Chaos stretched on without end, and heaven and earth had yet to be opened.
The Three Thousand Chaos Demon Gods each wielded the laws of their own Great Daos. They fought and debated the Dao amid the chaos, hoping to raise their cultivation to a higher level.
At the very center of the chaos, the Chaos Azure Lotus gave birth to Pangu, the Demon God of Strength, who cleaved the chaos apart with his Heaven-Opening Axe.
The Three Thousand Demon Gods refused to give up the chaos they depended on to survive.
The calamity of the world's creation erupted.
Pangu wiped out the Demon Gods, then opened the Primordial World, foolishly hoping to replace chaos with the Primordial World and take the place of the Great Dao himself.
But his strength gave out, and his body transformed into the myriad living beings of the Primordial World.
Thus, the Primordial World was born.
Unlike the lifeless chaos, the Primordial World had been nourished by the Chaos Demon Gods and by Pangu, who had been on the verge of proving the Dao.
A vibrant scene of life flourishing and all things striving to thrive unfolded before their eyes.
But the northern reaches of the Primordial World became a battleground between the innate races led by the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin, and the Ferocious Beasts born from the union of lingering Chaos Demon God remnants.
The devastation of war, along with the Chaos Sha left behind by the countless dead Ferocious Beasts, meant that almost no innate races remained in the northern reaches—which should have been no less abundant than the other four regions of the Primordial World.
Spiritual energy was scarce there, too.
At that moment, an island drifted across the North Sea. Before long, an enormous head emerged from beneath the water.
Shen Gui gazed at the sky. A look of speechless disbelief flashed through his huge eyes. "I just followed Fang Han into the Gate of Eternal Life. And now I'm back?"
"You could've either left me there or not sent me there in the first place. I worked so hard to become an Immortal King, and just when I was ready to enjoy myself, it was all gone."
Shen Gui thought back to his first transmigration.
He had actually transmigrated to the Primordial World first, becoming the Giant Turtle of the North Sea—the one whose limbs Nüwa had used to support heaven and earth after the Witch-Demon Calamity, when Zhou Mountain collapsed and became Mount Buzhou, tilting the heavens and the earth.
He had originally been lamenting his fate.
After all, the one who had acted was Empress Nuwa.
He had no cheat to begin with, and on top of that, he was burdened with too much baleful energy and had no Innate Inheritance, leaving him unable to take human form.
All he could do was grow larger and larger, waiting to die.
He had planned to hope that Empress Nuwa would show mercy and let him reincarnate to cultivate anew.
In short, he had given up.
But to his surprise, the moment he fell asleep,
he discovered he had transmigrated again—and into a world he knew well.
The Eternal Life Great World.
This time, though, he'd been lucky. He had become a person, and Fang Han's senior fellow disciple. Once he found out what world he was in,
Shen Gui immediately clung to Fang Han.
He'd never planned to compete with the overworked Fang Han for the so-called Gate of Eternal Life. Fang Han had created the entire Eternal Life Great World to comprehend the Dao.
Put him in the Primordial World, and he'd be Pangu reincarnated. Who would dare compete with him?
To hell with that!
He was better off sticking close to Fang Han.
Step by step, he followed Fang Han with unwavering loyalty.
If Fang Han went east, he never went west. If Fang Han went after a dog, he never chased a chicken. If Fang Han went to a brothel, he never went around kicking... Ahem.
And just like that,
he became the vice sect master of the Epoch Gate.
After that, he followed the Fang Han of the Eternal Life World and kept the other Immortal Kings—those who wanted to stop him from proving the Dao—occupied.
When Fang Han united with the Gate of Eternal Life and began slaughtering one Immortal King after another, just as Shen Gui was getting ready to enjoy himself,
you're telling me I'm back again?
"But maybe this isn't such a bad thing..." Shen Gui sensed the genuine Three Thousand Great Daos of the Eternal Life Great World in his mind, along with countless divine arts and wondrous techniques.
