Conjectures, the Mystery of the Primordial Wilderness

Zhou Jun quietly calculated in his heart, occasionally recalling the various conjectures about the Primordial Wilderness he had seen in his previous life, along with interpretations of the ancient Classic of Mountains and Seas.

"If the land where Great God Pangu stood is taken as the center for dividing east, south, west, and north, then why did later generations so often place Mount Zhou in the Eastern Territory? When the Investiture of the Gods Kalpa of Calamity shattered the Primordial Wilderness and divided it into four regions, why was Mount Buzhou assigned to the east? Why was it not Mount Buzhou suppressing the center of heaven and earth, linking the four regions together? Then why does even my subconscious consider Mount Zhou part of the east?!"

Zhou Jun's heart jolted. He hurriedly calculated with his fingers and Communicated with Heavenly Dao. In the end, the answer he received was that Mount Zhou stood at the center, with the four directions serving as boundaries. It was merely that the east had nurtured too much of Pangu's creation. After all, many famous Mountains and Rivers of later generations lay in the east. At present, only the Northern Land stood at the center of the Kalpa of Calamity and had suffered devastation from Ferocious Beasts, causing its creation to collapse and its Fortune to decline.

"The north was ruined. Is that why the Demon Race later struggled after moving into the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains in the north? The west declined because of the Dao and Demon Struggle between Luohu and Hongjun. The South was affected because of Immortality Volcano, while the east had the Immeasurable Sea Eye in the East Sea! But it lay far out in the deep sea, so it could not affect the continent, which was why the east did not decline!"

The more Zhou Jun considered it, the more shocked he became. Yet fear also rose within him. Based on his current deductions, all the benefits had fallen to the Eastern Territory. Only the west still had Buddhism supporting it because of the Dao and Demon Struggle, while the other two regions had completely declined. The Golden-Winged Great Peng and Peacock, who should have belonged to The South, had also been kept in the west by the Phoenix Ancestor. This was clearly a scheme. Otherwise, how could they be the Spokespersons of the southern continent, just like the Two Saints of the West, who regarded saving The South as their duty?

"I refuse to believe there is no scheme by the Chaos Gods and Demons behind this. I just do not know who is plotting. The names most often passed down in later generations are Luohu and Hongjun, but neither of them counted among the strongest of the Chaos Gods and Demons. If they survived, then there is also the Space Demon God Yang Mei. I do not believe the Time Demon God died. Then there are Karma and Fate from all those conspiracy theories! After all, as long as something exists, it has traces of Fate and Karma. I do not believe they could not foresee Pangu Opens the Heavens. It is highly possible that Pangu exhausted himself and died because he fought against those truly powerful beings. Pangu transformed himself into heaven and earth, using his own Great Dao to suppress those who threatened his path. Then could every Kalpa of Calamity be the result of their secret confrontation with Pangu? After all, if they wished to emerge, they had to destroy or weaken the Primordial Wilderness. Only then would they have the strength to break free from Pangu's suppression?"

The deeper Zhou Jun thought, the clearer the thread of thought in his mind became. "Then does the fact that no Saints acted after Canonization of the Gods mean that they actually escaped at that time? Is that why the later Kalpas of Calamity seemed like mere minor scuffles, and eventually ceased altogether? Looking at it now, could the Chaos Gods and Demons who still exist, even those capable of reincarnation, be ones Pangu's Heart could not allow to have any real impact on the Primordial Wilderness? And was Hongjun's Merge with the Dao also because the first two Kalpas of Calamity caused too much damage, while Heavenly Dao could not suppress it and thus needed to borrow Hongjun's strength?

After all, legend says Ancestor Yang Mei became a Saint even earlier than Hongjun, yet he did not Merge with the Dao. There are many explanations for this. Some say Primordial Golden Immortals cannot remain in the Primordial Wilderness because they are not Saints of Heavenly Dao. Others say he could not Merge with the Dao because he lacked a Creation Jade Butterfly Fragment, a Dharma treasure capable of Communicating with Heavenly Dao. After all, however one looked at it, Yang Mei merging with the Dao would have been more useful than Hongjun. Since he Achieved Dao through Space, if merging with the Dao could reinforce space and make heaven and earth more stable, would Heavenly Dao not become stronger? And did that shattered Creation Jade Butterfly truly communicate with Heavenly Dao, or with the suppressed Time, Fate, and Karma?

After all, Heavenly Dao was incomplete. Perhaps that was precisely why it gave Time, Fate, and Karma an opportunity. Perhaps Hongjun did not communicate with Heavenly Dao at all, but with a Heavenly Dao disguised by Fate and Karma. That would explain why Hongjun's temperament changed so drastically after merging with the Dao. It might have been the influence of Time, Fate, and Karma. Perhaps Hongjun resisted as well, but those three were master schemers among master schemers. After all, could anyone capable of manipulating time, Fate, and Karma truly be simple?

Moreover, the Twelve Ancestral Witches were born wielding laws. No matter how one looked at it, they corresponded to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. They were affected by Turbid Qi, but there was no way there was no scheme involved. After all, they refined Turbid Qi to improve their cultivation. It was difficult to say they had not been plotted against. It was likely either this Kalpa of Calamity or the next, with the next being the most likely. This one was itself the lingering Karma between the Chaos Gods and Demons and Great God Pangu. It had also only just passed the World Creation Calamity, when Pangu's pressure still dominated heaven and earth. There could not have been an opportunity.

If it is the next Kalpa of Calamity, and if my deductions are correct, then once I finish connecting the Western Land, I should go to Mount Zhou. While I am at it, I can sort out and clear the Earth Veins from the west to Mount Zhou. That may also help the Ancestral Witches somewhat.

I also need to carefully study the relationship between the Three Paths of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Though they stand in a tripartite balance, Heavenly Dao is fundamentally the evolution of rules, with everything proceeding according to those rules. Thus, it is only right for Heavenly Dao to govern all things. The Earthly Dao governs creation, since all things multiply and live upon the earth. Thus, Reincarnation cycles endlessly, and it is no problem for the Earthly Dao to concern itself with nothing beyond Reincarnation. The Human Dao, on the other hand, seems the most complicated to me. Is it the fire of civilization, or change? Heavenly Dao's rules and the Earthly Dao's Reincarnation are both fixed laws, incapable of change. Only the Human Dao is different! There are countless living beings beneath heaven, ever-changing and unpredictable, with seven emotions and six desires. Fate can intertwine, yet it can also be shattered. Thus, perhaps the Human Dao governs change. It may even be the key to the Primordial Land's ascension.

After all, many novels say that the Primordial Wilderness is a Half-step Eternal World or a Half-step True One Realm. To ascend, heaven and earth must inevitably become stable. Yet that final step can only possibly come from the ever-changing Human Dao."

Zhou Jun considered many things, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he was not much of a schemer after all. As expected, his experience was still too limited. In the past, he had only fought against other people, mostly over money, but everyone could still survive. Now, however, it was a struggle over the Dao. They said that the enmity of one who blocks another's path would not end until death, and that was no joke.

For Zhou Jun, this was both good and bad. The good was that he had now thoroughly integrated into his identity as an Innate God and Demon. He could be said to have understood the terror of struggles over the Dao, and his state of mind had improved. The bad was that many of his future plans were not as simple as he had imagined. He would even need to make more comprehensive preparations. After all, one could never be too careful. If he carelessly fell into someone's scheme, he would be finished.