The immortal might of a Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortal swept across the Primordial World, and countless beings looked up to witness the presence of such a being.
The great powers were shocked and envious. Those still faltering on the path of the Great Dao saluted with awe, while the living dead, who had endured for unknown ages, had their eyes gleaming with relief.
From ancient times to the present, someone had finally achieved Hunyuan again, proving that the Hunyuan Dao was not solely attainable through the path of severing three corpses, nor was it exclusive to the lineage of Hongjun.
This Hunyuan being gave hope to countless seekers of the Dao, proving that the Dao was not finite, and that it did not stop before Hunyuan.
Nuwa, who had just entered the Primordial World, had a smile in her eyes. She was no longer the lone one among the Six Saints. She approached the Jianmu and said with a smile, "Congratulations, fellow Daoist, on achieving Hunyuan!"
Jieyin and Zhunti clasped their hands together, their faces showing a mixture of hardship and joy, but both offered sincere congratulations: "Congratulations, fellow Daoist Qing Ling, on achieving the Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortal!"
Laozi's eyes showed astonishment. He slowly bowed and performed a respectful salute, "Congratulations, fellow Daoist Qing Ling, on achieving the Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortal!"
Yuanshi's expression was complex, but he still generously offered a salute, "Congratulations, fellow Daoist Qing Ling, on achieving the Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortal."
Tongtian, however, let out a hearty laugh, "Fellow Daoist Qing Ling, congratulations on achieving the Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortal."
Qing Ling emerged from the Jianmu and bowed to the Six Saints, "Thank you all, fellow Daoists, for your congratulations!"
The Six Saints smiled or praised. At this moment, regardless of past grievances, all were fellow Daoists.
Nuwa's gaze swept across the faces of the Five Saints and said, "Now that the Primordial World is shattered and all beings suffer, I wish to mend the heavens. Will you all assist me?"
Qing Ling nodded, "I am willing to go!"
The Five Saints all agreed.
How could they feel at ease with the Primordial World unstable?
Nuwa said, "Sage Taiqing excels at deducing heavenly secrets. I trouble Taiqing Daoist to seal that celestial void."
Laozi's heart skipped a beat, but he did not hesitate, "This humble one is willing to follow your command."
The Four Saints were momentarily stunned, then understood. Only Nuwa could mend the heavens and create new life. The situation dictated it, and besides, for the sake of the Primordial World and all beings, what harm was there in following Nuwa's lead for once?
Nuwa nodded and then said to Tongtian, "I trouble Shangqing Daoist to slay the Northern Black Tortoise, take its four legs, and have them refined by Yuqing Daoist into the Four Pillars of Heaven."
Tongtian and Yuanshi nodded in agreement.
Nuwa then said, "I trouble Jieyin Daoist to go to the stellar universe, gather hundreds of stars, and bring them to me to mend the heavens."
Jieyin responded.
Nuwa then said, "I trouble Sage Zhunti for his hard work in moving the chaotic waters that have fallen into the Primordial World back to chaos."
Zhunti's smile faltered. This was not an easy task.
Qing Ling chuckled and said, "Actually, it need not be so troublesome. Fellow Daoist Zhunti can move the chaotic waters to the West.
The West is a place of Xún wind, a place of Duì metal, a place of Kūn earth, lacking only a source of water.
Water is the origin of all life. With water, wind will arise, and with wind, water will flow. Fortune will shift, and vitality will spring forth. The transformation of the Western lands hinges on whether the Sage is willing!"
Zhunti's heart trembled. "What Fellow Daoist Qing Ling says is most true! Even if the chaotic waters rage and storm, this humble monk has great resolve. If I can pacify these chaotic waters, I will be benefiting all beings in the West."
Qing Ling smiled and said, "I shall borrow a treasure for the Sage."
With that, he waved his sleeve and said, "Treasure, come!"
A powerful killing intent erupted from the Blood Sea, and a black light shot into the sky. It was the Asura Banner.
"This treasure was transformed from the Xuan Yuan Water Control Banner and can command all waters under heaven. I have borrowed it from the Asura sect for the Sage."
Zhunti rejoiced, "Thank you, fellow Daoist!"
In the Blood Sea, Minghe, who had been ecstatic with the rising Blood Sea, instantly changed his expression and cursed inwardly, but could do nothing.
Nuwa glanced at Qing Ling and said, "The Saints will each attend to their tasks. Since no one is supporting the heavens, I trouble you, fellow Daoist."
Qing Ling nodded, "I should gladly do so."
