The Genesis of the Three Realms

Patriarch Subhuti’s eyes held a trace of reminiscence as he spoke softly. “Let us begin from the Primordial Chaos. Before the ancient era was born, the region that is now our Three Realms was a vast expanse of chaos. And chaos is a magical thing; it had already begun to gesture a host of Elder Gods, True Gods, and Empyrean Gods. Because of their origins, they are venerated as Primordial Elder Gods, Primordial True Gods, and Primordial Empyrean Gods.”

“Elder Gods?” Ji Ning was shocked the moment his master said this.

“The Dao contained within this realm is divided into ten Heavenly Daos, eighty-one Grand Daos, and one hundred and eight thousand lesser Daos.” Bodhi continued. “The ten Elder Gods were beings who were born already in command of a Heavenly Dao. They were Pangu, who was born comprehending the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos; Nuwa, who was born comprehending the Heavenly Dao of Life; Fuxi, who was born comprehending the Heavenly Dao of Destruction; the Phoenix, who was born comprehending the Heavenly Dao of Yin; and the Ancestral Dragon, who was born comprehending the Heavenly Dao of Yang. As for the other Heavenly Daos of the Five Elements, they were Fire God Zhurong, Water God Gonggong, Metal God Rushou, Wood God Goumang, and Earth God Houtu.”

“These ten… were all beings born in command of a Heavenly Dao. And among them, Pangu was the most revered!”

Bodhi looked at Ji Ning. “Disciple, it seems you have many questions.”

“Yes, Master. This disciple has never heard of these Elder Gods before,” Ji Ning said, his heart trembling. “I had thought True Gods were the pinnacle.”

“Pangu, Nuwa, and the others… they are different from us,” Bodhi said. “They were born in command of Heavenly Daos, making them a level stronger than we are. Within the Primordial Chaos, there were also gestated a host of True Gods, who were born in command of a Grand Dao! I was one of them, as were Threelives and Crimsonbright. Beings like Daoist Three Purities, Buddha Tathagata, and Buddha Amitabha are all True Gods as well.”

“Below them were the ten-thousand-eight-hundred Empyrean Gods, who were born in command of a single, ordinary Dao.”

Bodhi continued. “These are the Elder Gods, True Gods, and Empyrean Gods who were gestated within the Primordial Chaos.”

“The most honored and strongest among them was Pangu, who commanded the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos. Pangu was incredibly powerful, but he was also controlled by a mysterious fate,” Bodhi said with emotion. “His destiny, from the moment of his birth, was to cleave the heavens open. Pangu was the last to be gestated. The moment he emerged, he grasped the Pangu Axe, splitting apart Heaven and Earth. He did not hesitate to burn up his own life force in the process, and ultimately perished. However, he created the vast and magnificent ancient Pangu’s World.”

“After Heaven and Earth were created… the ancient Pangu’s World began to gestate countless lives. These were all born from Heaven and Earth themselves. The strongest could reach the Empyrean God level, while the weakest were at least at the Xiantian level.”

Ji Ning listened closely.

“After the world was born, everything was wondrous. We, who had emerged from the chaos, were filled with curiosity about everything,” Bodhi said with a sigh. “Some claimed territory and became leaders. Others lived in seclusion… As the countless lives within the ancient Pangu’s World proliferated, the ancient world became more and more exciting. Beings like Threelives, and even a few of the Elder Gods, began to rule over their own kingdoms. Conflicts arose. They began to fight, even risking their lives in mortal combat.”

Ji Ning nodded.

For the sake of their various ambitions… war was only natural.

“Many of the mighty figures created Ki Refining techniques for the countless lives of the ancient world,” Bodhi said. “Buddha Tathagata, for instance, specially created the Buddhist techniques, which can be considered a form of Ki Refining. As a result, many of the original True Gods—myself, Tathagata, and others—all became Daofathers in the Ki Refining path.”

