The Question of Stance

Although the formation techniques were profound, the human race was capable of mastering them. One must not forget that the human race was created by Lady Nuwa, and her brother, Emperor Xi Fuxi, was one of the Primordial World's most renowned masters of formation arrays.

After Lady Nuwa created humanity, she worried about their well-being. When she left behind her inheritance, she included not only her own but also several of Emperor Xi's, among which were his teachings on formation arrays.

After all, formation arrays were recognized throughout the Primordial World as one of the few supreme methods capable of overcoming the many with the few, and defeating the strong with the weak.

The Three Ancestors of the Human Race each had their own strengths: Ancestor Sui excelled in wisdom, and Ancestor Zi excelled in creation. As for Ancestor Chao, his greatest talent was precisely in formation arrays.

It was precisely because of this that Jiang Yuan proposed the idea of combining architecture with formation arrays.

Upon hearing this suggestion, Youchao felt as if his meridians had been cleared; not only did he easily combine the two, but he also ventured further and further down this path.

Give him a bit more time, and he would likely be able to fully integrate architecture with formation arrays, thereby crafting architectural-style magical treasures.

Such large-scale magical treasures were rare in the Primordial World. If Youchao could achieve this, he would no longer be an obscure figure in the path of artifact refining, and he would have the potential to become a master of the craft in the future.

Exquisite clothing and magnificent buildings—these new developments in the human race left foreign visitors lingering, unwilling to leave, and even willing to trade their precious treasures for them.

In response, the human race timely voiced their own needs, asking the outsiders to help them find silkworms that lacked intelligence but were adept at spinning silk.

It was so obvious that even a fool should have guessed that the human race's clothing was related to silk. Yet, the outsiders who heard of this simply never considered that possibility.

This was not because they were stupid, but because the heavenly secrets related to this matter had been shielded by Lady Nuwa. Unless their strength reached a certain realm, no matter how clever they were, they would never be able to make the connection.

Developing trade, collecting taxes, and exporting culture—these were the general changes in the human race over the past hundred years. It might not seem like much, but compared to the human race of a century ago, the current human race could only be described as having been reborn.

Except for the people themselves, everything else had undergone earth-shaking changes. Especially resources; not only were they becoming more abundant, but the variety was also becoming increasingly complete.

Thanks to these resources, Jiang Yuan's strength had improved significantly over the past century, even while multitasking. He had long since reached the perfection of the Void Refinement stage, just half a step away from becoming a Heavenly Immortal.

Or, to be more precise, he had met the requirements for immortality thirty years ago, but he dared not break through.

Speaking of this, Jiang Yuan felt as frustrated as if he had been cursed. Over the past century, he had attempted to break through to the Heavenly Immortal realm twice, and both times ended in failure.

The first failure was excusable, but the second was agonizing—it wasn't that he couldn't succeed, but that he dared not, even though he could.

For Jiang Yuan to become a Creation Heavenly Immortal, he first needed to condense the Nine Great Gods and Devils Avatars and then smelt them into one to form the Creation Dao Fruit.

These nine avatars could be innate beings, innate true spirits, or even innate divine beings. In short, the higher the life level of the avatars, the stronger the combat power after achieving the Creation Heavenly Immortal realm.

Jiang Yuan was incredibly proud; he would only choose the strongest for his avatars, so he chose to condense the Nine Great Innate Divine Being Avatars.

This was not a problem, nor was it difficult for him, especially as the human race gained control over more and more resources.

In just thirty years, by devouring the essence blood of fierce beasts and consuming vast amounts of resources, Jiang Yuan successfully condensed the Nine Great Gods and Devils Avatars. Then, he had to smelt them into one to form the Creation Dao Fruit.

Jiang Yuan's first breakthrough failed right there.

The nine avatars he had condensed—the Savage Fish, Scaled Horse, Mountain Lord, and so on—were strong, but they had no connection to each other and were not of the same origin, making fusion extremely difficult.

Of course, if Jiang Yuan were willing to consume his merit to drive the Creation Jade Disk, he could have forced the fusion.

However, Jiang Yuan did the math and felt it wasn't worth it. Rather than consuming a massive amount of merit to force a fusion, it was better to re-condense nine avatars of the same origin.

Although this would consume more resources, the human race's current speed of acquiring resources far exceeded their acquisition of merit.

Between consuming more resources or more merit, Jiang Yuan chose the former.

Any normal person would make the same choice, because merit was harder to come by than resources; it was meant for emergencies and could truly save one's life at a critical moment.

Thus, Jiang Yuan spent another thirty years re-condensing nine avatars of the same origin: the Kun Fish, Moon Rabbit, Rainbow Deer, Drumming Ox, Thunder Camel, Cloud Mirage, Mountain Lord, Phoenix Feathered Eagle, and Mysterious Snake.

These nine gods and devils seemed unrelated, but by taking the rabbit's eyes, deer's antlers, ox's mouth, camel's head, mirage's belly, tiger's paws, eagle's talons, fish's scales, and snake's body, one could form the Primordial Azure Dragon.

The Primordial Azure Dragon was a primordial fierce beast born from the flesh and blood of the Chaos Demon God, the Dragon of Chaos. Its status was equal to an Innate Divine Being, and it was an existence on the same level as the Ancestral Dragon.

After condensing these nine avatars, Jiang Yuan felt that this breakthrough was secure, with no possibility of failure.

However, on the eve of his breakthrough, he suddenly realized that while he hadn't made a mistake in his cultivation, he had made a grave error in his stance.

His priorities were skewed, and his position was problematic.

Who opened up the Primordial World? The Great God Pangu!

Who was the greatest enemy of the Primordial World? The Chaos Demon Gods!

And what was the Dharma Form he was preparing to condense for his breakthrough? The Primordial Azure Dragon.

Who was the Primordial Azure Dragon? A descendant of the Chaos Demon Gods, the common enemy of all beings in the Primordial World. Long before the era of the three clans, when the Primordial World had just been opened, the Primordial Azure Dragon was hunted down by a group of Innate Divine Beings.

Reflecting on this, Jiang Yuan immediately realized that he had made another mistake in his choice of avatars. He shouldn't have chosen innate fierce beasts, but rather innate divine beings of the Pangu lineage.

Once this Primordial Azure Dragon Dharma Form was formed, while it wouldn't necessarily put his life in danger, it would cause him to be ostracized by the mainstream and forever marginalized.

Just imagine: everyone else practices the Pangu Dharma, but you practice the Demon God Dharma—would anyone look at you properly? Of course, they would collectively reject and belittle you.

With his choice failing once again, what could Jiang Yuan do? He could only learn from his lesson and re-condense the nine avatars.

In truth, the Demon God Dharma could still be practiced, but it required a powerful background. If one were a disciple of a Saint, let alone the Demon God Dharma, even the Demonic Path could be practiced without anyone finding it problematic.

But for an ordinary person, these were forbidden arts—not to be touched.

Jiang Yuan was merely a creation of a Saint, still a long way from being a Saint's disciple, so he could secretly study forbidden arts like the Demon God Dharma, but he could not make them his primary practice, and he certainly could not let others discover them.

If they could not be his primary practice, it meant Jiang Yuan could not use this method to become a Heavenly Immortal. Therefore, the nine avatars had to be changed.

Having fully learned his lesson, the nine avatars Jiang Yuan chose to condense this time were, in order: Qiu Niu, Ya Zi, Chao Feng, Pu Lao, Suan Ni, Bi Xi, Bi An, Fu Xi, and Chi Wen.