

Ye Zuliao and Ye Zhiyuan hugged each other as they wept; their horse had come last this time. Also mortified was Ji Haogui, thinking of the dreaded day whereupon he would be cast out of the dorm for three months. He glared at Ji Tianshan, who was out of breath and clueless.

The others that had made it before her were silent about the matter, most of them not wanting to share what exactly they had lost and how exactly it pained them deep inside.

Bi Xue and Pixie smiled brightly at each other, and even met in the middle to exchange a high five.

Logean Wuji laughed to himself, then went over to Cyrus and Ling Jian'er.

"You two imbeciles chose competition over safety. As punishment, you will sit with your injuries during today's class. If you pass out or if your attention wavers for even a millisecond, you will be exiled from the dormitory for a week."

Stiffening, the two bloody children bowed and took seats on the last of the nine mats. There were more mats, but Logean Wuji sent them away beforehand so there would only be nine.

Seated, once more, on his mat, he looked at each of his students and took a breath. "Follow," he said as he exhaled and sucked in yet another deep breath.

They did as instructed, mimicking his breathing for a full minute before stopping. "Remember the rhythm. When you get here tomorrow morning, and every morning after, you will practice this breathing method for a single minute."

They nodded. Ling Jian'er and Cryus were a bit taken aback by it, since their injuries seemed to get better just by the minute of breathing.

"Can we practice it at home as well?" Cyrus wanted to dissect this breathing method in order to reap maximum benefits for himself, but Logean Wuji shot down that idea quick.

"No. Only for a single minute, and only once you have made it here for class. Am I understood, King-Boy?"

Cyrus sighed, "Yes, Master Wuji."

"Good. Now, onto the subject of the day."

Logean Wuji shut his eyes, summoning two manifestations. One was a chart consisting of a variety of differing taiji symbols, varying trigram symbols, numerous runes and inscriptions among other things. The other manifestation was a familiar looking serpent.

"Jorgy-Worm," Ji Tianshan called, waving. The serpent twitched, then nodded at her stiffly, causing her to giggle contentedly.

"Go on. Grow." The serpent seemed to be in low spirits after it heard Logean Wuji say this, but it complied. It lengthened without becoming much thicker, then stiffened into something of a glowing serpent-stick. Logean Wuji grabbed it by the tail and used it to point at different parts of the chart.

"Cultivation is possible because there are laws in place that allow it. However, these laws do not exist for cultivation, but as a result of it. Who can tell me what this suggests?"

Ling Jian'er and Cyrus immediately lowered their heads, not wanting to be called on. Even Zhou Hua seemed to shrink from the question, not having an answer. Ji Haogui hesitated to raise his hand, and in the end decided not to. Ji Tianshan immediately raised her hand, so Logean Wuji called on her.

"It suggests that cultivation is above the law-"

"Insanity. Wrong. Anyone else?"

"... " Ji Tianshan was like a deflated balloon after hearing that.

Pixie then raised her hand and Logean Wuji pointed the serpent-stick in her direction. Ye Zhiyuan and Ye Zuliao had actually been discussing with her a moment ago, and she had proposed an answer. They encouraged her to raise her hand and share it.

"It suggests that there are ever-changing laws present which adapt to all changes."

Logean Wuji smiled but slowly shook his head. "A good answer, but not the right one." He then noticed that Bi Xue was whispering with Ji Haogui, so he called on them both.

"Either of you willing to share?"

Haogui froze up, but Bi Xue encouraged him to raise his hand and give his answer. He actually stood up, though he didn't need to, and nervously twiddled his thumbs.

"Um, well, since there a laws that exist because of it but not for it... maybe this suggests that, uh, cultivation is not natural?" He shut his eyes directly after giving his answer, not wanting to be present just in case he was horribly wrong.

When he heard slow applause, he opened his eyes to see Logean Wuji smiling proudly and clapping for him.

"Exactly, Haogui. Cultivation, at its root, is an act of defying natural order. There were no laws for it because it was not intended to exist, however laws had to be instituted in order to regulate it after it was introduced."

Enlightenment dawned on all the others, and Bi Xue silently cheered for Ji Haogui as he sat back down.

"Birth, rebirth, life, death. Love, creation, destruction. Light, dark, good, evil. There are no limits to the ever-changing law just as there are no limits to the things that cause it to change. As long as life thrives, it will continue to adjust and maintain order. This law is the Grand Dao and it has always existed."

"Cultivation was born of a moment of divergence from the law; it is the result of a will that desired to harness the Grand Dao instead of being harnessed by it. However, the cultivation you know of is flawed. The variations of it, from its creation to now, have been fractured an infinite amount of times and then some, causing them to deviate from the true essence."

"Cultivation is not seeking enlightenment of the self and the universe. It does not come from divining the Nine Stars in search of ultimate power. These things are vain efforts that bring about insubstantial gain; true cultivation is not about bringing oneself closer to anything."

"True cultivation seeks to bring the Grand Dao closer to the self, finding the part of it that belongs solely to you and taking it for your own- and this is just the beginning. This is the root of cultivation, the original form.

