Solitary Sword Sovereign 76 Intricacies of the Dao

Still being in battle mode, Will was befuddled by Modus' appearance. It was like being in the middle of a sprint only to have someone jump out, asking you to immediately stop. It was a very uncomfortable sensation, but Will had no choice but to do exactly that. Ignius was far stronger than he was, so giving chase would be pointless… not to mention the imposing figure who was in front of him.

Will sheathed his sword and did not hide his displeasure: he looked at Modus with a gaze full of resentment.

"Look, I can see you have a lot of questions about what just happened... Unfortunately, I have no obligation to answer any of your questions! Haha..." Laughed Modus.

Will's brows furrowed in annoyance.

Modus sighed, "Listen, Will, you can't afford the knowledge you desire, just be happy with what you have."

"...and what is that supposed to mean?"

"What I'm saying is; check the price and pay attention!"

Will opened his mouth but didn't know quite what to say. After processing what Modus had just said he finally had the right words on the tip of his tongue.

"Modus, you listen to Weezy?"

Modus put on the expression of a man who was wise beyond reproach, a man who had experienced the vicissitudes of life in countless different forms.

"Indeed, I have listened to the poems from the small man named Wayne. He has a gift with words and speaks in truly profound ways."

Will slapped his cheeks to make sure he was not hallucinating.

'Did he just call Lil Wayne profound?'

Will was a Lil Wayne fan himself. It would not be too far-fetched to say that he had memorized all of his songs before the descent of the system.

Will was about to enter fan mode but quickly realized that now was not the time or place. Modus was a hard man to see. Finally having a chance to talk with him, Will wanted to use that time wisely.

'Still, judging from what he is saying, he won't tell me squat. Looks like I will have to figure this out myself...'

"Ehem, I did, however, come to assist you."

Will raised a brow in surprise, he was not expecting some assistance from this sadistic man. Modus noticed Will's apprehensive look and smiled wryly.

"Listen, young man, so far you have done well. Much better than what I expected."

Will had always been unsure about his performances so far because Modus was an immortal, who knows what standards he had. Hearing this removed some weight from Will's shoulders.

"Now I am confident you are worthy to receive my teachings. It's time to give you some lessons." Before Will could react, Modus raised his hand and snapped his finger. The duo immediately disappeared from the ice sheet in the sky.

Next thing Will knew, he was in a beautiful garden. It was decorated with beautiful flowers of all kinds. There was a big pond close to where he was standing, and next to it were a table and two chairs. It was the same place where Modus had taken him before, the place where he had comprehended Bloodlust and Radiant Energy.

"Please, take a seat." Modus gestured for Will to sit down at the chair opposite to him.

Will could only sigh and immediately complied: he knew that this was a huge chance, a chance to learn from Modus, so he behaved and followed the sadistic Immortal's instructions. After Will was seated, Modus nodded and began his explanation.

"When it comes to martial arts, there are many ways to classify them. One of the classifications is in regard to how one learns a martial art or skill. In general, martial arts can be classified as orthodox or unorthodox. Orthodox martial arts are martial arts with some kind of stance; a Form. How to attack, where to attack, the angle, speed, trajectory, technique, everything is given in detail about how the technique is supposed to be executed. Most martial arts are orthodox, as it is easier to learn when a lot of information is provided. Most of the basic martial arts you use are like this."

"Unorthodox techniques are the opposite. They have no definite form and only contain an essence. Once one captures that essence, they have already learned the basics of the technique. An example of such a technique is your True Strike. It can be performed with any weapon and or body part, so long as one has the essence of the technique and the prerequisites of energy and intent.

"Unlike orthodox techniques, however, there is another requirement to mastering unorthodox techniques. That is Intent. Unorthodox techniques are much harder to learn than orthodox ones, but in return, they are much, much more powerful. Once mastered, they allow the user to completely alter them to the user's needs. This results in every mastered unorthodox technique differing from another. Look."

Modus opened his hands and two blobs of water appeared, floating above the palms. One blob became a cube of water, while the other remained ever-changing, mutating in shape every second.

"The cube represents orthodox martial arts. Orderly, easy to comprehend, straight-forward.

