Entering the Primordial Wilderness, Baleful Qi Permeates the Northern Continent

After several thousand leisurely years, Bei Ming sat quietly atop Mystic Turtle's back and finally completed the refinement of the Xuan Yuan Controlling Water Flag.

During the refinement process, not only had his cultivation risen to the Middle Stage of Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal;

through comprehending the Water Law contained within it, his understanding of this path had also advanced another step.

When he finished his cultivation, the Xuan Yuan Controlling Water Flag gave a soft hum in his palm, transformed into a streak of streaming light, and vanished into his sleeve.

Bei Ming opened his eyes. The divine light within them withdrew, and with a flash, he appeared above the boundless sea. He cupped one fist in salute toward Mystic Turtle and said solemnly:

"Fellow Daoist, everything is ready. It is time to depart."

Mystic Turtle slowly opened his eyes, his heavy eyelids trembling faintly. His voice was distant and ancient as he said, word by word:

"Fellow Daoist, may the winds favor your journey."

"Take care, Fellow Daoist."

Bei Ming answered, then immediately used Free and Unfettered Journey, piercing clouds and splitting waves as he shot toward the end of the horizon.

In Honghuang, combat strength was chiefly judged by cultivation realm, innate foundation, laws, spiritual treasures, divine powers, and physical body.

Kun Peng had originally possessed no supreme-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, yet he had still thrived among the high-level experts;

during the War between the Wu and Yao clans, he had also been one of the few among the Demon Race's high-level figures capable of standing toe-to-toe with an Ancestor Wizard.

Aside from integrating the merit of Demon Script and the Demon Master Palace he had later forged, such combat strength owed much to his formidable divine powers.

Bei Ming had already mastered the many divine powers within his inheritance, and the most useful among them were none other than these four:

Qi Embracing Cangming: Draw upon a portion of the sea's and sky's origin power to bolster oneself, increase combat strength, and heal injuries;

Returning Ruins Realm Phase: Open an inner world—the Returning Ruins—and project a domain to seal Heaven and Earth;

Free and Unfettered Journey: Roam the universe unrestrained, with form and spirit elusive, moving as freely as one pleased;

Eternal Tribulation Cold Edge: Black feathers condense into blades, cold qi bristling; edges number in the tens of millions, sealing throats and taking lives, with a killing formation following in its wake.

The four great divine powers complemented one another, their uses exceedingly comprehensive;

Free and Unfettered Journey in particular—its speed as an escape art ranked among the very best across Honghuang.

In Honghuang's harsh environment, if one could win, one fought; if one could not, one ran.

Leaving the depths of the North Sea, Bei Ming headed toward Northern Honghuang. Since he could be considered a northern creature himself, he had to visit the Northern Continent sooner or later.

As an Innate God born upon Honghuang itself, he had long possessed a preliminary understanding of this world through his inherited memories.

The regional layout of the entire Primordial World roughly followed the Round Heaven and Square Earth arrangement from the myths of Bei Ming's previous life, rather than the geographical layout of the real Earth.

The Four Seas lay respectively to the east, south, west, and north of the Honghuang Continent, forming a ring that encircled the land;

yet though the Four Seas were vast, their total area ultimately could not compare to the immense expanse of the Honghuang Continent.

Back when Bei Ming had yet to take form, he had continued north from his birthplace, only to reach the barrier at the edge of the Primordial World.

This barrier separated Honghuang from chaos, shielding Honghuang from the onslaught of Chaos Turbulence.

This time, however, Bei Ming traveled southward from the North Sea, intending to set foot upon the true Northern Continent;

this was the place where the Three Innate Clans had fought their decisive battle against the Fierce Beasts.

Though Honghuang was boundless, a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal still counted as a powerful figure. Their natural speed was not slow to begin with, and they had all manner of escape arts to enhance it;

unless one remained upon Mount Buzhou, which was filled with Pangu's pressure, or wandered all across Honghuang;

otherwise, one would hardly spend thousands, or even tens of thousands, of years merely on traveling.

Bei Ming crossed the North Sea and arrived at the Northern Continent.

Along the way, the skies were high and the seas broad, while the sea breeze howled fiercely.

