Reward Merit, Punish Faults

As mentioned before, for Dao Xuan's Inner World, the Four Symbols Laws and the Five Elements Law were its most important foundations.

And in the short term, the only thing that could rapidly expand Dao Xuan's Inner World was the Five Elements Law.

That was why Dao Xuan had been so frenzied, willing to risk his life to gather the Innate Five-Element Spiritual Roots.

And now, the Innate Five-Element Spiritual Roots had finally been gathered.

And this also meant that the Five Elements Law within the Inner World had evolved to a critical point.

This was no small matter.

At that moment, the entire Inner World began to tremble and undergo a frenzied transformation.

At this point, there was no longer any need for the Four Divine Beasts and the Three Divine Lamps to carve through chaos near the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane.

Instead, the entire Inner World began to grow on its own.

These were entirely different circumstances. When the Divine Lamps and Divine Beasts carved through chaos, they transformed external chaos into territory for the Inner World.

But the growth of the Inner World now was like an inflating balloon. It expanded from within, squeezing aside the chaotic void outside.

"Rumble!"

The world's rapid expansion and transformation instantly thinned out the Innate Spiritual Qi throughout the Inner World.

Naturally, the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane accelerated its conversion as well. At every moment, vast amounts of Chaos Qi were absorbed and transformed into Innate Spiritual Qi for all things in the world to absorb.

This was also one of the Inner World's sources of energy for growth. After all, energy was conserved. Although the Inner World's growth resulted from the completion and enhancement of the Five Elements Law, it could not simply grow out of thin air.

It required energy. And where would that energy come from? Naturally, it had to absorb Chaos Qi.

But even with the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane operating at maximum efficiency, it was still far from enough to meet the Inner World's current needs for growth.

At this moment, the Innate Five-Element Spiritual Roots also stirred.

The five Spiritual Roots each shot out a ray of light. Azure, red, yellow, white, and black light struck the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane.

"Buzz!!"

In an instant, the entire Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane was dyed in dazzling five-colored radiance.

The Five Elements Law merged into the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane, instantly remaking it.

The next moment, the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane began working anew. This time, its efficiency in absorbing and transforming Chaos Qi—

Was unknown how many times greater than before.

"Rumble!" "Rumble!!"

Thick streams of Innate Spiritual Qi continuously poured down from the heavens, like celestial rivers hanging upside down.

Later, it was even like a mountain flood erupting, endless Innate Spiritual Qi pouring into this world in the most violent fashion.

At once, the Inner World's transformation accelerated further.

It was almost visible to the naked eye as the entire Inner World expanded, expanded, and expanded again.

Growing larger, larger, and larger still!

And it was not only the Main World. The three thousand Lesser Thousand Worlds and countless small worlds surrounding it also underwent the same frenzied growth, even giving rise to more small worlds.

As well as innumerable dimensions, spaces, planes, and more.

However, the Inner World's mad surge in power also left the world unstable.

At some unknown time, Dao Xuan himself had vanished.

He had merged with the entire Inner World, becoming its Heavenly Dao and continuously regulating and guiding this world.

And besides Dao Xuan and the Innate Five-Element Spiritual Roots, the Four Divine Beasts and Three Divine Lamps also joined in stabilizing the world.

The Three Divine Lamps were no longer carving through chaos near the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane. There was no longer any need for them to do so.

They had now separated. The Heaven Lamp, the Azure Void Heaven-Opening Lamp, appeared within the Six-Layer Heaven Realm; the Earth Lamp, the Kun Origin Thick Earth Lamp, appeared above the Central Earth Immortal Realm; while the Human Lamp, the Dark Profound Soul-Delivering Lamp, appeared within the lower Six-Layer Hell Realm, each stabilizing one of the Heaven-Earth-Human Three Realms.

As for the Four Divine Beasts, there was even less need to mention them. They each suppressed one of the Four Extremes of Heaven and Earth!

And so, after an unknown length of time, the transformation of the entire world was finally complete.

The Main World alone had become several hundred times larger than before.

Not to mention the countless Lesser Thousand Worlds, small worlds, and innumerable dimensions, voids, and planes surrounding the Main World.

Overall, the Inner World's stage of growth had reached the middle phase of a Middle Thousand World.

After experiencing this frenzied transformation of the Inner World, the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise were all exhausted beyond measure.

The Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird flew to the World Tree the instant the world's transformation was complete, greedily drawing in the Jia Wood Essence released by the World Tree to replenish their losses.

The White Tiger and Black Tortoise followed close behind, both rushing over to sponge off the World Tree's essence and replenish themselves.

After all, although they could not rely on the World Tree to increase their strength, as the ancestor of Jia Wood, its essence was still extremely useful for restoring vitality and making up for their expenditure.

As for the Heaven-Opening Azure Void Lamp, Kun Origin Thick Earth Lamp, and Dark Profound Soul-Delivering Lamp, although their flames appeared much dimmer, they returned tirelessly to the vicinity of the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane.

They actually resumed their work.

Look, that was the difference between Divine Beasts and spiritual treasures! One needed food and shelter, while the other was like a perpetual-motion machine.

Of course, Dao Xuan was not some heartless capitalist. He still cherished these "children" of his.

At this moment, a gigantic eye suddenly emerged high above the Inner World.

And it was obvious that the pressure emanating from the Eye of Heavenly Dao—

Was far, far stronger than before!

After the Eye of Heavenly Dao appeared, rays of golden light suddenly shot forth from it.

These rays of golden light were none other than Heavenly Dao Merit.

As the saying went, reward merit and punish faults. As the lord of a world, Dao Xuan naturally had to establish such rules.

For the Inner World to advance so smoothly this time, the Four Divine Beasts, the many Spiritual Roots, and the Three Divine Lamps had all made enormous contributions.

Thus, Dao Xuan naturally had to reward them according to their merits.

Streams of merit, some large and some small, some thick and some thin, descended respectively upon the Divine Beasts, the Spiritual Roots, and the three Divine Lamps.

At once, the Four Divine Beasts could not help crying out joyfully. The merit entering their bodies not only restored their expenditure almost instantly, but even increased their strength.

After receiving merit, the Spiritual Roots also shone with dazzling golden light, and their growth rate accelerated once again.

As for the three Divine Lamps, their previously dim flames brightened once more, and their speed in carving through chaos likewise returned to normal.