Nuwa then said to everyone, "I shall set up an altar and a cauldron in the Thirty-Three Heavens to refine the materials for mending the heavens. I will be too preoccupied to attend to other matters. I ask for your efforts!"
Everyone bowed and took their leave, each proceeding with their tasks.
Even though Nuwa and the Three Pure Ones had recently engaged in a great battle, harmony prevailed at this moment.
Yuanshi Tianzun even collected the upper half of the collapsed Buzhou Mountain in front of the assembled Saints.
However, Houtu had already taken the root of Buzhou Mountain. Although the Six Saints had their suspicions, they did not interfere with the Lord of the Earthly Dao.
As the Saints departed, the Thirty-Three Heavens began to tremble precariously.
Qing Ling moved his divine sense, and his Hunyuan power guided the stars, enveloping the entire Eastern Wilderness. He shouted, "Move!"
"Rumble~"
The earth trembled, mountains and rivers shifted, and a vast expanse of land, spanning ten billion li, appeared where Buzhou Mountain once stood.
The majestic roots of the Jianmu shifted and re-emerged from the soil. The Jianmu was moved by Qing Ling's Great Transference technique to the former location of Buzhou Mountain, the center of heaven and earth.
Qing Ling sat cross-legged atop the Jianmu, merging his Hunyuan magic power with it. The Jianmu began to grow rapidly again, but this time, horizontally.
The roots of the Jianmu grew thicker, and its trunk broadened. The Jianmu seemed to become the new Buzhou, and heaven and earth seemed to have a new center.
Myriad stars surrounded the trunk of the Jianmu. Thirty-three heavens high, the Jianmu surpassed Buzhou in stature. Even from billions of miles away, its form could be seen, like a central celestial pillar, or a ladder to heaven at the center of the world.
The sky was temporarily supported by Qing Ling and the Jianmu, and it ceased to shake.
Laozi blocked the celestial void with his Taiji Diagram, preventing the terrifying chaotic waters from pouring down.
Tongtian excitedly drew his sword and rushed to the north, only to find that the Black Tortoise was already dead, its primordial spirit long gone, leaving behind only a colossal corpse.
Seeing this, Tongtian sighed, "Who is willing to accept their fate willingly? Alas, alas!"
Tongtian only took the four legs of the Black Tortoise. He left the rest of its body untouched, as a sign of respect.
Tongtian brought the Black Tortoise's legs to Yuanshi. In the Jade Void Palace on Kunlun Mountain, Yuanshi spent eighty-one days refining them with countless rare innate treasures, even expending his saintly essence and half of the Buzhou Mountain body, to forge the Four Pillars of Heaven.
Tongtian then delivered the Four Pillars of Heaven to the Four Sacred Beasts of the Four Extremes, placing them at the four cardinal directions of heaven and earth.
From then on, in addition to suppressing the fundamental origins of the four directions, the Four Sacred Beasts also took on the task of guarding the Four Pillars of Heaven.
Zhunti, wielding the Xuan Asura Banner, channeled the chaotic waters of the world into the West, forming a sea named the Sea of Suffering, vast and boundless.
Moreover, some Asura beings were accidentally summoned by the Asura Banner and, touched by the Sage Zhunti's compassion, joined the Asura department, becoming one of the Eight Legions of the Heavenly Dragons.
Jieyin, enduring the dust of travel, brought back one hundred thousand stars and placed them into Nuwa's Qiankun Cauldron.
In addition, during the eons Nuwa spent comprehending the Celestial Array, she had collected countless stars. These were refined by Nuwa for eighty-one days, reaching the extreme of numbers and combining with Nuwa's power of creation, to forge thirty-six thousand one hundred and one divine stones. Nuwa spared no effort, depleting hundreds of eons of her saintly essence to reverse the acquired into the innate, thus crafting this cauldron of divine stones.
At this moment, the Six Saints had gathered, with the exception of Qing Ling, who was still supporting the sky.
Laozi's Taiji Diagram was still blocking the celestial void, but he had already approached Nuwa and examined the Heaven-Mending Stones. He said, "Although these innate divine stones are wondrous, they do not seem sufficient to mend the heavens."
Yuanshi frowned upon hearing this. "Is something missing? But these are already innate objects, each possessing innate Dao rhyme; they are already extraordinary."
The Five Saints were all amazed. The ability to transform acquired into innate was something even chaotic treasures could not achieve. Only Primordial Treasures like the Qiankun Cauldron could do so. With this cauldron, as long as one was willing to expend essence, innate objects could be created.
