Grasping Heaven

Grasping Heaven is a long xuanhuan novel by the web author Duyu de Mao ("The Rain-Sheltering Cat"), serialized on Zongheng Chinese Network from February 29, 2012. It runs over four hundred chapters, about 1.68 million characters, and is complete. The story's core conceit is: "Mortals grasp the Son of Heaven to command the feudal lords; true immortals grasp the Heavenly Dao to command all realms." The cultivation world, silent for ten thousand years, is stirred when a "Heavenly Emperor Seal" appears; strange phenomena such as the blood moon and ink sun emerge one after another, and perilous events—the Ruo River sinking into the abyss, ghost soldiers appearing in the world—follow in succession. An ordinary youth sets out on the path of cultivation amid the chaos, moving from the mortal world into the cultivation world, passing through Changyang Mountain, Heavenly Emperor City, the Void Heaven Treasure Palace, the Yellow Springs Tomb, Dragon Abyss, the Realm of Despair, the Ruined Capital, and other places, step by step uncovering the secrets of the Mysterious Antiquity ten thousand years ago and even of the Nether Antiquity and Void Antiquity of endless ages past. The author uses "When the blood moon appears, all realms fall into chaos; when the ink sun rises, a hundred clans are exterminated" as the prophetic refrain running through the book, and sets forth that "the Heavenly Dao is boundless, the Six Paths have edges." The power system includes cultivation realms such as Tendon Changing and Marrow Transformation, as well as techniques and divine powers such as the Nine Slashes of the Heavenly Emperor, the Seven Steps to Heaven, the Nine-Nine Return to Origin Sword, and the True Demonic True Body. As treasures including the Heavenly Emperor Seal, the World-Grinding Disk, the Great Annihilation War Spear, the Human Sovereign Mirror, the Demon-Felling Bell, and the Time-Chasing Soul Banner appear one after another, the various factions contend over the boundary between the Heavenly Dao and the Six Paths, ultimately pointing toward breaking the lie of "Heaven has no Dao," maintained for countless eons. The work uses a witty, humorous tone to express a deep, restrained theme, emphasizing perseverance, pride, and persistence; it is a hot-blooded cultivation novel with fairly traditional setting.