Xiao Hua stood within a spacious, well-lit mountain cave, his gaze falling upon the two small pools situated ten meters apart. Both pools were filled with crystal-clear water, so pure that the bottom could be seen with ease.
Beside him, a long wooden table held a neat array of medicinal ingredients. There were more than ten distinct types laid out, with two pairs of identical herbs among them. Each one exuded a faint medicinal fragrance, rich and potent.
There was no need for him to search for these ingredients—he had already acquired them through the System's Gacha.
From his storage ring, Xiao Hua retrieved two jade bottles, each brimming with Core Quenching Body Milk. As he removed the caps, a faint emerald mist immediately rose and coiled gently at the bottle openings. The fog lingered, refusing to dissipate for a long while.
He took a deep breath, drawing the mist into his lungs. A warm current surged through his spirit and body, leaving behind a soothing sensation.
Smacking his lips lightly, he murmured in admiration, "Truly worthy of its name… a spiritual essence born of the earth's marrow. Such purity and richness—no wonder it holds the power to cleanse and temper one's bones."
With a slight tilt of the jade bottle, Xiao Hua carefully poured ten drops of the emerald-hued liquid into each of the two small pools. Once the ten drops had fallen, the liquid level within each bottle had dropped to nearly a quarter remaining. It was only natural that he had to take out two bottles in advance.
The moment the ten drops of Core Quenching Body Milk merged into the water, the once-clear pools began to shift in color at a speed visible to the naked eye, transforming into a rich, emerald-green hue.
A faint mist slowly began to rise from the surface. Strangely, the fog did not dissipate, lingering instead with an almost spiritual presence.
Just as the transformation was taking place, a clear and melodious voice echoed through the cave.
"Will the two of us be training here, Elder Xiao Hua?"
Xiao Hua turned toward the source of the voice. There, standing with a smile on her lips, was a silver-robed young lady. Her long, silver hair flowed gracefully down to her waist, shimmering faintly under the cave's light.
"Yes." Xiao Hua nodded with a faint, composed smile before turning his gaze back to the pools, his attention fully focused on the shifting hue of the liquid. He continued calmly, his voice steady.
"The energy contained within the Core Quenching Body Milk is simply too immense. Even with the strength of a 7-Star Dou Ling, it would be far too reckless to ingest it directly. That method would be courting death. This immersion approach is far safer—and far more effective."
Han Yue's gaze swept across the array of medicinal ingredients neatly arranged on the long wooden table. Though they were not particularly rare, the sheer quantity left her quietly impressed by Xiao Hua's preparations.
"It seems this method still needs to be used in conjunction with these medicinal herbs..." she murmured, a hint of admiration in her voice.
"All of this is to ensure that you and Xiao Yu can safely receive the bone-washing and refining effects of the Core Quenching Body Milk. Let alone the two of you—even Liu Qing, with his brute strength, wouldn't dare to attempt this without proper preparation. If he did, never mind refining his bones—his life would be the first to be washed away."
Han Yue nodded solemnly. Her physique was nowhere near as resilient as that of Yan Hao or Liu Qing. She understood well that recklessness here wouldn't bring her benefits at all—only a painful, untimely death.
Under his focused gaze, the color of the liquid within the pools deepened, growing incomparably rich and vibrant. With a gentle wave of his hand, Xiao Hua summoned clusters of flames—five distinct colors coiling and blooming like lotuses in his palm.
He directed the flames toward the medicinal ingredients laid out on the long wooden table. With his exceptional control over flame and Spiritual Strength, he began refining them within the fire. The ingredients quickly withered under the intense heat, their outer shells disintegrating until only their essence remained.
Soon, each ingredient condensed into a single drop of liquid, boiling quietly amidst the flames. After several cycles of purification, Xiao Hua flicked his finger, and a drop of refined liquid shot into one of the pools.
As soon as it entered, the emerald surface of the water began to shift, its color transforming before his eyes.
After observing the change, Xiao Hua refined and added the second drop. Then the third… until, at last, the final drop was infused into the two pools.
By the time the last essence merged with the liquid, the once pure emerald pools had transformed into a radiant, multicolored surface—glowing softly, like a jewel bathed in divine light.
Xiao Hua stared intently at the now multicolored surface of the liquid, his gaze calm and thoughtful. When he turned his head, he was momentarily surprised to see that Han Yue had already brought Xiao Yu to the cave. His eyes flickered slightly as he murmured toward the elegant silver-clothed young lady, who stood with a faint smile on her lips.
"You're quite fast, Han Yue…"
"Thank you for the compliment, Elder Xiao Hua," she replied smoothly, a trace of playfulness in her voice.
