Suddenly

"Come at me together!"

He Heng's words rang through the entire gymnasium, delivered in a cold voice devoid of emotion. The sudden challenge caused an uproar.

"How is that possible? Did I hear him wrong? He Heng said that to God, Tang Zichen, Ba Liming, and Wang Chao all at once. He wants to fight all four by himself?"

"Has he gone mad? Sure, he beat Wang Chao and can be called Number One Under Heaven, but there's no way he can take on four top experts at once!"

The martial arts masters all began discussing it among themselves. Many questioned He Heng's decision to challenge all four on his own, though some didn't think it was arrogance.

"Wang Chao was so powerful before, Number One Under Heaven, and he still lost to He Heng. If that's the case, then He Heng really is number one, above everyone else. It's not impossible for him to take on four opponents at once."

"Mm!"...

Everyone was buzzing with discussion. Some thought he could do it, others didn't; some envied him, others resented him. None of it affected He Heng in the slightest. His gaze was cold and unwavering as he entered a state of vast clarity and great transcendence, looking at the four of them.

"Haha, since you've asked for it, He Heng, I'll oblige." God was the first to respond. His long eyebrows quivered, and his expression grew solemn as he strode into the arena with a hearty laugh.

He could tell that He Heng was in an exceptionally mysterious state, as though he were on the verge of a breakthrough. God, who had spent his entire life searching for the Future Path, was deeply stirred by this and chose to help He Heng break through.

Tang Zichen and Ba Liming stepped out after him, facing He Heng and preparing to fight.

By then, Wang Chao had also steadied his injuries. He stood at the edge of the arena, ready to join in.

He Heng stood at the very center of the arena, gazing coldly around him. His expression was clear and detached, with an air of great transcendence, as he surveyed the four of them.

"Can he really take on all four?" That was what everyone present was wondering, hoping to see whether a miracle might occur.

After all, Wang Chao, God, Tang Zichen, and Ba Liming were each at the pinnacle of the National Arts: the Shatter Void, See God Unbroken realm. None of them was inferior to renowned Great Grandmasters such as Yang Luchan, Sun Lutang, Dong Haichuan, and Li Shuwen. Who could stand against all of them together? Even if Zhang Sanfeng were alive or Bodhidharma returned, they couldn't do it!

If He Heng really could, he would create a legend. Everyone focused their attention, bearing witness to this historic moment.

He Heng stood proudly alone in the arena, his gaze deep and his eyes filled with clarity and mystery. His clothes fluttered in the wind. Suddenly, he threw a punch.

It was as if, at the dawn of chaos, an ancient Giant Axe surged forth, cleaving the darkness and giving rise to earth, water, fire, and wind. He Heng unleashed the Great Dao Formless Fist, charging first at Ba Liming.

"Good!" Ba Liming let out a thunderous roar. He clenched both fists, and his entire body shook violently of its own accord. Then he pursed his lips and let out a long cry: first a tiger's roar, then an unending dragon's growl.

"Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield!" "Dragon Roar Iron Cloth Shirt!"

Clouds followed the dragon; wind followed the tiger.

When Ba Liming gave that tiger's roar, the tremendous sound waves shook the air. It was as if a violent whirlwind had stirred throughout the vast gymnasium. Everyone felt the tiger's roar wash over them like a gust of foul wind, and, in an instant, their hearts inexplicably tightened.

At that moment, He Heng's fist arrived!

His fist crashed down with the weight of a mountain, vast and fearsome! It was as heavy as the heavens and as deep as the sea. In a mere instant, He Heng had crossed the thirty meters between them. A tremendous sonic boom rang out beneath his fist as it slammed down with immense force.

Ba Liming let out a fierce roar. The bronze-colored muscles of his body rippled, and he abruptly swung out a fist. The stars seemed to drift, the clouds across the world to stir, as his fist sprang up like a swimming dragon.

Boom! An explosive sound rang out as He Heng and Ba Liming's figures collided and passed one another. Their surging Blood Qi burst forth, their strength seeming boundless. The air throughout the entire area churned, sending ripples through it.

Ba Liming stumbled back three steps. His body shuddered, his internal organs shifted out of place, and he violently spat out a mouthful of blood.

He Heng stood his ground. The floor cracked beneath his feet, sending clouds of dust flying, but his legs remained planted and steady as a mountain, like an immovable boulder.

