Chronicle of Beginnings and Ends

This is a martial-arts xianxia novel with a rigorously constructed world. The lower realm has only qi-based martial arts and no traditional immortal techniques. The workings of heaven and earth are governed by the supreme beings “Shi” and “Yi,” who have manipulated an ancient chess game since time immemorial. Lower-realm martial artists struggle to advance, unwittingly becoming pieces in the game before ultimately being harvested by heaven and earth.

The protagonist, Zheng Tiangang, is the fallen crown prince of the Great Su Dynasty. Born with a limp, he was hunted as a child when the Hong residence was massacred. He obtains the “Introduction to Internal Arts,” which conceals an ancient inheritance. It gives him the only peerless foundation in the lower realm capable of harmonizing with the scant spiritual energy of antiquity while avoiding the corrosion of turbid thoughts.

Unlike those who seek enlightenment through killing, Zheng Tiangang carves out a path of martial arts that is uniquely his own. He does not indulge in murderous intent. Instead, he studies the “Fragmentary Treatise on Primordial Body Forging,” breaking through his own shackles and the bonds of fate layer by layer.

On his cultivation journey, he enters various ancient secret realms, resolving the obsessions in his heart one by one and steadily advancing through the nine realms of martial arts. Along the way, he encounters all manner of strange phenomena. The rise of every powerhouse, the changing of dynasties, and the calamities of troubled times are all part of the ancient chess game laid out by those at the very top.

He encounters Su Qingyan, a player of the game, and Tun, a primordial being, gradually coming into contact with the world’s deepest secrets. While all martial artists under heaven are trapped by fate, swept along by the chess game and sinking into ruin, only Zheng Tiangang’s path of seeking himself can break free of the rules and resist assimilation. He is the one and only variable in heaven and earth.

In the later stages of the story, Zheng Tiangang reaches the pinnacle of martial arts in the world of living beings, breaks the shackles of the ancient chess game, connects the upper and lower realms, and uncovers the ultimate truth about primordial beings. He proves the Dao through his true heart, reverses the fate of all living things, and ultimately attains transcendence, forging a new Great Dao for all beings to follow.