Long Road Ahead

Yi Ren was excited at first, hearing about how extraordinary his spirit vessel was compared to the others out there. But when he found out that the way to set foot on the path of cultivation for him were so much more difficult and time consuming, he started to feel a little despair and disappointment. Silently, he tried to make sense of the time needed to comprehend 3000 Grand Daos, but his head are all over the place as he has no experience or other example to compare with.

"Normal people use their whole life just to comprehend 1 Dao and most of them can't even start comprehending it, and I am expected to comprehend 3000 Daos just to begin cultivating. What kind of joke is Heaven playing on me?!", grumbled Yi Ren. Looking at the decrepit, shameless looking old man floating in front of him, "Why don't you just tell me to stop dreaming about cultivation? I might as well just enjoy my life as a mortal, living a free live, enjoying as I go, instead of wasting my limited time chasing after an impossible goal?!"

The old man is enjoying the various facial expression coming from Yi Ren and started laughing even wildly in front of him. "Now now boy, calm down, the possessor of the Origin Spirit Vessel before you only takes 5 years before starting his journey in cultivation. Aren't you curious about how he did it? Bring me some fine wine and roast meat, and I shall shine the light on your path!"

After hearing that, although it managed to pique Yi Ren's curiosity and excitement, he tried his best to hold it down and not show it outwards.

"I can't keep falling for this shameless old man's trick!"

"So what if you don't show me the way, you old stinky baldie! I have decided not to go down the path of cultivation. I will live my life as a mortal, I have my big brother and little sister, both geniuses mind you, to protect and provide for me anyway. Hmphh!"

Ignoring the old man, Yi Ren started walking towards the black building on the left. He is attracted by the novelty of the runes floating around the walls of the building. The walls of the building feels soft and elastic. No matter how hard Yi Ren tried, he can't seem to touch or get ahold of a single rune.

Not wanting to give up, Yi Ren started walking around the building, trying to find and grab hold of a single rune. Looking at Yi Ren's funny antics, the old man shouted, "Stop doing that boy! You will never be able to touch or understand any of the runes on the walls!"

"What is this building and what is this tiny toads floating around it? Why can't I grab them? I only wish to take a few back and show it to Aunt Mei and Xiao Mei. This building is the same as you, smelly old man, so stingy!"

"Do you even know what is this building and the runes are for? How dare you think of grabbing some of it to show others! Back in the day, Holy Warriors to Dao Dominators, would line up obediently just to ask for a favor, to view the runes here from a distance away, and got rejected straight to their face! You ungrateful boy!" said the old man, clearly displeased with Yi Ren's idea.

"This over here boy, is the Dao Discussion building. In it, stored records and knowledges about all the Daos that have been explored before. From the rudimentary concepts all the way to Grand Daos."

"The runes floating around the building is the residue of Daos overflowing. Countless people would trade everything just to have a glimpse and comprehend their Daos here."

With a puzzled look, Yi Ren asked the old man, "Is it so hard to comprehend concepts? They only have to comprehend one path and achieve their Dao."

"Aunt Mei said I've already comprehended more than 10 concepts last year. It's just that I can't start cultivating and is a waste," muttered Yi Ren.

The old man heard him and instantly look at Yi Ren with ridicule, "Hmphh, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? More than 10 concepts comprehended before the age of 5? Stop dreaming young lad, that Aunt Mei of yours must have said that to console you."

In actuality, Yi Ren has comprehended more than 10 concepts, something that has never been seen before throughout the ages across all the universes.

Since young, Yi Ren has had a crazy level of comprehension. He can easily remember anything he has seen or read once and easily comprehend the deeper meaning behind it.

And with the help of the books that his parents got for him, he has already stepped foot in the entry level for multiple concepts. But due to the absence of systematic training and learning befitting a child from a high clan, Yi Ren has to grasp everything on his own.

In the beginning, he has trouble controlling the concepts that he had comprehended, thus making troubles and prank everywhere around the village. Small sparks of fire, accelerated growth of weeds, winds blowing uncontrollably and many more such incidents.

Everyone starts comprehending their concept in the beginning before being able to integrate their spirits and start cultivating. In big clans and sects, they have systematic classes and books that explain the basic concepts for the children.

Therefore, its common to see everyone in the same clan comprehending the same concept, like the Tian clan.

Unfortunately, Yi Ren has been deemed someone without a spirit root. No matter how many concepts he has comprehended, he cant find his spirit and integrate it into the non existent spirit root.

Recently, Yi Ren found something weird happening inside his body. With each new concept that he has comprehended, he felt something growing inside of him. Something like a vein or blood vessel.

He has scoured through all the medical books he can get ahold of, egging his parents and siblings to bring new medical books whenever they visit him. Yet he cant seem to find an answer to what is happening inside his body as there is no precedent of something like this happening before.

The only thing he gained is his love for knowledge and curiosity towards the unknown.

"What will you give me if I have really comprehended more than 10 concepts?" Asked Yi Ren with contempt.

"It's impossible for a small kid like you to comprehend more than 2 concepts, what else 10?! Stop pulling my leg kid. If you can really comprehend more than 10 concepts without any external help at this age, I will fully open all the buildings here for your use even if I have to use up all my energy!" exclaimed the old man.

Right after hearing that, strange phenomenon appears around Yi Ren. The air around seems to warped due to friction and heat, grass grows and wither in a cycle, small droplets of water appear at the tip of his hair, an image of a fishing rod being cast and the fishing line spins in a circle around his body, his white robe starts to flutter, sounds of scripture and images of books floating appear around him and lastly the rocks and sands started levitating. With all these strange phenomenon appearing around him, Yi Ren just stood there in the middle with a slight lazy smile on his face, making him look even more otherworldly.

The old men just stared at what is happening in front of him with wide eyes, in shock at the display. After awhile, the old men just shakes his head while turning to face the 3 buildings behind them. With a wave of his hand, flows of energy visible to the naked eyes could be seen floating from the old men towards the buildings. As time pass, more and more energy pours into the 3 building, making it glow brightly while the old men starts to look like he's fading away. Parts of his body becomes translucent.

After around 30 minutes, sounds of rumble and slight shaking can be seen coming from the 3 buildings, signifying the end of the energy transfusion by the old man.