The Primordial World had only recently been created, and life had yet to emerge. Everywhere stretched barren wilderness: towering, bare mountains, endless wastelands, and mighty rivers winding like colossal dragons. It was all desolate yet majestic, filled with a primeval atmosphere.
The vastness of the Primordial World was beyond description. Compared with it, the entire surface area of Earth in later generations was no more than a drop in the ocean.
Even with Li Yi's cultivation as a Grand Unity Golden Immortal and his Chaos Demon God body, he couldn't cross even a quarter of it in several hundred years. One had to know that, with the aid of his four pairs of sky-covering wings, Li Yi could fly more than four million li in an instant. That showed just how terrifyingly vast the Primordial World was.
In the north of the Primordial World, above an unnamed barren mountain, a colossal shadow ten thousand zhang long suddenly swept past, blotting out the sky and sun. Its enormous wings gave a gentle flap, and it vanished as if teleporting, reappearing millions of li away.
After seizing Pangu's arm and sealing it away, Li Yi had flown straight toward the north of the Primordial World. After several hundred years of travel, he had finally reached his destination.
Compared with other regions, the north of the Primordial World was not all that different. The only real distinction was that it had fewer rivers, and far fewer major spiritual veins than the central region around Buzhou Mountain or the east. It did, however, have many mid-grade and low-grade spiritual veins.
There were also relatively few powerful cultivators in the north in later generations. That was why Li Yi had come here: he wanted to rest for a while without being disturbed during his cultivation.
Main Body (from now on, the absolutely rational clone would be called Main Body, and the other clone Li Yi) swept his silver-white eyes across the mountain ranges within a hundred million li, then chose a barren mountain with a high-grade spiritual vein and descended.
After inspecting it, he found it reasonably satisfactory. Main Body pointed down with his right hand. "Rumble!" The mountains shook, and boulders split apart as a stone stele more than a hundred meters tall rose from the earth.
Six blood-chilling characters were inscribed on the stele: "Forbidden Ground. Intruders will be killed." They carried the killing intent Li Yi had accumulated while slaughtering countless Chaos Demon Gods and even severing Great God Pangu's arm. A single glance would plunge anyone into an endless vision of slaughter, from which they could not escape.
One had to understand that Li Yi had carved those characters using the power of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal and a Chaos Demon God. They were far beyond anything an ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortal could produce. Carrying a trace of Main Body's aura, the stele would intimidate countless cultivators for millions of years to come, earning fame through the ages as the Slaughter Demon Stele.
After erecting the stele, Li Yi moved his hands so quickly they became a blur, forming Hand Seals one after another. A wash of blue light enveloped the entire mountain. Boundless Spiritual Qi took the shapes of dragons, five-colored phoenixes, and lotuses, gathering from all directions. Before long, Main Body had finished setting up several forbidden formations he had comprehended in Chaos.
The mountain was now utterly changed. Though no other living beings had appeared, dense Spiritual Qi gathered into clouds, and even fell as rain. Immortal air swirled around it, giving the place the faint appearance of a celestial realm.
When he had finished, Li Yi flew straight to the mountaintop and sat down, letting out a long breath. Only now did the weariness on his face finally ease.
During the tribulation of creation, he had known the danger but had made no effort to avoid it. Instead, he had hunted down and killed rampaging Chaos Demon Gods wherever he found them, risking suppression by the Heavenly Dao to sever Pangu's arm. It might take only a few dozen words to recount, but anyone who knew the full story would be dumbstruck and shaken.
Even badly wounded, a Chaos Demon God was no easy opponent. Every one of them had a trump card, and Chaos Demon Gods were proud to their very core. When they couldn't defeat an opponent, they would often choose to self-destruct rather than let the other side get away unscathed.
Though Li Yi had mostly relied on sneak attacks, he had still been dancing on the edge of a blade, surviving by the skin of his teeth.
And he had even severed one of Pangu's arms. Everyone knew that Pangu's body was meant to transform into the world. Stealing part of it could bring down heavenly punishment at the slightest misstep. It was like snatching a chestnut from the fire.
Still, Li Yi had been lucky. The Heavenly Dao was not yet complete, and the right arm he had taken had little impact. The body of another fallen god could serve as a replacement. Had Li Yi taken Pangu's head, the Heavenly Dao probably would have brought down divine thunder to reduce him to ashes without waiting to become complete.
Recalling all of it still made Li Yi's heart pound. Even knowing how things would turn out, he wasn't sure he would have had the courage to do it all again.
But now, it had all been worth it. The path of cultivation was full of danger at every turn; missing one opportunity could mean being stuck at the same level for the rest of one's life. In the end, if you wanted to gain something, you first had to give something up.
In Chaos, Li Yi had devoured more than fifteen hundred Chaos Demon Gods. When he revealed his true form, he now stood a full ninety thousand zhang tall, over thirty thousand zhang taller than before. He truly reached up to the sky and stood upon the earth, and his four pairs of wings spanned more than a hundred thousand zhang.
