Chapter 571: Pangu

The deficiency of the Heavenly Way lies in the Great Dao not ceasing; the deficiency of sentient beings lies in the fluctuating nature of the Dao...

At this moment, Li Changshou's state was somewhat unusual. He sat cross-legged above the vortex, extending strands of his divine sense into various parts of the vortex, with most of his mind immersed within. However, he was merely observing and had not fully entered a state of enlightenment, so he could still sense everything happening around him.

There was Yun Xiao, diligently refining the array foundations; Taiyi Zhenren, sneaking in some time to practice vocal mimicry; and his senior brother, Da Fa Shi, studying the specific layout of the great array...

At this time, Li Changshou felt like a 'mobile hard drive' plugged into the Heavenly Way's 'port,' busily sifting through a vast amount of disordered, meaningless information for anything that piqued his interest. Along the way, he delved into some minor questions, such as the essence of the Heavenly Way, the deep connections between the Great Dao, the Heavenly Way, and living beings, the Great Dao's self-evolution at the primordial beginning of the heavens and earth, and so on. There was nothing particularly remarkable about it—just the level of comprehension typical of an ordinary great power in Hong Huang. Of course, his own Dao realm and accumulations were far from qualifying him as a great power.

From ancient times to the present in Hong Huang, countless living beings had left their marks on the river of time, and the Heavenly Way contained too many scattered fragments. Li Changshou continued to observe and contemplate, oblivious to the passage of time. His insights accumulated steadily, yet he temporarily sealed them away to avoid being exploited by the Heavenly Way and influencing his mind. His empty and clear Dao heart remained constantly active, unmoved by external matters and unshaken by personal emotions. He was like an emotionless auditor, maintaining a sage-like state as he observed the countless traces imprinted in the Heavenly Way's annals...

Without any warning, Li Changshou saw a expanse of chaos. In the gray, misty fog, there seemed to be an extraordinarily imposing figure standing there, with crisscrossing Great Dao paths underfoot and boundless chaos surrounding him. As the fog dissipated, Li Changshou 'saw' the back of this burly man, who was wrapped in simple animal hides and standing with his hands behind his back, staring blankly at the chaos sea. The hide appeared to be from some chaos creature... Pan Gu? The thought arose in Li Changshou's heart, and his Dao heart began to tremble involuntarily. In the deficiency of the Heavenly Way, in the gap of the heavens and earth, there were actually imprints related to Pan Gu? This didn't make sense! The Heavenly Way was born after the creation of the heavens and earth, from the resonance of Pan Gu's will with the three thousand Great Dao, originally to protect Hong Huang from the remnants of innate gods and demons. (The 'three thousand' is just a figurative number.) Since the Heavenly Way emerged after Pan Gu's fall, how could there be a 'scene' of Pan Gu standing in the chaos sea? Was it an imprint from the Great Dao? Or did Dao Zu possess a great divine ability to reverse time and observe the origin of the heavens and earth? Or perhaps...

It's here?

In Li Changshou's Dao heart, a voice suddenly rang out, carrying a hint of joy. It was pure and simple joy, accompanied by a tremor of the Great Dao.

'Pan Gu' turned his head, revealing a majestic face. At first glance, it seemed unremarkable, just like the form of an innate Dao body, but upon closer contemplation...

The so-called innate Dao body was actually modeled after Pan Gu's appearance. This was the original!

Then, Pan Gu said:

Old brother.

Li Changshou's empty and clear Dao heart nearly shattered, but he quickly realized that the 'trace' he had captured was from some living being's memory. Pan Gu wasn't speaking to him; his divine sense had simply entered the main perspective of that memory. Suddenly, he recalled that in Lang Qianqiu's records, there was also this way of addressing Pan Gu as 'old brother'...

Li Changshou's thoughts raced, and he swiftly detached himself from this Heavenly Way trace. At the place where 'Pan Gu' faced, he conjured a shadow and began observing from a pure third-person perspective. Indeed, everything became much easier to understand. Under Pan Gu's feet, the Great Dao paths seemed to extend continuously, becoming more complete and striving for perfection. (This appeared to be Pan Gu's way of cultivation.) The imprint carried by the Heavenly Way depicted a simple conversation that occurred before the creation of the heavens and earth, when the chaos was unnamed, between Pan Gu and an unknown living being. During their exchange, Pan Gu conveyed thoughts through divine sense, which formed into words Li Changshou could understand in his heart. It was somewhat similar to how Ta Ye chatted with Li Changshou.

