2 Birth of a Dao

A young man, seemingly around the age of 20 from his external appearance, cutting a tall and slender figure with ordinary features, was cutting wood within a forest.

This ordinary looking youth had only one distinguishing feature at a glance, which was his eyes, which at first look were brown, however upon deeper inspection seemed to be unbelievably profound, containing all the colours and depths of the entire universe.

This benign and harmless woodchopping youth seemed as if he could cut wood forever, as if he had been cutting it since he was born, and would continue to cut it until he died, as if his only purpose was to cut wood, the focus and sheer effort he put into cutting wood making it seem as if it was his calling in life.

As the youth lifted his axe to perform another splitting, a shout rang out from the woods around him.

"Sect master, sect master, the Yang Flow Sect has attacked our River Sage Sect, and their great elder is here, no one else can possibly resist him except you!"

This seemingly ordinary youth was actually the sect master and strongest cultivator of the renowned River Sage Sect, a third grade sect within the Tianwu Empire of the Tianwu Heavenly Planet within the Nine Dao Sky, being the only Nascent Soul Cultivator for miles around, with the exception of the great elder of the Yang Flow Sect.

The youth who was cutting wood looked up, stopping his wood cutting for a moment, before continuing to cut.

"Let him come, Shi Wu is not my match and he knows that, he must have something or someone to rely on."

The youth continued to cut wood, leaving his disciple dismayed, however his disciple knew that his strange and temperamental master would not change his mind once he came to a decision.

Having joined the River Sage Sect 15 years ago this mysterious youth, who called himself Seb, who was originally at the Qi Condensation Realm had achieved the Nascent Soul Realm within just 12 years, from the age of 5 to 17, and became the sect master in the process, despite his tender age.

Another 3 years had passed since this youth had achieved Nascent Soul and even the sect elders of the River Sage Sect were unsure of exactly how strong Seb was, yet when he had sparred with Shi Wu, it had taken him merely 5 minutes to injure him and cause him to flee, leading people to believe that Seb had progressed further than the Early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, perhaps having even reached the Middle stage!

This incredibly fast progress had clearly caused Shi Wu to feel threatened, worried that his sect would be destroyed once Seb became even stronger, and thus he appeared today to try and end Seb before he became too strong and thus eradicated him.

However little did he realise that after today not only would he not have time to repent for his foolish actions, but he would have grossly underestimated who exactly he was dealing with.

After around an hour an elderly man who appeared like a kind and wise taoist sage walked out into the clearing Seb was in.

This man was none other than Shi Wu, the great elder of the Yang Flow Sect!

"Your entire sect has been overrun, with the rest of your disciples being slowly defeated, yet here you are unmoved and uncaring, truly a strange abomination of a man."

Despite his kind appearance the sage like figure unleashed biting words as soon as he saw Seb, however his words had a grain of truth to them.

At this point however Seb merely turned to look at Shi Wu, smiling, before saying,

"First of all, I knew you would come here, fearful of me fleeing, since as long as I am alive in the future I could eradicate your sect and rebuild the River Sage Sect. Secondly, I don't fear your petty tricks. I can sense an aura of blood and slaughter upon you, if I'm not wrong you should have drawn up a 10,000 corpse array and formed a temporary slaughter corpse core, doubling your power, which is where you draw your confidence from to fight me, yes?"

Having his plan seen through at the first glance Shi Wu first revealed a glimmer of shock, before his eyes turned brutal.

"It doesn't matter if you've realised the truth of the matter, I'm here to kill you and assure safety for ten generations of my Yang Flow Sect."

Without another word Shi Wu stepped forwards, summoning an apparition of a sea of blood behind him, as well as a river of solar energy, the dual energies of the slaughter corpse core and his Yang Flow Arts melding together to form an earth shattering attack.

However at this moment, time seemed to slow down, with Seb's smile becoming even more gentle, before he let out a long and raucous laugh.

