Inside the secret realm,

Alex sat motionless atop a floating platform of condensed energy. One thousand years passed outside for every single year within this place. The time laws around him flowed like an invisible river, carrying him forward through centuries of solitary comprehension.

Decades became centuries.

Centuries became ages.

His golden eyes remained closed the entire time. Divine symbols floated endlessly around his body while law fluctuations spread outward in rhythmic pulses. Fire, destruction, space, creation, death, lightning, gravity, water, wind. Each law had already been mastered completely.

But Daos were different.

They required something far deeper than mere understanding.

The first Dao Alex pursued was the Dao of Beginning. This represented the absolute origin point from which all things emerged. Unlike creation laws that governed the process of making something new, the Dao of Beginning touched the very concept of existence itself starting.

Years passed before he felt even the faintest connection.

Then the Dao of Ending came next. The twin opposite to Beginning, this Dao governed absolute termination. Not death, which belonged to the cycle of living things. Ending represented the complete cessation of all possibilities.

Century after century, Alex sat in perfect stillness.

His mind drifted through infinite philosophical concepts while his soul grasped desperately for truths that seemed perpetually out of reach. The Lotus of Creation floated inside his spiritual sea, radiating mysterious energy that helped bridge the gap between mortal understanding and absolute reality.

Two hundred years passed inside the secret realm.

Alex opened his eyes briefly. His gaze appeared hollow, as though he had stared into something far beyond normal perception. Then he closed them again without speaking.

The Dao of Being came next. Existence itself in its purest form. Not specific objects or creatures, but the fundamental state of "is" as opposed to "is not."

Three hundred years.

Four hundred.

The Dao of Nothing followed naturally after Being. Emptiness. Void. The absence that paradoxically contained all potential.

Alex’s body began changing during the fifth century. Golden light no longer simply radiated from him. It seemed to flow through him as though he had become partially transparent to reality itself. His bones could be seen faintly beneath his skin, each one covered in tiny divine runes that had never existed before.

The Dao of Change manifested next. Transformation in its most absolute sense. Nothing remained static. Everything shifted constantly between states of being and becoming.

Six hundred years.

The Dao of Permanence emerged as Change’s eternal opposite. That which endured beyond all transformation. The unchanging foundation beneath reality’s endless fluctuations.

Alex’s hair turned completely white during the seventh century. Not from age, but from the sheer weight of comprehension pressing against his mortal frame. His face remained young, yet something ancient lurked behind his golden eyes whenever they occasionally opened.

The Dao of Order followed. Structure. Pattern. The invisible skeleton that prevented existence from collapsing into pure chaos.

Eight hundred years.

Then the Dao of Chaos. Beautiful and terrible. The primordial state where all possibilities existed simultaneously without distinction. Order’s necessary counterpart without which nothing new could ever emerge.

Finally, during the nine hundredth year, Alex comprehended the Dao of Balance.

The tenth Dao.

The understanding that all opposites required each other. Beginning needed Ending. Being required Nothing. Change could not exist without Permanence. Order and Chaos danced eternally together. Balance was not compromise but recognition of absolute interdependence.

Alex’s eyes opened.

Golden light exploded outward from his entire body.

The white mist surrounding him vanished instantly for ten thousand miles in every direction. The secret realm itself seemed to tremble beneath his gaze.

Nine hundred years inside the realm.

Less than one year outside.

"System," Alex whispered. His voice carried weight that distorted space around each word. "I have comprehended ten Daos."

[Ding! Host has successfully comprehended the following Daos:Dimensional Dominion, Beginning, Ending, Being, Nothing, Change, Permanence, Order, Chaos, and Balance.]

[Ding! Host has met the minimum requirements for Inner World creation.]

[Ding! Warning: Creating an Inner World at minimum requirements will result in instability. Host currently possesses comprehension of eleven Daos. Recommended number for stable creation is thirty.]

Alex smiled faintly.

"I do not need stability forever. I only need enough stability to protect Earth temporarily. I will continue comprehending more Daos after relocation."

The system did not argue.

[Ding! Host may begin Inner World creation at any time.]

Alex stood slowly from the platform where he had sat for nine centuries. His body felt different. Not stronger in the physical sense, but more real. As though he had become an anchor point that reality itself respected.

He raised his right hand.

The Lotus of Creation immediately floated out from his spiritual sea. It hovered above his palm while radiating ancient light that seemed older than the universe itself. It now had 11 petals.

The single brilliant petal that had already bloomed began glowing intensely.

Then something extraordinary happened.

The lotus projected a massive image directly into the space before Alex. An image so vast and terrible and beautiful that even his golden eyes widened slightly.

The Big Bang.

Not a simulation or artistic representation. The lotus showed an actual projection of the original cosmic birth. A singularity smaller than imagination suddenly expanded with violence beyond comprehension. Light exploded outward. Matter emerged from pure energy. Space stretched and twisted while time began its endless forward march.

