Way of Heaven

Chapter 1 – The Revival of the Heavenly Dao

Here exists the void. The inside of the void was devoid of matter, life, and energy. Intangible, the void eternally twists, bends, and consumes, changing. All those among the heavens originated from the void. Worlds would emerge and wither off in the void. The void is the originator of all.

Whether it be the boundless, unceasing cosmoses or the countless multiverse, everything drifts through the void. The Immortal Emperors had saints under their divine rule in these pockets of the void.

However, there existed Transcendents and Multiverse Sovereigns who looked down on the void. They were peerless among the heavens, manipulating the infinite timelines and muddling the River of Fate. Every strand of their dazzling qi that emitted from their bodies would shake the void, forming clumps of new worlds and an innumerable number of parallel universes. These beings would use the heavens, the countless worlds, and the multiverses as Go pieces. The void was simply a Go board for them to play on.

From time to time, a new world would emerge, and the mystical intangible force of the void would, in what appears to be the blink of an eye, obliterate it. The world itself had faced its inevitable doom.

As the time flow in every inch of the void’s space was distinct, the conception of the void was chaos. You could see an entire world’s billion-year lifespan in the blink of an eye due to the differences in the time flow.

Even a trace of the void’s essence, an unending torrent of distorted gas, imitated the mass of trillions of kilograms. Void essence the size of a thumb could annihilate the rivers, mountains, and stars.

Suddenly, a faint ray of light appeared in the void, piercing the void essence. The light steadily advanced, its speed not fluctuating. 

Although faint, the light did not even slightly waver under the void essence that could crush stars!

The light traversed the void for an unknown amount of time. In front of the light, a crystal sphere[1] appeared, encasing a world. This world only contained a floating continent with a radius of around 500 kilometers. 

[1] T/L Note: (晶壁) This is almost identical to the crystal sphere in D&D. One of the purposes of the crystal sphere is to protect a world from outside dangers by not allowing them to pass through.

Unsurprisingly, the light passed through the crystal sphere unimpeded and entered the world. 

Covered with active volcanoes, which would roar occasionally, the floating continent’s scenery contained lava that would fiercely tumble and sputter and smoky trails that blanketed the sky.

Every inch of the sky was littered with drifting volcanic ash. The seared ground was covered in fissures filled with oozing magma. In addition, the insanely high temperature twisted and blurred space itself. It looked like this was the end of this world!

This place was like the underworld told in the myths and legends. No! This place was scarier than the underworld. In this harsh environment, even the most tenacious creatures on Earth could not survive.

As soon as the light entered this world, it vanished, melting into the void. Suddenly, brilliant crimson and orange light intertwined and enveloped the entire sky.

…

As usual, the floating continent’s volcanoes continued to wantonly display their fury, spewing searing lava everywhere. The brilliant glow that transpired earlier had long since disappeared.

Suddenly, on top of a volcano over 100 meters high, an illusory, transparent young figure appeared. He appeared to be around 20, dressed in casual white clothes and light blue jeans.

His closed eyelids began to twitch. He slowly opened his eyes. Looking at his surroundings, his clean face began transforming into one full of distress.   

“Who am I? Where am I? What was I doing?”

Mu Yuan looked at the environment in front of him. Scorching lava flowed indiscriminately through the land, and thick waves of smoke and dust fluttered through the sky. Occasionally, boulders would be flung and sent soaring into the hazy sky!

Jolted by this horrific scene, Mu Yuan couldn’t help but think, So this is the power of the heavens and earth! Humanity still can’t stand against the horrific power of nature. When disaster strikes, humanity is powerless to resist.

Mu Yuan’s chaotic thoughts gradually subsided. He began to reminisce about his past…

He came from a beautiful planet, Earth.  His name was Mu Yuan, and on Earth, he was just an ordinary, plain person. However, after living ordinarily for 20 years, his life changed drastically.

During a New Year’s gathering with his classmates, after they finished eating and drinking merrily, he and his classmates decided to wander around outside. When he was passing through a crosswalk, suddenly, a speeding sports car appeared and collided into him, sending him flying. His classmates were screaming in shock.

 A few seconds after he was sent flying, he was in a puddle of his own blood. His last memory was seeing the sports car screech to a halt, and his classmates frightfully rush towards him. After that, Mu Yuan’s consciousness blacked out. 

His memory ended there. Mu Yuan sighed and examined his transparent hands and body. 

“Since I died, I’m probably a soul now. Is this the underworld in the legends? But why is neither the Yellow Spring River[2] nor the Na River Bridge[2] here?”

Looking at the desolate world that didn’t have even a single trace of another soul, Mu Yuan had some doubts. It seems like there’s no Ox-Head and Horse-Face[2]. Also, no Ten Courts of Hell[2] either. Where exactly is this place?

[2] T/L Note: These are all things in the Chinese version of the underworld… Ox-Head and Horse-Face are the two guardians of the underworld.

Mu Yuan started thinking about his old parents, his heart filled with bitterness and sorrow. Originally, after he graduated college, he wanted to find a decent job, and once his work-life stabilized, he would take them in and let them enjoy their life. Yet, he didn’t expect that he would die before them… 

“Dad, mom forgive me for being unable to accompany you anymore. Luckily, my little sister can still accompany you for me.”

Mu Yuan thoroughly buried the sorrow in his heart, deeply sighed, then silently thought, Now, I still have to see if this place is the underworld or not.

