Boom~~~
As Gu Chuan spoke, countless Demon Gods in Chaos City fell silent. They all sat in the Lotus Position, their expressions solemn, not daring to speak loudly for fear of offending the Lord of Chaos City.
> "Chaos is not benevolent and treats all things as straw dogs;
The Saint is not benevolent and treats the people as straw dogs.
Amidst chaos, is it still unyielding?
Empty yet inexhaustible, moving yet healing.
Many words lead to exhaustion—better to remain centered..."
The moment these words were spoken, countless Demon Gods felt as if their ears had been pierced by thunder. The sound of the Great Dao resonated endlessly, shaking the depths of their consciousness.
Some among them felt an inexplicable comprehension, as if they had glimpsed a fragment of the primordial law of chaos. Even those who did not fully understand it found themselves profoundly affected. This third sermon was unlike any before—Gu Chuan was imparting his own insights into the primordial law of chaos.
He did not concern himself with whether these Demon Gods could grasp his teachings. He simply spoke from his own understanding. Whether they gained enlightenment or not depended on their own fortune.
> "Heaven and Earth endure.
The reason Heaven and Earth can endure is that they do not live for themselves,
And thus, they persist eternally.
The Saint places himself behind and stands at the forefront.
Is it not because he is selfless that he attains fulfillment?"
> "Gather the spirit and embrace unity—can you remain unbroken?
Yield and be supple—can you become like a newborn?
Cleanse the mysteries—can you be without flaws?
Love the people and govern the state—can you be free from knowledge?
Open the gates of Heaven—can you remain receptive?
Understand all things—can you act without striving?
To nurture all beings yet not claim possession,
To guide without dominating, to grow without destroying—
This is called the profound virtue of the Dao."
> "That which cannot be seen is called the Invisible.
That which cannot be heard is called the Inaudible.
That which cannot be grasped is called the Intangible.
These three cannot be fully comprehended,
And so they merge into One.
> Above, it is not dazzling; below, it is not obscure.
It moves in a subtle rhythm, beyond names, returning to the void.
It is the form of the formless, the image of the imageless.
By understanding the past through the present,
One perceives the foundation of the Dao."
> "There is a thing undivided,
Born before Heaven and Earth.
Silent and vast, independent and unchanging,
Ever moving yet never exhausted,
It may be called the Mother of All Things.
> I do not know its name—so I call it Dao.
Forced to give it a name, I call it Great.
Great leads to transcendence, transcendence leads to distance,
Distance leads to return.
> Therefore, Dao is great,
Heaven is great,
Earth is great,
And the sovereign is also great.
Among these four greats, the sovereign takes his place among them.
> Man follows Earth,
Earth follows Heaven,
Heaven follows Dao,
And Dao follows its own nature."
> "The Way of Heaven is like drawing a bow—
That which is high is pressed down, that which is low is lifted up;
Excess is diminished, insufficiency is replenished.
The Way of Heaven is to balance all things.
But the way of man is not so;
He takes from the poor to serve the rich.
> Who, then, can have excess and use it to serve the world?
Only one who possesses the Dao.
He does not rely on Saints to accomplish things,
And does not seek to elevate the virtuous for display."
> "Truthful words are not beautiful,
Beautiful words are not truthful.
Those who argue are not wise,
And the wise do not argue.
The Saint does not hoard.
The more he gives to others, the more he has himself.
> The Way of Heaven benefits all without harming.
The Way of the Saint acts without contention."
Gu Chuan's words, spoken in the ancient tongue of the Chaos Demon Gods, resonated with power. Each syllable carried profound truths, embodying the infinite mysteries of the primordial chaos.
At that moment, countless Demon Gods gained profound realizations, glimpsing the supreme principles of the Chaos Dao.
> "Chaos has no heart of benevolence or righteousness.
It is the ruler of all things.
It constantly oppresses all things and pushes them forward like a storm.
The process within cannot be corrected.
All things flourish and decline.
No matter how mighty or beautiful,
They are like straw dogs—
Life and death are inevitable."
A deep, indescribable fear gripped the hearts of many Demon Gods. Their bodies trembled, sweat pouring like rain. They had touched upon the ultimate truth of life and death, the endless cycle of existence. No matter how powerful they were, before chaos, they were mere ants—just like dogs.
If one did not wish to remain an ant, there was only one path: to defy the heavens, to transcend chaos, and to prove the truth through absolute strength.
Otherwise, they would not escape death—Ragnarok was inevitable.
Yet, among them, some perceived a different truth. Their hearts were calm, their souls melting into the vast chaos.
> "Chaos itself is void.
It is from this void that all things are born.
It is ruthless, but also just.
It does not show favoritism to any being.
It allows all things to follow their natural course, untouched.
The Saint, too, does not intervene,
Allowing the people to determine their own fate.
> To outsiders, this may seem indifferent,
But in truth, it is the highest form of fairness.
This is the true nature of the Chaos Dao."
Understanding dawned upon one of the Demon Gods. To attain sanctity and prove the Dao, one must embrace all things. Only by harboring the Dao in one's heart, being both ruthless and just, detached from worldly concerns, could one attain enlightenment.
This was the Saint's ultimate love—seemingly heartless, yet boundless in its mercy.
> "No! These interpretations are all flawed!
The law follows the law.
The Dao follows the Dao.
The demon follows the way of demons.
Everything has balance, everything has its own rules.
All within this world follows a destined trajectory.
This fate cannot be altered or tampered with—
To do so would invite great calamity!"
A glimmer of light appeared in a Demon God's eyes. In the depths of its pupils, endless data flickered, as if perceiving the law of fate itself, deducing the trajectories of countless beings and infinite pathways.
It believed that the Dao could be calculated, that all things had a destined path. By understanding this, it could predict the flow of chaos itself. And if one could control these trajectories, then one could control everything.
> "So this is it... Chaos is imperfect.
The Way of Heaven seeks to mend what is lacking.
The way of man is to repair what is broken.
We, the Demon Gods, were born to complete the path of chaos—
To maintain the balance between chaos and order."
A certain Demon God realized its purpose—to comprehend the Dao, to uphold chaos, to perhaps even replace it, to defy the heavens and impose order upon the chaos itself.
Each Demon God gained their own enlightenment through Gu Chuan's sermon. No two paths were the same.
As the saying goes, a thousand people will have a thousand Hamlets.
Gu Chuan had spoken of his own understanding of the primordial law of chaos, yet each Demon God interpreted it differently, forging their own paths.
This was exactly what he wanted to see—those who imitate him will perish, but those who learn from him will thrive.