Tianzun.

Nameless yet named, proving the principle in the realm of absolute words.

An elephant without form, ascending mysteriously amidst nothingness.

If only a blur, a faint hope for all living beings, how could they not yearn? Thus, images were cast and titles established.

"Innate Heart."

Ji Xiang transformed into... that Heavenly Heart which replaced the heart bestowed by Heaven with the human heart. But the Innate Heart was drawn from a wisp of void born in the desolate depths of the world.

At that time, there was neither the Heart of Heaven nor the Heart of Man. It was before both. And so, the countless Tianzun of the world, the most ancient Dao, observed this wisp of void. They ascended in silence, casting grand images upon the world, seated amidst nothingness.

Nothing remained.

Nothing was preserved.

Constantly returning to the origin, receiving the veneration of the Tianzun, evolving into the mystical image first seen by the original Tianzun.

Later generations sang praises, imagining that in the past, there was something that dominated the Dao, or generated the Dao, or moved within it. Thus, various Dao, or even more humanized ancient deities, were shaped. The past was born from this, and pushed further and further away by the future.

The Dao, like the Azure Goat, also desired to see the mystical image.

Moving further forward, not content with merely being sung about, the source of all laws was not in the past, but in the extremely distant future, or rather, in the next instant of every moment that had already occurred.

Each instant after this one was the future.

In an instant, countless voices of praise arrived.

They came from the far distant future, constantly arriving here, and then pushing the present moment into the past. Grain by grain, drop by drop, they built up an incomparably magnificent ancient legend. And that legend, built up in this way, brought them mighty power from the past.

"You also wish to prove the mystical image again."

Ji Xiang looked at Yuanshi Tianzun, who could not speak, but maintained his pose of veneration.

Gaining sight of the mystical image, a Tianzun was born.

Proving the mystical image again.

Was to become the true Yuanshi.

The future fluctuated, because the accumulation of the past stopped at this moment, all of it blocked by Yuanshi Tianzun.

Ji Xiang saw that behind Yuanshi Tianzun, there was a road of light, and a shadow of a person appeared within it. He was doing something, and a strange sound, like an incantation, was transmitted, but it stopped behind Yuanshi Tianzun, blocked and cut off.

It was Gu Xiansheng.

As the only Yuqing cultivator eternally in the future, he was perfectly clear about the changes that had occurred in the past.

But he could not see Ji Xiang, nor could he see the Innate Heart.

The image that Ji Xiang could see became increasingly clear. It was Gu Xiansheng standing in the light of time, anxiously peering at the future.

His voice could not penetrate through, but Ji Xiang knew what he was saying, what he was thinking, what he was anxious and fearful about.

[There's a problem with Yuanshi Tianzun.]

[No one has yet proven to be Yuanshi. Nearly half of the Yuqing cultivators still exist. Why did the sacrifices to Yuanshi Tianzun disappear at a certain moment in the past?]

[Where did my praises that run through the ages go?]

[All Yuqing are the True One; the foundation of the Dao is accomplished through you, and also through the ancients!]

Gu Xiansheng, in the future, had his believers constantly praising him as Yuanshi. His Yuanshi nature was extremely great. He only waited to devour more than half of the Yuqing cultivators, and he would be able to completely replace the existence of Yuanshi Tianzun in the past.

But those praises had disappeared, blocked by Yuanshi Tianzun, and used to prove the mystical image again.

The longer it was praised by the people, the greater its spirit became. The Azure Goat was a perfect example of this, and Yuanshi Tianzun was also something of the Yuqing, even the source of Yuqing that had been praised.

Gu Xiansheng used his supreme law of return to the One, that supernatural power called the True One, which was the innate power that a Tianxin powerhouse had to condense when entering the Hunyuan realm. Gu Xiansheng's True One supernatural power had already reached the level where it could actively derive the "Dao."

The Hunyuan realm could surpass Tianxin by half a step with a single True One power, and Gu Xiansheng had surpassed Hunyuan by an unknown amount.

Ji Xiang could still see the past, but not as ancient as the current Yuanshi Tianzun. That was Yuan Huang, standing in a certain time in the past, looking at him from afar, also with a bewildered expression.

Then, in the chaos of the past and the future, the illusory shadows that had been transformed into fragments of predestined relationships also appeared. That was Qingluo, who had been manipulated by Gu Xiansheng as a puppet.

