The Qi of Creation

The Returning Dao Jade Platter had already expanded to several dozen mu across. Compared to divine weapons and immortal artifacts that were often as colossal as mountain ranges, the size of this Supreme treasure seemed utterly insignificant, hardly living up to its name. Yet as Xu Ying plunged into the Returning Dao Jade Platter, what met him was a vast and boundless expanse of heaven and earth. The rushing wind howled louder and louder in his ears, and his descent grew ever faster. Everywhere he looked, diverse rays of Dao light surged continuously before his eyes. Different Dao lights displayed different Great Daos, and different Great Daos resonated with different Dao sounds, reaching his ears the instant the lights entered his sight. Within this platter was an unimaginably ancient Dao field—a world within a platter composed of the Great Daos themselves! *The Divine Mother once told me that divine calculation cannot calculate a Supreme. The person who seized the Supreme treasure, the Returning Dao Jade Platter, is definitely not a Supreme—otherwise, he would have had no need to steal it. Since he isn't a Supreme, he cannot calculate what transpires within the Returning Dao Jade Platter!* Xu Ying's eyes gleamed as he thought, *As long as his calculations are inaccurate, his deductions will be useless against me!* "Xu Ying!" Just then, a voice detonated across heaven and earth. Xu Ying hurriedly spun around, only to see the clouds and winds churning in the sky of the Returning Dao Jade Platter, coalescing into an ever-shifting face whose features warped and twisted with the flow of the tempest. "I already calculated that you would leap into the jade platter to break free of my deductions, so I left a trick up my sleeve inside the platter!" The face shifting across the heavens changed with the wind and clouds—now male, now female, suddenly old, suddenly young, its expression cycling through joy and rage. As its mouth opened to speak, it had already shifted through more than a dozen expressions and faces, and even its voice altered along with them. "And this trick of mine is literally a hand!" The heavens violently shuddered. A giant hand of origin qi shook the fabric of time and space, descending from the sky straight toward him! Xu Ying's expression changed abruptly. *The master of Perfected Qianhuan! He even calculated that I would leap into the Returning Dao Jade Platter! His divine calculation might even surpass the Divine Mother's!* He spun around in haste, only to see towering mountain ranges and rivers resembling silver ribbons; he was hurtling head-on toward a continent! Xu Ying urgently raised both arms to shield his head and face, bracing for the collision. Yet with a dull thud, it felt as though he had struck nothing solid at all, instead passing straight through a mass of nothingness. The next instant, diverse Dao lights flooded his vision once more, and a cacophony of Dao resonance rang in his ears. Then, another world rushed to meet him! Xu Ying was astonished. *The Returning Dao Jade Platter actually has more than one world inside!* In the sky, that Luotian giant hand stirred the clouds as it breached the boundary from the previous world, entering this one and continuing its reach toward him! Across the firmament, the winds and clouds shifted as the bizarre face reappeared. Its mouth opened and closed, alternating between male and female tones: "I am omnipotent and omniscient. Even a Supreme treasure must submit to my control!" Xu Ying plunged downward, passing through the continent of this world. He felt as though he had traversed an incomprehensible pocket of nothingness before plunging into yet another new world. The third world collided into view, its Dao lights entering his eyes like a kaleidoscope, reflecting different Great Dao philosophies as Dao resonance boomed and roared. His descent was even faster than before. He barely caught a fleeting glimpse of this world before its landmass rushed up to meet him! His body passed straight through that world, tumbling into a fourth. "Leaping into the Returning Dao Jade Platter means leaping into the palm of my hand, falling into my control!" the voice of Perfected Qianhuan's master rang out, growing increasingly blurred and distorted. Xu Ying had initially been somewhat panicked and tense, glancing back repeatedly, but he saw that the face on the firmament was twisting ever more severely, warping beyond recognition. "Toot! Toot! Toot!" As he tumbled through world after world, the face and grasping hand in the sky grew increasingly abstract, resembling nothing more than a tangle of lines swirling and dangling aimlessly through the heavens. He could still hear the voice of Qianhuan's master, but the sound had grown so warped and unintelligible that whatever he was saying was lost. *Even a supreme expert like him cannot truly master a Supreme treasure!