Ambition that Defies Law

In the inn's dining room, several tables were occupied and people were having dinner, thus the environment was rather lively. One or two waiters served dishes rapidly, traversing between tables.

Di Lan sat at the table near the windows. He ordered a few dishes and ate while gazing out of the window.

Looking out, the sunset looked like fire, slowly burning away.

Half of the sun had already set; it longingly gazed at the lands, its afterglow being the sun's reluctance.

A grandfather and his grandson were sitting at the table nearest to him. Being mortal humans, they wore modest clothes.

The grandfather sipped his rice wine while looking enviously at Di Lan. He was evidently attracted to the green bamboo wine but could not afford it.

The grandson ate his braised beans, a crunching sound emitting from his mouth as he chewed. At the same time, he pestered his grandfather, shaking his arm. "Grandpa, grandpa, tell me about the story of Long. If you don't tell me, I'll report to grandma that you secretly came out to drink!"

"Sigh, I can't even drink in peace." The grandfather sighed but his face showed a doting expression towards the child. With his twig-like arm, he patted the boy's head, "Then let me tell you the story of Long who gave his heart to the Hope Spirit, escaping his dangers of being captured..."

Long's story was one of the least popular tale in the book of Genesis.

The old man's story was something like this.

The story mentioned that Long was able to escape his dangers because of hope. He grew old eventually despite having a very high cultivation, thus the fate of the Nymph species.

Long felt death slowly approaching.

At this time, the Hope Spirit said to him, "Nymph, you must not die. If you die, your heart will be lost and I will lose my only place of residence."

Long was helpless. "Who wishes to die? But if the heavens and earth want me dead, I have no choice."

The Hope Spirit said, "There's always hope in everything. As long as you can catch a Life Spirit, you will be able to increase your lifespan."

Long had heard of the existence of the Life Spirit long ago but he waved his hand helplessly. "When the Life Spirit stays still, nobody can detect it and when it flies, it is faster than light. How can I possibly catch it? It's too hard!"

The Hope Spirit then told Long a secret, "Nymph, don't give up hope no matter what. Let me tell you, on the far north corner of this continent, there is a huge mountain. At the peak of the mountain, there is a cave. In that cave, there is a formless Spirit that sits on what it called throne. As long as you can subdue it, there is no Spirit in this world that you cannot have, including the Life Spirit!"

Long had no choice, this was his last remaining hope.

He braved all difficulties and finally found the mountain, it was the tallest mountain that he have ever seen. He then risked his life and ventured through countless dangers to ascend the mountain. On the mountain top, near the cave entrance, he used his last remaining strength to slowly make his way in.

The inside of the cave was completely dark and one would not be able to even see their own fingers. Long walked in the darkness. Sometimes, he would bump into things not knowing what they were. This caused himself to get injured and wounded all over. At times, he felt that this dark cave was huge beyond words as if this was a world of its own. He felt as if he was the only person in the area.

He spent a lot of time but he could not walk out of the darkness. Not to mention subduing a Spirit.

Just when he was at a loss about what to do, a voice spoke to him from the darkness.

The voice asked, "Nymph, what are you doing in my humble dwelling?"

Long laid exhausted on the ground, panting. "I do not have much lifespan left so I'm at my wits end. I came here to try and subdue you."

Hearing Long's straightforwardness, the voice went silent.

After a while, the voice said, "I understand, nymph, you have already given your heart to the Hope Spirit. You will not give up no matter what."

"In that case, I shall give you a chance. As long as you can say my name, I will allow you to use me once."

Long was stunned. To find out its names among all the words in the world, it was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Furthermore, he did not even know how many words were in its names.

Long quickly asked the Hope Spirit, but it did not know either.

Long had no alternatives and had no choice but to randomly guess their names. He said many many names and wasted a lot of time but the darkness did not respond to him so evidently he was wrong.

Eventually, Long's breath got weaker as he turned from an old man into a dying man. It was like the scene of the evening's setting sun. The sun that would slowly descending had already been lowered halfway across the horizon, becoming a sunset.

The food he had brought was gradually reduced, his brain becoming slower and he barely had any energy to speak anymore.

The voice in the darkness urged, "Nymph, you are almost dead, so I will let you go. Using your remaining time, you can climb out of the cave and take a final look at the world. But you have offended me by daring to subdue me, and as punishment, the Hope Spirit shall stay here as my companion."

