Gathering All Creation, Moving Heaven's Pieces

"Hiss, hiss, hiss!!!"

There was no earth-shattering roar, only utter purification and dissolution!

Di Jun's giant hand of Solar True Fire, powerful enough to melt ancient divine mountains, touched the Purifying White Light—

Yet it could not endure even half a breath before rapidly disintegrating like snow beneath the blazing sun, utterly purified into nothingness!

"What?!"

Di Jun let out a muffled groan as the Yao light protecting his body violently trembled.

The force of the backlash drove him three steps back, and endless shock flooded his eyes.

Li Qingxiao stood calmly atop the cliff, his white robes fluttering in the wind.

His gaze was as deep as an abyss as he swept it across the crowd. His clear voice rang like clashing gold and jade, echoing through the Great Dao:

"Fellow Daoist Di Jun, wait."

"Of the six gourds divided just now, I did not take so much as a fraction from beginning to end."

Li Qingxiao stood with his hands behind his back, composed and transcendent.

"This seventh damaged gourd, along with the remaining earth and withered vine that bore the spiritual root, shall be mine."

"Do any of you fellow Daoists object?"

At those words, Di Jun's face turned purple with fury, while Taiyi flew into a rage.

Golden radiance blazed from the Chaos Bell in his hand as he looked ready to attack on the spot!

However, in the next instant, the situation completely shifted in Li Qingxiao's favor.

"I have no objection!"

Ancestor Hong Yun was the first to step forward. Holding the Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Gourd, he shouted:

"Brother Qingxiao never touched any spiritual treasure from beginning to end. Taking only some leftover vine and ruined soil now is perfectly fair!"

"Whoever refuses to accept it must first ask the Soul-Scattering Red Sand in my hand!"

Zhen Yuanzi also stepped forward. The Earth Book above his head erupted with towering yellow light.

It instantly linked with the vast earth veins of Mount Buzhou as he spoke in a grave, imposing voice:

"I too agree with Fellow Daoist Qingxiao."

Not only that, Tongtian stood ahead with his arms folded and laughed loudly:

"Haha! Fellow Daoist Qingxiao has been generous and detached. He did not contend for the spiritual fruits, and taking a few scraps of withered vine is only natural!"

Laozi nodded faintly and closed his eyes without speaking, clearly acquiescing to Li Qingxiao's actions.

Kindness shone in Nuwa's beautiful eyes, and she too gently took half a step back to show her support.

More than half the great powers present had actually taken Li Qingxiao's side!

Di Jun and Taiyi looked around, feeling unprecedented humiliation and fury clogging their chests.

Although they possessed supreme treasures, they faced the unfathomable Li Qingxiao.

With the Three Pure Ones leaning toward him and Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi aiding him with all their strength—

If they forced a battle now, they would surely be left here today!

"Good! What a Daoist Qingxiao!"

Di Jun ground his teeth, glaring at Li Qingxiao with fire blazing in his eyes as he said hatefully:

"I will remember what happened today! Second Brother, let's go!"

Before his words had even faded, Di Jun and Taiyi transformed into two crimson Golden Crow streaks, tearing through the sky with hearts full of resentment and vanishing into the distance.

A battle that had nearly erupted was dissolved without form under Li Qingxiao's calm control.

Seeing that matters had settled, the immortals cupped their hands to Li Qingxiao in farewell before transforming into streams of multicolored light and departing.

Peace returned to the cliff.

Li Qingxiao stood at the edge of the precipice and suddenly swept his sleeve!

"Receive!"

Divine Light of Creation flowed through the void.

The entire mass of flawless Nine Heavens Breathing Earth, radiating the boundless Great Dao of vitality.

Half a pool of Three Lights Divine Water, divine liquid capable of reviving the dead and restoring flesh to bare bones.

The body of the Gourd Vine, a supreme innate spiritual root stripped of its essence yet still tough beyond breaking.

And the final seventh Chaos Gourd, dismissed by others as junk—

Yet containing within it a faint trace of the Great Dao from the first opening of chaos.

At that instant, all of them transformed into streams of light.

They landed steadily within Li Qingxiao's Universe in the Sleeve!

Feeling the weighty supreme creation in his sleeve, Li Qingxiao stood with his hands behind his back.