Xiao Hua shook his head lightly before rising to his feet. His gaze swept across both Xiao Yu and Han Yue. After a brief pause, he gave a dry cough and spoke in a somewhat hesitant tone, his voice soft.
"To begin this refinement process, the two of you will need to… remove your clothes. Continue cultivating in the pool until its color fades back to clear."
"R-Remove our clothes…!"
The beautiful faces of Xiao Yu and Han Yue flushed a vivid crimson the moment his words fell. A wave of heat rushed to their cheeks, and even the delicate tips of their ears turned bright red. Their captivating eyes trembled slightly, moisture gathering at the corners as they instinctively averted their gazes, murmuring under their breath in embarrassment.
"Don't worry," Xiao Hua said quickly, sensing the awkward tension in the air. "I've already informed Xian'er and Cai'er to watch over you while you train inside the pool."
His words were meant to reassure, but even he couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed under their intense, flustered gazes.
"I-Is that so…?" Han Yue exhaled softly, her heart still fluttering with discomfort. Though her feelings toward Xiao Hua had begun to stir, she was not someone who would discard her dignity or principles so easily—no matter how deep the attraction.
Naturally, Xiao Yu felt the same. She had been pursued by countless suitors, yet none had ever stirred her heart as profoundly as the young man before her. Even so, admiration alone was not enough to sway her into compromising her boundaries.
Just as their thoughts swirled in quiet turmoil, a voice called out from the entrance of the cave.
"Xiao Hua."
Cai Lin and the Little Fairy Doctor stepped inside, their elegant figures framed by the soft light behind them. A gentle, affectionate smile lit up Little Fairy Doctor's delicate features, while a quiet warmth flickered beneath Cai Lin's usual cold and regal expression.
Xiao Hua turned and smiled gently at the sight of his two beautiful future wives. Stepping forward, he extended his arms and wrapped them around their slender waists, drawing them into his embrace with quiet affection.
"Thank you for taking over this task, Cai'er, Xian'er," he said softly, resting his head against their smooth, cascading hair. Two distinct fragrances—one elegant and graceful, the other rich and bewitching—entered his senses, gently soothing the restlessness within his heart.
"If we hadn't come," Cai Lin said coldly, her voice like an icy blade wrapped in silk, "were you planning to watch Han Yue and Xiao Yu undress and personally supervise their training?"
Her red lips curved into a chilly smile, and the faint frost in her tone sent a subtle shiver through the air.
At the side, Little Fairy Doctor covered her mouth and let out a soft laugh. Her elegant demeanor only added to her quiet allure.
"There's no way I'd do that…" Xiao Hua replied with a helpless smile. While most young men might entertain such thoughts, he truly held none. It was precisely why he had asked Cai Lin and Little Fairy Doctor to assist in overseeing the process.
"Anyway," Little Fairy Doctor gently pulled away from Xiao Hua's embrace, a soft smile gracing her lips. "Since you've explained everything to them, why not let them begin their training in the medicinal pool?"
Xiao Hua nodded in agreement, then turned to Xiao Yu and Han Yue with a gentle, reassuring smile. His tone was calm as he offered a few final reminders before departing the cave.
"Just a small piece of advice. To ensure the medicinal strength is properly absorbed, do not release your Dou Qi under any circumstances. If you feel a fiery or prickling sensation, that's simply the presence of my flame—it won't harm you."
He paused, his gaze steady. "Also, be cautious when you first enter the pool. Although the Core Quenching Body Milk's effects have been tempered by the medicinal ingredients I added, the overall energy within the pool has not lessened. In fact, it has intensified. As such, the process may be accompanied by a certain degree of pain."
"But rest assured," he added with a faint smile, "the benefits you'll gain from this will be considerable."
His expression softened as he offered a few final reminders, his tone gentle and reassuring. Once everything had been said, he quietly stepped away and left the mountain cave, leaving the two young women in the care of Cai Lin and Little Fairy Doctor.
…
After leaving the mountain cave, Xiao Hua made his way to another nearby cavern—one he had discovered just the day before, not far from where Han Yue and Xiao Yu were currently cultivating.
He had initially intended to begin his own refinement process immediately upon acquiring the Core Quenching Body Milk. However, upon noticing that Han Yue and Xiao Yu were not yet in optimal condition, he chose to delay it by a day.
Settling himself upon a flat stone surface, he retrieved a peculiar item from his Mysterious Heaven Ring.
The item was sealed within a cluster of radiant light. Strangely, there was nothing visible inside the glow except for a faint, mysterious aura—an energy that was neither Dou Qi nor Spiritual Strength, yet it flowed in utter silence.
"Sister Azure… is it truly Origin Qi?" Xiao Hua murmured softly, his voice carrying a trace of disbelief.
