Nuwa Creates the Human Race (Please Read On!)

Before long, outside Kunlun Mountain, the clouds parted.

Nuwa arrived alone upon the clouds. Today, she had not traveled with Fuxi. She wore a light green Daoist robe, and the aura of creation surrounding her was far richer than when they had met by the Qing River years ago.

Like spring waters swelling to the edge of the embankment, it needed only one final breach before bursting forth in a torrential rush.

After entering the mountain, Nuwa first bowed to the Three Pure Ones. "Nuwa greets her three senior brothers."

Then she looked at Xuan Heng and said, "Junior Brother Xuan Heng, we meet again."

This time, she did not call Xuan Heng Fellow Daoist, instead addressing him directly as junior brother. They both belonged to the Dao Ancestor's lineage, and this would bring them a little closer. After all, she had come today to borrow a spiritual treasure as well.

Xuan Heng returned the salute with cupped hands. "Greetings, Senior Sister Nuwa."

"Junior Sister Nuwa, have a seat first," Taiqing said, pointing to the stone stools beside the stone table by the lotus pond.

Nuwa nodded and sat down, but her gaze remained fixed on Xuan Heng's Innate Gourd Vine within the lotus pond.

The Innate Gourd Vine in the pond also seemed to sense the Dao rhythm of creation upon her body. The aura of Yi Wood slowly circulated through its vines.

"Hehe, Junior Sister Nuwa, I'm afraid you have not come to Kunlun today merely for an ordinary discussion of the Dao, have you?"

Seeing this, Yuanshi could not help asking.

Nuwa nodded without denying it, getting straight to the point. "When Junior Brother Xuan Heng witnessed the Innate Gourd Vine emerge into the world back then, did he not take away the last remnant vine? When Junior Brother went traveling last time, the two of us met, and I learned that he had been using the Purifying White Lotus to nurture that gourd vine. I have traveled the Primordial World for many years, and now the opportunity for creation in my heart has reached its final threshold."

She paused, then looked at Xuan Heng. "That is why I have presumptuously come to visit you all, wishing to borrow Junior Brother Xuan Heng's Innate Gourd Vine."

Xuan Heng nodded without hesitation. With a wave of his hand, the Purifying White Lotus beside the pond slowly emerged. Purifying white light descended, and the Innate Gourd Vine gave a gentle tremble as its fine roots embedded along the pond's edge slowly withdrew.

Over these years, nurtured by the Purifying White Lotus, old wounds still remained upon its vines, but its vitality had stabilized. It had long since shed the ruined, dying state it had been in back then.

The instant the gourd vine rose from the water, a surge of Innate Yi Wood aura appeared, faintly resonating with the aura of creation around Nuwa.

Xuan Heng lifted the gourd vine and sent it before Nuwa.

"Since this vine was brought back from Mount Imperfection, it has been nurtured in Kunlun. Today, Senior Sister's opportunity for creation has arrived. To take part in this is also its own destined fate."

Nuwa reached out and caught the Innate Gourd Vine drifting toward her. As the Innate Yi Wood aura entered her body, the last trace of confusion in her eyes vanished.

"Thank you, Junior Brother Xuan Heng," Nuwa said gratefully after putting away the Innate Gourd Vine.

Xuan Heng shook his head. "Senior Sister, the one you should thank most is yourself, for all you have seen and realized while walking the Primordial World these years."

Taiqing looked at Nuwa, his expression calm.

"Junior Sister, your opportunity has arrived."

Yuanshi said, "A great matter of creation must not be delayed."

Tongtian smiled.

"After today, the Primordial World will likely have a whole new look."

Nuwa bowed to the Three Pure Ones.

Then she turned and left Kunlun.

The opportunity for creation upon Nuwa had now reached its critical point. An invisible force within heaven and earth was guiding her onward.

The Purifying White Lotus within Xuan Heng's brow lightly trembled, guiding Xuan Heng to follow Nuwa.

The Three Pure Ones, meanwhile, remained in Kunlun to continue their contemplation, striving to comprehend the Dao soon and attain the realm of sainthood.

Several years later, Xuan Heng followed Nuwa to the bank of a great river. Its waters were broad and mighty, flowing from distant mountains, winding around a plain, then continuing toward lands farther away. The soil along its banks was moist, vegetation flourished, and in the distance lay mountains and forests, gentle slopes, and plains where living beings could dwell.

Nuwa descended onto the riverbank and stood there for a long time.

Wind swept across the river's surface, and wave after wave of water sounds drifted over. In the distance, several small beasts poked their heads out from the grass. Upon sensing the auras of the two, they quickly shrank back again.

Nuwa watched them, and the aura of creation around her grew ever denser. Then she lifted her eyes to the sky and spoke softly.

"The living beings of the Primordial World each have their own foundations. The Witch Clan possesses powerful fleshly bodies, the Demon Race has countless bloodlines, and Innate great powers are born with Daoist grounds and Dharma treasures."

