Avery woke up from his cultivation refreshed and at peace. He hadn’t actually solved any of his worries, but the majesty of the Tao had trivialized them all. He felt liberated and at peace with himself, ready to rationally think about his problems, and find ways to solve them without being controlled by irrational fear.
Finally, after spending a lot of time lost in thought hovering high in the sky, he mustered up his courage, and with one last yearning look towards the wild mountain range, he took off in the direction of the capital, determined to face his problems head on.
In truth, his repeated attempts to rejoin civilization were not strictly necessary. There was no character requirement to becoming a saint. If he was willing, he could totally retreat back into some forgotten abyss and cultivate his Dao to completion in blissful seclusion. He need meet no one, and no one need to even know about his existence.
It wasn’t that he was personally attached to rejoining civilization either. The empty feeling of loneliness that haunted his heart had already been filled by his eternal companion, the infinite Tao. With such a partner, he needed never meet another soul in his life, and with how painful socializing had turned out to be, he was in no hurry to relive that experience.
No, the real reason he was determined to conquer his social anxiety was because of his pride and immense respect for the Tao.
He was pursuing perfection, to become a Saint equal to heaven, and he would never be able to live with himself if he thought he was sullying the Great Way with all of his flaws and inadequacies. At the very least, he needed to be able to hold a normal conversation without bringing shame to the Supreme Avenue he aimed to embody.
However, this wasn’t why he was looking to settle down in the capital city of a nearby country. Even if he was determined to go through the red dust and cultivate his heart and mind to match his status, he would not choose the capital city of a powerful empire.
The reason he had decided to set up shop in the capital was to address some of his other worries. He wished to meet mortal scholars akin to the one who had written a verse on the Tao that had impressed him so much. He wanted to discuss morality and virtues with them, and with their teachings, forge his own moral code.
He was deeply concerned about how dissociated his emotions and rationality had become, and could not decide which part of him was correct, and which part of him he should listen to when making a decision.
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Either the problem stemmed from some grave misunderstandings he had on the Tao, his blind cultivation having somehow deviated from the Truth in some significant way, or he was simply incapable of satisfactorily embodying the truth he had half-understood.
However, he did not want to take the immortal's offer and discuss cultivation with him, firstly because of how disappointing he found the cultivators approach to the Tao, but mostly because facing someone who equaled or surpassed him in power would be much more stressful. It would probably leave him crippled by his social anxiety and be unable to gain anything out of their conversation. He had no clue on how immortals lived, so he decided to be cautious and hide himself for the time being.
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After surveying the capital from the air, using a few runes to maintain his flight and invisibility, Avery soon landed on a busy merchant street, and placed an exquisite little doll house in a small gap between two buildings.
This was a new treasure Avery had just crafted, and it would be his residence for the near future. He had originally imagined that he would easily find some old abandoned building he could magically refurbish to suit his need, but the city was so crowded that every plot of land was already fully exploited. He ended up having to be creative, and use his powers to create himself a home.
The miniature house, which had the appearance of a rustic tea shop, had the magical properties of being bigger on the inside than on the outside. Once entering, one would feel it was to human scale, a perfectly normal tea shop.
Then, Avery had engraved many runes on the facade so that even from the exterior, the tiny house appeared to be a regular old building, fitting in innocuously with the rest of the city, as if it had always been there.
Lastly, the storefront continuously broadcasted some mental signals that would confuse any passerby. This would not harm mortals, but their minds would instinctively shield themselves from it, creating a sort of blank spot in their awareness, making them unconsciously ignore this small shop. It wasn’t invisible, but under normal circumstances, it was impossible for anybody to want to enter or even think deeply about anything about this new building.
He had carefully adjusted the strength of the confusion formation so that those who had profound insights into the Tao would be able to resist it and see his tea shop, even becoming invisibly drawn to visit it.
Although not very large, this creation of his had too many advanced functions, putting a tremendous strain on its runes. He estimated they would collapse as soon as he stopped powering it with mana. Fortunately, he had no intention of leaving this place anytime soon, so he could afford to continuously supply them with power.
Entering his new home with a swoosh, Avery happily sat down cross legged on a decorated prayer mat, ready to turn his attention elsewhere.
This tea shop was like a fishing line he had cast into the sea, now he only needed to wait patiently for the fish to bite. Meanwhile, he would be free to consider his other worries, and execute his other plans.