The Fogeys Explain

Caleb and Vanessa drooped lazily from the Dove Tree branches. Despite their short nap being disturbed, the two didn't feel too tired. Moreover, the annoyance that awoke them remained unresolved.

"So, start from the beginning. Why are you here?"

The three old men looked at the old man with luscious white and black hair. He rubbed his face with one hand and exasperatedly sighed.

"This faithful servant will introduce you to our situation. My name is Zhang Shuang. The bearded ponytail is Han Jun. The baldy is Wang Hung. Finally, the mustached hair bob is Li Kuo. We are the Four Elders of the Buddy Tao Sect."

The three old men glared at Elder Zhang, but he ignored them and proceeded on.

"Ten— no, eleven days, by now— Duke Lei's daughter, Little Old Mei, disappeared a day before her wedding to Bufford, our special disciple. We couldn't find her until three days ago, we noticed unusually large vitality fluctuations. I assume your presence, Gods, caused this."

Caleb nodded.

"We traced them in the Watarah Ruins in the Monotone Woods, which is this region. Strangely, the level of vitality in the Irula Peninsula started rising. It must be because of your divine presence, Gods."

Caleb and Amanda coughed awkwardly. They both knew it was because Caleb acquired the Inheritance. By taking apart the Inheritance, the Irula Peninsula no longer got drained of vitality, so the land started returning back to the levels of vitality like the Mainland. Vanessa must've been a crucial component of the process, but it didn't matter anymore, since the ruins self-destructed.

"One of our search parties fought with that one harlot from before. She managed to best them, but we were alerted. Although we discovered Little Old Mei shortly afterwards, we Four Elders followed the harlot in search for a Practitioner of Demonic Techniques.

That's when we found ourselves in the prior predicament. Rest assured, we from the Buddy Tao Sect are not cruel, heartless, or overbearing. Really, we are the opposite, as are the other Tao Sects. Most of the evil Cultivators are rogue."

"Ah, Little Old Mei, you say?" Amanda asked.

"We spoke to her before. If you Tao Sects truly are upholders of righteousness, why do you force your women to bind and cripple their feet? Why do you seek to abuse your women for your own enjoyment?" Caleb demanded.

"Binding feet?" Elder Shuang exclaimed. "Oh! That stupid practice comes from ignorant peasants. Still, I have no idea why Little Old Mei underwent such measures.

Although small feet are considered more attractive, no respectable Buddyist compromises another person's freedom to express their appearance. We are practitioners of healing and holy techniques, so it wouldn't be too hard to repair the damage."

Amanda yelled, "And what about your threats? That disciple, Bufford, threatened to show her 'True Suffering' if I recall?"

Elder Shuang laughed and said, "That?! The foolish girl misunderstood Bufford! We of the Buddy Tao Sect undergo cultivation through specific principles. The first step is to recognize 'True Suffering' before anything else. See, all life begins as One With Suffering. This is the beginning stage for all Cultivators. There are sixteen stages in total— all dealing with becoming One.

The second is Awareness. You must notice 'True Suffering' to begin.

The third is The Body. You must notice Suffering physically.

The fourth is The Mind. You must notice Suffering mentally.

The fifth is Family. You must notice Suffering in your bloodline.

The sixth is Friendship. You must notice Suffering in your companions.

The seventh is Community. You must notice Suffering in your relationships.

The eighth is Humanity. You must notice Suffering in society.

The ninth is Wildlife. You must notice Suffering in plants and animals

The tenth is The Earth. You must notice Suffering in the ground.

The eleventh is The Sky. You must notice Suffering in the air.

The twelfth is Nature. You must notice Suffering in the Natural Laws.

The thirteenth is The World. You must notice Suffering exists overall.

The fourteenth is The Universe. You must notice Suffering exists everywhere.

The fifteenth is Enlightenment. You must notice the truths of Suffering.

The sixteenth is Without Suffering. You must reject all Suffering and be free from their bonds.

Although this sounds simple, it is nigh-impossible to truly understand Suffering without experiencing Suffering itself. Each stage does not need to be progressively mastered, but mastering stages previous stages builds a foundation for reaching higher stages and getting closer to the final Tao.

The later the stage, the greater mastery of the final Tao is achieved. When life dies before reaching the final Tao, they return to Nature, which recreates the cycle of Suffering."

Caleb and Amanda looked at Elder Shuang weirdly. It was the first formal lecture they received from someone and it began their knowledge of Cultivation. After all, they received an ancient Inheritance that accumulated an unbelievable amount of power by sapping vitality from the World over an uncountable number of years!

In no way did they know how to apply this power, without Caleb's automatic response to his original intent on gaining power to protect Amanda and himself from the World.

"Fine. I sense that you are telling the truth. I won't pursue the matter," Caleb grumbled.

Elder Shuang let out an unconscious sigh of relief.

"Is there anything else this faithful servant can do for you, Gods?"

Amanda asked, "How did you know we are Gods?"

"Ah! How ignorant of me! Naturally, you must have wanted to hide away from getting involved in our trivial matters. However, your vitality signatures are eerily similar, almost resonating the same feeling. The duality of your vitalities connect to Humanity, Wildlife, The Earth, The Sky, and Nature itself.

This fusion of stages creates a pseudo-World stage, allowing your vitality to connect directly to the World itself. Unintentionally, you both remain connected by the thinnest of strands to most of the World, but it is unnoticeable until inspected from up close, like we Elders are now."

