"Daojing is not an ordinary path.""Daojing… is meaning."
Those were the words that crossed Li Yuan's mindas he sat in the silence that had become his home.
A year had passed—Without eating.Without breathing.Without speaking.
And yet, he had not weakened.He had grown deeper.
Something within him had changed.Not the body.Not the soul.But the very essence of being.
"If Ganjing is the Realm of Sensing… then what comes after?"
He closed his eyes.
But this time, what he saw…was not darkness.
Within himself—deep in an awareness beyond form and time—he felt a space.
A silent, pure, formless space.
And slowly...
Water appeared.
Earth followed.
The sky stretched wide.
Wind began to blow.
None of it came from outside.It came from within.
"This… is the world inside me?"
This world wasn't created by force.Not by spells.Not by energy.
But by understanding.
"I'm not creating a world...I'm realizing that the world… was already inside me."
Li Yuan opened his eyes.Yet the outer world remained the same:
The same tree.The same wind.The same earth.
But within him—something vast had taken form.
"This is not mere awareness.""This is a world formed by the meanings I have touched.""I call this… Daojing."
Dao is the path—not a physical road,but a direction born from understanding.
Jing is stillness.Is awareness.Is that which remains when all else changes.
"If other cultivators create worlds through energy...then I form mine through meaning."
Within his inner world:
The water he had once understood flowed gently, carrying peace.
Trees grew—not from roots, but from the meaning of life.
The sky shone—not because of light,but from an understanding of both light and darkness.
"Every understanding forms a piece of this world.""Every step in Daojing… is the creation of new meaning."
This was the beginning of a boundless world.
A world—
not limited by sky,
not confined by the laws of qi,
not governed by spiritual energy.
Li Yuan stood.
For the first time in a year,he took a step.
Each step was light—yet the world within him moved with him.
"When I walk, my inner world expands.""When I understand, my inner world breathes."
Li Yuan was no longer merely human.He had become a creator of meaning—And that meaning… was shaping a world.
And on that day,the sky did not shine brighter.
But nature itself seemed… to nod—as if silently acknowledging:
"Someone has created a path of their own."
The Path of Daojing.
It had been three years since Li Yuan secluded himself in the quiet forest—far from the clamor of civilization, far from the ambitions of cultivators vying for power.
He was now twenty years old.
Three years ago, he had left Qinglong Academy—not out of anger, nor disillusionment.
But because of a calling within him—a calling to understand.
His first journey led him to Wuyin City, where he stayed for seven days.
He watched the crowds, observed human behavior, listened to their stories, tasted their food, and absorbed the vibrations of life.
But it wasn't enough.
After that, his feet brought him to this forest—and here he remained for three years:
Befriending silence.
Dialoguing with nature.
Contemplating the meaning behind every falling leaf and every passing breeze.
Now, he opened his eyes.
His gaze was clear—as if he could see beyond the veil of reality.
Li Yuan knew: it was time to continue the journey.
He stood upon the roots of a massive tree.
His long, black hair flowed gently—like a calm but deep river.
His face was handsome, but not in a way that drew attention.
His beauty was that of stillness—like twilight skies reflecting the last light before night takes over.
His eyes were gray, unlit, yet so deep… as though anyone who met his gaze would fall into an endless void.
An emptiness that defied understanding—yet made one long to understand it.
He wore a long, plain gray robe, its sleeves loose and flowing.
A dark leather sash was tied at his waist, holding the robe from billowing too wide.
Beneath the robe, he wore a thin linen garment like a mountain hermit's—light and unrestrictive.
On his back hung an old wooden box. It wasn't a weapon, nor a magical tool.
No one knew what it held—only he did.
Around his neck hung a round olive-wood pendant, carved with a single indecipherable character.
Whenever the wind stirred, his robe swayed gently—like mountain mist shifting through valleys.
He was not someone who sought attention—yet the world could not help but notice him.
When he spoke, his voice was not loud.
But his words struck deeply.
Not because they were sharp—but because their meaning touched the core of one's existence.
"I do not seek power… nor immortality," he said quietly.
"I only wish… to understand."
With steady steps, he walked away from his sanctuary.
The earth did not tremble beneath his feet.
Yet the world seemed to shift ever so slightly.
Fallen leaves paused in midair, as if acknowledging his movement.
Birds in the trees fell silent for a moment as though paying respect to one who had understood nature more deeply than they ever could.
Li Yuan was stepping into a new chapter of life.
The world did not know who he was.
But the world… would soon feel his presence.
For he had created something that had never existed before:
A path called Daojing
The Path of Understanding.
And this… was only the beginning.