Rewriting Investiture of the Gods in the Primordial World: 16

At this level, with a Golden Wheel of Merit suspended behind one's head, one already qualified to be called a True Immortal of Fortune!

After that came condensing a Merit Golden Body. Upon reaching this stage, one was qualified to be called one of great merit. The Merit Golden Body was divided into three stages: minor completion, major completion, and perfection. Each advance required an immense amount of merit.

The fifty Innate Humans had begun with Merit Golden Bodies at minor completion. Suiren, Da Chao, and Zhisheng had later advanced to major completion, but they still had a long way to go before reaching perfection.

Once the Merit Golden Body reached perfection, any remaining merit would transform into a Merit Auspicious Cloud. The greater the merit, the denser the cloud. Jiang Haofeng was currently at this level.

It could be said that, in terms of merit alone, Jiang Haofeng had already reached the pinnacle. With the merit he possessed now, if he wished, he could become a Quasi-Saint on the spot and attain the Dao of a Primordial Golden Immortal!

But this held no attraction for Jiang Haofeng whatsoever. So what if he became a Quasi-Saint? He would only be at the early Quasi-Saint stage. He would not be weak in the Primordial World, but he certainly could not be called strong. If any one of the Twelve Ancestral Witches stepped forward, they could hammer him to pieces.

Once the merit no longer protected his body, if he were thrown into the Witch-Demon Calamity, he would turn into ash in the blink of an eye!

The Primordial World never lacked Great Divine Powers. What everyone lacked, instead, was merit. A Merit Golden Body was a golden death-warding talisman. Unless driven to the absolute brink, Jiang Haofeng would never use this merit.

At the same time, while Jiang Haofeng received the infusion of merit, the mat beneath him took the opportunity to absorb quite a bit as well. When all the merit had entered his body, the bluestone mat beneath him glimmered with waves of merit light, transforming into a genuine Merit Spirit Treasure.

Jiang Haofeng froze. His consciousness sank into the mat beneath him, and in an instant, he understood the function of this Merit Spirit Treasure.

Sitting cross-legged atop it granted the protection of merit light, slightly enhanced one's comprehension, and accelerated one's enlightenment of the Dao. It was an auxiliary spirit treasure, ranked among the Postnatal Merit Supreme Treasures.

A willow branch planted without intent had grown into shade. Still, not bad. He had gained another spirit treasure.

At present, Jiang Haofeng possessed the Innate Supreme Treasure, the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book; the Ultimate Innate Spirit Treasure, the Qiankun Diagram; the Postnatal Merit Supreme Treasure, the Heavenly Secret Nine Lot; the Postnatal Merit Supreme Treasure, the Enlightenment Mat; and the lot tube left in the Ancestral Pavilion, which was also a Postnatal Merit Spirit Treasure.

Counting carefully, he already had five treasures, and every one of them possessed considerable power. Even the weakest, the Enlightenment Mat, could rival a Low-grade Innate Spirit Treasure.

In terms of the number of treasures alone, Jiang Haofeng could be considered quite wealthy in the Primordial World.

"Congratulations, Brother Haofeng!" Seeing merit descend from the heavens, Suiren and the others immediately offered their congratulations.

Jiang Haofeng smiled and expressed his thanks.

After the group exchanged pleasantries for a while, Jiang Haofeng looked over the members of the Hidden Lineage, swept his gaze around, and spoke. "Everyone."

As his words fell, the Hidden Lineage humans around him immediately quieted, their gazes settling upon Jiang Haofeng.

Three sermons had brought Jiang Haofeng's prestige within the Hidden Lineage to its peak. The martial Dao had been passed down by Jiang Haofeng, while the immortal Dao had been passed down by the Grand Pure Sage in order to repay his karmic debt to Jiang Haofeng.

The Hidden Lineage's current influence could be said to have been built by Jiang Haofeng alone. Within the Hidden Lineage, his prestige had completely surpassed that of Suiren and the other three great sages of humanity.

"The Grand Pure Sage has passed down the immortal Dao, and I have passed down the martial Dao. Today, our Hidden Lineage possesses two great paths that reach the heavens, both capable of attaining the Dao of Primordial Golden Immortals!"

"One path tempers the body; the other refines qi. The immortal and martial Daos may be cultivated at the same time."

"But the Great Dao is boundless, while human energy is limited. Even pouring one's full effort into comprehending a single path is often insufficient, much less comprehending two."

"He who grasps at too much chews none of it well. By focusing on one path, one may yet have a chance to attain the Dao. But if one cultivates both paths together, I fear neither will succeed!"

"I hope you will weigh this carefully and devote yourselves to one Great Dao. Once you become Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals or attain the Dao of Quasi-Saints, it will not be too late to cultivate other paths."

After a pause, Jiang Haofeng looked around, and his voice grew solemn.

