chsdbacks Chapter 329 Searching for Nuwa!
Chapter 329 Searching for Nuwa!
The gray sky loomed for three days.
On the South Heavenly Gate city wall, Yuanshi Tianzun stared at the golden fragment, the blue light in his palm flashing and fading, fading and flashing again.
Su Fan stood beside him, his back injury not fully healed, but he could already stand. Yang Jian leaned against the city wall battlements, his three-pointed double-edged sword resting across his knees, the blade still slightly bent.
The Tongtian Sect Leader walked over, the Qingping Sword hanging beside him, its tip pointing at the gray sky.
"Senior brother, have you figured it out yet?"
Yuanshi Tianzun shook his head. The fragments danced in his palm, their golden light flickering like breathing.
"The Dao of corpses is different from the Dao of the primordial world; it cannot be driven by force. It must be guided by the Dao itself."
The Master of Heaven frowned: "What Dao?"
Yuanshi Tianzun did not answer.
Su Fan stared at the fragment, a thought suddenly flashing through his mind. When Chaos stuffed the fragment into his chest, he didn't use any force. He simply melted the fragment into his body.
Why?
Because the fragments were originally part of the corpse. Chaos was born from the corpse; his body and the fragments share the same origin.
Su Fan turned around and looked down at the city wall.
Beneath the city wall, the ordinary people who had dispersed returned. There were even more of them than yesterday, densely packed together, a dark mass stretching as far as the eye could see. They didn't speak, just stood there, looking up at the gray sky.
Su Fan withdrew his gaze and looked at the fragment in Yuanshi Tianzun's hand.
"Senior, let me give it a try."
The Primordial Celestial Venerable looked at him and said, "You want to try? You're only at the second level of the Dao Realm."
Su Fan extended his hand.
Yuanshi Tianzun hesitated for a moment, then placed the fragment in his palm.
As soon as he got the fragment, Su Fan felt something bite his palm. It wasn't hot, it was painful. The pain wasn't physical, it was a pain that pierced his soul. It felt like a needle was stabbing into his very being, stirring inside.
Su Fan gritted his teeth and didn't let go. He closed his eyes, and the protective energy within his body surged out, enveloping the fragments.
The fragment bounced.
The golden light suddenly brightened, becoming blindingly bright. Su Fan felt as if his path of protection was a key, inserted into the lock of the fragment.
A tremendous suction force emanated from the fragments, and his soul was sucked in.
Everything went black, and when it came back to light, he was standing in a void.
In the center of the void stood a person.
The man was completely naked, his skin was gray, and his veins were golden. But his face was different from Chaos's. Chaos's face was like a blank sheet of paper, devoid of anything. This man's face had features, expressions, and eyes.
The eyes are closed.
Looking at that face, Su Fan felt a surge of familiarity.
Where had he seen this face before?
A voice echoed from the void. The voice did not come from the person's mouth, but surged in from all directions, like seawater overflowing.
"The Envoy of the Gods"
Su Fan looked at the man's tightly closed eyes.
"Who are you?"
The voice laughed. The laughter echoed in the void, shaking Su Fan's very soul.
"Who am I? I am the owner of this corpse. The corpse that Pangu split open is me."
Su Fan's mind went blank.
The owner of the corpse. The owner of a corpse ten thousand times larger than the primordial chaos.
"Are you alive?"
The man shook his head: "Dead. Died 30,000 years ago. But my Dao remains, my memories remain, my soul remains. It's right here in this fragment."
Su Fan gripped the shards tightly.
The man continued, "My Dao is different from the Dao of your Primordial World. The Dao of your Primordial World is the Dao of Pangu. The Dao that Pangu cleaved from my corpse and my Dao originally originated from the same source."
Su Fan was stunned.
Are they from the same origin? Is the Dao of Pangu and the Dao of the corpse from the same origin?
The man opened his eyes.
Those eyes, one was gold and the other was silver.
He looks exactly like Hongjun Laozu.
Su Fan took a step back.
The man laughed: "Hongjun's eyes were given to him by me. Thirty thousand years ago, when he came to the Chaos Realm, I gave him the Golden and Silver Eyes. I asked him to guard the Primordial World and the Heavenly Dao for me."