He gazed over the vast, boundless Primordial World, divine light capable of piercing through eternity stirring in the depths of his eyes.

Others believed the seven treasure gourds were heaven-ordained opportunities, yet they did not know that the Breathing Earth, divine water, and divine vine that nurtured the spiritual root—

Were the greatest pivotal pieces in the future chessboard of the entire Primordial World!

The divine soil for creating humans was already in his possession.

The spiritual water that would nurture them was entirely under his control.

Even the Merit Human-Creation Whip Embryo had fallen into his hands.

Nuwa cultivated the Dao of Creation, and creating humans to become a Saint was the heaven-ordained trend.

Forcibly intercepting it would not only violate the laws, but would also draw Heavenly Dao's backlash and earn the mortal enmity of a Saint.

But now, all three core supreme treasures needed to create humans were in Li Qingxiao's hands!

When Nuwa's opportunity arrived in the future and she struggled because she lacked divine objects to mold earth into humans—

He could naturally enter the game as an "investor" and "Dao protector."

At that time, not only could he make this future Saint owe him an enormous karmic debt for attaining the Dao—

He could also justifiably claim twenty to thirty percent of the boundless merit of creation and humanity's destiny the moment the human race came into being!

Borrowing the momentum of Heaven's mandate to seek his own creation.

Heavenly Dao held the black pieces, and all living beings were its chessmen.

Yet Li Qingxiao had already silently stepped off the board, becoming a player seated across from Heavenly Dao, one who held the pieces himself!

Li Qingxiao lightly shook his sleeve and drew the final strand of Divine Light of Creation into it.

He did not linger on the cliff, nor did he flaunt himself throughout the Primordial World.

An innocent man was condemned for possessing a treasure.

Although the Three Pure Ones and Nuwa had not acted, and Di Jun and Taiyi had already departed—

Undercurrents were surging through the Primordial World, and who knew how many pairs of eyes were staring fixedly at Mount Buzhou.

Li Qingxiao's figure flickered. Using the profound ability of the World-Cleansing White Lotus to conceal heavenly secrets—

He slipped silently back to the foot of Mount Buzhou through a fissure in the earth veins, like a drop of water merging into the sea.

The Wu ancestral land was now guarded by the Twelve Ancestral Witches, while the supreme pressure of Pangu Temple enveloped it.

In this period just after Purple Heaven Palace's first lecture, across the entire Primordial World—

There was no safer place for secluded cultivation than this.

The moment he stepped into the underground world, twelve towering pillars of blood and vitality surged toward him.

"Hahaha! Great Venerable Qingxiao, splendid! Truly splendid!"

Zhurong, his head crowned with crimson divine flames, strode forward and fiercely slapped his thigh with a fan-sized hand.

"We sensed it all from below! You drove back that mongrel bird Di Jun with one move, then snatched the core of the spiritual root right in front of Taiyi!"

"Those Yao who call themselves lofty and noble have truly lost all face this time!"

Gonggong also grinned broadly, his eyes filled with admiration.

The Wu revered the strong. Li Qingxiao had beaten Kunpeng outside Purple Heaven Palace, and now he had calmly seized treasure under the watchful eyes of the gathered immortals. That invincible bearing and dominance had completely won over these battle-crazed warriors.

Houtu stood behind the Ancestral Witches, her pale yellow dress gently swaying in the wind.

Her autumn-water eyes fixed upon Li Qingxiao, and the admiration in their depths grew ever stronger.

This Great Venerable not only possessed heaven-reaching methods, but also planned every advance and retreat with masterful foresight.

It was as though all the myriad phenomena of the Primordial World lay within his palm.

"You flatter me, brothers. I merely borrowed a little geographical advantage."

Li Qingxiao smiled faintly and answered with calm modesty.

Dijiang, the eldest Ancestral Witch, wore a solemn expression as he stepped forward and said in a deep voice:

"Great Venerable, having obtained such important treasures, you must enter secluded cultivation to refine them."

"I have ordered the innermost Ancestral Witch secret chamber deep within the temple's earth veins to be opened."

"It lies close against Father God's heart vein. None can disturb you there!"

"My brothers and I will station a million Wu warriors outside to protect you!"