Since ancient times, the legends of this world had always said that when heaven and earth were first opened, the vault of heaven came first, and the land was born afterward.
Heaven first, earth afterward—that was the orthodox order.
Yet at this moment, Gu Daotian had utterly turned that principle on its head.
It was not that he had strayed from the scriptures and rebelled against the Way. Rather, martial arts had always been thus.
The stronger one became, the more one was the sole sovereign of oneself. Reaching the end of that path, perhaps it would become: when heaven and earth were opened, I came first; my Way still existed before heaven and earth!
Almost simultaneously, Zhao Cheng caught the intense essence within Gu Daotian's spiritual world. Feeling that fist which split open heaven and carved out a path, the sword technique in Zhao Cheng's hand shifted. It was no longer the airy nimbleness of heaven, but became a chaotic abyss that swallowed all things.
The force and intent of that fist traveled through the sword in his hand and into his body, making his sinews and bones quake and explode, his blood and qi boil. Yet the sound emanating from him was not one flesh and blood could produce; it was more like a great iron hammer striking a colossal bell.
He absorbed something from within it. But heaven and earth could not contain him; he had already chosen the void. Even after taking in such ultimate profundities of martial arts, if he tried to directly commune with the earth through his mind, it was still like viewing flowers through fog. There was always a layer between them, preventing him from reaching the state where a martial arts master's spirit merged with the earth.
That was also why