"You ready to go?" Shen Jing's voice drifted into Alex's ear. That meant he was close by. However, even with his nearly 170 meters wide spiritual sense, he couldn't pinpoint Shen Jing at all.
"Just after I'm done with this," Alex said as he dodged a poison shot from the insect in front of him.
Alex wasn't even sure if the insect was the right term to be used here. The beast in front of him was a 3 meters tall ant-like beast with a rather thin, circular body, with 8 spider-like legs coming out of it.
Its dark-brown skin with a furry body made it look nothing like any insects Alex knew of. Not to mention the many dozens of small eyes on its head and the straw-like mouth which it used to spit poison at him.
Alex didn't dodge because of the poison, but rather the force behind each shot of the poison.
The insect's exoskeleton was strong enough to handle most attacks, and its poison shots were enough to scrape off his outer skin which gave him a burning sensation that he didn't like.
Alex's sword glowed white, with no hint of any other Qi, and occasionally strayed out white flickers of light as if someone were hammering on a hot piece of iron.
Alex dodged past the incoming poison shot and dashed beneath the insect's massive legs to strike at one of its legs.
However, as if steel hitting steel, his sword only rang in his hands and did nothing whatsoever to the beast.
Its hide was way too strong. "Of course, it would be," Alex thought. "It is a True Lord 7th Realm beast after all."
Alex fought for a few minutes more, trying to find some way to beat the insect, which was clearly a defensive beast when he heard Shen Jing's voice again.
"You might miss the opening if you don't leave now," he said.
Alex started. He didn't know what this Demon realm was but if Shen Jing was talking about it, then he definitely didn't want to miss it.
Aura flared around him as the originally white blade started glowing golden as well.
Alex then zipped past the insect and hit the insect through its underbelly. As if opening a zipper on a jacket, a long gash appeared on the insect's body that opened fully and the entrails of the beast flopped out.
Just like that, the beast was dead. Shen Jing appeared next to him and said, "Not bad."
Alex could finally see him through his senses and turned to face Shen Jing. "How much of a hurry are we in? Do I have time to get some of this beast's parts?" he asked.
"Hahaha, I was joking. Do what you want. There is still a day before the realm opens," Shen Jing said.
Alex was about to frown, but he stopped his face from showing any changes. Instead, he just nodded and started carving out the eyes, heart, and the monster core of the insect.
The eyes alone took him about 15 minutes to carve out as he had to be careful not to pop them.
Shen Jing looked at Alex as used his golden claw to carve the core out and said, "That's quite a bad technique, you know."
Alex turned around with his monster core and asked, "Sorry?"
"What you're doing right now. That's bad," Shen Jing said. "Always find a meridian path for your technique for maximum efficiency."
"Is that so?" Alex said. "It's a technique I created, so I just randomly bring out my Qi," he said.
"I can see that," Shen Jing said. "Attack me with that claw."
Alex raised an eyebrow with curiosity, but asked no question and instead simply attacked.
As his golden claw scratched against what was clearly flesh, the claws disappeared as if they were made up of sand.
"See? It's weak. Also, I bet it takes quite a lot of Qi to use that," Shen Jing said. "I know you are just making this technique, but try to find a correct path for it and you will find the efficiency increase by a lot."
"Same for your Sun-making technique. I didn't say anything as I needed something to strain your meridians at the time, but now that they seem very wide and flexible, you can try out different paths for it as well," he said.
Alex thought to himself. 'Hm, so that means there is not just one way to form a technique huh? Just like there is not just one recipe for the same pill.'
'However, with each variation, it can be improved upon. A proper path and a proper intent, with these two things, any techniques can be strengthened,' Alex thought.
Shen Jing had a wry look on his face as he looked at the sky. The Worldly laws had stirred again.
"You are in the right direction, but you are mistaken about something it seems," Shen Jing suddenly said.
"Sorry?" Alex asked.
"The thing you were thinking about just now. Whatever you were thinking of, you are making a mistake somewhere," Shen Jing said.
'He can read my minds?' Alex thought with surprise. He didn't know there was such a skill.
"What am I mistaken about, brother Shen?" he asked.
"I don't know," Shen Jing said. "What did you learn just now, tell me."
Alex frowned but still told him what he had just learned about path and intent.
"Ah! I see," Shen Jing said. "So that's what you were learning about. Well, I can see where you are mistaken there."
"Oh," Alex looked surprised. "Where am I mistaken?"
Shen Jing shook his head. "I can't tell you," he said. "I will only be harming your future prospects if I tell you right now."
Alex was confused now. "How would you be harming my future by teaching me something I don't know?" he asked. The words coming out of Shen Jing contradicted themselves.
Shen Jing sighed. "Let's leave, I will tell you on the way."
The two of them started flying, but Shen Jing didn't speed up at all and went along at Alex's pace.
"What you are trying to learn, or actually have already learned, is called a Dao."
"A Dao is a fundamental law of the world that anyone can learn if they contemplate on it enough. However, you also need to have the talent for it."
"The Dao of techniques is what you were trying to learn just now. It's certainly one of the weaker Dao that won't even help you in battle. But if you were to look into making techniques, this would certainly help you," Shen Jing said.
"Dao…" Alex softly said to himself. "I've learned a Dao before?"
"Your explosions. You learned how to do it yourself right? Even the world helps you perform it," Shen Jing said.
"Ah!" Alex realized. "That's a Dao?"
"Yes, and see how strong it is," Shen Jing said.
"So, why can you not teach me about the Dao of techniques? You said I was mistaken right?" Alex asked.
"A Dao only comes down from the heaven when you are enlightened about a technique. The more information you get about a Dao from someone else, the less likely you are to obtain that Dao because you did not earn it yourself."
"Which is why I don't want to explain to you anything. Certainly, there is a chance that you have enough knowledge and understanding of this Dao yourself that my help isn't accounted for much, but if there is the slightest chance that you may falter because of me, I think it's better I just shut up," Shen Jing said.
This was a massive bit of information for Alex. He thought to himself as he flew for a few minutes, letting Shen Jing do the navigating when a question flowed into his mind.
"You said that the Dao of techniques was one of the weaker Daos right?" Alex asked.
"Yes," Shen Jing said. "Anything that doesn't directly influence a battle is usually considered a minor Dao. But it's a ranking that humans gave so you will have to see for yourself how worth it is to have that Dao."
Alex mulled over this information, but his original question still remained in his head, so he decided to ask it.
"If this Dao of techniques is considered a minor Dao, then certainly it's not very useful during the battle itself. Then… does it matter if you teach me the Dao or not?" Alex asked.
"I can see that my Explosion Dao is very strong. So strong that I myself have to fear it, and I doubt I could have learned something this great by simply learning about it from someone else," he said.
"But, the Dao of Techniques doesn't seem like that. If, as you said, it helps me come up with techniques, then won't simply learning have a similar effect?"
"Even if the effect is worse, won't learning about it right now help me way more than learning about the Dao myself many years later?" Alex asked.
Shen Jing couldn't immediately answer this question. "Your words have truth and they do make sense. But you are lacking one bit of information," Shen Jing said.
Alex curiously looked at Shen Jing, waiting for him to speak.
"While a Dao may or may not be useful to now, or learning the information may be more useful than gaining the dao, there is something else a Dao is helpful for," Shen Jing said.
"The more Daos you have acquired by the time you reach the peak of Saint realm, the better your chances of breaking through to the Immortal Realm becomes."
