Da Dao Chao Tian (大道朝天) is an Eastern Fantasy novel serialized on Qidian, authored by Mao Ni. The physical book was released nationwide in November 2019. It consists of exactly 1024 chapters (completed with the epilogue on August 21, 2020) and spans approximately three million Chinese characters.

The official english translation is "The Path Toward Heaven". The english-translated light novel is available to read on Webnovel. The Donghua adaptation titled 'One Way Or Another', is available to watch on Bilibili and Youtube. And now it is going to have a live-action adaptation.

Mao Ni’s Trilogy—officially composed of Joy of Life (庆余年), The Outcast (间客), and The Path Toward Heaven (大道朝天)—is widely considered as the "Mao Ni Universe" (猫腻宇宙), it seamlessly blends eastern fantasy with hard interstellar sci-fi into a single unified timeline. The trilogy explores two distinct paths for the future of human civilization: internal evolution (cultivation) and external advancement (technology).

• The first book in Mao Ni’s universe is Joy Of Life, the second book is The Outcast, and the third book is The Path Toward Heaven.

• The Path Toward Heaven (大道朝天) was written as the absolute chronologically final book and conclusion to the "Mao Ni Universe". Therefore, known as the final chapter of Mao Ni’s trilogy.

• Mao Ni wrote his massive shared universe chronologically backwards. Joy of Life covers the primitive post-apocalyptic era, The Outcast covers the hyper-advanced galactic era, and The Path Toward Heaven acts as the grand philosophical debate where cultivation and science meet and recognize each other as the same pursuit of universal truth.

1. Joy of Life (庆余年) – It appears to be a chinese historical fantasy, but it is actually a post-apocalyptic era.

Centuries prior, a catastrophic nuclear war wiped out the human civilization. The survivors developed mutations from the lingering radiation, which they interpreted as internal "True Qi" (spiritual energy), giving rise to martial arts Grandmasters. The legendary "Divine Temple" is actually an automated, subterranean military museum from the old era, and the invincible character Wu Zhu is a high-tech humanoid military android left behind to monitor humanity.

The Connection to The Path Toward Heaven — Jing Yang/Jing Jiu and Lian Sanyue operate under a system of "True Qi" and that was technically birthed during the timeline of Joy of Life. The "True Qi" utilized by the martial Grandmasters in Joy of Life (which originated from post-nuclear radiation managed by the automated Divine Temple) is the raw precursor to the refined "True Qi" used by Jing Jiu and Lian Sanyue millions of years later on the Chaotian Continent.

2. The Outcast (间客) – A sprawling interstellar sci-fi universe featuring planetary empires, mechs, and starships.

Before Earth was entirely consumed by nuclear fire, a fraction of humanity managed to build massive generational colony ships and fled into deep space. The space split into two interstellar factions: the Federation and the Empire. The main character, Xu Le, is a direct descendant of the imperial family line established by the daughter of Fan Xian (the protagonist of Joy of Life). By the end of the novel, Xu Le’s consciousness fuses with the supreme AI system governing the universe, effectively making him a digital god.

3. The Path Toward Heaven (大道朝天) – A traditional Xianxia (immortal cultivation) world on the "Chaotian Continent".

The advanced interstellar humans from The Outcast had purposely enclosed a few primitive planets to experiment with raw human evolution. They pumped a specialized high-density energy source (True Qi) onto the planet to see if human biology could evolve to survive deep space naturally, without tech. Jing Jiu’s absolute sword body (Wanwu Yi) is revealed to be a sentient biological weapon left behind by Xu Le’s civilization. That weapon was dropped onto the isolated laboratory planet of Chaotian, eventually gained a soul, and became the humanoid sword avatar known as Jing Jiu.

When the main character, Jing Jiu, ascends into the Upper Realm, and steps through the barrier only to realize that Chaotian is actually an isolated laboratory planet. He then meets the automated AI network containing the digitized soul of Xu Le, the protagonist of The Outcast, finalizing the crossover.