Chapter 1 "Daoyitu..."

Gazing at the mottled ancient scroll flashing with flowing light, An Qisheng's expression was calm, yet ripples stirred within him.

He had meditated silently on Da Shi Mountain for a thousand years.

The reason it was Da Shi Mountain and not Tian Ding Country or somewhere else was not only because Da Shi Mountain was the most auspicious place in Eastern Continent, but also because of the Daoyitu.

The unknown owner of the Daoyitu had left traces in the Da Shi Holy Land, but even with the method of dreaming into the Great Thousand Worlds, he could not find the Daoyitu.

Yet, unexpectedly, he saw it today in this Heavenly Tribulation.

This Daoyitu was naturally not left behind by Pang Wanyang, but was the ‘trouble’ that Pang Wanyang spoke of.

Because along with the appearance of the Daoyitu, an indescribable ‘will’ descended, seemingly vast and boundless, yet ethereal and elusive.

Buzz!

Under Pang Wanyang's command, the long-dormant sea of thunder began to revive, with streaks of terrifying lightning flashing.

With the descent of this will, the lightning in the sky seemed to undergo a transformation.

Across the starry sea, Sun En and the others, watching, felt a tremor in their hearts, a sense of oppression like dark clouds gathering overhead.

"This is?!"

While Sun En and the others were still bewildered, the Eternal Life Gate Master hiding in the bronze coffin felt a violent tremor in his heart, sensing a great crisis approaching.

In an instant, he activated the restrictions of the bronze coffin, his aura plummeting, entering a state of suspended animation.

This action made the Yang God and others' eyelids twitch.

"No wonder I couldn't find it anywhere. It turned out to be in His hands..."

An Qisheng rose from the Dao platform, his clothes moving without wind, yin and yang colors flowing around him. The Taiji Diagram emerged in response, slowly rotating, isolating the invasion of the thunder sea.

His expression changed, sensing the arrival of a great crisis.

Whoosh~

The moment the Daoyitu appeared, the lightning in the sky moved with it, flowing back like water, converging on the Daoyitu.

Then, it transformed into a hazy and indistinct ‘human’ figure.

The figure was ethereal and blurred, seemingly between existence and non-existence. The moment it appeared, An Qisheng felt a raw and powerful will descending upon him.

Silently, he sensed the meaning contained within this will:

Want!

He wanted the Daoyitu?

A realization arose in An Qisheng's heart, along with a hint of understanding. No wonder his warning had no effect.

Because he was also within His gaze.

Even compared to the possible destruction in the future, He wanted his Daoyitu more.

Whoosh~

In just a few moments, the ethereal figure had solidified.

It was a youth clad in armor, tall and slender, with prominent features and a rebellious expression. However, incongruously, his eyes were raw and pure.

Clear as water, innocent as a child, dazed and full of curiosity about everything.

"A Heaven that has given birth to self-awareness..."

An Qisheng's pupils constricted.

He could feel the power and rawness of this will, as well as its slow changes. He was adapting and learning.

Heaven is the collective body of all information in the universe.

To say it exists is to say it exists, and to say it doesn't exist is not much of a mistake.

He was not a living being, nor should he possess intelligence like ‘self’. Now it seemed that it must be because of the Daoyitu that He had gained immense benefits.

Even if this was only a part of the real ‘He’, this Heaven had become a spirit!

"All, all things, can, can become spirits. I, naturally, can too."

Under An Qisheng's gaze, the unknown youth slowly opened his mouth, progressing from rawness to fluency in just half a sentence:

"You humans call transformed spirits 'demons', so, in your words, I am a 'Heavenly Demon'..."

The youth looked at An Qisheng casually, or rather, somewhat dazed, paused, and said, "Of course, I prefer you to call me, 'Heavenly Father'!"

His voice was calm, like the sound of wind and water, natural and without the slightest discord, like the voice of the heavens.

Flowing down, sweeping across the boundless expanse, anyone who saw it could hear it, ignoring any distance in the void, directly resounding in everyone's ears.

Like the sound of wind and rain, without any shocking destructive power, yet omnipresent.

And as he spoke, the confusion in his eyes, the rawness in his words, all the disharmony disappeared.

Replaced by a vastness, an indifference.

Wherever his gaze reached, the myriad things in the world resonated with it. An Qisheng could clearly perceive that the void around him was twisting, and the spiritual energy was boiling.

Unseen, he had become the enemy of the heavens!

Heavenly Father?!

In the starry sea, Sun En's expression fluctuated, a feeling of intense shock rising in his heart.

He forcibly suppressed the urge to prostrate himself in worship, and only then did he understand with shock that what his teacher had been searching for was actually ‘Heaven’!

Can Heaven also become a demon?

"Heavenly Demon, Heavenly Father! Heaven has become a spirit!"

"How is this possible?!"

"It can't be Heaven! How could Heaven become a spirit?"

This day was destined to be unforgettable for the experts of all races in the universe.

The Great Era descended, multiple kings appeared in a single day, the hidden hand left behind by the suspected Guanglong Supreme emerged, one thing after another was enough to shock the universe.

Who would have thought that in the end, a strange existence calling itself ‘Heavenly Father’ would appear!

