Pangu Splits Heaven and Earth, the Primordial World Takes Shape

Within chaos, heaven and earth had yet to be divided. There was no concept of time or space, nor was there any light—only an endless gray haze.

That day, chaos suddenly underwent a change. A vast Dao voice spread throughout the boundless chaos:

"Great Dao above, I am Shichen, the Time Demon God. I have now been born as the first Chaos Demon God. Of the three thousand Great Daos, time reigns supreme!"

At once, all the beings being nurtured within chaos learned that chaos's first living being had been born.

At the same time, a river of time stretched across the boundless chaos, raising wave after wave. Shichen stood at the end of that river, untouched by all laws.

Because he had been the first to be born, and because Chaos Demon Gods were favored by the Great Dao, Shichen possessed the cultivation of a Hunyuan Daluo the moment he emerged.

Moreover, with his birth, chaos changed as well, giving rise to the concept of time.

Soon after the Time Demon God was born, the Space Demon God emerged as well.

The Space Demon God's true form was a hollow willow tree. Its three thousand willow branches swept through chaos like divine chains of green mist, reducing everything in their path to nothingness.

With his birth, chaos changed once more, giving rise to the concept of space.

Afterward, the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods of destiny, karma, creation, destruction, reincarnation, the five elements, Yin-Yang, Qiankun, and more were born one after another. Chaos gradually became lively—and disputes began to arise.

Chaos Demon Gods were born while embodying the three thousand Great Daos. So long as the Great Dao remained, Chaos Demon Gods would be deathless and indestructible.

Yet there were differences in strength among the Chaos Demon Gods. Moreover, some were wounded in battle, even suffering Dao demise and returning to the Great Dao. They needed to spend long ages recovering before they could awaken and return. Thus, the gap between the Chaos Demon Gods continued to widen.

However, what the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods did not know was that in a hidden corner of chaos, a Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus was blooming. Pangu was being nurtured within it, and beside him lay two other Chaos supreme treasures: the Pangu Axe and the Jade Disc of Creation.

The Pangu Axe was aligned with Pangu's Dao and was his supreme treasure for proving the Dao, peerless in offense. The Jade Disc of Creation contained the three thousand Great Daos and was a supreme treasure for comprehending the Dao.

That day, with a thunderous boom, Pangu was born. In an instant, all of chaos was shaken, drawing the attention of the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods.

Yet Pangu had already reached the peak of Hunyuan Daluo upon his birth, while the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods—including Shichen, the first Chaos Demon God—had yet to break through to the Chaos Realm, or Hunyuan Taiji. They were utterly unable to detect Pangu's presence.

After his birth, Pangu traveled through chaos for countless years. His cultivation gradually reached Half-Step Great Dao, also Half-Step Hunyuan Wuji, yet he had no idea how to break through to the Great Dao Realm.

Meanwhile, Shichen, Space, Destiny, Karma, the Chaos Demon Ape, Destruction, Creation, Reincarnation, Yin-Yang, and the Five Elements—the ten Chaos Demon Gods—had all broken through to the peak of the Chaos Realm. They were revered by the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods as Supreme Demon Gods.

Amid his troubles, Pangu cleaved open chaos with his Great Dao of Strength. Earth, fire, wind, and water evolved; clear qi rose, turbid qi sank, and the outline of heaven and earth appeared.

A flash of insight struck him, and Pangu understood his own path. He shouted, "Great Dao above, I am Pangu! I see that chaos is without order. Today, I shall break open chaos and create heaven and earth to prove the Great Dao!"

At the same time, the other three thousand Chaos Demon Gods sensed it vaguely. If Pangu broke chaos and created heaven and earth, the Great Dao's fortune would shift away, and they would lose the Great Dao's favor. Their cultivation would become difficult. But if they could stop Pangu—or even kill him—they would gain the Great Dao's favor, advance by leaps and bounds in cultivation, and perhaps even prove the Great Dao.

For a time, all of chaos boiled over.

But Pangu remained unmoved. Grasping the Heaven-Splitting Axe, standing upon the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus, and holding the Jade Disc of Creation above his head, he began creating heaven and earth.

He swung his axe at chaos. Chaos split apart, clear qi rose, turbid qi descended, and the outline of heaven and earth expanded.

