He put away the Purple Firmament Token and looked around. The mountain ranges wound like soaring dragons, while the lakes sparkled like stars scattered across the Milky Way.
From afar, the magnificent scenery seemed unremarkable.
Only up close did he realize that every mountain peak towered hundreds of millions of feet high, piercing the clouds.
Every lake stretched as vast as the oceans of a later age, its waters shrouded in mist and haze.
"As expected of the Primordial World. A single mountain is a world of its own, and a single lake can contain ten thousand rivers of stars."
Though he had expected as much, Haotian still couldn't help marveling at the sight of such breathtaking splendor.
In his previous life, the most he had ever done was look down at mountains and rivers from a man-made airplane.
How could that compare to standing aloft in the void now, sweeping his Divine Sense across the Eight Wastelands and Six Directions, and taking in the grandeur of heaven and earth?
"Magnificent! Exhilarating!" His heart surged with boundless pride, and Haotian couldn't resist throwing back his head and letting out a long roar.
His cry rang like a dragon's roar, echoing among the mountains.
Buzz!
Suddenly, a strange sensation rose in Haotian's heart.
His aura changed abruptly, and a wisp of invisible gloom drifted from the crown of his head, vanishing into heaven and earth.
"I never expected that simply experiencing the vastness of the Primordial World would advance my cultivation." Haotian looked astonished.
He understood now. Just moments ago, as his mind and spirit soared, he had inadvertently severed the fear that had taken root in his heart after arriving in an unfamiliar world.
As his state of mind improved, his cultivation of the Great Dao naturally advanced as well.
"Roar!"
Just as Haotian was rejoicing over his progress, a thunderous tiger's roar suddenly rang out, its Killing Qi surging skyward!
He furrowed his brow and turned toward the sound.
A pitch-black tiger, a million zhang long, leaped out of a deep ravine. Its claws trod upon dark clouds, and its eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
"Strange. My Divine Sense just swept the area, and there wasn't a trace of life within ten thousand miles. Where did this tiger come from...?"
Before Haotian could think further, the Black Tiger opened its mouth and spat out billions of streaks of black light.
Demonic Qi surged within the streaks, and Blood Fiend flickered among them. It was unmistakably a Supernatural Power of the Devil Dao!
"Remnants of the Devil Dao!" Haotian's heart tightened as he immediately set his Dao Method in motion.
At the Purple Firmament Palace, he had been no more than a servant boy, so Hongjun's teachings hadn't been the most supreme methods. They couldn't compare with the inheritances of the Three Pure Ones and other Innate Divine Beings.
Still, they had come from a Saint and counted among the Primordial World's finest inheritances. They were more than enough to deal with a Rogue Cultivator corrupted by the Devil Dao.
Boom!
Haotian raised his hand and pressed down at the void. His Golden Immortal power surged forth, forming a golden Dao seal that came crashing down.
In an instant, the Black Tiger let out a scream. Its million-zhang body shattered, its Divine Soul was extinguished, and not even a trace remained.
But Haotian's brow remained furrowed. "That tiger's appearance was suspicious. Its demonic aura was impure, but its escape technique was faint and hard to detect..."
As he pondered, a mysterious fluctuation suddenly came from the Netherworld.
It seemed at once like the flow of Daoist resonance and a flash of spiritual light, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, impossible to grasp.
Haotian's mind jolted, and his eyes flashed with light.
"Heaven-bestowed Opportunity?!"
His heart tightened. He immediately focused his attention on the place his instincts had sensed.
As Haotian concentrated, the mysterious fluctuation grew clearer.
It was like the chant of the laws, or the breath of heaven and earth in its primordial state—ethereal and elusive.
"The Black Tiger appeared out of nowhere, and then I sensed an opportunity. Could this be a hidden scheme?" Haotian's gaze remained calm as he silently made his deductions.
The strange fluctuation grew stronger, like a clear spring tapping against his heart and washing over his mind.
After hesitating for a moment, he made up his mind. "Opportunities are rare, and they vanish in the blink of an eye."
"With the Purple Firmament Token protecting me, my life should be safe. I'll go and investigate."
With that, Haotian raised a hand and tore open the void. His body became a streak of light and plunged through, speeding toward the source of the sensation.
After crossing countless billions of miles of mountains and rivers, and traversing endless clouds and rosy light, Haotian arrived at a place brimming with Spiritual Aura.
Peaks encircled the area, stretching for several million miles. Hundreds of sharp summits pierced the clouds, arranged in the stance of Nine Dragons Paying Homage.