"Yes. There's no mistake."
Lady Azure's voice echoed softly as an emerald glow and a faint, frost-like light emerged from within Xiao Hua's body. A moment later, the two lights shimmered, gradually revealing the graceful figures of Lady Azure and Xue Yue.
"That Bodhisattva Ancient Tree did indeed send you a portion of Origin Qi before being forcefully sent back." Lady Azure continued, her gaze fixed intently on the sealed cluster of light.
Xiao Hua's expression shifted into one of quiet astonishment. Although he had been told of this during the week after overseeing Cai Lin's evolution, he still found it difficult to fully accept the truth—that this was Origin Qi, the mysterious energy said to have vanished from the current era of the Dou Qi Continent...
"So this is the so-called Origin Qi…" Xue Yue murmured, her eyes filled with curiosity as her spiritual senses swept over the radiant cluster. The energy it emitted was unlike anything she had ever encountered in Dou Qi Continent—not Dou Qi, not Spiritual Strength, but something far more mysterious than these two.
"Even so, I'm still amazed," she added softly, "that the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree would willingly grant you Origin Qi before being sent back. And not just one… but eight portions, no less."
Xiao Hua smiled wryly, silently agreeing with her words. Even he hadn't anticipated receiving eight portions of Origin Qi—an energy said to have vanished from the Dou Qi Continent thousands of years ago...
After a moment of thought, he turned toward Lady Azure, his brows furrowed in confusion. With a puzzled tone, he asked,
"Sister Azure, didn't Origin Qi form alongside the world itself? Then how is it that the Dou Qi Continent and its Origin Qi were formed from the remnants of your flame?"
Lady Azure and Xue Yue exchanged glances before both chuckled softly, their expressions tinged with amusement. It was indeed an interesting question.
"The creation of a Lower Plane is a profound mystery," Lady Azure began, her voice calm and ethereal. "Only the Great Thousand World and we sisters possess the ability to shape such realms. This is because we were born from the two primordial sources of creation—the Primal Source and the Divine Chaos."
"Although these two sources rarely intersect, there are exceedingly rare instances when they touch. And from that brief union, either a new Greater World—like the Great Thousand World—or a living existence akin to us sisters is born."
"Long explanation short," Xue Yue interjected, "while we cannot replicate a creation on the level of the Great Thousand World or ourselves, we can create Lower Planes. However, to form a complete Lower Plane—one that contains a Planetary Fetus—we must work together."
"The Great Thousand World has a faint ability to perceive and influence the Primal Source, but not the Divine Chaos. We are the opposite—our connection lies with Divine Chaos, but not the Primal Source."
"Even so, it is possible for us to create an incomplete plane on our own. Such planes, however, lack both a Planetary Fetus and the Primal-Chaos Light, which normally emerges in the place where Planet's Spirit resides. These incomplete worlds are inherently flawed, born without balance or fullness."
Xiao Hua listened in silence, his throat moving involuntarily as he swallowed. Never had he expected to hear such high-level explanation. Yet, he dared not interrupt and instead focused all his attention on their words.
"The Dou Qi Continent," Lady Azure went on, "was born incomplete. It was formed solely from the residual strength of my flames. Without the touch of the Primal Source, it naturally lacks a Planetary Fetus. And instead of giving birth to the Primal-Chaos Light, what emerged was something else… what the inhabitants of that world came to call Origin Qi."
"I see…" Xiao Hua murmured in quiet amazement, his heart stirred by the profound truths he had just heard. The mysteries of the Divine Chaos and the Primal Source were far beyond what he had imagined, leaving him both astounded and contemplative.
'Could that be the reason the Ancestral Dragon in Yuan Zun was able to create the Heaven Genesis World at the cost of its life?' Xiao Hua wondered, his fingers lightly stroking his chin.
'Did it possess both the power of the Divine Chaos and the Primal Source—allowing it to wield the strength of creation in unison, unlike the Great Thousand World, Sister Azure, Sister Xue Yue, and the Primordial Heaven Lightning, who were each born with the ability to faintly sense and control only one of the two?'
The idea lingered in his mind, casting ripples of thought across his heart. After all, it seemed unlikely that the union of Divine Chaos and Primal Source could only give birth to Greater Worlds through direct clash. There must be more to the act of creation than such a simple trigger.
Yet as his thoughts drifted deeper, another question rose quietly within him.
"But… what exactly happened that forced Sister Xue Yue to go into hiding and remain dormant, while Sister Azure and the Primordial Heaven Lightning were split and sealed?" he asked, his brows furrowing slightly. "You once said it was due to the heavenly rules… but could there be more to it?"
