Source Heaven Scripture

In the fat Daoist's eyes, the world looked different from the one everyone else saw.

He vaguely remembered a towering, heroic figure, a man who had stood between heaven and earth, but no matter how he tried, he could not recall the man's name.

He could not even find a trace of him.

In a daze, he felt as though the world and its Dao had shattered. Everything that remained was no more than fragments of what had once existed. To him, this world was a ruined wasteland.

He thought the cultivators of this age were pitiable.

Perhaps pitiable was not the right word. Apart from searching for traces left by the hero in his heart, nothing else seemed to interest him.

Ever since he had set foot on the path of cultivation, he had understood things differently from everyone else.

One day, insight struck. With himself as the center, he wove Grand Dao Order Divine Chains. Countless laws spread in every direction and sank into the void. Grand Dao Traces flickered in and out of sight, resonating with the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers before him.

That day, everything became clear to him.

He no longer needed to seek the Dao. Wherever he stood, the Dao was there. Everything within his sight held the Grand Dao Laws and order he sought.

So what if heaven and earth had shattered? So what if the Dao was broken and incomplete?

Even in a broken world, Grand Dao Runes still existed. The profound truths of ancient scriptures still circulated, as did the cultivation experience passed down by sages of the past.

Every one of those scriptures and insights left a trail he could follow.

In every blade of grass and tree, every flower and leaf, every grain of sand, sea, and field of stars, the fat Daoist searched for mysterious Grand Dao Runes.

Who had first created the methods of cultivation?

The ancient people had observed mountains, rivers, the sun, and the moon. They had cut through forests, entered vast seas, gazed at the stars, and touched all things beneath heaven. From them, they had drawn out paths of the Dao that were their own.

The fat Daoist stood upon the earth, his body shining. Mysterious Source Art Runes wove densely around him, tracing an Origin Heaven Forbidden Divine Formation with his body at its center.

The Dao had no shape. Elusive and formless, it had been explored and opened up, step by step, by those who came before.

Following their example, the fat Daoist drew mysterious Source Art Runes from mountains and rivers, plants and trees, and all things between heaven and earth.

Compared with those earlier sages, he had begun from a far higher point.

His spirit had awakened in the corpse of a powerful cultivator, giving him an incomparable body. His soul had even woven Great Dao Divine Patterns unique to him.

He had pioneered a Source Arts Evolution Path, one with limitless possibilities.

What were Source Arts?

They began with all things between heaven and earth: extracting extraordinary Source Art Runes, joining with the vitality of plants, drawing on the grandeur of mountains and rivers, borrowing the brilliance of stars, and resonating with the world itself.

Source Art Runes were everywhere!

By walking the Source Arts Evolution Path, the fat Daoist meant not only to lay Origin Heaven Divine Formations throughout the world, but also to develop Origin Heaven Forbidden Divine Formations. Through them, he would advance his own evolution and turn all things between heaven and earth to his use.

Where did such mighty power come from?

From mountains and rivers, from the boundless starry sky, from the sun, moon, and stars, from the endless universe!

This was the fat Daoist's path, the path of the Dao best suited to him.

In his eyes, this world was broken. It was a ruin, and even its Dao was incomplete.

It was as though Heaven's Will Blade had struck unseen, scattering the world's Dao and leaving heaven and earth flawed.

Others could not sense it, but he always felt that absence, however faintly.

He would search, explore, and open a new way to make up for what was missing.

This was no sudden enlightenment. He had explored for years and kept walking this path of cultivation. Today's revelation was simply the natural result of all that he had accumulated.

When he had first awakened, he had already known which path of the Dao was his.

He had walked alone through the mist, without a single companion, gritting his teeth as he pressed forward.

His gaze burned bright. His eyes had long since evolved to an astonishing degree.

After countless years buried in the earth, undergoing transformation, his eyes seemed able to pierce the underworld and see through all things. They were a supreme Heavenly Eye he possessed by nature.

He looked toward the magnificent mountains ahead. Though they had been fractured, they still held a majestic force.

