The demon race's Imperial-level experts followed Nuwa out of the starry sky, traveling for a long, long time until they exited the twenty-eight layers of the Primordial World's starry sky and arrived in the starry sky within chaos.
Nuwa smiled and said, "I have searched all regions, and this boundless star domain is the most complete in terms of stellar origins. It can be used to transform all things."
Xihe asked, "Does Empress mean to use star arrays to refine these stars, each possessing a singular origin, into the foundation of worlds, similar to how the Great God Pangu transformed himself into all things?"
Nuwa nodded. "Precisely. The six of us will reactivate the star arrays, fuse the stellar origins, and then I will reverse the origin of the star arrays, integrating them into chaos. The chaos of wind, earth, water, and fire will envelop the trillions of star bodies, and then the Qiankun Cauldron will infuse primordial creation energy to strengthen the origins.
Then, this will serve as the Hongmeng. We will then open this realm. I will be the chief god of heaven-opening, Taiyi will hold the Chaos Bell to stabilize the wind, earth, water, and fire, serving as the auxiliary god of heaven-opening. After the opening of heaven, the five of you, led by Daoist Qing Ling, will transform into this realm's Four Symbols. Wood Dao will balance the Four Symbols and transform into Buzhou, supporting heaven and earth!"
Kunpeng frowned and said, "Even with the origins of countless stars and the aid of the Qiankun Cauldron, it is likely that nurturing a 'mini-Hongmeng' will take thousands of Yuan Hui. We may not have enough time."
Nuwa laughed. "If I had not achieved sainthood, it would indeed require thousands of Yuan Hui.
Now that I am a saint, time and ages can be altered with a mere flick of my hand. What difficulty is this? Moreover, you have not yet comprehended the temporal differences of star arrays. I will merely pull the River of Time to surround the 'mini-Hongmeng.' One instant will represent a year's difference in time flow. In merely ten Yuan Hui of the Primordial World, the mini-Hongmeng will have passed countless trillions of years!"
Kunpeng was shocked. "Is the power of a saint so omnipotent?"
Nuwa merely smiled without speaking.
Qing Ling asked, "Then who will preside over affairs in the Primordial World while we all remain here?"
"It matters not," Di Jun said, his eyes full of excitement. "Although my good and evil corpses are destroyed, I can condense a pseudo-good corpse. Taiyi also has good and evil avatars, as do Xihe and the Demon Master. The Heavenly Court's current power, backed by Empress Nuwa's prestige, deters the Wu Clan from invading.
Furthermore, with the Heavenly Court protected by the Great Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array, even if supremely powerful beings harbor ill intentions, they will not be able to break through the Zhou Tian Array's confinement. As long as this realm is stable, we can take turns returning to the Primordial World. All will be well."
Nuwa also nodded. "At that time, I will spare no energy to accelerate the perfection of this realm. The entire plan will not exceed one hundred Yuan Hui.
Even if Laozi is on the verge of sainthood, he still awaits Primordial and Tongtian. Within at least one hundred Yuan Hui, the five saints will not emerge."
After much discussion and meticulous planning, they finally settled on the grand scheme for opening heaven and establishing a realm!
Nuwa took a step forward, her primordial spirit as a saint radiating its power without reservation. Billions of stars in the sea of stars were instantly drawn, countless stars flickering in and out of existence, their birth and destruction occurring in an instant at the saint's will.
At this moment, even Qing Ling felt that standing before a saint, he was truly an ant, capable of being annihilated with a flip of a hand!
Following this, the others also unleashed their primordial spirits, constructing the great star array. Stars were drawn and intertwined, and Kunpeng, having gained insights into the Great Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array with Di Jun's guidance, clearly possessed profound attainments in star array formations.
Billions of stars were drawn and gathered, their distances shrinking.
Each star contained a kind of stellar origin, an origin of a single attribute. The aggregation of trillions of stars was already comparable to eighty percent of the Primordial World's size!
The vast scope and immense power of this star array were entirely due to the efforts of Empress Nuwa, a Hunyuan Saint.
