---
The vast expanse of the Honghuang Realm lay in deathly silence.
No wind stirred.
No light bloomed.
No breath dared disturb the eternal stillness.
But far above the sacred, forbidden peak of Mount Buzhou—
in the deepest skies beyond comprehension—
a hidden star pulsed.
Ziwei Star.
The Emperor Star.
And within it… something awoke.
---
> "Ahhh! Where… where am I?!"
A young man floated mid-air, suspended in a sea of swirling violet mist.
His chest heaved. His pulse thundered.
Eyes wide, breath shallow—he trembled.
> "Everything's purple… What are these glowing threads?"
He clutched his head, pain flooding his mind.
> "Agh! It's like something's tearing through my soul—!"
Then—suddenly—
Memories surged.
Not of this world.
Not of this body.
Flickers of a past life.
A simple home… warm light… a dinner table.
And then—darkness.
> "I… I remember lying in bed after dinner."
"Was that… my past life?"
> "But this... this is different."
He looked around.
The violet mist shimmered—woven of law, starlight, and destiny.
And deep within him—
something ancient stirred.
---
A seal unraveled.
A formation shattered.
A soul awakened.
---
His breath steadied. His eyes sharpened.
> "I'm... Ziwei."
The name rang through his being—
not spoken, but remembered.
A name older than time.
> "I didn't descend into the Honghuang Realm... I awakened within the Emperor Star itself."
> "This place… was my cradle. My prison. My sanctuary."
He looked skyward, toward the world beyond.
> "If this is real… if I've truly awakened in the Mythic Age—
then so be it."
His voice softened.
> "Mother… Big Brother… Please be safe."
---
Suddenly—
the starfield above cracked.
A spiral of black and gold light tore open the sky—
a divine wound bleeding radiance.
It shimmered with terrifying majesty.
Drawn by instinct, Ziwei moved forward—then stopped, eyes wide.
> "That's… the Marrow-Essence Supreme Ruler of Hongmeng."
And drifting beside it—
> "The Innate Supreme Celestial Star Map..."
His heart pounded.
> "If I can comprehend it… I could command the stars themselves!"
---
But something else called to him.
A soft glow through the mist—violet and divine.
A towering tree stood in silence.
> "A tree?"
He approached.
> "No… this is one of the Ten Supreme Innate Spiritual Roots—
The Stellar Spirit Tree."
Its leaves shimmered like constellations.
Its branches held 365 divine fruits—each linked to a star in the sky.
> "If I consume even one… I may become master of its destiny."
He raised his hand toward it—
But then—
> "Agh—!"
A blinding pain ripped through his spirit again.
The mists trembled.
> "What... is this?!"
---
Truth burst through him like thunder.
> "I… I wasn't born like mortals."
> "I was forged—from Nine-Colored Divine Earth…"
"Infused with Three Strands of Light-Origin Deviant Water…"
"And a drop of Pangu's Heart-Essence Blood."
His voice dropped, reverent.
> "My spirit... lit by the Eternal Primordial Flame of Pangu himself."
His eyes widened.
> "This… is the Innate Taoist Body."
"A vessel once held only by the First Beings of Creation."
But then—
a darker truth.
> "No... this body was once defiled."
"A Chaos Demon Emperor tried to seize it—make it his own."
> "But the Great Dao intervened."
> "It obliterated his soul... and placed mine within."
He closed his eyes.
> "A fragment of my Creation Merit burned away during the transfer…"
"But even now… I carry what remains—a Third-Grade Primordial Origin Merit."
He opened his palm.
The mist responded—bending to his will.
> "No… I'm not the Ziwei who once was."
> "I am Ziwei—born of the Emperor Star...
Son of Destiny… and heir of the First Will."
---
Suddenly—
a weight descended.
Not of gravity—
but of Law.
Vast. Eternal. Watching.
Ziwei knelt instantly.
> "The Great Dao… is watching."
His voice rang out, solemn and unwavering.
> "I swear—by the stars, by the Law, and by the weave of Fate—
I shall fulfill the destiny entrusted to me."
Silence.
Then—
a single whisper echoed across the void:
> "Allowed."
---
Ziwei exhaled.
Relief flooded him.
> "Had I hesitated… I would've been erased like the Chaos Demon before me."
He stood.
And finally noticed—
> "…I'm naked?"
A flicker of wryness passed his eyes.
With a thought, the threads of cosmic law spun around him—
weaving black robes embroidered with starlight.
Regal. Imposing.
Worthy of a sovereign.
---
He glanced at his reflection in a mirrored thread of mist.
> "My eyes…"
One gleamed gold.
The other—impossible to define.
> "Not blue… not white… not any color known to man."
"A hue beyond form—a divine shade of truth."
His black hair flowed freely—untouched by wind.
His presence stilled the air itself.
Ziwei raised his hand.
> "Let me see… my Dao."
---
And the laws answered.
---
They shimmered into being—
a cosmic constellation of paths.
> "The Grand Sovereign Dao—the Emperor's Law."
> "Within it lie:
—The Way of All Living Beings
—The Law of Nature
—The Law of Creation
—The Law of Destruction."
> "Others begin from the Three Thousand Lesser Daos…"
"But mine is a fusion of Four Primordial Laws."
He smiled, faint but unshakable.
> "I don't need to cultivate step by step."
"As I reign… my Dao shall grow."
He closed his eyes.
> "As Heavenly Emperor, I may wield 40%."
"But if I ascend as Emperor of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity…"
> "Then—even the Heavenly Dao shall no longer stand above me."
---
Yet his gifts went deeper still.
> "My bloodline grants me mastery of the Sun's Golden Flame…
And the Moon's Eternal Ice—twin forces of Yin and Yang."
> "And within my spirit dwell the Three Ancient Daos:
—Formation
—Alchemy
—Weapon Refinement."
He laughed quietly.
> "Too much? No."
> "If I am to be the Supreme Emperor of Honghuang—
how could I be anything less?"
---
But his smile faded.
His eyes turned distant.
> "Before I ascend… I must survive."
> "Even Pangu… was betrayed in the end.
Ambushed by the Heavenly Dao itself."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
> "Had that betrayal not occurred…
He would have reached the Great Dao Realm."
He looked skyward.
Not in sorrow.
Not in fear.
But in reverence.
> "From this day forward…
I shall not speak his name lightly."
> "He is no longer merely Pangu."
> "He is… my Father God."
---
And so—
beneath the watching stars, beyond time's reach,
as Fate stirred once more—
Ziwei stood tall.
Not crowned by mortals.
But chosen by destiny.
> The Supreme Emperor… had awakened.