As instructed, I went to the river to wash myself off. Before I got in the river, I saw the basket, filled with fresh river berries. Master was nice enough to pick some for me. The river flowed at not too fast, yet not too slow. I took off my clothes and washed them, before I got into the river. It isn’t good to have dirty clothes. When I got in, I felt a refreshing sensation flowing throughout my entire body. This river, always provided a place for realization after a hard working day. After cleansing myself, I got out of the river and went over to the tree where I left my flintstone and clothes.

This flintstone and my clothes . . . are the only things left from that place. These clothes weren’t worth much. It was just clothes, similar to what servants wear at the place. The flintstone, also, wasn’t anything special. Although they were a bit large for me back then, now they fit perfectly now. For some reason though, my clothes were always fit perfectly around my chest area, even back then. Even though, these objects were nothing much, they were something that stayed with my the entire time. My reliance on those objects in my daily, ironically, were probably the most. Clothes to keep me warm, and flintstone to sustain life.

After using the flintstone to start a fire to dry myself, I ate the river berries that master picked for me. They taste good like usual, unparalleled under the heavens. I ate them one by one, until there were no more left. I almost wanted to go pick some more, then remembered that master was still waiting for me. While thinking I had more chances in the future to eat more, I put on my clothes that were hanging over the fire. After putting out the fire with water from the river, I started to walk back to the cave to receive my first lesson.

Master was there, sitting there looking out into the forest. I turned my head, trying to see what he was looking at. I couldn’t see anything, only to find master looking at me attempting to see what he can, and I can’t. Master signaled a posture to sit down, and so I did. I sat in a meditative pose, just like what master was sitting like.

“You really are not a person of many words,” master said, “The only time I heard your voice, is when you greeted me and when you bursted out of tears of joy.”

As I was about to respond to master, wanting to tell master that I could speak more, master posed a stop with her hand.

She continued speaking, “It is fine if you do not want to speak. This has something to do with my lesson today. First of all, what do you think is the most important thing for a cultivator?”

What could be the most important? This thought traveled around in my head, but I could not come up with up with a good answer. I kept thinking, then thought about what it meant for me. I think that making minimal contact with other cultivators is good. From stories told from my sister, she always said to never offend an expert. From what I could tell from those stories, is that as long as I don’t make contact with other people, and I should maintain a low profile.

Breaking my line of thought, master said, “Hold that thought right there. You probably thought that you should maintain a low profile.” Seeing my shocked face, she continued, “That is fine if you think that. No one told you to be a tiger or a dragon. Within immortals, there are even people like you, who think that keeping a low profile is the safest way to survive. I even respect those people, because they are always the people with hidden strength. When they need to, they become a phoenix in the sky, where others can only look at them with awe. What a cultivator needs, is to follow one’s personality. Only then, can a cultivator reach the apex. Not a single immortal, have been able to reach the apex by having other people lead their paths. They have always followed their own paths, their own dao. Some cultivators rather die, they be forced to do something that does not follow their dao. Follow the dao! That is the most important thing for cultivators.”

Follow the dao. These three words resonated deeply within my heart. How knows how profound these words are? How long did master contemplate on those thoughts to be able to reach that conclusion? When I heard those words, I was touched, not only by the profoundness of the words, but also by how I was living my entire life following my own will (and that I was not wrong). I never knew that these three words simple, yet profound words said today, would be able 道to lead me to the apex.

Master said, while looking at me, “Looks like you understand. The road of cultivation is long. The reason why sects raise people who have fast cultivation speed, is because the common belief is that people with who have high cultivation speed have high comprehension abilities. This leads to the common belief that people who have faster cultivation speed would be able to become an immortal. This is the main reason for the younger generation to never be able to succeed. There is a sky above the sky and another man above a man. Never get too overconfident. The younger generation always overestimate themselves and start slacking off. In fact, only around one-fourth of immortals are geniuses of the younger generation. Most cultivators who were able to become immortals, constantly cultivated with a steady pace. Even many immortals, do not realize this and still pick top geniuses of the young generation as disciples.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

A stable cultivation without being arrogant or overconfident, that is the cultivation path I aim for.