Qing Ling and the other five merely served as auxiliary elements, acting as the eyes of the array.
Nuwa walked into the sea of billions of stars, her primordial spirit unifying the five directions.
The Northern Emperor Jun Star, the Southern Taiyi Star, the Eastern Kunpeng Star, the Western Xihe Star, and the Central Qing Ling Star served as the five main stars to guide the array. Nuwa's primordial spirit then split, controlling a billion auxiliary stars. The power of the star array transformed with Nuwa's primordial spirit and flowed outwards. Billions of stars converged around Nuwa above, and countless stellar origins dissolved into her.
Countless stars were thus annihilated, and all the stellar power origins and stellar dust condensed into a single point around Nuwa.
A point that devoured all things!
Like a black hole!
It devoured everything: stars and stellar origins, dust, light, shadow, time, space, consciousness, and even all cognition. Around it was only emptiness.
Nuwa revealed her human form with a snake's tail, her saintly image. She was like nothingness, yet also present in every corner of the universe and every star.
Once all the stars in this region were devoured, the star array naturally collapsed.
Qing Ling and the other five fell out, each spitting out a mouthful of blood from the backlash.
However, Nuwa's eyes snapped open, reflecting the instantaneous birth and death of endless stars and universes. She was like the will of the universe, or an unknowable existence. Even though they knew her thoroughly, seeing this scene sent shivers down their spines.
Nuwa's ethereal voice echoed through the cosmos, "Reverse!"
In an instant, the emptiness around Nuwa cracked like a mirror. The chaos outside the starry sky, with its boundless wind, earth, water, and fire, surged in, like water from the nine heavens pouring down, ceaselessly flowing into the dimension where Nuwa was.
Endless wind, earth, water, and fire poured in without pause. Nuwa even actively absorbed them, and beneath her dimension, a new, chaos-like existence began to form.
Chaos was like a chicken egg, and Hongmeng was like a vast ocean.
In Nuwa's dimension, chaos was like Hongmeng, and stellar origins were like chicken eggs.
A new world origin was born, like an egg, wrapped layer by layer by endless wind, earth, water, and fire.
Nuwa pointed a finger, and a cauldron materialized in the void – it was the Primordial Treasure, the Qiankun Cauldron!
Though it was damaged, it was a supreme treasure one dimension higher than a primordial treasure!
Nuwa's body became immeasurably vast, so vast that it encompassed the upper and lower limits of the starry sky. Even Buzhou of the Primordial World seemed like an ant before her at this moment.
The grandeur of her immensely powerful saintly body made the others dare not move. Such a Nuwa was too terrifying, not in terms of power, but from the instinctive fear born of an immense difference in life-level.
Nuwa's majestic form cradled the Qiankun Cauldron in her left palm, pouring countless primordial creation energies along with the endless wind, earth, water, and fire into that world origin.
Her right palm held a mysterious Dao wheel, the very essence of the Great Dao of Creation. This Creation Dao Wheel, with its boundless creation power, also strengthened the world origin.
Nuwa's primordial spirit appeared above her head. She willed it to draw down the River of Time, which flowed slowly. Through the mysterious waters of the river, Qing Ling saw countless figures of Nuwa at different temporal nodes, figures of Nuwa in various spacetime dimensions. Simultaneously, they extended their hands, releasing the power of a saint, or the power before becoming a saint, to aid the gentle flow of the River of Time, enveloping the world origin. As time passed, the world origin underwent eons of nurturing. To Qing Ling, outside this dimension, it was merely a brief ten Yuan Hui.
At this sight, the others were already stunned into a daze. What immense power was this? To be able to mobilize the power of countless versions of oneself across countless times, all descending upon oneself at this present moment!
Qing Ling finally understood that breaking the Primordial World and re-enacting the wind, earth, water, and fire was truly not difficult for a saint.
He realized that the observable power of saints in the Primordial World was due to the limitations of the Heavenly Dao.