* Xu Ying was filled with profound shock. The master of Perfected Qianhuan must have possessed the Returning Dao Jade Platter for an exceedingly long time, and after acquiring it, he surely spent ages refining it in an attempt to gain full control. Yet now that Xu Ying had plunged into the platter, the master's magic power and divine sense lagged behind, falling further and further away. This showed that Qianhuan's master had merely scratched the surface and never truly mastered the Returning Dao Jade Platter. Qianhuan's master was bound to be an existence on par with or even surpassing terrifying figures like the Imperial Monarch and Primordial Monarch, yet even he could not truly refine a Supreme treasure. It was easy to imagine just how dreadful and mighty a Supreme treasure was! *Every world I plummeted through just now was a different Dao field, each containing distinct Great Daos of Heaven and Earth. Because the types of Great Daos differ, the Dao lights and Dao sounds they present are also different.* Xu Ying's descent continued to accelerate, falling from one world into the next toward an unknown realm. He thought, *No wonder Qianhuan's master couldn't catch up to me. These worlds are different, and so are their Daos.* *For him to manifest his face and hand in different worlds and exert his magic power to capture me, he would have to master the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth of that world the moment he enters it. But how could that be possible?* As he tore through world after world, his speed grew faster and faster. At first, he could still discern the shapes of those worlds and sense the unique Daos of each. But eventually, everything blurred into streams of flowing light. His speed of traversal reached the absolute extreme—in the blink of an eye, hundreds and thousands of worlds flashed past! Countless Dao sounds flooded his ears at once, tangling together into an indistinguishable roar! Dazzled and disoriented, Xu Ying could no longer tell whether he was falling or floating amid an endless stream of light. Even that flow continued to accelerate. In an instant, tens of thousands of worlds and tens of thousands of Dao fields whipped past, and the Dao sounds dissolved into a meaningless drone. Finally, the Great Dao fell silent. All the clamorous Dao sounds vanished abruptly, and all the shifting colors of the Great Dao disappeared without a trace. Xu Ying seemed to plunge into an unadorned, simple mass of pure qi, suspended between heaven and earth with nowhere to touch ground. Floating within that mass of pure qi, he looked down and suddenly saw the entirety of the Xuanhuang Realm. Xu Ying was stunned. At this moment, it was as if he were suspended high above the Xuanhuang Realm—the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain—taking in the entire world at a single glance! He could even see every broken Great Dao of this world, the composition of each Dao; everything suddenly became clear and traceable! Even all the people in the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain—whether living beings or corpses dominated by obsessive grudges—their shattered Daos were laid bare before his eyes. Xu Ying felt as though he occupied a higher realm: one independent of the world, above the world, profound and unfathomable. He saw the wondrous qi of the Returning Dao Jade Platter linking the Daos of Heaven and Earth, mending the flaws of the Great Dao. It was utterly miraculous. His spirit, thoughts, and consciousness seemed to merge into one with the Returning Dao Jade Platter, as if he himself were mending the Daos of the Xuanhuang Realm. He felt like a mender of the Dao. Yet what he failed to notice was that his clothes, his skin, and his flesh were continuously assimilating into wisps of pure qi, drifting into that mass of clear qi and becoming part of it. Even his origin qi, divine sense, and yin-yang qi were being assimilated by the clear qi! Alarm gripped Xu Ying's heart. He immediately mobilized his cultivation—his origin qi and divine sense—contracting inward toward his Primordial Spirit. Yet his Realm of Xiyi was already collapsing, and his Primordial Spirit could hardly protect itself. Soon, his physical body was reduced to a skeleton, and