"It has been called by many names. The Dao of Anti-Dao, The Reverse-Dao Sutra, The Dao of the Supreme Ultimate and even The Genesis Manual. However, there is only one name that truly belongs to it."

"It is the deiform path; a scripture unlike any other that came from it. A method of pure dao-cultivation that cannot be replicated. It is called the Dao-Seizing Calamity Law."

The students were attentive and speechless, however traces of elation and anticipation were barely hidden beneath their stunned faces. Bi Xue and Ji Haogui sucked in cold breaths, staring at each other for a moment.

"You see, in ages long past, the entirety of existence was contained within a single dimension. Within that dimension was a single universe, and within that universe... was a single planet..."

Logean Wuji's intentional pause caused a few of the quick-witted, more attentive ones to immediately jump to conclusions.

'It couldn't be this dimension,' Bi Xue thought, 'could it?'

Even Ji Haogui, Pixie and Ye Zuliao were having similar thoughts. Ling Jian'er and Cyrus were pretty much preoccupied with their wounds and the debilitating pains, so they kept staring forward absentmindedly. Zhou Hua hadn't even put two and two together.

"Before you get any wild ideas, this dimension is not the one I'm talking about." Rather dryly, Logean Wuji put an end to the fantasies he helped nurture. Not knowing what wild ideas he was referring to, Zhou Hua coughed dryly and pretended to feel the same as everyone else.

"This dimension was sealed within Mount Logean, and was created by my parents. It has only been around for a few eons- it's much too young. No, students, the dimension I am referring to is a nameless place. Most records of it are so old they have become Dao-Entities that now exist within the Primal Chaos Wall, preventing the unworthy from witnessing what lies beyond."

"However, one such record was obtained by me a few hundred thousand years ago. I found that, in the Era of the One Dimension, mortality was not a concept that existed."

Brows furrowed and frowns appeared; it was clear that they did not understand.

"Think of it this way. Tianshan, please come stand to my left. Monkey, come stand to my right."

Ling Jian;er, hearing her title, became confused and snapped out of her semi-conscious state with a, "Huh- wha-"

Tianshan obediently stood to Logean Wuji's left, and Ling Jian'er managed to limp on over to his right, wincing and stifling cries as she came.

"As I was saying, think of it this way. Imagine Tianshan is the Grand Dao and the Monkey here is the only person alive. In this most early era, Jian'er would not even have experienced death. That lack of experience warrants a lack of necessity. If all life in existence thrives- and there is no precedent of death- the Grand Dao writes it off as a secondary 'function.' It is not something that must happen, but something that can happen."

"What this means is that, for as long as anyone living within the One Dimension was not killed by another, they would never die. Yet, the moment someone was killed, the entire paradigm would shift and death would now have a renewed purpose."

"Now imagine this."

Logean Wuji put a hand on Ling Jian'er's shoulder, pulling down slightly. With a pop, her arm detached from her shoulder much like a Barbie doll's would. There was no pain, but the moment Ling Jian'er realized what was happening she freaked.

"A single member dies, yet the entire body is affected. The Grand Dao does not act impartially, nor does it act ignorantly. It takes the death, the mourning, the thoughts and wishes and actions that follow the death, and decides then what exactly must be instituted. Now that Jian'er has lost an arm, the Grand Dao makes it so that, with this loss, a change will come."

"Can anyone give me an example of such a change?"

This time, Ye Zuliao's hand was the first to shoot up.

"Zuliao."

"Yes, sir! For example, an uncle within our tribe once fell into a Scaled Mammoth's dung pit and lost his sight. After that, he would say things like his hearing got better and that he heard weird new noises that he had never heard before."

Ye Zhiyuan was reminded of the incident in question, and she corroborated. "That's right! He lost his sight and his hearing got a lot better!"

Pixie was intrigued by the incident and asked about it, but Ye Zhiyuan said she would tell her about it later.

"A perfect example. Such is the way the Grand Dao works. There is no absolute, there is no alteration; it remains the same."

"Back to the topic at hand."

Logean Wuji then sent Ji Tianshan and Ling Jian'er back to their seats.

"The One Dimension was filled with beings who were, in the literal sense, immortals. Their lives were essentially perfect, their world was stupendously giant and their resources were practically inexhaustible. Even so- and is as the nature of intelligent lifeforms- there was a thirst for more."

"Knowledge grows beyond containment faster than the curiosity that fuels it. This led to their civilization beginning to seek deeper truths than what existed on their world. They sought the beyond."

In the students' minds, bizarre colors flashed in mesmerizing light as images of the past played out before them. They were suddenly seeing firsthand what Logean Wuji was talking about, witnessing the earliest era of existence. Logean Wuji kept narrating, knowing what was happening.

"Are you sure you want to show them this," Jorgy-Worm asked him through a spirit transmission. However, it was too late as, by then, the students were already lost in the trance.

"They are my chosen students, serpent. You will not question any decision I make regarding them, understand?"

Jorgy-Worm fell silent, meekly responding.

"Yes, Young Master."