Without the limitations of the Heavenly Dao, a saint, Qing Ling felt, was the most terrifying existence he could conceive of – an omnipotent, omnipresent, and all-possibility being with a single thought!
Of course, after their shock, the others naturally would not miss such an opportunity to observe the Dao. Through the infinite spacetime, they could gain immense benefits.
This was especially true for Xihe, the mistress of light!
As time flowed, Qing Ling and the others spent ten Yuan Hui observing Nuwa creating the world.
For a full million years, Nuwa did not stop, nurturing the world origin amidst the flow of time.
Although it was only a million years, for this world origin, it had undergone eons of nurturing.
Nuwa retracted the Qiankun Cauldron and the Creation Dao Wheel. The River of Time vanished in an instant. Even for a saint, fatigue showed on her immensely powerful saintly face.
Even though this world origin was one dimension lower than that of the Primordial World, Nuwa had exhausted the power of her primordial spirit. A being like Pangu, who broke Hongmeng and opened the heavens, was beyond their comprehension.
Currently, this world origin resided within the endless chaos of wind, earth, water, and fire. It was a realm of chaos, with no up or down, no east, west, north, or south, all in disarray. There was no heaven, no earth, no universe, no cosmos; everything was the beginning.
Nuwa's majestic saintly form spoke without a trace of emotion, "I shall open the heavens and cleave the earth. After that, it will be up to you!"
Di Jun and Taiyi gratefully acknowledged. Kunpeng responded with awe. Xihe bowed in submission, her mind now unburdened, having broken through limitations and achieved half-step Hunyuan during these ten Yuan Hui of time!
Qing Ling, with respect in his heart, also responded.
Nuwa spoke no further and entered the chaotic world origin.
Infinite wisdom flashed in her eyes, and two blood-red short knives appeared in her palms.
These two Red Sleeve Knives were shaped from the essence of the Heaven-Opening Axe, which she had obtained from the landforms of Fengxi Mountain. Their bodies were formed from the scales and blood of her divine form, imbued with creation energy. They were her protective treasures before she had attained the Dao and obtained the Purple Cloud treasures. They had drunk the blood of countless races, shattered the bones of immortal mighty beings, and feasted on mountains of corpses and seas of blood, endless white bones.
With each enemy's blood they devoured, the Red Sleeve Knives grew stronger. Nuwa herself could not recall how many souls had perished under the Red Sleeve Knives. For one general to achieve glory, ten thousand bones must whither. These two knives had experienced all of Nuwa's formidable enemies.
Later, after she attained sainthood, she refined these knives again with her saintly power, using the Qiankun Cauldron's ability to return to the primordial state, transforming them from acquired to primordial treasures, their killing power rivaling that of primordial treasures!
Nuwa wielded the knives. With her left palm, she struck the heavens; with her right palm, she cleaved the earth. Each strike of the knife was boundless, imbued with the ultimate principles of heaven and earth creation. She was not merely cleaving heaven and earth but also creating them!
The world rumbled and roared. The heavens ascended, and the earth sank. Countless order rules were constructed in Nuwa's calculations, and countless ultimate principles were reshaped under Nuwa's Dao of Creation.
The heavens rose billions of feet, and the earth sank billions of feet. Nuwa walked step by step, each strike in the space between heaven and earth being peerless, each beam of saber energy being the first strike in this world.
The world trembled and shook. Heaven rose and earth descended, but no continents appeared. Instead, countless stars of various sizes floated in the void between heaven and earth, like islands in the sky!
Nuwa spent one hundred thousand years opening heaven and cleaving earth. Heaven and earth were opened, and the world was complete. There was no need for her to transform into all things; the trillions of stellar origins from before would naturally evolve.
This world had nine layers of heaven and nine layers of earth. Nine was the extreme number, and Nuwa had exerted her utmost, leaving no strength remaining.
Nuwa's immensely powerful saintly body crashed down, her form returning to the void, merging with nothingness. Her primordial spirit was exhausted, her magic power depleted, and not a trace of saintly power remained.
