Causes of Calamities, the Calabash Vine Emerges

"Since fate has brought us together today, I shall discuss Calamities with you, little friend."

"In my humble opinion, the rise of a Calamity was neither deliberately set in motion by the Heavenly Dao nor controlled by some hidden player moving pieces on a board. In the end, it was simply the natural law of prosperity declining at its peak and misfortune turning to fortune at its limit."

"Look closely. This was the Beast Calamity—"

As Hongjun Dao Ancestor's voice fell, the Creation Jade Slip cast down mysterious light, revealing a scene from the Primordial World at the dawn of creation:

Pangu had fallen, and heaven and earth had first opened. The lingering thoughts and turbid baleful aura of the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods descended into the Primordial World, transforming into countless savage and vicious beasts.

These ferocious beasts possessed clouded minds and knew only to devour living beings and ruin all things. Among them, only the aberrant Shen Ni had been born with intelligence. He comprehended the Slaughter Great Dao and found the God-Slaying Spear, a supreme treasure of creation, within the remnants of Chaos. With his own strength, he subdued the four great ferocious beast kings—Chaos, Qiongqi, Taowu, and Taotie—established the Fierce Beast Dynasty, commanded hundreds of millions of ferocious beasts, and ravaged the Primordial World.

Within the phantom scene, wherever Shen Ni passed, mountains and rivers shattered, spiritual veins were wantonly hollowed out, and countless ferocious beasts swallowed heaven and earth, devouring every trace of surrounding innate spiritual qi.

The entire Primordial World was choked with smoke and miasma. Its laws fell into disorder, and its vitality withered by the day.

At that time, an Innate Sacred Being happened to strike down a ferocious beast that had been harming the earth veins. Unexpectedly, Merit Golden Light descended naturally from heaven and earth. Once absorbed into the body, it not only cleansed one's mana, but also stabilized the Three Flowers Above the Head and solidified the foundation of one's Dao origin.

Once this news spread, the innate hundred races of the Primordial World, along with great cultivators such as Hongjun and Rahu, began hunting and slaughtering ferocious beasts in droves—

First, to preserve the spiritual vitality of heaven and earth and prevent the Primordial World from being utterly destroyed by the ferocious beasts;

Second, to seek the karmic opportunity of merit granted by heaven and earth.

The great war continued for tens of thousands of Yuanhui. In the end, the Fierce Beast Dynasty was destroyed, Shen Ni died and his Dao vanished, the God-Slaying Spear disappeared without a trace, and the four great ferocious beast kings were sealed in various places throughout the Primordial World, forever suppressing their savage natures.

After that battle, the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans had slain the most ferocious beasts and protected the broadest territories. They received boundless merit from heaven and earth, their clans' strength advancing by leaps and bounds. They stood out among the innate hundred races and rose to prominence from then on.

The other Innate Sacred Beings likewise entered seclusion to cultivate with their respective merits, their cultivation advancing greatly. That went without saying.

"Look again. This was the Dragon-Han Calamity."

Hongjun Dao Ancestor lightly moved a finger across the Creation Jade Slip. Mysterious light flowed, and the scene abruptly shifted to the vast desolation of the Dragon-Han Calamity:

After the Beast Calamity, the Primordial World recuperated for tens of thousands of Yuanhui. Nourished by merit, the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans grew ever stronger. Their populations flourished daily, and their influence expanded to the utmost limit—

The Dragon Clan emerged from its ancestral land in the Eastern Sea, took control of the Four Seas, and used rivers and great waterways to encroach upon the inland, ruling all scaled creatures under heaven;

The Qilin Clan guarded the Central Lands, expanding southward step by step until they reached the foot of Mount Buzhou, ruling all beasts under heaven;

The Phoenix Clan occupied the Undying Volcano in the south, its might pressing upon the nine heavens, ruling all birds under heaven.

The three clans each held one region, their prestige soaring to the skies. None among the myriad races of the Primordial World dared disobey them.

