As the Chaos Sea expanded, the reach of a Chaos One's Dao would grow with it, extending to the "membrane."
But a Limitless One's Dao was one step ahead. It had already reached the "position" the Chaos Sea would occupy after its next expansion.
The two faced each other across the "membrane."
It was not merely one step ahead of the Chaos Sea, but one step ahead of the Chaos Ones as well.
Even into the future, a Limitless One's Dao would retain that one-step advantage, forever stronger than a Chaos One's Dao, eternally invincible.
But that expansion still depended on the Chaos Sea. The Chaos Sea could not remain at position 1 while a Limitless One's Dao raced ahead to position 100.
For beyond Chaos, nothing existed to begin with. Only the Chaos Sea made such a paradox possible.
A Limitless Dao would always cling to the place beyond Chaos nearest to Chaos itself.
One might stand outside one's own Dao, yet still fail to transcend the Great Dao Matrix and rise wholly above it.
The Dao existed beyond Chaos, but only relative to the Boundless Chaos Sea. It remained attached to the Boundless Chaos Sea, not truly transcendent of it.
Thus, Limitless Ones were generally still counted within the Chaos Domain. There was indeed a gap between Chaos Ones, Near-Limitless Beings, and Limitless Ones, but it was nowhere near as vast as the gulf between mortals and Supreme Beings, or between Supreme Beings and Chaos.
Their Dao reached one step farther. They might command one more Great Dao, wield greater control over their Dao, and plumb greater depths of the Great Dao...
A Dao beyond Chaos and a self beyond one's own Dao: these were the two clearest and most important traits of a Limitless One.
These were