Chương 58: Comprehending a Great Dao Just to Make Wine

Having accepted his fate, An waited for the inevitable end. The cold consumed his body, his mind faded, his thoughts dissolved. Suddenly, somewhere in the distance, in this pitch darkness, a green dot began to glow, growing brighter and bigger. Shriveled up, nearly dried out, the blackened thumb on his right hand suddenly twitched. BOOM! Everything around collapsed, compressed, and instantly disappeared." AAAAAH!"

With a soul-tearing scream, he opened his eyes and saw the familiar sky in which three huge moons were faintly visible. His entire body was covered in black veins. His eyes glowed bright green. Lying on his back, the trampled grass around him absorbed his cold sweat, turning black as it withered and died." Gasp … Haaa … Agh …" He couldn't regain his breath. With difficulty rising to a sitting position, he tried to look around.

He finally began to realize that he was still alive, but the strangest thing was the calmness. He felt the exact same calmness now as he had when he first entered that darkness.' I thought I had died again...' Remembering his emotions, his tears, his struggle and unwillingness, he suddenly smiled. Realizing he was alive, along with this emotional lightness, gave him a strange feeling of warmth. Falling back onto the ground, he continued to smile and look at the sky.

After lying like that for a few minutes in the silence of the world around him, he finally closed his eyes and began to check his condition.' Muscles, cells, remaining organs, dantian... Hmm, everything is fine, without any changes.' After checking his physical body, he headed into his inner world.

"Hmm? What's this?" Only opening his eyes in his inner world, he saw a black cloud hovering above his green puddle.

"Don't tell me that's..." Watching for a long time, trying to understand anything, he finally gathered himself and slowly flew up to this cloud. Hovering next to it, he examined the cloud, which consisted of thick and very dense vapor, letting not a single ray of light pass through. The cloud's size was identical to the green puddle beneath it. After thinking for a long time about whether he should or not, he nevertheless touched the cloud.

"Withering… The end of the cycle… The end of everything… Great Dao … The Dao of Death?" The moment he touched it, he was enveloped in that painfully familiar cold. All emotions, all desires, all aspirations, all of it immediately dissolved. He felt the transience and indifference inside this black cloud. But what was strange was the connection between the puddle and the cloud, he could feel both Daos calling and reaching toward each other through him.' But why… Why me?'

He simultaneously understood and did not understand why the second Great Dao had chosen him.

"The Dao of Wood and now the Dao of Death... Isn't that too strange? Beginning and End. Life and Death…" An's face twisted slightly. What scared him even more was the strange connection he felt from both Daos. He didn't understand what to do, or why he even needed this. Shaking his head, realizing that now was not the time for this, he began trying to read information from this Dao of Death.

"All I get is superficial information again." Taking his hand away, realizing that he again couldn't get anything from this Dao, just like from the Dao of Wood, he gave up after a few failed attempts. One last look around his inner world, trying to make sure everything around was fine and that there was no hidden harm from the Dao of Death or those strange visions. Opening his eyes, he threw his gaze at the fruits lying next to him.

Looking at all of them, he realized that they had all rotted into black ash, leaving nothing behind. Remembering the fish, he looked at it, but the fish was also completely decayed to the state of black dust. Reaching out his hand and touching the fish, it simply fell apart. Sitting and looking at this pile of dust, he felt a slight disappointment and a surge of interest, a desire to conduct the experiment with the death flows once more, to try to study them again.

The thought immediately came to him to catch another fish for new experiments.

"For new experiments?" Muttering to himself and shaking his head, he understood how strange and absurd his thoughts were. He had just returned from a strange place that had shown him his own death, and forced him to die a second time. It was all because of his experiments with Death Qi. Yet the moment he returned and came to his senses, his subconscious wanted to continue. Not knowing whom to listen to, his subconscious or logic, An suddenly froze.' Wait…

before, the Dao of Wood constantly sent signals that it needed something. And when I tried to interact with it, all I got was essentially rejection; in the end, I could only forcefully use a few particles of this energy during the experiment with the fruits.'' But now, when the cloud of the Dao of Death is hovering over the Dao of Wood, it has fallen silent, and no longer demands, no longer calls for anything… What if I give it a try?' He sat in a lotus position and concentrated.

Extending an open palm before himself, he gave a mental command. The next moment, he felt energy burst from his dantian and begin to follow its standard path through his physical body. At the same time, the Dao of Death in his inner world suddenly shook. Accepting his command, it issued an order, and the Qi still traveling through his body suddenly changed from its usual transparent form to black. A mass of black energy appeared in his palm. There was nothing but Death Qi inside this black energy.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Black as darkness, radiating cold and gloom. What greatly surprised him was the very color and nature of this Death Qi. The Death flows that had previously come out of the fish were black, but not so saturated, and the density and purity were like heaven and earth.' All the neutral flows I see around, which have no signature, never have color, they are always transparent, regardless of the dominant element.

Only Death Qi has always had a dark, blackish tint.' He gave a mental command, and the black energy in his hand immediately changed color to transparent, with a faint green hue at its base.' My signature Qi has always had a greenish tint… When converting my energy into other elements, the color always remains dull, retaining that transparency characteristic of neutral Qi…' He began converting the energy into other elements. Suddenly, the energy became saturated green, on par with Death Qi.' Qi from the Dao of Wood…

Density and purity identical to Death Qi… But instead of cold, I feel warmth and life.'' Qi enriched with the energy of the Great Dao doesn't increase my power, it only makes my energy different, closer to Qi itself…' An suddenly channeled energy into both hands and created two energies: Wood Qi and Death Qi. Slowly, he began to bring his hands toward each other. Immediately, his entire back was covered in cold and hot sweat, his whole body began to shake, and his vision began to darken."

