Reaching the Dao State Realm might appear deceptively simple to the uninitiated, yet in reality, it stands as one of the most treacherous and difficult thresholds in all of cultivation. While the Mortal Gap, Earth Gap, Heaven Gap, and Divine Gap are universally recognized as the essential stepping stones for any entity seeking power, the level that exists above them—the Dao Gap—is a realm of an entirely different nature. Although the title sounds majestic, mysterious, and infinitely powerful, the price of admission is terrifying; to attain it, one must pay a toll that most would consider madness. Upon entering the Dao Gap, a cultivator's entire previous cultivation base—every drop of qi, mana, and spiritual energy accumulated over lifetimes—is completely obliterated, leaving behind nothing but the Dao State Realm itself. Aldo had utilized the resonance of the Twelve Divine Elemental Bodies and the ancient power of Divine Artifacts to trigger a short-term, explosive growth in his cultivation specifically to navigate this peril. He had dared to take this risk because he was not walking this path blindly; during his eons in the Inner Worlds, he had already mastered the Dao State Realm to perfection and knew exactly how to bridge the gap. Unlike the previous stages, the Dao Gap does not rely on the accumulation of raw power but is dependent entirely on the cultivator's perception, philosophy, and comprehension of the universe. The deeper one's understanding of Heaven and Earth, the higher their rank ascends. However, this ascension brings a deadly side effect: a mortal body cannot withstand the sheer conceptual weight of the Dao without disintegrating. To prevent their own physical destruction, a cultivator must manifest a Heavenly Restriction. The higher the rank within the Dao State, the more Heavenly Restrictions are generated to bind the body together. In his past life, Aldo had borne the weight of twelve such restrictions. "Although I have technically stepped into the Dao State Realm, the path to fully filling this Gap is still paved with difficulties," he mused, analyzing his internal condition. "However, unlike the other participants in this Trial who are stumbling in the dark, I came prepared. Thanks to the guidance of my Master, I possess every scrap of knowledge regarding the nature of Heavenly Restrictions. I am, as always, one step ahead of them." Yet, he remained vigilant, for he knew better than anyone that a Heavenly Restriction was effectively a contract of equivalent exchange—a "this for that" bargain with the laws of reality. Beyond this arduous phase lay the ultimate horizon, the World Gap, a realm so exclusive and terrifying that in the entire history of existence, only three beings had ever managed to set foot there, one of whom was Heaven Itself.
Instead of entering the gates of Astro Hildo to bask in the praise of the survivors, Aldo retreated to the solitude of a mist-covered mountain peak in the nearby forest, sitting cross-legged on a jagged rock to organize the chaotic web of information in his mind. "The hierarchy of power is absolute," he mused, analyzing the data. "The Mortal Gap encompasses Steps 1 and 2, the Earth Gap spans Steps 3 through 7, the Heaven Gap covers Steps 8 through 12, and the pinnacle, the Divine Gap, reigns from Steps 13 to 15. Based on my sensing, the Master's ten Inner Disciples should be firmly situated within the Earth Gap. As for the Seven Little Old Things, they hover somewhere between the Earth and Heaven Gaps, but they have certainly not touched the Divine. The Seven Old Things themselves have reached the Divine Gap, but due to the fractured and incomplete laws of this dimension, their cultivation is stifled; they possess the rank but cannot display the full majesty of that power. It is exactly like the Dragon Prince—I could feel the resonance of Heaven Gap Step 8 within his core, yet he could only manifest the output of Earth Gap Step 3."
While he meditated in isolation, the world below him was in turmoil; the war had technically ended, but the defeat of the Astro Hildo Empire was absolute, and the once-great nation was on the brink of total dissolution. It was almost certain that the three neighboring empires would descend like vultures to carve up the territory, while in the shadows, the Xuan family was frantically searching the ruins, desperate to confirm whether Aldo was dead or alive.
