Nuwa Sovereign Heaven.
After becoming a Sage, Nuwa had opened a sanctuary in Chaos, anchored to the Primordial World.
It looked less like a sanctuary than a newborn world. Countless currents of chaotic energy flowed and intertwined within it, transforming into rich Innate Spiritual Energy.
In the void outside, all the renowned innate divinities of the Primordial World were present, except for the Twelve Ancestral Witches of the Witch Race.
The Three Pure Ones sat at the front. Laozi wore no particular expression, Yuanshi looked solemn, and Tongtian radiated a sharp edge, his Sword Qi bearing down on everyone around him.
A little farther back, the faint shapes of golden lotuses and Bitter Bamboo hovered beside Zhunti and Jieyin. Both sat with their eyes closed.
Farther still, Ancestor Minghe was wreathed in bloody light. Zhenyuanzi sat close to a middle-aged man in red robes, while the brothers Di Jun and Taiyi had drawn in their Solar True Fire and listened quietly to the Sage's teachings.
No celestial flowers rained down, nor did golden lotuses appear in the void.
Nuwa's voice flowed across the sanctuary like invisible ripples, sounding in every listener's mind.
"When the primordial whole had yet to part, the first breath stirred... The gate of the mysterious female became creation's court..."
"One spark of Spirit Light gave rise to creation... From then on, the pivot of yin and yang began to turn..."
She spoke of the very foundations of a Sage's path of creation, laying bare the laws of the Heavenly Dao.
In the blink of an eye, a thousand years passed.
The sermon had long since ended.
One by one, the listeners awoke from their contemplation.
The Three Pure Ones rose slowly and glanced at the place where Nuwa's sanctuary had vanished. Then their figures blurred first, becoming three streaks of pure light that flashed back to the Primordial World.
Next came the golden light of Zhunti and Jieyin, then Minghe's bloody light... The void returned to deathly stillness.
On the shores of the East Sea.
Yellow Dragon roamed the vast lands by the sea like a solitary shadow.
He crossed mountains broken by giant beasts, swamps shrouded in poisonous miasma, and dried-up riverbeds.
Wherever he went, he followed one simple rule: even a mosquito was worth the meat.
He straightened the Earth Veins, cleansed the poisonous miasma, cleared waterways, and brought down Sweet Dew to nourish all things.
Water flowed once more through parched riverbeds. Blocked Earth Veins opened, letting spiritual energy circulate again. The roots of mountains damaged by giant beasts settled, and flecks of new green struggled up through cracks in the stone.
He also planted every seed and seedling of a Spiritual Root or immortal plant he came across inside the Mysterious Yellow World Pearl.
One day, Yellow Dragon had just cleared a clogged Earth Vein. He felt the faint pulse of earth energy flowing through it again like a river.
Suddenly, he noticed a subtle anomaly in the spiritual energy flowing through the vast Earth Veins around him. Like rivers running to the sea, a great quantity of pure spiritual energy was being drawn by an invisible force toward some unknown place in the distance.
The change was so slight that an ordinary creature could hardly have noticed it. But Yellow Dragon had been born from an Earth Vein's awakened spirit; he could read the flow of earth energy as easily as the lines on his palm.
Something's odd.
Yellow Dragon's interest stirred.
Following that barely perceptible current, he traveled through vein after vein, beginning a long, painstaking search.
The sun and moon turned. Years passed as he searched.
At last, Yellow Dragon stopped before an unremarkable valley deep in the mountains. Several low hills intersected in a peculiar pattern, creating natural contours that concealed anything unusual within the valley.
From outside, the place looked no different from the surrounding lands for ten thousand miles.
But the current Yellow Dragon had sensed in the Earth Veins led straight here!
It was as though the valley were silently swallowing all the spiritual energy in the Earth Veins.
My chance has come.
Golden light flashed in Yellow Dragon's eyes.
Rather than rush in, he merged completely with the Earth Veins.
His innate affinity with them let him blend in, while the Pure World White Lotus unfurled silently. A flawless Spirit Light wrapped around him, perfectly concealing his aura and obscuring him from heavenly scrutiny.
He blended into wisps of earth-vein energy and followed the vein beneath the valley, slipping inside with ease.
The moment he entered, the scene changed.
Steep cliffs flanked the valley, with jagged rocks rising everywhere.
Yet the valley was filled with a violent fire-aspected aura, mingled with a strange, sweet, bloody scent.
Deep in the valley, a Spiritual Root grew from a fire-aspected Innate Spiritual Vein. Dark red from root to crown, it had gnarled branches and leaves that looked carved from blood jade, with what seemed like blood flowing through their veins.
Its branches were laden with date-shaped fruits the size of pigeon eggs, red as blood.
Its aura was much like that of the Dao Enlightenment Tea in Yellow Dragon's possession. At the very least, it was an Acquired Mid-Grade Spiritual Root.
He searched the valley thoroughly, then finally confirmed that the Spiritual Root had no owner.
Yellow Dragon let down his guard and sent a wisp of his Primordial Spirit into it.
"Blood Red Dates." It was an Acquired Mid-Grade Spiritual Root that bore hundreds of dates every hundred years.
The dates contained the laws of the Dao of Fire and immense blood essence. They would be of great use in comprehending the laws of fire and tempering the body.
With a silent command, Yellow Dragon poured all his Magic Power into the Mysterious Yellow World Pearl hidden in his sleeve!
A vast spatial force erupted, like a miniature world opening its jaws.
Its target was not merely the blood-red tree. He meant to take the Innate Spiritual Vein beneath it and the richest soil within a one-mile radius, soil that had nourished it for countless years!
Without a sound, that stretch of land—the Blood Red Dates rooted in it, the fire-aspected Innate Spiritual Vein, and all—was gently "dug" from the Primordial World by an invisible giant hand. It vanished into the world inside the Mysterious Yellow World Pearl.
In its place lay a huge pit with smooth edges and no visible bottom, while the spiritual energy thrown out of balance erupted into a violent storm!
Almost the instant the Spiritual Root vanished, the valley's unusual terrain was broken open, and turbulent spiritual energy spread in every direction.
A terrifying divine sense suddenly swept through the entire valley like a storm, detecting the aftershocks in the Earth Veins and the pit that had appeared out of nowhere.
A savage presence appeared near the valley: a giant beast dozens of yards tall, shaped like a pangolin and covered in dark golden scales!
"ROAR!"
Its deafening bellow shook the valley as it lunged at Yellow Dragon, a reeking gale rushing before it!
The cliffs on either side burst apart, raining stone.
The Taiyi Realm! Judging by its aura, the beast was at least at the early stage.
Yellow Dragon's Primordial Spirit jolted. With no time to think, he instinctively turned into a streak of yellow light and plunged underground, fleeing at full speed!
A domineering shockwave struck without warning. Earth Veins snapped one after another, and Yellow Dragon was blasted out of them.
Every Earth Vein for thousands of miles shattered.
Without the Pure World White Lotus protecting him, Yellow Dragon would never have survived.
Clearly, fleeing underground was no longer an option.
Forced to the surface, Yellow Dragon sped away just above the ground.
The pangolin followed close behind. Every step shook the mountains, and its foul breath nearly struck Yellow Dragon's back.
"Ant, hand over the treasure and I may spare your life!" The voice exploded in Yellow Dragon's mind.
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