Chapter 418: Return of the Void
Void…
The concept of 'Void' was a unique one in this world, because it could not be defined as a dao, but rather, it would better be described as the absence of dao.
Yaan understood that the world could be separated into three conceptual regions – the Origin, the Chaos, the Void.
The Origin was existence, it was the world, life and the source of all things. The Void was the polar opposite, the outside of existence, it was the absence of dao, creation and destruction, space and time, life and death…it was eternal timeless nothingness. As for Chaos, this was the region that arose between these two opposites, it was that which lay between existence and non-existence.
Origin, Chaos and Void were indeed 'regions', but they were also concepts, things that could be comprehended, just like the dao. The Origin and Chaos could be thought of as their own daos, and whilst some considered the Void to be a dao, Yaan did not think of it as such, since it also represented the absolute lack of dao.
Yaan had never left the Origin. He had never travelled through the expanse of Chaos. He had never physically traversed the world, so he had never 'seen' the Void which lay beyond the Origin and Chaos.
But the Void was not simply a place; it was an idea. In that sense, he had actually seen the Void from a perspective that even the Origin Gods could not compare to.
Yaan did not need to travel through the Chaos to see the Void, because the Void lingered within the depths of his memory, hidden deep within his Dao Soul, occupying a unique and indescribable place within his heart.
If he one day travelled the Chaos and looked into the Void beyond, it would not change anything. The Void was simply the absence of all things, it was not something that he needed to travel just to see.
Until now, Yaan had avoided further pursuing his comprehension of the Void, largely because he had no confidence in controlling it. He already felt that he had been very fortunate when he comprehended the Void previously, since it didn't result in any severe backlash. He couldn't guarantee that it would be the same this time.
However, the situation now called for such a risk to be taken.
Escaping from Defiance…
Dealing with the net of destruction…
Concluding the convergence of fates…
He wanted to resolve everything, but he also wanted to use these situations to his advantage. Yaan was not satisfied with simply resolving his problems, he wanted to be the biggest winner in the end!
After the Primordial Asura revealed the truth behind the stone ring, it was as if he had been gifted the last piece of an overly complex puzzle. With this final piece, Yaan could see the full picture of the converging fates, and with this picture in hand, he could easily shake the world.
Even though he had only just begun, he was already benefitting tremendously.
In this moment, Yaan felt extremely clear. Finally, he was starting to understand the concept of 'will'! He now understood why he had felt that pursuing will was so essential, and how he could use his own will to further his dao. It might not be enough to transcend the Origin right now, but hopefully, if everything worked out as he envisioned it, he should finally be able to touch the boundary.
'The pursuit of dao is truly filled with doubts and pitfalls. I was wrong to seek understanding from Defiance. He might be a wilful person, but that's his will, not mine. His will of defiance cannot be compared to my will of fate, our values and ambitions are too different. Defiance, when you called me a cockroach, you were absolutely right. Let me show you the will of a cockroach; let me show you the will of those of us who struggle with all our might, just to survive.'
He finally came to the understanding that will was an entirely individual thing, and as such, one person's will could not be compared to another. Yaan felt like he had touched upon the most fundamental essence of the Origin Ascension.
Until now, he had been thinking of things in a way that was too black and white, separating the heart's 'will' and 'comprehension' as if they were completely unrelated. It was natural for him to make this mistake, because until now, he had believed that the progression of his dao heart had not relied on his strength of heart – his will – but rather, his understanding alone.
Yaan now understood that this was not the case. His dao heart had always incorporated his strength of will into its progression, it was just that he had never seen this until now.
Defiance's outlook on his heart, wherein he completely disregarded comprehension and focussed only on his strength of will, furthered his misunderstanding.
After attaining a divine stage completed dao heart, developing the dao heart was achieved by embracing a combination of understanding and will on a conscious level. These two aspects were not separate, but intrinsically linked, with both developing naturally alongside the dao heart's growth.
Because Defiance cultivated a heart of defiance, he was innately stubborn in his attitude towards his dao heart, resulting in him not caring about the 'comprehension' side of things and focussing solely on the strength of his defiant will. It was to the extent that he treated his will like it was some sort of energy that he just needed to cultivate! However, this was in itself his comprehension, and Defiance understood this.
For Yaan, it was very different. His will was to pursue his creation of fate; devoting himself wholehearted to this pursuit was in itself his will and determination. He had been growing his will of fate all this time, he just hadn't realised it.
He had once wondered if, just like there were stages denoting the level of dao heart comprehension, were there also stages describing the will within the dao heart? Now, Yaan understood. There were no separate limits for will and comprehension when chasing the Origin Ascension, because every step taken forwards after completing the dao heart, was a step taken towards both greater comprehension and greater will.