The others were greatly alarmed, and watching Nuwa disappear into the void, they felt a sense of unease.
Qing Ling quickly said, "Everyone, do not worry. Empress Nuwa created heaven and earth, and her power is exhausted, but thankfully, she has only fallen into a deep sleep and has not transformed into all things."
Only then did the others breathe a sigh of relief.
They were all moved by Empress Nuwa's great perseverance and her dedication to the demon race.
Qing Ling knew that Nuwa, having achieved sainthood as a Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortal who commanded the Great Heavenly Dao, was not a Heavenly Dao saint. Without the favor of the ruling Heavenly Dao, without the support of destiny and faith, she had no further path to advancement.
The Heavenly Dao would not only fail to support her progress but would also hinder her steps.
Nuwa could only rely on the demon race, draw strength from the demon race's destiny, and ensure the demon race's well-being to obtain the source of her destiny and further her saintly path.
Even if she was omniscient, with the general trend of the Primordial World gradually deviating from its original course, with the great trends in chaos and the obscuring of heavenly secrets, she was not a Heavenly Dao saint and naturally could not clearly foresee her future endeavor of mending the heavens.
Therefore, Nuwa was willing to forge a new world for the demon race, not only for her own saintly path but also out of affection for the demon race over the long ages, for those children and subjects who regarded her as a god, and for her demon race children!
The reason Nuwa's creation of the world was so strenuous was that the heaven and earth she opened were not mere minor, middle, or major worlds, but a world equivalent to a portion of the Primordial World, comparable in height to the plane of the Primordial World.
It was merely one dimension lower, the dimension of saints. In this world, one could not reach the highest point of the Dao, the Hunyuan realm!
Just as the others' worries about Empress Nuwa eased, this realm, destined to be the dwelling place of the demon race, trembled once more. Heaven and earth were about to merge and return to chaos!
Seeing this, the others were prepared.
Taiyi instantly entered this world. The Eastern Emperor Bell resonated through the nine heavens above and below, standing in the south of heaven and earth. The Golden Crow spread its wings, and the Eastern Emperor Bell's resonance carried the sound of heaven-opening, stabilizing the southern part of heaven and earth.
Di Jun also entered this world. The Hetu Luoshu evolved into myriad dragon-horse beings. The Emperor Star shone brightly, suppressing the northern part of heaven and earth.
Kunpeng spread its wings and flew to the east of heaven and earth. The waters of chaos evolved into a vast ocean, wind and water mutually generating and restraining, supporting the earth and propping up the heavens, stabilizing the eastern part of heaven and earth.
Xihe's light and time flowed like a waterfall, shining eternally in the west. A round moon rose, propping up the western heaven and earth. The Moon Essence Wheel fell to the ground, suppressing the western land.
Qing Ling walked into the center. A mountain of Wood Dao was situated in the middle of the sky, supporting the nine layers of the azure heavens above and shaking the nine layers of the dark abyss below. It drew wind and water from the east, moon essence from the west, the Emperor Star from the north, and the sun from the south. The Four Symbols stabilized the world, and Buzhou Mountain propped up the heavens.
As the four half-step Hunyuan experts and one supreme mighty being brought stability, this world gradually calmed down, and the weight pressing down on the five individuals gradually lessened.
In this world, the heavens were the Azure Firmament, and the earth was the Dark Abyss. The heavens were empty, and the earth was without land. There were only countless stars of various sizes floating in the void, and these stars would be the future dwelling places of the demon race. The demon race would enter an era of interstellar worlds!
And all of this originated from them: the demon emperors, the demon ancestor, the demon master, and the saint!
However, this world currently had no Heavenly Dao or Earthly Dao, no will of heaven and earth, and even no spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Although this realm was opened, it would still require long ages to be fully replenished before it could serve as the new homeland for the demon race!
Concurrently, within the dimensional space of the Primordial World's heavenly will, Hongjun's will was filled with confusion. The Heavenly Dao's will sensed another change. The deductions of endless heavenly secrets shifted once more. This time, it was truly difficult to glimpse the future!