This move not only strengthened Lady Nuwa's Path of Creation, but also tangibly increased her power.
Once he understood this, it was easy to see why Lady Nuwa had come to manifest herself, even at the expense of consolidating her Sage Dao Fruit. The benefits were simply too great for her to stay away.
"What you did today accords perfectly with my Great Dao. You also cultivate the Yin-Yang Creation Scripture I passed down, which shows that you and I are truly fated to meet."
"Since that is so, would you be willing to go to Splendid Heaven's Wa Imperial Palace and cultivate under my guidance?"
After considering it, Lady Nuwa asked. Jiang Yuan had brought her such great benefits; as his elder, she could not leave him without some reward. But ordinary gifts would never match what he had contributed.
So, after much deliberation, Lady Nuwa decided to take Jiang Yuan as her disciple. That way, she could repay the karmic debt between them.
In the Primordial World, the bond between master and disciple was the closest of all—far closer than that between parents and children.
Once they established that bond, a master had to arrange a disciple's future and provide all the resources needed for cultivation until the disciple graduated.
With a relationship like that, no matter how great a favor was, taking the benefactor as a disciple was enough to repay it.
"I'm grateful for the Holy Mother's regard. I would naturally be willing to go to Wa Imperial Palace and cultivate under your guidance, but the Human Race is still in its infancy. There's development to be done everywhere, and it truly can't do without me right now."
Jiang Yuan was in a difficult position. Of course he was happy to become Lady Nuwa's disciple, but he was not so keen on going to Wa Imperial Palace to cultivate.
Was Wa Imperial Palace a good place? It stood in Splendid Heaven, the vast world Lady Nuwa had just opened in the chaos beyond the heavens. It brimmed with inexhaustible resources and was one of the Primordial World's top cultivation sanctuaries.
For anyone else, the chance to cultivate there would be an opportunity they could only dream of. But Jiang Yuan couldn't go, because no matter how wonderful Wa Imperial Palace was, it was still a place cut off from the rest of the world.
And as someone who followed the Path of "Eating," he couldn't afford to leave the Primordial World.
If he went to Wa Imperial Palace, where would he find so many living beings to devour? If he wanted to gather more divine-demon incarnations, he would have no choice but to rely on bitter cultivation.
And bitter cultivation was called bitter for a reason. It was grueling, and few people could persevere.
Jiang Yuan admitted that he could endure hardship, but being able to endure it didn't mean he wanted to. He wasn't a masochist. If there was a better way to cultivate, why would he choose the hard way?
Besides, the Human Race truly couldn't do without him right now.
His plans had only just begun, and a whole series of projects still awaited his attention. If he suddenly dropped everything and ran off to Wa Imperial Palace to enjoy himself, the Human Race would surely explode on the spot.
Even setting aside cultivation and the affairs of the Human Race, there were the meritorious deeds he planned to carry out next.
Establishing a currency and perfecting the system of weights and measures, as well as creating the Earth Emperor's Book and the Human Emperor's Brush—all of these required him to stay in the Primordial World.
There was simply too much on Jiang Yuan's shoulders, too much waiting for him to do. He truly couldn't leave the Primordial World to cultivate under Lady Nuwa at Wa Imperial Palace.
His future lay in the Primordial World, not in Wa Imperial Palace, cut off from the rest of the world. Only by remaining in the Primordial World could he grow and one day hope to reach the Hunyuan Realm.
If he went to Wa Imperial Palace to cultivate, he would probably never face danger again, but his potential would be locked away. He would have no hope of reaching the Hunyuan Realm and would likely stop at the Quasi-Saint Realm at most.
This wasn't just Jiang Yuan's speculation. It was based on the performance of Sage disciples in later generations. Their reputations grew greater and greater, but their achievements grew more and more dismal. They showed no sign of having what it took to attain the Dao.
"You..."
Hearing this, Lady Nuwa couldn't help smiling. She had been about to say, "You're barely cultivated at all. How can the Human Race possibly be unable to do without you?" But the words had barely left her mouth when she fell silent.
She had glanced at the Human Race's current situation and realized that it really couldn't do without Jiang Yuan.
At some point, he had become the center of the Human Race. Without him, they might not be reduced to their original state, but they would certainly fall into chaos for a long time.
"I underestimated you. The Human Race truly can't do without you right now."
"But that's all right. Whether you stay with the Human Race or go to Wa Imperial Palace makes no difference. I'm in seclusion now, and I won't emerge for at least a million years."
"During that time, even if you went to Wa Imperial Palace, you wouldn't receive my guidance. In that case, you may as well remain with the Human Race and test your own path."
Lady Nuwa wasn't angered by Jiang Yuan's refusal. Instead, she understood his position.
She hadn't known the situation before and had assumed Jiang Yuan would have a brighter future at Wa Imperial Palace. Now that she understood, she saw that he would be better off remaining with the Human Race.
Since that was so, she naturally wouldn't force him to cultivate at Wa Imperial Palace. Doing so would go against her own intentions.
"Thank you for understanding, Your Majesty!"
Seeing that Lady Nuwa wasn't angry, Jiang Yuan bowed again.
"Why call me Your Majesty? From now on, you should call me Master."
Lady Nuwa had agreed not to force Jiang Yuan to cultivate at Wa Imperial Palace, but she had never said she wouldn't take him as her disciple.
Whether he went to Wa Imperial Palace didn't matter. What mattered was that she would take Jiang Yuan as her disciple and repay the karmic debt between them. Of course, she was also very pleased with his innate talent.
Like her, he cultivated the Path of Creation, and the cultivation method he practiced was the Yin-Yang Creation Scripture she had created. More importantly, he himself was one of her creations.
Together, these three factors already made him worthy of becoming Lady Nuwa's disciple, to say nothing of the fact that Jiang Yuan had inspired her.
He was practically a disciple Heaven had sent her. Lady Nuwa could hardly refuse. She only regretted that she had to enter seclusion to consolidate her Sage Dao Fruit and couldn't attend in person, leaving this ceremony of initiation less formal than it should have been.
"Your disciple pays respects to Master."
Hearing this, Jiang Yuan was overjoyed—overjoyed beyond words. He hurriedly bowed with the proper respect and called her Master.
To him, this was fortune falling from the heavens. Who could have imagined that simply cultivating a new species would earn him Lady Nuwa's favor and make him her true disciple?
If word of this spread, the world would surely envy him.
"Now that you've taken me as your Master, I should give you a Dao name. From now on, your name will be Di Yuan."
Lady Nuwa lifted Jiang Yuan with a wave of her hand and spoke.
Di Yuan—Jiang Yuan's new name. It sounded simple enough: just his original name with "Di" added to the front. But it carried Lady Nuwa's grand hopes for him.
Adding "Di" to a name implied a coronation. Only an overlord of Heaven and Earth could bear such a name. In the current Primordial World, only two people had been given one.
One was Di Jun, ruler of the Demon Clan and Heavenly Emperor of the Heavenly Court. The other was Di Jiang, ruler of the Wu Clan and Emperor of the Earth.
"This name carries great fortune and can sustain the destiny of a supreme being. Others couldn't bear it, but you have abundant merit and the Human Race's Destiny supporting you. Not only will you be unaffected, it will make your future path smoother."