On this day, all of Heaven trembled.
The skies blazed with auroras of divine light, and the spiritual energy of the realm surged as though a dam had burst. Mountains quaked. Celestial rivers roared. One by one, cultivators who had been stranded in the Celestial God Realm felt their bottlenecks dissolve. Roars of triumph, tears of joy, and waves of power erupted across the heavens as countless beings broke through to the Ancestral Realm.
The laws of Heaven had shifted. The bar was raised. The era of stagnation had ended, and a new era had begun.
Deep within the Purple Palace, a pair of eyes slowly opened.
Taiyi.
For ten thousand years his body had been still, his soul wandering the fragments of memory and samsara. Now, he stirred—and with his awakening, an oppressive aura rolled out in every direction. His realm had broken through, his strength had ascended, but more than that—his Dao itself had changed.
Once, he had walked the path of the Emotionless Dao. A Dao that cut away feeling to reach clarity. But now, it had evolved into something greater—something sharper, more complete. What it had become, Taiyi himself could not yet define. All he knew was that he had retained every memory of his mortal sojourn, every smile, every tear, every struggle. They weighed heavily in his heart, tempering him in ways cold reason never could.
His body brimmed with vitality. Wounds that once marred his soul were gone. For the first time in countless eons, Taiyi felt truly alive.
He summoned softly: "Little Fox."
The loyal attendant, waiting patiently outside the chamber all these years, rushed in with shining eyes. "Lord Taiyi!"
Taiyi regarded him calmly. "I will be in seclusion once more. The Purple Palace falls to you. Guard it well. When I return, you will report all that has transpired."
Little Fox opened his mouth, but no words came. For once, wisdom prevailed over loyalty. He bowed low and departed in silence.
When the chamber was still again, Taiyi exhaled slowly. He had only half-evolved his Dao. To complete it, to birth the Samsara Dao in full, he would need to return to the Emotion Severing Cliff. There, the final tribulation awaited. Until then, he was not yet invincible.
And yet—even incomplete, even half-born—his strength already towered above every Ancestral God. He had tested himself once, and now he would test himself again. The heavens could not afford hesitation. Their enemies would soon come in force.
Time was short.
---
Ten thousand years passed within the stillness of his meditation. Ten thousand years where he wrestled with the mortal memories, weaving their lessons into his Dao. When he emerged, he was changed.
No longer lifeless. No longer hiding.
His eyes were like polished obsidian, sharp and unyielding. His body radiated quiet dominance. For the first time, he did not suppress his horns—gleaming white dragon horns curled proudly from his forehead.
He would no longer reject his nature. He was a divine beast. A dragon. And Heaven's enemies would learn the terror of his true form.
---
Taiyi stepped out into the open air. The heavens stirred in recognition.
Then his body expanded, bones creaking, muscles stretching, scales blazing with divine light. In moments, he stood revealed in his full glory: a white dragon stretching more than a million meters across the sky, vast enough to blot out the sun.
Gasps filled the heavens. Cultivators dropped to their knees in awe and fear. Not since the ancient age had such a dragon taken the skies. His scales shimmered like polished jade, his claws glinted with destructive power, and his eyes burned with sovereign wrath. His very presence was an unbreakable fortress—an embodiment of indestructibility.
Taiyi roared. The heavens shook.
Without hesitation, his vast body twisted, and he vanished into the stars.
---
Beyond the bounds of Heaven, in the cold void of the Outer Battlefield, armies of otherworldly invaders patrolled. Among them stood titans of fearsome clans.
One voice boomed with mocking laughter: "Taiyi, you old bastard. Are you so tired of living that you dare come crawling here alone?"
A towering figure clad in golden armor stepped forward. His body rippled with primal might, his eyes gleaming with battle intent. As his aura flared, his form shifted—fur sprouted, muscles bulged, and soon a colossal war monkey stood revealed, the pride of the Guerilla Clan.
Taiyi's reply was calm, disdain dripping from every syllable.
"You should be the one asking yourself that. Today, I feel like killing. Perhaps slaying a war monkey will temper Heaven's strength."
The war monkey snarled, battle intent surging. The void itself quaked as they clashed.
No preamble. No wasted moves. Taiyi struck with a claw that tore through galaxies. The war monkey's fist, like a golden sun, met it head-on. The explosion lit up the battlefield, sending shockwaves rippling across realms.
But the clash ended in an instant.
The war monkey's arm shattered. His chest split. And before the invaders could react, Taiyi's claw rent his body apart, scattering golden blood across the stars.
Silence fell.
Not one move. Not two. A single strike—and one of the Guerilla Clan's greatest elites lay dead.
Taiyi coiled his massive body around the corpse, plucking from its waist a single jade gourd. He knew what it contained—the rare wine brewed only for the clan's most elite warriors. Wine potent enough to anchor his Dao and drive his evolution further.
The surrounding armies stirred, panic rising. None dared step forward.
Then—impossible.
With a single thought, Taiyi vanished.
He had teleported directly from the battlefield. Something no Ancestral God should be capable of.
The invaders were shaken. Terrified. If he could appear and disappear at will, if he could strike and retreat unscathed—how could he be stopped?
From this day, the name Taiyi once again reverberated across realms. For the heavens, it was a beacon of hope. For their enemies, it was a sign of impending doom.
But Taiyi himself knew the truth.
This was only the beginning.
The full storm had yet to come.
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