Formidable

As written in the Daoist canons: *When all things are born, calamities arrive.* Though no heavenly tribulation accompanied the genesis of this world, a Dao tribulation did. At this moment, Wei Yuan was one with the newly born world, instantly sensing shifts within the chaos as countless bizarre, inscrutable entities began to breed. The glimmer of the nascent world was blindingly stark against the absolute darkness of the chaos. Its very existence provoked the void into spawning innumerable grotesque abominations. Moments later, several creatures resembling viscous shadows crawled forth from the void. Devoid of fixed form, they slithered forward, intent on devouring the leaf of the Great Dao. Wei Yuan did not move. Instead, his avatar, who had been sitting cross-legged in the land of vitality all along, rose to his feet. Scooping up two grains of earth from the soil of vitality, he flicked his fingers. The two dust-sized motes of soil shot into the shadows and instantly set them entirely ablaze, turning into two towering pillars of fire! This was the fire of life, reducing the abominations spawned by chaos to flying ash in a flash. Wei Yuan, however, frowned slightly. This soil of vitality was extraordinarily precious, and now there were only two handfuls of it here, while there was no telling how many chaos abominations remained. Fighting on like this was no lasting solution. Wei Yuan retrieved the Scarlet Night Immortal-Slaying Sword and handed it to the avatar. The avatar dashed out with the blade. Several flashes of bright red sword radiance flared, extinguishing several more abominations. Through this clash, Wei Yuan finally discerned the abominations' strength. Each was merely equivalent to an ordinary dharma idol, but the trouble lay in their sheer numbers. Within his sensory range alone, there were tens of thousands. Fortunately, most were still tiny germinating dots, showing no signs of developing or growing yet. Even so, it was easy to imagine that as the leaf of the Great Dao grew and the real world expanded, the horrors it provoked would only multiply. Furthermore, there were the entities that had destroyed this world in ancient times. They would never allow it to be restarted unhindered. By now, the descending merit was finally drawing to a close. Such vast merit gave Wei Yuan a faint premonition: if gathered in one place, it might bring about unpredictable changes. At this moment, variables were precisely what Wei Yuan needed most. After weighing his options, Wei Yuan placed all the merit upon his avatar. The avatar's body stiffened, and then his connection to Wei Yuan's true form intensified a thousandfold. A portion of the realm power of the Splendor of the Many Realms was also diverted to bless him. In the blink of an eye, a hazy grey expanse appeared around the avatar. Though small, it was undeniably a mindscape world. He stretched his limbs, and a noticeable shift in expression surfaced in his eyes. He walked up to Wei Yuan, bowed, and said, "My thanks to my primary self for bringing me to fulfillment." Seeing his avatar clearly develop self-awareness, Wei Yuan had not anticipated such a development and was momentarily unsure how to handle it. With a thought, Wei Yuan realized all the merit remained under his control. As long as he willed it and recalled the merit into his true body, the avatar would immediately revert to its original state. However, this suddenly awakened sapience would vanish with it. "What exactly are you?" Wei Yuan asked abruptly. The avatar paused, pondered for a moment, and reached toward the leaf of the Great Dao. Extracting a speck of radiance from it, he formed it into a Daoist canon and handed it to Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan received it and looked down to see two large characters inscribed upon the cover: *Guixu*. Opening it, he found it completely blank. The avatar pointed toward the leaf of the Great Dao and explained, "In truth, I am a remnant cast off when it manifested in the world. It is the real, and I am the void. Merging gradually with this avatar and enlightened by merit, I can be considered a being nurtured by heaven and earth, yet I remain your avatar. As for this canon, it is the manifestation of this realm's Great Dao. To wield it is to command this realm's heavenly law." A chill ran through Wei Yuan's heart. An avatar suddenly gaining autonomous awareness was by no means a good omen. In human history, more than a few immortals had died to avatars turning on their masters or revolts of the three corpses. Even so, while the avatar possessed intellect, Wei Yuan maintained absolute control over him; simply reclaiming the merit would obliterate him on the spot. Furthermore, he was a being nurtured by heaven. Putting aside the ill omen of slaying such an entity, his intrinsic worth was exceedingly precious. In a sense, observing him was equivalent to comprehending the Great Dao indirectly. Wei Yuan was not one for indecision. He said at once, "Then you shall stand guard here and hold off