Chapter 431: The Primordial Realm
If no accident happened, the drop of qilin blood would have merged with the entire land. But an accident did happen. The drop of qilin blood had become a living being. It had a deep connection with the Untamed Lands and instinctively sought out to regain its strength. The qilin beast’s strength would continue to grow with the passage of time.
All blood shed would flow to the black pit because of the natural formations and become a part of the qilin beast’s power. As long as enough time passed, it would not be out of the realm of possibility for it to evolve into a mutant qilin. When that happened, it would be a disaster for the entire Xunshou Realm. All it needed to do was wait.
Unfortunately for the qilin beast, another accident happened—this time to its detriment.
Daoyi and Tianyi had decided to pay a visit to the Xunshou Realm and discovered it. Although most of its strength was still drained, it was still a drop of qilin blood at its core. It wasn’t as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns, but it was still a valuable commodity. There was no reason not to grab it.
“That was kinda mean,” Tianyi said. “Luring those cultivators to the blood drop beast. It was impossible for them to win as long as it was within the formation core. And they didn’t even know it.”
“I gave them a choice. They had many chances to retreat, but they were too greedy,” Daoyi said without a shred of pity. “In the end, they couldn’t grasp the chance at life and chose death.”
Tianyi said nothing. It was true that they made foolish choices, but that was because of their incomplete knowledge and many other factors. Each one had needed to consider the force behind them. If they allowed another force to claim the blood drop beast, impossible as it was, then it would only spell eventual doom for the other three forces.
“So, do you want it?” Tianyi asked. The thought of failing never crossed his mind. The blood drop qilin only had power comparable to a unity venerable, far from an immortal lord’s opponent, much less an immortal monarch.
“I want to take it back and research it,” Daoyi said. “It still amazes me how a drop of blood could birth life. Although it hasn’t opened its spirituality, it would only be a matter of time.”
“It is pretty amazing,” Tianyi said. “The blood drop qilin’s background must not be simple. Even if the qilin that shed its blood was a demon sovereign, the chances of it spawning life are infinitely small. Do you think that its origin is from a qilin at the Divine Realm?”
“Then the drop of blood would have had to exist from the primordial era,” Daoyi said. She didn’t waste anymore words and waved her hand. The black sphere hiding their presence disappeared.
The spherical blood drop qilin finally noticed them. It felt an instinctive fear and wariness toward the two immortals and focused the rays of light into them. However, it did nothing and Daoyi reached out. Tiny, invisible strands of silk shot out from her sleeve and wrapped around the blood drop qilin.
The blood drop qilin wanted to escape. It attempted to use its fluid state to slip through the silk bindings, but it discovered that the silk bindings emitted a particular energy that forced it to keep its form. Oh, it resisted, but it was for naught. Nothing it did could even make the silk bindings tremble.
Blood-red rays disappeared as the blood drop qilin’s connection to the Untamed Land disappeared. Once the rays of light disappeared, all the cultivators in the Untamed Lands breathed a sigh of relief. The nascent soul grandmasters could resist for a chance of life, but the same couldn’t be said for the core formation masters and foundation establishment disciples. Half the core formation masters died and none of the foundation establishment disciples survived.
The blood drop qilin’s size shrunk and floated up until it hovered above Daoyi’s palm, no larger than said palm. At its compress size, it resembled a jewel more than the liquid of life.
Daoyi felt something prick against her skin as her spiritual beast, the Dreamsilk Weaver Beast, crawled down her shoulder and up her arms. She could feel Shuijing’s intense desire for the orb of blood through their connection.
“No, you can’t,” Daoyi said, as she used her free hand to block the spider-like beast. Alas, she could not allow her spiritual beast to devour it, at least not now.
She stared at, marveled at its beauty. Still, she sighed and handed it over to Tianyi. “Put it on Fourth Heaven inside your inner universe. We’re still on our honeymoon. I’ll study it some more after it’s over.”
“Alright,” Tianyi said. He grabbed the blood drop beast with his bare hands. Daoyi had rescinded her silk threads, but it was still powerless in Tianyi's grasp as it discovered a spacetime formation had appeared around it, trapping it even worse than the silk had.
A portal to the Nine Heavens Universe opened inside Tianyi’s palm, transporting the blood drop beast inside. It lay atop a mountain in the hemisphere that the giant tree had sprouted from, still trapped. Tianyi wasn’t done as he stared at the Untamed Lands.
He could attempt to transplant the entire Untamed Lands, but that would incur heavenly punishment. Instead, Tianyi just observed the natural formation and copied it. Inside the Nine Heavens Universe, the land around the blood drop qilin changed. Gone were its verdant green trees and pastures, and in its place were blood-red ferns, blood-soaked planes, and more.
Upon feeling the changes in its environment, the blood drop qilin also appeared mollified. It was acclimating itself to its new home, or rather, prison. Tianyi would not release the seal on the blood drop qilin even as it grew in power. Perhaps he would let up once it became a mutant qilin and his or Daoyi’s spiritual beast, but definitely not now.
With everything done, Tianyi turned toward Daoyi. “What now? Do you want to sightsee a bit more, or do you want to go to the next one?”
“There’s nothing worth visiting anymore in the Xunshou Realm. Let’s go to the next destination,” Daoyi said.
