Liu Zhong had imagined things going wonderfully. Had he never considered that events might really unfold just as he'd hoped?
Liu Zhong struck up a conversation with Jin Ao.
They were the only two nearby beings who had awakened their intelligence, and Jin Ao hadn't spoken with anyone in a long time.
He was very excited.
Liu Zhong didn't get much more information out of Jin Ao.
Jin Ao was a homebody of a turtle, and very lazy. He wouldn't move an inch for ten thousand years, so he knew very little about what was happening on the mainland.
Now and then, birds and fish passed by Jin Ao Island, and Jin Ao had picked up a few scraps of information from them.
Jin Ao told Liu Zhong what he knew. Based on that and what he remembered from the Primordial World novels he'd read, Liu Zhong concluded that this was probably after Dao Ancestor Hongjun's second sermon, but before the third had begun.
Empress Nuwa hadn't created humanity yet, and the Wu Race and Demon Race divided the mainland between them.
The Heavenly Court had yet to be established, but tensions between the Wu Race and the Demon Race had already grown ever more severe.
Liu Zhong sighed.
He wanted to hear the Dao Ancestor preach, too.
But he hadn't even taken human form yet, and couldn't leave Jin Ao Island. How was he supposed to get to the Thirty-Three Heavens?
Besides, even if he could take human form, with his meager modern-day strength, he still couldn't cross Chaos and find Zixiao Palace beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens.
As soon as Liu Zhong gained consciousness, he'd possessed the cultivation of a Heavenly Immortal.
In later eras, such as the time of Legend of the White Snake, that level of cultivation would make him a master.
But in the Primordial World, he was the tiniest of insignificant nobodies.
There were simply too many powerful beings in the Primordial World.
You could say Daluo were everywhere, and Golden Immortals were as common as dogs.
The main reason was that the Primordial World was overflowing with spiritual energy. Any blade of grass or stone could absorb enough of it to awaken its intelligence and cultivate into an immortal.
And becoming an immortal was only the first step.
Just as Liu Zhong was lamenting how weak his cultivation was, he heard a detached voice enter his ears, as if someone were speaking right beside him.
"This poor Daoist will soon deliver the Third Sermon. Fellow Daoists who wish to listen, please hurry to Zixiao Palace."
At once, Liu Zhong saw streaks of multicolored light flash across the sky. They were the lights cast by the treasures the mighty figures rode.
They were setting out for beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens.
Liu Zhong watched, envious.
"Don't be envious." Jin Ao's words struck Liu Zhong right in the sore spot. "Even if we were lucky enough to make it to Zixiao Palace and hear the sermon, with our cultivation, we wouldn't understand what the Saint was saying."
Liu Zhong: "..."
Liu Zhong: "Well said. Don't say it again."
Jin Ao: "Why?"
Liu Zhong: "Because the truth hurts the most."
Jin Ao: "People? What are people?"
Right, Empress Nuwa hadn't created humanity yet.
Liu Zhong: "It's nothing. Just a minor race."
"Oh." Jin Ao didn't ask any more questions.
There were countless races in the Primordial World. Jin Ao assumed it was perfectly normal that he hadn't heard of them all.
Liu Zhong gazed at the sky, imagining what was happening in Zixiao Palace.
What did Saint Hongjun look like?
What did the Sanqing look like?
Were they a trio of an old man, a middle-aged man, and a young man?
Did Empress Nuwa appear before others with legs or a serpent's tail?
Was Taiyi as imposing and handsome as he was in the novels?
Was Dijun secretly cunning?
Did the Twelve Ancestral Witches really look so bizarre?
No more streaks of light appeared in the sky. The mighty figures must have all gone beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens; no one was flying there anymore.
Hongjun's sermon had probably begun.
Unfortunately, Liu Zhong couldn't hear a thing.
He kept gazing at the sky, breathing in spiritual energy as he cultivated, and waiting for another strange sight to appear.
Alas, one hundred years passed, then two hundred...
The sky remained calm.
Only then did Liu Zhong remember that Hongjun's sermons lasted a thousand years at minimum.
He couldn't help feeling a little sheepish.
In the Primordial World, time really was cheap.
A hundred years was an entire lifetime for an ordinary human, but to the creatures of the Primordial World, it was no more than a brief nap.
Liu Zhong yawned. He wanted to sleep.
It was all so boring. Every day, all he did was cultivate, with nothing else to occupy him.
Jin Ao had fallen asleep fifty years ago.
He slept for a very long time. If no one disturbed him, he could sleep for eight or nine hundred years straight.
Without Jin Ao to chat with, Liu Zhong was even more bored.
The occasional seabirds and fish weren't great conversation partners. They had awakened their intelligence, but they were all ignorant and rather dim.
Talking to them would lower Liu Zhong's IQ.
Liu Zhong thought he might as well sleep, too.
Cultivation was instinctive, anyway. Even while he slept, his body would automatically absorb spiritual energy and cultivate.
So Liu Zhong let his consciousness sink into darkness.
At the moment he fell asleep, his innate divine ability activated once more, carrying his soul away from the Primordial World and deep into Chaos.
In Zixiao Palace, Old Ancestor Hongjun was in the middle of his sermon when he sensed something and turned his gaze toward the void.
But he saw nothing.
Great Immortal Yangmei would never leave behind a descendant without providing any protection.
Liu Zhong carried a protective ward placed on him by Great Immortal Yangmei. Not even Old Ancestor Hongjun, a Saint, or the Heavenly Dao could detect it.
After all, the Heavenly Dao of the Primordial World was incomplete, while Great Immortal Yangmei's cultivation as a Saint surpassed Old Ancestor Hongjun's.
The Sanqing, Nuwa, Zhun Ti, and the others below sensed nothing amiss. They were all immersed in the Dao Old Ancestor Hongjun expounded, understanding the Dao that belonged to each of them.
"He's here, he's here! It's a boy."
Liu Zhong was woken by the noise and couldn't help frowning.
When had outsiders come to Jin Ao Island?
Why were they making so much noise?
He opened his eyes, wanting to see what had arrived.
Had some Dragon Race member come up from the sea to swim around on the surface?
His eyes were open, but everything before him was hazy. He couldn't see a thing.
Liu Zhong: "..."
He tried to release his spiritual sense and check his surroundings.
But...
Liu Zhong: "..."
The voices kept coming into his ears.
"Congratulations, Third Madam. You've given birth to a boy."
"Good. Take him out and let Third Master see his son." A young woman spoke weakly.
Hearing those words, Liu Zhong immediately understood his situation.
His innate ability had carried his soul across again while he was asleep, and now he'd been reborn as a baby!
With people addressing them as "Third Madam," "Third Master," and "boy," this seemed to be an ancient world. It probably wasn't a poor household or a farming family; the family was wealthy enough to employ servants.
Mm, not a bad start.
Liu Zhong was satisfied.
He yawned and pretended to sleep, while actually beginning to absorb the innate energy he'd brought with him from his mother's womb, which hadn't yet dissipated.
This world had spiritual energy, though its density was no more than one ten-millionth of that in the Primordial World.
Still, with diligent cultivation, it was possible to become an immortal.
Before you continue