"When water filled, it overflowed; when the moon waxed full, it began to wane. Once a clan reached the height of prosperity, resources would eventually run dry, and ambition would grow alongside it. That was the root of a Calamity."

Hongjun's Dao voice slowly rang out, carrying a trace of compassion.

"When the three clans multiplied to their peak, the spiritual veins and territories of the Primordial World could no longer contain their expansion. Friction between them only grew fiercer."

"Though Rahu had hidden beneath Mount Sumeru in the west, using the bloody baleful aura from the three clans' slaughter to nurture the Four Swords of Immortal Slaying and secretly sowing discord, he had merely pushed the boat along with the current, hastening the outbreak of conflict. Even without Rahu's schemes, the struggle for supremacy among the three clans had already been inevitable."

At those words, Lingxiao deeply agreed and slowly nodded.

Though the Primordial World was vast and boundless, it ultimately had its limits. As the Dragon-Han Three Clans continuously multiplied and expanded, they would eventually occupy all the lands of the Primordial World. A battle between them was inevitable; it was only a matter of sooner or later.

What was a Calamity?

Lingxiao had his own understanding.

At its root, the world of the Primordial World had never possessed any deliberate "punishment" or "regulation." A Calamity was merely the inevitable self-purging law that erupted when living beings multiplied, powers expanded, and slaughter accumulated to a critical point. Like water overflowing once full, like air escaping once compressed to the limit—nothing more.

As for the merit and karmic sin spoken of by the world, they were merely an order of self-preservation naturally evolved by heaven and earth after enduring the destruction of a Calamity.

In Lingxiao's view, Calamities came in two kinds: ordinary Calamities and Infinite Calamities.

The outbreak of an ordinary Calamity ultimately came down to the growing number of living beings and insufficient resources.

No matter how vast the Primordial World might be, its spiritual qi, spiritual veins, treasures, and living space all had limits. As living beings multiplied without end, experts steadily increased, and clans grew ever stronger, resources would eventually be exhausted. Then conflict was the only path left.

The struggles of individual beings might be insignificant, but over time, every side gathered strength for self-preservation and expansion. Some established sects, while others built clans, forming enormous power blocs that affected hundreds of millions of lives.

At the slightest movement, total conflict would erupt, leaving no room for retreat.

Conflict continued without cease. Killing karma accumulated day by day, calamity qi thickened, viciousness grew heavier, and grudges knotted ever deeper. In the end, the entire Primordial World was swept into an atmosphere of slaughter. Even if they did not wish to fight, they had no choice—and once battle began, it became a vast catastrophe that swept across heaven and earth!

When the great war erupted, experts fell, clans declined, and the excess living beings, overgrown powers, and accumulated killing karma were all cleared away by the flames of war. Once calamity qi dispersed and heaven and earth returned to peace, the Calamity came to an end.

This was not the deliberate control of heaven and earth, but merely the natural law of prosperity declining at its peak and misfortune turning to fortune at its limit—like grass and trees growing wildly until overcrowding made them wither, or beast herds breeding to the limit before slaughtering one another.

It was the irresistible trend of the age.

After the war, the foundation of heaven and earth remained unharmed. With living beings greatly reduced, the world recuperated and waited for the next cycle. That marked the end of an ordinary Calamity.

An ordinary Calamity can still be avoided by hiding from the world, but an Infinite Calamity is ten thousand times more dangerous. Lingxiao's gaze darkened slightly as he thought this.

An ordinary Calamity was merely a great cleansing among living beings. It did not harm the foundation of heaven and earth. An Innate Sacred Being like him faced no danger of falling so long as he did not willingly enter the Calamity.

But an Infinite Calamity was different. It was a world-ending disaster in which the slaughter among all beings became so intense that even the Primordial World itself was shattered. Just like the later Apotheosis Calamity, when Tongtian Cult Master, enraged, recreated Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind. Not only would living beings be exterminated, even the Primordial World itself would collapse and fall apart.

