Chapter 349: Breaking Through
Jacks Dao Tree erupted. All its restrained energy was released at once. The Dao Roots below it roared, the Life Drop glowed brilliant, and the entire Dao of the Fist heralded the arrival of a new lord.
Below the trees base was Jacks Dao Seed surrounded by his four Dao Rootsthese five each represented a finger, forming a multicolored fist. From index to pinky, they were silver, red, green, and blackIndomitable Will, Power, Life, and Weaknessthe four Dao Roots hed developed during the F and E-Grades. Covering them was the thumb, a strong purple color representing the Fist itself, Jacks core Dao.
These five Daos formed a fist which floated in the middle of Jacks soul world, aimed downward. Buried at the wrist of this hand was a green lightthe Life Dropand over it grew the Dao Tree.
This tree was nine feet tall. It pulsed with life, breathing the Dao of the Fist, its bark a bright wood with hints of purple. Branches stuck out from the upper part of the tree, extending in all directions. They were covered in leavesa lively green color, each verdant and full of energy. Jack had nourished this tree well. A crown of leaves covered its top, while a door was embedded on its trunk, almost a pattern of the bark.
However, while this tree grew from the Dao of the Fist, it bore little resemblance to it. The tree was lively, but emptya fountain of power yet unclaimed. This was not Jacks fault. It was the nature of the D-Grade.
In the F-Grade, a cultivator enhanced themselves and chose a Dao to follow.
In the E-Grade, they walked down the road of that Dao, deepening their comprehension and supplementing it with secondary concepts, slowly creating a Dao best suited to themselves. To break through, they had to cement their foundation and Dao.
These two Grades were the foundational part of the Road to Mastery.
Starting from the D-Grade, that foundation was built upon. A cultivator walked hand-in-hand with their Dao, attuning themselves to it, filling it with power. The Dao Tree sprouted from the Dao Seed, and the main job of a cultivator in the D-Grade was to nourish it and make it grow.
Therefore, the D-Grade was not about intense Dao exploration. It was a long consolidation phase, where a cultivator digested everything they had created in the previous Grades and grew to their potential, so they could later use it as the basis to delve deeper into the worlds Dao.
This was also the reason why, throughout the D-Grade, Jack had focused on leveling up rather than comprehending the Dao.
The Dao Blooming was the transformation that occurred between the D and C-Grades. By now, a cultivators tree had reached its peak. It could grow no more. That peak was signified by the blooming of flowers, each serving as a conduit of the cultivators Dao and enhancing their power by a small degree.
Of course, if a cultivators Dao was weak or unstable, their tree could stop growing at any point, and they would remain stuck at that level forever. In the same vein, if they could not prove their Daos sufficiency before the universe, then their Dao Blooming would fail midway and never advance further.
Jack hoped his Dao was excellent. He had no indications otherwise. He hoped to bloom with dazzling radiance, then advance into the C-Grade and eventually condense nine fruits, each signifying a different manifestation of his Dao.
But he could never be too sure. There were records of bright geniuses who fell at this steppeople who had radiated excellence across the entire universe, only for their halo to shatter as their Dao was deemed inferior.
Those were people who drew power from various sources, like treasures or artificial means. They could possess power at the early stages of cultivation, but the farther one advanced, the more everything converged to the Dao. All external help was useless.
That was why, as Jack faced his Dao Tree that was about to bloom, he was overcome with doubt.
What if my Dao is weak? he asked himself. What if the reason for my power is my titles, my luck, or the Life Drop? What if my Fist is not solid enough?
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What if my journey ends here?
It was hard to contain ones nerves when the universe was about to pass judgment. There was nobody here to share his burden. Strangely, even Copy Jack was absentthe mystical energies of the Dao Blooming had pushed him away as if the universe demanded Jacks complete attention.
The tree erupted with purple power. Fists flew outeach stronger than the last, shooting into the void like comets. A thick column of purple shot to heights untold. The energy of the tree was being quickly spent, the eruption dying down.