"When our Hidden Lineage was first established, it was meant to strengthen humanity's foundation. It is humanity's greatest trump card, and humanity's road of retreat."

"Though the Visible Lineage now has methods of cultivation, the duty of our Hidden Lineage remains unchanged. The Hidden Lineage exists to protect humanity's inheritance and safeguard the undying flame of humanity!"

"To accomplish this, great strength is fundamental!"

"Think carefully, everyone. If one day humanity truly encounters disaster, if our inheritance stands on the verge of extinction and those of the Visible Lineage need our Hidden Lineage to emerge—will you possess enough strength to hold up a collapsing edifice?"

"Will you settle the world in a single battle, or will you flee like those of the Visible Lineage after stepping out?"

"Our Hidden Lineage resides on Central Phoenix Mountain, the human sacred ground protected by Empress Nuwa. We inherit the martial Dao that those of the Visible Lineage cannot cultivate, all so that humanity may possess great strength and a foundation capable of facing anything!"

"The Hidden Lineage is humanity's hidden guardian. We must possess great strength—strength surpassing that of the Visible Lineage, strength capable of confronting crises beneath heaven!"

"I hope you understand your responsibilities. Cultivate diligently, and grow strong as soon as possible!"

Jiang Haofeng's solemn voice rang throughout Central Phoenix Mountain. The joy and relief of the three hundred thousand Hidden Lineage humans at receiving the cultivation methods were swept away, replaced by crushing pressure and boiling-hot blood!

"We shall heed Ancestor Haofeng's teachings!"

Jiang Haofeng nodded in satisfaction. The meaning of humanity's Hidden Lineage was to become humanity's toughest shield and its strongest force of protection.

Therefore, the Hidden Lineage humans needed urging. They needed to continually strengthen themselves.

With that thought, Jiang Haofeng's mind stirred. At the summit of Central Phoenix Mountain, countless rocks surged and gathered, and an enormous stone stele appeared atop the peak. Then Jiang Haofeng raised a hand and pointed. A dense beam of merit light swept forth and descended upon the stone stele.

In an instant, merit light blazed across the stele. Beneath its radiance, one Innate Dao Script character after another emerged.

Protect humanity's inheritance, never to be severed; defend humanity's flame, never to be extinguished!

Sixteen characters, carved with iron strokes and silver hooks, were engraved upon the stele. An indescribable aura filled it, setting the blood of the Hidden Lineage humans ablaze.

"Protect humanity's inheritance, never to be severed; defend humanity's flame, never to be extinguished!"

Jiang Haofeng looked at the three hundred thousand Hidden Lineage humans around him and spoke each word with deliberate force.

"Protect humanity's inheritance, never to be severed; defend humanity's flame, never to be extinguished!"

The three hundred thousand people could not help but echo Jiang Haofeng. Their impassioned yet resolute voices reverberated across Central Phoenix Mountain.

"Return and cultivate. Train diligently, and protect humanity!"

"Yes!"

The three hundred thousand answered in a thunderous chorus, then scattered like birds and beasts, beginning their cultivation.

Suiren, Da Chao, Zhisheng, and the other Innate Humans of the visible lineage stood before the Ancestral Pavilion, gazing at the enormous stone stele towering atop the mountain, their blood boiling with fervor.

"Haofeng, for the human race to have you is the fortune of our people!"

"I am human myself, so it is only right that I do my part for humanity. Besides, which one among us here is not a backbone of the human race?"

"Good! Then let us work together and strengthen our human race!"

"Good!"

Immediately afterward, all the Innate Humans returned to their respective dwellings and began cultivating.

Over this recent stretch of time, after six consecutive sermons, everyone had benefited immensely. Each had found their own path forward, unlike before, when even if they wished to cultivate, they had no cultivation methods to practice.

Time drifted quietly by, and in the blink of an eye, nearly five kalpas had passed.

A gentle breeze swept through. The golden barrier that had sheltered Central Phoenix Mountain for ten kalpas dissipated. From that moment on, the human race's heavenly secrets, once concealed, instantly appeared within the Primordial World. In an instant, the human race emerged from the shadows into the light and truly set foot upon the vast battlefield that was the Primordial World.

Where it had once been impossible to divine the human race's location no matter how one calculated, now a casual divination would reveal their exact whereabouts.

In an instant, several powerful wills crossed billions upon billions of miles and appeared above Central Phoenix Mountain. The Great Divine Powers of the Primordial World were all curious—just what sort of race was this human race, that it had enabled Nuwa and Supreme Pure to attain sainthood one after the other?

At the foot of Central Phoenix Mountain, Jiang Haofeng sat cross-legged upon the Enlightenment Mat, his expression grave. With a flick of his finger, the Creation Sacred Spring enshrined within Nuwa Temple blazed with light. Endless Dao essence of creation spread outward, veiling the entirety of Central Phoenix Mountain.

