Li Cha, originally named Li Cha, was a fine young man of the new era from the twenty-first century. At the age of thirty, he had just earned the distinguished title of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Tea Ceremony Inheritor with his extraordinary tea-making skills and profound understanding of traditional culture. He was in the prime of his life, ready to make his mark and bring tea culture to the world.
Fate played a tremendous joke on him.
In a car accident, he pushed aside a child frozen in terror in the middle of the road and sent himself beneath a truck's wheels. In his final, fading moment of consciousness, he did not feel fear, only deep regret. "My tin of Mother Tree Da Hong Pao... I just got it and hadn't even had the heart to open it..."
When he opened his eyes again, there was no legendary Underworld King of Hell, nor were there angels or God. He found that he had become a tree—a lonely tea tree floating in endless gray currents.
Everything around him was gray. There was no up or down, no left or right, no concept of time or space. After his initial confusion and terror faded, Li Cha, as a soul tempered by the information explosion of the modern age, quickly—perhaps after several hundred years, perhaps tens of thousands; who knew?—accepted the fact that he had transmigrated into the legendary Primordial Chaos Era and become a Primordial Chaos Spiritual Root—the Primordial Chaos Spirit Tea Tree.
His true body's branches and leaves bore an enigmatic chaotic hue. Great Dao Patterns were naturally inscribed upon his leaves, which gave off a faint fragrance. Not only could that fragrance calm the mind and soothe the spirit, it also seemed capable of organizing Chaos Qi to some extent.
As a tree, he could not move on his own and could only drift passively. During that time, he sensed several terrifying auras sweep past from either far away or close by. Those auras were filled with brutality, destruction, and endless pressure, making this "little sapling" tremble in fear as he desperately concealed his own presence, wishing he could shrink himself into a speck of dust.
He knew those were the legendary Primordial Chaos Demon Gods, beings born with mastery over the Great Dao and incomparably powerful. Before them, this "tea tree spirit" of his probably did not even count as an appetizer.
Just when he thought his life as a tree would continue forever in such anxious drifting, he encountered that giant who stood between heaven and earth.
It was within a relatively stable region of Chaos. An indescribably enormous figure gradually came into focus, and the power he casually radiated alone stirred the surrounding Chaos Qi. He held a simple, ancient giant axe, Dao essence circling his body as the Law of Strength flowed across his surface.
Pangu! Great God Pangu, the one who created the world!
Li Cha's heart—if a tree had one—pounded wildly. He knew opportunity had arrived, though perhaps an even greater danger had as well.
Pangu had clearly noticed the tea tree giving off that strange fragrance. His enormous eyes turned toward it with a trace of curiosity. Blessing struck Li Cha's heart, and he desperately swayed his branches and leaves, condensing several of his finest tea leaves containing the Dao essence of his origin before carefully offering them to Pangu.
The meaning was obvious: Boss, want some tea?
Pangu accepted the tea leaves and placed them in his mouth—though perhaps they were not even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth. A moment later, a trace of realization and pleasure appeared on his eternally unchanging face. The Spiritual Energy and Dao essence contained within the tea leaves had actually made his comprehension of the Great Dao of Strength slightly clearer and smoother!
Though the effect was minuscule, to someone of his realm, even the slightest assistance was immensely precious.
Thus, Pangu did not leave. Instead, he sat cross-legged near Li Cha. He did not speak, merely plucking a few of Li Cha's leaves from time to time to assist his enlightenment.
Li Cha rejoiced inwardly. It worked! He had latched onto the thickest thigh possible! World Creation Merit, here I come!
However, he soon could no longer laugh.
Pangu's single meditation session lasted an entire Yuanhu—one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years!
An entire Yuanhui! Did anyone know how he had spent that whole Yuanhui?
