At that moment, after flying for a long while using his divine powers, Haotian finally arrived at his destination.
From a distance, the North Sea was already completely shrouded in Grievance and Fiendish Energy.
The thick black mist had turned nearly everything within sight into a realm of darkness.
And within this dark realm, all life had nearly been extinguished.
Just as Haotian was about to investigate further, an angry beast's roar rang out from within the black mist.
Hearing the roar, Haotian realized he had underestimated the dangers of this place.
From that roar, Haotian could tell—
If he got close to the Black Tortoise's body, a fierce battle would likely break out at once.
If it were just a fierce battle, Haotian wouldn't have thought much of it.
But the problem was the Black Tortoise's true spirit, its mind clouded by hatred.
If it refused to stop fighting until one of them was dead, Haotian would be in serious trouble.
After thinking it over for a moment, Haotian abandoned his original plan.
How much Merit could ever be enough?
There was no need to turn what should have been a good deed into a burden of Karmic Debt just to earn more Merit.
He spread his Spiritual Sense and searched for a suitable location.
Haotian then teleported there.
Looking at the dark seawater, he considered the matter for a moment.
With a thought, dozens of Small Bottles flew toward the seabed.
He used his Spiritual Sense to guide their flight, sending them to the positions he needed.
A few breaths later, all the Small Bottles were in place.
Haotian formed hand seals and activated the Array Formation.
In an instant—
The dozens of Small Bottles shone with brilliant light.
Their glow illuminated the surrounding pitch-black seawater, making it almost translucent.
The appearance of the light showed that the Array Formation, covering an area hundreds of thousands of li in radius, was complete.
Haotian changed his hand seals, and the light from the Small Bottles vanished.
Looking again, he saw that all the Small Bottles had sunk into the seabed.
Only the Grievance and Fiendish Energy continuously flowing underground revealed that the Small Bottles were still there.
The instant the Array Formation was completed—
A pillar of Merit descended from the sky.
Haotian's actions had improved the environment of the Primordial World.
And that was only one share.
Once the matter was over, another share of Merit would descend.
That would be Haotian's reward for figuring out a way to solve the problem.
As the Merit descended upon him, Haotian had already expected it. He barely glanced at it before calmly accepting it.
He quietly waited for the Merit to gather behind his head into a Golden Wheel of Merit.
Before long—
After the Merit had finished descending, Haotian swept his Spiritual Sense over the Golden Wheel of Merit, which had already grown somewhat illusory.
He then concealed it within his Cloud of Celebration.
Afterward, he gauged the speed at which the Grievance and Fiendish Energy flowed into the Small Bottles.
With a quick calculation, Haotian reached his conclusion.
At most, it would take a hundred years for the Small Bottles to fill with the spiritual liquid formed from the energy.
After that, any excess spiritual liquid would overflow on its own.
That would make room for the newly arriving Grievance and Fiendish Energy.
The overflowing spiritual liquid would slowly transform the hundreds of thousands of li covered by the Array Formation into something like a Blessed Land.
This was also something Haotian had done on purpose.
After all, he knew well that if you wanted to take, you first had to give.
For now, he would give the living beings of the Northern Region plenty of benefits.
Then, before long—
When Haotian began recruiting workers in the north—
He would simply have to say, "Sorry, but once we've shared this cup, I won't show mercy with my blade!"
I, Haotian, treat all the beings of the Primordial World equally!
If I treat you differently, then you should ask yourself what you did wrong.
Perhaps your Karmic Debt is too heavy?
Perhaps you didn't check your fortune before leaving home?
Having set up one Array Formation, Haotian didn't stay there any longer.
He immediately used his divine powers to head for the next location.
As Haotian envisioned it, he would set up a grand formation at each of the eight locations surrounding the Black Tortoise's body.
That would weaken the spread of the Grievance and Fiendish Energy at its source.
The remaining energy that the formations couldn't handle would be dealt with by the outer Array Formations.
This way, he could greatly weaken the Grievance and Fiendish Energy produced by the Black Tortoise.
While Haotian was busy setting up Array Formations—
The powerful figures across the Primordial World were already stunned by what he was doing.
What in the world was this?
Everyone had been at a loss over the problem, but Haotian had solved it with such ease?
Refine a few spiritual treasures, then set up some Array Formations.
It was that simple?
And the Merit had already been collected?
So, if I followed his lead now, could I claim a share of the Merit too?
But after thinking it over for a moment, the powerful figures temporarily abandoned the idea.
They were all people of standing and reputation.
If they were going to claim an easy windfall, they would have to wait until the other party was finished.
Only then would it count as taking advantage of the situation.
If they went now, it would be blatant Merit theft.
They'd best avoid fighting someone else for their Merit.
Besides, stealing it wouldn't be easy.
Meanwhile, on Mount Sumeru—
Watching Haotian receive Merit, Zhunti was so envious his eyes nearly turned red.
He envied Haotian for earning Merit.
He also envied the fact that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Blessed Lands would soon appear in the Northern Region of the Primordial World.
Haotian had already accepted the Merit. That was a fact no one could change.
Zhunti was now wondering whether they should follow suit.
"Senior Brother!
Haotian's method is so simple. Should we give it a try?
With Haotian's preparations, he probably can't cover the entire Northern Region of the Primordial World.
Besides, there are many places in the West filled with baleful energy.
If we can turn that energy into spiritual liquid, perhaps we could create more than a hundred Blessed Lands in the West."
Hearing Zhunti's words, Jieyin began considering the matter as well.
Should they follow his lead?
They definitely should!
The Primordial World was so vast. If they cleared away the baleful energy in even one more place, they would earn another share of Merit.
That was a good thing!
However, they would have to wait until Haotian was finished before following suit.
And the Small Bottles Haotian had refined seemed anything but ordinary.
Besides—
Only moments ago, several of the Sages had just made things difficult for Haotian.
Taking advantage of him now would look bad, even if it might be easy to get away with.
After thinking it over for a moment, Jieyin replied, "Junior Brother!
We definitely should follow up on this.
But we'll have to wait until Haotian is finished.
Going now would be somewhat inappropriate.
The beings of the Primordial World already misunderstand the West in many ways.
If we lose face over something like this too, they'll only have even less respect for the West.
Besides, the remaining windfalls won't be easy to claim.
For now, few cultivators have probably noticed.
Those Small Bottles Haotian made are truly extraordinary.
They're only Acquired Spiritual Treasures in rank, yet their power is no less than that of High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.
And since they're being used to dispel Grievance and Fiendish Energy, they'll surely absorb Merit.
That will only make the Small Bottles more and more wondrous.
As for the West—
It probably won't be possible to create Blessed Lands by this method.
Even if it is possible, it will take an extremely long time.
After all, the baleful energy in the West is nowhere near as vast as that in the Northern Region of the Primordial World.
Still, given enough time, we should be able to create a few more places suitable for cultivation.
But if we 'borrow' Haotian's method, we'll owe him Karma.
Haotian is no Hong Yun.
Hong Yun has no powerful background, so we can still find a way to 'settle' our Karma with him.
With Haotian, we'll have no choice but to bear that Karma outright."
Before you continue