The deficiency of the Heavenly Dao lies in the unending Great Dao; the deficiency of all beings lies in the increase and decrease of their Dao nature…

Li Changshou’s condition was somewhat peculiar at this moment.

He sat cross-legged above the side of the vortex, threads of divine thought probing into various parts of the vortex, most of his consciousness immersed within;

Yet he was merely observing, not fully entering the state of Dao comprehension, with all surrounding circumstances projecting into his heart.

Yun Xiao Fairy concentrating on refining formation cores;

Grand Pure One slacking off practicing ventriloquism;

Great Law Master Senior Brother researching the specific arrangement of the great formation…

At this moment, Li Changshou felt like a ‘mobile hard drive’ plugged into Heavenly Dao’s ‘port’, striving to find the content of interest among the massive amount of disordered, meaningless information.

And investigating some small questions along the way.

Such as the essence of the Heavenly Dao, the deep connections between the Great Dao, Heavenly Dao, and living beings, the self-evolution of the Great Dao at the primordial beginning of Heaven and Earth, and so on.

Nothing too outstanding, just the comprehension level of an ordinary great expert of the Primordial World.

Of course, his dao realm and accumulation were still far from qualifying as a great expert.

Since ancient times in the Primordial World, countless beings have left too many traces over the years, and too many scattered fragments were hidden within the Heavenly Dao.

Li Changshou continuously observed and pondered, not feeling the passage of time at all;

Insights continuously accumulated yet were temporarily sealed by him to avoid being taken advantage of by the Heavenly Dao, affecting his divine consciousness.

His clear and bright dao heart maintained a state of constant openness, unmoved by external things, unchanged by personal feelings.

He was like an emotionless auditor, maintaining a sage state, observing countless traces imprinted in the Heavenly Dao’s rings…

Without any warning, Li Changshou saw an expanse of chaos.

In the gray mist, there seemed to be an extremely massive figure standing there, with intersecting Great Daos beneath his feet, and boundless chaos around him.

This figure…

The mist dispersed, and Li Changshou ‘saw’ this giant’s back view – he wore simple leather clothes and a skirt, hands behind his back, staring blankly at the Sea of Chaos.

That leather seemed to be from some chaos being…

Pan Gu?

This thought arose in Li Changshou’s heart, and his dao heart unconsciously began to tremble slightly.

In the Heavenly Dao’s deficiency, in Heaven and Earth’s gap, there were actually imprints related to God Pan Gu.

This wasn’t reasonable.

The Heavenly Dao was born after the opening of heaven and earth, from Pan Gu’s will resonating with Three Thousand Great Daos, originally to protect the Primordial World from invasion by remnant Innate Divine Demons.

— Three Thousand was a figurative number.

Since the Heavenly Dao was born after God Pan Gu’s fall, why would there be ‘images’ of God Pan Gu standing in the Sea of Chaos?

Was it an imprint of the Great Dao?

Or did the Dao Ancestor have some great divine ability to observe the origin of Heaven and Earth by reversing time?

Or perhaps…

[You’ve come?]

In Li Changshou’s dao heart, a call filled with joy suddenly sounded – it was pure and simple joy, yet carried a certain resonance of the Great Dao.

‘Pan Gu’ turned his head, revealing a majestic face. At first glance there seemed nothing strange about it, just the appearance of an Innate Dao Body, but upon careful consideration…

The so-called Innate Dao Body was imitating Pan Gu’s appearance.

This was the original version!

Following this, Pan Gu just said:

[Brother.]

Cough!

Li Changshou’s clear and bright dao heart was almost broken, and he then realized that this ‘trace’ he had captured was some being’s memory from the past.

Pan Gu wasn’t speaking to him; his divine thought had just taken on the main perspective of this memory.

He suddenly recalled that in Senior Lang’s chronicles, there was also this form of address [Brother Pan Gu]…

Li Changshou’s thoughts rotated extremely quickly, separating himself from this Heavenly Dao trace, constructing a black shadow at the place ‘Pan Gu’ was facing, beginning to observe from a purely third-person perspective.

Indeed, everything became much easier to understand.

Beneath God Pan Gu’s feet, streams of Great Dao seemed to be continuously extending, becoming complete, striving for perfection.

— This appeared to be God Pan Gu’s way of cultivation.

The content shown in this imprint carried by the Heavenly Dao was a simple conversation between God Pan Gu and an unknown being, before the opening of heaven and earth, when chaos was yet unnamed.

When God Pan Gu communicated with that unknown being, they transmitted divine thoughts, which formed into words Li Changshou could understand in his heart.