Long clenched his heart and rejected, "Even if I die, I will not give up hope!"

The Hope Spirit was very touched and answered Long's call enthusiastically, emitting a bright light. Long's chest area, a light began to shine. But this light was too weak, it could not illuminate the darkness. In fact, it could not even cover Long's entire body, but only engulfed his chest area.

Yet Long could feel a renewed surge of energy gushing into his body from the Hope Spirit.

He continued to speak, shouting out names. But he was already muddled. A lot of names had already been said but he could not remember that and repeated them, wasting a lot of effort in the process.

As time continued to flow, Long's lifespan was almost over.

Finally, when he was on his final day, he said out the word 'Law'.

A sigh came from the darkness as a voice spoke, "Nymph, I admire your perseverance despite your meager existence. You have said my name, so from today onwards, you may be able to create one law. But this law must be reasonable and within the Heavens means. You're almost dead, I might as well tell you now, creating a law that wil give you infinite lifespan is impossible."

Long was determined and shook his head, he came here to look for a way to extend his lifespan but as time passed by, when his life flashbacked to him, he realized that the life of the beings of this world is wonderful yet pitiful. Thus, he changed his wish for himself to have his life extended into a wish that can benefit the world that he lives in. "Thou shall the world have a chance of eternal life. This is the law that I want to create

The voice said said, "Hmm..very well, this is a law that the Heavens can still accept despite of going against it."

The formless Spirit, Law, shined blindingly, illuminating the darkness of the cave as he continued, "But, since this law opposes the Heavens itself then, a condition will be applied -- One must face the Heavens to have an Eternal Life."

Long was already a hundred years old. Despite having a very high cultivation, the lifespan of a Nymph species does not go past one hundred. Thus, after creating the law of a chance of Eternal Life, he died, leaving the Hope Spirit with the Law.

+++++++++

"That's all for today, let's go home, grandson." The old man, having completed the story, finished his wine as well.

"Grandpa, tell me other stories of the Genesis." The grandson was unyielding as he shook his grandfather's arm.

"Let's go, I'll tell you when there's another chance." The old man wore his straw hat and jacket, then gave his grandson another set that was a smaller size.

The two walked out of the inn, stepping into the rain and slowly vanishing from sight.

"Law..." Di Lan's gaze was dark as he twirled his wine cup, looking at the liquor in his cup. His heart was touched.

The Genesis was widespread throughout this world and there no people who did not know of him. Di Lan even have read this thrice already.

But no matter if it was a legend or a story, it was dependant on the knowledge of the reader. The grandfather and grandson earlier merely treated it as a story, but Di Lan could understand the deeper meaning.

Just like that Long.

When he did not know that there is Law, he explored in the dark. Sometimes he bumped into things, knocking into others, causing himself to get injured and look like a mess. And at times within a wider area, he got lost and confused, moving without a sense of direction or purpose.

This darkness was not purely black or the absence of light. Power, Knowledge and hope could not oppose it.

Only when Long knew of the Law and said its names did the darkness dissipate and invite light into Long's life.

The darkness was the darkness of not knowing the Law and the light was also the light of knowing the Law.

Di Lan switched his gaze from his cup and looked outside through the window.

He saw that outside the window, several people walked, their feet stained with the mud from the rain. Some of them wore grayish green straw coats, while others carried umbrellas.

Di Lan concluded, "This world's heaven and earth is like a set of countless cards. All lifeforms are card pieces, acting in accordance with their value. The four seasons have their own laws, rotating between spring, summer, fall, and winter. The flow of water has its own laws, flowing from high ground to low ground. Cold air has its own laws, floating downwards. Humans naturally also have their own laws."

"Everybody has their own standpoints, desires, and principles. For example, in the Mu Yue village, the servants lives are cheap while their master's lives are noble. This is a part of law. Because of this, Zi Mo who wants to get close to the rich and affluent is doing her best to try and escape her servant status. Those does not have a Mu surname tried all means and methods to please those who have the Mu surnames."

"As for Uncle and Aunt, they gave in to greed, wanting to hoard my parent's inheritance. The Academy Elder wants to nurture Spirit masters to maintain his position in the Academy."

"Everyone has their own laws, every profession has its own laws, and every society and group also have their own laws. Only by understanding the laws can we see the situation clearly from the side. Gone with the darkness and embrace the light, moving around the laws with much to spare."