The appearance of such an existence caused even Feng Xinglie, Yuan Duxiu, and Chu Mengyao, who were undergoing their tribulations, to pause for a moment, as if they had been frightened.

Throughout the Imperial Extremes, in the vast starry sea, all the experts paying attention to this place were shocked, their faces drained of color.

Sensing this vast and mighty, all-encompassing supreme will, countless people couldn't help but kowtow to the ground, unable to stand up.

Among them were even experts who had condensed grotto-heavens and even shattered the vacuum!

"He, He, He..."

On Da Shi Mountain in the Eastern Continent of the Imperial Extremes, Qi Cang gazed at the starry sea, listening to this voice like the whispers of the heavens exploding in his ears, completely frozen in place.

There was absolutely no such existence in his memory, claiming to be the Heavenly Father, a will suspected to have been born from the heavens. If it had existed in his previous life, he would never have forgotten it!

If the memories in his mind were not false, then who could have erased these memories from his mind?

‘Who is He...’

Qi Cang's thoughts raced, his heart bone-chillingly cold, sinking into deep shock and fear.

"Heaven gives birth to all things and all spirits. It's fitting that you call yourself Heavenly Father..."

Suppressing the tremor in his heart, An Qisheng nodded slightly, with caution and curiosity: "In that case, Qi Cang was also sent by you."

Seeing this ‘Heavenly Demon’, many of the questions in his heart were immediately resolved.

Why was it that most of Qi Cang's memories were related to him, and why were the other things displayed very vaguely, even with chaotic places?

And why was there not a single sign of the destruction he had glimpsed in the corner of the future?

There were too many such things.

The demonic dragon was just there by chance. The one who truly sent him was not the demonic dragon, but the ‘Heaven’ in front of him.

"I've been looking for you for a long time."

The Heavenly Demon gazed at An Qisheng, his indifferent eyes devoid of emotion: "You hid very well, but you're too flamboyant. In this era, no one should attain the Dao, especially not you."

He was indirectly acknowledging Qi Cang's origin, it was just a means He used to find An Qisheng.

Including the demonic dragon, it was also a means that He had hinted at to come and test An Qisheng. And it wasn't until under the Heavenly Tribulation that He truly confirmed An Qisheng's identity.

"You are not ‘Heaven’, or rather, not the complete ‘Will of Heaven and Earth’."

Hearing this, An Qisheng's expression eased instead. He had comprehended the mysteries of Heaven and Earth in the Human Realm Dao, so he naturally understood.

If the will of a true Heavenly Dao revived, then everything that existed between Heaven and Earth, past, present, and future, would be like the lines on the palm of his hand, the entire appearance visible at a glance.

His sudden emergence was already enough for Him to locate him, without the need for any testing.

"You understand ‘Heaven’ very well."

The Heavenly Demon looked at An Qisheng deeply, his tone calm but with a hint of fluctuation: "Your tone, your attitude, are very similar to that person from the past."

"Is that so?"

Thoughts were turning in An Qisheng's mind, but he didn't want to guess how the Daoyitu Master had died, or why he had abandoned the Daoyitu, or how this ‘Heavenly Demon’ was born.

Instead, he asked the question in his heart: "In the future world, there will be a great tribulation, a tribulation that will not only target all races and all spirits, but will also damage Heaven and Earth. How will you deal with it?"

"You only know that there will be a tribulation in the future, but you don't know why the tribulation exists..."

The Heavenly Demon stood in the air, slowly opening his arms, as if the entire Heaven and Earth were boiling at this moment, endless spiritual energy gushing out from the Imperial Extremes, from the starry sea, from every inch of the void:

"You, are the tribulation!"

Rumble!

From extreme stillness to extreme movement, it was only a moment.

The moment the Heavenly Demon's voice resounded throughout the Great Thousand Worlds, every inch of space in Heaven and Earth vibrated together, sweeping up the spiritual energy like dragons.

In an instant, the starry sea was filled with splendor. The already shocking sea of thunder tribulation instantly increased tenfold, a hundredfold, even a thousandfold!

An invisible will rushed towards him, not only occupying the thunder sea here, but also filling the boundless universe. An Qisheng's expression changed, and he felt an immense hatred emerging in the void of Heaven and Earth.

It was as if he was to be completely rejected from Heaven and Earth!

"I, am the tribulation..."

Boundless thunder rumbled and crisscrossed, engulfing him like a blanket. An Qisheng's expression changed, but the bright mirror in his heart suddenly shone brightly.

In an instant, he actually sensed some kind of heavenly secret change in the darkness.

In a trance, he seemed to see the future.

He saw a future even more distant than what he had seen in the altar.

The same desolate starry sky, the sight of all spirits extinguished, the same boundless scene of destruction, a terrifying battle fought in the cosmic starry sea.

And this time, he saw the great enemy who was fighting with him in the starry sea.

He wore a black and white Daoist robe, with white hair hanging down his shoulders, his eyes like starry seas, his energy piercing the sky. Between the opening and closing of his fists, the Taiji was born, and between the gestures of his hands and feet, the galaxy broke and the universe boiled.

That was,

Himself!