It was somewhat similar to how Tower Lord chatted with Li Changshou.

Pan Gu asked: ‘I still don’t understand why one should wear clothes.’

That unknown being laughed and answered: ‘Without clothes, how would we differentiate ourselves from those ugly monsters?

Brother, we must firmly believe that we are beautiful, so we can consider them ugly because the Sea of Chaos has no fixed patterns, so we need to set standards for everything.

The Sea of Chaos is boundless, all chaotic and disordered, and the beings formed from the convergence of true spirits all grow unrestrained.

We must have a sense of responsibility and set an example for them.’

God Pan Gu’s face showed sudden realization, his eyes revealing thoughtful light.

The one fooling God Pan Gu…

Must be Senior Lang, this must be Senior Lang!

Had Senior Lang traveled back to the time before heaven and earth opened? Then why did the Dao Ancestor previously say that Senior Lang was drawn over by the turbulence during the opening of heaven and earth?

Well, that wasn’t important, the key point was…

Just this?

Was this all Senior Lang could do?

He had directly appeared beside God Pan Gu, arrived at the Sea of Chaos before the opening of heaven and earth, yet still ended up losing to Dao Ancestor Hongjun!

Was it that the Dao Ancestor was too strong, or that Senior Lang had been too unrestrained through these endless years?

Li Changshou couldn’t help but criticize internally, then secretly warned himself.

Don’t get involved with Senior Lang, or he will be schemed into a bottomless pit!

This imprint still had remaining information.

‘Everything has no fixed pattern, we need to set standards,’ God Pan Gu slowly nodded, ‘what you say makes sense.’

Following this, Pan Gu lowered his head to look at the Great Dao beneath his feet, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate, a layer of mist quickly appearing around him.

Seeing this, that unknown being seemed to silently raise his hand and slap his mouth, muttering: ‘Oh no, who knows how long it will take for him to wake up this time.

Alas, this is what being a big shot is about.’

The scene disappeared amid the unknown being’s muttering.

Li Changshou: …

By now he could confirm that this Heavenly Dao imprint came from Senior Lang’s ‘memory’.

Senior Lang’s [Brother Pan Gu] in the chronicles wasn’t just casual boasting – he was probably truly a figure from the same era as God Pan Gu.

What an incredible starting point.

Li Changshou calmed his dao heart and carefully comprehended for a while.

He imprinted Pan Gu’s back view standing with hands behind his back in his heart, and the Eight-Nine Mystic Art seemed to be ignited, his bloodline beginning to rotate rapidly.

In Xuandu City, at Li Changshou’s closed cultivation spot, a streak of bright red light enveloped him.

An opportunity?

Li Changshou’s eyebrows twitched, but he neither opened his eyes nor anxiously continued searching for other Heavenly Dao imprints related to God Pan Gu. Instead, he began to carefully ponder.

Why had he discovered these circumstances here, yet never heard anyone mention this before?

Was the Dao Ancestor intentionally helping him succeed?

These Heavenly Dao imprints were no small matter – constant visualization could improve qi practitioners’ comprehension of the Great Dao, and even better understand the ‘primordial’ state of Great Daos that had converged around God Pan Gu before the opening of heaven and earth.

There were two concepts here:

The Great Dao, the truth of the world, could be understood as the rules constructing today’s Primordial World.

The Heavenly Dao had deduced ninety-eight percent of the Great Dao, thus obtaining the ‘authority’ to control Heaven and Earth, protect Heaven and Earth, and construct order within Heaven and Earth.

The two were similar yet completely different.

In this gap of the Heavenly Dao, he had found Heavenly Dao imprints originating from the memory fragments of [Heavenly Dao Taboo Senior Lang]…

Li Changshou couldn’t help but suspect that this was the Heavenly Dao or the Dao Ancestor, or even Pan Gu’s remaining will within the Heavenly Dao, deliberately revealing this ‘information’ to him for some purpose.

But Li Changshou had already decided at this point…

Seize this opportunity!

The benefits were indeed great, and directly related to the words ‘transcendence’.

Things had their priorities, and he had to use all his strength to grasp any opportunity related to transcendence!

Giving up eating for fear of choking wasn’t stable, but unwise.

As for what the behind-the-scenes manipulator who showed him these things would ask him to do later, that would need careful consideration.

And selective complete denial of responsibility.

Half a day later, Li Changshou continued exploring this gap between Heaven and Earth, peeling away layer after layer of [rings], and searching for imprints related to God Pan Gu.

Who knew how long passed, or how many he had searched through?

Li Changshou’s dao heart trembled slightly as his divine thought once again fell into an expanse of the Sea of Chaos.

