When the hundredth clay figure took its final shape beneath Nuwa's fingertips and stood firm upon the earth, the entire area fell silent for a moment.
Bathed in the divine light of creation, Nuwa slowly raised her hand. A brilliant Spirit Light gathered at her fingertip, and she gently touched the hundred clay figures.
Hum—!
Spirit Light flowed like water. Beneath the divine light of creation, the clay figures' surfaces became skin as smooth as jade.
Their limbs grew soft and supple.
Their chests began to rise and fall. For the first time in the Primordial World, faint breaths sounded with the rhythm of life.
Their closed eyes slowly opened, clear and bright as morning sunlight. No longer driven by unknowing instinct, they held bewilderment and curiosity!
When their gazes fell on Nuwa, they seemed to know instinctively that she was the mother who had created them.
Together, they dropped to their knees and cried, "We greet you, Mother!"
Watching it all, Yellow Dragon could not stop two streams of tears from falling.
"Good, good, good."
At last, a joy unlike any before, almost complete in its fullness, shone in Empress Nuwa's eyes.
She did not stop. A withered vine appeared in her hand.
She dipped it into the remaining soil and lightly raised her arm.
Whoosh!
The vine swept through the air, scattering countless drops of mud across the open ground!
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Wherever the drops landed, naked human figures appeared in the blink of an eye!
They breathed the same way, opened their eyes the same way, and showed the same bewilderment and curiosity. The same spark of intelligence lit their eyes!
They were no different in size from the hundred Nuwa had shaped by hand, yet Yellow Dragon could clearly sense the vast gulf between them at their very source.
Seeing this, Yellow Dragon felt that the ancestors from his previous life must have been among the hundred she had shaped by hand!
When the last of the soil was used up and the final drops flung from the vine took shape, the hundred Nuwa had shaped by hand were joined by exactly three thousand more!
"I, Nuwa, have created a race today. They shall be called—humans!"
Her grand, solemn voice, as though the Great Dao itself had descended, instantly reached every corner of the Primordial World and was etched into the hearts of all living beings:
Rumble!!!
The entire Primordial World shook more violently than ever before!
It was not the shudder of a world breaking apart, but a joyful tremor at the fulfillment of heaven and earth!
From the highest heavens, an immense golden pillar of light pierced through layers of space, ignored the barriers of time, and descended with a crash!
Pure, sacred, and boundless.
Merit bestowed by the Heavenly Dao!
The sheer amount of Merit Golden Light far surpassed anything Yellow Dragon had imagined.
It was no mere light. It was like a river of merit made tangible, with golden runes flowing through it!
Deep within the golden light, countless fine runes representing the source of heaven and earth could be faintly seen circulating.
The river of merit split into three. Nine-tenths poured into Nuwa's body with the force of a celestial river bursting its banks!
Half a tenth fell upon the Gourd Vine, transforming it into a Merit Spiritual Treasure.
The remaining half-tenth fell upon Yellow Dragon, who drew it into his Primordial Spirit.
As the merit entered her body, ten thousand rays of auspicious light burst from Nuwa. Her aura soared wildly, reaching an invisible barrier in an instant!
"Primordial Violet Qi, appear!"
A profound invocation rang out from within Nuwa.
A stream of incomparably noble violet Qi shot from the crown of her head. Meeting the river of merit, it became a magnificent bridge spanning heaven and earth in the blink of an eye!
One end of the bridge connected to Nuwa. The other reached deep into unfathomable, unknowable depths!
In that instant, Nuwa's being seemed to rise and expand without limit!
The Great Dao Source of the Primordial World unfolded before her like a painting in perfect clarity, withholding nothing as she comprehended and mastered it!
A mysterious aura that stood above all living beings and commanded the laws governing heaven and earth spread from Nuwa like starlight spilling across the ground. In moments, it had filled the entire Primordial World!
Flowers formed from pure Innate Spiritual Energy and Dao resonance bloomed in the void and drifted down. Their golden petals held boundless vitality, and countless creatures fought to seize them. Wherever they fell, all things grew swiftly.
