Purple qi rose in streams, golden flowers drifted down, and auspicious radiance spanned the sky. The essence of creation had become tangible, all because Nuwa was expounding the Dao of Creation.
A Heavenly Dao Saint could also be called a Heavenly Dao Incarnation. Innate Divine Beings were born bearing a certain Great Dao; their physical bodies were the manifestation of that Great Dao.
Pangu underwent nine transformations each day, divine in heaven and sacred upon earth. This was, in truth, the evolution of Pangu's Great Dao.
At this moment, Nuwa was doing something similar. Empowered by the Power of the Heavenly Dao, she seemed to have transformed into the very origin of creation. Every movement, every smile and frown, contained the supreme true meaning of creation.
Xuan Qing seemed to realize something.
The Creation Yuan Gong, which had once seemed obscure and difficult to comprehend, began circulating on its own. His body became a universe, while endless Essence of Creation shaped his spiritual nature.
"What is creation?"
At that moment, Xuan Qing suddenly understood the question Nuwa had raised at the very beginning.
The Great Dao of Creation was the foundation of the world and the origin of life. It encompassed all things in the vast universe. Life and death were creation; yin and yang, as well as the five elements, were also creation.
Cultivation was likewise a form of creation!
And the essence of cultivation, as Nuwa had said, was a leap in one's level of life.
Mortals, cultivators, True Immortals, Golden Immortals, Taiyi, Daluo, quasi-Sages, Sages...
From mortal to immortal, from immortal to Sage—the process of cultivation was one of transforming oneself toward an eternal, indestructible state that could endure myriad calamities and remain unharmed by countless arts.
Xuan Qing could not help thinking of dimensions.
Zero dimensions were points, one dimension was a line, two dimensions were a plane, three dimensions were solid space, while four dimensions introduced time as a variable upon the foundation of solid space...
But if life itself was also regarded as a dimension, then was the essence of cultivation not dimensional ascension? A leap toward higher dimensions of life?
Ordinary mortals were merely three-dimensional beings. Yet once one transcended mortality and became immortal—especially cultivators who cultivated the path of Heavenly Immortals—they would come into contact with time. The endless Other Self Incarnations of the Heavenly Immortal Realm were founded upon infinite timelines!
For the Heavenly Immortal Realm could entirely be seen as the level of a four-dimensional lifeform.
A Heavenly Immortal cultivator's Other Self Incarnations possessed an eternal spark of spiritual light and could be reflected through timelines into parallel universes at numerous points in time, thereby witnessing a mortal's birth, growth, aging, and death.
After condensing a Golden Immortal Dao Fruit, bolstered by the Golden Immortal's immortal attributes, cultivators could initially resist the erosion of the Power of Time and return their bodies to infancy.
At this point, a cultivator's level of life was already equivalent to a five-dimensional universe.
By the same reasoning, Grand Unity Golden Immortals possessed bodies equal to universes and could freely gather timelines and evolve infinite other selves. This was equivalent to the level of life in a six-dimensional universe.
Upon reaching Great Golden Immortal, one attainment became eternal attainment. Their true spirit imprints would eternally endure within Great Luo Heaven, allowing them to truly stand within the River of Time and Space and glimpse countless possibilities of the future.
This was equivalent to seven-dimensional life!
In truth, Daluo could already be called omniscient and omnipotent. Yet the Primordial World held more than one Daluo. Their authorities intertwined, overlapped, and influenced one another, bringing many variables to the future.
As for realms above Daluo, Xuan Qing did not know much, but he could roughly judge that they belonged to eight- and nine-dimensional lifeforms beyond the seventh dimension.
"Life Leap!"
Xuan Qing could not help muttering, "Is this the essence of the Great Dao of Creation?"
Boom!
It was as though a divine being had issued a Dao cry and the Great Dao itself was guiding him. At that moment, Xuan Qing's comprehension of the Great Dao of Creation rapidly deepened. The Dao Tree within his Inner Scenery Land suddenly began growing wildly, reaching a height of a thousand zhang in an instant.
The Forge of Creation underwent another transformation, drawing in the essence of heaven and earth's creation. Like a black hole, it devoured everything, sweeping the Innate Spiritual Qi within a radius of ten thousand li completely clean.
Essence of Wood and Essence of Gui Water intertwined above it. Phantom images of the Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise emerged, refining all things as immortal light and divine rosy clouds burst forth like a great sun.
"Not bad!"
Nuwa spoke in praise.
When Xuan Qing opened his eyes again and looked at Nuwa, however, he felt differently.
All beings of the Primordial Wilderness knew that Nuwa had attained Sagehood through the Merit of creation. Yet the strand of white qi faintly appearing behind her did not seem to belong purely to the Dao of Creation!
"The Way of Grand Simplicity!"