Then he abruptly turned. A violent fist wind swept over him from above. He Heng bent at the waist and dodged Tang Zichen's fierce punch. His gaze was icy, a flash of lightning seeming to cross his eyes. He pivoted and drove a fist upward toward Tang Zichen's abdomen.

Tang Zichen's eyes narrowed. In an instant, she pressed both hands down to block He Heng's powerful rising punch. But as soon as his arm touched hers, it suddenly turned into a claw. He seized both her hands, winding into the Great Capture.

Tang Zichen seemed to have anticipated this change. Her hands also became dragon claws, then reached out to seize him. He Heng had no choice but to bend both arms and clamp her claws in place.

At that moment, He Heng sensed a powerful killing intent behind him. Without hesitation, he released Tang Zichen and leaped into the air. Coming down from above, he formed a hand seal with both arms and turned to strike behind him.

God was behind him. He had formed a Flame Mark with two fingers and hurled it straight at He Heng. This was God's signature technique: Fire Planting Lotus.

He Heng's expression didn't change. At that moment, nothing could shake his heart. A thunderous rumble suddenly rang out from within him, and his body swelled in an instant, as if he had become a giant. His blood rushed and roared, his internal organs surged, and he erupted with all his strength.

His fists seemed like stars in motion; he himself was like the eternal Heavenly Law, looking down upon the world. Terrifying frequencies rang out throughout his body.

With a quick lunge, He Heng was in front of God. His fists flashed, and the flames went out with a roar. His expression was perfectly calm, but it was the stillness of a volcano before it erupted. His fists were like mountains, like stars, sweeping toward God.

"Come!" God roared too, his entire body flushed red with Blood Qi. He also drove his Blood Qi to its utmost limit.

The concrete beneath their feet cracked apart, exposing lengths of rebar that snapped one after another. The force of He Heng and God destroyed everything in its path.

Bang! Bang! Bang!...

In the blink of an eye, He Heng and God had clashed more than ten times. Their terrifying power shattered the floor, while Gang Wind surged in every direction.

A violent force sent God flying. His flesh was left bloody and mangled. He Heng wasn't unscathed either: several Flame Marks had been struck into his chest. None had hit a vital spot, but they still impeded the flow of his Blood Qi.

Just then, Tang Zichen, Ba Liming, and Wang Chao attacked at the same time, bearing down on He Heng from three directions. Their fists surged like a tidal wave, and sonic booms rang out one after another.

"Fight!" He Heng roared, battle intent burning in his eyes. His body swelled further, and even the air trembled. He now stood two meters and twenty centimeters tall, like a small giant. His boundless Blood Qi surged like a blazing fire. This was the secret method he had created himself: Sun Moon New Sky Method!

He Heng had the Great Dao Three Fists. The Great Dao Formless Fist and Great Dao Heartless Fist were both offensive techniques, with limitless explosive power. The third, the Great Dao Nameless Fist, was for defense and health cultivation. It drew on the Saint's namelessness and followed the Heavenly Law, thereby enduring forever.

Originally, this fist worked by yielding to external forces to nourish the self, much as Zhuangzi's "The Secret of Caring for Life" described: follow the Natural Laws and cultivate oneself.

But the Sun Moon New Sky Method reversed this fist. It turned nourishment into an eruption, burning his Blood Qi and stirring his internal organs and Meridians, unleashing his greatest strength in an instant.

"Only through sacrifice can great resolve be shown; dare to make the sun and moon shine anew!"

With this fist, He Heng sacrificed his Blood Qi and burned through his strength. His battle intent and fighting spirit surged to their peak, and his power erupted to the limit, reversing heaven and earth and remaking the world!

He used his own heart in place of Heaven's, and his own Dao to become the Heavenly Dao!

"Fight!" He Heng roared. His fist intent surged into a state it had never reached before. The entire ground trembled, Gang Wind swept through the area, and a violent roar rang out as he charged at Wang Chao and the others.

"So strong!" Facing He Heng's fierce fist wind, Wang Chao exclaimed. At that moment, He Heng had already surpassed the limits of the human body in his eyes.

"Is there really a path beyond this?" With that question in mind, Wang Chao used his signature technique, the Heaven Overturning Seal, and brought it crashing down on He Heng.

Tang Zichen and Ba Liming attacked at the same time. Tang Zichen unleashed the Eight Trigrams Palm's "Qian Three Consecutive," while Ba Liming combined the Yue Wang Fist and Great Peng King Fist, suddenly sweeping in with the Through-Back Elbow Technique.

