From the heights of the Wa Huang Heaven, Nuwa watched the disturbances in the West. She shook her head slowly, a faint, enigmatic smile playing on her lips.
"To mimic me is to seek your own end," she whispered to the void. "I warned you both. Why refuse to listen?"
She had cautioned Jieyin and Zhunti against this path, yet they had plunged forward regardless. In her eyes, the script of the world was clear: there could be only one protagonist race. Any further attempts at creation were hollow.
She watched the Western sky. A terrifying pressure was coalescing there, a visual echo of her own ascension—yet the essence was fundamentally warped.
"Fools," she murmured, her phoenix-like eyes shimmering with a trace of pity. "That is no gift of Merit. That is judgment."
In another corner of the Chaos, Ling Xiao sensed the actions of the Western Duo and nearly broke his meditative focus with a laugh. At his level of cultivation, for something to be so absurd it elicited a physical reaction was rare.
From start to finish, they weren't even on the right map.
Ling Xiao wondered if the infinite cycle of death he had trapped them in earlier had truly unhinged their minds. They had reached into the future to pluck the concept of the "Buddha"—a race that shouldn't exist for eons—and tried to manifest it now.
"The right people at the absolute wrong time," he mused.
He could almost see Hongjun coughing up blood in fury over these two rebellious disciples. The Dao Ancestor's carefully laid plans were being treated like a rough draft by two panicked scavengers.
Ling Xiao allowed himself a sharp smile before returning to his task: refining the final few restrictions of the Chaos Pearl. Since reaching the realm of Grand Unity Golden Immortal, his perception of the pearl had shifted.
Is this truly just a Chaos Pearl? The name was something he had assigned it based on his past-life knowledge and initial guesses. The deeper he delved, the more the artifact felt like something far beyond a mere treasure.
"Never mind. I will know once the refinement is complete..." Ling Xiao withdrew his wandering thoughts, focusing his spiritual power. As for the situation in the West, he didn't need to watch to know the ending.
"Wait... Styx has started as well?"
Just as Ling Xiao was about to close his eyes, the events unfolding in the Infinite Sea of Blood caught his attention.
At some point, Styx had also conjured a mass of living beings. They were bizarre and grotesque—some possessing an ultimate, ethereal beauty and others an ultimate, primal ugliness. These were the Asura.
"What a pair of absolute geniuses," Ling Xiao remarked, the old term for "idiotic duo" coming to mind as he compared the Western pair with Styx. He chuckled and turned away, no longer paying them any heed.
High above Mount Sumeru, the Void Realm began to groan. The Heavenly Dao roared, and countless auspicious signs manifested—yet, within them, a destructive aura flickered.
The two Westerners spread their arms, their faces flushed with excitement as they waited for the deluge of Heavenly Merit. Gradually, however, they felt a shift in the wind.
"Why does this feel different from when Nuwa ascended?"
"Is it because our Merit is even greater than hers?"
Even as their thoughts drifted toward vanity, a world-shaking Dao-sound erupted.
"The Heavenly Dao is my witness! I, Styx, sensing a lack of vitality in the Great Desolation, create the Asura race to replenish the spirit of heaven and earth. Henceforth, the Asura are established!"
This declaration was hurried, the excitement in Styx's voice clear to all. He had originally meant to say the Sea of Blood lacked vitality, but realizing how small that sounded, he had pivoted to the Great Desolation mid-sentence, causing a slight, awkward hesitation in his speech.
The Great Desolation shook once more. Above the Sea of Blood, the Heavenly Dao thundered, coiling a terrifying pressure that rivaled the phenomenon in the West.
"Styx knows this trick too? Is he about to become a Saint?"
"Is it too late to start creating something now?"
"It seems Styx was prepared. His timing, right on the heels of the West, is staggering."
The various Great Powers watched with envy and bitterness. Seeing the dual phenomena above Mount Sumeru and the Sea of Blood intensify, they began to obsessively brainstorm what species they could create to secure their own path to Sainthood.
At Yujing Mountain, the Sanqing were startled once again. One shock followed another, and Yuanshi's face had turned a distinct shade of green. He even began to wonder if his own path was also hidden within this "creation" method.
"Should I also try?"
The thought took root, growing uncontrollably. Yuanshi shared his idea with Laozi and Tongtian, seeking their counsel.
"It is too early to say," Laozi said solemnly. He remembered his own enlightenment; his path was tied to the Human Race. The species being created now were fundamentally different. "Whether they can actually trigger Sainthood Merit is still in question."
Yuanshi nodded, suppressing his impulses for the moment to continue watching.
"Bastard! That filthy wretch Styx is actually copying us!" Zhunti's face twisted. He felt as if his most precious possession had been stolen, having already claimed the "creation" method as his own personal patent.
"Will he dilute our Merit?"
He was genuinely worried. He and his Senior Brother needed a massive amount of Merit to achieve their goals; Styx's interference was an unwelcome variable.
"It matters not," Jieyin said, though his own smile was tight. He forced a holy, serene expression. "The Heavenly Dao is just. We swore our oath first. By all logic, we should receive the lion's share."
Zhunti nodded, though he kept a suspicious eye on the sky. "What is the Heavenly Dao doing? Why is the Merit taking so long to descend?"
In Zixiao Palace, Hongjun was on the verge of a breakdown. His face was a mask of ashen fury.
"Wretches! Absolute wretches!"
Only the heavens knew the shock his soul had endured while he was attempting to merge with the Dao, only to have the Western Duo pull this stunt. These two had actually tried to force the "Buddha" into existence before its time. It was a farce.
What galled him more was that their actions had emboldened Styx to accelerate his own plans. Everyone was in such a desperate rush.
Initially, Hongjun had considered granting a symbolic amount of Merit as a warning. Now, he changed his mind. If this trend wasn't crushed with absolute force, the world would soon be overrun by every minor immortal trying to "create" their way into a shortcut.
They wanted a path without labor. They wanted a shortcut to the peak.
The majesty of the Heavenly Dao reached its zenith. Violent energy churned within the clouds, and strange, terrifying sights flickered in the void—worlds forming and dying in an instant.
The clouds hung heavy over Mount Sumeru and the Sea of Blood, coiling with a power that seemed to be waiting. It was as if the Heavens themselves were asking: Is that everyone? Anyone else want to swear an oath? I'll strike you all at once.
A moment later.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rocked the world, sounding like the first thunderclap at the dawn of creation. Above Mount Sumeru, the auspicious signs vanished, replaced instantly by a world-ending Divine Tribulation.
Jieyin and Zhunti stood frozen, their expressions going blank. Everything had been going perfectly—why had the Heavens suddenly turned on them?
They didn't have time to process the "why." A pillar of lightning, thick enough to bridge heaven and earth, poured downward, drowning Mount Sumeru in white light.
Immediately, two agonized screams erupted, echoing across the Great Desolation.