Vast and ethereal, mysterious and domineering.
Yet imbued with a compassion for all beings.
The energies converging on Chen Dong were intricate and manifold, yet they existed in a bizarre, incomprehensible balance, harmonising in a wondrous state.
Even as Chen Dong racked his brain, scouring every power system he knew, he couldn’t explain his current condition.
Each force was at its pinnacle.
Yet they blended together so seamlessly.
What… would this evolve into?
Moreover, once these myriad forces fully manifested within him, the excruciating pain from the initial infusion of vast demonic energy vanished entirely.
Warmth, serenity, peace…
Even amidst the ferocity and brutality of the demonic energy, his heart remained unrippled.
Above his head and beneath his feet, the two golden Taiji Bagua diagrams rotated slowly, their connecting rune chains shimmering with light.
The next moment—
A wisp of purple Dao aura drifted out from Chen Dong’s body, trailing faint threads. Though subtle, it was strikingly distinct.
Then, under Chen Dong’s astonished gaze, those delicate strands of Dao aura floated toward the golden Taiji Bagua diagrams. Like the golden rune chains, they linked the diagrams from above and below.
The purple Dao threads wove among the golden chains, vastly finer yet impossibly eye-catching.
Buzz!
When the purple Dao aura fully merged into the connection between the two golden Taiji Bagua diagrams, a deep rumble resounded.
The diagrams jolted simultaneously, briefly blurring as they expanded outward with a hazy ripple.
“This is…”
Chen Dong’s mind trembled.
He distinctly felt the vibration—fleeting, yet when the diagrams stabilised, they exuded an even deeper, more arcane mystery than before.
Before he could recover—
The golden Taiji Bagua diagrams above and below shifted again.
What had been a slow rotation now flared with specks of white light, like stars rapidly emerging.
The diagram above his head sparkled thus, as did the one beneath his feet.
Soon, even the space between, linked by the Dao aura and golden chains, blossomed with countless twinkling points.
And Chen Dong, standing at the centre of the golden Taiji Bagua, felt as though he were at the heart of the cosmos, silently witnessing the evolution of a starry sea.
In the blink of an eye—
The region encompassed by the golden Taiji Bagua, Dao aura, and golden chains transformed into a vast starry expanse.
A mysterious, ancient, weathered aura enveloped Chen Dong.
All these changes occurred in an instant, leaving even Chen Dong momentarily overwhelmed.
“The primal state of the cosmos’ formation, tempered by the river of time, shifting through the ages?”
Sensing that weathered aura, Chen Dong instantly understood.
If the Ancestral Demons had shown him the Upper Heavenly Realm’s transformations from its inception, then what unfolded within the golden Taiji Bagua now was the passage of a starry sea through time.
Or rather, the spherical domain formed by the two golden Taiji Bagua diagrams, Dao aura, and golden chains was akin to the cosmos’ birth, evolving through its history.
At its centre, Chen Dong witnessed the starry sea’s changes, yet he felt an uncanny sense of wielding the entire cosmos.
A profound, mysterious sensation—everything under his control, laid bare before his eyes.
A faint intuition emerged: with a single thought, all things would shift accordingly. It struck him with a mix of daze and astonishment.
To test this sensation’s reality—
Chen Dong locked his gaze on a star before him. With a thought, it moved a distance through the void as he willed.
“This is real?” he exclaimed, his face alight with vivid wonder.
“No need to doubt. This is the Dao created by Ancestor Fuxi… and you… are now that Dao.”
The voice belonged to Ancestor Yellow Emperor.
Each word exploded like thunder in Chen Dong’s ears.
Ancestor… Fuxi?
Chen Dong’s eyes flickered, his lips parting slightly.
In a daze, he recalled tales of Ancestor Fuxi from ancient lore.
When he’d trod the Heavenly Path, he’d relied on Zhuge Wuhou’s *Divine and Ghostly Eight Arrays*, stepping beneath and above golden Taiji Bagua diagrams. But the true Taiji Bagua… originated with Emperor Fuxi.
Or rather, all later iterations of Taiji Bagua were derived from Fuxi’s creation.
Even Zhuge Wuhou’s *Divine and Ghostly Eight Arrays* stemmed from it.
Now, Ancestor Yellow Emperor’s words made it clear: the golden Taiji Bagua diagrams above and below him were no longer mere offshoots of Zhuge Wuhou’s arrays from his Heavenly Path journey.
They were the true, primal Taiji Bagua—born from Ancestor Fuxi!
In ancient legend, Emperor Fuxi had crafted the Taiji Bagua by contemplating the starry cosmos.
Thus, standing within this spherical space of golden Taiji Bagua, Chen Dong naturally witnessed the starry sea’s transformations.
And his ability to control it with a thought stemmed from… him being the Dao within this Taiji Bagua!
“Senior… what exactly am I evolving into?” Enlightenment dawning, Chen Dong voiced his final curiosity.
A pause followed.
Then Ancestor Yellow Emperor’s voice resounded, “You are the final hope of humanity, lifted by all our ancestors. Merging with the Dao, blessed by its fortune, your ultimate evolution should be… the Primal Dao Seed.”
“Primal Dao Seed?” Chen Dong frowned, puzzled.
As he spoke—
The Ancestral Demon’s voice chimed in, “You are the sole variable, imbued with myriad forces. They are merely Primordial Spirit Seeds, while you… are the true origin of the Dao, the Primal Dao Seed.”
Chen Dong’s realisation hit, his mind reeling.
All these forces, perfectly fused within him, aimed to make him the Primal Dao Seed.
The Primordial Spirit Seeds were formidable, but they were only the second wave, emerging after the Ancestral Demons.
Once he became the Primal Dao Seed, he’d merge with the Dao, embodying its original form.
Back then, the Upper Heavenly Realm hadn’t yet begun—neither the Ancestral Demons nor the Primordial Spirit Seeds had existed.
As the variable merging with the Dao, becoming the primal form of the Dao Seed, even those Primordial Spirit Seeds could only gaze at his back, unable to compare.
The gap wasn’t a mere chasm—it was utterly insurmountable.
Even that Primordial Spirit Seed wielding Jianmu, who set the Heavenly Gate and schemed against humanity and the lower realm’s beings, seemed to dictate that ascension to the Upper Heavenly Realm required passing through it.
But… it was all an illusion!
Even the Primordial Spirit Seeds operated within the rules of the “Dao.”
It was as if the “Dao” had drawn a circle, and the Primordial Spirit Seeds leapt and manipulated within it, altering everything—yet remained confined by that circle.
Now… Chen Dong’s transformation—empowered by humanity’s ancestors, the Ancestral Demons, the Dao, and more—was turning him into that very circle of the “Dao”!