Even if they were not innate spiritual treasures, they possessed numerous miraculous uses.
Jieyin pondered, "Perhaps, a trace of creation is still missing."
"Creation?" Tongtian asked, confused. "Is Fellow Daoist Nuwa's Dao of Creation insufficient?"
Nuwa looked at the divine stones in the cauldron before her and said faintly, "This creation is not that creation.
When I created the human race, I exhausted my efforts to bring forth sentient beings.
Today, to mend the heavens, it must be the same!"
Yuanshi exclaimed, "Fellow Daoist Nuwa, you do not intend to...?"
Nuwa sighed. "The heavens and earth were shattered because of us. It is only right that we mend them."
Nuwa transformed into her human form with a serpentine tail. Her majestic saintly form illuminated the Primordial World.
Nuwa addressed heaven, earth, and all beings: "Now I, Nuwa, sensing the incompleteness of heaven and earth, which began with us Saints, am willing to sacrifice my body to mend heaven and earth, to repay the karmic debt to heaven and earth."
Nuwa pointed her finger, and from her majestic divine body, thirty-six thousand five hundred and one saintly scales were torn out. The thirty-six thousand five hundred and one divine stones flew out from the Qiankun Cauldron and merged with the torn serpent scales. Blood stained the sky, and the dark scales fused with the blue-black divine stones.
Nuwa utilized her Dharma Body, which encompassed the heavens. Each scale was a hundred million li in size, thus each divine stone was also a hundred million li in size.
Nuwa once again took out her Red Sleeve Saber. Her fingertips brushed against the sharp blade, sending a tremor through the hearts of the Five Saints. But in the next moment, Nuwa swung her saber and severed her own body. her serpentine tail transformed into thirty-six thousand five hundred and one pieces of flesh and blood, which merged with the divine stones.
Beneath the magnificent saintly image, all beings were shocked. They looked at Nuwa's body, devoid of scales and armor, and were moved to tears. Despite her tattered state, in the eyes of the beings, Sage Nuwa appeared in no way pathetic.
The sky was dyed red by blood, the ancient scales were dark, the divine stones and stars were blue, creation was mysterious and green, the vast firmament was white. The five colors combined to form the Five-Colored Divine Stones.
Nuwa mended the heavens. Thirty-six thousand five hundred and one Five-Colored Divine Stones were created. Each stone represented the pain of Nuwa's scales and flesh being torn apart, and her repeated struggles.
Tongtian exclaimed, "Must it be like this?"
Laozi remained silent for a long time before saying, "In the Zixiao Palace, when our teacher lectured, Fellow Daoist Nuwa inscribed the Three Thousand Great Daos on her scales. Of all beings between heaven and earth, only Nuwa's scales could bear and inscribe the imprints of the Great Dao."
Beneath the heavens, Nuwa used her own flesh and blood to refine divine stones anew. The thirty-six thousand five hundred and one divine stones, imbued with Nuwa's Great Dao, converged at the celestial void.
However, one divine stone, after mending a portion of the heavens, fell into the Primordial World and its whereabouts became unknown.
Between heaven and earth, a five-colored light shone in the eyes of all living beings. Floods receded into the Dao, and celestial fires were extinguished. Majestic mountains and rivers were reborn in the rosy glow.
The five colors contained splendor, heaven and earth were eternally firm, mountains and rivers were myriad, and a hundred rivers returned to their courses.
All beings prostrated themselves, thanking the Revered Mother Nuwa.
Boundless Yellow Xuan Merit descended upon heaven and earth. Sixty percent of the merit fell upon Nuwa's body, ten percent upon the Black Tortoise's four legs, which were the celestial pillars. The remaining thirty percent was equally divided among the Five Saints and Qing Ling.
The will of heaven and earth conferred another title upon the Saint, calling her "Great God Nuwa!" implying parity with Great God Pangu, who opened the heavens!
A radiant light shimmered beneath Nuwa, and she transformed back into her human form. She looked at the weeping beings and sighed, "I destroyed heaven and earth for the sake of all beings, and I mend heaven and earth only to be true to all beings.
When heaven and earth first opened, mountains and marshes were silent, and all things transformed and were born. Ignorant mortals falsely honor the Heavenly Dao, yet fail to realize that it is not the gods who create all things, but all things that are born through the gods.
The impure bones are not of the mortal world; immortals and gods are also beings. I destroyed heaven and earth for the eternal peace of this realm opened by Great God Pangu, to remove the Heavenly Dao and restore purity to the mortal world."