"Taking human form might not be so difficult after all."
Shen Gui's thoughts raced as he recalled the Three Thousand Great Daos he had learned in the Eternal Life Great World.
Of them, the Great Blood Soul Technique was the most wondrous for refining the flesh and reshaping the body.
If he could use this technique to take human form and shed his Giant Turtle body, then perhaps he could change the fate of "having his legs cut off to support the heavens" someday!
With that thought, he no longer hesitated.
Profound runes lit up one after another across his shell. Vast vital essence gathered from the depths of the North Sea, flowing into his enormous body like a hundred rivers returning to the ocean.
As the Great Blood Soul Technique circulated, his mountain-sized turtle body began to shrink and transform. Amid swirling Chaos Qi, a human-shaped silhouette gradually took form.
But just as his Dao Body was halfway formed, not yet complete, the cloudless sky abruptly changed!
Ink-black clouds surged in from every direction. In the blink of an eye, they blanketed the entire North Sea. The weight of the heavens bore down, and bolts of lightning darted through the clouds like serpents, rumbling with a muffled roar.
The calamity's aura locked onto Shen Gui. The murderous intent it carried was enough to make even a Taiyi shudder.
Shen Gui snapped his head up. A flash of anger and alarm crossed his enormous eyes. "Damn you, heavens! Is this fate truly unchangeable?"
He knew full well that, as an Innate Being, he had no need to undergo a Lightning Tribulation to cleanse himself of turbid energy when taking human form.
This phenomenon defied the laws of heaven. Perhaps... it was that predetermined "Heavenly Mandate" at work!
It would not allow a Giant Turtle destined to "sacrifice himself" to break free of his chains!
Unless he gave up taking human form right now, dispelled his power, and returned to his original Giant Turtle body, the Lightning Tribulation would inevitably descend. And from its might, it clearly intended to show no mercy.
"In the Eternal Life World, I, Shen Gui, followed Fang Han in the face of all those Immortal Kings. Knowing which way the wind blew isn't shameful! But now you want me to submit just to take human form?"
A pride born of returning from the Eternal Life World, where he had once attained the rank of Immortal King, suddenly surged within him.
"If I back down here, then what's the point of all my knowledge as an Immortal King and the Three Thousand Great Daos? Wouldn't it all be a joke?"
His decision made, he didn't hesitate again!
A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. Not only did he refuse to rein in his aura, he ignited all the vital essence and magic power he had left!
He drove the Great Blood Soul Technique to its limits. His whole body blazed with light, and the vague silhouette of his Dao Body solidified completely before his eyes!
"BOOM—!!!"
Almost at the very instant his Dao Body fully took shape,
a massive purple bolt of divine lightning, as thick as a mountain, tore through the layers of dark clouds. Bearing the will to destroy all things, it struck his newly formed Dao Body with devastating force!
The North Sea boiled, and the heavens and earth lost their color.
The next moment.
Just as the thunderbolt reached him, Shen Gui, newly transformed, narrowed his eyes and cried out:
"Great Protective Technique!"
A seemingly delicate, invisible barrier appeared in an instant, firmly shielding his newly formed Dao Body.
It was one of the strongest defensive laws of the Great Dao in the Eternal Life World!
"RUMBLE!!!"
The purple divine lightning crashed against the barrier, unleashing a deafening roar.
The lightning coiled like a dragon, savagely gnawing at the barrier in an attempt to pierce through it.
But the barrier formed by the Great Protective Technique stood firm as a boulder, its immortal, indestructible Dao resonance flowing as it held the destructive thunder at bay.
For a moment, the sea for thousands of miles around Shen Gui became a purgatory of lightning!
Lightning snakes danced wildly. The seawater evaporated, then flooded back, sending up towering waves. Blinding flashes turned the dim heavens and earth deathly pale.
This terrifying phenomenon instantly alerted Kunpeng in the depths of the Northern Abyss.
Before you continue