Jiang Ding struck with his sword.
As he brought it down, all manner of phenomena from the Human Dao revolved around him: the vicissitudes of the universe, the birth and destruction of the Five Elements, countless visions flashing past until everything finally returned to chaos.
When the chaos dispersed, the world appeared as it had at the beginning of creation.
It was a world of flashing lightning and ceaseless volcanic eruptions, without any boundary between sky and earth, without a single living thing anywhere in the universe.
No one knew how long such days passed.
At last, at the boundary between volcanoes and seawater, amid such heat and lightning, the various inorganic substances in the sea underwent chemical reactions and formed small organic molecules. These small organic molecules then continued reacting and assembling into larger organic molecules, eventually forming cellular structures wrapped in membranes.
This was the origin of primitive life.
This was the first life.
Beginning with this life, countless organisms erupted into existence: single-celled animals, flatworms, cnidarians, annelids... all the way to reptiles, fish, and plants such as ferns and gymnosperms, and so on.
Amid countless mutations and aberrations, life secretly conformed to the laws of the Animal Dao, concealing within itself an aberrant order.
At a certain moment, the phantoms of countless single-celled animals, echinoderms, ferns, gymnosperms, as well as the many spirit beasts and humans of the Nine Spirit Domain, Jiao Ming Domain, and Thunderflame Domain, all manner of Heaven and Earth All Beings, rose toward the sky. Countless phantoms gathered at one point, forming a hazy, twisted flying sword.
This hazy twisted flying sword appeared in the sky of the Animal Dao, its boundless radiance illuminating all directions.
"Slash!"
Jiang Ding said quietly.
This hazy, twisted sword—a sword formed from the aberrations and mutations produced