Jack took a deep breath. In the real world, the Dao Stones surrounding him lost their luster. A cloud of pure Dao rose from them, so intense that it formed into mist, unfettered by mundane things like gravity or cold. Jack breathed in deeply, sucking that energy into his body. Half the mist was gone at once. His entire being felt bloated, but this was not Life energyit could not be assimilated into his body. All he could do was manically stuff it down his soul, forcing it into the Dao Tree even as most of it dissipated.
The eruption of purple energy intensified. A wind blew in Jacks soul world, so powerful that it pushed him back. The purple column flared, shooting into the void as if to pierce the heavens. Jack was already like an ant before it, a mere mortal before the might of the universebut it was his universe, and his might.
The purple column was wasted energy. The tree did not know how to bloom. He had to force it.
All doubts faded. His mind became the Fist. The Dao roared. The void trembled.
With a shout, Jack raised his hands and gripped them into fists. A tremendous force surged out of every inch of this soul space, locking the erupting column in place. The energy sought to escape, but Jack did not let it. This world was under his command. He controlled it.
With a second shout, Jack punched down. The rampant energy went wild. It crashed into the column, surrounding and suppressing it. The Fist resisted. It did not seek to be controlled. The sound was like drilling glass, the spectacle apocalyptic. Jacks soul world lost its colors, and the void collapsed as his willpower fought his own Dao. He was left floating in darkness, with only himself and his Dao remaining intact.
His eyes were bloodshot. The trees energy had stopped shooting up, but it remained above it. It needed to return inside.
For the third time, Jack pushed down. His head was about to crack. This was too difficultbut he would persist until he died. That was his path. That was the Dao of the Fist.
The Dao issued a piercing cry. His willpower clamped down, reversing the flow of energy and sinking it back into the Dao Tree. The tree shook, its bark flaking, almost unable to contain the energy within. It looked about to burst, and Jacks chest was swollen by pressure.
Not enough!
He breathed in again. The remaining mist of the Dao Stones was sucked in, enhancing the Dao in his soul world. The pressure shot up another level, as if he was about to explode. The Dao madly yearned release.
Jacks eyes were bloodshot. His every instinct told him to let go or he would die, but he only pressed down harder. His soul world shook. Cracks formed everywhere, revealing an even deeper darkness.
With the groan of splintering wood, a crack appeared on the bark, crossing over the Life Drops door. The energy demanded to be released, but Jack refused to let it.
Kill me if you must, but I will never yield!
His shout echoed across the soul world, seeping into the cracks, intensifying the already catastrophic war. He was past the point of no return. If he let the Dao go now, he would never recover.
The Dao Tree shuddered. The energy needed to be vented, but it couldnt. The pressure kept mounting, until Jacks entire soul was only a hairline away from shattering.
And then, he crossed that line. His Dao Tree gave out. It finally realized Jack would never let goand, at the precipice of death, it was forced to find another way.
Energy rushed to the branches, then to the leaves. One after another, tiny shapes appearedpurple flowers, each glowing like a meteor in the night. The tree had been on the verge of collapsing, but now it stopped. After the first few flowers, more formed. They came faster and faster. The branches were filled with purple, petals falling and dancing in the wind. The excess energy was slowly consumed, used to form these flowers, and the rest discovered that it could use these flowers to freely exit the tree, shooting out like jets of purple.
Jacks dark soul world was illuminated. The tree became a purple sun as energy flew everywhere, circling around the soul world to re-enter the tree through its roots. More and more flowers formed, populating the branches and contrasting the leaves. Jack could feel his Dao strengthening at a rapid rate, his control rising, his Dao repository deepening. Just these flowers were a tremendous benefit to his cultivation.
His entire body was wracked with leftover pain, as it had almost exploded, but Jack was used to it. Pain was a friend nowthe sign of progress.
However, it was too late to be happy. The Dao Blooming had begun in earnest, but that was the easy partany cultivator could do it with enough resources and strong willpower.
Now came the hard part.
The blooming would continue for some time, no longer needing his guidance. At this moment, however, Jack felt a gargantuan existence lock onto him. It was like the world itself stared over. He felt tinysmaller than a grain of sand before the ocean.
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