Alex watched in complete silence.

Stars formed and died in the projection. Galaxies spun into existence. The fundamental forces separated from their united state and began governing reality according to absolute laws.

The projection lasted only moments.

Yet those moments contained the entire history of creation.

Alex understood suddenly why the lotus had shown him this. He was about to perform the same act on a smaller scale. Not recreating the universe, but birthing his own inner world. A pocket of reality that would obey only his will.

The eleven Daos he had comprehended began swirling around him.

Each Dao manifested as a different colored thread of light. Beginning shone brilliant white. Ending appeared as absolute black. Being glowed deep gold. Nothing was completely invisible yet somehow still perceptible. Change shifted through every color simultaneously. Permanence remained steady silver. Order formed perfect geometric patterns. Chaos swirled unpredictably. Balance held everything together.

Alex closed his eyes and reached inward.

His martial soul stirred.

Ten wings emerged from its form. Each wing corresponded to one of the Daos he had comprehended.

The wings lit up one by one.

Brilliant white. Absolute black. Deep gold. Invisible silver. Shifting rainbow. Steady metallic. Geometric blue. Chaotic red. Balanced purple.

Ten colors illuminated Alex’s spiritual sea.

Then the system spoke again.

[Ding! Host has awakened Grand Talents of Gods!]

[Ding! Grand Talent of Primordial Beginning acquired. Effect: Host’s creations possess traces of original existence beyond normal reality.]

[Ding! Grand Talent of Absolute Ending acquired. Effect: Host can permanently erase anything weaker than his Dao comprehension.]

[Ding! Grand Talent of True Being acquired. Effect: Host’s existence cannot be denied by reality manipulation.]

[Ding! Grand Talent of Perfect Nothing acquired. Effect: Host can become truly undetectable by moving outside existence.]

[Ding! Grand Talent of Eternal Change acquired. Effect: Host adapts to any environment or attack within moments.]

[Ding! Grand Talent of Immovable Permanence acquired. Effect: Host cannot be forcibly moved or transformed against his will.]

[Ding! Grand Talent of Absolute Order acquired. Effect: Host can impose structure upon chaos within his domain.]

[Ding! Grand Talent of Primordial Chaos acquired. Effect: Host can introduce unpredictability that even fate cannot calculate.]

[Ding! Grand Talent of Perfect Balance acquired. Effect: Host maintains equilibrium between all forces affecting him.]

Alex absorbed the information without opening his eyes.

Ten Grand Talents.

Each one would be considered priceless beyond measure by any existence in any universe. Yet here they were, granted simply because he had comprehended truths that most beings could never touch.

"Now," Alex said softly.

He raised both hands.

The Lotus of Creation floated above his palms while the eleven Daos swirled around his body. The eleven wings of his martial soul spread wide within his spiritual sea. The Grand Talents activated simultaneously.

Alex began creating his Inner World.

Space first. Not broke or bent, but genuinely created. New space that had never existed before. Empty and waiting.

Then time followed. A separate flow that would obey his commands rather than the main universe’s laws. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

A singularity formed at the center of this new emptiness.

Alex poured his comprehension of Beginning into the singularity. Then he added Balance to ensure the creation would not immediately collapse. Order provided structure while Chaos ensured the structure would not become too rigid.

The singularity exploded.

Not with the violence of the true Big Bang, but with controlled force that Alex directed personally. Matter erupted outward. Energy converted from his own cultivation base. Tiny particles formed and spun through the newborn void.

Alex smiled.

He added Being to ensure everything he created remained real. Nothing provided the empty spaces between objects. Change allowed his world to evolve while Permanence ensured it would not dissolve randomly.

The particles coalesced.

A sun formed at the center. Massive and burning with golden light that resembled Alex’s eyes. Not exactly like Earth’s sun, but similar enough to provide warmth for habitable worlds.

Then planets began forming.

The first world emerged closest to the sun. Rocky and barren. Alex decided it would remain uninhabitable, serving instead as a boundary marker.

The second world formed farther out. This one he shaped carefully. Oceans of liquid water. Atmosphere containing breathable air. Land masses arranged in patterns that felt familiar to his mortal memories.

Earth.

Not the original Earth, but a perfect copy created from nothing. Alex poured extra attention into this planet. He added forests and mountains and rivers. Deserts and tundras and grasslands. Every biome existed somewhere on this new world’s surface.

The remaining planets formed farther outward. Gas giants and ice worlds and asteroid belts. Each one placed precisely to maintain gravitational balance within the solar system.

Alex opened his eyes.

Before him floated a complete solar system small enough to fit inside his palm yet containing everything necessary for life. Stars shone. Planets spun. Time flowed according to his commands.

His Inner World.

Created from nothing using ten Daos, ten Grand Talents, and the Lotus of Creation’s ancient power.

"It is done," Alex whispered.