Su Fan's mind was in complete chaos.
Was the eye of Hongjun Laozu given to him by the owner of this corpse?
The man looked at Su Fan with eyes as calm as a stagnant pool.
"I am about to dissipate. I should have dissipated 30,000 years ago, but I have held on until now. I can't hold on any longer."
He raised his hand, and an image appeared in the void.
In the scene, the primordial world resembles an egg, suspended in chaos. Outside the egg, a gigantic corpse is rolling around, and with each inch it rolls, countless maggots fall out of the corpse.
Maggots fell onto the primordial heavenly path, like sulfuric acid dripping onto glass, burning holes in it.
"Those maggots are extraterrestrial demons. They were born from my corpse and carry my Dao. Your primordial Dao cannot withstand my Dao."
Su Fan looked at the holes burned out, his heart heavy.
"How to replenish it?"
The man pointed to his chest: "Use my Dao. Fragments of my Dao can mend the cracks in the Heavenly Dao. But it requires someone to fuse the fragments into the Heavenly Dao."
Su Fan asked, "How do we fuse them?"
The man said, “Use your way to guide. Your way of protection, my way, and the way of Pangu are originally the same way.”
Su Fan didn't understand.
The man continued, "Pangu created the world to keep it alive. My body remained intact after my death to keep the Dao alive. You protected the primordial world to keep all living beings alive. Our Dao is the same."
Su Fan was startled.
Pangu's creation of the world was an act of protection. The immortality of the deceased's body is also a form of protection. He protected the primordial world, and that too is protection.
The man closed his eyes.
"Take the fragment. You'll understand when you find the way to mend the sky."
His body began to dissipate, starting from his feet, turning into golden specks of light bit by bit.
Su Fan rushed forward: "Wait! What exactly is the method for mending the sky?"
The person had vanished. Only a voice remained, echoing in the void.
"Go ask Nuwa."
Su Fan suddenly opened his eyes.
He stood on the city wall of the South Heavenly Gate, holding the fragment in his hand. Yuanshi Tianzun, Tongtian Jiaozhu, Yang Jian, Sun Wukong, everyone was watching him.
"What did you see?" Yuanshi Tianzun asked.
Su Fan took a deep breath: "The way to mend the sky is to find Nuwa."
Everyone fell silent.
Nuwa. The mother of humankind, one of the creators of the primordial world. But she disappeared long ago, vanishing tens of thousands of years ago.
Laozi stepped out from the crowd, his face grim.
"Nuwa is no longer in the primordial world. After she mended the sky, she left. No one knows where she went."
Su Fan gripped the fragment tightly. He had finally found a way to mend the sky, but without Nuwa, it was all for naught.
Just then, the sky darkened even more.
That gray expanse had spread to the sky above the South Heavenly Gate, less than a hundred miles from the city wall. Something was surging within the grayness. It wasn't an insect; it was much larger than an insect, so large that he couldn't see its entirety.
Yuanshi Tianzun stared at the gray area, his face turning ashen.
"Chaos has arrived."
As soon as he finished speaking, a hand reached out from the gray area.
The hand was gray, with golden veins, and larger than the city wall of Nantianmen. When the hand was stretched out, it stirred up a gust of wind, making the people on the city wall lose their footing.
His hand landed in front of the South Heavenly Gate, his five fingers digging into the ground like five pillars supporting the heavens.
Then, a person emerged from the gray area.
The man was completely naked, with gray skin, golden veins, and two golden dots pulsating in his pupils. Chaos.
He looked at the people on the South Heavenly Gate and smiled.
"I have arrived."
His aura was at the peak of the fifth level of the Chaos Realm.
Yuanshi Tianzun stepped forward, unleashing his full power as an eighth-level Dao Realm expert. Azure light surged from his body and soared into the sky.
"I will block him. You all figure out a way to mend the sky."
He struck out with his palm, a blue light like a rainbow, crashing into the chaos.
Chaos raised his hand and slapped back. The azure light and the gray palm print collided—BOOM!