"It was so simple, so so simple the entire time. Who would've thought that after 5,000 years of being at the World Die, Dao Live Realm, the key to completing my Sword Sea Dao Painting and achieving the One Dao Realm was locked within that intent, that essence, of giving up at nothing to change one's imminent fate, to battle against the heavens themselves. To think I would comprehend this from a Nascent Soul cultivator on this tiny Tianwu Heavenly Planet. I will reward you with a painless death and leave your sect intact as a result Shi Wu."

Hearing these words from Seb's mouth Shi Wu was massively confused, however a split second later he felt endless shock, because without him noticing when or how, his entire body had been slashed over a thousand times before he could even complete his attack.

As his attack was forcefully stopped and his body fell apart Shi Wu considered the implications of what the mysterious sect master Seb had just said, and recalled a legend that had spread among the Nine Dao Sky, even reaching small people such as himself who merely ruled over a 3rd grade sect among a tiny planet in the Nine Dao Sky.

The legendary War God Xi Tian Seb who after achieving a perfect foundation within the 1st and 2nd step had crossed the Three Disaster Realm in one go, allowing him supposedly til the end of his natural lifespan to complete his Dao Painting, and even at the initial stage of the World Die, Dao Live Realm could fight those at the 3rd step, supposedly this unparalleled genius who had been hidden in seclusion for 5,000 years becoming merely a legend was actually the so called River Sage Sect master Seb.

However, Shi Wu would never be able to ponder this shocking revelation again, as his soul collapsed shortly after, with him passing onto reincarnate.

At this moment Seb continued to laugh, before with a tap of his foot shooting up at unparalleled speeds into the atmosphere of the Tianwu Heavenly Planet, at speeds far surpassing anything a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator would be capable of, reaching space in seconds.

Once he was in space, this so called Nascent Soul cultivator waved his hand, causing a huge canvas to appear in the starry sky, upon which a shocking image was painted.

Unbelievably, this man truly was Xi Tian Seb, who had been in seclusion for over 5,000 years since achieving the never before seen perfect entry into the World Die, Dao Live Realm.

And judging by the image in front of him he had nearly completed his Dao Painting.

In front of Seb was a painting incredibly vast, as large as the Tianwu Heavenly Planet below him, depicting an image of a vast sea, with a seemingly near infinite number of swords, huge and powerful swords, stabbed deep into the sea, appearing like mountains, with each sword carrying a heaven shocking intent.

Each of these swords shockingly embodied a separate law, being a condensation of the essence of that law, whether it be the law of battle, law of ice, law of void, law of water, there were to be precise 3,047 swords within the picture, which embodied 3,047 individual laws.

With a wave of his hand Seb sent out energy from his body, forming it into a brush, and he began to draw once more, on this painting that had been untouched for 1,000 years.

After 3 days a heaven shaking intent flew out from the painting.

'So close, so close, my comprehension of laws has reached perfection, I have imbued my intent from my cultivation path into the painting, and the background that acts as the foundation, the sea and the mountains, is perfect as well. I can be considered a half step into the One Dao Realm, but what else is possibly missing that means I am unable to complete my painting fully at this moment?'

Pondering this for a moment, Seb made a decision.

'I suppose I have been in seclusion for too long. The Devil Abyss is opening again in 10 years, its time for War God Seb to return to the Nine Dao Sky's centre stage and show why I'm worthy of the title of the strongest genius of the last 10 Kalpa cycles.'

This ordinary looking youth sent one last look towards the Tianwu Heavenly Planet, where he had remained in seclusion for around 50 years, one of many planets he had secluded himself on during his contemplation and comprehension process of the World Die, Dao Live Realm, before shooting off at an incredible speed, surpassing even the speed of light itself, into the void of the Nine Dao Sky, ready to continue the next leg of his journey and cultivate his Immortal Sword Sea Dao Painting, prepared to shake the cultivation world of the Nine Dao Sky.