The second imprint!

He maintained his clear and bright dao heart, quickly separated himself to avoid being influenced by the Heavenly Dao, and continued choosing to observe from a third-person perspective.

This time, it was still a conversation between God Pan Gu and that unknown being.

The difference was–

A vast expanse of land appeared beneath Pan Gu’s feet, and a patch of azure appeared above his head as if he was deducing the principle of pure and turbid.

The surrounding chaos qi continuously eroded this small piece of Heaven and Earth, yet was continuously dispersed by Pan Gu’s divine power.

Due to the perspective, Li Changshou currently couldn’t determine what that unknown being suspected to be Senior Lang actually looked like, still just an imagined black mist…

The unknown being asked: ‘Brother, are you going to open heaven?

Why not think about it some more?

Staying in the Sea of Chaos is quite good too, boundless and endless, with many interesting places, endless to explore.’

But Pan Gu said:

‘Chaos is disordered, true spirits are confused.

Since you and I were born from nothingness into being, the path we must walk forward is naturally to transform being into one, perfect the Three Thousand Great Daos, establish existence and void, and divide the realm of order from the realm of disorder.

The river of true spirits cannot continue within the Sea of Chaos, countless true spirits are in confusion, if heaven is not opened soon, these true spirits will return to nothingness, and the river of true spirits itself will be extinguished again.

Being will return to nothingness again, and the Sea of Chaos will become dead silent again, what meaning would our existence have then?

I was born from the convergence of true spirits, entrusted with the existence of the river of true spirits, I must do this.’

The unknown being said again:

‘But this… *sigh*, Brother, your opening of heaven will break the current order in the Sea of Chaos, and to complete the Three Thousand Great Daos, you’ll surely have to battle with these divine demons in the Sea of Chaos.

Just in the parts of the Sea of Chaos, we’ve explored, countless divine demons have the power to fight you.’

‘As you said, how can there be change without bloodshed.’

God Pan Gu smiled, opened his left hand, and streams of light interweaved in his palm. The Heaven and Earth above his head and beneath his feet suddenly collapsed, transforming into chains of differently colored Great Daos.

The concept of color appeared in the Sea of Chaos!

Three Great Daos were most dazzling, flying directly into Pan Gu’s palm, interweaving with each other to form a great axe as tall as Pan Gu himself.

The Heaven-Opening Axe!

That unknown being’s divine thought trembled: ‘You’re going to do it right away?’

‘When we say do it, we do it,’ Pan Gu stood with head held high, his long hair draped over his shoulders wrapped by streams of Dao principles, seven-colored divine light shining around him as he raised his head and let out a great roar.

The Sea of Chaos suddenly boiled!

In the surrounding Sea of Chaos, countless shadows of varying shapes emerged, endless and boundless…

The scene abruptly ended.

The second Heavenly Dao imprint carried only this much information.

Li Changshou was left wanting more, yet still suppressed his impulse, closing his eyes to carefully comprehend.

A flash of inspiration arose in his heart, and he took out a blank scroll from his sleeve, condensing immortal power into a divine brush, and began drawing.

That image of Pan Gu standing holding the axe, facing endless chaos divine demons, was quickly imprinted under Li Changshou’s brush.

But Li Changshou felt it wasn’t quite perfect. He casually burned the scroll and took out another blank one, closing his eyes to concentrate.

This time, he didn’t pick up the brush for several days; when he did, his movements became very slow.

But the lines he drew seemed to come alive, and this time the figure of Pan Gu he drew contained countless mysterious principles.

The painting took three months to complete. Li Changshou waved his hand, rolling up the scroll and transforming it into a streak of light that flew toward Great Law Master Xuandu.

Afterward, Li Changshou said nothing, closing his eyes to comprehend, the painting hanging high in his spiritual platform.

[Pan Gu Visualization Diagram]!

The key to breaking through the limits of the Eight-Nine Mystic Art!

The path of transcendence that he originally couldn’t find a way into had unexpectedly opened a crack here, with a beam of light guiding him forward…

Who exactly was revealing these Heavenly Dao imprints to him?

Senior Lang had been erased, and Senior Lang’s memory fragments should belong to the Heavenly Dao.

The Heavenly Dao itself could be ruled out first – it was just an emotionless ‘collection of rules’, order itself, and couldn’t possibly provide him with ways to break order.

Senior Lang could also be ruled out, as nothing remained of him.

The most likely candidates were Pan Gu’s remaining will and Ancestral Master Dao Ancestor.

But Pan Gu’s remaining will was currently suppressed and sealed – the possibility that Ancestral Master Dao Ancestor was giving him hints was greatest.