He still could not compare to Pangu, let alone claim immortality, but he had finally surpassed the ninety-thousand-zhang threshold and gained the potential to pursue immortality.
True forms below ninety thousand zhang were all Heavenly Dao Dharma Bodies. Nine was the ultimate number. Beyond ninety thousand zhang, one broke through the Heavenly Dao's limits and entered another level, gaining the potential to pursue immortality.
After several hundred years of trials and tribulations, Li Yi had accumulated countless hidden injuries from battle, and his soul was utterly exhausted. So, for the next million years, he planned to set aside his study of the Dao and focus on recovering. As for Pangu's arm, he would deal with it after his wounds had healed.
After that, Li Yi sat cross-legged on the mountaintop like a stone statue, tending to his hidden injuries. He remained motionless through wind and rain, sunrise and sunset.
Several hundred thousand years after Li Yi entered seclusion, life began to emerge in the Primordial World. The once-barren mountains now bore towering trees, with flowers and grasses flourishing beneath them. Streams flowed quietly, while great rivers surged and roared. The whole Primordial World was thriving.
The Innate Demon Gods began to appear in their transformed forms, and the shattered souls of the Chaos Demon Gods began to be reborn. Birds and beasts appeared across the land. The first era after the creation of the world—the Primordial World's ancient era—had begun.
Another million years passed. To mortals, that was an incredibly long time, but for gods and demons, it might be no more than a single period of secluded cultivation—or even just a nap for a particularly sleepy god.
By then, the Primordial World had changed beyond recognition. Trillions of fierce beasts and spiritual beasts now roamed its lands, ushering in an age of unparalleled glory.
Much of the baleful energy left over from the creation of the world had yet to dissipate, so countless fierce beasts were born in the Primordial World. They were savage by nature, and slaughter raged everywhere. The laws of the jungle—survival of the fittest and supremacy of the strong—were on full display.
Where there were people, there was conflict, and the same held true for other living beings. Powerful cultivators had established countless dynasties and other forces across the Primordial World, including the Six Great Sacred Dynasties.
The top factions were: the Demon Domain, the Fierce Beast Domain, the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clan Alliance, the Ancient Gold Sacred Dynasty, the Fire Worship Sacred Dynasty, the Heaven and Earth Sacred Dynasty, the Limitless Sacred Dynasty, the Eternal Sacred Dynasty, and the Darkness Sacred Dynasty.
After one million two hundred thousand years in seclusion, Li Yi finally awoke. Taking out Pangu's arm, he repeatedly formed Hand Seals toward it. Streams of Chaos Spirit Fire scorched the arm. After an unknown length of time, the flesh on it gradually melted away, leaving a drop of Divine Blood radiating boundless might.
This drop of Divine Blood contained the entire arm's essence. Its power was dozens of times greater than that of the Twelve Ancestral Witches before their transformation, and Divine Runes kept appearing across it.
All those dangers had been for this moment. With a grave expression, Li Yi opened his mouth. "Whoosh!" The Divine Blood was swallowed.
In an instant, the Divine Blood transformed into a boundless torrent of energy that swept through him. The energy was simply too immense, taking the form of dragons that roared and surged through his flesh and blood.
Li Yi felt his meridians begin to snap and countless cells shatter. Cold sweat seeped from his body in waves, and he had no choice but to reveal his true form.
"Roar!" A voice of boundless desolation and majesty resounded throughout the entire Primordial World. Before long, a towering shadow appeared in the north, its back bearing four pairs of sky-covering wings.
The aura of Chaos, noble beyond compare and savagely fierce, made every fierce beast across the Primordial World tremble and prostrate itself on the ground.
Countless powerful beings in the Primordial World were roused, and the top factions ordered all their members not to provoke him. Some gods and demons reborn from Spirits of Chaos recognized him as the brutal hunter who had preyed on them in Chaos. They dared not even leave their caves, obediently staying inside to cultivate.
After enduring the agony of splitting his soul, Li Yi could withstand this ordeal. Gradually, his broken bones, severed meridians, and mangled flesh began to reform and transform. He entered a state of rebirth, and the torrent of energy slowly came under his control.
Li Yi guided the torrent along a set course. His flesh and bones repeatedly broke apart and reformed. Each time they did, his flesh became more resilient and his bones harder.
During the process, Li Yi grew taller, rising by one meter after another until he reached ninety-nine thousand nine hundred zhang. Though plenty of energy remained, he could not grow even one zhang taller.
Li Yi opened his silver-white eyes and dimly saw countless chains made of laws, binding his true form and preventing him from reaching a hundred thousand zhang. It seemed he would have to find another way.
At that moment, Li Yi's true form looked incomparably sacred and majestic. Runes appeared across his body, and he even carried a trace of the meaning, "Though Heaven and Earth decay, I remain undying."
Li Yi tested his body with satisfaction, feeling that it brimmed with power. Even if a Sage stood before him, he was confident he could shatter them with a single punch.
When he felt more than ten powerful divine senses probing him, Li Yi had no desire to clash with them yet. "Hmph." He immediately shrank to the height of an ordinary person, then quickly left.
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