However, Aldo's concern was not with politics, but with the ticking time bomb within his own soul. "I need to increase the level of my restriction," he realized, frowning. Although he possessed the Heavenly Restriction, it was insufficient for his grand ambitions, yet he could not simply layer another restriction on top of it without risking a catastrophic backlash. Restrictions were categorized into four distinct tiers—Earth, Heaven, Ancient, and Dao—and while he knew the secrets of each, the Heavenly Restriction placed upon him by his Master acted as a barrier to further advancement. A sudden, chilling realization struck him, and his eyes narrowed with cold fury. "I called him Master, yet that old fox dared to scheme against me?" He knew the arcane rule: if a Heavenly Restriction is self-imposed, it is a harmless tool for power, but if it is applied by another, it becomes a cage. If the host accumulates at least three restrictions while under the influence of an externally applied Heavenly Restriction, their soul is imprisoned, and their body becomes a mindless puppet controlled by the caster. He understood now that he had to remove this shackle immediately, or he would eventually become nothing more than a vessel for the Heaven Itself.
Although the Ancient Restriction was widely regarded as the strongest among the four great types, a truly bizarre and revolutionary idea struck Aldo's mind. "What if I fuse all the restriction types together to create a single, unified, complex restriction?" With this audacious concept taking root, he closed his eyes and sank into a deep, trance-like meditation. In the blink of an eye, seventy-two years dissolved into the ether. "I have found the way," he finally whispered. During this long period of stasis, the number of Heavenly Restrictions binding him had increased by one, adhering to the curse's cycle of multiplying every fifty years. He immediately set his hands in motion, weaving complex hand seals that blurred with speed; the seals coalesced to form prohibitions, and the prohibitions merged to construct restrictions.
While he sat immobile, crafting this new power, a ripple occurred on the far side of the universe in the Di Qi Realm, on the Ancient Thunder Planet, within the golden halls of the Shi Dynasty. A figure bathed in serene light, Buddha, slowly opened his eyes. A voice, calm yet resonant enough to shake the stars, echoed from within the palace: "My senior brother Dao, we will meet soon."
Back on the mountain peak, another eighteen years passed in silence. By now, Aldo's body was a canvas of shimmering, overlapping seals. "Merge," he commanded. He took the four distinct types of restrictions—Earth, Heaven, Ancient, and Dao—and fused them into a singular, perfect entity, using his Dao State to forcibly replace the parasitic Heavenly Restriction of his Master. Currently, thirty-two of these unique "Mixed Restrictions" were embedded into his very being. However, in the process of fusing such terrifyingly dense power, an anomaly occurred that even he had not anticipated. The sheer weight and complexity of the Mixed Restrictions forced his body and soul to fuse completely, propelling his cultivation to violently skip past the Dao Gap and the World Gap, landing him squarely in the unknown territory of the Void Gap. For the first time in the history of existence, a being had set foot in this realm. "Now, I must choose my Dao Path," he murmured, his consciousness expanding into the infinite. "I choose the Dao of Mysteries." With that final decree, he withdrew his presence from the world completely, entering a state of absolute seclusion within the darkness of the mountain cave.
After an indeterminate amount of time had passed, effectively erasing the specific memory of the war from the forefront of the public consciousness, a report reached the capital concerning the discovery of a massive diamond vein within the mountain range bordering Astro Hildo. The Bayrakdar Team, a renowned group of explorers and mercenaries, was immediately commissioned by the remnants of the Astro Hildo Empire to secure and investigate the site. The people of this era were a strange breed, possessing a hunger for knowledge that rivaled their greed for wealth. Hundreds of slaves, their hands gripping heavy iron pickaxes and shovels, were herded into the gaping maw of the mountain to begin the arduous excavation work. The mine extended into a deep, abyssal cavern that seemed to swallow the light of the outside world, stretching far beyond what natural geology should allow. Tasked with mapping the furthest reaches of this natural anomaly to ensure it was safe for extraction, a squad of elite Bayrakdar scouts ventured into the darkness. As the men carrying roaring torches pushed deeper into the suffocating gloom, the air grew unnaturally still and heavy, as if the mountain itself were holding its breath. They walked for hours until the tunnel finally opened into a rough, natural chamber at the very end of the cave system. As their flickering lights cast long, dancing shadows against the stone walls, the captain of the squad suddenly froze. He raised his torch high, illuminating the center of the chamber, and there, sitting in eternal silence amidst the jagged rocks and covered in the dust of centuries, was the unmoving figure of a man.