The method of verification was also simple.

If he saw subsequent Heavenly Dao imprints again, and the Dao Ancestor appeared in the same frame as Pan Gu in the imprints…

Then the one giving him this opportunity must undoubtedly be the Dao Ancestor.

Li Changshou heard exclamations of amazement from afar and revealed a faint smile, continuing to divide a strand of consciousness to guard his surroundings while immersing himself again in the Heavenly Dao’s ‘rings’.

Counting through Heaven and Earth’s past, searching for Heavenly Dao imprints formed from Senior Lang’s memories.

This time took a relatively long time, but effort doesn’t betray those with patience. Soon he found the third and fourth Heavenly Dao imprints.

Unfortunately, they contained very little information.

He could barely form a few scenes, all of Pan Gu swinging his axe in battle with beings in the Sea of Chaos, splitting beings into chaos qi, exploding out countless true spirits.

The powerful beings in the Sea of Chaos could be understood as ‘quasi-life forms evolved from countless true spirits gathering on the Great Dao’.

Thus, the fall of each chaotic divine demon released countless true spirits.

These true spirits gathered behind Pan Gu, reconverging into a river. Pan Gu was like breaking through wind and waves, cutting through thorns, invincible wherever he went!

Interestingly, the original perspective of these scenes was all from Pan Gu’s shoulder.

Senior Lang at this time seemed to be standing on Pan Gu’s shoulder, witnessing the entire Heaven-Opening Tribulation.

After settling for half a month, Li Changshou began searching for the fifth Heavenly Dao imprint.

And this time, Li Changshou finally verified his thoughts.

The Dao Ancestor appeared!

It was when the Heaven-Opening Tribulation was about to end, Pan Gu had reached his strongest form, and in battle suddenly discovered an Innate Dao Body similar to his own.

The axe hesitated for a moment, and Pan Gu spared this chaos divine demon’s life, but the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe sent out a streak of light that knocked off a corner of the jade disc protecting the chaos divine demon.

Three divine thoughts interweaved, and another simple conversation occurred.

The unknown being suspected to be Senior Lang: ‘An acquaintance! Brother, this is an acquaintance!’

The handsome young Dao practitioner suspected to be Dao Ancestor Hongjun: ‘Why not kill me?’

‘You’re too weak.’

Pan Gu’s divine thought calmly explained, ‘For a single true spirit to survive in the Sea of Chaos until now is quite remarkable.

Moreover, in Heaven and Earth, I want to open, I want every true spirit to be able to grow on their own, to have proof of self.

You happen to be proof that a single true spirit can exist on its own. You can enter the Heaven and Earth I will open later, so I need not destroy you.’

Hongjun slowly nodded, turned, and fled into the Sea of Chaos.

Pan Gu muttered: ‘That jade disc is interesting.’

‘The Creation Jade Disc,’ Senior Lang chuckled.

‘Creation,’ Pan Gu’s gaze penetrated the entire Sea of Chaos as he stopped to rest for a while, and an azure lotus floated before him.

Senior Lang asked: ‘Ready to open?’

‘Mm, let’s try.’

Pan Gu slowly exhaled, gripped the great axe in his hand, leaned against the Thirty-Six Grade Azure Lotus, and swung the first strike at what lay ahead!

The scene abruptly ended – the subsequent opening of heaven and earth was not allowed to be recorded, not allowed to be comprehended.

Li Changshou’s divine thought separated from this imprint, and even while maintaining his clear and bright dao heart, his thoughts remained unsettled for a long time.

The meeting of Pan Gu, Dao Ancestor Hongjun, and Senior Lang…

Li Changshou didn’t delay this time. He continued searching, an urgency arising in his heart as he thought of a possibility.

After searching through these Heavenly Dao rings for who knows how long, Li Changshou finally saw the last imprint;

The imprint bore the Heavenly Dao’s mark, with a familiar dao rhythm.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun’s dao rhythm.

Li Changshou’s divine thought condensed into a shadow and made a Dao bow to this sixth imprint. A light appeared before his eyes, and his divine thought directly rushed into a realm of Heaven and Earth so vast it was nearly infinite.

In this instant, an amount of information that could be called ‘massive’ impacted Li Changshou’s heart!

Fortunately, after falling unconscious at Pure Clarity Temple, Li Changshou had spent several decades in targeted tempering, and now his spirit could bear far more ‘information’ than before.

Having endured the initial impact, nearly infinite insights began gushing forth in the depths of his dao heart.

This huge realm of Heaven and Earth looked like an ‘egg’ from afar, countless complete Dao principles forming barriers, isolating the chaos qi of the Sea of Chaos.