Xuan Qing suddenly understood. All Innate Divine Beings were born bearing a Great Dao, and Nuwa, as one of the finest among them, possessed a Dao body that perfectly accorded with the mysteries of the innate Way of Grand Simplicity.
At the same time, he understood that Fuxi's Great Dao was the Innate Way of Change, which he had reverse-proven through the Innate Eight Trigrams. The two could be said to reach the same destination by different paths.
Fuxi and Nuwa both had human heads and snake bodies. The sun was the head, the moon the body; their Dao bodies expounded the mysteries of yin and yang, while each represented a supreme innate Great Dao.
Fuxi was the Way of Grand Yi.
Nuwa was the Way of Grand Simplicity.
Grand Yi was that before yin and yang had transformed: vast and boundless emptiness, without light or image, form or name.
Silent and lonely—this was called Grand Yi.
Grand Simplicity was when Grand Beginning transformed and took form. Form possessed substance, yet had not become a body. It was a material cosmic state more ancient and primordial than the innate Taiji universe.
Both were among the Five Primes of the Innate Great Dao. The Great Dao of Grand Yi was the beginning of spirit, while the Great Dao of Grand Simplicity was the beginning of substance. Both contained the ultimate principles of creating things from the void.
"Creation!"
At that moment, Xuan Qing thoroughly comprehended the divine ability of Spinning Creation. It was not merely an application of the Laws of Creation; it also involved the Great Dao of Grand Yi and the Great Dao of Grand Simplicity.
The Great Dao of Grand Yi bestowed spirit, the Great Dao of Grand Simplicity shaped the body, and the Great Dao of Creation awakened intelligence and forged life. Only when these three Great Daos came together, supplemented by innate divine artifacts like Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and Three Lights Divine Water, could one possess the power to turn decay into miracle.
Only then could one knead earth to create humans!
And what Nuwa comprehended was not the pure Great Dao of Creation. Rather, through the Great Dao of Creation, she had integrated her own Way of Grand Simplicity and Fuxi's Way of Grand Yi.
"Thank you, Holy Mother!"
Xuan Qing bowed once more.
Though he still lacked the ability to create a race, he now understood the core of creating humans. In the future, he might not be unable to create a race as Nuwa had.
"Go!"
As she spoke, Nuwa was about to send Xuan Qing out of Grand Simplicity Heaven. Since she had already bestowed the fortune she intended to give him, she had no plans to interfere excessively in the future of Xuan Qing and the human race.
"Wait!"
Having finally gotten this "Holy Mother" to pay attention to him, Xuan Qing naturally would not miss this chance to gain her backing. He immediately bowed to Nuwa. "Lady Nuwa, this child has one more question to ask of you!"
"Speak!"
With a wave of Nuwa's hand, the originally surging power of time and space immediately calmed.
Xuan Qing hurriedly gathered his thoughts. "Lady Nuwa, while comprehending the Innate Eight Trigrams, this child once glimpsed a corner of the future. Countless demons massacred the human race. Since you are the Demon Clan's Empress Wa, could you issue an order restraining the Demon Clan?"
He still wanted to struggle once more, to see whether he could rely on Nuwa's power as a Sage to prevent the Demon Clan from slaughtering humans on a grand scale to forge the Witch-Slaying Sword.
"Why stop it?"
Nuwa's expression was indifferent, as merciless as the Heavenly Dao itself. "Demons eat humans, and humans kill demons. Both are destined by the Heavenly Dao! It is like wolves and sheep. When you use your power to protect the sheep from wolves, have you considered whether that protection of the sheep is precisely the greatest harm to the wolves?"
"Heaven shelters all without partiality, earth bears all without partiality, and sun and moon shine upon all without partiality. For a Heavenly Dao Saint, the most important thing is to follow the fundamental laws by which the Heavenly Dao operates!"
"I do not care what you saw, but you also know that I am both the Holy Mother of the human race and the Demon Clan's Empress Wa. I cannot favor either one!"
Xuan Qing felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
He instantly understood why, when the human race was slaughtered in the future, both Nuwa, the human race's Holy Mother, and Taiqing Laozi, the Sect Master of the Human Sect, chose to stand by and watch as the Demon Clan massacred humanity.
No wonder!
Whether the human race suffered calamity or the Demon Clan suffered calamity, Nuwa paid no heed!
Heaven's Heart was Utterly Impartial, and the Heavenly Dao was selfless. As a Heavenly Dao Saint, she ought to follow the Heavenly Dao and conform to nature. How could she favor either the human race or the Demon Clan?
"Was my perspective too narrow?"
Xuan Qing believed the human race would be the future protagonists of heaven and earth, and he himself was human. He had always viewed matters from the human race's perspective.
Yet he had never considered the issue between humans and demons from the perspective of the Heavenly Dao.
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