Chapter 142: The Dao Soul Awakens

Chapter 142: The Dao Soul Awakens

The next few minutes passed quietly. Jack and Nauja were resting on the ground next to the dead t-rex, chests rising and falling with laborious breaths, while Brock kept watch from a high branch.

Nothing disturbed their rest until Nauja stood up. Lets go, she said. Can you walk?

Jack groaned. Letting our bodies go cold was a terrible idea.

He struggled to stand. When he eventually succeeded, everything hurt. His ribs had cracked from the impacts. His back bled from a few lacerations where hed smashed into trees, his legs wobbled, and he still felt like hed run a marathon from the consecutive uses of Ghost Step.

But can you walk? Nauja insisted. She was in better shape, though also not fine. Whatever skill she used to dodge the dinosaurs attacks had taken its toll.

Slowly.

Good enough. We must get away from here.

What about our trail?

Nobody will bother following. The scavengers will be more than happy with the tyrannosaurus itself, and delvers have no reason to come after us.

Jack nodded. Brock fell from the tree, and they started walking, leaving the corpse behind. He hadnt realized how pungent the smell was until they were a good twenty feet away. Then, he turned and gazed at the beast one last time. Sprawled on the ground like that, it resembled an overturned truck, just slightly larger. That theyd defeated such a beast was incredible.

To just leave its corpse untouched was more upsetting. They didnt need its meat, bones, or anything like that. It never harbored malice towards themprobably because it hadnt seen them. But Jack pacified himself with the thought that it was eating the cattle of the Tri Lake tribe. They didnt kill it out of malice or arrogance; it had initiated a conflict, and it died because it was the weaker party.

Sometimes, there was no kind solution.

Dont we need to take proof back? he asked. How will your tribe believe us?

They will believe me, Nauja replied confidently. Only delvers lie. Barbarians, never.

Hmm. Big words.

She did not reply.

They crossed the jungle again, slower this time. Jack winced with every step, but he kept his mouth shut. The Iron Fiend Body was already working to patch him up, but it would take time. An hour at the least.

Nauja led them towards the Forbidden Cave. It was a cavernous opening in the side of a hill, wide enough to fit a bus and stretching down into the darkness. Rocky outcroppings surrounded its entrance, and the grass stopped growing a few feet away from it.

According to Nauja, its inside was large and complex, akin to a maze. Going in without a map was a fools errand. It was also completely empty.

They didnt enter. There was a cabin built next to the entrance, empty and dusty, but enough to shield them from any eyes. It shielded the tribes guards, once upon a time. Its inside was simple: a rectangular space with one beda pile of furson either end and no windows. There was also a table with two chairs, a stool, and two thick paravans that could be drawn to isolate either bed.

Seeing those paravans, Jack barely resisted the urge to sigh in relief. He was in need of secrecy, and not because he was modest. In the half-minute of rest after the fight, something had happened. Something big. A pleasant warmth came from the secret pocket behind his left thigh, seeping into his skin. It felt familiar, somehow, though Jack had never experienced such a thing before. He knew what it was.

The Dao Soul. It was finally awake.

Do you mind? he asked, motioning with his head towards the paravan. If Nauja was surprised, she didnt show it.

Of course not, she replied, moving to one of the beds. How long do you think you need?

...An hour. Even if Im not fully healed, Ill be ready to walk back to the tribe.

Now she was surprised. She raised both brows. Are you serious?

Yeah.

Those wounds would take me two days to heal, and I have a regeneration skill.

Well, we cant all be awesome.

The moment he began pondering on the Dao, he realized that his mindscape was somehow different. His thoughts flowed oddly. The Dao Soul hadnt changed him, but it had enhanced him. As he considered the meaning of his fist, it felt like he had a second brain analyzing the thoughts of the first. He saw his own thoughts from outside, which easily revealed flaws he might have otherwise needed hours to uncover.

It was like discussing an idea with someone who knew exactly what you were talking about. Naturally, the results of this method would be vastly superior to thinking alone. His cultivation speed had just multiplied.

Jacks excitement threatened to overwhelm him, but he held it at bay. He could sense that there were still things to discover. He honed in on the feeling of a second brain, diving deep inside himself.

The next moment, he stood in the void of his soul, the same space hed visited during his last breakthrough.

This time, however, the experience was much more disorienting. He could simultaneously sense himself standing here and sitting still in the jungle cabin. He moved his arms and legs. The him that was sitting remained still, but the him in the soulspace moved as he indicated. And yet, somehow, he remained a single person.

It was like using one brain to control two bodies. Complicated.

What is this? Jack thought, focusing on the version of himself inside his soul. Now that he wasnt mid-breakthrough, he could investigate this place with his full mental awareness.

It felt just like space. He was hovering in seemingly endless nothingness, with only the Dao Root of Indomitable Will and the Dao Root of Power floating around randomly. Jack struggled to make them out, two colored fists lazily crossing the void.

He couldnt see the Dao Seed of the Fist because it had already become one with his soul. He was inside it. He could sense the fist in every inch of the surrounding space. Any rainbow-colored hints of the Rainbow Dao Pill had long dissipated.

Okay, he thought, looking around. And now what?

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door of his soul. It was a very peculiar feeling. Jack was baffled. Come in? he said.

A head poked out of nothing, looking around the infinite blackness until it spotted him. It was his head. Except it wasnt. It moved on its own.

The head smiled. A hand appeared next to it, waving at him, and then the entire body appeared as well.

Jack was looking at a copy of himself, down to his dark shorts and black boots. He tilted his head. His copy smiled cheerfully and waved again. Jack, cautiously, waved back.

The copy looked around. There was only darkness as far as the eye could see. It turned its gaze back at Jack, and he could see a hint of questioning inside it.

What? he asked. I didnt choose to make my soul black.

The copy shook its head, indicating around it.

Can you not speak? Jack asked. The copy kept pointing circles around it. Do you mean I canchange the background? he asked slowly. The copy nodded. But how?

The copy shrugged. Jack frowned, picturing a grassland

and suddenly, they were in a grassland. The sky was bright blue over their heads, illuminated by a shining sun. The breeze caressed his skin, making his shorts flap. His hair moved as well, dancing to the tune, as did the grass blades under his feet. Jack wished he was barefoot to feel them, and next thing he knew, he was! The grass now tickled his toes.

Around him, the grass stretched endlessly as far as the eye could see, and there was absolutely nothing else in the world except for himself, the copy, the sun, and two colored moons floating lazily through the skyhis Dao Roots, one metallic silver and the other dark blue.

What the heck? he asked again, looking back up at the copy. It smileda smile so bright and wide it reminded Jack of Vlossana. It was full of pure bliss.

Wow, he said. I know! Are you a child?

The copy looked at him in confusion, then tilted its head and shrugged. Jack took that as, I guess?

Wow. No wonder you seem so happy. Hey, look. Eager to test out his new powers, he willed a large toy box into existence. It was filled with all sorts of goods. The copy gave it one look, then glanced back at Jack. It balled its fists.

Jack frowned. What? You wanna fight?

The copy laughed without sounda creepy sightand shook its head. It pointed at its heart, then the floating lights in the sky.

Oh! Jack said. You are the Dao Soul. You want to play with the Dao!

The copy nodded excitedly. This time, Jack laughed, too. Very well. Have at it!

His fist flared with purple light. He charged, and the copy, laughing, did the same. Their fists clashed.