“Okay.”
Daoyi raised her hand, and the Prismatic Scale Worm and the hairy tarantula beast shrunk and flew into the pot in her arms. Next, the group vanished from the sky of the Xunshou Realm. When the cultivators escaped the Untamed Lands, word of what happened soon spread.
The Four Beasts Sects eyed each other with suspicion. Each one suspected foul play, but they also suspected that the divine beast had awakened. Otherwise, there was no way all the grandmaster beast tamers they dispatched into the Untamed Land would perish inside. Although it brought tragedy, it also gave them hope. As long as the Untamed Land opened again in a hundred years, they would have another chance to tame it.
The only one most affected was the Black Beast Sect. It would be hard for them to produce another grand elder.
But before any of them could wait for the Untamed Land to open again, the barrier around it vanished. The monsters and demons inside rushed out in a horde. Dominance over the Xunshou Realm no longer belonged solely to the humans, as they and the beasts waged war against each other. It was only when the Xunshou Realm merged with the Huang Realm would humanity defeat the beasts. However, by then, the Four Beasts Sects were no longer the overlords. They were just one of many inconsequential forces that littered the Huang Realm.
Tianyi and Daoyi visited many other realms. Each realm had its own characteristics, although most resembled the Huang Realm on a smaller scale. Some realms were made entirely of seas and forces had to occupy the various archipelagos. The cultivators in that realm mostly consisted of those with water spiritual roots.
Before leaving, Daoyi left behind information on Living Pills and methods to prevent exploitation when they merged with the Huang Realm. Would some evil cultivators use the information to attempt to create living pills? Yes, but it was still better than finding out without any way to defend.
Another realm Tianyi and Daoyi visited didn’t have any ground, just floating landmasses. There, artificers ruled. They created massive flying warships and mobile fortresses. In that realm, the individual didn’t matter; it was how they operated the weapons that mattered. Sects existed, but most forces were composed of city-states. And the strongest force was an alliance of city-states.
Out of all the realms they visited, this was the closest to Earth’s society before the apocalypse.
It was a fun trip. Tianyi even grabbed a few broken ships and fortresses to study.
Aside from the middle-rank and lower-rank realms, Tianyi and Daoyi also visited the desolate realm. Contrary to regular realms, desolate realms lacked something crucial. They weren’t so unstable as to implode in on themselves, but they were inhospitable. For example, Tianyi visited a desolate realm where the majority of the world was composed of thunder and lightning, with very little else available. It was all but impossible for life to breed here.
The couple visited more desolate realms. Ones of fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. Although desolate realms were lacking, they were not without merits. Because of their unique nature, certain laws were stronger in the desolate realm, and more easily sensed.
By now, the honeymoon had ended, and Tianyi and Daoyi focused on comprehending the laws from the desolate realms. Daoyi still wanted to master the law of life, but if anything, it was more likely for desolate realms to contain the law of death, something she had already mastered.
Tianyi focused on the Law of Light, Law of Darkness, Law of Yang, and Law of Yin. Everything had yin and yang. Lightning was yang, while thunder was yin. Fire was the bringer of civilization, but it was also its destroyer. Wood represented endless vitality, but if it absorbed too much, it would bring death. In fire-attribute desolate realms, light existed everywhere, but the same couldn’t be said for those of earth and water. It was a complete darkness, and with darkness brought cold.
By the time Tianyi and Daoyi returned to the Huang Realm, they had spent a total of fifty years on their honeymoon.
“Welcome back,” Mengfei said.
Tianyi pursed his lips. “What are you talking about? Wasn’t I spending a lot of time with you? It’s not like I wasn’t present.”
Mengfei shook her head. “No, this is different.”
The immortal sovereign didn’t elaborate. Instead, she stared at Daoyi, specifically at her belly. Tianyi didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what his mother was thinking. Which is why he made sure to divert the topic as soon as possible. With his current status as a literal universe, it was impossible to conceive a child naturally with Daoyi. He didn’t mind having a child—although he would have to create his own sperm—but not now. He still felt it was too early, despite the centuries under his belt.
Life returned to normal. Daoyi continued to dwell on the Law of Life while he focused on completing the Huang Realm’s ascension. The peace lasted for a few hundred years. One day, out of nowhere, the black and white tinted skies disappeared.
Raindrops formed of spiritual qi fell from the sky and onto the land, nourishing all it touched. Not just the sky, but the ground also celebrated. It thrummed, and a warmth emanated and congealed onto all those who stood on it, be it an elderly man, a young woman, an unknowing infant, even a clueless beast.
This was the Huang Realm’s song of happiness. It had evolved to the peak of an immortal-rank realm. Any higher and it would become a divine-rank realm.
Simultaneously, every single person with conscious thought stared at the sky. They could see a massive mountain range floating in the air, no matter where they stood. It was infinitely far, yet it was as though they could still see it as if they stood in front of it. The word Immortal Court appeared in their mind.
A powerful consciousness emanated from the immortal court and covered every inch of the Huang Realm. And a voice echoed. The voice did not resemble the authoritarian baritone of Xia Meng, nor the ephemeral chime of Xi Mengfei. All the same, it carried an inviolable majesty, like an imperial decree.
“Henceforth, the Huang Realm will be known as the Primordial Realm.”