In the blink of an eye, that vast mountain range condensed in his sight into a sheet of Source Art Runes containing its unique power.

He wandered from place to place, studying the shape and lie of the land as though reading scroll after scroll written by mountains and rivers. Sheet after sheet of Source Art Runes emerged and flowed before his eyes.

He walked, stopped, and walked again, resonating with all things. Taking the terrain as his text, he studied its natural patterns and analyzed the essence of the power within the landscape, turning it all into mysterious Source Art Runes.

Even time could not erase the traces and Grand Dao Divine Resonance left by the sages of old.

Like them, the fat Daoist began with the most basic Source Art Runes and gathered the ones he needed from all things beneath heaven.

Yet he studied them more deeply than those sages had. He went straight to the essence of Source Arts, exploring it from its source.

In this age, he set foot upon a path of the Dao that belonged to him alone.

To his eyes, a speck of dust, a blade of grass, the mountains, and everything in the world were scriptures formed from Source Art Runes, waiting for him to read them.

Those countless natural scriptures held inexhaustible power. Condensed into mysterious Source Art Runes, their shining patterns blazed with radiance.

He kept extracting and deducing them, bringing forth dense arrays of Source Art Runes. What he gained grew more astonishing by the day.

Day after day, year after year, he continued to open his own path of the Dao, establishing it through himself.

Crystal-bright runes arranged themselves around his body like a galaxy, its countless stars giving shape to order and laws.

All things between heaven and earth were, in themselves, tangible forms of Source Art Runes.

The fat Daoist traveled among mountains and rivers, beneath the sun and moon, and through abandoned, mysterious lands, ceaselessly pushing forward.

Absorbed in his exploration, he gained insight after insight. The more he learned, the more unfathomable the path of Source Arts seemed—and the more certain he was that it suited him.

He felt he discovered something new every day.

The mysterious forbidden lands scattered across the world interested him most. In them, he could even deduce how they had formed.

In a daze, he seemed to see peerless experts wielding world-destroying power, shattering the laws of order, punching through the World Barrier, and breaking the world apart to create forbidden land after forbidden land.

He seemed to see ancient sages sweeping across the cosmic stars with boundless power.

Brilliant runes flared, each containing a mysterious essence, and formed one forbidden land after another.

The fat Daoist deduced scenes like these more than once.

When he deduced Source Art Runes, it was like tracing time backward. He followed the formation of those forbidden lands and saw what lay at their very core.

Many knew the forbidden lands existed, but not how they had come to be.

Some had arisen naturally. Others were tied to ancient, indescribable ages and battles between peerless experts. After those experts fell, the profound truths of the Dao within their bodies had changed the landscape.

Sensing these extraordinary scenes, the fat Daoist began extracting and imitating their mysterious Source Art Runes. He shaped terrain with similar killing power, creating all manner of Origin Heaven Forbidden Divine Formations.

His ceaseless study of Source Arts was not merely about recreating those unusual landscapes. He wanted to take the Source Art Runes he needed from them and use those runes to build and open his own path of the Dao.

Before he knew it, the fat Daoist had lived for many years. Still, he wandered the world without ever tiring.

He studied the vast seas, thunder, the sun and moon, and the cold, dark universe, contemplating his own methods and path of the Dao.

Year after year passed as he appeared on different planets and in different regions of the universe.

He stood atop an immensely powerful Dragon Vein on Feixian Star, lingering before an abandoned Road to Immortality.

By now, he had truly set foot upon his own path of the Dao. If he kept refining it, he believed his future held boundless promise.

Even Enlightenment as Supreme might not be the end of this path.

Just as the fat Daoist excitedly proclaimed his path of the Dao, a voice sounded behind him.

He jolted so badly he nearly fell off the cliff.

He was already at the peak of the Quasi-Emperor realm. Who could approach him without making a sound?

Hummm.

Across mountain range after mountain range, runes flashed in his eyes. In an instant, he saw an endless multitude of Source Art Runes.

He set those countless runes evolving, and they transformed into a dense storm of Immortal Swords that swept through heaven and earth, powerful enough to slay a true enlightened one.

This was the peerless attack method he had comprehended.

