The Primordial Wilderness, beneath Mount Buzhou.
This was the center of heaven and earth, where Pangu's spine had transformed.
The towering mountain pierced the clouds, its height impossible to fathom.
At its foot, a great river rushed past, its waves crashing against the rocks along the bank and sending up countless sprays of white foam.
By the river stood a figure, perfectly still.
She was a woman with a human head and a serpent's body. Her beauty defied description, as though she embodied all the wondrous grace of heaven and earth.
Dao Rhyme of Creation swirled around her. The slightest movement of her hair set the surrounding laws trembling.
It was Nuwa.
She gazed at her reflection in the water, her brows faintly furrowed as she pondered the path to Sagehood.
After a long while, a glimmer of understanding appeared in her eyes.
"The Demon Race rules the heavens, and the Wu Clan rules the earth. Heaven and earth are rife with killing, yet one race is missing—a race that can embody the serenity of the world."
Nuwa swept her hand, bringing forth a clump of soil that glimmered with nine-colored light. It was the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil.
She also took out a bottle of crystal-clear water: the Primordial World's greatest healing Sacred Medicine, the Three Lights Divine Water.
Nuwa kneaded the soil and divine water together in her hands.
Her movements were slow and meticulous.
In moments, a clay figure took shape in her hands.
The figure had regular features and well-formed limbs. Its entire body was as flawless as white jade, and Innate Dao Rhyme flowed within it.
"Whew—"
Nuwa gently breathed out a wisp of Immortal Qi of Creation.
The clay figure touched the ground and grew with the wind, transforming into a young man eight feet tall.
This was Ye Xuan.
At that moment, he was dazed and confused, his consciousness still adrift in chaos.
He felt as if he had been trapped in a very long dream. There had been no light in it, only endless darkness.
Suddenly, a warm current flowed into his body.
It was Nuwa's Immortal Qi of Creation—and the source of his life.
Ye Xuan's eyelids twitched.
Then he abruptly opened them.
Boom!
The instant Ye Xuan opened his eyes, an unexpected change erupted.
The clear sky split open without warning.
His eyes had no distinct black-and-white pupils. Instead, each held two strange pupils layered atop one another.
One was large, the other small, locked tightly together. They were as profound as two black holes connected to chaos.
Those were—Double Pupils!
And not ordinary Double Pupils.
In the depths of those pupils, hazy streams of Chaos Qi churned wildly, as though the scene of heaven splitting and earth opening were unfolding within them.
Two beams of gray light shot from Ye Xuan's eyes without warning.
The beams ignored both space and distance. They pierced the void beneath Mount Buzhou, leaving behind two pitch-black cracks that remained open and refused to heal.
Even the holy protective light swirling around Nuwa rippled under their gaze.
"Hmm?"
Nuwa's hand stopped in midair as she prepared to keep molding the soil.
Her beautiful eyes, which held the sun, moon, and stars, turned toward the newly born human in surprise.
"Innate Twin Pupils, accompanied by Chaos Qi?"
Nuwa murmured softly.
She had never expected that the first member of the Human Race she had created on a sudden inspiration would possess such an extraordinary origin.
Even among the Innate Gods and Demons, a physique like this would rank among the very best.
"Since that is so, I shall give you a name—Xuan."
Nuwa spoke, and her words became law.
"Xuan..."
Ye Xuan murmured the name, and the Chaos Divine Light in his eyes gradually faded until they returned to normal.
He looked at the tall, sacred woman before him. Fragments of his memories from his previous life swiftly reassembled, overlapping with the scene before his eyes.
Mount Buzhou.
Nuwa creating humans.
I've transmigrated? And I'm the first human Nuwa created?
Ye Xuan was shaken to his core.
But he didn't dare move or speak.
Nuwa had already turned around and resumed her work of creating humans.
Perhaps because she now had Ye Xuan as a perfect template, Nuwa worked much faster.
One clay figure after another took shape in her hands, then touched the ground and became human.
They too possessed the Innate Dao Body, but compared to Ye Xuan, they lacked an inexplicable trace of Dao Rhyme. Their eyes also showed none of his astonishing signs.
Before long, Nuwa had shaped three thousand clay figures.