The three thousand Chaos Demon Gods could no longer sit still. The Earthly Fiend Demon God, the Heavenly Dipper Demon God, and others attacked one after another, seeking to stop Pangu from creating heaven.

Yet Pangu merely swung his axe once. Axe light poured forth, tearing apart the deep, dark chaos.

"Ah..."

Suddenly, screams rang out.

Before the Chaos Demon Gods could even approach Pangu, they were swallowed by silvery-white axe light.

Their pasts, presents, futures, and Great Dao origins were all severed. Their indestructible Yuan Lings shattered, and they instantly returned to the Great Dao. Only after long ages could they recover from their Dao wounds and awaken from the Great Dao.

At the same time, the bodies of those whose Great Dao origins had been destroyed fell to the ground, becoming nourishment for Pangu's creation of heaven and earth.

"I am creating heaven and earth. It is inevitable. If you withdraw, you may yet have a day to prove the Dao. Otherwise, you shall suffer Dao demise beneath my axe, your indestructible Yuan Lings shattered as you return to the Great Dao."

The countless beings of chaos wore ugly expressions upon hearing this.

If they intervened, they would very likely suffer Dao demise, their indestructible Yuan Lings shattering as they returned to the Great Dao, unable to revive for long ages. But if they did not stop him and allowed Pangu to succeed, their future paths would surely become difficult. As Chaos Demon Gods born from the Dao itself, they simply could not accept that.

"Pangu, what arrogance! Can you alone fight three thousand Chaos Demon Gods? Even if we suffer Dao demise, there will come a day when we return. What is there to fear?"

Shichen's words dispelled all thoughts of retreat among the Chaos Demon Gods.

"Attack together!" Roars sounded from every direction as the Chaos Demon Gods surged toward Pangu. The three thousand Great Daos actually joined as one, as though the Great Dao itself had descended with supreme divine might.

"Good! Good! Good! Since you insist on this, then let us fight!"

The Chaos Azure Lotus blazed with Dao light, nearly illuminating all of chaos. It lit the past, present, and future, firmly blocking the attacks of the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods.

At the same time, the Pangu Axe slowly swung out. It seemed slow, yet it was swift; streak after streak of terrifying axe light tore through chaos.

Even with the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods joining forces, they could not withstand it. In an instant, over a hundred Chaos Demon Gods suffered Dao demise, their indestructible Yuan Lings shattering as they returned to the Great Dao.

The Chaos Demon Ape, one of the ten Supreme Chaos Demon Gods, was also grievously wounded, his body marked by Dao wounds that could not heal.

After a fierce slaughter, among the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods, only Shichen, the Time Chaos Demon God, remained on the verge of death. All the others had perished.

However, Pangu had faced three thousand Chaos Demon Gods alone. The ten Supreme Demon Gods among them had all been at the peak of the Chaos Realm, nearly a hundred had been in the Chaos Realm, and even the weakest of the rest had reached the peak of Hunyuan Daluo.

Pangu had not escaped unscathed either. Not only had he suffered extremely grave Dao wounds, but among his three great Chaos supreme treasures, the Chaos Azure Lotus and the Jade Disc of Creation had already shattered, while cracks had appeared in the Pangu Axe as well.

"Pangu! Even if I, Shichen, suffer Dao demise, I will not let you have it easy! You wish to create heaven and prove the Dao? Dream on!" The dying Shichen roared in fury. He summoned the River of Time of Chaos, ignited the power of his own Great Dao, and transformed it into a blade of the Great Dao that struck the River of Time of the future Primordial World.

"Rumble..." In an instant, the River of Time of the future Primordial World shook and broke apart. Endless time and space fell into disorder; past and future overlapped, time and space became tangled, and beings passed through time and space—some from the past into the future, some from the future into the past, some crossing between worlds. Worlds were destroyed, and worlds were born...

"Shichen..." Pangu was enraged. With one axe strike, he instantly smoothed over and reconnected the River of Time, then sought to continue correcting the disordered time and space and force it back onto its proper course.

However, whether he had glimpsed the future and found its outcome more to his liking, or whether forcibly reversing and correcting the River of Time consumed too much power, Pangu let out a sigh.