He had always believed that the reason for their suppression was because their strength surpassed the limits allowed by the heavens. But now, doubt had taken root. If their power was truly on par with the Great Thousand World itself…could they really be sealed so easily?
"Ah… that's because…" Lady Azure murmured softly, her expression turning awkward, as though unsure how to put it into words.
Seeing her sister hesitate, Xue Yue let out a quiet sigh and chose to speak on her behalf.
"This sister of mine suddenly grew curious and decided to venture beyond the boundaries of the Great Thousand World. Naturally, me and my other sister followed her."
"Leave… the Great Thousand World?" Xiao Hua's eyes widened in shock. "But if you all left, how did the Great Thousand World continue giving rise to countless Lower Planes?"
"Before we departed," Xue Yue explained with a faint sigh, "we entrusted our 'Authority of Divine Chaos' to the Will of the Great Thousand World. With that authority, it was able to continue maintaining and creating Lower Planes in our absence."
She paused, her gaze drifting toward Lady Azure before continuing with a trace of solemnity in her voice.
"However, we were gone for far too long. By the time we returned, the world had changed. We had become outsiders—no longer recognized as part of the Great Thousand World. Upon re-entering, our presence accidentally harmed countless lifeforms, as the world no longer adapted to destructive energy. In response, the Will of the Great Thousand World was forced to act—even against its own kin—in order to protect the lives it now cradled."
"We never held a grudge against it," Lady Azure interjected gently, her soft smile filled with warmth. "It only did what it had to… We, too, cherished those lifeforms as our own creations and thus willingly got split and sealed or remain dormant."
"However, because of that choice, the Will of the Great Thousand World became severely weakened and failed to create a proper Guardian God to defend itself against the Fiend Clans. By the time it awakened once more, it could only help a single man… yet that alone wasn't enough to deter the Fiend Clans," Xue Yue said with a soft sigh, a trace of regret flickering in her eyes.
"Why didn't the Will of the Great Thousand World directly interfere with the Fiend Clan's invasion?" Xiao Hua asked, his brows furrowing slightly.
"For the same reason you're helping that cousin of yours," Lady Azure replied with a slight shrug and a faint smile. "To raise a Guardian God—one born from within—to protect its people from the Fiend Clans and other hostile forces from beyond."
"So, it sought to stimulate the growth of its own children…" Xiao Hua murmured with a helpless smile.
Though the Will of the Great Thousand World possessed the power to intervene, it chose not to. It did not wish for the beings it nurtured to remain weak and complacent in the absence of adversity. The Fiend Clan's invasion, while unexpected, presented an opportunity—an external pressure that might awaken potential and forge strength.
'Though its method seems cruel, it's not without reason,' Xiao Hua thought quietly. 'In the end, the Great Thousand World truly does need a Guardian God… just as the Heaven Genesis World once had.'
Xiao Hua sighed once more at the Great Thousand World's intentions, then quietly shook his head. His gaze shifted to Lady Azure and Xue Yue as he asked two final questions.
"What will happen once you regain a physical body? Will Sister Azure and Sister Xue Yue be able to wield Divine Chaos again?"
"Unfortunately, that is no longer possible," Lady Azure replied, shaking her head with a hint of disappointment in her eyes. "Once we take on a physical form, we lose our direct connection to Divine Chaos."
"However," Xue Yue continued gently, "with time and proper cultivation, we may once again recover the ability to sense and control it. But such a path is arduous—perhaps even taking over a millennium before we return to our former heights."
"Even so," Lady Azure spoke firmly, her tone tinged with icy resolve, "we must fully recover our strength and stand against the Fiend Clans. Through our travels beyond the Great Thousand World, we've witnessed it countless times—even with a Guardian God, a Greater World remains can still be vulnerable."
A flash of cold fury stirred in Lady Azure's eyes, a deep hatred toward those who dared invade the world they had helped nurture, harming the lives they cherished.
'I see… No wonder the Fiend Clans dared to invade the Great Thousand World even after Mu Chen, Xiao Yan, and Lin Dong rose to the rank of Great Ruler,' Xiao Hua mused, his eyes narrowing. 'They must have discovered some secret—one that could place even the Great Rulers at a disadvantage…'
But the solemn thoughts were quickly chased away as he exhaled and smiled, firming his heart.
"Don't wear such grave expressions," he said warmly. "I promised I would give Sister Azure, Sister Xue Yue, and Sister Yu Ru Meng physical bodies—and I will absolutely fulfill that promise."
To Xiao Hua, they were more than mere companions. In this second life, in this new world, they were his family.
And for family, he would stop at nothing. Even if it meant squeezing every last resource from the System, he would forge a path to grant them flesh and freedom once more.
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