But there was one more palace hall, suspended high above all the others, towering over everything—the residence of the Earth Emperor: Houtu Palace.
Empress Houtu wore a pale yellow skirt, her figure light as drifting smoke. Though she wore no powder or paint, her countenance shone brilliantly. Her gentle brows and eyes held an unshakable compassion; her heart was as vast as the sea, able to embrace a hundred rivers.
In her palm rested a cluster of warm, lustrous earthen light, clear as honey. Sharp radiance flowed unceasingly within it, wrapped in boundless creation and thick, solid fortune—this was the "Wutu Essence" refined from her very origin.
This object surpassed even Nine Heavens Breathing Soil. It too possessed the Power of Creation, yet it was the truest flesh and blood of the earth when the world first opened. When Pangu fell, his body became mountains and rivers, his spine the foundation of the land; what supported it all was precisely such primordial Wutu earth.
Its might was impossible to measure: deep virtue bore all things, nurturing life. It could nourish all creation and carry all living beings.
The cluster of Wutu earth suddenly flickered. A thread of sharp light silently escaped, plunging straight into the Human Path within the Six Paths of Reincarnation and descending into the mortal world.
The golden dragon coiled above the Qin Kingdom's royal palace in Yongcheng swallowed that strand of radiance. Its scales immediately packed tighter than armor, and its body swelled another full circle. Its whiskers unfurled, every minute detail visible; dragon qi surged like the tide, national fortune billowing forth, blazing and vigorous.
Seeing this, Empress Houtu's lips curved faintly. In an instant, her smile was like light breaking through the clouds. Rosy radiance overflowed through the Netherworld Underworld, unusual fragrance drifted on