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Duncan felt as if a light had been shined on his soul. The previously dark path had been illuminated. This light wasn't very bright or covering the entire path. However, even this little light was enough for him to glimpse the tip of the iceberg that had been hidden from his eyes so far. 

Slowly, he began to understand the meaning behind the vision. 

Slaughter wasn't a mindless thing. It was simply there just like other natural things. It was neither good nor bad.

In this vision, a new kingdom arose because of the slaughter. Likewise, an old kingdom fell. When the new kingdom became decadent, slaughter bought in the change so that things didn't become stagnant. Now, a new and more prosperous kingdom had risen in the back of the second slaughter.

Slaughter was neither good nor bad. It was both the beginning and the end. It paved the way for change. It kept things from becoming stagnant. It advocated progress in its own way.

Slaughter was natural.

Just like rain, wind, thunder, and other natural phenomenon, slaughter was a natural thing. How one used it depended on their own comprehension of this phenomenon. 

Duncan felt as if some shackles that bound his mind had vanished at that moment. He felt as if his vision had been broadened. There was a whole new world in front of him. Until now, he had been like a frog at the bottom of the well. He had just climbed out of that well at this moment.

And the sky he could see at this moment was vast and boundless.

It was said that both misfortune and fortune coexisted. Chances and disasters exist in the same place in the cultivation world. What corresponds to someone is based on their own talents and power. Likewise, slaughter can be used for good and bad. How one used it was up to the cultivator in question.

As Duncan realized this, the vision faded and he came back to his senses. At present, Duncan felt as if he had understood something profound. The feeling in his heart was both heavy and light at the same time.

Duncan remained idle for a long time, trying to digest what he had comprehended. It was as if a new window had been opened in his soul. Until now, he had always thought about slaughter as something only demonic cultivators did. Now, his entire view had been upended.

Since slaughter wasn't inherently evil, it could also be used by righteous cultivators. A righteous cultivator can commit slaughter to annihilate evil and bring in a glorious new beginning. Likewise, a demonic cultivator could commit slaughter and bring an end to a prosperous time. 

Duncan felt a little emotional at this moment. He didn't know why this affected him this much. But, he couldn't just control the myriad of emotions that cycled through him that easily. Calming down just seemed impossible.

"Is this dao?" Duncan whispered hoarsely.

No wonder cultivators chased after Dao. This feeling like being in the bottom of the well was really uncomfortable. It was kinda suffocating to know that the sky you think of as an entirety was not even one-tenth of it. 

As they say, ignorance is bliss. If he had continued his life in an ignorant manner, not knowing that he was a frog at the bottom of the well, then his life would have been fine. However, now that he knew, the desire to see the true sky was burning deep within him. 

Duncan knew what he had understood wasn't even the tiniest portion of the actual dao. But, even glimpsing the tip of the iceberg had upended his worldview.

"Ha ha ha… I never believed when some cultivators said that they will die happily in the evening if they can see the dao in the morning. I always called them self-important fools. But now, I am not so sure."

"What won't I give to not feel like the frog at the bottom of the well? That feeling was really suffocating. This pursuit of constantly comprehending the truth about things and experiencing the boundaries being widened again and again was the reason cultivation is so wonderful. Is this what the pursuit of Dao is all about?"

Duncan mumbled softly with a lost look in his eyes. He sat there listlessly not bothering to even cultivate. The impact he had received at that moment had shaken him a lot. All kinds of snippets he had heard about cultivation flashed through his mind.

Some things that he looked down upon and belittled felt very profound right now. Some sayings he pursed his lips towards were beginning to look very insightful and broad-minded. Duncan didn't know how to react at this moment. 

Cultivating and breaking through the Violet Palace realm was far away from his mind at this moment. He didn't want to do anything. Duncan opened his space ring and took out a jar of wine. 

He suddenly felt the urge to drink. His throat felt thirsty all of a sudden. His lips felt parched. Duncan took a swig of his wine and savored it slowly. The same wine he had drunk some time ago felt different today.

Duncan drank the wine without any hurry and lost himself in his thoughts.

This new realization had indeed shaken his mind. Duncan can feel it clearly. Before this, he had primed himself to become more decisive and assertive. But, after this revelation, that kind of mentality he had primed himself for began to shake a little.

How can one be decisive and assertive when they actually know very little? If he was ignorant of things, then wouldn't his hasty decisions come back to bite him in the back later? Duncan felt as if he had entered a quagmire. No matter how hard he tried to form an opinion or thought, doubt seemed to drag him back. 

In the cultivation world, the dao heart of a person is mysterious. Cultivators term it as their dedication to seeking dao. Only when someone has a firm dao heart, can they be able to progress further in cultivation.

This dao heart wasn't anything visible. If it was visible, more than 90% of problems that arose because of it can be settled easily. The dao heart was ethereal. It was something unique to each and every cultivator. It can't be guided by others. It can only be realized by the individual.

This makes the problems that arise because of it hard to deal with. Whenever a cultivator receives a blow to his dao heart, their cultivation would stagnate and rarely improve. Only when they sort out their thoughts and beliefs, will they be able to progress further.

Duncan wasn't the first cultivator to become listless after glimpsing the enormity and abundance of the Dao. Many cultivators like him had become disheartened or lost their purpose, due to sudden understanding of some truths regarding dao.

The world is always fair. The rules of heaven are always impartial. In order to gain something, one must lose something. The gain-loss proportion may vary, but the order of things will never change. 

How can it be easy to be enlightened on Dao? After all, dao is the source of everything. Can such enlightenment come without a price? The price that the heavens often levy upon cultivators who get enlightened upon dao is usually a test of their dao heart.

For someone like Duncan, who hadn't even cultivated for a year, enlightenment regarding dao was incredibly risky. That is because new cultivators would have not formed a firm belief regarding Dao. Their dao hearts at the initial stages will usually be fragile.

When these new cultivators run into these tests, discussing dao with experienced cultivators or their masters can help them sort out their thoughts and make them get out of this quagmire soon.

Unfortunately, Duncan didn't have anyone near him at this moment. He couldn't talk to others about dao and gleam their understanding to supplement his questions. So, it was only natural that Duncan became suddenly listless and started to drink without any proper aim in his mind.

Duncan's listlessness lasted for a few days. During this time, apart from drinking the wine he had stored, Duncan didn't feel like doing anything at all. Even when some change happened to the surrounding spirit qi, he didn't notice it. He sat there inside the cave lost in thought. Even his whole body became decadent at this moment.

However, suddenly a change occurred causing Duncan to stir.

BOOM!

A loud sound came from outside the cave, causing Duncan to wake up from his stupor slightly. Before he could clear his head, he felt a sudden danger. On instinct, Duncan rolled sideways.

The next moment, a sharp object broke through the cave walls and passed through the region he had been sitting in before. Duncan's eyes widened as he realized that if he had been a little slower, he would at the least be heavily injured now.

Before he could process further, the object bounced off the other end of the cave and shot back. Its speed at this moment wasn't much of a danger to Duncan. The danger had already passed. So, Duncan didn't react. 

But, while it wasn't dangerous to Duncan, the same couldn't be said for Duncan's wine gourd. The object slammed into Duncan's wine gourd and broke through it. Duncan, who still had no clue regarding what was happening outside, watched the gourd shatter and his wine spill on the floor.

Looking at the spilled wine, Duncan felt irritated all of a sudden.

*****

A/N: Check out my other stories and let me know your thoughts...

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