Chapter 4: The Escape |
A great deal of danger was quickly approaching our protagonist--even though he was not even aware of it.
As the scanning of the Eye of Heavenly Dao approaches the Myriad Emperor World, a great change suddenly happened.
The whole universe suddenly became quiet.
All lives in the universe--whether they were in the multiple Chaos Worlds in the higher dimension or the near infinite amount of worlds in the lower dimension--suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and silently looked up in the sky.
Trillions upon trillions of lives, who had different identities, different race, and different cultivation levels.
When they raised their head, all they could see was a young man dressed in purple robes standing over them: to be precise, he seemed to be standing above the whole universe. It did not matter where you were, how far apart you were, what size you were, whether you were an existing or non-existing being, whether you were a sentient being or not, anything of existence or non-existence could see this young man.
The inhabitants of the universe could not see the face of this man, but somehow they could see his temperament and both his eyes.
The man gave the feeling that he was free and unfettered, that he was not bound by worldly tether, that his actions were bound solely by his desires: in other words, he could do whatever he pleased whenever he wanted.
He was transcendent. He was detached.
In his eyes, you could see the fate of all living beings and things: their birth, growth, and destined destruction. It was a beautiful yet horrified cycle.
When seeing those eyes, people would immediately ask themselves: Does fate really exist? Is our life from birth to death already set like a written story? If so, who is the author? And how can we escape such a shackle?
Maybe this man knew the answer. Unfortunately, he was not here to answer our questions. Despite this, we are still happy to be in his mere presence.
Right after the young man showed up, a gigantic eye also appeared on top of all living beings.
Unlike the man who was a mystery to people, all living things instantly recognize this eye despite not having any prior knowledge of it. It was as if the cognitive knowledge of this being was instantly placed in their mind.
This was the Eye of Great Dao.
In this Chaotic Universe, there are many Chaotic Worlds like the Eternal Ascension World. Each Chaotic World has an Eye of Heavenly Dao to manage it and keep it in order. The collective Chaotic Worlds and its Eye of Heavenly Dao can be called the Chaotic Universe.
Thus, the Eye of Great Dao is essentially the boss or ruler of the entire Chaotic Universe.
There are two types of Eye of Great Dao: ones with emotion and the ones without. As for how the differences come about and what effect they each have? Well, that's information that our protagonist will have to discover for himself in his journey.
However, It seemed that the one that just appeared is without any emotions.
Despite this, the moment the Eye of Great Dao looked at the man that seemed to be standing above him, it felt something that seemed to be buried deep in his memories: fear.
It was not that the Eye of Heavenly Dao suddenly learned to have emotion: no it was more like an instinct when a lower life form came face to face with a higher one.
It was the same when ants met humans who could kill it with just one finger. Or when humans meet almighty Gods that control their fate.
Throughout its near infinite lifetime, the Eye of Great Dao could count less than five times in which it has felt this emotion.
The detached young man only slightly looked at the gigantic eye and then ignored it. He opened his mouth and exclaimed:
"Stop."
This single word echoed throughout the Chaotic Universe. Afterward, A Supreme Will instantly traveled throughout the universe and executed this man order.
Immediately afterward:
Time and Space froze, and everything began to stand still.
The Cycle of Life and Death stop evolving, all living things in this moment become eternal, being able to live forever frozen in that single moment.
The Shackles of Fate were removed, or to be precise, changed ownership to this supreme will. The fate of all living things were no longer their own--as it always was and always will be.
All cause and effect, all karmic ties were cut, thus freeing all living beings from the consequences of their actions. All their sins and altruism were washed away, turning them into blank sheets.
Yin and Yang were no longer separated. All living things were free from the concept of good and evil, day and night, fire and water: they were no longer divided.
Just this one sentence showed the terrifying power of this being. Among all beings, only two people or things were aware of things going around the universe. One being the Eye of Great Dao and the other, the shadow standing in Wang Wei's birth room. And to their horror, they were powerless and could only just watched it happen.
Afterward, the free and unfettered young man rewrote the fundamental laws or Great Dao of the Chaotic Universe.
Why did he do all that?
Because of a baby that was just born in the Myriad Emperor World.
The detached young man did all this to prevent the Eye of Heavenly Dao from noticing Wang Wei. He erased the memory of all living things, the memories of the powerful rulers of the Eternal Ascension World, and even the Eye of Heavenly Dao. Heck, even it's boss--the Eye of Great Dao-- was not spared. He rewind time to the moment he baby was born and give him a "citizenship" identity that was recognized by the world.
The only being who was spared was the shadow, but even he could not truly fathom exactly what the Supreme Being had done because of the massive difference of their cultivation level. However, he could probably guess the gist of it and the identity of the Supreme Being.
The shadow smiled and muttered to himself: "So, that's what happened. Now, so many things can be explained."
The shadow looked at the Eyes of the Supreme Being and said: "I 'am going to be the last winner."
After doing all this, after accomplishing his task, the detach young man glanced meaningfully at the just born baby, then at the shadow, smiled, and uttered:
"The journey has begun, huh."
"But it also already ended," responded a sweet and ethereal voice with the same detachment of the young man. You easily could tell that it was a woman's voice.
"How about making it a little more interesting this time around?" she giggled.
"Do not be playful when it comes to matters of such importance," reprimanded the young man.
The woman laughed without caring. Then she sneakily threw a very thin and undetectable white line in the Chaotic Universe.
Of course the young man noticed her action, but he ignored it. Just as she said, some things are simply inevitable; the process may be different, but the ending will be the same.
You could tell from their conversation that these two people were very close to each other from their manner of speaking. And also, of similar status.
The two young and immortal like people were living in a strange place. In this strange place that appeared all white, all existing concepts exist simultaneously or at the same time.
You could see space, time, matter, energy, life, death, reality, dreams, fantasy, yin and yang, absolute beginning, absolute end...etc.
All the concepts known and unknown to human cognition exist simultaneously in this strange place: Its name is Hongmeng.
According to cultivators' understanding of the Dao, Chaos existed before the birth of the universe. Chaos gave birth to all things. Then what was before Chaos? What gave birth to chaos? The answer is Hongmeng.
Hongmeng existed before chaos.
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