"Changsheng?"
Outside the array, Nuwa softly repeated the name.
In the Primordial Land, the names of living beings often embodied their hopes for the Great Dao or the qualities of their origins.
For example, her elder brother Fuxi's name carried the imposing air of ruling over heaven and earth, and deriving the myriad phenomena.
And then there were Ancestral Dragon, Yuanfeng, and First Qilin, who had carved the supreme glory of their clans into their very names.
But the name Changsheng...
It sounded rather plain, even somewhat... lacking in ambition.
"Eternal life, equal to heaven in longevity."
Nuwa smiled faintly, her voice passing through the array.
"Fellow Daoist Changsheng, your name is certainly straightforward. But we cultivators all know that cultivating immortality means defying heaven."
"The opportunities and fortune in this world, even the fruits of longevity, must be fought for amid tribulations and seized through spell battles."
"Only by contending with heaven for your life can you attain longevity."
Though Nuwa was gentle by nature, as an Innate Divine Being, she still carried the pride of the strong in her bones.
In her eyes, Lu Changsheng's behavior—cowering inside an array, too afraid to face the storms outside—ran counter to the very essence of cultivating the Great Dao.
"Contend?"
Inside the cave abode, Lu Changsheng heard Nuwa's words, so firmly rooted in the Primordial Land's mainstream values, and couldn't help rolling his eyes.
If it were any other cultivator, hearing a future Sage's teachings would probably have sent them straight to their knees, trembling as they listened.
But who was he, Lu Changsheng?
He was a man who treated the Dao of Cowardice as his faith!
"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, I'm afraid I can't agree with you."
Lu Changsheng's voice rang through the array, carrying a hint of irreverence, yet sounding unusually firm.
"What do you mean, contending with heaven for your life? What do you mean, seizing opportunities amid tribulations?"
"That's the behavior of a reckless fool!"
Lu Changsheng sat on his white jade bed, arms folded across his chest.
"You Innate Divine Beings always think that unless you go out and fight, seize territory, and survive a few brushes with death, you're somehow letting your cultivation go to waste."
"But have you ever thought about it?"
"The Primordial Land is vast beyond measure, and tribulations come one after another. One batch died in the Ferocious Beast Tribulation, and now the Dragon-Phoenix Clans are fighting so fiercely they're nearly cracking each other's skulls open. Who knows how many more will die in the future?"
"Of those who went out to fight and seize things, how many actually made it to the end?"
Lu Changsheng gave a cold snort.
"If you're dead, what's the point of cultivating? What's the point of talking about longevity?"
Nuwa was stunned by Lu Changsheng's twisted argument.
In all her life, she had never heard anyone dress up fear of death in such elegant terms, and with such righteous conviction.
"But..."
Nuwa furrowed her brow slightly and retorted,
"If you don't compete for the opportunities of heaven and earth, but instead shut yourself away and cultivate in isolation, how can your cultivation improve? And if a tribulation truly descends, what will you use to resist it?"
"Who says I won't resist?"
Lu Changsheng shot back, utterly unapologetic.
"Are these three thousand layers of arrays just for show? Is all the work I put into reinforcing my defenses day and night a joke?"
"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, your understanding of the word 'longevity' is too narrow."
Lu Changsheng took a deep breath. His voice turned solemn, as if he were imparting some supreme Dao.
"True longevity isn't about how many enemies you've defeated."
"It's about..."
"When your enemies have all died of old age, been struck down by heavenly lightning, or turned to ash in a Tribulation of Measure..."
"And you're still alive and well, even able to enjoy a cup of hot tea beside their graves."
"As long as you live long enough, you'll be the greatest winner in all of heaven and earth!"
"By not contending, you cannot lose; to live on is longevity!"
As Lu Changsheng's final eight words rang out with resounding force,
the area surrounding Nameless Low Mountain fell utterly silent.
Nuwa stood beside the boulder, a complex gleam shimmering in her beautiful eyes.
Absurd!
Utterly absurd!
This was the philosophy of a complete coward!
And yet...
Why did it sound as if, beneath all that absurdity, it somehow aligned with the plainest, most fundamental law of survival in heaven and earth?
Wasn't the purpose of life simply to endure?
The Dao of Creation she cultivated was about nurturing life and creating all things. And wasn't the first priority of life to avoid calamity and preserve oneself?
Nuwa slowly closed her eyes.
She made no further retort.
Her Dao heart, which had been clarified after she swallowed the Red Sun Fruit, was now like a stone dropped into still water, stirring one circle of profound ripples after another.
She sat cross-legged on the boulder once more.
Wisps of azure light, each representing the Law of Creation, began to appear out of thin air around her.
Inside the cave abode,
Lu Changsheng watched Nuwa close her eyes and meditate again in the water mirror. He rubbed his chin smugly.
"Look at that. I've got her all twisted around."
"This is the supreme truth, proven by countless Dao of Cowardice pioneers in my previous life. Against these Primordial Land natives with nothing but fighting and killing on their minds, it's an overwhelming advantage."
And so,
separated by three thousand layers of thick, shameless array screens,
the strangest discourse on the Dao in all the Primordial Land unfolded in a most unusual fashion.
The powerful woman outside the door contemplated the life-giving force within the philosophy of hiding away.
The miser inside the door smugly tallied up the Three Lights Divine Water he had acquired.
In this remote corner, cut off from the rest of the world, there were no flashing blades or clashing magical treasures.
Only the breeze swept across the ruins, and only the spirit fruit trees grew slowly within the array.
Time flowed on.
In the blink of an eye,
another eight hundred years slipped quietly by.
For Innate Divine Beings, who often secluded themselves for an entire epoch, eight hundred years wasn't even enough to comprehend a single incomplete law.
But here, among the ruins beyond Nameless Low Mountain,
the woman meditating cross-legged on the boulder slowly opened her bright eyes.
The instant Nuwa opened them, the withered yellow weeds within a hundred li burst with boundless vitality.
They shot up from the ground at a visible pace, even blooming with tiny flowers.
A profound and wondrous Dao resonance, vast and mighty, far beyond the peak of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm, rippled from Nuwa.
There were no earth-shaking signs, nor did heavenly tribulation descend.
It was a natural ascent, as smooth as water flowing into its course, in harmony with the workings of the Heavenly Dao.
Nuwa stood and straightened the hem of her azure Flowing Cloud Skirt. She felt the power within her undergo a transformation, faintly touching the fundamental laws of heaven and earth.
A heartfelt smile appeared on her beautiful face.
The Daluo Golden Immortal realm!
Though she had only stepped halfway across the threshold of Great Luo, attaining the half-step Great Luo realm,
it meant she had crossed the chasm that countless living beings in the Primordial Land could never bridge, no matter how long they lived. She had finally gained the means to establish herself in this world.
"The principles of endurance and methods of avoiding calamity are the foundation of creation."
Nuwa gazed at the enormous array formation, still shining with every color beneath the sky, and let out a long sigh.
Over these eight hundred years, she had repeatedly compared Lu Changsheng's seemingly cowardly words about avoiding conflict against her own Dao of Creation.
At last, she had parted the clouds and seen the clear sky.
Creating all things did not merely mean granting them life. It also meant allowing life to endure in this world, beset by danger on all sides.
Seeking fortune and avoiding harm, wisely preserving oneself—this was the most fundamental path to survival for all living things in heaven and earth!
Mindlessly scrambling for opportunities and becoming tainted by tribulation energy was, instead, an inferior path. It was all too easy to end up as a painting of a cake amid a Tribulation of Measure.
Once she understood this, the Law of Creation she cultivated finally gained its most crucial missing piece.
"Lu Changsheng..."
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