“Lady Nuwa was the first to break through,” Bodhi said. “With tremendous perseverance and wisdom, Lady Nuwa came to comprehend both the Heavenly Daos of Yin and Yang, and then she created the human race. Once Lady Nuwa mastered both Yin and Yang, her power exploded. Only then did the ancient powers realize that comprehending two opposing Heavenly Daos would allow one’s strength to ascend to yet another level.”

“And so, the great powers of the ancient world all went into seclusion to cultivate. However, they discovered that after comprehending one Heavenly Dao, trying to comprehend the opposing Heavenly Dao was exceedingly difficult. For example, those who had comprehended the Heavenly Dao of Life, when they tried to comprehend the Heavenly Dao of Death, would encounter intense interference and obstruction from their previous Dao. They could not comprehend it at all.”

“For a very long stretch of time, aside from Lady Nuwa, no one else had succeeded in comprehending two opposing Heavenly Daos,” Bodhi said.

“Then… Daoist Three Purities appeared.”

“Daoist Three Purities was also a Primordial True God by birth, named Yuanshi. He was also incredibly accomplished, having successively comprehended the Heavenly Dao of Yang and the Heavenly Dao of Death. However, he was never able to succeed in comprehending their opposites, the Heavenly Dao of Yin or the Heavenly Dao of Life. And so… he made a great resolution,” Bodhi said. “He killed himself.”

“Killed himself?” Ji Ning was startled.

The nearby Red Snow just smiled. Although this was a secret, she, having been born at the dawn of creation, had learned of this matter while following Daoist Threelives.

“That Daoist Three Purities set a prohibition within his own Truesoul. He was not permitted to awaken his past-life memories until he comprehended the Heavenly Dao of Yin or the Heavenly Dao of Life,” Bodhi said. “Three Purities directly entered the cycle of reincarnation, and then killed himself there. Because he died within the cycle of reincarnation, his Truesoul naturally went to be reborn.”

“It was a huge gamble.”

“After Three Purities was reborn, if his soul had been scattered and destroyed, his Truesoul would have entered the River of Fate. That would have been the end of it,” Bodhi said.

Ji Ning nodded.

He had to comprehend the Heavenly Dao of Yin or the Heavenly Dao of Life before awakening his past-life memories. This meant that, until he became a Daofather, he would be unable to use his past-life memories. To become a Daofather without those memories… how could that be anything less than a miracle? Even if his Truesoul gave him extraordinary talent, the path of cultivation was filled with dangers. If he was killed and his soul scattered, he would indeed be finished.

“He failed repeatedly, cycling through nine lives in reincarnation,” Bodhi said. “Of those nine lives, six were spent as mortals, never able to step onto the cultivation path. So after each death, he naturally went to be reborn. In two other lives, he died at the Zifu Disciple level and was reborn again. It was only in his ninth life that he was reborn as the ancient human, Laozi!”

“In this life, his brilliance was unmatched, and he advanced by leaps and bounds. With no memories to interfere, he comprehended the Heavenly Dao of Yin in one smooth motion and became a Daofather. It was at this moment that he awakened his original memories… and he once again controlled the Heavenly Dao of Yang and the Heavenly Dao of Death. His power instantly exploded. It was then that he comprehended the technique known as ‘One Qi Transforms into Three Purities.’ His power was so great that even Lady Nuwa, at her peak, might not have been able to match him. He was virtually the first leader of the ancient age. Because he had comprehended the ‘One Qi Transforms into Three Purities’ technique, he styled himself as ‘Daoist Three Purities.’ From that point on, he passed down many Daoist techniques, establishing the Daoist School, and became its leader.”

Ji Ning was stunned.

“By using reincarnation to obscure one’s memories, it was possible to comprehend opposing Heavenly Daos without interference. But it was a gamble. If your soul was scattered and destroyed, you would truly die,” Bodhi said with emotion. “Because of Three Purities’ success, six Daofathers in a row also went to be reborn, setting the same prohibitions within their Truesouls.”

“But not a single trace of them has ever been seen again, from the ancient age to the present Three Realms,” Bodhi said. “They might be dead, or they might still be cycling through endless reincarnations, life after life.”