Haaa! Haa!" Tearing his hands apart and removing the energies from his palms, he fell face-first into the ground and began to fight the newly reemerging shortness of breath." O-oh... S-so, merging is i-impossible!" Spasms racked his body, and he couldn't even stop the trembling in his limbs. His entire body had received too much of an overload.

Lying on the ground half-curled, his muscles still twitching, An smiled helplessly, amused by this dangerous new knowledge, but the main reason he was glad was that he had finally used these Daos. It wasn't exactly as he had expected, but the first step had already been taken.

"I'll t-t-try merging when I br-break through to Foundation Establishment... Aaag!" Lying in the fetal position, he tried to begin a cultivation cycle, thereby switching off and calming down both mentally and physically faster. Finally successfully starting a cultivation cycle, he remained curled up on the ground for a long time, during which he didn't try too hard to attract particles from the environment, so as not to overstrain his mind.

With his face buried in the ground, he finally completed this cycle successfully. Turning over and making sure he had recovered enough, he looked around, examining the energy flows through the tall grass before him and the thickets in the distance, not missing a single corner; only then did he make sure he was safe. Rising to his feet, he flew up to the nearest tree, and having reached its top, sat comfortably on its branches.' Let's see, maybe I can age a fruit now if I do it like this...'

Taking out a fruit, he held it in his hand and slowly began applying Death Qi. Carefully bringing the two energies together, he watched as the fruit began to become covered in dark spots, growing softer and softer, until it simply turned to mush across his palm, becoming a black paste.' Almost. In the end, from the very first seconds of exposure, the fruit simultaneously aged and developed rotten areas… What if I try a little differently?'

An began to act more slowly, carefully using only one particle of Death Qi at a time. Only when it stopped conflicting and dissolved inside the fruit's energy, only then did An use the second particle, and so on, until he was holding the pulp of an overripe fruit in his hand, without any black rot." Haha!"

An suddenly laughed, bringing the pulp to his nose and inhaling the faint aroma of alcohol. With burning eyes, he immediately began imagining how many different wines he could now make.

'I have attracted and comprehended a Great Dao just to make wine… If I tell anyone, they won't believe it…' With a satisfied face, he brushed off his hand, removing all traces with Qi.' The main problem with making wine is solved, now all that's left is to figure out something for the vessels I'll store it in…' He himself couldn't believe that his mind was now occupied not with surprise and astonishment at having comprehended two Great Daos, but with making booze.

But he understood the reason, his strange and slightly unnatural calmness. As if, having experienced the feelings of inevitability again and finally accepted it all, he had found that golden mean. Sitting on the branches, he took out the bottle from which he had been drinking earlier. Shaking it in his hands, he realized that less than a third remained. He frowned slightly. Uncorking the bottle, he began to drink slowly from its neck, savoring each sip.

"The main thing is not to become an alcoholic… Although, first I'd need to get drunk and develop a dependency, which is impossible, I hope…" Swinging the bottle in his hand, occasionally taking a sip, he began to mutter to himself.' Because of my high vitality, I can't get drunk even if I drink by the barrel. I'm not sure even one hundred percent alcohol could have any effect. As for dependency… I'm not sure a physical dependency wouldn't develop if I drink every day… It could just become a habit.''

As for alcohol and intoxication, what if I use stupefying and mind-clouding fruits… Even though I hate illusions and mind games… This is slightly different, when I do it deliberately, so to speak, knowing what effect awaits me.' Continuing to take sips, he watched as a small family of thirty black rats with six legs and the size of bears ran up to the lake and began filling their pouch-like bellies with water, much like kangaroos.

Continuing to drink and think, he began comparing, as in the novels he had read, cultivators constantly drank tea every day, making a ceremony of it. If this wine didn't give him real intoxication, only psychological relaxation, then essentially, he could use this wine as ordinary tea, until he found something more interesting, something he liked better.' Until then, you'll be my tea!' He leaned against the tree and continued to watch the lake.

Resting on the branches like this for a few hours, he took his last sip. Tilting the bottle and tapping its bottom to get the last drops, he activated his Qi, converted it to the Water element, created a small amount of water and began to rinse the bottle. After removing all traces, he converted the energy to Fire Qi and burned the bottle from the inside, then set it down next to himself.

Opening his pouch and taking out more than ten different fruits he had found during these days of wandering, he cut them up with Qi and placed them inside the bottle. Having packed everything in, he activated Death Qi and began aging these pieces. Carefully watching the process, he waited until the fruits had aged to the perfect level and turned as soft as pulp, then removed all traces of Death energy. Using his Qi, he began to mix them, making a homogeneous mass, like fruit puree.

All this time, he made sure their Qi flows did not mix. He decided to try making wine with several flavors at once, rather than like the monkey wine, which had only one flavor note." Oh! Not bad puree… And very sweet, which is good!" Having achieved a uniform blend, An scooped some up and tasted it. Wrinkling his face at the massive amount of sugar inside this fruit pulp, he created water and poured it into the bottle.

Placing the bottle before himself, he closed it loosely with the old cork, making a small hole in the middle.' I hope it works and I haven't wasted all those fruits... I wonder how long I'll have to wait now?' Holding the bottle in his hands, he smiled and put it into his pouch, placing it in a separate corner, away from everything, in case it suddenly exploded.' When this event is over, I'll need to try to find a book on making alcohol, maybe I'll get lucky. But for now… No, one is enough for today!'

He shook his head, tying the pouch back around his stomach.' It's starting to get light. That means only two days remain.' Exhaling, he raised his gaze, watching the sun rise on the horizon, replacing the three stubborn moons.' I still have enough time to find as many sweet fruits as possible... and spirit plants!' Jumping from one tree to another, he rushed off to patrol around the lake and the surrounding area in search of spirit plants and fruits.