Chapter 175: Because I

What exactly is the Heavenly Dao?

This has always been an unavoidable problem among the various Primordial Wilderness streams, and each school's explanation is not entirely the same:

Some say the Heavenly Dao is the manifestation of Pangu's own primordial spirit.

Some say the Heavenly Dao is a blend of the laws of heaven and earth.

Others say the Heavenly Dao is the "world consciousness," and so on and so forth…

But this version of the Primordial Wilderness is different; the Heavenly Dao here is not naturally occurring but a creation of Hongjun.

Therefore, Hongjun naturally has ample authority to speak:

The so-called Heavenly Dao is actually a "saint," essentially the same concept as the later Six Saints, so it is in fact alive!

However, due to the nature of the material, it is not a person of normal thought but a born "idiot," a schizophrenic.

Everyone says heaven and earth are unfeeling, treating all things as straw dogs!

If heaven and earth are known to be a living person, what mental state would cause it to treat all things as straw dogs?

Without doubt, only if there is a mental problem could this happen.

Don't talk about "exalted state of mind" or "forgetting emotions," for when a person's mental state truly reaches such a height, there is no obvious difference between them and a fool…

And Hongjun's Daoist method is precisely founded on deceiving fools!

If it weren't an idiot, Hongjun would never dare create it, for that would be like making a living father for himself.

So Hongjun's plan originally headed toward creating an idiot, but due to various mishaps, this led to the current messed‑up situation:

The true spirits are all ready; we can't just not do anything, can we?

Tempted by profit and a gambler's mindset, even though Hongjun knows the risks, he still grits his teeth and carries on:

Believe in the legendary good‑for‑nothing Jiaoming!

We'll win!

"I think there might be a problem…"

No matter how Hongjun and Xiao Niao cheer themselves up, the onlooker Zhao Si keeps feeling more and more that something's off:

"According to the original plot, Hongjun's becoming a saint isn't as simple as the later Six Saints; after becoming saints, the Six Saints clearly have normal human nature, with joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness all present."

"Great Clarity splits, Jade Clarity protects the short, Upper Clarity has anger, Nüwa loves and protects humanity, and Jieyin and Zhunti each express emotion, either noble or base…"

"And yet Hongjun, also a saint, has refined himself into an emotionless form, with basically no emotional fluctuation…"

"This can certainly be explained by Hongjun's higher realm and better disposition, but at this level the gap with the Six Saints—who are also saints—is so huge that it cannot simply be chalked up to disposition."

"In other words, the Six Saints are like humans who possess saintly power, whereas Hongjun… is more like a humanoid embodiment of the Heavenly Dao!"

"Jin Bing calls it a 'Heavenly Dao lackey' and a 'Heavenly Dao puppet,' and that's not without reason."

"Yet the Hongjun Daoist of the ancient era is clearly a normal person, showing he wasn't originally such a puppet."

"From a sane living person to the emotionless incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, what exactly happened in between…"

"If I haven't guessed wrong, the final snag of this perfect grand ending should lie on the Heavenly Dao itself."

"Hongjun's Heavenly Dao theory wasn't meant to turn him into an embodiment of the Heavenly Dao; his idea was to become a carefree saint like the later Six Saints, but looking at the Heavenly Dao of Hongjun in later ages, his theory must have gone seriously wrong, leading him to sit idle in the Purple Cloud Palace and become an embodiment of the Heavenly Dao…"

"And the Heavenly Dao in the original plot was also built by Hongjun using the true spirits obtained from slaying the Three Ancestors… thus the Super Monster came into being, the Wu Clan also received extraordinary treatment—killing incurs no karmic debt, and they can even inherit Pangu's legacy!"

"Everything now makes sense!"

Zhao Si declared:

"Hongjun's construction of the Heavenly Dao will surely run into trouble!"

Looking at Jiaoming's three lives, the system also clearly states that the human‑Super Monster problem no longer exists, which can only mean that Jiaoming's true spirit injected into the Heavenly Dao not only altered its composition but also affected its mental integrity.

Judging by Saint Hongjun's various personal‑affection displays, the Heavenly Dao of Jiaoming's three lives ought to be closer to what Hongjun envisioned!

"In other words, as long as we mix Jiaoming's true spirit into the Heavenly Dao, we can change its future… even if it still has problems, at least we can fully resolve the human‑Wu Clan issue, and even the saintly Hongjun can retain plenty of personal feelings."

Zhao Si pondered:

"So, although the construction of this generation's Heavenly Dao may still change, even at its worst it can replicate Jiaoming's three‑lives eternal Primordial Wilderness ending… it looks like there's danger but no real risk."

……

Eastern Wilderness, atop Jade Capital Mountain.

"Dao friend! Only the last two laws remain!"

Hongjun stared, sweat dripping, at the two intertwined light bands on the Jade Scroll, his hand trembling:

To undo them, or not to undo them?

The Jade Scroll bears three thousand Dao‑law characters, each corresponding to a law of heaven and earth; now only these two remain, meaning success is just a step away!

But the closer he gets to success, the more Hongjun hesitates, having gauged it for a long time yet still daring not to pull them apart…

He just sat there dazed for nearly a primordial cycle when Bird No. 3 finally couldn't stand it and blurted out:

"Dao friend, you go ahead and busy yourself… I'd rather go awaken the spirits…"

Xiao Niao knew this resolve wasn't easy, so he didn't want to put extra pressure on Hongjun, simply leaving him space to work out his thoughts in peace…

"No need!"

