Dao Treasure

Yaan returned to the peak of Heavenly Path Mountain by Elia's side with a wooden sword in his hand. As they returned, Elia couldn't help but throw a few strange glances towards the sword, which Yaan hadn't explained anything about as of yet.

Until he confirmed beyond any doubt that he was correct about what was going on, Yaan would prefer not to say anything about this bizarre matter. Upon returning to Elia's temple, he apologetically asked her to leave him alone while he analysed the sword. Fortunately, Elia was very accommodating, even after witnessing something that went beyond her understanding of the world. She also trusted Yaan and knew that he would explain everything in time.

And so, Yaan sat alone in the cave abode below Elia's temple, the same cave that he spent 32 years meditating in in seclusion. He examined the sword for some time as he pondered where to go from here. Eventually, he decided to speak.

"June, can you hear me? Could you return to your human form?"

The sword immediately glowed with white light after Yaan finished speaking. Moments later, the young woman from before, who strongly resembled Yaan's original self, reappeared.

She knelt opposite from Yaan and beamed an innocent smile at him. Her smile was filled with joy and curiosity, making Yaan unable to restrain himself from smiling back.

"June…do you know who you are? What you are?"

"June! I'm June!"

"Haha, yes, it would seem that way…"

Yaan laughed wryly when her smile widened and she showed a proud expression. She clearly felt that by answering his question 'correctly', she had done something good. It was obvious that she was like a child in her outlook and understanding of the world, probably because she had only just gained this form, and she had never before conversed with another living being.

"What do you remember about your life, June?" Yaan asked after thinking about how he could get her to talk.

Unfortunately, her limited understanding of the spoken language made it impossible for him to get any sort of decent response out of her. She didn't seem to understand the question and tilted her head with a look of confusion.

"Remember? Life?"

"Hah…" Yaan sighed and rubbed his forehead, now realising that before anything else, he would need to teach her how to speak properly.

When she saw his expression, the young woman showed a worried look, so Yaan quickly smiled at her and patted her head. Immediately, her face lit up and she laughed happily.

'Well, whatever, I have some time before my Nirvana Death Heavenly Calamity, and it's not like I need to prepare anything special. This is as good a use of my time as any.' Yaan chuckled and shook his head. He cleared his mind of all other thoughts, and set about teaching this…woman…to speak.

He expected that he would need to spend at least a few weeks before she would be able to converse like an adult and hold a proper conversation, but it seemed that Yaan had still underestimated the young woman's ability to learn. Her memory was fantastic - she was able to memorise anything that she heard immediately, and her ability to grasp the meaning behind his words surpassed all common sense.

Yaan knew that this was probably his own influence. Somehow, he had refined a highly intelligent and sentient sword from the tree, which he felt certain was born after his baby sister's soul fused into a stray plant in a freak 'coincidence'.

'Coincidence, huh…' Yaan thought to himself as she shook his head. He looked ahead at the young woman, who had taken on his late baby sister's name, June, and once again thought to himself…that this was too much to be a coincidence.

'Fate…the 'fate' in my life has always been inexplicable, but I had thought that this was all the Primordial Sage's doing. However, this has nothing to do with the Sage; this is truly a twist of fate. Karmic fate…I still don't fully understand it, but I have no doubt that in this world, there seems to be some sort of fate governing the flow of events. And somehow, my dao path is intertwined with this fate…'

"Hey Yaan, Yaan!"

When June called out to him and leaned in close, now speaking much more fluently compared to ten days earlier, Yaan shook his head and brought himself back to the present.

"Sorry, June, I was lost in thought. Anyway…do you understand everything now?"

Towards his question, June nodded slowly. Yaan had not only taught her to speak during these last ten days, he had also explained her origins and existence to him, which she hadn't understood at all until hearing it from Yaan's mouth. Instinctively, she knew that Yaan was someone close to her - she was his sword after all - but it was only after listening to Yaan recount the past, that she came to learn how and why she had ended up this way.

"I understand, Yaan…hundreds of years ago, I was your baby sister, June. But then, I was killed, and my soul fused into a plant. The plant grew into a tree, and that tree was me…until you returned home, and your touch turned me into the new me, your sword!"

"Right, that's more or less everything." Yaan nodded, not minding her overly simplistic summary of this very complicated situation. "Is there anything else you want to ask me, June? Are you feeling alright with this situation? I did go ahead and refine you into a sword after all…your life is now bound to mine, this cannot be undone."

Yaan certainly felt strange about this turn of events. When he thought about it, wasn't this the first time that he had even refined a treasure? And he actually refined his sister into a sword! For anyone else, this would be a life-shaking event, but Yaan couldn't help but feel like this sort of absurd development was just typical for him.