"This other one represents unorthodox techniques. Will, you are a extremely talented in swordsmanship, one might even say you were destined to become as sword immortal, but you are far too focused on your swordsmanship, neglecting your other power..."

The cube disappeared, leaving the blob that was constantly changing shape in the air.

"You can be described as having two skills; the sword and water. You have made quite a bit of progress in your sword arts, or rather to be more specific, your orthodox sword arts, whereas your water arts are lagging behind."

"Before I continue to illustrate this, let me explain the elements: water, fire, wood, earth, and metal. Each of these elements have properties. Water and fire elements have the formless aspect, thus those like you who have water or fire abilities have an advantage when it comes to learning unorthodox techniques. Water puts out fire and rusts metal, water gives life to wood and washes away the earth. Fire burns wood and can melt metal and earth. Wood grows from the earth and gains life from water, it can grow around anything and restrains all with form. Earth gives life to wood and can hold water. Metal can poisonwood, becomes formless under fire, has a kinship to earth, and can also make water impure.

Each of the intents that are derived from the elements come with these traits. These intents are vast and very difficult to master, but their uses are nearly infinite. Look at water: it has an effect on all four other elements! Which means if you play your cards right, with water intent you can be invincible! Well in theory of course...

There are simply far too many intents within the Dao of water, and you can't possibly master them all, so it is best to focus on one aspect of water. After observing you, and seeing your ability to adapt to any situation, I believe you are perfectly suited to touching upon the Dao of Formlessness!"

Modus stood up and manipulated the water. It floated away from his palm and inserted itself into the ground: within seconds that piece of land had changed from a damp stretch of grassy earth into a long river, filled with multiple bends, stretching into the horizon. A few rocks were even jutting out of the water like spikes.

"Alright young man, enter the water!"

…

"Listen carefully now;

In the past, to cultivate, one needed to be able to feel the World Energy in an environment and take it into one's body. One's own aptitude determined whether one would become a Mage or a Warrior. Some bodies could only produce a Warrior's Qi, whereas, others could only produce a Mage's Mana."

"There were three major factors that determined the quality of one's energy. The first was talent, which involved one's elemental affinity. The second was hard work, which depended on the amount of effort one would put in their cultivation. The third and last was the cultivation method one would use.

"In that world, all Qi and Mana were made up of at least one of the five

major elements. These are earth, fire, wood, water, and metal.

Most beings were born with little to no elemental affinity at all. Some were born with a high affinity to one element. Talented people were born with an affinity towards 2 elements. Prodigies with affinities to 3 or more elements were as rare as unicorns. One could even say they were practically myths."

"Cultivation methods were instruction manuals on how to move Mana or Qi around your body in certain paths. In order for one to achieve the desired effect, like in an electric circuit, the more time one moved their energy around one's body in a particular path, the higher the quality of energy one would possess and the greater the capacity one's body had for energy.

This energy moved in blood vessels but was intangible and did not affect bodily functions. It only moved according to one's will.

Although having an affinity to multiple elements had advantages, it could also have disadvantages."

"For example, if one's body had a perfect affinity to two elements, one could say he was a once in a lifetime prodigy. After all, it was better for one to have a perfect affinity to two elements than to have an average affinity to three. For affinity affects the speed of one's cultivation. In other words, it was how quickly one absorbed World Energy. You, young man, currently possess a near perfect affinity for water!"

Currently, Will was floating on the surface of the river with his eyes closed. He was going downstream, allowing the current to do what it pleased with him.

"The Water Gate within you is already within your grasp... Feel it, bring it out! Imagine yourself as a tiny drop of water, circulating as one of countless within the tumultuous river that we call space."

Initially, Will's body would often bump into the stones that jutted out of the river. As time went on, however, there was a change, almost as if there was no impact when Will hit the rocks! No sound, no impact, nothing! His body would just slither around the rock as if his bones were made out of liquid rubber.

This was not the first time Will had attempted such an exercise. In King Yama's Gate, he had done this quite a few times, but back then he had not known what he was doing. All he had been trying to do was to build a connection with the water and try to understand it more. He had been like a bird flying blind in the vast skies...

But now, he had eyes!

He had the greatest eyes in the universe to guide him!

Chapter end