Primordial Wilderness Company?

It was as if countless bolts of lightning raced through Zhou Jun's mind, instantly illuminating innumerable images. Yet those images were like mist, leaving him unable to make heads or tails of them or discern what mysteries they concealed.

The legends of the Primordial Wilderness were like a mysterious treasure chest, filled with all manner of astonishing things, yet they also left people full of doubts and confusion. Many legends concerning the Primordial Wilderness revolved only around its major currents, while other aspects were often mentioned in passing. This made Zhou Jun deeply curious about this mysterious world, eager to learn more beyond matters related to the greater trend.

However, because most of those legends were fragmentary and poorly understood, Zhou Jun could only speculate and deduce from those half-understood snippets. He kept pondering the details within those legends, trying to find clues, but what he usually gained were only more questions and confusion.

Even so, Zhou Jun did not give up. He knew that if he made no plans at all, even participating in the great currents of the Primordial Wilderness might become exceedingly difficult. Therefore, he could only feel his way forward through this fog-shrouded world, constantly overturning his own guesses and continually putting forward new hypotheses.

These great currents of the Primordial Wilderness were of paramount importance. After all, they were a crucial process in the operation and self-evolution of heaven and earth. Taking part in them was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for Zhou Jun to gain a deep understanding of heaven and earth's mysteries, much like software development in later generations.

In software development, the underlying code was the foundation of the entire system's operation, determining its basic functions and performance. Likewise, Pangu was like the creator of this Primordial Wilderness world. He had meticulously created its underlying code, allowing this world to operate normally.

However, just as any software could contain bugs, the Primordial Wilderness world would also develop all sorts of problems and flaws during its operation. These vulnerabilities might lead to instability in heaven and earth and even trigger disasters. Thus, someone was needed to discover these vulnerabilities and patch them in time to ensure the normal operation of heaven and earth.

The powerful beings among all living creatures were like those who applied patches. Through their own cultivation and comprehension, they continually perfected and optimized this world, making the Primordial Wilderness run more smoothly.

With that in mind, Zhou Jun could not help but sigh. "Our Dao is especially important!" Dao was the core of the powerful beings' cultivation and the key to their ability to discover and solve problems.

And Hongjun? He seemed to have been promoted to the leader of the programmers in this process. Not only could he see these patches, but he could also pass them down for others to implement. Yet a trace of doubt arose in Zhou Jun's heart. Could it be that Hongjun wasn't merely passing along patches, but was also seeking personal gain from them?

The company's owner had suddenly vanished without a trace, leaving behind only an AI to handle the company's daily operations. Although the company still had three heirs and twelve direct-line descendants, they had not yet matured and could not immediately take over the company's affairs. Left with no other choice, the AI could only select a professional manager from among numerous candidates to assist in running the company.

However, this manager was no decent man. Ambitious to the extreme, he was determined to hollow out the owner's authority and seize the company for himself. To achieve this goal, he not only sought ways to transfer the company's assets but also attempted to make himself the company's heir. At the same time, he feared that the AI would let the heirs take over once they grew up, so he devised a sinister plan—raise the heirs into useless failures.

Nor was that all. This manager also held a grudge against the twelve direct-line descendants because they would not submit to his control. Thus, he hatched another scheme, deliberately arranging for them to make mistakes before using the opportunity to marginalize them, stripping them of their status and influence within the company. That way, everyone left in the company would be his trusted lackeys.

Zhou Jun inserted some business-war scenarios he had heard of in later generations and read about in novels into this story, only to discover in astonishment that they fit perfectly! His expression became exceptionally strange, and a sly smile involuntarily appeared at the corner of his lips as he gave a soft, "Heh heh."

Although this was merely one of many conjectures, its plausibility could not be ignored. After all, the idea that the later Primordial Wilderness evolved into the Four Great Continents, then further differentiated into the Earth Immortal Realm, the Heavenly Court, and the Mortal Realm, truly had some credibility.

Thinking about it carefully, had this not gradually evolved from the Primordial Wilderness? Yet as time passed, people seemed to have gradually forgotten the existence of the Primordial Wilderness, remembering only the Immortal Realm, the Heavenly Court, the Underworld, and the Human World. This was undoubtedly regrettable, for the era of the Primordial Wilderness might have concealed many unknown mysteries and stories.

Even more thought-provoking was that most cultivators of later generations regarded becoming an immortal as their goal, as though that were the only path. Yet during the era of the Primordial Wilderness, there had been other paths of cultivation. Though they were all Great Daos of heaven and earth, they did not belong to the Immortal Dao, and they had likely been forgotten by people in later generations.

When Zhou Jun considered this point, he suddenly froze. Clearly, he had thought of something important, yet he did not immediately take action. Perhaps he needed more time to sort through his thoughts, or perhaps he was hesitating over whether to explore the conjecture he had just formed.

Zhou Jun gently shook his head, as though trying to drive that thought from his mind. Though the idea continued to linger in his heart, he knew it was far too distant from his current circumstances and had little connection to the Great Dao he pursued.

For now, the most important matter was to uncover the secret hidden deep within this Earth Vein. After all, this was undoubtedly of utmost importance to his Great Dao.

As Zhou Jun continued descending, the baleful energy he sensed grew increasingly intense. Within that dense baleful energy, the lingering souls wrapped inside also became stronger and stronger. The farther down he went, the more lingering souls of powerful races appeared. Among them were not only the lingering souls of powerful Innate Races such as the Dragon-Phoenix-Kirin, but also many lingering souls of Ferocious Beasts that radiated sky-high Resentful Energy.

Zhou Jun watched these lingering souls sweep past him one after another, and a thought suddenly stirred within him. Seemingly having realized something, he did not hesitate to summon the Eighteen Leyline Pearls and absorb some lingering souls of Innate Races and Ferocious Beasts into them.

Clearly, Zhou Jun was contemplating some sort of plan. However, perhaps the time was not yet ripe, so he did not take further action and instead continued his difficult struggle against this Earth Vein.

As he gradually delved deeper into the Earth Vein, Zhou Jun paid little attention to the changes in his surroundings. His mind was focused solely on reaching his destination as quickly as possible and completing his task.

However, if he had paused for even a moment and carefully observed the scene around him, he would have been astonished to discover that the originally yellow soil was gradually being replaced by black soil that radiated dense Resentful Energy. This black soil looked exceptionally eerie, as though it had been condensed from countless traces of Resentful Energy, baleful energy, and Death Energy.

These negative energies had fused tightly with the soil, making the underground environment exceptionally harsh and dangerous. With every step Zhou Jun took forward, he could feel a powerful resistance, as though the black soil were deliberately obstructing his advance.

Because of the Resentful Energy, baleful energy, and Death Energy, the difficulty underground increased drastically. Zhou Jun found his movements growing more and more arduous, each step requiring greater effort. Only then did he begin to notice the changes in his surroundings. The black soil brought not only a visual impact, but also a double trial upon his body and spirit. It reminded Zhou Jun of the stories of the Netherworld Underworld.