"So be it. So be it. This is good as well. Time shall become a loop, and karma shall be set!"

As his words fell, the Heaven-Splitting Axe light that had been meant to correct the River of Time changed at once. It suppressed the River of Time of the future Primordial World, causing time to form a loop.

With no more Chaos Demon Gods to obstruct him, creating heaven and earth became much easier for Pangu.

The Heaven-Splitting Axe swung again and again, its fierce Chaos axe light cleaving apart chaos. Clear qi rose to become heaven, turbid qi sank to become earth, and light finally appeared within the shattered chaos.

Yet at this moment, the already grievously wounded Pangu had no strength left to create an eternal world and thereby prove the Great Dao.

Before the Primordial World could be fully completed, Pangu was already on the verge of Dao demise and had no choice but to stop.

After pondering for a moment, Pangu fused the bodies of the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods whose Great Dao origins had been severed, their shattered accompanying spirit treasures, the broken Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus, the Jade Disc of Creation, and more into the Primordial World.

At this point, although the Primordial World had been created, it was still unstable under the pressure of chaos. Earth, wind, water, and fire were in disorder, while chaotic qi ran rampant.

Left with no choice, Pangu split the broken Heaven-Splitting Axe in his hand into three to stabilize earth, wind, water, and fire, transforming it into the Taiji Diagram, the Pangu Banner, and the Chaos Bell.

Pangu released the Taiji Diagram, and it instantly transformed into a golden bridge that calmed the chaotic earth, water, fire, and wind; balanced Yin-Yang and the five elements; and sorted out the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao. He then activated the Chaos Bell. Its toll was vast, the universe brilliant, heaven and earth lost their color, and the time and space of the Primordial World instantly stabilized. Then he shook the Pangu Banner, and its Heaven-Opening qi blades swept through the land, clearing away the chaotic qi.

However, the Primordial World had nothing to support the heavens, and heaven and earth showed signs of closing together once more. Pangu could only hold up the heavens with his head and brace the earth beneath his feet, supporting heaven and earth.

Thus, with every zhang the heavens rose, Pangu grew taller along with them.

No one knew how much time passed before the Primordial World finally became completely stable.

"This realm shall be called the Primordial World. Before I and the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods revive and once again create heaven and earth to prove the Dao, I hope you will possess the strength to protect yourselves," Pangu murmured.

As his words ended, Pangu's damaged indestructible Yuan Ling returned to the Great Dao, and his body began to transform into the Primordial World.

The breath from his mouth became wind and clouds, while the sound of his roar became thunder. His left eye became the blazing sun, and his right eye became the bright moon. His hair and beard became stars filling the sky, scattered throughout the firmament. His limbs and torso became the four extremities of the earth and endless divine mountains. The blood throughout his body became ceaselessly flowing rivers, lakes, and seas. The sinews within him became crisscrossing earth veins, and his flesh became spiritual vitality imbued with Dao essence, nourishing heaven and earth...

Pangu's creation of heaven and earth was a deed of immense merit. As Pangu transformed into heaven and earth and the Primordial World stabilized, the Great Dao bestowed boundless merit for creating heaven.

Above the sky, endless auspicious clouds rolled, golden lotuses surged from the earth, and Great Dao merit vast enough to cover heaven and earth descended from the sky. Profound yellow golden light shone in every direction.

Of it, one-tenth of the merit for creating heaven combined with the Profound Yellow Mother Qi to form the postnatal merit supreme treasure, the Heaven-and-Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Pagoda. Its defense was peerless; with it above one's head, one could stand invincible against innate treasures. Another tenth of the merit for creating heaven combined with Grandmist Purple Qi to form the postnatal merit supreme treasure, the Grandmist Measuring Ruler, peerless in offense.

At that moment, Pangu's remaining primordial spirit split into three, gaining three-tenths of the merit for creating heaven. Wrapped in the Heaven-and-Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Pagoda, it fell upon Kunlun Mountain and concealed its traces. The twelve drops of essence blood within his body gained another three-tenths of the merit, carrying the Pangu Hall formed from Pangu's heart as they vanished into Mount Buzhou.

The remaining two-tenths of the merit for creating heaven scattered across the Primordial World, nurturing all things.