The shadows of the Yuqing cultivators, and even some of the dead, began to appear.

In different eras, it seemed that even if the Yuqing cultivators were replaced by Gu Xiansheng, they could still leave behind some indelible fragments.

Ji Xiang saw these people, and also saw the titles they had once possessed, all of which were names that Yuanshi Tianzun had propagated in the world.

"The people in the praises, Yuqing is originally a road of praises, and the cultivators who obtained the identity of Yuqing have become the immortals and gods in the praises."

Every Yuqing cultivator was an incarnation of Yuanshi, but not the true Yuanshi.

Now it seemed, perhaps they could never become the true Yuanshi.

Gu Xiansheng was the closest person. He could forcibly create a new Dao with the supreme law of return to the One, even if it was created by replacing several Yuqing, but it seemed that the road had been wrong from the beginning.

Yuanshi Tianzun would not be replaced by them.

Yuanshi Tianzun could even prevent those praises from coming to him.

The longer Yuanshi Tianzun was praised by later generations, the stronger he became. Thus... the more distant later generations became from proving Yuanshi.

Only before Yuanshi could one prove to be Yuanshi.

"The more future generations praise, the stronger Yuanshi becomes; the stronger Yuanshi becomes, the more distant future generations become."

"But since I have become before Yuanshi, why should I become Yuanshi again?"

Ji Xiang knew that he had become the mystical image. In the space of void thoughts, the supreme Tianzun before him was also eagerly seeking a way to break through the shackles from him, constantly making offerings.

But what could he give him?

This was the greatest and most ancient question of all.

What did the original void thought think?

He was, after all, not the original void thought.

Was the original void thought something that was praised, or did this void thought truly exist?

Something praised, then praising what it hoped would appear, praise within praise, the most void within the void. In Taoism, this was called the ultimate wuwei and emptiness, which was said to be the substance of the Dao. In reality, there was nothing, nothing could be obtained, and there was no way to know its existence or operation.

"Perhaps the Yuanshi seen in the world, the Yuanshi praised, the Yuanshi known, are not the true Yuanshi."

As this thought arose,

Yuanshi Tianzun's figure began to dissipate. He stared blankly at the mystical image where Ji Xiang was, and a feeling of vast desolation emanated from him.

Yuanshi was not Yuanshi, but the void thought was also not Yuanshi.

At what moment did Yuanshi appear?

Or rather, if the Yuanshi defined in the world today did not truly conform to the Dao, then how should the true Yuanshi be defined?

As the definition disappeared, even Yuanshi Tianzun was about to disappear.

Even Yuan Huang in the past, Gu Xiansheng in the future, Qingluo who had been turned into fate, their existences became fragments, as if they would never move again. No matter how grand the plan or how cautious the preparations, they all stopped, and then vanished like smoke.

Of course, they were not without any other reactions. Gu Xiansheng's body twisted before dissipating, Yuan Huang disappeared himself one step ahead, Qingluo scattered, and even a white light flickered, but it was no longer closely connected with Yuqing, and left on its own.

That was Christ, confirming his identity.

But even so, the trace of the First Person could not be seen.

There was no more Yuanshi Tianzun in the world.

There were no more Yuqing cultivators in the world.

Breaking the false to return to the true.

Yuqing became silent.

Emptiness was, from beginning to end, right and wrong, and everything else, all disappeared.

"Cannot find the true beginning."

"Then let's start from this moment."

Yuanshi Tianzun returned again, and everything in the silent Yuqing realm was restored. Only the Yuqing cultivators of the past were gone. They were isolated from the new Yuqing, becoming the remnants of the old Yuqing.

Yuanshi Tianzun stood upright, exuding a feeling of gratitude.

Re-establish Yuqing.

He then also had a ray of light appearing before all things.

Transforming into a mystical image.

And after all this happened, the cultivators of the old Yuqing were greatly shocked.

They still did not know what Ji Xiang had done, because they could not see the mystical image.

But in their Yuqing light, Yuanshi Tianzun no longer existed. Gu Xiansheng could no longer continue to transmit back and replace him, and Yuan Huang had escaped early, but had no way to enter the years of the second Yuqing.

The new praises, begun by Ji Xiang, at the time of the Innate Mystical Image, they had no way to come here. Praise isolated them, causing them to cease to exist in this mythology.