Unexpectedly, that remark actually gave Hongjun confidence, and he immediately made up his mind:

"Just go for it!"

"To hell with it! I don't believe these two idiots can overturn heaven!"

In Xiao Niao's stunned gaze, the previously hesitant old Hongjun reached out and tore them apart in a frenzy.

Before long, the last two intertwined law‑light bands finally separated…

The next moment, on the Creation Jade Scroll each of the three thousand Dao‑law characters linked to its corresponding law‑light band, and brilliant light shot up into the sky!

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet… the three thousand laws produced three thousand colors; many hues the two onlookers couldn't tell apart, and if they tried to look, they'd feel dizzy and blurrier the longer they stared.

Thus, the two could only raise their heads to gaze at the three thousand soaring law‑colors:

They radiated outward from the Jade Scroll of Creation as their center, reaching all corners of heaven and earth—East Wasteland, West Wasteland, Central Province, South Wasteland, North Wasteland, East Sea… even the boundless starry sky and the stars of the heavens!

They resembled one nerve after another, reconnecting Pangu's silent corpse, which had lain dead for countless ages……

Thud!

Suddenly, a muffled thunder rang across the wilderness, causing heaven and earth to tremble.

Thud!

Thud……

One muffled thunder after another shook the heavens and earth; all living beings between heaven and earth, whether innately divine or mindless savage beasts, felt inexplicable palpitations, then fled in panic, chickens flying and dogs jumping, thrown into chaos!

The consciousness etched into their instincts was telling them:

The ancient life is reviving!

And these muffled thunders are His heartbeat……

The heart beats again, and the blood flows once more:

Rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans all surged wildly; the vast rivers raged like angry dragons, and the surging sea waves rose to the heavens!

Beneath the ancient heaven‑supporting divine mountain lay the heart of the colossal god; each beat shook the wilderness, and with such force that it spewed out the twelve clusters of essence‑blood remaining in its heart.

The twelve blood clusters, which had possessed consciousness since ancient times, were utterly bewildered, having no idea how their father had flung them out……

And within Kunlun Mountain, filled with natural formations, the humanoid pure qi also sensed that its body was reviving; a stir of its lingering thought, and it was utterly extinguished.

Freed from the restraint of that lingering thought, the three clusters of pure qi that composed Him disintegrated, becoming three distinct conscious entities……

Moreover, many places underwent changes in succession; this series of changes combined into a major sign:

He, the heaven‑opening colossal god, has been resurrected!

【The three thousand laws transformed into nerves, linking the four directions of heaven and earth upon the Jade Scroll of Creation; thus the wilderness displayed myriad portents, all indicating that the colossal god's body has already revived!】

【But what revived was only the body, without a conscious mind to direct it, so nothing fundamentally changed……】

【The arrow is on the bow and must be released; matters have come to this point, so Hongjun simply does not hesitate any longer, directly using the Jade Scroll of Creation to make contact with the vast true spirit wandering between heaven and earth.】

【At the same time, he also released two batches of true spirit prepared in advance—one batch belonged to Jiaoming, and the other…… was his……】

【Although I do not know why that otherworldly sage entrusted his true spirit to me to refine the Heavenly Dao, nor why he can lack a true spirit…… Hongjun does not care about these: inexplicable, parallel worlds!】

【After all, another version of myself has already become a sage; sages can live without a true spirit, so it is not impossible to understand……】

【In short, this amount of true spirit equal to half of Pangu's scattered into heaven and earth, and together with the true spirit of the Three Ancestors began to refine heaven and earth!】

【Pangu's true spirit refined Pangu's body, following the principle of "original broth for original food"; the process naturally encountered no obstacles, and within one or two yuanhui the refinement was completely finished.】

【A massive, ignorant will emerged in the wilderness; He took true spirit as His god, heaven and earth as His body, and the laws as His meridians…… Upon birth, He achieved what the Three Ancestors had dreamed of—attaining the Dao, with infinite power, absolutely invincible!】

【Then, He took the sun and moon as His eyes, and gazed blankly toward Jade Capital Mountain.】

【Although those two ancient stars are immensely huge, you and Hongjun still clearly feel that He is looking at you, so you cannot help but feel a numbness all over and a chill down your spine……】

【He pondered a moment and asked: Who am I?】

【He had no mouth, did not speak, and even lacked any divine‑sense fluctuation, yet you strangely "heard" and understood His meaning.】

【Your heart leapt: That's not right! Would an idiot ask such a question?】

【Hongjun also had no idea, but he hurriedly tried to bluff: "No name? No problem, I'll give you one—just call you the Heavenly Dao!"】

【Heavenly Dao?】

【He fell into contemplation……】

【Seeing this, you and Hongjun exchanged a glance: having to think half a day over this question, he really is an idiot……】

【Fine, I'll be called the Heavenly Dao.】

【He said indifferently.】

【Hongjun's face lit up with joy, and he continued to bluff: "We are your creators, we have done you great favors, so you ought to repay us…… how about helping us refine heaven and earth?"】

【Answer quickly! Answer quickly!】

【We are only one step away from becoming sages; you and Hongjun's hearts pounded: if that idiot truly agrees, then the future will be perfect in every way!!!!】

【A beautiful future is beckoning to you……】

【Yet fate does not always follow wishes; just as you were excitedly fantasizing about the future, He refused: No!】

【"Why?!"】

【Hongjun's pupils contracted; he had not anticipated this turn of events at all.】

【"Because I'm not an idiot."】

【He answered as a matter of course.】

【You: ……】

【Hongjun: ……】

……

(End of chapter)