Pan Gu asked:

'I still don't understand why we need to wear clothes.'

The unknown living being laughed and replied:

'If we don't wear clothes, how can we distinguish ourselves from those ugly freaks? Old brother, we have to firmly believe that we're the beautiful ones, so we can consider them ugly. After all, the chaos sea can't set any norms, so we have to establish some standards. The chaos sea is boundless and full of disorder. The living beings formed by the aggregation of true spirits all grow wildly without restraint. We need to take responsibility and set an example for them.'

Pan Gu showed a look of sudden realization, his eyes gleaming with thought.

The one tricking Pan Gu... It has to be Lang Qianqiu, right? This is Lang Qianqiu!

Did Lang Qianqiu travel back to the time of the creation of the heavens and earth? But earlier, Dao Zu said that Lang Qianqiu was drawn in by the turbulence of the creation. Well, that doesn't matter. The key is...

Is that it?

Is Lang Qianqiu's setup really this shallow?

He directly appeared by Pan Gu's side and arrived in the chaos sea before the creation, yet he still lost to Hong Jun Dao Zu in the end! Was Dao Zu just too strong, or did Lang Qianqiu waste away in those endless years?

Li Changshou couldn't help but grumble in his heart, then silently warned himself. Don't get involved with Lang Qianqiu, or you'll definitely get dragged into the pit!

This trace still had some residual information.

'Everything is without norms, so we have to set standards,' Pan Gu nodded slowly, 'what you say makes sense.'

Then, Pan Gu lowered his head to look at the Great Dao under his feet, closed his eyes, and began to ponder deeply. Soon, a layer of mist surrounded him. Seeing this, the unknown living being seemed to silently slap himself and muttered:

'Great, now who knows how long it'll take for him to snap out of it. Sigh, that's just how big shots are.'

As the unknown living being's muttering faded, the scene disappeared.

Li Changshou: ...

At this point, he could confirm that this Heavenly Way imprint came from Lang Qianqiu's 'memory.' The way Lang Qianqiu addressed Pan Gu as 'old brother' in his records wasn't just bragging—he was probably from the same era as Pan Gu. What a flashy starting point.

Li Changshou calmed his Dao heart and carefully savored the experience. He imprinted the image of Pan Gu standing with his hands behind his back in his heart, and his Ba Jiu Xuan Gong seemed to ignite, with his bloodline rapidly circulating. In Xuan Du City, where Li Changshou was in seclusion, a streak of crimson light enveloped him. An opportunity? Li Changshou's eyebrow twitched, but he didn't open his eyes or rush to seek other imprints related to Pan Gu. Instead, he began to think deeply. Why had he discovered these scenes here, yet never heard anyone mention them before? Was it intentional from Dao Zu? These Heavenly Way imprints were extraordinary; constantly visualizing them could enhance a Qi refiner's comprehension of the Great Dao and allow one to experience the 'primordial' state of the Great Dao paths that gathered around Pan Gu before the creation.

Here, there are two concepts: The Great Dao, the truths of the world, which can be understood as the rules constructing the current Hong Huang heavens and earth. The Heavenly Way has derived ninety-eight percent of the Great Dao, thereby gaining the 'authority' to control, protect, and establish order in the heavens and earth. The two are similar yet entirely different. In this gap of the Heavenly Way, he had actually found imprints from the forbidden Lang Qianqiu's memory fragments... Li Changshou couldn't help but suspect that this was the Heavenly Way, or Dao Zu, or even the residual will of Pan Gu in the Heavenly Way, deliberately exposing this 'information' to him for some purpose. But Li Changshou had already decided... to seize this opportunity! The benefits were indeed great and directly related to the word 'transcendence.' When it comes to priorities, he had to grasp every opportunity related to transcendence with all his might! Avoiding something beneficial out of fear would not be steady; it would be unwise. As for the hidden hand behind showing him these things, whatever they might ask him to do later, he would carefully consider it and, if necessary, choose to deny it outright.

