Li Yuan followed a tranquil path of qi with a consciousness that flowed in rhythm with the world's time.
For the first time in a long while, he wasn't manipulating his inner time. He wasn't creating a separate Zhenjing where hundreds of years could pass in an instant. He let his consciousness move with the natural rhythm of the universe.
And in that harmonious flow, something began to form.
An understanding.
An understanding of the strange and chaotic qi he had just discovered.
The Daojing is the path of understanding, Li Yuan recalled the essence of the system he had created. When an understanding reaches meaning, it enters the Ganjing realm—the realm of sensing.
All understandings will form in the inner world.
And now... this understanding of qi is beginning to crystallize.
The Formation of the Chaos Qi Understanding
Slowly, like dew collecting into a water droplet, the understanding of chaotic qi began to form in Li Yuan's inner world.
Chaos Qi.
Not just the energy he felt outside, but a deep understanding of the nature, meaning, and potential of this formless energy.
Li Yuan felt this new understanding grow in his Zhenjing—different from the eleven others.
Water was tranquility and flow.
Soul was the conductor that harmonized.
Silence was the space to listen.
But Chaos Qi... was pure possibility.
Chaos Qi is a form of qi that doesn't yet have a fixed structure or direction, Li Yuan understood with surprising clarity. Unlike harmonious qi, Chaos Qi contains infinite potential but also extreme instability.
It doesn't choose a form—it can be a creator or a destroyer, depending on understanding and control.
Time's Natural Flow
A hundred years passed.
Not a hundred years of accelerated or slowed internal time. But a hundred years of the real, outside world, where Li Yuan let his consciousness flow with the universe's rhythm.
In those hundred years, the understanding of Chaos Qi matured naturally. It wasn't forced or hurried, but developed like a tree growing with the seasons.
Li Yuan felt each layer of meaning that formed:
Chaos Qi as a trace of the struggle against harmony.
Chaos Qi as unrealized potential.
Chaos Qi as a bridge between what is and what could be.
Chaos Qi as... the beginning before anything had a form.
And when a hundred years had passed, the understanding reached its point of maturity.
Meaning.
The understanding of Chaos Qi had touched a fundamental meaning, a meaning deeper than just a concept or an idea.
It's time to enter the Ganjing Realm.
Entering the Ganjing Realm
Li Yuan felt a vibration that was both familiar and surprising as the Chaos Qi Understanding began to flow into the Ganjing Realm.
Unlike the previous understandings, which entered with tranquility or clarity, Chaos Qi entered with… motion.
The Ganjing space trembled.
Chaos Qi was not still; it rippled like a wild wave, affecting all the surrounding understandings. Not with aggression, but with its inherently unstable nature.
Li Yuan felt the eleven other understandings react:
Water began to flow in unusual patterns—sometimes calm, sometimes turbulent for no clear reason.
Silence vibrated with a different kind of quiet—not a peaceful silence, but an eerie stillness, like the calm before a storm or after a destruction.
The Soul vibrated with a more complex resonance, as if it could sense the possibilities that had yet to be realized.
All understandings are being tested, Li Yuan realized. Chaos Qi is trying to "shuffle" the arrangement of the other understandings, testing if they are solid or easily changed.
The Expansion of Ganjing's Perception
The most surprising thing about the entry of Chaos Qi into the Ganjing Realm was the change in Li Yuan's own perception.
Until now, his Ganjing could only sense "what already exists"—the surrounding souls, the emotions being experienced, the current state of things.
But with Chaos Qi, Li Yuan's Ganjing could sense something new:
The possibilities that do not yet exist.
Because Chaos Qi carries the trace of the beginning—of pre-creation—my Ganjing can sense "what could happen" in addition to "what is happening."
Li Yuan felt this new ability with a mix of awe and concern.
He could sense the possibilities floating in the air like unsprouted seeds. Potentials that could become reality if the right conditions were met.
This is dangerous, he realized. Seeing possibilities could make a person lose their grip on reality.
But also… incredibly valuable. Because by understanding possibilities, one can help guide which one will become reality.
Resonance with Other Understandings
Li Yuan observed how Chaos Qi interacted with his other understandings:
With Water: It created unpredictable flows. Water that usually flowed calmly now sometimes split or merged without a clear pattern. But it wasn't a destructive chaos—more like unbounded creativity.
With Silence: It created an "eerie stillness" that made the soul feel as if it were at the beginning or end of the world. A silence full of potential—like the stillness before the first word is spoken.
With the Soul: It made the soul more flexible in facing extreme changes. A soul touched by this resonance became more adaptable, more open to the possibility of transformation.
With Existence: It created a space where existence could change form—not disappear, but become something else while still being itself.
Risks and Challenges
Li Yuan sensed that Chaos Qi brought challenges he had never faced before:
Radius Instability: The influence of Chaos Qi in the Ganjing could suddenly expand or contract without warning. The normally stable three-meter radius could become one meter or ten meters in an instant.
Understanding Interference: If not carefully sheathed using the Understanding of Sheath, Chaos Qi could blur the original meaning of other understandings. It would make them lose focus and become ambiguous.
Soul Danger: Most frightening of all—spending too long delving into Chaos Qi without limits could cause the soul to lose its identity, dissolving into a formless "possibility."
I must be very careful, Li Yuan decided. Chaos Qi is a fire that can warm or burn to ash. The key is in understanding and control, not in strength.
Unexpected Benefits
Despite the dangers, Li Yuan also felt the immense benefits of Chaos Qi:
Unlocking New Opportunities: Chaos Qi could create solutions that couldn't be found through a normal pattern of understanding. It was like a path appearing where there was no path before.
Deep Transformation: The ability to see and influence possibilities opened the way for limitless transformation—both for himself and for other souls.
A Gateway to Primordial Understanding: Most importantly—because Chaos Qi carries the nature of "the beginning," it could be a bridge to the Eldest Breath or a deeper understanding of the Dao itself.
Twelve Understandings
Li Yuan felt a fundamental change within himself.
Eleven understandings had become twelve.
Water, Sheath, Doubt, Existence, Breath, Sky, Body, Loss, Silence, Fear, Soul...
And now, Chaos Qi.
But Chaos Qi was different from the others. It wasn't just an understanding—it was a gateway.
A gateway to something bigger, more primordial, more fundamental than everything he had ever understood before.
Perhaps this is what is needed to truly understand the Eldest Breath, Li Yuan mused. It is not enough to have harmonious and stable understandings. One must also understand chaos, uncertainty, and unrealized potential.
One must understand what existed before harmony—when everything was still pure possibility.
A Hundred Years of Wisdom
A hundred years of flowing with a natural rhythm had taught Li Yuan something he couldn't have learned in a thousand years of accelerated internal time:
True patience.
Acceptance of the universe's natural time.
The understanding that some things can only mature in their own way, in their own time.
And now, with twelve understandings flowing in a new harmony—a harmony that included chaos—Li Yuan felt ready to continue his journey toward the Eldest Breath.
With Chaos Qi as a bridge, perhaps I can finally understand what existed before everything.
What existed when nothing existed.
What... was, before 'is' had meaning.
Li Yuan followed the path of light formed from the now-calm qi with a newfound confidence.
The journey to the Eldest Breath continued.
But now, he was no longer going empty-handed.
He was going with an understanding of chaos—the key to understanding how harmony is born from formlessness.
One step closer to home.
One step closer to the true beginning.
One step closer to... the self that existed before Li Yuan existed.