Chaos was far away, and the Primordial World was newly settled.
When Yuan Ming's consciousness broke free from a hazy void and "woke up" once more, two distinctly different sets of life memories flooded into his mind.
One belonged to "Yuan Mingshi".
He was one of the three thousand Primordial Humans created by Sage Nuwa herself, who had kneaded mud mixed with Nine Heavens Breath Soil and Three Lights Divine Water.
Born under a sage, his innate foundation was not considered top-tier among the myriads of spirits in the Primordial World, but he was still a genuine Innate Being with a long lifespan, born with faint magical power and situated at the Heavenly Immortal realm.
In this Human Race Holy Land on the Shore of the East Sea, he had spent who knows how many years in a daze.
The other memory came from a world called "Blue Star", where he had been an ordinary "little beast of burden" running around for a living day in and day out, whose only hobby was to immerse himself in the bizarre and illusory world of xianxia novels, fantasizing about the carefree ease of riding swords on the wind and gaining eternal vision.
I... time-traveled? And I've even become a legendary Primordial Human?
The massive shock of information made his mind sway, and he looked around.
It was the familiar Shore of the East Sea, where the waves still crashed against the golden sand, but the scene was vastly different from when he was first born.
In the distance, crude yet sizeable villages were built against the mountains and rivers, with curling wisps of cooking smoke.
Nearby, many compatriots whose faces already bore the marks of wind and frost were laboring away, and the auras emanating from them were far weaker and more turbid than those of the three thousand at birth in Yuan Ming's memories.
"The tenth generation..." he muttered to himself.
Through his fused memories, he understood that ever since Nuwa created humanity, the human race had multiplied to the tenth generation.
After the ninth generation, the newborns of the human race lost that bit of spiritual light born innately, turning into Postnatal Beings.
They were born frail, with lifespans not exceeding a hundred years, and needed to grope their way through the path of cultivation from scratch, contending with heaven and earth for their lives.
Precisely because the human race had become the first kind of Postnatal Being in the Primordial World, marking a new stage in the evolution of heaven and earth, the Heavenly Dao had even bestowed merit for it.
However, this also meant that the main body of the human race had shifted from an innate group to a postnatal group.
First-generation Primordial Humans like him had already become elders and cornerstones within the tribe, their numbers having long since fallen below three thousand due to the passage of time and accidental deaths.
Just as he was digesting this astonishing fact and lamenting his own plight—
"Clang—!"
A pure chime that seemed to originate from the origin of the Great Dao resounded in the depths of his soul.
[Host's true spirit complete, the [Trait System] is officially activated!]
A dazzling light screen that only he could see unfolded before his eyes, and countless profound and unfathomable runes flowed and collided like a river of stars, finally condensing into four large characters brimming with supreme Dao charm.
Immediately following, a concise description appeared on the light screen: [This system can extract, pick up, and copy the traits of all things, transforming them for one's own use.]
[Novice benefit: Grants one unlimited trait extraction opportunity. Will you extract immediately?]
Yuan Ming's heart shook, and an uncontrollable surge of wild joy instantly welled up!
Traveler's benefits! A golden finger!
In this perilous Primordial World, this was undoubtedly providing charcoal in the snow!
"Extract!" he thought without hesitation, reciting silently in his mind.
The river of stars on the light screen instantly boiled, and countless colorful trait lights and shadows flashed past at high speed—white, green, blue, purple, gold... and even a few rare seven-colored radiances!
His mind closely followed those shifting lights and shadows, hoping to extract a powerful trait as his foundation for establishing himself in the world.
Suddenly, all the lights and shadows vanished completely, and the light screen was flooded with an indescribable brilliance that seemed to encompass all the colors of Chaos.
That light was so supreme that the seven-colored traits that had appeared previously seemed pale and lackluster in comparison.
