Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Six: Cold and Heat Alternating — Warmth and Coolness Circulating

Volume Four: The Dao Gives Rise to Myriad Things — Life First Sprouts

After the four seasons' cycle had stabilized, the alternation of cold and heat between Heaven and Earth grew ever more regular. Pangu measured each season's changes by his own sensations — the warmth of spring, the blaze of summer, the coolness of autumn, the bite of winter. These temperature changes formed a smooth, continuous curve across the year.

Behind the alternation of cold and heat lay the changing arc of Xiwei's movement. Across the year, Xiwei's height varied continuously: in summer, Xiwei hung at the highest point of the Celestial Dome and its light was strongest; in winter, Xiwei sank to its lowest point and its light was weakest; in spring and autumn, it occupied the middle position.

Xiwei's height directly determined each season's length. Summer and winter each took one quarter of the year; spring and autumn also each took one quarter. The four seasons were nearly equal in length, forming a perfect balance.

Warmth and coolness circulated across the world in grand convection currents. Heated air rose from the warm middle regions and flowed toward the poles; cooled air sank and flowed back. These circulation patterns distributed heat and moisture across the entire world, ensuring that no region was permanently frozen and none permanently scorched. The world had built itself a climate — a self-balancing order that would sustain life wherever it chose to grow.

Cold and heat alternating, warmth and coolness circulating. In the flow of seasons, Pangu saw the world breathing — inhaling warmth in summer, exhaling cold in winter, sustained by a rhythm as steady as his own heartbeat had once been.