Had Mu Chen known what Nuwa was thinking at that moment, the expression on his face would certainly have been extremely strange.
Telling Nuwa to contemplate soil had purely been Hongjun misunderstanding what he meant.
He had only later remembered that Gonggong ramming Mount Buzhou in fury would tear a great hole in the Heavenly Court.
So everything happening now was merely a coincidence.
Nuwa, however, did not think so.
The next day, she came before Hongjun and voiced her confusion.
Hongjun sat cross-legged in the void.
Not the slightest fluctuation of presence came from him, as though he had merged with heaven and earth.
Even Nuwa as she was now could only sense unfamiliarity and power.
So... even the gulf between Sages could be as vast as heaven and earth.
Hongjun said with a faint smile.
"In my eyes, young fellow Daoist Mu Chen is the foremost extraordinary figure in the Primordial World. He exists outside the five elements and heaven and earth, so nothing he does is out of the ordinary."
"Were it not for young fellow Daoist Mu Chen back then, I might not have been able to attain the Dao within heaven and earth."
"I do not know why he has offered you guidance time and again, either. But since this is a benevolent connection, you may send him some small gifts in return."
Understanding dawned on Nuwa's face.
The next day.
Nuwa sent someone to deliver a sleeping little monkey as a return gift.
Mu Chen looked closely and could not help being surprised.
It was actually a Long-Armed Ape!
This was one of the Four Divine Monkeys.
It was said to seize the sun and moon, shrink a thousand mountains, discern fortune and misfortune, and toy with heaven and earth.
It was relatively rare even in the present Primordial World.
Mu Chen suddenly felt rather speechless.
First a phoenix, now a monkey...
What was this?
Did they think this was a zoo?
Yet this was a gift from a Sage, so Mu Chen could only accept it with an ingratiating smile.
From that day onward.
Mu Chen had another task in his desolate fishing life.
Raising a monkey!
With Gonggong ramming Mount Buzhou in fury, the conflict between the Demon Race and the Witch Race erupted in full.
Neither race cared about keeping up appearances anymore, and they began slaughtering each other across the Primordial World on a massive scale.
As time passed.
It was no longer just the great witches and great demons.
Even the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Di Jun, and Eastern Emperor Taiyi joined the battlefield.
One mighty figure after another fell.
Blood flowed in rivers.
The bloodshed rivaled that of the First Dragon-Han Tribulation.
The several Sages above watched coldly. Knowing this was the Heavenly Dao's second tribulation, they all remained silent, afraid of being drawn into the vortex.
Likewise.
With the coming of war, Mu Chen returned to his old trade.
Amid his monotonous fishing, he used the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Arts to create a clone with the cultivation of a Primordial Unity True Immortal and began traveling the Primordial World.
The newly awakened Long-Armed Ape rode on his shoulder.
One man and one monkey roamed the Primordial World.
They had already spent ten years in the Primordial World.
Over those ten years, the fighting between both sides was exceptionally brutal, with great demons and great witches dying from time to time.
Mu Chen turned a deaf ear to all of it.
He helped neither the Demon Race nor the Witch Race.
He acted purely as a bystander.
This was a tempering experience, as well as a chance to witness the brutality of the Great Witch-Demon Catastrophe.
One day.
Somewhere in a mountain forest.
Mu Chen said earnestly.
"Xiao Shi, I didn't bring you out here to be a perverted stalker. You're still a minor. Could you stop being such a pervert?"
Xiao Shi was the Long-Armed Ape's name.
As his words fell.
Xiao Shi reluctantly tore his gaze away from a female monkey's bottom and returned to Mu Chen's side.
Mu Chen was just about to leave.
He caught sight of a figure shrouded entirely in black mist standing beside a small stream not far away.
It was actually a woman.
She looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.
"All living beings are plunged into misery. How am I to save this Primordial World?"
"Everything remains unknown. These Sages... why do they watch others die without offering help?"
Mu Chen's expression turned strange.
Damn it.
Why was she just like Old Jun?
Always talking as if she could crush heaven, earth, and the very air.
Could this be another old monster?
No sooner had the words fallen.
"Ding, detected that the host has encountered Houtu by chance. Please choose." "One: Help Houtu comprehend the Dao and establish the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Gain the Witch Race's goodwill." "Two: Slay Houtu, prevent her from establishing the Six Paths, and become a mortal enemy of the Witch Race. Obtain the innate supreme treasure, the Taiji Diagram!"