Boss Pangu might have enjoyed his enlightenment, but Li Cha felt that he was about to be plucked bald! As a Primordial Chaos Spiritual Root, his tea leaves regenerated slowly, but he could not withstand such relentless harvesting year after year! His once-lush, flourishing canopy had now become sparse. Many branches were completely bare, making him look utterly miserable.
Every day, Li Cha wailed inwardly, "Boss, when exactly are you going to create the world? If you don't hurry up, this raw-material supplier is going bankrupt and dying for the Dao before you do!"
Perhaps his resentment had finally been received by the Great Dao, or perhaps Pangu's accumulation had finally become sufficient.
On this day, an unprecedented tremor came from the depths of Chaos.
Pangu suddenly opened his eyes, divine light capable of tearing Chaos apart bursting from within them. He rose to his full height as the giant axe hummed, boundless battle intent and resolve filling the surroundings.
"It's here! It's finally here!" Li Cha was so excited that his branches and leaves shook wildly, nearly flinging away his last few precious leaves.
He knew the grand spectacle of World Creation was about to begin, followed closely by the siege of the Three Thousand Demon Gods. He had no desire to become collateral damage. Fortunately, Pangu had noticed this as well and stored him within the Chaos Pearl.
At the instant Pangu swung his giant axe and unleashed the first strike of World Creation, Li Cha extended a small section of root from the Chaos Pearl. That root became his eye, allowing him to observe the surroundings. This was the iconic scene of World Creation, Pangu battling the Three Thousand Demon Gods—how could he possibly miss it?
Hidden within the absolutely safe Chaos Pearl, he clearly "saw" the ancient, earthshaking battle outside through his roots.
Pangu wielded his giant axe, every strike containing supreme Laws of Strength as he cleaved open Chaos and separated the clear from the turbid. Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind surged violently, worlds after worlds cycling through creation and destruction.
The Three Thousand Demon Gods roared as they charged forward. They took countless different forms and wielded different Great Daos. To stop World Creation—and to devour Pangu—they launched frenzied attacks.
The sight was billions of times more shocking than any special-effects blockbuster. Demon Gods bled, laws shattered, Chaos broke apart... Li Cha watched with his heart in his throat, while also gaining faint insights and a deeper understanding of the Great Dao, destruction, and rebirth.
In the end, the Demon Gods were slain, and heaven and earth were first formed. Pangu stood between heaven and earth, supporting Qiankun until he exhausted his strength and died.
At the final moment when his mighty body fell and transformed into all things within the Primordial Wilderness, the last trace of his fading consciousness caught sight of Li Cha quietly poking his head out from the Chaos Pearl.
Pangu's gaze remained deep and gentle, carrying a trace of exhaustion as well as a trace of entrustment.
With great difficulty, he pushed the Chaos Pearl and a fragment of a jade disc—though cracked, still overflowing with Dao essence, a Fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation roughly one percent in size—before Li Cha. At the same time, a weak yet clear divine thought entered Li Cha's mind.
"Watch over... the Primordial Wilderness... especially... my... children..."
As his words fell, Pangu's enormous body crashed down. His eyes became the sun and moon, his spine transformed into Buzhou Mountain...
Li Cha held the Chaos Pearl and Fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation, both still carrying Pangu's aura. As he felt the vast, majestic yet incomparably familiar Golden Light of Merit descend from the newly created heavens and earth, a considerable portion of that merit landed precisely upon him and merged into his true body and divine soul.
That was World Creation Merit! The World Creation Merit he had dreamed of!
He had succeeded! At the cost of nearly going bald, he had obtained this greatest opportunity and protective talisman!
Yet as he looked upon the boundless, primitive, yet vibrant new world of the Primordial Wilderness before him, felt the weight of the two supreme treasures in his hands, and remembered Pangu's final request, Li Cha's heart was filled with complicated emotions.
A new journey had begun. But how should he take this first step? The brand-new sky overhead did not seem very friendly... He faintly sensed that a cold, immense will had already noticed him, this "stowaway" and "connected insider."
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