"Come!" He Heng's eyes were bloodshot as he met the strength of all three at once. Yet his gaze was clearer than ever. Every strike reached technical perfection, and every bit of strength was put to its utmost use. His fist intent was like the sky, the sun and moon revolved, and his fist force was like a mountain, crushing everything!

His Fist Technique, subtlety, fist intent, and fist force had all reached their limits. At that moment, his fists had achieved perfection in the realm of martial arts technique—at least, for a Hundred Bones Realm martial artist, they had reached the pinnacle.

But when it came to the inscrutable Human Law Realm, he was still just a little short. He had seen the doorway, but still needed one more push to step all the way through.

"Is the pressure not enough? Then come again!" He Heng roared, unleashing even greater strength. Every inch of his flesh surged, his internal organs churned, and his power continued to climb.

Then He Heng unleashed a frenzy of punches, attacking Wang Chao and the others all at once. His fist force came down like Mount Tai, and his violent power smashed a huge crater into the concrete floor, snapping the rebar one piece at a time.

At that moment, God had finally recovered and attacked again, striking at He Heng's back.

"Good!" He Heng was delighted rather than alarmed. He abruptly leaped and dodged the four-way attack. From above, he unleashed dozens of punches in a furious storm, sweeping over all four of them. His fist force shook heaven and earth, while layers of Gang Wind roared around them.

Wang Chao and the others exchanged a glance, then attacked one after another from every direction. He Heng met every strike. Now that he was unleashing all his strength, his speed had surpassed anything they could imagine. All they could see was a string of afterimages. He was fighting all four of them at once—an astonishing sight.

"This is incredible! Simply unbelievable..." Everyone was stunned. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. This was a miracle—no, a divine feat!

"Just a little more! I need even greater pressure!" He Heng roared furiously, drenched in blood, but he continued fighting. His Blood Qi burned as if boiling. His life force surged to an unprecedented peak, and his powerful Blood Qi scattered in every direction. Every inch of his flesh was bursting with power. He attacked those around him like a wild beast, biting and tearing with savage fury.

And yet his moves and Fist Technique remained extraordinarily subtle. Ming Jin and An Jin were combined to perfection, and every strike unleashed the greatest possible force.

His fist intent, Fist Technique, and fist force shook heaven and earth; mountains and rivers rose and fell, the sun and moon revolved. A terrifying conception of creation and destruction enveloped everything, reaching every corner like the mighty Heavenly Dao. Its power was radiant beyond measure.

Wang Chao and the others exchanged glances, each seeing the gravity in the others' eyes. They all unleashed their full strength. God struck first with a Fire Planting Lotus, then Ba Liming swept in, his vast fist intent and overwhelming power bearing down on He Heng.

Tang Zichen's Eight Trigrams Palm had reached its peak. The Eight Trigrams Palm had Eight Manifestations! "Qian Three Consecutive," "Kun Six Broken," "Li Middle Empty," "Kan Middle Full," "Zhen Up Bowl," "Gen Overturned Bowl," "Dui Top Missing," and "Xun Bottom Broken"—she performed them all in just a few breaths.

The footprints on the ground formed a clear, distinct circle of Eight Trigrams lines around He Heng! They looked as if they had been carved by a knife and chisel, impossible to erase!

The Fist Technique began with Wuji giving birth to You, which transformed into Taiji and then the Eight Trigrams and Eight Manifestations. It gave everyone a sense of Refine Spirit Return to Void, and of refining the void to unite with the Dao.

This was the strength of Tang Zichen, the only person in the world besides He Heng to have reached the threshold of the Human Law Realm.

At the end of her sequence, Tang Zichen's palm thrust forward and collided squarely with He Heng's fist. Boom!

Dust and smoke erupted. The ground cracked. The footprints that had formed the Eight Trigrams lines shattered and vanished without a trace.

At last, Wang Chao made his move. While the other three held He Heng's attention, he unleashed a Heaven Overturning Seal as heavy as the yellow sky and deep as the earth. Its boundless fist intent encompassed mountains and rivers, countless continents and peaks. The momentum that could sweep across the world erupted, bearing down on He Heng.

Everyone stared wide-eyed. With the other three experts tying up He Heng's limbs, Wang Chao brought his strongest Heaven Overturning Seal down upon He Heng's head. Life and death would be decided in an instant!

At that moment, He Heng suddenly smiled.