his bones dissolved shortly after, melting into the pure qi and returning to creation! The Returning Dao Jade Platter truly lived up to its name as a Supreme treasure; it left him without even the strength to resist as his flesh dissolved, leaving only his Primordial Spirit! Throughout this process, he had not felt the slightest pain—his physical body had simply dissolved into nothing! His Primordial Spirit subsequently shattered within the clear qi. Xu Ying concentrated his self-awareness and soul, taking refuge in his Undying True Spirit. In the end, his Primordial Spirit dissolved, leaving the Undying True Spirit exposed, enveloped by the clear qi! This mass of pure qi was the core of the Returning Dao Jade Platter, a mass of the Qi of Creation refined by its original master after exhausting the wondrous principles of creation. This Qi of Creation fully manifested the Great Daos of Heaven and Earth, excelling at mending the creations of heaven and earth and reordering the world's Great Daos—hence its name, the Returning Dao Jade Platter. Yet the principles contained within the Qi of Creation were far too profound. Anyone who entered it would be assimilated. Whether Dao methods, divine powers, conscious thought, or physical flesh, anything incapable of transcending creation would be assimilated—there was no other outcome. What was most terrifying was not any active hostility from the Returning Dao Jade Platter, but that it possessed no hostility or stance of slaughter at all. It merely displayed the inherent properties of the Qi of Creation, bearing no intention to harm. Yet if one fell into it, one would be assimilated, with neither escape nor recourse—and that was the truly terrifying part. When that Qi of Creation eroded down to Xu Ying's Undying True Spirit, it was finally obstructed. Xu Ying's Undying True Spirit continually regenerated a physical body, while the Qi of Creation continually eroded it away, plunging Xu Ying into a cycle of perpetual creation and destruction. Back then, when Xu Ying descended from the Immortal Realm and walked the heavenly road, tens of thousands of immortals risked life and limb, all the gods of the Heavenly Dao mobilized in full force, and the supreme figures across the myriad worlds joined hands to strike Xu Ying down. Yet none could slay him. In the end, it took the Imperial Monarch in the Immortal Realm raising the Purple Nether Blade to sever Xu Ying's physical body. That had been the most grievous injury Xu Ying ever suffered. The second most severe was not long ago in the Ancestral Court, when he battled two Immortal Kings and was devoured by immortal insects, bitten until his physical form was almost completely obliterated, surviving only by virtue of his Undying True Spirit so that he was not eaten away. And now, simply by falling into the Qi of Creation, Xu Ying had nearly seen an entire lifetime's cultivation destroyed! Xu Ying breathed a sigh of relief. He had truly feared that even his Undying True Spirit would fail to resist the erosion of the Qi of Creation, but fortunately, it held. His consciousness remained clear this time. At the very onset of his body's destruction, he had continually contracted his cultivation to seek refuge within his Undying True Spirit. Though his physical form and Primordial Spirit were destroyed, his injuries were actually less severe than on the previous two occasions. *What on earth is the Undying True Spirit? Why can it hold its ground beneath the might of a Supreme treasure?* Xu Ying wondered in astonishment. To this day, he had seen divine powers and treasures capable of scattering one's soul into oblivion, but he had never seen any treasure or technique capable of destroying an Undying True Spirit. With a stir of thought, he attempted to activate his Undying True Spirit. Unlike others, whose Undying True Spirits were usually just a fleck of immortal spiritual light, his Undying True Spirit was nearly the same size as his body. Xu Ying had no idea how he had cultivated it to grow so large. He attempted to use his Undying True Spirit as a medium to touch the Qi of Creation. He did not seek to refine the Qi of Creation; its mysteries lay beyond his current understanding, and forcing a refinement was simply impossible. It was far better to go with the flow of its Dao. The moment he touched the Qi of Creation, he felt once more like a mender of the Dao, with all the shattered Great Daos of Heaven and Earth across the Xuanhuang Realm resting within his grasp. By this time, the corpse kings and corpse immortals were returning one after