This body made the Demon Race sneer in disdain, made the Devil Master frown and cast sidelong glances, yet left countless ancient gods secretly coveting it.
After all, a bird that could grow wings on its own would never understand why some insisted on splitting mountains into stairways, one axe-blow and one chisel-strike at a time, then climbing them step by step.
When the Demon Race first awakened their spiritual apertures, they had to rouse their divine consciousness. Only once it opened could they grasp the method of breathing and cultivation, drawing the pure qi of heaven and earth into their bodies. Over time, their demon power steadily deepened, their sinews, bones, flesh, and skin mutated accordingly, and they gained all manner of abilities—summoning wind and rain, riding clouds and mist, shifting form and hiding their tracks.
Though the human race possessed no innate divine powers, they were like uncut jade hidden in the mountains, untouched by the carver's blade, and thus held every possible potential. In ancient times, some cultivated bitterly for decades and actually broke through their barriers, ascending to prove their immortal rank. Even more striking was the speed at which humanity multiplied: one generation in little more than ten years, their numbers surging severalfold within a century. Even the great races of the Myriad Worlds secretly frowned at such endless procreation, unease rising in their hearts.
This was because the closer one was to the Origin of the Great Dao, the harder it became to bear offspring. Take the Three Thousand Demon Gods from when Primordial Chaos first opened: they lurked in the realm Before Hongmeng was judged for countless trillions of years before finally taking form and revealing their sanctity. They belonged not to the Heavenly Dao, but only to the rule of the Great