"Hmm…" June showed a pondering expression, tilting her head to the side as she rested one finger on her lips. Although she had learned to speak properly now, she was still very child-like in her demeanour. Yaan didn't know if this was because she was still young and she would change over time, or if this was just the way that she was.

In the end, she smiled brightly and shook her head.

"I think it's fine, isn't it? I don't really remember anything about being a baby or a tree, so to me, I'm just me, and Yaan is just Yaan! If I can be your little sister and your sword at the same time, isn't that really amazing?"

"Haha, I guess you're right." Yaan smiled and nodded, causing June's smile to beam even brighter than before.

He smiled, but on the inside, he did have one worry. Originally, he had left seclusion and made his way down to Lightstone Village because he didn't want to think about his doubts regarding the main body, but now, those doubts resurfaced in full force.

June had become a type of treasure that Yaan completely didn't recognise, but he could tell that she was bound to the core of his life and fate. However…was she specifically tied to him, the Dao Clone of Qi…or was her connection to the core main body? No, most importantly, was there even any difference between these two distinctions…?

He couldn't help but wonder, what would the main body choose to do when it woke up? He had no clue what the main body's plan was, and when he thought about it, he also had no idea when the main body would wake up, or even how it would wake up. That said, since he had always been filled with the desire to strive for the Immortal Step, it made sense to assume that there would be change when he reached the Immortal Step; perhaps somehow, the main body would reawaken at that point…

But then, what would become of him? What would happen to June? Would the main body reunite with the three Dao Clones, choosing to continue cooperating with them? But, when the main body awoke…would it even need the three Dao Clones anymore?

This was the core concern shared by the three Dao Clones. Perhaps if they understood the main body's plan, they wouldn't feel concerned, even if the truth was that their lives would reach an end once the main body woke up. It was the fact that they didn't know what was going on that worried them.

And now, the silver-haired Yaan had one more cause for concern.

Was June his treasure, or was she the main body's treasure? When the main body woke up, would he take June away? Would he even care about her…?

With another sigh, Yaan shook his head.

'I still don't even understand what sort of treasure June is, she doesn't seem to fit into any of the classifications that I'm aware of. She's neither a Foundation Step, Immortal Step nor Divine Step treasure, but how can that be the case? Is she some sort of World Treasure, existing outside of these typical distinctions…?'

Yaan's thoughts once again drifted in this direction, but like always, he was getting nowhere just by thinking about it. Even though June was his treasure, he didn't really understand her at all. He knew that if he wanted to better understand her, he would need to try using her in her sword form.

This was his plan, but before Yaan could try anything, a voice sounded out from across the cave, startling both him and June as the voice replied to his internal thoughts.

"She is a Dao Treasure."

Yaan narrowed his eyes and looked across the cave. At first, the unexpected answer to his own internal thoughts was a surprise, but when he saw the source of this voice, he quickly calmed himself, because he had expected that she might show herself eventually.

"Yaan, who's that?" June shuffled closer to his side and whispered into his ears whilst eyeing the intruder cautiously.

"She's called the Primordial Sage…" Yaan explained calmly. He stood up and turned to face the Sage, planning to question her about these 'Dao Treasures' which he had never heard about until now.

However, the Sage was able to read his mind, so he didn't even get to ask his question before she answered for him.

"Dao Treasures are all unique, they do not abide by the conventional reasoning of other treasures. Dao Treasures are also the only type of treasure that can be taken outside of the Origin, into the vast expanse of Chaos."

The Sage paused briefly, turning her sharp gaze towards June. As her emerald eyes shone in the darkness of the cave, the Sage's gaze made June feel unnerved, causing her to grab Yaan's arm tensely.

"There are very few Dao Treasures in this world, they are by far the rarest form of existence, even more rare than Gods. However, a Dao Treasure can only be used by its creator, because it is bound by the Dao Soul itself. Even so, every Dao Treasure is highly coveted by the divinities in this world, due to their excellence as research materials…"

Yaan became slightly tense, which didn't go unnoticed by the Sage. Since she was able to read his mind, he couldn't hide anything from her, making him feel like an open book.

The Sage glanced at Yaan and said:

"I have no desire to take this Dao Treasure from you. A Dao Treasure grows alongside its master's dao, meaning that right now, this one is too weak and undeveloped. My sole interest lies in observing your path and growth, this includes the development of your Dao Treasure."

Yaan opened his mouth to speak, but then paused.

As suddenly as she came, the Sage vanished.

"Tch." Yaan narrowed his eyes and tutted to himself.

Even though the Primordial Sage had helped him in multiple ways since his rebirth onto the Spirit Plane, her strength and ability to read his mind still unnerved him to no end. At most, she could be considered a temporary ally due to their overlapping goals, but Yaan was under no delusion that this alliance would last for ever.