The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao and Ryu Jinshi walked through the simple corridors of the spirit council citadel. The place was kept as simple as anything. Except for being slightly bigger than a normal house, there was no difference. The two people walked over to the gathering hall and found two chairs were placed in the center.

The spirit beings had the four strongest among their whole race, selected as the representatives present from each faction inside the spirit council. They had four seats placed on the two sides of the hall. In the center, at the end of the hall, they had placed two chairs. One big and one small. Yang Dao noticed that the size of the chairs was different and the big chair had some fur and foam over it to make it comfortable.

He stepped forward and stood in front of the chair. It was his chair. He asked, "Where are the spirit kings?"

The Salamander from the life faction stepped forward and said, "Lord, they will be here in a few minutes.. Please, take a seat for the meanwhile." He politely made a gesture by extending his hand to the chair.

Yang Dao shook his head and stood in his place to wait. His stance sent a wave of tremor to the hearts of the life faction people. They prayed that the spirit king comes forward quickly as to not enrage the heavenly emissary.

The death faction was silent. They did have a few drops of cold sweat on their forehead, but they kept their calm on the surface. Ryu shook his head when he saw the situation. He deducted the reason why Yang Dao was behaving like this. How could a world with imbalanced spirits stay in balance?

He was hoping that Yang Dao does not have too harsh an action against the spirits. Even if he was not here to watch and help his realm, he was still the guardian. However, he was aware that whatever Yang Dao decided to do would not be something he could turn around. Since worrying about it will not help, he decided to stay calm and wait for the spirit kings to arrive.

His thoughts were as if being heard by heaven. The two-spirit Kings came over from their respective rooms in the two factions. They both held a scroll. They bowed to Yang Dao and held out the scrolls to him. The Gnome of the death faction said, "Sire, this is my comprehension of death."

The undine also spoke up. "I have recorded my understanding of life on this scroll. Please take a look, Lord."

Yang Dao nodded and took the two scrolls. He waved his hand, and a table formed from the earthen floor in front of him. The two scrolls were spread open over it. Yang Dao wanted to read them together at the same time. He began to read without caring about the confused look on the face of the people in the gathering hall.

Ryu Jinshi sensed the doubt in the mind of these spirit beings and snorted loudly. However, his snort did not disturb Yang Dao but echoed in the mind of the spirit beings. It was enough to make the spirit beings put aside all the doubts originating in their minds.

Yang Dao did not comment on this and kept his focus on the scrolls. The content was typically just opposite of each other. Not much difference. If life is filled with joy, then death shall follow the indifference and nonchalant attitude.

The boy patiently read all that was written in front of him, but he did not find anything that could even remotely hint at the real meaning of life and death. He sighed over the fact that these guys were all looking at the surface and not even close to knowing the depth, let alone explore it.

Could life and death be so shallow of a subject? He spoke up suddenly, "Why do you have furs and things on the big chair?"

The spirit beings were all stunned for a second. The gnome spirit king from the death faction said, "Lord, that is for your comfort."

His answer was substandard. It was like Yang Dao was the guest, so he should have some comfort higher. The rest of the spirit beings nodded. They were like this for as long as they can recall.

Yang Dao shook his head and with a wave of his hand, the decoration on the chair came off. The spirit beings were all shocked. They thought that Yang Dao has become angry with them. The boy said calmly, "You all do things that are not necessary. You need to focus is the comprehension of life and death."

His calm voice was like a breeze. Silence before the storm. The silence did not last long. Yang Dao said, "Death and Life may seem opposite of each other but without even one, the world will stop existing sooner than later. Begnic, do you think that death is when you stop communicating and interacting with anyone from the secular world?

You realize that if you do that, you are not dead but alone. Your concept of death has nothing to do with what it is. You are looking at it too superficially. Death is where nothing can accompany you, even your own body. Your soul is eternal and ever-living, but it will pay for the sins you have committed in this human life by going through unlimited reincarnations and punishments in hell.

Assyria, do you think that life is all about the six emotions of a person and the pursuit of these emotions can give you longevity when you comprehend their origins?

The six emotions inside a being are just to give it the power to express what it feels in a certain situation. They all originate from the soul. Every soul has a purpose of origin, and that purpose can only be discovered when you commit yourself to the lives you have. You all are the elders of your races, yet here you are leaving the management of your races to younger ones who are also trying to give it up like you. Is this your pursuit of life?

You both defy the very definition you pursue. How can you achieve the real aim of this pursuit of life and death?"

His words shook the spirit beings. Even Ryu had not thought that the spirit beings were in defiance of their definitions. What could be a greater level of imbalance than this? The world would have come to an end if Yang Dao was not visiting here.

Cold sweat formed over his forehead. The world of life and death was tipping at the edge of life and death. The sacred realms start to fall apart when they enter a state of collective imbalance. This imbalance is most likely a phase where people do not realize that they are going down the wrong ways even after all their intelligence.

The spirit beings were stunned and Yang Dao said, "The real meaning of life is to understand the purpose of your existence. Do your best to achieve that purpose. If you do not, then when you sense your end approaching, you give up all the secular things and duties and repent.

Repent your misdeeds by focusing on the one Great Dao. The one that created us all. The great Dao will assist you on your last journey.

Since you cannot do anything after you cross the world of the living, you ask your relatives to send you off and pray that your soul may find peace and become one with the great dao. You can only pay the price of your deeds, but the prayers of your relatives may ease up things a bit."

Begnic could not help but ask, "Lord, how can prayers help us?"

Yang Dao replied, "We all originated from the Great Dao. If you pray, it will listen. However, the prayers must be true and honest."

The spirit beings found this logical and nodded. They started to talk among each other and slowly a glow appeared around them. It was not bright or anything but it was the dim glow, like what emitted from Sushi when Yang Dao met her. This was the glow of the spirits. This glow is visible to non-spirits.

It was a sign that the spirits were now regaining their lost balance slowly. Ryu Jinshi said in a deep voice, "In the name of the Heavenly Emissary, I command you to circulate the conversation that took place here to everyone out there. We will now leave, the Lord will visit the territories of all the spirit races."

Yang Dao nodded and said, "Start with the Sylphs. Sushi would be worried."

Ryu nodded and the two people walked to the entrance. The elders inside the building all knelt on the ground and knocked their heads to the receding back. They said, "We send away the Heavenly Emissary."

On this visit to the council, Yang Dao discovered his purpose of existence. To preach Dao and enlighten people. Make their way to emancipation easier.