Half a day later, Li Changshou continued to probe this gap in the heavens and earth, layer by layer through the annals, searching for imprints related to Pan Gu. He didn't know how much time had passed or how many he had examined. Li Changshou's Dao heart trembled lightly, and his divine sense sank into the chaos sea once more. The second imprint! He maintained his empty and clear Dao heart, quickly detaching himself to avoid being influenced by the Heavenly Way, and continued observing from a third-person perspective. This time, it was still a conversation between Pan Gu and that unknown living being. The difference was that a vast expanse of land had appeared under Pan Gu's feet, and a blue expanse overhead, as if deducing the principles of purity and turbidity. The surrounding chaos aura constantly eroded this small world, but it was repeatedly repelled by Pan Gu's divine power. Due to the perspective, Li Changshou still couldn't determine the exact appearance of the entity suspected to be Lang Qianqiu—it remained just a imagined black mist...

The unknown living being asked:

'Old brother, are you really going to create the heavens? Maybe think it over? Staying in the chaos sea isn't bad; it's boundless, with some interesting places, and endless to explore.'

But Pan Gu said:

'The chaos is disordered, and true spirits are muddled. Since you and I emerged from nothing into existence, the path we must take is to turn existence into one, perfect the three thousand Great Dao, define the boundaries of existence and non-existence, and separate the ordered realm from the disordered one. The river of true spirits cannot continue in the chaos sea, and countless true spirits remain in a daze. If the heavens are not opened, these true spirits will return to nothingness, and the river of true spirits itself will be extinguished once more. If existence returns to non-existence, the chaos sea will fall into deathly silence again—what meaning would our existence have? I was born from the aggregation of true spirits and embody the existence of the true spirit river, so I must do this.'

The unknown living being added:

'But this... sigh, old brother, opening the heavens will disrupt the current order of the chaos sea. To complete the three thousand Great Dao, you'll definitely have to fight the gods and demons in the chaos sea. From what we've explored, there are countless gods and demons in the chaos sea with power equal to yours.'

'Just as you said, change always involves bloodshed.'

Pan Gu smiled, opened his left hand, and streams of light intertwined in his palm. The world above his head and under his feet suddenly collapsed, transforming into colorful Great Dao paths like chains. In the chaos sea, the concept of color emerged! Three of the Great Dao paths were the most dazzling, flying directly into Pan Gu's palm and intertwining to form a massive axe as tall as he was. The Opening Heavens Axe! The unknown living being's divine sense trembled: 'Say the word and do it just like that?' 'Say it and do it,' Pan Gu stood tall, his long hair draped over his shoulders and wrapped in Dao principles, with multicolored radiance flashing around him. He looked up and let out a great roar. The chaos sea boiled instantly! In the surrounding chaos sea, shadows of various shapes emerged, endless and boundless... The scene abruptly ended. The second Heavenly Way imprint only carried this much information.

Li Changshou felt unsatisfied but still suppressed his impulses and closed his eyes to carefully comprehend it. A spark of insight arose in his heart, and he took out a blank scroll he carried with him, using immortal power to form a divine brush, and casually began to paint. The image of Pan Gu holding the axe and facing the endless chaos gods and demons was quickly outlined by Li Changshou. Yet, he felt it wasn't perfect, so he burned the scroll and took out another blank one, closing his eyes to concentrate. This time, he didn't lift the brush for several days; when he did, his movements became extremely slow. But the lines he drew seemed to come alive, and the figure of Pan Gu in this painting contained countless profound principles. The painting took three months to complete, after which Li Changshou waved his hand, rolled up the scroll, and turned it into a stream of light flying toward Da Fa Shi. Afterward, Li Changshou said nothing, closing his eyes to comprehend, with the earlier painting suspended in his spiritual platform. The 'Pan Gu Visualization Diagram'! The key to breaking through the limits of Ba Jiu Xuan Gong! The path to transcendence that he had previously been unable to grasp unexpectedly opened a crack here, with a beam of light guiding him forward... Exactly who was exposing these Heavenly Way imprints to him? Lang Qianqiu had been erased, and his memory fragments should belong to the Heavenly Way. The Heavenly Way itself could be ruled out first; it was merely an emotionless 'aggregation of rules,' the embodiment of order, and couldn't provide a way to break that order. Lang Qianqiu could also be ruled out—nothing was left of him. The most likely possibilities were the residual will of Pan Gu and Dao Zu. But Pan Gu's residual will was currently suppressed and sealed, so it was most probably Dao Zu guiding him. The way to verify it was simple: If he saw subsequent Heavenly Way imprints next, and they showed Dao Zu and Pan Gu in the same frame... Then the one behind this opportunity was definitely Dao Zu. Li Changshou heard exclamations from afar and smiled faintly at the corner of his mouth, continuing to split a wisp of his mind to linger around him while immersing himself once more in the Heavenly Way's annals. He meticulously reviewed the past of the heavens and earth, searching for the Heavenly Way imprints formed from Lang Qianqiu's memories.