Dense Saintly might permeated the Dao essence of creation. In an instant, every Great Divine Power in the Primordial World withdrew their divine senses and ceased probing Central Phoenix Mountain. Setting aside whether they could see through it at all, with a Saint's Dao essence present, who would dare show disrespect to a Saint?

Yet the human race now stretched across nearly billions upon billions of miles. Shouyang Mountain, where the Sage's sermon had once been delivered, had also been drawn into the human race's territory. It was not even on the border of their domain, but counted as part of the human race's hinterland.

The human race's reproductive ability was the foundation upon which they stood in the Primordial World. Human bodies had originally been formed from Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and perfectly inherited its unceasing, ever-renewing nature, allowing them to reproduce at an astonishing pace.

And that pace only grew faster and faster. In the terms of later generations, it was explosive exponential growth—the more humans there were, the faster humanity multiplied.

During the first five kalpas, the human race had occupied only a million-mile radius around Central Phoenix Mountain. By now, they had claimed a territory spanning billions upon billions of miles in every direction, their domain having expanded countless times over.

Of course, even a territory spanning billions upon billions of miles was nothing more than an inconspicuous little corner in the Primordial World.

The entire Primordial World spanned thirty million heavenly chi from east to west, and one heavenly chi was six hundred and forty trillion miles long. The patch of land occupied by the human race was still nowhere close to even a one-heavenly-chi radius.

Of course, it was precisely because the human race was so inconspicuous that they had been able to evade the many Great Divine Powers of the Primordial World. If their numbers had grown too great and their territory too vast, then even if a Saint acted to conceal the heavenly secrets, the human race would still have been discovered by the rest of the Primordial World.

Though they could not examine Central Phoenix Mountain, with a single thought, the others swept their gaze across the human race's territory.

The moment they looked, the Great Divine Powers all frowned. Weak—far too weak. Weak to an absurd degree. They were not even True Immortals. How could there be such frail lifeforms in the Primordial World?

These feeble lifeforms had helped Nuwa and Supreme Pure attain sainthood?

That should not be. There seemed to be nothing remarkable about them. Their numbers were merely somewhat large, but what use were more ants?

One powerful divine sense after another swept across the lands of humanity, searching for the human race's secrets, yet they found nothing. The Great Divine Powers turned their attention toward Central Phoenix Mountain, shrouded in the Dao essence of creation.

The secret of the human race had to be hidden within. But that was, after all, the place where a Saint had attained the Dao. Probing it carelessly would absolutely incur a Saint's displeasure.

The Great Divine Powers truly did not dare do such a thing.

Within the human race's ancestral lands, Jiang Haofeng looked at the Dao essence of creation enshrouding humanity. He activated the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book and, after sensing no divine consciousness descending, finally let out a breath of relief.

The Human Hidden Lineage emphasized one word above all else: hidden. If, the moment they emerged into the world, they fell beneath the gaze of the Primordial World's Great Divine Powers and had their foundations laid bare, then what the hell would be hidden about them?

The Primordial World was a massive chessboard, with every faction playing against one another upon it. The human race was also part of that game. Humanity was not powerful to begin with; if everyone saw their foundations as clearly as day and they began with all their cards face-up, then what game was there left to play?

The human race of his previous life had begun with all their cards exposed. Their development had been watched clearly by the Great Divine Powers, and no matter how humanity developed afterward, they remained under the control of other factions. From beginning to end, the many Great Divine Powers of the Primordial World had regarded humanity from a lofty, downward-looking position.

Such a human race could not even be said to have been playing the game. The human race of before had never truly become players; they had merely been pieces in the contests between the various factions of the Primordial World.

Now, before the many Great Divine Powers of the Primordial World, they had not exposed their underwear. The first step toward shedding the status of a chess piece had been achieved.

Jiang Haofeng's gaze fell upon the Creation Sacred Spring. As expected of a merit supreme treasure formed by absorbing half of one-tenth of the Human Creation Merit—its power truly was extraordinary.

When Nuwa created humans, the Human Creation Whip and the Creation Sacred Spring had divided one-tenth of the Human Creation Merit between them. Of the two supreme treasures, one belonged to Nuwa, and the other to the human race.

The merit absorbed by the two Magic Treasures had been comparable, so by rights, their power should have been nearly equal as well.

Yet in Nuwa's hands, the Human Creation Whip could even strike Saints. Its power was boundless, and its fame shook the Primordial World. Meanwhile, the Creation Sacred Spring, which had absorbed the same amount of merit as the Human Creation Whip, had never gained any great renown.

It was said that it later became the Mother-Child River and Miscarriage Spring of Women's Country, forming the unique Women's Country upon the lands of the Primordial World.