A Person from Beyond the Heavens? The Willow Deity's Curiosity!

The wilderness night was terrifyingly silent.

Stone Village sat at the foot of the mountain range, like a sleeping young beast.

A few faint lantern lights flickered within the stone houses, left behind by the villagers keeping watch.

From the surrounding darkness, muffled beast roars occasionally rang out, shaking leaves loose from the trees.

At the village entrance.

The massive, charred willow stump stood in the night, deathly still.

Its entire body was pitch-black, as if scorched by heavenly fire, leaving only a broken remnant.

Only a single tender green branch hung from the top of the blackened trunk, swaying gently with the night breeze, emitting a faint glimmer of green light.

That glimmer of green was Stone Village's sole protection.

The moment Ye Xuan descended upon Stone Village, a sudden change occurred.

Ye Xuan's body was an Innate Dao Body personally crafted by Saintess Nuwa, with the purest, most primordial Innate Spiritual Qi of the Primordial World flowing through his veins.

It was the Primordial Vein Qi from beneath Mount Buzhou, the first spark of life when heaven and earth first parted.

But the lower realm of this world had imperfect laws.

When a "vessel" filled with pure Innate Spiritual Qi suddenly appeared in a barren land with incomplete laws—

It was like a lake of clear springwater suddenly appearing in a dried-up desert.

"Whoosh—"

A visible white wave of air exploded outward from Ye Xuan, spreading in all directions.

It wasn't wind.

It was Innate Spiritual Qi so dense it couldn't dissolve.

This spiritual qi was so pure, carrying a supreme Great Dao Rhythm, that it instantly filled every inch of space in Stone Village.

"Crack."

At Ye Xuan's feet, a few withered grass seeds, upon contact with this spiritual qi, immediately sprouted, grew stems, and bloomed.

In the blink of an eye, a patch of lush green grass grew knee-high, with crystal dewdrops hanging from its leaves, exuding a tempting fragrance.

The originally hard, dry ground became soft and moist.

The violent, scorching heat in the air vanished, replaced by a coolness as gentle as jade.

Even the rough stone houses, washed by this spiritual qi, shed all their dust and began to glow with a faint, precious light.

The barren Stone Village, in that moment, seemed to transform into a legendary Blessed Land.

Ye Xuan stood still, stunned.

He hadn't expected that merely crossing realms would cause such a commotion.

"So this is the gap between Innate and Acquired?"

Ye Xuan looked down at the wild grass growing wildly at his feet, inwardly amazed.

In the Primordial World, he was just a mortal, unable to defeat even a minor demon.

But here in the Perfect World, even the spiritual qi radiating from his body could bless an entire land.

Just as Ye Xuan prepared to restrain his aura—

"Rustle, rustle, rustle."

A rapid sound came.

The once lifeless, charred willow wood beside him was now trembling violently.

That single tender green branch, which had only swayed gently in the breeze, now seemed alive.

It straightened, bursting with dazzling green light—no longer a faint firefly, but like a burning green torch, illuminating half the village.

It moved.

That branch, like a spiritual serpent starving for countless years, madly reached toward Ye Xuan.

It didn't attack him.

It simply stopped three feet in front of him, dancing wildly, greedily devouring every wisp of Innate Spiritual Qi escaping from his body.

"Slurp—"

The air even made a sound like drinking.

As the Innate Spiritual Qi poured in, the green of that branch grew deeper, more crystalline, as if carved from emerald.

Even on the charred trunk, the originally dry, cracked bark began to heal, faintly revealing a hint of new, tender white.

A vast life force revived from within this dead stump.

Ye Xuan stood there, not daring to move.

He knew—the Willow Deity was awakening.

The Ancestor Spirit who had once slaughtered its way through the last epoch until no one in the world dared claim supremacy.

Though now fallen on hard times and undergoing nirvana, it was still, in essence, an Immortal King Giant.

"Hum!"

An immense will descended without warning.

This will was not overbearing, nor did it look down from on high like a Primordial Saint, treating all creation as straw dogs.

It carried a kind of ethereal detachment that had seen through the vicissitudes of time, a resilience that had endured countless kalpas without perishing.

The space around seemed to freeze.

That willow branch stopped its dance, hovering before Ye Xuan's brow, radiating a shimmering green light as if in scrutiny.

A voice sounded directly deep within Ye Xuan's mind.

"You... where do you come from?"

The voice carried no distinction of male or female, no hint of joy or anger, yet it was steeped in doubt.

"Why do you possess Chaos Spiritual Qi? This aura... pure, ancient, like the origin of all things, yet different from any Primordial Dao Rhythm I know."

"And on you, there is a Primordial Dao Rhythm I have never seen before."

The Willow Deity had awakened.

It had been roused by this "delicacy" it had never tasted.

Ye Xuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the tension in his heart.

He knew that facing a powerhouse of this level, lying would easily be seen through, but telling the truth might trigger Great Karma.

He had to mix truth with falsehood.

Ye Xuan straightened the beast-hide imperial robe on his body, cupped his hands slightly toward the charred tree stump, his posture neither humble nor arrogant.

"This Humble One, Ye Xuan, pays respects to the Ancestor Spirit."

He raised his head, and in those iconic Double Pupils, Chaos Qi swirled, interweaving with the green light on the willow branch.

"This Humble One was originally a man from beyond the heavens."

"Due to an accident, I strayed into a Space-Time Rift, lost my way back in the chaos, unaware of the passage of time. When I opened my eyes again, I had fallen to this place."

"As for this aura..."

Ye Xuan paused, a bitter smile appearing on his face.

"Perhaps I picked up some Chaos Qi in the Space-Time Rift, without knowing it myself."

These words were part truth, part falsehood.

The transmigration was real, and the Space-Time Rift was real.

As for the Chaos Qi?

That was indeed not picked up—it was a native product of the Primordial Heavenly Dao he carried with him.

The willow branch swayed gently, as if discerning the truth of Ye Xuan's words.

"Space-Time Rift... beyond the heavens..."

The Willow Deity's voice carried a hint of contemplation.

"This realm does have passages leading beyond the world, but they have long been severed."

The next moment.

An invisible wave radiated from the willow branch, instantly enveloping Ye Xuan's entire body.

It was the Willow Deity's probing.

It wanted to see through this youth's origins, his past and future.

But then.

Just as the Willow Deity's will touched Ye Xuan's body—

"Hum!"

The Double Pupils in Ye Xuan's eyes blazed brightly.

Two pupils overlapped, profound and boundless.

A gray, hazy mist surged from the depths of his pupils, instantly obscuring the Willow Deity's perception.

It was not Ye Xuan's active defense, but the self-protection mechanism of the Double Pupils.

Moreover, it was a layer of karmic fog left on Ye Xuan by the Primordial Heavenly Dao.

In the Willow Deity's vision.

The youth before it suddenly vanished.

In its place was a stretch of chaos.

A boundless, endless chaos, with no up or down, no left or right, no time or space—absolute chaos.

Even if it were an Immortal King Giant, even if it had once fathomed the mysteries of all eternity, at this moment it could not see through this layer of chaotic mist, let alone glimpse Ye Xuan's past or future.

A complete blank.

Beyond the Five Elements, outside Heaven and Earth.

"I cannot see through you."

A trace of surprise crept into the Willow Deity's voice.

"Your fate is nothing but chaos."

The willow branch withdrew its probing ripples, growing soft and gentle once more.

Though she could not see through Ye Xuan, the Willow Deity sensed no malice from him.

On the contrary, she felt an extraordinary comfort.