Throughout the Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise, every line of text revolved around speculating about the succession of the Heavenly Dao. But in the eyes of others, it was all utterly absurd.
Countless living fossils in the Cultivation World had watched the seas turn to mulberry fields and witnessed the passage of time. If the Heavenly Dao had changed, how could those living fossils of the Cultivation World not have known?
The Cultivation World's lineages had been passed down since ancient times. They had endured several great calamities, yet their traditions remained clear and unbroken. If the Heavenly Dao had changed, those inheritances would inevitably have been affected.
But judging from the historical record, no such thing as a change in the Heavenly Dao had ever occurred in the Cultivation World. That was precisely why cultivators considered these words absurd.
What was more, the higher one's cultivation, the closer one came to the Heavenly Dao—and the less one could escape its constraints. To some extent, this argument denied the Cultivation System as it stood.
Such an idea was already considered gravely heretical. No wonder people had taken its author for a madman.
But in Lu Yan's eyes, there was another way to interpret it all.
Having lived through several Version Updates, Lu Yan knew very well that once a Version Update arrived, everything except the Unchanging One would change along with the world's Version Update. Even the Underlying Rules could not escape its constraints.
Everyone was trapped on the chessboard, unable to break free. They could only submit to the changes brought by Version Updates and evolve time and again. Was that not precisely the succession of the Heavenly Dao described in the Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise?
That alone would have been one thing, but the conjecture in the final passage of the Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise had truly inspired Lu Yan.
To use one's own constancy to steer the succession of the Heavenly Dao—to replace Heaven with humanity!
It was a mad idea, but now Lu Yan could see a glimmer of possibility.
As the only Unchanging One in the world, Lu Yan could influence the direction of the next Version Update to a certain extent. But that was still far from replacing Heaven with humanity.
All Lu Yan could do was choose one of the three options for a Version Update. Ultimately, the world still ran according to the rules of Version Updates.
The true foundation for replacing Heaven with humanity lay in the Version Change Value!
"Each version represents a Heavenly Dao, a direction for the world's evolution. Originally, everything operated within the framework set by the Heavenly Dao.
"But as an Unchanging One, I possess abilities from outside the current world version. The moment I displayed an ability beyond the version in this world, the existing order of the Heavenly Dao was already disrupted.
"In the Urban Version, where there were no supernatural abilities, I comprehended a cultivation method and became the only cultivator in this world, gaining a Version Change Value of 3%.
"In the Apocalypse Version, I slaughtered more than a hundred thousand zombies. That number may not be much compared to the entire apocalyptic world, but using Vengeful Souls to strip the zombies of their souls is eradicating the very foundation of the apocalypse. That brought me a Version Change Value of 0.2%."
"Those two world versions have already changed under my influence. If I raise the Version Change Value to 100%, will that mean my actions have changed the world version and created an entirely new one?
"Could that be called replacing Heaven with humanity?"
Lu Yan stared at the Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise in his hands, his expression overcome with excitement.
The reason he kept choosing to travel through different versions and doing everything he could to increase his strength was the looming crisis of world version changes.
Amid the sweeping tide of Version Changes, an individual's strength was far too small. Even having three choices could not guarantee absolute safety.
Especially after several Version Updates, Lu Yan had realized that these versions were far more complex than he had expected.
After only a few Version Updates, dangerous versions such as the Mysterious, Martial God, and Strange Tales versions had appeared.
Just imagine: if he had to choose among versions like Dao Gui, Strange Tales, and Mysterious Revival, with Lu Yan's current strength, he would be dead wherever he went.
Lu Yan did not fear world versions with high power levels. What worried him was that they might be too chaotic and difficult to control.
Now, the idea of replacing Heaven with humanity described in the Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise, combined with the Version Change Value he had encountered, gave Lu Yan a chance to truly touch the essence of world Version Updates.
Turning to the first page of the Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise, Lu Yan saw only the author's name.
Zhao Huowang.
An utterly ordinary name.
According to He Dongsheng, Zhao Huowang was just an ordinary person from a mortal dynasty. After writing the Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise, people had taken him for a madman for a time.
But Lu Yan believed Zhao Huowang must have sensed something before writing this seemingly heretical Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise.
"According to the book, the higher one's cultivation, the more one is constrained by the Xianxia Version, making it difficult to notice the changes brought by Version Updates.
"By contrast, Zhao Huowang, an ordinary person, would have had a better chance of glimpsing the truth behind Version Updates."
"Madman? Genius? Perhaps there's only a hair's breadth between them."
Lu Yan sighed to himself and put the Heaven Heavenly Dao Treatise in his Storage Bag.
Although he had found the idea of replacing Heaven with humanity, this method was not suitable for the Xianxia Version.
The Xianxia Version had an extremely high power level. A Golden Core True Person could wipe out a city with a wave of the hand, and Lu Yan's own cultivation had also come from the Xianxia Version.
With Lu Yan's current strength, the impact he could have on the Xianxia Version was negligible. It would be difficult to make the Xianxia Version change.
For now, his only hope lay in the Urban Version. That was where Lu Yan could truly take the stage.
But before that, he still had to make up for his shortcomings in the Xianxia Version as much as possible and improve his cultivation.
Opening the First Order Spell Compendium, Lu Yan began to study these low-level spells in detail.
Half a month later, in the middle-grade Cave Residence where Lu Yan lived, a streak of emerald light darted up and down through the cave. It moved so fast that the naked eye could barely follow it.
The light skimmed past the cave wall, effortlessly piercing the hard rock and leaving a deep gash behind.
At the center of the cave, Lu Yan beckoned with his right hand. The emerald light flew back into his palm. On closer inspection, it was a beautifully crafted little jade sword.
For the past half month, Lu Yan had been in seclusion.
When he was hungry, he ate a Bigu Pill that cost one Spirit Stone for three bottles. When he was thirsty, he drank pure water condensed with the Water Condensation Art. He devoted all his remaining energy to practicing spells.
Thanks to the three months Lu Yan had spent cultivating in the Apocalypse Version, breathing in Moonlight Spiritual Energy to strengthen his soul, his control over his magical power far surpassed that of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators.
Besides, most of the spells in the First Order Spell Compendium had been developed to make cultivators' lives more convenient. Nearly all these first-order spells were low- or middle-grade; not a single one was high-grade.
For Lu Yan, practicing them presented almost no bottlenecks.
In half a month, Lu Yan had mastered the commonly used spells.
In addition, Lu Yan had spent several days refining the middle-grade flying sword he had found in the Storage Bag.
At first, Lu Yan had intended to sell the middle-grade flying sword. But then he considered that it was connected to the Red Lotus Demonic Sect and could not be sold lightly.
Besides, apart from the Hundred Soul Banner, Lu Yan had no conventional means of attack.
The spells in the First Order Spell Compendium were too low-level to be of much use against enemies, so Lu Yan chose to refine the flying sword as an additional weapon.
"After all, I can't keep using the Hundred Soul Banner to kill everyone at the scene whenever I run into danger, can I?"
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