Nothingness.

It has been quite some time now since Param had been floating into the Nothingness.

He had just bought a cheap good looking flute from a local market on a whim. The flute was made of bamboo, grass green in color and full of intricate patterns. When he held it, it felt cool to touch just like a jade. The shopkeeper kept boasting about it with his spit flying, and Param eventually found himself owning the flute, even though he had no idea how to play it.

After entering his home he was eager to test out his newest purchase. He blew into it, and that was the last thing he could remember.

Now he was floating in this vast Nothingness, and he had no idea why he hadn’t died yet, nor how much time had passed.

Once in a while he’d feel as if he’s hearing something, only for everything to return to silence once more, making him doubt himself whether he was hallucinating.

Param guessed that perhaps he’d also become a member of the “Transmigrator’s Club”. What would happen next? Would he meet an old man who’d apologize to him for killing him before his time had come and reincarnate him into a fantasy world of hot elves and cute cat-girls? Or what about a cultivation world with a system?

Alas, even after waiting for a long time, neither any old man nor any system greeted him.

With nothing else to do, Param closely observed the flute in his hand. The only thing that he had with him in this vast Nothingness was this mysterious flute he was holding. Even his underwear had not persisted this sudden transmigration. Thus, he was currently floating stark naked in the Nothingness, with his meat sword randomly pointing in different directions. Unfortunately, there was nobody around to appreciate the young man.

The flute was extremely exquisite, with various diagrams all over it. The diagrams would also subtly change over time, giving the illusion that it was alive. As the diagrams shifted, moved and changed, the flute would give off a low melodious hum.

“This flute is indeed marvelous!” Param said.

Hoping for something to happen, Param blew the flute. However, he didn’t hear any sound from the instrument. Instead,  insights filled his mind, showing him the Truth.

Param felt as if he’d entered a new world of knowledge. This was unlike anything he’d known in his previous world. The rules of Nothingness, while producing similar results, worked quite differently on a fundamental level.

And so time passed, with a naked man playing the flute while floating in the Nothingness.

Surprisingly, it seemed he didn’t need to eat or sleep. This made him think whether he was just a digital character in a digital world, but there was nothing he could do to verify.

As time passed Param came to realize the intricacies of Nothingness through the Truth. Strictly speaking, the Truth was similar to physics of his previous world. The fundamental rules had been set, and one just needed to understand them. Param felt that there was more to it, but he’d not grasped it yet.

Over the course of his floating journey he also saw numerous things. The Nothingness was quite vast, with many shattered and dead worlds inside. From the way they’d been created he could tell that they were once governed by similar people like himself, who had a reasonable understanding of the Truth. 

Those worlds also once held numerous sentient creatures, vast civilizations, life and death systems, multiple realms, celestial bodies, etc. Param couldn’t help but wonder what was the reason behind this destruction. It was as if…

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Entire universes were at war.

Once in a while he’d see some thriving universe, but he didn’t approach them since he was not sure if the owner was a friendly guy.

There was once when he approached a similar universe, and was instantly detected by its owner, who began attacking him with a spoon shaped artifact similar to his flute. Param had a hard time shaking off that guy, and this event created quite a frightening memory.

Fortunately his study of the Truth was of use, and he was able to create some clothes. While it was easy for him to do some things using the Truth, a difficult task could only be done using the Truth Artifact.

The flute, which Param named the Green Melody Bamboo Flute, was a Truth Artifact. These Truth Artifacts were owned by people who were the owners of the universes in the Nothingness. In fact, they were able to create their universe only because of the help of their Truth Artifacts.

But creating a universe was not easy. There were many things to consider. A universe needed to be self-sustaining for infinity. It also needed to be capable of repairing and protecting itself from the external threat. It needed a hint of chaos and uncertainty, yet it also needed to be orderly, stable and predictable. A shoddy universe was sure to eventually deteriorate and collapse onto itself.

