The world went black.
Li Tian's last memory was the screech of tires, the blinding headlights of the truck, and then—nothing. No pain. No afterlife. Just an endless void where time had no meaning.
"Is this death?" he wondered.
But then, a voice echoed, neither male nor female, ancient and boundless:
"You have been chosen."
A flash of golden light erupted, and Li Tian felt his consciousness shatter and reform. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer human.
He was the sky, the earth, the unseen threads of fate binding all things.
He was the Heavenly Dao.
And before him floated a barren, lifeless planet—his new body.
Li Tian stretched his will across the empty world. Mountains rose at his whim. Rivers carved their paths with a thought. Yet something was missing.
Life.
He reached into his own divine essence and tore a fragment free, scattering it like seeds. Where they landed, the first plants sprouted—silver grass that hummed with spiritual energy.
But plants were not enough.
He needed beings with souls.
With a deep breath (though he no longer needed air), Li Tian condensed his energy into a single drop of liquid divinity and let it fall onto the planet's surface.
Where it struck, the earth shuddered.
And from the mud rose the first human.
A man, naked and blank-eyed, staring at the heavens.
Li Tian frowned. "He is empty."
The human did not speak. Did not move. Did not even blink.
"I gave him a body… but not a mind?"
Experimenting, Li Tian whispered a spark of his own consciousness into the man.
The human gasped—and screamed.
"I LIVE!"
And with those words, the balance of the world shifted forever.
The human—now named "Fan" by Li Tian—began to explore. He ate the silver grass and found it filled him with energy. He drank from the rivers and felt his body grow stronger.
"Cultivation," Li Tian realized. "He is absorbing the world's energy instinctively."
But Fan was alone.
So Li Tian created more humans. Ten. Then a hundred. Soon, a village stood where there had been only dust.
Yet problems arose.
Some humans hoarded the silver grass, growing stronger than others. Some took what they wanted by force.
"They need order," Li Tian mused.
And so, he spoke his first divine decree, his voice shaking the heavens:
"Those who seek power must temper their hearts. The strong shall protect the weak, or the heavens will judge them."
The words burned themselves into the souls of every living being, becoming the first Heavenly Law.
But Li Tian knew this was only the beginning.
For in the shadows, the first ambitions had already taken root.
And where there was ambition…
There would soon be gods.