The light gradually subsided, and a trait radiating nine chaotic colors with endless Dao patterns flickering in and out of existence upon it slowly emerged:
[Great Dao Comprehension] (Nine-Colored)
Trait effect: Comprehension reaches the abstruse, pointing directly to the origin of the Great Dao. Cultivation has no bottlenecks, and comprehending the Dharma is like drinking water. One can observe all phenomena of heaven and earth, the withering and flourishing of plants and trees to comprehend the Dao; all things in heaven and earth can serve as one's teacher.
Note: This comprehension has reached the Great Dao level, and a single thought can touch the laws. The host is advised to use it with caution and put it to good use.
Nine-colored!
A supreme trait surpassing the seven-colored!
Yuan Ming's heart almost leaped out of his chest. This starting point far exceeded his expectations!
This wasn't just providing charcoal in the snow; it was directly handing him an incalculable treasure!
He tried casting his gaze toward a boulder not far away.
[Stubborn Stone] (White)
His thoughts moved again, looking toward a tribal elder in the distance who was teaching the children.
[Tireless Teaching] (Blue)
"This... this is simply defying the heavens!" He suppressed the excitement in his heart and began to think about the future.
Possessing such terrifying comprehension meant he would face zero obstacles in learning any cultivation technique or divine power, and understanding the laws of heaven and earth would be like flipping through a book!
This was an absolute shortcut to the supreme realm!
However, his experience as a veteran novel reader in his past life, combined with his deep understanding of the cruelty of the Primordial World after the fusion of his two memories, allowed him to calm down quickly.
The Primordial World was deep, powerful beings were everywhere, and the art of heavenly calculation was no empty phrase.
A newly born Primordial Human suddenly displaying unreasonable comprehension would inevitably draw the attention of all sides.
By then, let alone the Demon Clan, I'm afraid even some great divine authorities would take an interest in him.
A tree that stands out from the forest will be battered by the wind.
Before having sufficient strength, exposing such talent prematurely was no different from suicide!
I must keep a low profile!
A crystal-clear thought formed in his heart.
Hugging the nine-colored entry [Great Dao Comprehension]—which was enough to make even Sages look sideways—Yuan Mingshi made what seemed like the most cowardly yet actually the wisest decision.
He felt the meager Heavenly Immortal-level magic power within his body and "looked" at his existing entry:
[Primordial Human (Purple)]: Born innate, clean foundation, boundless lifespan, cultivation speed superior to postnatal living beings.
His primary task right now was to familiarize himself with the specific effects of this [Great Dao Comprehension] and use it to improve his strength as much as possible without attracting attention.
He quietly walked to a secluded spot and began cultivating according to the most basic cultivation method inherited in his bloodline.
The next moment, he was dumbfounded.
The surrounding heaven and earth spiritual qi no longer gathered in wisps, but instead, like receiving an irresistible summons, formed tiny vortexes and cheerfully poured into his body.
The cultivation method's circulation routes, which were originally obscure and difficult to understand, were now as clear as observing the lines on his own palm within his heart.
He could even intuitively perceive how slightly adjusting the circulation route could increase spiritual qi absorption efficiency by ten percent!
This was [Great Dao Comprehension]!
It displayed its terrifying nature not only on the levels of "comprehension" and "learning," but even more so in "practice" and "optimization."
He raised his head to look at the boundless Primordial sky, his gaze seemingly piercing through the barrier set up by Nuwa.
Outside was the grand battlefield of the Witch-Demon War, the cruel world where ten thousand clans stood, and the monstrous calamity that the Human Race would need to face in the future.
"Since I've been given a chance to start over, along with this heaven-defying comprehension..."
A trace of firmness flashed in Yuan Ming's eyes: In this life, not only will I survive, but I will also make the Human Race truly stand at the peak of the Primordial World!
Of course, the premise of all this was—to first hide perfectly and grow quietly.
He gathered his focus, suppressing the astonishing enlightenment phenomenon to the barest minimum; on the surface, he still looked like nothing more than an ordinary Primordial Human conducting daily cultivation.
At least, he thought so himself.
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