Primordial Era

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Primordial Era (洪荒)
Alias(es)	Primordial World
Classification	World/era
Status	Extant; repeatedly reshaped by Dao struggles, calamities, and new orders
First Appearance	1

Nature and Conditions

The Primordial Era begins as boundless Chaos: color, form, concepts, and time lack stable meaning; light and darkness annihilate one another, while earth, water, fire, wind, and shattered law fragments collide without order. It is described as the state before heaven and earth formed and the source to which all things return in ruin. 1

• Its early environment is dominated by gods, demons, giant beasts, predation, and the principle that power is supreme. 1
• Its mainstream cultivation methods draw upon external forces and align with Heaven’s rules, leaving practitioners constrained by the Heavenly Dao. 2
• The world’s political order is shaped by Great Powers, ancient races, the Heavenly Court, major teachings, and later the Sages. 10 46 82
• The Primordial Era’s laws, fortune, karma, spiritual energy, and cultivation environment can be altered by major Dao events. 46 60 90

History

Chaos and the Formation of Order

Before heaven and earth were formed, the Primordial Era existed as a violent, lawless Chaos. Wanhua awakens within this state and can only passively perceive the outside world through the Myriad Dao Celestial Tome. 1 2

Hongjun’s impending attainment of the first Saint Position creates a rare shift in the world’s laws. Wanhua uses this opening to form his Dao body, establish the Literary Dao, and contend for his own Primordial Dao Fruit. 5 6

Hongjun later completes the Heavenly Dao by uniting with it, extending an all-encompassing order and scrutiny over the Primordial World. Myriad Dao Academy preserves its distinct principles under that pressure, while other Great Powers adjust themselves to the new Heavenly Dao environment. 46

Rise of Myriad Dao Academy

Wanhua fuses Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou into a single East Sea continent, restructures its chaotic foundations, and establishes Myriad Dao Academy at its center. The continent becomes a Pure Land characterized by literary radiance, order, wisdom, and civilization. 9 12

The academy’s principle of “Education for All” unsettles established powers while giving low-born beings, rogue cultivators, and lesser races hope of accessing cultivation teachings. 10 12

Conflict over the academy’s East Sea presence leads to a Dragon Palace assault. Wanhua annihilates Ao Zhan’s elite naval force, causing the Dragon Palace and other factions to treat the academy as a force not to be provoked lightly. 30 33

Era of Teachings and Sages

Nuwa creates the Human Race and attains Sainthood, introducing a new race capable of carrying civilization. Wanhua’s guidance contributes indirectly to her enlightenment. 64

The Human Race becomes a focal point for multiple Dao lineages. Myriad Dao Academy teaches basic survival, virtue, self-improvement, and civilized thought, while the Western, Chan, Jie, and Human Teachings seek their own influence among humanity. 65 66

Laozi establishes the Human Teachings, followed by Yuanshi Tianzun and Tongtian Jiaozhu founding the Chan and Jie Teachings. Jieyin and Zhunti subsequently establish the Western Teachings through forty-eight great vows. These events mark the beginning of the age of Saints. 68 69 70

Calamity and Reconstruction

The Witch–Demon conflict devastates the Primordial Era: Buzhou Mountain collapses, the Heavenly River pours down, spiritual veins break, and much of the world is reduced to ruins. 79

The Human Race survives in part because of Wanhua’s Literary Dao Seed and begins rebuilding under the academy’s guidance. Wanhua advocates a new order founded on reason, mutual aid, inheritance, and the Literary Dao. 79 80

Following the calamity, the Primordial Era develops into a civilization ecosystem where Literature, Chan, Jie, Buddhism, and Humanity Teachings coexist, compete, and shape societies according to different philosophies. 81 82

Confucian Dao as a Heavenly Rule

After advancing to Primordial Taiji Golden Immortal, Wanhua demonstrates that the Literary Dao can purify demonic chaos, define order, and challenge the influence of older powers such as Minghe and the Blood Sea. 86 87 88

Wanhua later establishes the Confucian Dao as a Heavenly rule. Principles including benevolence and forgiveness, fairness, integrity, education, and order are branded into the Heavenly Dao, altering karma, spiritual energy, cultivation thresholds, and Netherworld judgment. 90

As the Investiture-related calamity approaches, the Primordial Era enters a period of heightened conflict among Dao lineages, kingdoms, races, and academy walkers. 92 93 97

Major Transformations

Event	Chapter	Effect on the Primordial Era
Wanhua establishes the Literary Dao	5 6	Introduces a path founded on principles, will, Literary Qi, and inner cultivation rather than reliance on external spiritual power alone.
Myriad Dao Academy is founded in the East Sea	9 10	Creates a major center of literary radiance, order, education, and Dao transmission.
Heavenly Dao is completed	46	Hongjun unites with the Heavenly Dao; universal order and heavenly scrutiny intensify.
Dao transmission platforms are established	60	Three foundational classics are freely made available along the East Sea coast, widening access to Confucian Dao cultivation.
Human Race is created	64 65	Humanity enters the Primordial World and becomes a central field of competition among teachings.
Age of Saints begins	68 69 70	The Human, Chan, Jie, and Western Teachings are established; Saintly wills increasingly influence the world’s future.
Witch–Demon Great Calamity	79	Buzhou Mountain collapses, the Heavenly River floods the world, and the existing order is devastated.
Post-calamity reconstruction	79 82	Human civilization, alliances, teachings, and regional orders begin rebuilding amid ideological competition.
Confucian Dao becomes a Heavenly rule	90	Confucian principles enter the Heavenly Dao and reshape cultivation, karma, judgment, and social order.
Calamity gathers around the Investiture of the Gods	93 97	Factional warfare, surveillance, and opposition to academy walkers intensify across the world.

Relationships

• Heavenly Dao — The governing order of the Primordial Era; its completion under Hongjun imposes universal pressure and defines the broader framework within which all Dao lineages contend. 46
• Dao Ancestor Hongjun — Unites with the Heavenly Dao and guides the Primordial Era’s general trend, while observing disruptions caused by Wanhua’s Dao transmission and Dao Seeds. 46 60 72
• Wanhua — A transformative variable whose Literary and Confucian Dao introduce new systems of education, civilization, order, and cultivation to the world. 5 9 90
• Myriad Dao Academy — The East Sea institution through which the Confucian Dao is taught, defended, and spread across the Primordial Era. 9 60 91
• Human Race — A newly created race regarded as crucial to civilization, Human Dao development, and the competition among teachings. 64 65 68
• All Sages and major teachings — Competing and coexisting forces that shape the post-calamity Primordial Era through distinct philosophies and spheres of influence. 70 82
• Witch and Demon Races — Former dominant powers whose conflict devastates the Primordial Era and precipitates its reconstruction. 79

Story Role

• Serves as the primary setting for Wanhua’s creation and spread of the Literary and Confucian Dao. 1 5
• Provides the chaotic political and cultivation environment that makes Myriad Dao Academy’s ideals of education, reason, order, and mutual aid revolutionary. 10 60
• Acts as the arena for conflicts between the old order—ancient races, inherited hierarchies, Heavenly Court interests, and sectarian authority—and Wanhua’s expanding Dao lineage. 36 90 92
• Its cycles of calamity, reconstruction, and civilizational growth nourish Wanhua’s Dao Seeds and drive the development of the Literary Dao. 72 77 79