Glory of the Heavens

Glory of the Heavens is a classical xianxia novel by the web author Ji Zi, serialized on Zongheng Chinese Network from October 12, 2012, in the platform's wuxia and xianxia category. The story unfolds on the continent of Pangu: since the recent ancient era, owing to the machinations of unknowable forces, no one has been able to attain the "Throne of the Son of Heaven"; across a continent spanning millions of miles, tribes plunder one another and cultivators wage war, all in pursuit of the elusive Great Way of the Son of Heaven. The work begins with "the final afterglow of the Dharma-Ending Age"—a mysterious Three Lives Stone carries the protagonist Shangguan Tianci down to the ancient floating mountains, introducing a boy who emerges from those mountains. The book lays out a self-contained cultivation system: Dao cultivators pass through the Post-Heaven, Pre-Heaven, Golden Core, and Throne of the Son of Heaven stages; the Golden Core requires surviving nine cycles of thunder tribulation, three cycles to a grade, divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Buddhist cultivators correspond through Bhikshu, the Ten Grounds Bodhisattva, and Buddha. Body cultivators inherit the lineage of the ancient demon clans, with levels such as the Undefiled Golden Body, the Thirty-Six Forms, and the Seventy-Two Transformations. The writing is distinguished by neatly parallel chapter titles and verse formulas; the opening cites the line "Heaven and earth have their creation; my heart governs yin and yang," following the traditional xianxia path: a youth emerges into the world, seeks the Dao and undergoes trials, sweeps across three thousand worlds, and ultimately shatters the heaven-and-earth prison to restore the ancient primordial glory of the heavens. Yet when he truly ascends the Throne of the Son of Heaven, he realizes the journey has only just begun. The book is complete; electronic texts labeled "proofread complete edition" circulate online, though word counts and chapter numbers vary between versions and are not settled here.