another to the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain. The Returning Dao Jade Platter had already begun repairing and reconnecting the shattered Daos at a speed hundreds and thousands of times faster than when Xu Ying reordered Xuandu Jade Capital Mountain. Those corpse kings and corpse immortals were astonished to find that the Dao wounds left upon them from the great war of the Ancestral Court were slowly healing on their own! Their shattered Dao fields began self-repairing, and their Dao principles and Dao chains began reconnecting! Their auras grew increasingly potent, and the corpse qi billowing from their bodies grew ever more pungent as they let out roar after roar of indignation! It looked as though they were on the verge of regaining the power they had possessed in life! Yet even the power of the Returning Dao Jade Platter could not bring the dead back to life. They remained corpses, brimming with fury and resentment. Sword Lord Jinhe wore a grave expression. He looked toward the Returning Dao Jade Platter, his gaze then falling upon a shroud of mist in the distance. The being within that mist had previously been suppressed by him, with Jinhe holding the upper hand. But if that being's Dao wounds healed and its Great Dao reconnected, would Jinhe still be a match for it? "Can he still keep the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain under control?" The Ninth Immortal King frowned, quietly retreating. "If these corpse kings and corpse immortals recover to the peak of their living strength, my Diecui Valley and Wujue's Fengluan Ridge will both fall." His expression darkened as he retreated faster and faster, silently anxious. *If we flee Weixu, we will no longer be Immortal Kings, but mere Qi Refiners. Even so, life is more important!* The Five Extremes Immortal King was also retreating, crying out in alarm in his heart. In the past, the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain had coexisted peacefully with Fengluan Ridge and Diecui Valley because Sword Lord Jinhe was able to suppress the domain, and because the corpse kings and corpse immortals lacked their former strength, unable to cause much commotion. Back then, their relationship with the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain was neither good nor bad; when the Little Celestial Venerable attacked Weixu, they had even joined forces against the common enemy. But now, if these corpse kings and corpse immortals recovered their living power, they could easily level Fengluan Ridge and Diecui Valley, and Sword Lord Jinhe would be completely powerless to suppress them! Right at that moment, an inexplicable force rippled outward. The self-restoration of the Xuanhuang Realm's Great Daos of Heaven and Earth accelerated, yet the personal Daos of the corpse immortals and ghost immortals abruptly ceased recovering. The corpse immortals and ghost immortals looked up one after another, roaring at the Returning Dao Jade Platter with confusion. The powerful entity within the mist also looked toward the Returning Dao Jade Platter. A voice sounded from the mist, murmuring, "Something unexpected has happened inside the Returning Dao Jade Platter. This is precisely why I sought to master this treasure." From within the mist came an earth-shattering roar, and tens of thousands of fallen corpse kings and corpse immortals leapt into the air, charging toward the Returning Dao Jade Platter! Sword Lord Jinhe's face darkened. Holding his sword across his chest, he barred the path before the Returning Dao Jade Platter. Just moments ago, he had tried to seize the jade platter; now, he had to defend it, refusing to let those corpse immortals and ghost immortals approach! "Jinhe, get out of the way!" Suddenly, the mist surged forward, engulfing the entire Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain. The corpse qi thickened exponentially, and myriad red corpse hairs fluttered through the air, surging toward Sword Lord Jinhe. At the same time, dozens of corpses of Immortal Kings alongside formidable corpses of Immortal Monarchs surged toward the Returning Dao Jade Platter like a rising tide. Faced with such a torrential onslaught, sword qi swept across the sky like a raging river, surging to meet the shadow within the mist! Heavenly Fiend Supreme suddenly said, "Imperial Monarch, Primordial Monarch, let us go forward to help as well!" Heavenly Fiend Imperial Monarch replied, "Supreme, we are heavenly fiends. Do not forget our identity." "Yet we are also among the few virtuous thoughts the immortals possessed."