Then she lowered her gaze to the soil beneath her feet and said leisurely, "But over these years, I have traveled through many places, and what I have seen more often are small races too insignificant to leave even their names behind."

"They are born weak. They fear the wind, fear the rain, fear demon beasts, and fear even an aftershock casually unleashed when the strong battle with their arts."

Nuwa crouched down, her fingertips lightly touching the riverbank soil.

"If there were a race between heaven and earth that was born weak, yet could survive through its own hands, support one another through its kin, and travel farther through generation after generation of inheritance, perhaps the Primordial World would gain a new path of survival."

As Nuwa's words fell, the aura of creation throughout the Primordial World churned without end, all rushing to converge upon her.

Only at this moment did Xuan Heng truly confirm that Nuwa had genuinely realized her own path to sainthood.

Nuwa spread open her palm, and a clump of Nine Heavens Resting Soil appeared. At first glance, it was merely a small lump of earth, yet the moment it emerged, the vital currents of the surrounding land rose and fell with it.

Then she made a gesture, and a small white bottle flew from her sleeve. Its mouth tilted, and several drops of Innate spiritual water fell into the Nine Heavens Resting Soil. The spiritual water was incomparably clear; the instant it landed, a faint clear light of creation rose.

Nourished by the spiritual water, the Nine Heavens Resting Soil immediately softened. Within it, the vitality of thick earth intertwined with the aura of creation, and a faint spiritual radiance flickered.

The aura of creation flowed around Nuwa's fingertips as she began molding a small body bit by bit.

Head, torso, limbs, facial features—the mud figure was crude at first, but as the clear light of creation descended, it gradually gained a spiritual charm.

Xuan Heng stood some distance away, his expression turning far more serious. No wonder the foundations of the Innate Human Race, though inferior to those of Innate sacred beings, still surpassed ordinary acquired lifeforms by far. So this was the source—they had been molded one by one by Nuwa's own hands from Nine Heavens Resting Soil and spiritual water of creation.

Nuwa gently breathed out a breath of pure creation qi.

The tiny clay figure trembled. Then it opened its eyes. At first, its gaze was blank, but it soon saw Nuwa and instinctively knelt in worship.

"Greetings, Holy Mother."

As Nuwa looked at the first member of the Human Race before her, a smile finally appeared in her eyes.

She continued shaping figures with Nine Heavens Resting Soil and spiritual water of creation.

One, two, ten, a hundred—until three thousand of the earliest humans stood along the riverbank, Nuwa finally stopped.

Among these three thousand humans were men and women. Their auras were pure, their spiritual platforms clear. Though weak at birth, each carried a faint wisp of innate creation qi.

They would become the earliest roots of the Human Race, the forebears who would one day pass down memories and lead their people in breaking new ground and establishing themselves.

The three thousand humans had been created, but with only three thousand, they ultimately could not support a true race.

Nuwa lowered her gaze to the Innate Gourd Vine in her hand. Then she dissolved the Nine Heavens Resting Soil into the river water. This time, she no longer used innate spiritual water.

The river water bore the vital force of the earth. Though not as pure as innate spiritual water, it was inexhaustible, and better suited to the principles by which postnatal living beings multiplied.

The Innate Gourd Vine dipped into the muddy water. The rich, earthen vitality of the Nine Heavens Resting Soil, the gentle spiritual qi of the river water, and the vine's innate yi-wood qi intertwined along its body, forming a vast aura of creation.

Nuwa swung the Gourd Vine, scattering droplets of mud.

Each speck of mud that fell upon the ground transformed into a new living being.

These later-born humans did not possess foundations as clear as those of the first three thousand, but they were numerous, and their auras were connected.

More and more humans appeared along the riverbank. They opened their eyes and saw the sky, the earth, the river—and Nuwa, who had created them.

Some could not stand steadily and fell into the mud. The humans beside them instinctively reached out and helped them back up.

When Xuan Heng saw this, his gaze shifted slightly. No one had taught them, yet they already knew to help their kin to their feet.

This was the Human Race. Though born weak, they knew to support one another.

As Nuwa continued flinging down postnatal humans, the luster of the Innate Gourd Vine gradually dimmed.

It was only a remnant vine in the end. Though it had been nourished for many years, it could not withstand such enormous expenditure of creation.

Xuan Heng raised his hand, and the Purifying White Lotus appeared. White light fell upon the Gourd Vine, cleansing away the impure qi it had gathered while creating humans and protecting that thread of its origin vitality.

Nuwa did not turn around, but she knew Xuan Heng had acted.

The Gourd Vine steadied once more, and Nuwa swung it several more times.

Only when the riverbank was filled with the earliest humans did she finally stop.

The humans looked at her and, as though by instinct, all knelt in worship.

"Greetings, Holy Mother!"

Xuan Heng no longer looked below. Instead, he raised his head toward the sky. Nuwa's creation of humanity had ended—the merit and the saintly throne were about to arrive!