If he wanted to go beyond the divine stage dao heart, attaining the origin stage dao heart possessed by the Origin Gods, then he needed to comprehend the connection between his understanding of fate and his will to pursue fate.
In fact, it wasn't just the origin stage dao heart - in reality, every stage of the dao heart involved both comprehension and will. This was the difference between dao and the dao heart - the dao heart involved an individual's will!
It was called the dao heart for a reason. It was not just the dao, it was not just the heart, it was the dao heart.
Two words, dao, and heart. Dao represented comprehension, heart represented the strength of will.
At the mortal stage, the dao within the heart was first established, there was a direction, a path, and the will to pursue this path. Of course, a mortal stage dao heart was just that; mortal. It was temporary, and eventually, the heart would collapse under the pressure of time. Once the mortal dao heart wavered, even an immortal who had transcended past their longevity-based Heavenly Tribulations could not continue living.
At the immortal stage, the dao heart could be named. The path was clear and a being with an immortal stage dao heart had the will to continue pursuing their dao indefinitely. At least, their heart would not waver due to the passage of time, granting them a form of 'immortality'.
At the divine stage, the dao heart could be considered 'complete', in that all beings at this level had developed their own true ambitions, ambitions that became the core of their reason to live. Their pursuit of trying to understand their life's meaning was completed at this stage, and they had the will to shoulder the pressure of their immense ambitions, no matter how wild they may be.
The origin stage…
If the divine stage represented the completion of finding one's meaning, then the origin stage was the stage of grasping this meaning for oneself.
As he touched upon this boundary, Yaan had the vague feeling that with a slight push, he could leave this world behind. At the same time, however, he felt that he could hold himself back, remaining in this world until he was ready to go.
For now, he saw no reason to force this next step. He wouldn't gain anything by trying to force it. If he could suppress it, then he would do so for now, that way he could accumulate more power and understanding throughout the remainder of the 2nd Origin Era.
Yaan had the feeling that perhaps, this was not a unique experience to him, but something that other Origin Gods could encounter. Some were forced to ascend the moment they touched upon the Origin Step boundary, but others could hold back, remaining in the Origin and then finally leaving when they chose to do so.
Yaan felt that it was ironic, how he only came to truly understand the dao heart when he finally embraced the Void, which emptied his heart of all existence. As his eyes lost their colour, turning black, and then becoming deep abysses that seemed to eliminate the existence of all light, his thoughts gradually faded, and he no longer cared about enlightenment.
The dao heart, his comprehension, his will…
All of it became nothing in the face of the Void. Compared to the Void, all of existence was simply a joke. All of those powerful beings, the Origin Gods, the prophet, those unknown entities that he still didn't understand…
Compared to the Void, they weren't even worth mentioning. Yaan had realised this when he first gained insight into the Void, and he realised it again now - the Void, which lacked even the concept of power, was easily the greatest power in this world. Trying to fight against this power, trying to surpass it, was as laughable as an ant trying to overthrow the universe.
But even so, Yaan wanted to try. Even if it was hopeless, even if he could see this despair before his very eyes, he didn't care.
So what if there was no hope? So what if everything he did was futile? If he failed and his life truly did turn out to be meaningless, then nothing mattered anyway, so why should he care?
It was exactly because it felt insurmountable that he wanted to try his best. The magnitude of the challenge gave him the will to fight, encouraging him to continue along his path…this path of doing crazy things, in order to pursue his goals.
Manifesting the Void comprehension in his gaze was already reckless, but this was only the beginning of his idea.
The Primordial Sage froze. She stared into Yaan's abyssal eyes, losing her words, completely entranced as the thing that she had been searching for all this time, appeared before her once again.
The last time she saw this enlightenment in Yaan's gaze, the Primordial Sage had felt a trace of shock. Because the existence of emotion contradicted her dao heart, she had cut off the remaining shock within her heart, further perfecting her dao and taking another step forwards.
Now, as she stared into the Void contained within Yaan's eyes, even though it was everything that she had been searching for, for so many years, she didn't feel a single emotion.
Her eyes glimmered like emeralds, her wavy hair fluttered despite the world being completely still. As Yaan stared at her emotionlessly, gradually, the black crystal embedded in her forehead began to shine with an ominous black light, as if an abyss was awakening, rapidly travelling towards its ascension.
However, time passed by, yet that ascension never came.
Yaan knew from the beginning that the ascension she was seeking would never come. After all, the Primordial Sage believed that her heart was the heart of void, but it was not. Like Justice Deity, The Primordial Sage possessed a dao heart beyond the surface.
Unfortunately, not long after Yaan entered this unique state of Void, he lost his thoughts to an endless abyss of nothingness, delaying his plan of forcefully awakening the Primordial Sage from her life-long delusion.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone