Heavenly Dao, the most enigmatic and all-powerful concept, is the most sacred thing that many cultivators respect on their journey.
But why is that?
Are you born into a poor family? Blame the Heavenly Dao.
Are you unable to cultivate? Blame the Heavenly Dao.
In any case, the Heavenly Dao is the source and the reason why everything bad happened to you.
Because good things can easily be forgotten, just like how humans ignore the importance of oxygen-rich air.
But that's not all. The reason why the Heavenly Dao stands above everything else is because it is a culmination of everything that regulates this world. It is akin to physics in the modern world; without physics, everything would be impossible.
In the world of cultivation, where the virtually semi-omnipotent qi exists, the power of the Heavenly Dao is truly immense.
It prevents any cultivator from advancing by leaps and bounds with mere breathing.
Naturally, it also governs over the most sacred authority that mortals and cultivators must respect.
The authority over life and death.
Just as mortals define gods, anything that can control such authority would earn respect and fear.
That's why the Heavenly Dao receives such praise and the highest respect, even from arrogant cultivators.
But what if some random reincarnator were able to create a healing technique that allowed him to completely heal the body?
What if he could restore everything to its previous state before death occurred?
Not some ridiculous elixir from legend or some technique that requires a heavy price, just a simple healing technique.
He could casually resurrect the dead. So where does the Heavenly Dao stand in this situation?
The entity that was always the target of anything unexplainable, now its authority is easily breached by someone on the third-rate cultivation stage.
That's the state of Niu Chang's mind right now. For him, nothing was higher than him as long as it didn't have complete omnipotence and omniscience. In the absence of the king, even a dog and pig proclaim themselves as the king.
'The fact that the demonic snake remembers and remains the same means that nothing actually regulates the soul of the dead. In essence, the soul is akin to a joke; it exists in one way or another, but it is not dominant. It needs a healthy body to exist. For example…'
Niu Chang controlled his overflowing qi, making it more menacing than usual. He rarely showed such arrogance, but he wanted to experience it at least once in his lifetime.
After reading so many main characters face-slapping everyone, naturally, as a reader, he also wanted to try it if he got a fair chance at being reincarnated.
Bullying the weak was always the nature of this world, just like how water flows downward.
The demonic snake, having shaken off its doubts about what happened before, faced the approaching Niu Chang.
Niu Chang could kill it once again by touching its body, but he wanted to conduct the next experiment.
The satisfaction of intimidating a demonic snake that was feared by many made his heart race with excitement and ecstasy.
'Fear me, respect me…' Niu Chang couldn't help but become full of himself.
'Heh, in the end, strength is always the method that works for every problem. If you can't solve it with strength, it means your strength is still not enough.'
It was just a game for him, but having that authoritative and dominating state made his heart race and various insights bloomed in his mind.
In the end, his path of cultivation was about energy manipulation. The mind controls the body, and so does qi. As long as the mind is sufficient, making the qi behave in a way that defies reality is just a flick of the finger.
Naturally, there were many problems with this thinking alone, but that was the problem for everyone.
The mind is the king. If the king believes he can't do it, naturally the subject won't follow his lead.
In this world, will, emotions, and thought are more powerful than any swords and spears.
But the problem right now was what kind of king, emperor, or ruler Niu Chang wanted to use as his base.
'A cold-blooded tyrant that controls everything with an iron fist?
A wise emperor who seamlessly controls everything with his intelligence?
Or maybe a figure that has no authority, but everything will bow before him?
Meh, not good enough. In the end, such figures will have their counter at some time. A tyrant would suffer a rebellion, a wise emperor would face treason, and a powerful lone wolf would be hated by everyone. I don't need anything, for I am the one existence that the word 'authority' came to exist for!'
With his internal monologue, Niu Chang made up his mind. The chaotic and random emotions in his heart immediately found their goal and converged into it.
He didn't need to envision anything in his mind's space because he thought it to be so; he was the authority itself.
Everything in this world followed him and obeyed him unconditionally.
The dim white transformation qi around Niu Chang's body suddenly halted its movement, as if the lord of all qi passed by.
Then, with one command from Niu Chang, the qi suddenly stopped its erratic flow and began to follow his command unconditionally.
From an outside perspective, they only felt a suppressive atmosphere from Niu Chang, then suddenly that feeling disappeared, followed by his qi becoming still. The aura around Niu Chang's body changed, though it was hard to describe.
To be safe, he opened the system to see what kind of skill it would be named by the system.
[Authority]
Looking at that one word, Niu Chang smiled casually. 'It is only one word, but its weight is enough to make all the words in this world bow down.'
Shifting his gaze from the system to the demonic snake, he found that the effectiveness was not that powerful.
Being evolved from an animal, the demonic snake could feel a powerful blow just by staring at Niu Chang. But its low intelligence made it go berserk to preserve its life.
For any living being, the will to survive naturally was the strongest mental barrier when facing a powerful enemy.
Since the skill was already created, Niu Chang could now test its effect.
He didn't say a word, but he just thought about it. The qi around his body circulated accordingly without his control, and they exhausted at a rapid speed.
A powerful aura burst out from Niu Chang's body, and the qi around him began shrinking rapidly as it was consumed.
At the same time, he could feel a change in his body and mind. 'My body feels light, as if the strain of anything physical begins to avoid me, and my mind also becomes more subtle and expansive.'
Since he still hadn't reached his limit, the qi consumption was still not up to the level of qi regeneration. Naturally, Niu Chang, who liked to go all out, chose to make them equal.
'The best way to learn a skill naturally is to go all out every time, to see and feel everything. Only after understanding the boundaries will it become easier to control.'
The qi of two newly advanced Golden Core Martial Artists and a Master stage demonic snake. Niu Chang's qi reserve was more than the three of them combined, thanks to the advantage of being increased by one level due to the system's inherent nature.
When Niu Chang reached the equilibrium of regenerating and consuming qi, he could feel the world become silent.
He turned his gaze towards the demonic snake, and his thoughts immediately materialized in an ethereal form.
The demonic snake reached its limit of sanity and began to lose control. Even the spinal injuries it suffered were unable to stop it from rampaging.
"A beast indeed. If it were a human, they would collapse instead of going on a rampage. But so what," Niu Chang snorted and exerted his thoughts further.
The demonic snake let out a beastly howl that shook the souls of any living beings. The light of wisdom in its eyes had long been extinguished, replaced by uncontrollable savageness.
It moved its injured body and slammed its head towards Niu Chang.
Perhaps it was because it had lost its mind, or perhaps it wanted to end the suffering from madness, either by killing the cause or killing itself.
Niu Chang didn't move from his place; instead, he chose to advance and confront the demonic snake head-on.
"Stop," Niu Chang commanded in a low voice.
The demonic snake, which should have been unable to perceive the world in its current state, halted for a moment before continuing its headbutt.
But unlike before, the madness in its eyes had already been replaced by a more sane mind. Instead, it chose to attack Niu Chang because it was the only right thing to do.
Niu Chang smiled at such a development and raised his right hand, forming a fist and enhancing it with his Authority.
If he wanted to become stronger, he didn't need to do anything else; the qi would follow his command and do as he said.
The fist didn't have any menacing visual effect, just a plain fist. But Niu Chang could feel the strength contained in it surpassing anything he had felt before.
'I wonder if I can use Authority to enhance other skills,' he thought.
The demonic snake approached at lightning speed and already reached his face. Niu Chang threw his punch at the demonic snake's head.
He didn't forget to use Impact as well to thoroughly get the job done.
Boom.
A loud explosion could be heard from the brutal exchange of head and fist. Niu Chang's body trembled greatly, but he didn't get pushed backward.
Meanwhile, the demonic snake achieved a new achievement: "Die Twice."
Its head was like a smashed watermelon, hard to discern. Various tissues, blood, and brains were scattered around, tainting the withered forest with new color.
Its headless body fell to the ground.
But Niu Chang didn't feel all that good. In exchange for achieving such formidable outcomes and not being pushed back, he had destroyed half of his right arm.
'Authority. It is indeed a good skill to become a badass character.'