Di Lan thought about his own situation, his heart already clear. "To each of the the branches of Mu family's head, it is to protect his family branch's prosperity and benefits. I have found troubles with their heirs but they will not do anything to me. In fact, they even secretly encourage me."

"The Mo or the Shi family has great influence, so if they risk their reputation and are bent on punishing me, there is nothing I can do to resist them. However, they are not afraid of breaking the rules, but they are afraid that others will follow in their footsteps. In a junior's scuffle, if the elders interfere, it would aggravate the situation. If it involved the higher ups, it'd pose a threat to the entire mountain village. Their fear lied here. What if in future conflicts, others laid their hands on their heir? In the entire family line, a possible heir can only be counted on one hand and a true heir can only be one, so what would happen if he died? This kind of fear, maybe they don't realize it themselves. They are only subconsciously protecting the law."

Di Lan's eyes were clear as he had the perfect grasp and understanding of the matter from start till the end.

"If they are not senile, the branch families will not pursue my actions. Of course, if I had better talent and was at least a silver grade, the families would feel threatened. Even with the loss of their reputation, they would want to suppress a future threat such as myself," Di Lan snickered in his heart.

Strength can be relied on but weakness can also be used as an advantage.

Although Di Lan was in the game of cards with a low value, he was clear of the laws, thus he already had the mentality of a player.

An ordinary character would at most be like Mu Mo Shen or the Academy Elder, also knowing their own laws but unsure of their non-expertise. Being like Di Lan, who had a clear view of the big picture and was clear of the laws were extremely easy yet difficult at the same time.

To understand the laws, one has to be like Long, stumbling around in the dark and wandering about aimlessly.

At this point, power, knowledge, and hope would be useless. One must spend a lot of time going through it themselves and gaining the Experience.

For Long to be able to say out the name of the Law Spirit, this was after spending time. Under the threat of death, he had tried countless of times.

Di Lan was very familiar with law due to his past life experience, living in a world where everything's govern by laws. Thus he was able to look down upon the world and see through its truths and lies. Being meticulous and precise, or getting right to the heart of the matter. I proudly laugh as I stand on top of the world, coldly looking at the people in the world who behaved like pawns, obeying their respective laws, living their lives in a straightforward manner.

Far up the mountains, it was already veiled by the seeping nightfall. The streets nearby were gathered full of people who were going home. Some of them were barefooted, some muddy farmers, some of them herb pickers, some hunters holding mountain pheasants, wild boars and other animals, and some were Spirit masters. They wore a camouflage uniform, looking clean and spirited, a headband and a waist belt completing their appearance.

The belt had a specific function, for Rank one Spirit Masters it was a bronze belt. There was a bronze plate at the front, and a star could be seen. For Rank two Spirit Masters, their belt was silver, and the steel plate in the middle showed two stars.

Sitting at the side of the window, Di Lan observed that there were six to seven Rank one Spirit Masters, and they were mostly young men. There was also a Rank two Spirit Master, a middle aged man.

As for Rank three Spirit Masters, they were the family elders. And fourth or fifth rank would be the clan head, the lord of a village.

Rank five Spirit Masters were hardly seen, and in the entire history of the Mu clan, there were only the second generation clan head and the fifth generation clan head who had reached this level.

"Actually, finding out a clan's strength is very simple. Just find a spot in the village, settle down and observe the people for a few hours, see how many Rank one and Rank two Spirit Masters there are and you'll be able to see the clan's strength and wealth." Di Lan came to a conclusion with his accumulated knowledge from observing on his entire new life.

Using the Mu Yue village as an example, there were around thirty people walking on the streets, and six were Spirit Masters. In these six, there was a 50% chance of having one Rank two Spirit Master.

With this strength and capital, the Mu Clan managed to monopolize one of the best resource locations in Bao Mao Mountain. But the mountain was just a small corner in the entire area of the Southern Region. The Mu clan could only be considered as a low tier clan.

"I have only started my cultivation, and with Rank one initial stage, I do not even have the qualification to roam the Southern Region. I need at least Rank three cultivation to be able to further roam the world," Di Lan sighed as he consumed his dinner.

Bao Mao Mountain was too small; it could not contain his ambitions. "Oh, eternal life.."