Spirit Mist swirled among the mountains, while exotic flowers and plants swayed with radiant light. Rare birds and Exotic Beasts appeared and vanished among the peaks. It was truly a blessed land, brimming with spiritual splendor.
Haotian hovered in midair, spreading his Divine Sense like a net and scanning the entire mountain range inch by inch.
The Primordial World was unfathomably dangerous. Though he had attained the Golden Immortal Dao Fruit, he was far from becoming a Great Power. He had to act with the utmost caution.
After probing for a long while and confirming there was no apparent danger, Haotian slowly descended.
A Breeze brushed his face, bringing with it the crisp, refreshing Spiritual Aura of the mountains.
A snow-white Spiritual Beast—a deer—leaped out from the woods. It wasn't startled to see Haotian. Instead, it stopped and gazed at him, spiritual light shimmering in its eyes.
Haotian closed his eyes and focused, carefully contemplating the Daoist resonance of heaven and earth as he followed the mysterious sensation in his sea of consciousness.
He didn't know how long had passed when his mind suddenly cleared. At last, the source of the sensation became distinct.
Haotian stepped forward, Shrinking Ground into Inches. In the blink of an eye, he stood before a towering mountain peak.
The closer he came to the peak, the stronger the sensation grew, like the tolling of a morning bell and evening drum, each peal striking at his Dao Heart.
Suddenly, an extraordinary change erupted!
The Earth Veins of the surrounding mountains and rivers trembled violently. The void warped like rippling water, and the River of Time fell into disarray!
Fortunately, Haotian had remained alert and shielded himself with Daoist resonance, keeping him from being swept into the temporal turbulence.
Once heaven and earth had settled, an Exotic Beast of ancient and peculiar appearance emerged from a mountain stream.
It resembled a Qilin, yet wasn't one. Its head was like a dragon's, its body was covered in dark armor, and beneath its four feet swirled phantoms of Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind.
"A guardian Spiritual Beast?" Haotian's gaze sharpened, then he shook his head. "No. It isn't a living creature."
Though the Exotic Beast radiated vigorous vitality, it lacked the soul and Daoist resonance found in a true living being.
It seemed more like the embodiment of this land's will—the will of its mountains and rivers. It was as ancient as the mountains and as enduring as the rivers. Though it possessed immense power, it wasn't truly alive.
Haotian felt the urge to retreat.
A battle with such an entity of unknown origins could bring either fortune or disaster.
"Roar!"
But the Exotic Beast wasn't about to give Haotian time to weigh his options. As it roared furiously at the sky, countless visions materialized in the void.
Phantom mountains crashed down, rivers reversed their flow and surged skyward, and stars swayed as if about to fall...
With a single strike from the Exotic Beast, heaven and earth lost their color, and all laws wailed!
In the time it took for a spark to fly from flint, Haotian's thoughts raced.
If he wanted to escape the fate of being a mere puppet and attain the true exalted position of Heavenly Emperor, he would have to build up his foundations and forge bonds of goodwill.
An opportunity lay before him. If he retreated out of fear of difficulty, how could he ever prove the Dao?
Haotian's resolve hardened, and his Imperial Great Dao rumbled into motion!
An awe-inspiring authority that ruled over the Eight Wastelands and commanded Qiankun spread from his body.
The Exotic Beast's immense aura faltered, as if a subject had come face-to-face with his sovereign, instinctively brought under his control.
The Imperial Great Dao Haotian had comprehended inherently held the authority to rule over all things in heaven and earth.
Though the Exotic Beast was formed from the will of mountains and rivers, it still fell within the bounds of "all things in heaven and earth."
Under the suppression of the Great Dao, its attack weakened considerably.
Haotian raised his hand and drew upon the authority over Yin and Yang in heaven and earth.
Then Yin Yang Qi flowed from his palm, forming the seal of a Taiji Diagram that spun in midair.
The phantom mountains and rivers unleashed by the Exotic Beast crashed into the diagram, vanishing without a trace as if a clay ox had entered the sea.
Seizing the opening, Haotian struck back with a punch. His forceful blow held the subtlety of using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds, turning the Exotic Beast's own power against it.
Boom!
A thunderous crash shook the mountains. The Exotic Beast's million-zhang body crumbled inch by inch, turning into specks of spiritual light that scattered into heaven and earth.
But Haotian remained on guard.
According to his perception of the Great Dao, that strange force of heaven and earth had not yet dissipated.
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