THE GOD EATER

Chapter 34: Dao Heart.

As usual, Muni spoke to them in an earnest voice. His voice was full of seriousness and a plea for them to take him seriously.

If they didn’t know any better, they might even think that he truly cared about them. But if anyone had this delusion before, they surely don’t have it anymore after the events of yesterday.

Muni said to them, ”As you acquire more and more Metacs, you have to become wary of losing control to the Metacs. Some of you with weak willpower are probably already struggling with the impact of more than one Metac in your energy well.”

”Even if you can’t feel any mental impact, it is always a good idea to refine your Dao Heart because not only will a stronger willpower prevent you from losing control, it will also help you control your Metacs better and cultivate faster. So the refinement of the Dao Heart is very important to you.”

At this point, he went to the blackboard and began writing some words on it. He wrote the words Four Directions Sect, Sword Way Sect, Martial Body Sect, Nexus of Wisdom Sect, and Myriad Phenomenon Sect.

He wrote them from top to bottom. Then, in front of the five sects, he wrote control, morality, emotions, knowledge, and anchor.

After writing, he turned to them and said, ”What is Dao Heart? Dao Heart is essentially how much your heart is set for the Dao. That’s where the name comes from.”

”But in more practical terms, Dao Heart is the source of willpower. Therefore, Dao Heart is defined as the degree of purity of one’s obsession and the hardness of one’s determination for the Dao.”

He turned to the blackboard and began to write again. This time, he drew some things. What he drew was a large circle and one small circle. Beneath the two circles, he wrote ocean and stone, respectively.

Then he pointed at the two circles and said, ”These two things are the breadth of the mind of two people. One is as big as an ocean, while the other is as small as a stone.”

”The larger the breadth of one’s mind, the more it can contain and the more mental energy they will have to think and do mental things like controlling puppets and slaves. Knowing this, it is easy to say that the mind as large as an ocean is more powerful than that of the mind as small as a stone. But this will only be half true.”

”I can tell you without a doubt that even though the person with a mind as large as an ocean has a more powerful mind, they won’t be able to enslave the mind as small as a stone. If you doubt me, just picture the outcome of the clash between some water and a stone.”

After saying this, he paused to let them think about what he just said, particularly about the mental exercise that he just gave them.

When he thought that they should have gotten their answer, he said, ”The winner of that clash will be the stone, no matter how small it is. The only way that the ocean will be able to defeat the rock is after thousands of years of wear and tear as the water in the ocean slowly erodes the stone.”

He pointed at the two circles again and said, ”This is the difference between mental energy and willpower. It is the difference between the breath and density of one’s mind.”

”No matter how much butter you have, it just won’t be able to withstand a perpetually hot knife. The hot knife will always be able to cut through the butter. Even if the knife is blunt, it will still be able to cut through the butter, and even if the knife is cold, the butter still won’t stand a chance.”

”That is another example of the difference between mental energy and willpower. As for mental power, for now, that is directly dependent on the power of your soul.”

”If you’re lucky, you will be able to raise the power of your soul or make the power of your mind not entirely dependent on the power of your soul, so that you can raise it alone. But willpower is something everyone can refine without much luck.”

He pointed to the five sects he wrote earlier and started from the bottom, as he said, ”The Myriad Phenomenon Sect is the sect of formation masters. The goal of their sect is to replicate all of the phenomena of the world using formations.”

”Their goal is a grand and ambitious goal that requires controlling a lot of Metacs. In order not to lose their minds, they use a mental construct called a Mental Matrix to anchor their minds.”

”This method can be called the most powerful in the universe, but it is also the most difficult method to use to refine Dao Heart. This is why the Myriad Phenomenon Sect tests the intelligence of their prospective disciples before accepting them.”

He moved on to the next word and said, ”Next is the Nexus of Wisdom Sect. The goal of the members of this sect is to know everything there is to know and learn everything there is to learn.”

”In order to achieve their goal of becoming all-knowing, they use what they have learned to stabilize their minds. So, the more they know, the stronger their minds will be. As long as what they know is an undeniable truth, unless what they know is proven to be false, it will be very difficult to subdue their minds.”

”The third option to refine Dao Heart belongs to the Martial Body Sect. As a sect of warriors and blockheads, they don’t like to think too much. So in order to refine their willpower, they chose to burn all of their distracting thoughts and use the fire to refine one singular thought that they will focus on forever and ever.”