A seven-colored river of true spirits flowed through this realm, its flow producing traces of years.

Ancient Primordial World, after the opening of heaven and earth.

Li Changshou didn’t see the Dao Ancestor’s shadow – at this time, the Dao Ancestor must have been cultivating diligently in the Primordial World.

Points of light floated in Heaven and Earth, condensing into some beings. Initially, they too were of strange and varied forms, dim and confused, without spiritual intelligence, following the Dao.

These were the first batch of Innate beings condensed from true spirits in the realm of Heaven and Earth.

The shadows of dragon and phoenix could already be seen.

As Li Changshou had seen in the previous imprints, Ancestor Dragon and Origin Phoenix had both been Pan Gu’s followers, born from the Chaos Azure Lotus, personally created by Pan Gu.

That giant currently supporting Heaven and Earth smiled with satisfaction.

His expression was already extremely weary as he slowly closed his eyes, leaving his spine to continue supporting Heaven and Earth while his body collapsed onto the vast earth.

This imprint, too, originated from Senior Lang’s memory fragments.

At this time Senior Lang was racing across the earth, seeming extremely weak himself as he hurriedly rushed to Pan Gu’s side, flew to that indescribably huge head, and rushed to Pan Gu’s brow.

At this time, Senior Lang’s divine thought carried a crying tone:

‘Brother! Brother, what are you doing? You opened Heaven and Earth but won’t even enjoy it before leaving like this?

Don’t do this to me, alright? Brother don’t be like this! I’ve accompanied you in the chaos for so long, almost been bent by you! Now you tell me you’re going to destroy yourself!

Who could kill you?

I don’t believe anyone could stop you from living!’

‘I am formed from the convergence of countless true spirits,’ Pan Gu’s divine thought transmitted back, ‘I don’t belong to this new Heaven and Earth.’

‘You are the creator, you are the creation god! If you don’t belong to this Heaven and Earth, who does? Who else has the right to stand here!’

‘Those who come after.’

Pan Gu’s divine thought transmitted laughter. That huge arm wanted to rise to comfort the ‘tiny one’ on his forehead, but having lost his spine, he ultimately had no strength to move.

Pan Gu’s divine thought calmly responded:

‘If I live, the beings in this Heaven and Earth will revere me, worship me, treat me as the peak of beings, and strive to walk the path I walked.

I would instead become an obstacle, become shackles locking Heaven and Earth’s destiny.

They can all choose their paths, feel their own Dao, and condense their own Dao fruits.

How free that would be.

I’m just dispersing this consciousness called Pan Gu – I still exist, just scattering the true spirits that converged to form me, letting them all live freely in Heaven and Earth.

If your injuries are too severe, go heal quickly.

Among the beings you see in this Heaven and Earth in the future, some will naturally be me.’

‘That’s not the same, none of it is the same… once dead it’s all over, consciousness is the true self…’

‘Then let it be over, in any case, there are no regrets.’

Pan Gu slowly closed his eyes, his divine thought laughing freely, ‘I did it.’

‘Brother…’

‘Go quickly, don’t let me hurt you anymore.

I still have some divine power, let me add some finishing touches to this Heaven and Earth.’

‘Ah.’

Senior Lang said no more, carrying deep sorrow as he lowered his head and fled.

At an unknown distance away, Dao Person Hongjun, still a young practitioner, stood silently and made a deep bow to Pan Gu’s body.

[As Pan Gu lay dying his body transformed: his breath became wind and clouds, his voice thunder, his left eye the sun, his right eye the moon, his four limbs and five parts became the four poles and five sacred mountains, his blood the rivers, his sinews the earth’s features, his flesh the soil, his hair the stars, his fur plants and trees, his teeth and bones metals and stones, his essence jade and jewels, his sweat the rain…]

Thunder and dark clouds appeared in Heaven and Earth, and drops of water fell from the sky, becoming rain.

Through the reflection in a raindrop, Li Changshou saw Senior Lang’s form at this time.

A… a groundhog?

Then, Li Changshou watched the final transformation of Pan Gu’s Dao body, saw countless points of light radiating from around Pan Gu, watched twelve figures leap out from Pan Gu’s navel;

He also saw three streaks of light fly out from Pan Gu’s forehead, condensing into three Dao practitioners – old, middle-aged, and young…

The Heavenly Dao imprint slowly receded. Li Changshou sat there speechless for a long time, his spirit blank, his clear and bright dao heart infected by that great sorrow of Heaven and Earth as two tears rolled down his cheeks.

God Pan Gu.

How free indeed.