Nuwa seeks advice? I must have a part in the great undertaking of creating humans!

The Purple Firmament Palace's eternal silence descended once more.

As the last wisp of hot pot aroma was dispersed by the Chaos Airflow, this "hot pot diplomacy," which was enough to be recorded in the annals of the Great Desolation, officially concluded.

Sovereign of Heaven had a great time drinking. As he left, he even slung an arm around Taiyuan, shoving a piece of Shangqing Jade Token into his hand. He said that if Taiyuan ever wanted to visit him for a drink at Mount Kunlun in the future, he didn't need to announce himself and could just come right in.

Zhen Yuanzi and Hongyun were also thoroughly satisfied. Hongyun, in particular, felt he had never made a wrong friend in his life. Taiyuan was someone he could count on.

Only one person didn't leave.

Nuwa.

Fuxi had originally intended to pull his sister away quickly back to Fengxi Mountain. After all, her eating earlier had severely damaged her image as a mighty being, and she needed to go into seclusion to regain her dignity.

However, Nuwa insisted Fuxi wait for her outside the palace gates, while she herself stayed behind.

At this moment.

She stood behind Taiyuan. Her eyes, which usually held the profound mysteries of creation, now lacked their sacred and lofty aura, replaced by a hint of worldly confusion.

She unconsciously clutched the jade chopsticks, made of some unknown material, her fingertips turning slightly white.

"Fellow Daoist Taiyuan..."

Her voice was clear and cold, yet carried a subtle tremor.

Taiyuan, who was tidying up the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace that had served him so well, paused at her words and turned around.

The Nuwa before him now wasn't the aloof, future Saint. She looked more like a little girl who had encountered a problem and was seeking answers from her parents.

"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, did you not eat enough?"

Taiyuan made a joke, attempting to ease the somewhat heavy atmosphere. "If you're still hungry, the pot is dry, but I have some rations here."

Nuwa shook her head, a conflicted expression appearing on her exquisitely beautiful face.

She took a deep breath, as if making some sort of decision. She stepped forward, her gaze fixed intently on Taiyuan.

"Fellow Daoist, please do not tease."

"Nuwa has stayed behind this time because there is a great confusion I wish to ask Fellow Daoist... to guide me through."

Here it comes.

Taiyuan's heart stirred, but his expression remained calm and unhurried. He casually conjured two cushions and gestured for Nuwa to sit.

"I wouldn't call it guidance. Let's just chat."

Nuwa sat down, her brow furrowed with worry, and slowly began to speak.

"Fellow Daoist, do you know that I cultivate the Dao of Creation?"

"Since my transformation, I have roamed the Great Desolation, seeing all manner of flying beasts, scaled creatures, and insects."

"I have tried to mold earth and create life, attempting to bring forth entirely new, perfect beings."

As she spoke, Nuwa sighed and extended her delicate hand.

Within her palm, light swirled, transforming into several small beasts sculpted from mud. Though they possessed spiritual energy, their eyes were vacant, acting solely on instinct, devoid of any intelligence.

"But no matter how hard I try, the things I create are always... lifeless."

"They have no souls, no emotions, like... like walking corpses."

Nuwa looked up, a flicker of hope in her eyes. "But just now, in Fellow Daoist's dream, I saw some different beings."

"Though they were weak, though they lacked the great divine abilities to move mountains and fill seas, they could cry, they could laugh, they could cheer for delicious food, and they could blush with embarrassment while fighting over a piece of meat."

"That vitality... is precisely what my creations lack."

Taiyuan listened, his heart blooming with joy.

This was like needing a pillow and someone handing him one.

Creating humans.

This was the greatest merit in the Great Desolation, and the foundation for Nuwa's eventual sainthood.

In the original timeline, this was Nuwa's solo endeavor. He never expected that in this life, because of his dream-induced hot pot, she would develop doubts so early and come seeking his advice.

If he didn't get involved now, he'd be letting himself down as a transmigrator.

Taiyuan suppressed his elation and put on a profound expression.

He didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "Fellow Daoist, what do you think constitutes a living being?"

Nuwa was taken aback. After a moment of thought, she replied, "Having intelligence, understanding yin and yang, the ability to pass on lineage, the capacity to cultivate, and conforming to the Heavenly Dao."

Taiyuan smiled and shook his head.

"Wrong."

"Terribly wrong."

Nuwa was stunned. "Where did I go wrong?"

Taiyuan stood up, hands clasped behind his back, and gazed deeply into the chaotic void outside the Purple Heaven Palace. His voice became ethereal and distant:

"The reason living beings are living beings is not because of how strong they are, nor whether they conform to the Heavenly Dao."

"But because of... the heart."

"The heart?" Nuwa murmured the word.

"Correct."

Taiyuan suddenly turned, his gaze locking onto Nuwa, as if he could see through her very soul:

"Fellow Daoist just said you wanted perfect living beings."

"But this world, by its very nature, has no perfection."

"It is precisely because of imperfection that there is the drive to pursue perfection."

"You say the beings in my dreams are lively, and that's because they know contentment, and they also know greed; they know joy, and they also know suffering."

"They will be grateful for a full meal, and they will weep over a setback."

"These seven emotions and six desires, this mix of bitterness, sweetness, sourness, and spiciness, are the truest flesh and blood that construct a soul!"

BOOM!

These words struck Nuwa's mind like a thunderclap, shattering the chaos within.

Seven emotions and six desires.

Bitterness, sweetness, sourness, spiciness.

Imperfection is perfection?

Nuwa froze in place, divine light flashing in her eyes. The bottleneck that had been troubling her for so long suddenly showed a sliver of a crack.

She had always pursued ultimate purity and divinity, forgetting that this Great Desolation was a mixture of mud and sand.

If the beings she created were all desireless like the innate gods and demons, wouldn't this Great Desolation become a stagnant pool?

"I... understand."

After a long while.

The confusion in Nuwa's eyes faded, replaced by an unprecedented brilliance.

She stood up and bowed deeply to Taiyuan, a sincere bow:

"Hearing your words is better than ten thousand years of cultivation."

"So I was walking into a dead end, only wanting to grant them divine power, but forgetting to grant them... a human heart."

Taiyuan accepted the bow calmly.

This was the bow of a future Saint, carrying immense weight.

But he didn't plan to stop there.

Just the favor of guidance wasn't enough; there needed to be a tangible benefit to secure the largest slice of the merit pie in this creation endeavor.

"Since Fellow Daoist has understood, I shall hold nothing back."

Taiyuan's eyes narrowed slightly, Magical Power surged within him, and his face instantly turned a little pale.

He extended a finger and gently tapped his own brow.

HUMMM--

An extremely brilliant, yet incredibly gentle, white light slowly emerged from his brow.

As this light appeared, the entire side hall of the Purple Firmament Palace seemed to warm up.

This was no ordinary spiritual light; it was pure "hope," it was "Prayer Power."

Taiyuan had a unique origin. He was the first wisp of "Wish Light" left in the world by Pangu the Great God when he separated heaven and earth and transformed into all things.