A proton, a positively charged subatomic particle, determines an atom's chemical properties and which chemical element it belongs to through the number of protons in its nucleus. Atoms containing different numbers of protons then form all the matter in the real world, including energy.
As the most basic form of a single cell, a fertilized egg possesses immeasurable vitality. After countless divisions, despite the double-helix structures of the DNA in every cell nucleus being exactly the same, the cells ultimately grow into different tissues and organs. Some become brains, some nerves, and some skin; others become keratinized or turn into dandruff and fall away, eventually returning to the most basic elements through the ecological chain.
The Big Bang began from a singularity. One became two, two became three... endlessly and without limit, evolving in countless intricate ways to give birth to all things under Heaven and on Earth.
From then on, the torrent of time rolled onward toward an unknown destination.
Taoism said: "Heaven's Evolvement Forty-Nine; this is The Escaped One."
Buddhism said: "The Other Shore."
Before reaching the ultimate end of everything, infinite—or infinitely many—possibilities existed.
A seed took root and sprouted, growing into a towering tree. Countless atoms formed a cell, and countless cells formed a leaf, a patch of bark, a branch, or a rootlet—too many to count.
Under the nourishment of the torrent of time, the World Seed grew into a tall and vigorous World Tree, its luxuriant branches and leaves constantly splitting and growing, cycle after cycle.
Although it was difficult to find identical branches and leaves, among the endless worlds as numerous as Ganges Sand, beings of supreme wisdom could, in the flash of an instant, sense a fleeting familiarity. In their hazy confusion, they found traces of another self and a wholly different fate—perhaps a lowly beggar trampled by all, an unrivaled general battling for supremacy on the field, a shrewd and calculating merchant, a shameless villain, an official consumed by greed, or an emperor freely wielding his authority. Like protons, like DNA, they lived out different lives across the endless worlds.
It was precisely because of this tiny, unverifiable glimmer that wizards, priests, sages, sorcerers, saints, and the many other mighty beings who bore various transcendent titles seemed to open their eyes wide in unease, trying to glimpse a thread of Heaven's secrets from within themselves or from everything around them.