Ascension of the immortal Asura

With his cultivation level raised, John set his mind on the task of comprehending the Dao of Nothingness. He continued as he had done before breaking through, and while he was slowly making progress in being able to study the Dao for longer before it slipped his mind, it was still not fast enough as far as he was concerned.

"It's been a week, and I'm still nowhere near comprehending this Dao," he grumbled to himself. "At this rate, it will be months, maybe even half a year before I reach the required level. I need to find a way to speed things up."

His mind raced with possible solutions, and he eventually arrived on one that might help him slightly.

'My World Dimension Seed!' he thought. 'When I cultivated before the World Dimension Seed, I comprehended the initial stages of more Dao's than I can remember. Maybe one of those Dao's is similar enough to give me insights into this Dao.'

John quickly went through his memory, recalling the countless Dao's he had grasped the initial concepts of. Most of them were low level and easy to grasp, which is why he had been able to learn so many so quickly, but some were higher level Dao's. A displeased look appeared on his face as he realized none of those Dao's could help him.

'The Dao of Nothingness is just too unique. None of the Dao's I know can provide any insight into it.'

Stumped once more, John fell silent, thinking of more solutions to this problem.

'I feel as though my current method is working, and that I'll have a breakthrough in the next few months that will help me comprehend this Dao, but that's so slow. At this pace, it will take half a year to complete this trial…is it truly the only way forward though?'

John felt like he was missing something, something critical in his approach, but he couldn't pinpoint it exactly. Much like the Dao itself, every time he felt like he was closing in on the solution, it faded and vanished, like smoke in the wind.

"I can't think of any other way, so I'll just have to keep studying it until I grasp the fundamentals, regardless of how long that takes," he grumbled, calming his mind to prepare for the next meditative session.

His eyes suddenly snapped open, wide with shock, as he heard a voice boom within his mind.

'Darkness cannot exist when there is light, just as nothingness cannot exist when there is something. To understand nothing, you must become nothing.'

John's mind trembled with shock as he heard the voice, a familiar yet completely unexpected voice. One he had not heard for many years. The voice of his mysterious father, whose soulform dwelled deep within the palace realm.

His father had ignored him completely over the years, even when he stood before the holy gate and asked questions directly, and yet he had decided to speak to John now. He wanted to appear before the holy gate once more and ask why he had been ignored all this time, and why his father had decided to speak to him at this one, seemingly unimportant moment. And yet, his mind raced with sudden comprehension, the comprehension he knew he had been missing, which had been slipping from his mind whenever he started working towards it.

'That's right! The Dao of Nothingness is the true concept of nothingness. Something cannot be nothing, and when I try to study the Dao, my thoughts are something, the antithesis of nothing. It's like trying to learn about fire by studying water, it's just impossible. I must become nothing in order to understand nothing.'

Spurned by this insight, John felt a wave of excitement wash through him, as this was the insight he needed to make real progress. This was the insight that would have come to him eventually, but months down the road.

'Thanks, father,' John roared within the palace realm, then focused on his task while his mind was still fresh with the sudden insights he needed. He breathed out deeply, then calmed his mind.

'While I can't truly become nothing, as that would mean death, I need to become as close to nothing as possible. Then let's get started.'

'Nothing cannot have an Qi, or an aura. That must be erased.'

The Qi naturally circulating within his body slowed and then ceased, like rivers drying up. He had never truly emptied his meridians as he was doing now, and it made him feel as if he were a man starving and dying of thirst, but he ignored that feeling.

'Nothing cannot feel. Nothing cannot desire.'

Feelings cast aside, he moved to the next thing he could think of.

'Nothing cannot move.'

His chest stopped moving, stopping his breathing. While cultivators did not need to breathe at all to live, it was natural for humans to breathe, regardless of cultivation status.

After stopping all movement, the last thing he could think of entered his mind. His concentrated face relaxed, becoming perfectly neutral. His mind which had raced with countless thoughts since becoming a cultivator slowed.

'Nothing cannot think. To understand nothing, my thoughts must be nothing.'

And with that, like a switch of a lightbulb, his thoughts ceased. Blankness entered his mind, and even his soul seemed to switch off, going from vibrant chaos, to stilled nothingness. Sleeping within his soul, Kirii was stirred awake by the sudden change. John's soul was so still as if it had suddenly died. Startled, Kirii was about to ask about what was going on, then stopped. He noticed John was still fine, only blank in both body and mind. Confused, yet realizing John was doing something important, he remained quiet, and then fell asleep once more.

Still lounging on a tree branch high above, the Prime Shadow suddenly sat upright, peering down towards John with widened eyes.

"He…he's already found the path forward? It's only been a week! It took me nine months to figure this step out, and then another three months to learn the Dao of Nothingness. Monstrous…absolutely monstrous."

…

Darkness. Empty darkness. John's mind, body, and soul was an empty husk, devoid of thought, movement, and energy. It was as if he was a living corpse, unmoving over the days and weeks. As he remained in this state, unaware to even himself, he began to resonate with Dao of Nothingness, as if he were slowly becoming one of the fruits himself.

He remained like this for a full month, an entity of nothingness. An energy suddenly descended on the area, breaking the quiet nothingness of the last month. The energy rained down on John, flooding into his body and soul, filling his husk of nothingness, making it become something once more.

The energy of the heavens, blessing those who had broken through the comprehension realms.

His thoughts began to stir, slowly at first, then racing as it had always been. His Qi began to circulate within his body, filling it with powerful energy. His eyes opened slowly, blank at first, then focusing with a profound light.

He slowly raised his hand before his face, mind focusing on the nothingness he had become, the nothingness his body had instinctively remembered. The heavenly laws around him began to change, twisting and turning, changing from something, into the Dao of Nothingness. While it was not on the same level as the Prime Shadow, or even the fruits around him that he could now see and remember without trouble, it was still impressive.

"Once one has become nothingness, one can remember, and even create nothingness, huh?"

He turned his head to look at the Prime Shadow, who had suddenly appeared before him. The elderly man studied him with a peculiar expression, as if he were looking at something he couldn't comprehend.

Based on the man's expression, John realized the speed at which he passed the trial must have been astonishing.

"I had…a lucky break," John shrugged, giving a vague answer into how he passed the trial so fast. What would have taken him up to half a year on his own, had been cut down to five week thanks to the help of his father.

The Prime Shadow remained silent for a long while, then sighed, shaking his head.

"You truly are an enigma, child," he said, then touched John on the shoulder, wrapping him with his power.

"With the Dao of Nothingness comprehended, it's time to move onto the next part of your training."