“Yea, yea. Keep your cheesy one liners to yourself kid. Do I look like an impressionable teenage girl to you? In the end, if you can’t figure out how that technique works, all of this is for naught anyway.”

Dyon’s mind thought back to the Elvin Tome and the first technique it had inscribed in it. The technique itself was named Inner World: Sanctuary, but the name itself didn’t sound anything like an energy cultivation technique…

‘Grand Teacher… Do you wanna?’

“No. I don’t ‘wanna’. Learn by yourself.”

‘Can’t you give me a few clues? Why do you say that this is the best energy cultivation technique in existence?’

The old man sighed. “You know so little… This technique isn’t the best because it’s the fastest or the most efficient. It’s the best because it’s the most practical and the most flexible.”

Dyon say in confusion for a while. ‘Why?’

“You’ve already learned about the importance of wills, and especially religious wills, no?”

‘Ri told me that the second reason for conquering universes, other than to escape heat death, is to strengthen your wills.’

“Partially right. Many of the Gods you’ve come to know are simply powerful martial experts who’ve spread their wills far and wide. So, what do you think happens when you step into a universe like that?..”

‘You mean a universe that holds a dense amount of wills from another expert?’

“Yes.”

A sudden realization hit Dyon. If you entered the dominion of another expert – a place where they held the most will – wouldn’t that be a death wish?…

“Entering the universe of an expert on that level is near impossible. This is why the universes are in an odd balance right now. There hasn’t been a true universe invasion in a long time and this is also the true reason many campaign victories end with negotiations.

“The defending universe doesn’t want to have to deal with a full-scale attack while defending their other gates. And the attacking universe would be at a disadvantage in a universe where their wills aren’t dominant.

“Of course, this is less prevalent in weaker universes like yours. But, attacking the Uidan universe is nothing but a child’s dream for you right now.”

‘You mean their odd energy… right?’

“Mm. That’s no normal energy. It’s a supreme law. And, it happens to be one of my five abilities.”

‘Ethereal Permeation?’ .𝒎

“Exactly right. But, I’d say that many of their family can only use that supreme law because of a cheat available to their universe.”

‘A cheat?’

“Their Buddah’s Eye is an interesting technique. If the aurora had a bastard child, who then went on to give birth to hundreds of generations of children, Buddah’s Eye would probably be nearing a thousand generations removed.”

‘That’s… harsh?’

“Not really. You’re just an idiot who hasn’t been using your aurora to learn wills properly. Or, more accurately, you haven’t been in the right situations to do so. Actually. Both of those things are true. You’re so lacking.” The old man sighed.

‘So you mean their Buddah’s Eye has can learn a supreme law? That doesn’t sound like an impure ability to me…’

“Your scope is too narrow. A will is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Nothing. It can’t even compare to an intent, let alone a dao and beyond. And the truth is that their Buddah’s Eye is only potent enough to learn that supreme law up to the will level. In fact, many won’t even surpass the 3rd level watershed, let along the 6th or 9th.”

‘But then…’

“Again. Your scope is too narrow. Even if its limited to the level of a will, it’s still a supreme law! Of course it’s still useful.”

‘Alright. Fair enough.’ Dyon chuckled. Despite the old man’s odd teaching methods, he still appreciated having someone tell him things directly for once. ‘So you’re saying Ethereal permeation is much more useful in their universe, which would put us at even more of a disadvantage.’

“And that’s especially true because no one in your universe knows that will.”

‘But then, if I learn Ethereal Permeation, that solves everything. Right?’

“Theoretically. But, do you think it’s possible to learn a new high-level will tailored to every universe you want to attack? No one can do that. There are too many universes in the world. That’s why you use Gama energy to temper your meridians instead of learning every will yourself.

“And that’s not even to mention the fact that there are some wills, like religious wills, you quite literally can’t learn unless you share a particular bloodline.”

‘Then…’

“I don’t feel like telling you anything. I’ve never seen such a waste of talent. Imagine having the full scope of my aurora and using it like you do. That’s like using a priceless artifact like a paper weight.”

‘Aw, Grand teacher, don’t be like that. I’m new! Remember?’

“I don’t care. You haven’t even thought about it before. You keep learning wills by staring off into space and thinking about them.

“Imagine if artists were like you. Instead of observing the real world, they close their eyes and imagine what the world looks like before drawing it? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous to you? You can’t start from the abstract to create the real. You need to start from the real before you can branch out into the abstract.

“The only time you used something tangible to learn a will was in the demon sage’s inner world. Well, that and the death core plus your master’s celestial will. Think about those moments, wasn’t it much easier? Instead of meditating like an idiot.”

‘Ah…’

Thoughts ran through Dyon’s mind with each word the old man spoke. He couldn’t have been more right!

Although Dyon’s celestial and demon will had been lacking before he used his master’s blood essence as a catalyst, that was only because they were much higher-level wills… On the surface, it seemed like he was learning sword and wind will much more efficiently, but that was only because of his affinity and the fact those were lower level wills!

If he had used a proper will learning method, it was likely he would have learned wind and sword will even faster than he had. He was effectively handicapping himself… It was clear he still had much to learn.