His body gave a single tremor, instantly forcing Ba Liming and the others back. Then, as if he hadn't even seen Wang Chao's incoming Heaven Overturning Seal, he abruptly sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes. His expression was solemn and dignified, like an old monk entering nirvana—or no, like a Buddha entering parinirvana!

In a daze, the experts who had reached Dan Force or higher seemed to see nine-colored flames igniting around He Heng. They were dazzling and brilliant, his Life Force erupting to an unimaginable level.

Everything about him seemed to merge perfectly with his surroundings, completely blending into nature, becoming the universe, the firmament, and all things.

This was a supreme state of unity with the Dao. At that moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl. Wang Chao's Heaven Overturning Seal had yet to land, but He Heng seemed to have undergone a world-shaking transformation, leaving everyone stunned.

In that instant, he... suddenly understood. He had completely entered the Human Law Realm, never to fall back. It was a supreme state in which he resonated with all beings and united heaven, earth, and humanity. He perfectly controlled his own mind, entering a realm where external changes could never disturb him.

"Bodhi has no tree, the bright mirror is not a platform. Since there is nothing at all, where can dust be provoked?"

This was also called Severing Purity and Slaying the Mortal World: severing every connection between one's heart and all things, unmoved by Honor and Disgrace, unchanged by desire. One stood high as the vault of heaven, looking down upon the world!

The so-called Human Law Realm: "human" meant the self. Perfect mastery over one's own mind was the starting point of the path to becoming strong.

A step further was to unite one's heart with the Heavenly Heart and reach the Earth Law Realm. Then, one's thoughts could affect the weather; heaven and humanity would nearly become one, all things would exist within the self, and the Great Void would be equal in measure to oneself!

With a thought, winds and clouds rose, thunder stirred, mountains collapsed, and rivers and seas split apart. This was the Earth Law Realm, what He Heng had understood upon entering the Human Law Realm.

As for the higher Heaven Law Realm, it meant truly using one's own heart in place of Heaven's, and one's own Dao as the Heavenly Dao. At that point, there would be no more sky above your head, because you would be the sky, you would be the Dao!

Truly leaping out of the Three Realms, no longer within the Five Elements. No image in the ten directions, no trace in the six paths!

It was like the realm Wang Zhong had ultimately reached in Black Mountain Old Demon: remaking heaven and earth, holding the years and history within his heart, with an instant becoming eternity. As Black Mountain Old Demon had said at the beginning, if you could do it, you would be the sky, you would be the Dao!

This was the Heaven Law Realm, an endlessly abstruse domain—the pinnacle of Law, the utmost limit of Law.

But the realm beyond Law, the realm of Dao, was beyond He Heng's sight. He couldn't see it or understand it—or rather... he couldn't see it at all!

Law had no end, while Dao was neither on This Shore nor the other shore, nor in between. It could only be sought within one's own heart.

What kind of realm was that, exactly? He Heng didn't know. Perhaps one day, just as he had today... he would suddenly understand.

That would be the moment he attained the Dao!

All of this happened within a single instant. When He Heng opened his eyes again, Wang Chao's fist seal was just reaching him. He smiled slightly and suddenly raised two fingers. No one saw how he had raised them; there had been no trace of movement at all.

Then those two fingers clamped around Wang Chao's hand seal, stopping him from advancing another inch.

He Heng rose gently to his feet and brushed the dirt and blood from his body. He gave a faint, almost casual smile, looked at everyone around him, then raised his head to gaze at the sky. He strode out of the gymnasium. No one dared stop him, and no one spoke a word. The place fell completely silent.

"This is a higher realm!" After a long while, God finally exclaimed. He watched He Heng's retreating figure, his expression unusually solemn.

It was around eight or nine in the morning. The sun had just risen, and its red disk shone over the land. Its brilliant light symbolized boundless hope and purpose, guiding people forward. Dawn lay just ahead!

Looking at that sliver of dawn, He Heng smiled. He raised his head and let out a long cry, then strode toward the unknown. His future lay there...

P.S. This is a five-thousand-word chapter, and you deserve it. Since it's such a long chapter, please give it a recommendation, everyone. Thank you!

P.S. 2: Let me make this clear again: this is a pure cultivation-of-the-Dao novel. Even if some parts of the plot are a little unconventional, there is absolutely no female lead. Quite a few readers have asked me about this over the past few days, so I'm saying it once more: absolutely no female lead. Rest assured.