Even before attaining enlightenment, he had the strength to slay someone who had!

That was the fat Daoist's path of the Dao.

He studied all things beneath heaven, extracted and developed their Source Art Runes, then transformed and refined them further to open his own path.

The fat Daoist was confident that even a Dark Supreme would die before this terrifying Origin Heaven Forbidden Divine Formation.

But what did he see instead?

A dazzling Flying Immortal Power lit up, like the most beautiful immortal light in the world.

The terrifying Origin Heaven Forbidden Divine Formation melted away like snow. Before it could touch that expert's body, every trace of it vanished.

"This Origin Heaven Forbidden Divine Formation really is interesting!"

"Where's your Source Heaven Book? Let me see it!"

Li Ming smiled at the fat Daoist before him.

The fat Daoist stared back, tense and dumbstruck, as though he had seen a ghost.

He was about to use a Forbidden Secret Art to escape when realization suddenly struck. "Demon Venerable?!"

"You're the Demon Venerable!"

"This humble Daoist greets the Demon Venerable!"

The fat Daoist had seen a portrait of the Demon Venerable. Given this man's overwhelming strength, he, a peak Quasi-Emperor, immediately understood who stood before him.

"Hm. It looks like you're no ordinary person yourself!"

"Your origins run deeper than you know!"

"What you've studied in this lifetime is fascinating. I'm very interested."

"What do you mean, Demon Venerable?" The fat Daoist respectfully handed Li Ming a book gleaming with silver light.

"What origins do I have?" he asked, his face full of confusion.

"You'll know once you attain Enlightenment as Supreme!" Li Ming said with a smile.

Clearly, this so-called Tribulation Heavenly Venerable had sealed his own memories.

He would probably release that seal only after attaining Enlightenment as Supreme again.

Li Ming turned his attention to the Source Heaven Book.

The silver-shining book was actually made of Immortal Iron. It was exceptionally heavy in his hands, and contained enough material to forge an Extreme Dao Weapon.

Three ancient runes were branded on its cover: Source Heaven Book.

The strokes were bold and forceful, their shapes grave and steady, like three great dragons lying across the cover.

"That's some fine calligraphy!"

Li Ming had not expected to see an original, authentic Source Heaven Book in this age.

The Source Heaven Book passed down to Ye Fan's era could only take a cultivator as far as the Source Heaven Master realm. To advance beyond that, one had to explore alone.

Worse, everyone who cultivated those Source Arts was cursed. Red hair grew all over their bodies, and they were summoned to the Underworld to become puppets.

When he had first read about it, Li Ming had been deeply interested in the Source Heaven Book.

Now that he knew the fat Daoist had opened the path of Source Arts, how could he let this chance pass?

He had witnessed the fat Daoist's creation of that path with his own eyes.

When he opened the Source Heaven Book, streams of silver light shot out, shimmering like glittering diamonds.

It was written in a script even older than the Age of Mythology.

Fortunately, Li Ming had seen enough of the world to grasp its meaning at a glance.

Each ancient character shone like a star.

The opening explained heaven, earth, and humanity: how to approach the Dao through sources, how to extract mysterious Source Art Runes, and how to become one with heaven.

"Look upward to observe the signs in heaven; look downward to study the patterns of earth; observe the markings of birds and beasts..."

"Inner qi stirs into being; outer qi takes form..."

"Qi scatters when it rides the wind and halts when it meets water..."

Li Ming soon read the entire book. It was profound and vast in scope.

The more he studied and deduced, the graver his expression became. This truly was an extraordinary book whose Source Arts could lead to enlightenment.

Its arts did indeed point straight toward the Dao.

As a Chaotic Body, he was especially sensitive to this way of reaching the Dao by an unconventional path.

The Source Heaven Book taught no cultivation method, yet it came close to the methods of the Dao and covered an astonishing range of subjects.

It called for studying the structure of mountains and terrain, changes in celestial phenomena, Yin-Yang and the five elements, and the resonance between heaven and humanity. Its principles were profoundly mysterious, its variations endless.