Bei Ming's Spiritual Sense continuously swept the surroundings, hoping to chance upon some fortuitous opportunity;

everywhere he passed, the islands scattered across the sea like pieces on a Star Luo Chess board, as well as the dark and unfathomable sea areas in the depths, all fell within his inspection.

Though he found quite a few Innate Spiritual Materials, Innate Spiritual Roots and Innate Spiritual Treasures were truly too scarce.

His few gains consisted of one mid-grade Innate Spiritual Root, three low-grade Innate Spiritual Roots, and two mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.

To a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, these things were of little use indeed.

Maintaining the principle of stripping even the feathers from a passing goose, Bei Ming still stored them away within the Returning Ruins;

all kinds of Innate Spiritual Materials were common goods in the present-day Honghuang, nothing rare at all.

Bei Ming merely collected some in moderation, keeping them as a collection and enriching the Returning Ruins, rather than plundering them like locusts sweeping through a field.

Upon reaching the coastal region, development here was fairly decent, and quite a few weak clans lived there;

there was nothing to be squeezed from such fellows, while killing them would only add to his karma.

The casual aura Bei Ming exuded was already enough to fill them with terror.

As he drew closer to the Core Zone of the Northern Continent, the surrounding baleful qi grew increasingly dense.

Most eye-catching were the Fierce Beast corpses scattered across the polar region.

They were enormous in size and varied in posture, their deaths gruesome—yet their bodies had not decayed.

From the corpses emanated a dense, heavy baleful qi, lingering without dispersing as it rose and twisted like something tangible.

Though Fierce Beast corpses made excellent materials for refining artifacts, the baleful qi within them was enough to make the vast majority of artifact refiners stop in their tracks at the sight of it.

Baleful qi could disrupt the mind, damage the Primordial Spirit, and corrode one's Dao foundation;

without sufficient strength, one could not even suppress this baleful qi, much less refine it.

Even if a powerful artifact refiner forged them into Spirit Treasures, Spirit Treasures containing vast amounts of baleful qi would still harm their users unless they possessed great merit and Great Luck.

Bei Ming drifted through the land of death, silently calculating in his heart: If I can deal with this baleful qi, I will surely gain no small amount of merit; afterward, with the Primordial World's ability to recover, the Northern Continent may yet have a chance at revival.

Bei Ming descended and gazed across the boundless earth. After standing still for a moment, he crouched down, pressed his palm against the ground, closed his eyes, and focused his mind. His magic power spread outward as he quietly sensed the Northern Spiritual Veins.

After a long while, Bei Ming opened his eyes and slowly rose to his feet. He had already reached a decision. As expected, the Northern Spiritual Veins have been contaminated by baleful qi, leaving this place dim with life and unfit for the myriad beings to thrive; though baleful qi is difficult to remove, compared to the Western earth veins' desperate state of utter destruction, this place still retains a spark of life; as long as I find the progenitor of the Northern Spiritual Veins and use it as a foundation, there is still a chance.

Clearing the baleful qi from spiritual veins to earn merit—this was not something a genius would do. It was more like the work of a madman.

In terms of results alone, merit was indeed the most universally useful "all-purpose balm" in the Primordial World. Whether refining treasures, cultivating, or offsetting Tribulation Luck, it had miraculous effects;

but when it came to the process, the danger of baleful qi was something everyone in the Primordial World had long known.

It could not only corrode Spirit Roots and spiritual veins, but also contaminate the soul and Dao foundation;

with the slightest misstep, not only would one fail to gain any benefits, one might even harm oneself—at best, leaving one's realm unstable; at worst, causing one's Dao path to collapse.

It was somewhat similar to Zhunti and Jieyin's tireless efforts to repair the Western Spiritual Veins;

repairing spiritual veins sounded like a deed that benefited Heaven and Earth and earned merit, but only when one truly began did one realize it was a grueling, thankless task.

After all, if repairing spiritual veins were truly so easy, Cultivators would have flocked to it like ducks long ago.

However, in order to obtain the luck of the Northern Continent and avoid being dragged into the Demon Race's affairs later on, Bei Ming still decided to give it a try.