He drifted to his surroundings, searching for any other figures like him, but after a long time, he wasn’t able to find a single figure.

He sat on top of an erupting volcano that was spewing lava. The scorching lava couldn’t even inflict a shred of damage to his illusory form.

Suddenly, information began to flood Mu Yuan’s mind.

Ah! Ah!

Mu Yuan wrapped his head with both his hands, and his soul felt like it was being brutally torn apart. In agony, he cried a miserable shriek. Compared to the flooding of information he had just received, his minuscule 20 years of life was pretty worthless.

After a long time or maybe an instant due to the void, Mu Yuan fully digested the information. A dancing blaze ignited in his pupils; he had been enlightened to the information’s origins. It was the Heavenly Dao’s inheritance!

It turns out, the place Mu Yuan arrived at was definitely not the underworld. Instead, it was a world seed that had just been born, and Mu Yuan had become the world’s Heavenly Dao. The information pertained to the inheritance of the original Heavenly Dao’s memories. The original Heavenly Dao had existed since the birth of this world. 

Mu Yuan also knew from the Heavenly Dao’s inheritance that this world was incomplete. An incomplete world also implied that the Heavenly Dao was also incomplete. 

A complete world contains Yin, Yang, the Five Laws (fire, water, wood, metal, and earth), the power of 10,000 Daos, and countless living beings. 

But, the “Yuan World” (it was based on his own name) currently only contained the Law of Fire and the Law of Earth, and there wasn’t a single living being.

Because of this, this world was only considered a world seed. Everything would have to slowly evolve and develop, and eventually, this world will become a complete Minor World.  

Spatially unstable, the Yuan World had incomplete laws and could at any time be obliterated by slightly fiercer void essence.

Thus, Mu Yuan’s top priority was to develop the world’s Yin, Yang, and the Five Laws. He would stabilize the world seed, letting living creatures populate it and eliminating the possibility of such a doomsday occurring. 

Mu Yuan was silent for a moment. An avid reader, he began to ponder about the description of Heavenly Dao in the novels on Earth.

“Since I am the Heavenly Dao, I am omniscient! I’m omnipotent! The world bends to my will. Since I can manipulate the world seed to be whatever I desire, can’t I turn this world seed into one of those fantasy novels?

Thinking about the characters in fantasy novels, Mu Yuan’s heart was full of a passionate fire, his eyes shining brighter and brighter. They can snatch the stars with a palm, suppress the mountains with a fist, suppress the sky with a drop of blood, extinguish the river of stars with a blade of grass! Then, he suddenly remembered a piece of information. 

In a single thought, his figure warped to the center of the continent. Mu Yuan focused his gaze on a dimension. This dimension was considered the core of the world, the Origin Dimension. It could also be called the Heavenly Dao Dimension. 

Around 30 meters in diameter and 10 meters high, the Heavenly Dao Dimension had a shallow, radiating puddle in the middle of it. Rainbow light scattered inside the liquid. Its reflection spread throughout, creating a gorgeous, dazzling scene.

Mu Yuan glanced at these liquids and thought of the memories in the Heavenly Dao’s inheritance. “This is Origin Energy!”

According to the Heavenly Dao’s inheritance, Origin Energy was the foundation of everything in the world. Without Origin Energy, the world’s crystal sphere could not be sustained, causing the world to be swallowed up by the void. The world would be destroyed.

In addition, Origin Energy also played a key factor in expanding the world and advancing it.

Not all worlds were equal. Their rankings were divided into tiers: Minor World, Early Multiverse, Middle Multiverse, Late Multiverse, and so on. Above Heavenly Dao was the Great Dao.

Furthermore, worlds have lifespans, but the difference between a world and a living being was so vast that they were often considered to be immortal.

But, Mu Yuan understood that the only way to truly become immortal was to transcend, to become the Heavenly Dao in the origin world, to tread the Way of Heaven!

To transform Yuan World into a place of peak experts that could collect the stars, sun, and moon, it would need to advance to a higher tier and amass an immense amount of Origin Energy. 

Mu Yuan closed his eyes and felt every nook and cranny of his Yuan World. The Yuan World was his body!

His anger made volcanoes spew with lava. His joy made space sing sacred hymns. The entire world rejoiced in his existence. 

Slowly opening his eyes, which were a majestic pale gold, his body exuding the Heavenly Dao breath, he exerted an extreme, domineering pressure on the entire floating continent.

Supreme! Mighty! Vast!

Under this terrifying divine might, the erupting volcanoes halted, the oozing magma chilled, and the distorted space solidified. The world began trembling!

T/L Note: The void, which could also be translated to nothingness or emptiness, is based on Taoism. Taoism believes that the universe originated from nothingness/the void. 

For more information check here: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Daoists/daoists.html 

For those wondering what a “Heavenly Dao” is:

One of the direct translations of Heavenly Dao is the Way of Heaven(天道). However, the Heavenly Dao in this context is more corporeal/sentient than something abstract like the term Way implies. As seen, the Heavenly Dao here can have thoughts, memories, and feelings, and there are multiple if not countless of them in this web novel. The Heavenly Dao only regulates and controls its respective world and is considered “omnipotent” to the beings that reside in its world. In this web novel, it is better to treat the Heavenly Dao as a sentient, “godly” being that rules over its own world rather than an abstract Way that people can be enlightened on and follow. 

For more information on the “Yuan World”:

The Yuan world is a play of words on his name. The direct translation of the Yuan World (元界) is the Metaverse or the Origin Realm.