Ji Ning sighed to himself.

Endless reincarnation?

Those Daofathers who had gone to be reborn had extraordinary Truesouls and natural talent. As long as they had a chance, they could normally step onto the path of Immortal cultivation. But the path of cultivation was incredibly dangerous. They might be killed by an enemy, their souls scattered! It had been too long, from the ancient age until now. Those six Daofathers had likely long since died, their Truesouls having entered the endless River of Fate.

“After this, the great powers of the ancient age did not try reincarnation again for a very long time. But the Dao-seeking hearts of these mighty figures were too strong; each of them yearned to become more powerful,” Bodhi said with emotion. “And so, Buddha Tathagata, whose strength was considered average among the mighty figures at the time, also entered the cycle of reincarnation, killing himself to be reborn. The Tathagata of that time had already comprehended four of the five Heavenly Daos of the Five Elements. He was only missing the final Heavenly Dao of Earth. But every time he tried to cultivate it, he was obstructed and interfered with by the other four Heavenly Daos.”

“One cannot become a master without being a madman.” Bodhi shook his head and sighed. “In his third life of reincarnation, Tathagata was reborn as the prince of a small human kingdom, named Sakyamuni. Naturally, his brilliance was unmatched. In the end, he comprehended a Heavenly Dao and became a Daofather. Awakening his past-life memories, his power instantly exploded. The Buddhist School, which had been just one of many factions in the ancient age, immediately had its power greatly increased, and Tathagata became its leader.”

“Having heard the cultivation paths of these two leaders of Daoism and Buddhism, what do you think?” Bodhi looked at Ji Ning.

“Tremendous perseverance. Tremendous resolve,” Ji Ning said with a sigh.

Those two were already Daofathers.

They could have lived freely and at ease between Heaven and Earth. Yet they still possessed such a powerful Dao-seeking heart. For the sake of reaching a higher level, they were willing to gamble with their endless lives!

They won.

But many more Daofathers had gambled and lost.

Walking the path of cultivation, reaching a higher level… was simply too difficult, too hard.

“And all the while, the ancient world was filled with endless war,” Bodhi said. “The most powerful among them were the kingdoms ruled by the Elder Gods.”

“Once, the Water Elder God Gonggong and the Fire Elder God Zhurong were engaged in a mad conflict between the kingdoms they led. These two Elder Gods clashed throughout the ancient world… Seeing that his side was about to lose, Gonggong went completely mad. In his madness, he angrily slammed his head into Buzhou Mountain, which was the spinal column of Pangu.”

“In that instant, the heavens were shattered, and even the very foundations of the ancient world were affected.”

“The entire world trembled, as if the apocalypse had arrived.”

“At this time, Gonggong and Zhurong were both terrified. The great powers of the ancient age gathered together, trying to stop the world from being destroyed, but none of them had a solution. It was Lady Nuwa who, after deep meditation, was able to completely comprehend the Heavenly Daos of the Five Elements at this critical moment. Using Yin and Yang as her foundation, Lady Nuwa gathered the quintessence of the Five Elements from Heaven and Earth, refining them into Five-Colored Stones. She used these divine Five-Colored Stones to repair the heavens… After Nuwa mended the heavens, Heaven and Earth were stabilized. And because she commanded both Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, Lady Nuwa was the undisputed strongest figure of the ancient age. For her meritorious deed of mending the heavens, all races of the ancient world held Lady Nuwa in the highest esteem.”

“At this time, the Elder God Fuxi, who had a deep, sibling-like bond with Lady Nuwa and was weary of war, saw Lady Nuwa continuously break through with her power, while his own increased only slightly. So he, too, committed suicide and entered reincarnation, vowing not to awaken his past-life memories until he comprehended the Heavenly Dao of Life.” Bodhi shook his head and sighed. “He was reborn into the human race, becoming Fuxi, one of the Three Sovereigns of Humanity in the ancient age. To this day, he has still not awakened his past-life memories.”