It dealt with so much. It truly was a profound scripture.

No wonder the Source Heaven Book in the original text had been only half-complete. It contained far too many secrets that could not be spoken of.

After carefully deducing its contents, Li Ming returned the Source Heaven Book to the fat Daoist.

As it turned out, this fat Daoist was also named Duan De.

Li Ming discussed profound principles and the Dao with the fat Daoist, who had not yet attained Enlightenment as Supreme again.

Drawing on the mysteries of his Chaotic Body, Li Ming developed a vast array of chaotic Source Art Runes.

Once their discussion ended, the fat Daoist Duan De hurried away.

He acted as though something about the Demon Venerable filled him with dread.

After reading the fat Daoist Duan De's Source Heaven Book, Li Ming felt a stirring of insight.

He repeatedly used its principles to deduce the Longevity Method, continually drawing fragments from the Heavenly Dao.

He even began trying to derive an Origin Heaven Divine Art of his own.

In later ages, Ye Fan had managed to develop the Source Heaven Scripture from Duan De's incomplete scripture—a version that belonged to Ye Fan alone.

That meant these teachings did not belong exclusively to Netherworld Emperor Duan De.

With the unique nature of his Chaotic Body, it was naturally easier for Li Ming to merge the Myriad Dao of Heaven and Earth and extract Source Art Runes.

He created countless incarnations that traveled throughout the universe, tirelessly extracting Source Art Runes.

At last, one day, insight came to him.

He, too, condensed a Source Heaven Scripture that was entirely his own.

On the day he completed his deductions, his mind trembled faintly. A hazy glow spread across his body, lending him an air of deep mystery.

In a daze, his divine sense seemed to reach into hidden depths, and he entered a strange state.

He looked toward the Chaos Sea at the Cosmic Frontier Wasteland and sensed something there, faintly.

It was as though some treasure there had stirred his divine sense from afar.

"What was there?"

"Ordinary treasures couldn't make my heart stir like this!"

He took one step across the boundless Chaos Sea. Beneath his feet, it surged and roared, its waves rising and falling.

The Cosmic Frontier Wasteland was vast beyond measure. Above, below, left, right, ahead, and behind—as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but chaos.

It was desolate, with almost no living creatures.

But any creature that appeared here was bound to be extraordinary.

Following the feeling tugging at him, Li Ming carefully searched the Chaos Sea at the Cosmic Frontier Wasteland, deducing where it might lead.

Chaotic energy surged here, concealing nearly every trace of what lay ahead.

Mysterious killing intent lurked within it, making the place exceedingly dangerous.

Yet Li Ming moved through the Chaos Sea as easily as a fish through water.

His body seemed to merge with the Chaos Sea, and he encountered no danger at all.

He searched it carefully until, one day, he finally sensed something.

He reached out and touched the space ahead. The chaos there felt subtly different.

It was deeply mysterious, like a strange junction in space and time.

After working through what he had found, he drove his fist into it.

Boom! The void shattered, revealing a mysterious Chaos Small World ahead.

Was this what made my heart stir?

Li Ming stepped into the Chaos Small World.

It was an ancient realm that seemed to have existed since time immemorial, steeped in the weight of countless years.

It was badly damaged, and nowhere near as large as he had imagined.

Clearly, over the ages, the world had been compressed smaller and smaller within the chaos—or perhaps the chaos had eroded it.

To his surprise, it contained a small amount of Longevity Substance and Northern Polar Immortal Light.

He drew the Longevity Substance into his body with a casual gesture. At once, comfort washed through him, as though he might ascend to immortality.

As for the Northern Polar Immortal Light, he opened his mouth wide and inhaled every last strand.

He devoured the spiritual-energy dragons formed from the Northern Polar Immortal Light one after another, as if slurping up noodles.

"Things from the Immortal Domain really are high quality. They taste good, too."

"If only there were more!"

"There's a little Longevity Substance and Northern Polar Immortal Light here. Did they fall into this world when the Immortal Domain was shattered?"

"But the aura here is so ancient. This feels more like a Forbidden Zone that survived from the Chaotic Ancient Era..."