The Great Wilderness was terrifyingly quiet at night.
Stone Village sat at the foot of the mountains, like a sleeping young beast.
A few faint lights flickered inside the stone houses. They had been left by the villagers on night watch.
From the darkness all around came the occasional dull roar of a beast, shaking leaves loose from the trees.
At the village entrance.
The enormous, charred stump of a willow tree looked especially lifeless in the night.
It was pitch-black all over, as if it had been scorched by heavenly fire, with only a remnant of its trunk left.
Only one tender green Willow Twig hung from the top of the charred trunk, swaying gently in the night breeze and emitting a faint green glow.
That faint green light was Stone Village's only protection.
The instant Ye Xuan arrived in Stone Village, something extraordinary happened.
Ye Xuan's body was an Innate Dao Body personally fashioned by Saintess Nuwa. The purest, most primordial Innate Spiritual Qi of the Primordial World flowed within him.
It was the Primordial Vein Qi beneath Mount Buzhou, the first breath of life at the birth of heaven and earth.
But the lower realm of this world had incomplete laws.
When a "vessel" brimming with pure Innate Spiritual Qi suddenly appeared in a barren land where the laws were incomplete,
it was like a lake full of clear spring water appearing in a parched desert.
"Whoosh—"
A visible wave of white qi burst outward from Ye Xuan, spreading in every direction.
It wasn't wind.
It was Innate Spiritual Qi so dense it seemed almost solid.
The qi was so pure, imbued with the supreme Great Dao Rhythm, that in an instant it filled every inch of space in Stone Village.
"Crack."
In the soil by Ye Xuan's feet, several dead grass seeds sprouted, grew shoots, and bloomed the instant they came into contact with the qi.
In the blink of an eye, a clump of lush green grass had grown as high as his knees. Crystal-clear dewdrops hung from its leaves, and it gave off an enticing fragrance.
The ground, once hard and dry, grew soft and moist.
The air's oppressive, scorching heat vanished, replaced by a gentle coolness as soothing as jade.
Even the rough stone houses were cleansed of dust by the wash of qi, their surfaces taking on a faint, precious glow.
The barren Stone Village seemed to have become the legendary Blessed Land.
Ye Xuan stood there, momentarily stunned.
He hadn't expected such a commotion from simply crossing between worlds.
"So this is the difference between the innate and the acquired?"
Ye Xuan looked down at the wild grass growing at an astonishing pace and marveled inwardly.
In the Primordial World, he had been a mortal who couldn't even defeat a minor demon.
Yet in the Perfect World, the qi radiating from his body alone could benefit an entire region.
Just as Ye Xuan was about to rein in his aura,
"Rustle, rustle, rustle."
A sudden rustling sound came from nearby.
The charred willow stump that had seemed utterly lifeless was now trembling violently.
The tender green Willow Twig that had merely swayed in the breeze seemed to come alive.
It stiffened, blazing with brilliant green light. No longer a faint firefly's glow, it shone like a burning green torch, illuminating half the village.
It moved.
The Willow Twig shot toward Ye Xuan like a famished spirit snake that had gone hungry for countless years.
It didn't attack him.
It stopped three feet in front of Ye Xuan, thrashing wildly as it greedily devoured every wisp of Innate Spiritual Qi escaping from his body.
"Glug—"
The air even made a sound like someone drinking.
As the Innate Spiritual Qi poured in, the green of the Willow Twig grew deeper and more crystalline, as if it had been carved from jade.
Even the dry, cracked bark on the charred trunk began to heal, a hint of fresh, pale growth showing through.
A vast aura of life stirred within the seemingly dead stump.
Ye Xuan stood still, not daring to move.
He knew the Willow Deity had awakened.
The Ancestor Spirit who, in the previous era, had fought until no one in the world dared claim supremacy.
Though she was now a fallen tiger on the plains, undergoing rebirth, she was still, in essence, an Immortal King Giant.
"Buzz!"
A tremendous will descended without warning.
It wasn't overbearing, like a Sage of the Primordial World looking down from on high and regarding all things as mere dogs.
It carried a detachment that had seen the vicissitudes of time, and a resilience that had endured countless tribulations without perishing.
The surrounding space seemed to freeze.
The Willow Twig stopped moving and hovered before Ye Xuan's brow, glowing softly as it examined him.
A voice sounded directly in the depths of Ye Xuan's mind.
"You... where do you come from?"
The voice revealed neither gender nor emotion, only confusion.
"Why do you possess Chaos Spiritual Qi? This aura... it is pure and ancient, as if it were the source of all things, yet it differs from every kind of origin I know."
"And you bear a Primordial Dao Rhythm I have never seen before."
The Willow Deity had awakened.
The never-before-tasted "delicacy" had roused her.
Ye Xuan took a deep breath and forced down his nerves.
He knew that lying to someone of this caliber would likely be exposed, but telling the truth might bring about Great Karma.
He had to mix truth with falsehood.
Ye Xuan straightened the beast-hide imperial robe he wore, then gave the charred stump a slight bow, his manner neither servile nor arrogant.
"This junior is Ye Xuan. Greetings, Ancestor Spirit."
He lifted his head. Chaos Qi swirled in his distinctive Double Pupils, reflecting the green light of the Willow Twig.
"This junior comes from beyond the heavens."
"An accident sent me into a Space-Time Rift. I lost my way in the chaos and lost track of time. When I opened my eyes again, I had arrived here."
"As for this aura..."
Ye Xuan paused, a wry smile appearing on his face.
"Perhaps I picked up a trace of Chaos Qi in the Space-Time Rift. This junior is unaware of how it happened."
There was both truth and falsehood in his words.
His journey between worlds was real, and so was the Space-Time Rift.
As for the Chaos Qi?
He hadn't picked it up. It was a specialty of the Primordial World that he'd brought with him.
The Willow Twig swayed gently, as if weighing the truth of Ye Xuan's words.
"A Space-Time Rift... beyond the heavens..."
The Willow Deity's voice held a note of contemplation.
"This world does indeed have passages leading beyond its borders, but they were severed long ago."
The next moment.
An invisible ripple spread from the Willow Twig, instantly enveloping Ye Xuan from head to toe.
It was the Willow Deity probing him.
She wanted to see through the boy's origins, to glimpse his past and future.
But then—
The instant the Willow Deity's will touched Ye Xuan's body,
"Buzz!"
The Double Pupils in Ye Xuan's eyes suddenly lit up.
His two pupils overlapped, deep and unfathomable.
A gray mist surged from the depths of his eyes, instantly blocking the Willow Deity's perception.
It wasn't Ye Xuan deliberately defending himself. It was the Double Pupils' self-protection mechanism.
It was also a veil of karma left upon Ye Xuan by the Primordial Heavenly Dao.
In the Willow Deity's sight,
the boy before her suddenly vanished.
In his place was chaos.
An endless expanse, without up or down, left or right, time or space—absolute chaos.
Even as an Immortal King Giant, even though she had once seen through the mysteries of the ages, she couldn't pierce this veil of chaos or see Ye Xuan's past and future.
A complete blank.
Outside the Five Elements, beyond heaven and earth.
"I can't see through you."
A trace of surprise entered the Willow Deity's voice.
"Your fate is chaos itself."
The Willow Twig withdrew its probing ripple and softened again.
Though she couldn't see through Ye Xuan, the Willow Deity sensed no malice from him.
On the contrary, she felt exceptionally comfortable.
Before you continue