"Oh? And what stage are you Elders at? I can't distinguish your weak signatures," Caleb complained offhandedly.

"We faithful servants have reached the seventh stage of Community. There are an infinite amount of sublevels to each stage, which is why strength is measured by the various masteries in each stage. Any stage can be strong, if enough mastery gained. However, recognition of each stage does not merit any mastery at all.

The masteries are as follows: Trash means no mastery is possible, because One has no potential. Useless means One once had potential, but One became crippled, so progression is impossible. Inkling means One has talent to progress mastery and start manipulating power of the stage of Cultivation.

Then begins true Cultivation. Figment means One can use the power of the stage of Cultivation to practice. Framework means One can utilize their power. Mold means One can weaponize their power. Comprehension means One has mastered the usual limit of their power. At this mastery, most Immortal Cultivators reach an impassable barrier because of their Mortal roots.

Imitation means One can freely form their power. Not a single Tao Sect in the Irula Peninsula has a Cultivator at this mastery, because they got slaughtered or abandoned the Tao Sect. The Mainland has many leaders of Tao Sects at this mastery!

Simulation means One can create with their power. These are usually the extreme Geniuses and Chosen by the Heavens. Embodiment means One fuses with their power. Only Gods have this mastery!

Ancient history's rumors say the mastery of One With The Tao means One is indistinguishable from their power because they are the source of their power! In the Days of Gods, the Two Gods who fought had this mastery and ended up canceling each other into nonexistence because there could only be one True Tao in the end!"

Caleb shared a look with Amanda and they approached the final subject.

"What are sources of vitality for you Mortals??"

Elder Shuang coughed and said, "We are Immortal Cultivators or faithful servants of Gods following the True Tao. Each stage attaches One to the source of Tao and vitality, such as The Mind, and grows by One's mastery. The greater the mastery, the more vitality created and controlled. There are special sources of vitality, however.

In Void zones, no vitality exists. Cultivating zones have vitality in their environment. The amount of vitality in Cultivating zones varies, like how the Mainland has more than the Irula Peninsula. Then, there are vitality stones.

Energy stones are a common source and are used as currency for Immortal Cultivators. They form naturally in Cultivating zones or are made artificially by One's own vitality. Cursed or Blessed stones hold vitality manifested by a fragment of any stage's mastery. They can be beneficial gifts or harmful failures.

Possessed stones hold vitality from Ones who refuse to become One With Nature. They can be extremely helpful or extremely dangerous. Sentient stones hold vitality from a Community of cooperating humans. They can collect vitality over generations, but require Comprehension of at least the eighth stage of Humanity to properly form, let alone use. Only the Mainland has a few of these Sentient stones. There have been times when Sentient stones rebel and become natural disasters that cause destruction until all of their vitality is depleted.

Living stones are vitality formed from the source of certain Wildlife. They are the cornerstone of Cultivating Plants or Animals. They are impossible to use because no human can steal a Living stone from Wildlife that formed Living stones since Ancient times. They are too strong and aware of human greed. Life stones are vitality formed from the Earth and Sky. They govern Nature's properties and are far beyond humans mastering, let alone understanding.

Finally, there is The Source Stone. The Source Stone is the origin for all vitality that exists in this World and created our existence. The Source Stone began life and life returns to The Source Stone. Such is the Nature of the World, until One finally masters Without Suffering and breaks the cycle."

Elder Shuang bowed, done with his explanation. Caleb and Amanda disliked the lengthy speech, but they were grateful for his words.

Caleb thundered, "You didn't have to ramble on for so long! Much of what you spoke, I knew. For each of our questions, we wanted to understand Mortals, not be told a lesson about Tao! Do I look like your disciple?!"

His words cowed Elder Shuang and he kowtowed at the roots of the Dove Tree.

"I am sorry! This faithful servant has been going senile from age! Too many times have I seen the young faces of my disciples and talk about the ways of Tao! Forgive me for my loose tongue!"

The three other Elders slowly distanced themselves. Caleb shook his hand and waved them off.

"Leave. We no longer want to hear your condescending voice. Never come back."

The four Elders bowed one last time and then faded away.

"Phew. I thought he would never stop talking," Amanda complained.

Caleb groaned, "If that was him tutoring us, I never want to be taught anything!"

"We know much more now. Should we start inspecting our vitality? If we want to be sure our power isn't stolen from us, we should master it as soon as possible."

Caleb agreed, and so, the two dropped to the ground. They sat beside each other under the Dove Tree and focused on mastering the stages of Tao.

Little did they know, the Elders were frightened because they already tried to probe their vitality! What scared them was that these Gods siphoned nearly a quarter of their vitality in response to being inspected! What scared them the most was that these Gods didn't even notice! They were unconscious in their reflexive actions, so how dangerous would it be if the Gods actively roamed?

The disrespect and irritating of the Gods nearly caused them to go berserk. If they ever learned these Elders tried to probe them for confirming their identity… They would end up drained of all their vitality, or worse! It was like Bufford's Great Grandpa, who the Gods killed in cold blood without a second thought after being offended!

These Elders knew they had to take precautions and warn the entire World! The Days of Gods arrived once more, and these Two Gods were one and the same Tao! How terrifying was it that these Supreme Beings were easy to anger and looked like nothing but peasants! Who knew the time when some idiot accidentally triggered the Gods so badly that they wiped out all of Humanity!?

The implications of these Gods meant coexistence or extinction!