This time, it took a relatively long period, but effort pays off for the persevering. Soon, he found the third and fourth Heavenly Way imprints. Unfortunately, the information preserved within was sparse. They barely formed a few scenes, all of Pan Gu wielding his axe in battle against living beings in the chaos sea, splitting them into chaos aura and releasing countless true spirits. The powerful beings in the chaos sea could be understood as 'countless true spirits aggregated upon the Great Dao' to evolve into life-like entities. Thus, the fall of each chaos god or demon released true spirits. These true spirits gathered behind Pan Gu, reforming into a river, with Pan Gu like one breaking through waves and thorns, unmatched wherever he went! Interestingly, the original perspective of these scenes was from Pan Gu's shoulder. At that time, Lang Qianqiu seemed to be standing on Pan Gu's shoulder, witnessing the entire Opening Heavens Catastrophe.

After settling for half a month, Li Changshou began searching for the fifth Heavenly Way imprint. And this time, he finally confirmed his suspicion. Dao Zu appeared! It was toward the end of the Opening Heavens Catastrophe, when Pan Gu had reached his strongest form. In the midst of battle, he suddenly noticed an innate Dao body similar to his own. The axe hesitated for a moment, and Pan Gu spared this chaos god or demon, but the Opening Heavens Axe struck out a stream of light, chipping off a corner of the jade disc protecting it. Three divine senses intertwined, leading to a simple conversation.

The entity suspected to be Lang Qianqiu said:

'Someone we know! Old brother, this is someone we know!'

The handsome young Daoist suspected to be Hong Jun Dao Zu said:

'Why not kill me?'

'You are too weak.'

Pan Gu's divine sense explained calmly, 'A single true spirit surviving in the chaos sea until now is already quite remarkable. Moreover, in the world I intend to create, every true spirit can grow on its own and achieve self-realization. You happen to be proof that a single true spirit can exist independently, so you can enter the world I will soon create. I see no need to destroy you.'

Hong Jun nodded slowly and turned to flee into the chaos sea.

Pan Gu muttered to himself:

'That jade disc is quite interesting.'

'The Creation Jade Disc, that is,' Lang Qianqiu chuckled.

'Creation,' Pan Gu's gaze pierced through the entire chaos sea. After a moment of rest, a green lotus drifted toward him. Lang Qianqiu asked: 'Time to start?' 'Mm, let's try.' Pan Gu slowly exhaled, gripped the great axe in his hand, leaned back against the thirty-six-grade green lotus, and swung the first strike forward! The scene abruptly ended. The events after the creation of the heavens and earth were not allowed to be recorded or comprehended.

Li Changshou's divine sense withdrew from this imprint. Even with his empty and clear Dao heart, his thoughts lingered for a long time. The meeting of Pan Gu, Hong Jun Dao Zu, and Lang Qianqiu... Li Changshou didn't delay this time; he continued his search, a sense of urgency rising in his heart as a certain possibility occurred to him. After searching through the Heavenly Way's annals for an unknown duration, Li Changshou finally saw the last imprint. This imprint bore the mark of the Heavenly Way and carried a familiar Dao rhythm—that of Hong Jun Dao Zu. Li Changshou's divine sense formed a shadow and bowed to this sixth imprint. Before his eyes, a bright light appeared, and his divine sense rushed directly into a vast, nearly infinite world.