Countless golden lotus platforms broke through the earth of the Primordial World, releasing abundant Innate Spiritual Energy and peaceful Dao resonance.
Violet clouds blotted out the sky and surged like rivers, casting their glow across the Primordial World. Auspicious signs appeared everywhere, and Dao Music lingered in the air!
A presence springing from the very source of life settled over the deepest reaches of the souls of countless beings throughout the Primordial World!
Apart from a handful of innate divine beings, all creatures—regardless of cultivation or location, whether locked in battle or secluded in meditation—prostrated themselves toward the east, where the violet Qi had arisen, and toward the source of that aura!
"We greet Saint Nuwa!"
The light around Nuwa gradually faded, and the violet bridge spanning heaven and earth slowly vanished, revealing her face. She remained as elegantly understated as before, yet now carried an indescribable majesty and compassion.
She had become the second Heavenly Dao Sage since the creation of the Primordial World, after Dao Ancestor Hongjun!
When the merit descended, Yellow Dragon placed a tea leaf in his mouth, sat cross-legged, and entered a state of enlightenment.
Under Nuwa's deliberate guidance, countless celestial flowers and golden lotuses flew toward the meditating Yellow Dragon and merged into his body.
Insights into water's nourishment, wood's vitality, and the cycle of creation surged through his mind like a tide. The bottleneck that had troubled him for so long suddenly gave way!
At that moment, the Sweet Dew Technique, an ability passed down from Green Dragon, finally underwent a fundamental transformation. It broke through layer upon layer of barriers and became a divine ability imbued with the vitality of creation!
In that state of enlightenment, an unprecedented sense of wholeness and power filled him.
The barrier to the Golden Immortal Realm was as thin as a cicada's wing before him. With a single thought, he could cross it!
He even had a strong premonition that if he used the vast Merit Golden Light in his Primordial Spirit to forcibly raise his cultivation, reaching the Great Luo realm—imperishable through countless tribulations and beyond the River of Time—would not be an empty dream!
Yellow Dragon strained to suppress that impulse.
Just then, Nuwa's voice sounded beside Yellow Dragon's ear. "I leave these three thousand humans in your care. Once the Human Race can survive on its own, you may leave."
As her words faded, a fist-sized piece of Nine Heavens Breathing Soil, gleaming with the dark-yellow luster of Chaos, flew from Nuwa's sleeve and slowly landed before Yellow Dragon.
"This is of no further use to me. Take it as your reward."
Yellow Dragon swallowed and hurriedly replied, "This disciple obeys."
This should be the only Nine Heavens Breathing Soil left in the Primordial World. Bury it in the earth, and it will slowly produce more Breathing Soil. With this and the transformed Sweet Dew Technique, growing a few more Spiritual Roots shouldn't be difficult.
Nuwa gave a slight nod and said nothing more.
She tore open a rift in space and drew out a golden Spirit Vein radiating a sharp aura from somewhere beyond it, then casually tossed it before Yellow Dragon.
She took one last look at the humans on the ground. Her figure gradually faded until she merged completely with heaven and earth, as though she had never appeared, yet was everywhere at once.
Suddenly, Nuwa's voice rang throughout the Primordial World. "I, Nuwa, have become a Sage today. In three thousand years, I will establish a place of cultivation beyond the heavens and lecture on the Great Dao of a Sage. All who are fated to attend may come and listen!"
The pressure of the Sage dissipated, and the wondrous signs between heaven and earth slowly subsided.
On the plain, however, three thousand pairs of clear but anxious eyes stared blankly at Yellow Dragon.
Yellow Dragon looked at these "ancestors," who were utterly dependent on him.
His head throbbed instantly.
He looked around. This area was close to the East Sea, with few beings nearby that could threaten the Human Race, and the environment suited human survival. There was no need to move them elsewhere.
After making basic arrangements for the Human Race, Yellow Dragon drew the innate golden Spirit Vein into the Mysterious Yellow World Pearl to refine it, while keeping an eye on the humans' development.
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