These would become the Three Thousand Innate Humans of later generations.
"Too slow."
Nuwa glanced at the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil remaining on the ground and shook her head slightly.
She casually broke off a nearby Gourd Vine, dipped it into the muddy mixture, and vigorously swung it around.
Smack!
Drops of mud flew everywhere.
Each drop that landed on the ground grew with the wind, transforming into a human.
However, these humans, flung into being with the vine, were inferior to the three thousand she had shaped by hand in both physique and origin.
Even so, in a short while, countless figures filled the area beneath Mount Buzhou.
There were exactly 129,600 of them, the number of One Yuan.
When the final human was born,
heaven and earth fell silent.
An indescribably vast pressure descended without warning upon every corner of the Primordial World.
Rumble!
Beyond the nine heavens, Purple Qi Comes from the East stretched for thirty thousand li.
Countless golden lotuses rose from the earth. Heavenly flowers rained down, and golden lotuses sprang from the ground.
A massive pillar of black-and-yellow merit descended from beyond the heavens. As thick as a pillar supporting the sky, it came straight down and enveloped Nuwa.
It was the Merit of Creating Humans!
It was also the Opportunity to Become a Saint!
Nuwa closed her eyes and slowly rose into the air.
The vast clouds of merit gathered behind her, eventually forming a Golden Wheel of Merit that illuminated the Myriad Worlds.
At the same time, the Primordial Violet Qi within Nuwa trembled violently, merging with the boundless merit.
Crack.
It was the sound of the realm barrier breaking.
A terrifying aura belonging to a Sage swept across the entire Primordial Wilderness, with Mount Buzhou at its center.
At that moment,
whether they were members of the Dragon Race along the East Sea or the Phoenix Race at the Undying Volcano,
whether they were the Demon Emperor in the Heavenly Court or the Ancestral Wu on the earth,
all living beings felt a tremor rising from the depths of their souls.
All except Ye Xuan.
Standing at the very front of the crowd, he let his Chaos Heavy Pupils glow faintly. They helped him withstand most of the Sage's pressure, allowing him to witness this astonishing scene.
Kunlun Mountain, Jade Void Palace.
The Three Pure Ones, who had been meditating in seclusion on the Heavenly Dao, opened their eyes at the same time.
The horsetail whisk in Taishang Laojun's hand trembled. A rare look of astonishment appeared on his usually impassive face.
"Junior Sister Nuwa... became a Sage before us?"
Yuanshi Tianzun furrowed his brows as he watched the holy light soaring from the direction of Mount Buzhou. His voice carried a note of disbelief.
"The Dao of Creation? Creating a race can lead to Sagehood?"
Tongtian Jiaozhu rose abruptly, sword intent surging in his eyes.
"Good! Good for Nuwa! I never expected that we, the Orthodox Pangu Lineage, would fall behind!"
Beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens, in the Demon Heavenly Court.
The wine cup in Demon Emperor Di Jun's hand shattered with a snap.
Donghuang Taiyi abruptly struck the Chaos Bell.
Clang—
The bell rang out, its sonorous peal attempting to suppress the Sage's pressure filling the Heavenly Court, but it was as futile as an insect trying to shake a tree.
"Nuwa... Empress Wa actually became a Sage?!"
Di Jun's expression was complicated, filled with both delight and deep apprehension.
He was delighted because Nuwa was Empress Wa of the Demon Race. With her becoming a Sage, the Demon Race would stand taller.
But he was apprehensive because from now on, a mighty figure worthy of worship stood above the Demon Race. Could the Heavenly Court still hold on to its authority?
In the west, at Mount Sumeru.
Jieyin Daoren and Zhunti Daoren looked at each other, their faces full of bitterness.
"Senior Brother, now that the East has a Sage, how arduous will the revival of the West be?" Zhunti sighed.
Jieyin's face, already full of sorrow, had now creased like a bitter melon.
Beneath Mount Buzhou.
The holy light faded.
Nuwa had now completed her transformation.
She was no longer the Innate God and Demon Empress Wa of the Demon Race. She had become a Heavenly Dao Saint, lofty above all, regarding all things as straw dogs.
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