In an instant, an enormous amount of information assaulted Li Changshou's Dao heart! Fortunately, after his long slumber in Tai Qing Temple, Li Changshou had undergone targeted training for decades, so his mind could now withstand far more 'information volume' than before. Once he endured the initial impact, the nearly infinite insights began to surge deep in his Dao heart. This massive world looked like a 'egg' from afar, with countless complete Dao principles forming a barrier to isolate the chaos aura of the chaos sea. A river of colorful true spirits flowed through this world, and the movement of the true spirit river created traces of time. The ancient Hong Huang, after the creation of the heavens and earth. Li Changshou didn't see Dao Zu's figure; at that time, Dao Zu should have been cultivating diligently in Hong Huang. Light points drifted in the world, condensing into a few living beings. At first, they were strangely shaped and muddled, without spiritual wisdom, following the Dao instinctively. These were the first batch of innate living beings formed by true spirits in Hong Huang. By now, the shadows of dragons and phoenixes could already be seen. As Li Changshou had seen in the previous imprints, the Ancestral Dragon and the Primordial Phoenix had once been followers of Pan Gu, born from the chaos green lotus and personally created by Pan Gu.

The giant supporting the heavens smiled contentedly at that moment. He appeared utterly exhausted, slowly closing his eyes and leaving his spine to continue supporting the world as his body collapsed onto the vast ground. This imprint still originated from Lang Qianqiu's memory fragments. At that time, Lang Qianqiu was racing across the ground, seemingly extremely weak himself. He hurried to Pan Gu's side and flew to that indescribably enormous head, rushing to Pan Gu's brow. Lang Qianqiu's divine sense carried a sobbing tone:

'Old brother! What are you doing? You've created the heavens and earth, so why not enjoy it before going? Don't mess with me, old brother! I've been with you in the chaos for so long; I'm about to be driven mad by you! And now you're telling me you're going to self-destruct! Who can kill you? I don't believe anyone can stop you from living!'

'I am formed from the aggregation of countless true spirits,' Pan Gu's divine sense returned, 'and do not belong to this new world.'

'You are the creator, the god of creation! If you don't belong to this world, who does? Who else has the right to stand here!'

'Those who come after.'

Pan Gu's divine sense conveyed a laugh, and his massive arm tried to lift to comfort the 'tiny speck' on his forehead, but without his spine, he ultimately couldn't move it. Pan Gu's divine sense responded calmly:

'If I live, the living beings in this world will revere me, worship me, see me as the pinnacle of life, and strive to follow the path I walked. I would become a hindrance, a shackle locking the fate of the world. They can all choose their own paths, feel their own Dao, and form their own Dao fruits. How free that is. I am merely dissipating the consciousness named Pan Gu; I still exist, just scattering the true spirits that formed me so they can live freely in the world. You are too gravely injured; go heal quickly. In the future, among the living beings you see in this world, some will naturally be me.'

'That's not the same, it's not the same at all... Death means the end of everything; consciousness is the true self...'

'Then let it end everything. At least, there are no regrets.'

Pan Gu slowly closed his eyes, his divine sense laughing freely, 'I did it.'

'Old brother...'

'Go quickly, don't get hurt by me again. I still have some divine power left; I'll use it to add some embellishments to this world.'

'Sigh.'

Lang Qianqiu said no more, carrying deep sorrow as he bowed his head and ran away. At some distant place, the young Daoist Hong Jun stood quietly, bowing deeply to Pan Gu's body. Pan Gu's dying transformation turned his breath into wind and clouds, his voice into thunder, his left eye into the sun, his right eye into the moon, his four limbs and body into the four poles and five mountains, his blood into rivers, his veins into geography, his muscles into fields and soil, his hair and beard into stars, his skin and hair into grass and trees, his teeth and bones into metals and stones, his marrow into pearls and jade, his sweat into rain and dew...

Thunder rumbled in the world, and dark clouds gathered as drops of water fell from the sky, turning into rain. Reflected in a drop of rain, Li Changshou saw Lang Qianqiu's form at that moment. A... groundhog? Immediately after, Li Changshou watched the final transformation of Pan Gu's body, saw the countless light points emanating from him, and witnessed the twelve figures leaping from his navel. He also saw three streams of light fly from Pan Gu's forehead, condensing into three Daoists of old, middle, and young age... The Heavenly Way imprint slowly retracted, and Li Changshou sat there, speechless for a long time, his mind blank. Even his empty and clear Dao heart was tainted by that great sorrow of the heavens and earth, with two tears tracing down his cheeks.

Pan Gu. How free.