Furthermore, size and age also mattered. The more a universe grew, the more realms it had, and the more beings it contained, it would eventually begin to accumulate errors. Eventually these errors would grow in size and, in the absence of any self-correcting mechanism, would lead to the universe’s demise.

But the most important thing was to have absolute mastery over your Truth Artifact. The Truth Artifact was the only tool to manipulate and use the Truth, and the level of mastery over it determined the power one could get out of it.

For this purpose, Param specifically created a special manual, or in this world’s terminology, a ‘Scripture’.

The ‘Melody Scripture’ was created specifically to create a new universe, and consisted of seven pieces. The first three pieces related to creation, the fourth related to manipulation, while the last three to destruction.

Param calmed his mind and glanced through the Nothingness. The Nothingness was void of light, but it contained luminous floating debris. This debris was once part of a universe which was destroyed for some reason. Param didn’t have a clear idea as to who destroyed these large universes, but he knew that the Nothingness was not a safe place. If he wanted to survive, he needed to create a large eggshell - a mighty universe!

Param focused as he played the first piece- “Creating Heaven and Earth”.

The Green Melody Bamboo Flute trembled as the melody seemed to fill the empty Nothingness. The Truth seemed to come materialize, and a vast material space came into being.

It needs to be mentioned that while it seems like all of this happened within the time it takes for a spark to fly off a flint, it actually took a great deal of time. After all, creating a universe is not easy!

Time passed, and the new material space seemed to stabilize. Param huffed as he felt weakened. It seemed using the Truth Artifact took some kind of energy from within.

He rested for a bit while observing his universe.

The universe seemed to be filled with a type of phenomenon. It has the same characteristics as the Truth, but since Param couldn't capture every aspect of it, the result was quite inferior to the real Truth.

In order to inflate his own ego and to hide the shortcomings of his own inferior product, Param decided to name this phenomenon the "Grand Dao".

The Grand Dao, while shoddy compared to the Truth, was actually quite impressive within the universe. It was very permeable, and thus had permeated to every corner of the space. If one had complete mastery over the Grand Dao, they could know almost everything that's happening in the universe.

Before he could develop his world further, Param decided to create a place for himself. He tore apart a piece of space and folded it into itself, creating a small Secret Realm. After he develops the universe further, his secret realm would perhaps be the only place where the Grand Dao would be in its primitive form.

A bit more work, and soon enough his secret realm soon hosted a small palace. The palace looked ordinary, however each of its bricks was made by manifesting the Grand Dao. Param was sure that his small palace would be the hottest piece of real estate in his universe in the future.

Param played around for a bit more until felt he had recovered his strength, then came out of his secret realm to continue his creation process.

While the Grand Dao was quite powerful, it was also quite useless on its own. Param knew that the Grand Dao wouldn't be able to spawn complex creatures.

He played the flute again and the second piece emerged- "Splitting the Yin and Yang"!

The Grand Dao, which was once one, began to separate. 

The lighter elements floated upwards, creating Yang. The newly created Yang was light, bright, righteous and hot.

On the other hand, the elements that were heavier began to sink, creating Yin. The newly created Yin was heavy, dark, wicked and cold.

But things didn't stop here.

Many elements didn't sink or float, and instead revolved around each other in a pattern. It seemed as if between the Yang above and the Yin below, there was a large spiral galaxy. This was a new element, containing both the Yin and Yang in equal amounts. They repelled and attracted each other, thus pushing and pulling periodically, forming the Balance.

Finally, the elements at the end of the space accumulated. They seemed similar to Balance since they both contained characteristics of both the Yin and Yang. However, instead of pushing and pulling each other periodically, they seemed to follow a set of patterns. These patterns seemed quite more complex than just the interactions of the Yin and Yang, and there was a trace of the Grand Dao within. This element was Harmony.

Thus, the Grand Dao split into four forms- Yin, Yang, Balance and Harmony!