the chaos abominations. I will return now to find a way to get you some aid." The avatar bowed and sat down cross-legged. Only when an abomination drew near did he erupt into a sudden strike, slaying it with a single sword slash. Witnessing this minimalist combat style that did not waste an ounce of effort, Wei Yuan finally felt somewhat relieved. It felt very much like himself. The only flaw was the lack of an audience. Upon returning to the Splendor of the Many Realms, Wei Yuan discovered he could still perceive the state of that other world through the avatar, as though he had grown an extra pair of eyes and gained an additional body. Wei Yuan first stored the *Guixu* canon in the Central Spirit Mansion. This place held the strongest suppressing power in his entire mindscape world, so placing the canon here should pose no issues. Having put the canon away, Wei Yuan prepared to seek out his mother to see what means she might possess to help him defend the world beyond heaven. Just as he was about to set off, a sudden intuition struck Wei Yuan, and his figure materialized on the Eighth Cave Heaven. This newly formed cave heaven possessed a bizarre shape, resembling a flying aerie. Hongmo was currently bustling before a stone altar upon which lay a naked Liao cultivator, dismantled into countless components. This was precisely the soul of the Scenery Command Liao cultivator who had fallen into Hongmo's hands. Wei Yuan had simply never imagined that a soul could be sliced into so many pieces. "What are you doing?" "Cooking!" Hongmo answered without looking up. Each of her four hands held a strange cutting implement, slicing and paring at the Liao soul. Her technique was extraordinarily delicate, peeling away something strand by strand. Moments later, Hongmo gave a cheer of delight: "Done!" Wei Yuan looked closely and saw a greyish-blue Liao infant lying in the midst of the heap of soul components. The chubby little baby was quite adorable, flailing its tiny hands and feet. Wei Yuan focused his divine sense upon it and was immediately astounded. This little infant was actually the true spirit cultivated by that Scenery Command expert, yet Hongmo had managed to carve and peel it out intact. "Do you eat this?" Wei Yuan asked. Hongmo shook her head. "I don't need to cultivate right now; you cultivating is enough. When you grow stronger, I naturally grow stronger as well. This dish is prepared for someone else." "For whom?" Wei Yuan asked, curious. Without answering, Hongmo gestured for Wei Yuan to follow. She led him in flight toward the ancient full moon, laid down the infant formed of the true spirit, and stood respectfully to the side. The three-eyed avian head surfaced, swallowed the true spirit in a single gulp, and then one of its eyes shone with vitality as it looked toward Hongmo. Hongmo immediately declared, "Pure filial tribute, no requests." The three-eyed avian head then turned toward Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan felt an instant of awkwardness; his visit was purely for requests, with no tribute. Seeing this, Hongmo promptly took her leave and returned to her own cave heaven, diving back into whatever tinkerings occupied her. This was to afford Wei Yuan privacy, refraining from prying into his secrets. Wei Yuan immediately viewed Hongmo in a new light. Beings like Dharma Gods were truly fiercely competitive. After Hongmo departed, the three-eyed avian head faded away, but a black-robed woman walked out from the shadows of the moon. The instant she appeared, a distant laurel branch snapped back into the earth. "The great enemy has yet to arrive, yet chaos abominations have already emerged. How should we resist them?" Wei Yuan asked. After a moment's contemplation, the black-robed woman lightly tapped her finger, and a black Daoist canon materialized before Wei Yuan, bearing the title *Taiyi God-Enfeoffment Method*. Wei Yuan reached out to take it. The canon vanished instantly, filling his consciousness with countless profound and wondrous arts. Having bestowed the canon, the black-robed woman's figure faded by a few degrees and receded into the shadows. This *Taiyi God-Enfeoffment Method* was a Daoist manual condensed with the full might of the previous world before its demise, specially reserved for seeds like Wei Yuan to reboot the world. The core of this method was to craft puppets and then enlighten them with sapience, thereby creating Guardian Attendant Gods from nothing. After reviewing it, Wei Yuan could not help but exclaim in admiration, "Formidable!" The most extraordinary aspect of this God-Enfeoffment Method lay in the word "God." In truth, it bestowed sapience out of thin air, equivalent to creating souls from scratch. Although this native realm possessed countless Dao paths, none had a comparable art. At the same moment, in a corner of the Splendor of the Many Realms, a faint voice echoed: "Formidable indeed—" Within the Central Spirit Mansion, Maiden Yin-Yang was leafing through *Guixu*, staring at its blank pages with immense fascination.