When that time came, the foundation of heaven and earth would shatter, its laws would be damaged, the world's level would fall, and it might even return directly to Chaos.

In a single phrase—

An ordinary Calamity was when living beings killed themselves madly; once a portion died, peace returned;

An Infinite Calamity was when living beings became strong enough to overturn heaven and earth, destroying the world and annihilating all beings.

If even heaven and earth shattered, how could Innate Sacred Beings possibly remain unscathed?

Even those who had attained the Saint Realm would not dare claim they could emerge from an Infinite Calamity wholly intact!

And the coming Witch-Demon Calamity was precisely such an Infinite Calamity!

At that thought, Lingxiao's heart turned solemn. He suppressed his tangled thoughts and focused once more on the scene unfolding from the Creation Jade Slip.

Meanwhile, as Hongjun Dao Ancestor kept Lingxiao within the depths of Violet Firmament Palace to discuss the Dao, an innate opportunity that would affect the fate of the Primordial World quietly emerged within Mount Buzhou at the center of the Primordial World.

Mount Buzhou had been formed from Pangu's spine. It reached up to the Thirty-Three Heavens and connected below to the Nine Netherworlds and Yellow Springs. It was the backbone of heaven and earth in the Primordial World, containing lingering traces of Pangu's origin and concealing endless innate spiritual opportunities. Since ancient times, it had been a place where great cultivators sought secluded wonders and treasures. Yet its towering peaks, perilous paths, countless restrictions, and pervasive pressure of Pangu meant ordinary Sacred Beings rarely dared venture deep inside.

"Hum."

On this day, within an unnamed secluded valley at the northern foothills of Mount Buzhou, an innate restriction slowly emerged from the crevice between time and space.

The restriction was Chaos-colored, engraved with three thousand profound patterns and suffused with an aura of creation. Each time it circulated, seven-colored rosy light shot into the sky while a thousand strands of auspicious qi descended. The surrounding innate spiritual qi surged, and the spiritual herbs and immortal flowers in the mountains all swayed toward the secluded valley in a bow, as if offering worship.

The restriction circulated for seven times seven, forty-nine years before finally being stirred by the spiritual vitality of heaven and earth and slowly dissipating.

Deep in the secluded valley, atop an innate earthen platform about a zhang across, lay a layer of jade-white Nine Heavens Breath Soil. This soil grew as it came into being, nurturing all things and producing spiritual roots.

At the center of the Breath Soil stood an ancient, vigorous vine. This vine stood alongside the Fusang Tree, Moon Osmanthus Tree, and Hollow Willow as one of the ten greatest supreme innate spiritual roots of the Primordial World. It was known as the Innate Gourd Vine, the Creation Gourd Vine.

The vine appeared forged from green jade, its surface inscribed with innate Dao patterns. Its emerald leaves seemed carved from gilded gold, flowing with the clear radiance of Three Lights Divine Water. Though it was only about a zhang long, it contained a vast, majestic vitality.

Seven gourds hung unevenly from its body, displaying the seven colors of purple-red, purple-gold, purple-black, purple-yellow, purple-white, purple-blue, and purple-green. Each possessed its own origin.

The first six had already matured. Rosy light flowed around them, and their Dao charm was naturally formed. Every one of them rivaled a supreme innate spiritual treasure;

Only the purple-green gourd at the very end remained unripe. Its spiritual light was dim, and it was merely at the level of a high-grade innate spiritual treasure. It seemed that its innate origin was insufficient. Not only had it failed to reach perfection itself, it had even dragged down the entire Calabash Vine. The green-jade vine faintly showed signs of withering, its origin spiritual qi gradually dissipating.

"Whoosh!"

At that moment, a cloud of fire tore through the air from outside the secluded valley. In an instant, it descended into the valley and transformed into human form. It was Hong Yun, returning from Violet Firmament Palace.