“As long as you keep this in mind, I guarantee that you can become an immortal without a fail. Going back to the point of dao, your personality is reflected in your dao. Your cultivation method, your techniques, everything is related to your dao. You did not make a bad choice when selecting the Moonlight Absorbing Technique. As a matter of fact, there is no other technique in the Three Realms that could fit you any better. Those berries that you ate at first were not picked by me.”

What? If master did not pick the berries who would’ve? The berries do not simply get picked by themselves, someone had to pick them unless . . .

Reading what was on my mind, master responded, “Those berries were what you picked one moon cycle ago. Those berries that you keep eating everyday are a treasure. It is called the Azure Moon Berries. You would make any cultivator who practices any arts related to Moon Qi in the Three Realms envious. The Azure Moon Berries can only be found where in places with highly dense spiritual energy and able to absorb moonlight. Eating a Azure Moon Berry allows one to absorb more Moon Qi for a short amount of time. You, however, have been eating such a

priceless treasure like a staple food. Because you consumed them pretty much on a daily basis, your body has been transformed into almost a treasure. You are probably the most compatible person with Moon Qi in the Three Realms. Of course with your blocked meridians, would not have mattered, but now you have the most potential to be an immortal.”

Is this what karma is? What goes around comes around? Who ever knew that what I called River Berries, were a heaven defying berry that were being consumed like rice. The heavens really haven’t forsaken me. The berry that I ate everyday, was actually something that laid the foundation for my cultivation.

“You have several paths to chose from. But in my opinion, being an assassin suits you the best.”

How does being an assassin have anything to do with my dao?

Seeing me question master silently, she answered my question, “First, you would not make much contact with people. Taking on assassination requests, requires minimal contact with other cultivators. Do not forget that no matter how talented one might be, they would still need resources to assist them in their path. Second, people who cultivate Moon Qi frequently take this occupation, and for a good reason too. Being an assassin requires becoming a shadow, unseen to the enemy. Not only does it bring you resources, but trains you as well. The final reason . . . would make all my other reasons seem like excuses. Even since you were able to cultivate again, you had an undying passion within your eyes . . . to seek revenge!”

Did I really? My mind was only filled with happiness, so I did not think about anything related to revenge. Revenge is a bad thing, how could I possible think about revenge? Who would I even get revenge on? My parents? My clan? What could master possibly be talking about? Even though they may have been a side branch, with my genius sister there, they might even become the main branch one day. The main branch even has several immortals as the clan head. Even if I were able to become an immortal, how could I possible get revenge on the entire clan?

She responded to my thoughts, “You may have not been thinking about it, but somewhere deep inside your heart, you were longing for revenge. That only gives you more of a reason to become an assassin. You should not feel wronged to feel this way. This is only part of your dao. As long as you follow your dao, you will eventually be an immortal. Even within immortals, you would still be able to progress as long as you follow your dao. Do not think too much about the future, right now just focus on getting stronger. As long as you get strong enough, you would be able to do anything.”

Master tapped his storage ring, and took out a pair of daggers.

“These pair of daggers, is something I personally forged when I was dabbing in Moon Qi. Although they may not be of much use in the future, you should use this pair of daggers to practice with right now. I do not have any daggers compatible with you, so you can only use your own abilities in the future to obtain a good pair of daggers compatibile with you. I will now pass on my own personal dagger technique onto you. This may have not something I specialized in, but I guarantee that it will not be anything worse that what other immortals can give you. Only an immortal who specializes in daggers could pass on something to you.”

Master came over and tapped my forehead, imprinting all the information within my soul.

Master reminded me, “Do not forget, the most important is not the technique, but the dao. Follow the dao!”