Daojun as Bait

It flowed very slowly, as slowly as a snail crawling, yet every step was steady, as steady as a mountain.

Every pattern was glowing.

The light was faint, as faint as fireflies on a winter night, yet stable, as stable as stars unchanged since time immemorial.

They flickered faintly in time with Chu Ming's breathing, their rhythm perfectly synchronized with his heartbeat.

With every flicker, a warm power of order seeped from the patterns, flowing along the surface of the Dao Fruit before sinking into its depths. Those powers gathered, compressed, and fused within the Dao Fruit, then surged forth from it in a purer form, flowing into the one hundred and eight star domains. The one hundred and eight star domains were evolving in tandem.

The nine newly born spirits had fully matured.

Three months ago, when they had first stepped out of the light, their bodies had still been translucent, like human figures formed from a thin mist.

Their movements had been slow, their gazes dull, like newborn infants.

Three months later, their bodies had solidified, turning from mist into substance, from transparent into colored.

Their movements were nimble, their eyes alive with spirit, like beings that had grown for tens of millions of years.

The flame spirit stood atop the new volcano in the first star domain, holding a sword in both hands.

The sword had condensed from pure flame, blazing light flowing across its blade.

It was no longer the little figure from three months ago that could only stand atop a mountain and stare blankly.

Wisdom had appeared in its eyes, as had thought, along with the sharpness that belonged to a warrior.

It began practicing sword techniques at the crater. Every stroke carried ripples of the laws of flame, and every stroke carved a