Chapter 3838: A Second Dao

Alex was in the hall, simply sitting around doing nothing. His mother was there as well, leisurely spending time with her son. Neither of them did anything productive, which was what they wanted to do anyway.

The older Alex walked in and was surprised to find Alex inside the hall.

"Oh, you’re here too. Aren’t you cultivating?" the older Alex asked.

Alex shook his head. "I need to go meet with a God in the next few days, so I’m waiting for his arrival."

"I see," the older Alex said. "I came to get some pills. Mother, are the pills ready?"

"Yes," Helen said, bringing out a small bottle before handing it over to the older Alex.

Alex looked at it with quite a bit of curiosity. "What are the pills for?"

"These are the Soul Elucidating Pills," the older Alex said. "To help me learn Daos."

"I know what those pills are," Alex said. "But wait, you’re close to learning another Dao?"

"I think so," the older Alex said. "When I learned the other Dao, I learned something else as well. I’ve been trying to learn more about it, and after over a decade has passed, I think I’ve grasped the Dao and am close to learning it as well."

Alex was quite surprised to hear that. Given the older Alex’s lack of talent, learning a single Dao would’ve been incredible, and here he was, about to learn another.

Alex couldn’t help but commend him for that.

"Good work. Let me know if I can do anything to help you," Alex said. "I would’ve made the pills too, but since Mother made them, there would be no point in me helping."

The older Alex nodded. "It’s fine. I don’t think you could help me much in this regard. Being able to learn a Dao in your Soul Space would be great, especially given the speed at which I could do so if it were possible. But since I can’t, these pills are all I need."

Alex nodded in understanding. He was about to let the older Alex return with the pills when he looked back up.

"Wait, how close are you?" he asked.

"Very close," the older Alex said. "I just need a good shot with one or two of these pills, and I think I’ll learn my second Dao. I’m quite excited about it, actually."

Alex quickly thought of something and brought out his formation plate. "Here, use this. It’s not as fast as my Soul Space, but it is still about 20 times faster to cultivate with this."

The older Alex blinked in surprise. "But... aren’t you going to use this to cultivate?"

"I won’t be needing it for the time being," Alex explained. "You can use it until you learn the Dao. Once you’ve done that, give it to Emily."

The older Alex smiled widely. "I shall do that. Thank you."

Alex shook his head as the older Alex left. "Can you believe that he still thanks me?" he asked.

"Why wouldn’t he thank you?" Helen asked with a confused look.

"Well, because we’re practically the same person. Well, not the same person, but like... we’re the closest thing to twins that can exist. It’s obvious we have to help each other, and I’m not helping him to be thanked," Alex said.

"You’re still helping, so a thank you in return is expected," Helen said.

Alex paused for a moment and nodded.

"I think I just find the concept of him thanking me quite weird," Alex said. "We share so many of the same memories, after all."

Helen couldn’t say much. "I don’t think many people have been in the situation you are in, so I can’t tell whether what you’re feeling is common or not."

Alex shook his head. "Yeah, forget about it. I don’t know why I said that."

Helen laughed a little and resumed her ever-important task of doing nothing.

People came over the next two days and filled the hall. Scarlet returned first, followed by Liz, and then Graham.

"Can you tell me how much longer it’s going to take by any chance?" Alex asked Liz. "When is the War God coming?"

"How should I know?" Liz asked. "I can barely make prophecies, after all."

Alex sighed. He just wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to have to wait. The Artifact God would soon finish the artifacts she was making and testing, so he wanted to be done with the War God in time so he could have a bit of free time for himself, during which he could cultivate for a while.

There was something else that concerned Alex at the same time, but since he had done what he had to, all he could do was wait and hope things turned out fine.

Before anyone else sensed what was happening, Sunflare’s eyes opened in the corner of the hall, and he slowly looked toward the sky. It was only a few seconds later that Alex sensed it too, followed by everyone else in the room.

They waited for a moment, just to confirm that what they were sensing was the right thing. Once they confirmed it, their expressions began to change for the better.

"Whose is it?" Helen asked as she looked up at the sky. "Wood Dao, so it must be Alex’s."

"Emily would have called forth a Water Dao," Alex said as well. "This is most certainly Alex. He’s about to learn another Dao while his wife has yet to learn a single one."

"She’s close too, from what I hear," Liz said. "But yeah, he is quite lucky."

"What Dao is this?" Helen asked, trying to sense more of it. But while she could tell it was a Wood Dao, she was unable to discern the exact Dao among the many Wood Daos there were.

Alex sensed the sky for a moment, finding the Dao to be just familiar enough that he understood exactly what it was.

"If I’m not mistaken, I believe this is the Dao of Roots."