A deafening roar shook the heavens, and a large crack appeared in the wall of the Southern Heavenly Gate. Yuanshi Tianzun staggered back three steps, his expression changing drastically.
The chaos remained completely still.
The Primordial Celestial Venerable is at the eighth level of the Dao Realm, while Chaos is at the peak of the fifth level of the Chaos Realm. Logically, the Primordial Celestial Venerable should be able to crush Chaos. However, Chaos's body was formed from the Dao of a corpse, and the Dao of a corpse is different from the Dao of the Primordial World.
When Yuanshi Tianzun's Dao struck Chaos, it was like water splashed on oil; it couldn't penetrate at all.
Chaos laughed: "The Dao of your primordial world cannot harm me."
He struck at Yuanshi Tianzun with a palm, the palm print as large as a mountain, obscuring the sky and the sun.
Yuanshi Tianzun couldn't dodge and took the blow head-on. Boom—!!! He was sent flying backward, crashing into the city wall, causing a large section of the wall to collapse.
The Tongtian Sect Leader rushed forward, unleashing the Qingping Sword. The sword light, like a rainbow, struck Chaos. The sword light shattered, leaving not even a mark on Chaos's body.
Chaos slapped the Tongtian Sect Leader away with a single palm strike.
Di Jun charged forward, Donghuang Taiyi charged forward, Fuxi charged forward, Zhuanxu charged forward, and Bodhi Patriarch charged forward.
Everyone acted together.
Sword light, knife light, Buddhist light, demonic light—all sorts of lights bombarded Chaos, causing his body to flash with golden light. But he stood there, motionless.
When the light faded, Chaos looked down at its body. Several of its golden blood vessels had been severed, but they quickly reconnected.
"this one?"
With a single sweep of his palm, everyone was sent flying, crashing into various parts of the city wall.
Even if 10,050 people attacked together, they couldn't break the chaos.
Su Fan stood on the city wall, watching this scene, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. Even the eighth-level Dao Realm Yuanshi Tianzun couldn't break through, the seventh-level Dao Realm Di Jun couldn't break through, and even everyone combined their efforts couldn't break through.
How do I play?
Chaos walked to the foot of the city wall and looked up at Su Fan.
"Give me the fragments."
Su Fan didn't speak.
Chaos reached out, grabbed the edge of the city wall, and snapped it open with force. A piece of the wall broke off, and rubble fell down, smashing into the ground and creating large craters.
He broke it again, and another piece broke off.
At this rate, he'll be able to dismantle the South Heavenly Gate very soon.
Su Fan took the fragment out of his pocket. The fragment glowed in his palm, its golden light particularly dazzling against the gray sky.
He remembered that person's words—"Use your way to guide."
He didn't know how to guide it. But he knew he couldn't give the fragments to Chaos.
Chaos stared at the fragments, the two golden dots in his eyes pulsating wildly.
"Give it to me."
Su Fan stuffed the fragments into his arms, jumped off the city wall, and landed in front of Chaos.
Chaos looked down at him: "You, a mere second-level Dao Realm cultivator, dare to challenge me?"
Su Fan didn't speak; he took out the Investiture of the Gods. The Investiture of the Gods unfolded, and three hundred and sixty-five golden rays shot towards Chaos. The golden rays struck Chaos, but it was like needles piercing stone—they couldn't penetrate.
Chaos reached out, grabbed the Investiture of the Gods, and gently tugged. A piece of the Investiture of the Gods was torn off, and golden fragments scattered in the air.
Su Fan felt as if a piece of his soul had been torn away, and the pain almost made him kneel on the ground.
But he didn't kneel. He gritted his teeth and pulled the Kunlun Mirror from his pocket. The mirror was cracked, and the frame was warped from the heat. He pointed the mirror at Chaos, and the mirror surface lit up briefly, reflecting Chaos's shadow on the hazy surface.
The shadow distorted and warped in the mirror. The chaotic body also began to twist, its golden veins contorted into pretzel shapes, and its gray skin cracked open with fissures.
Chaos looked down at his body and frowned. Then he reached out and slapped the Kunlun Mirror away.
The Kunlun Mirror exploded in mid-air, scattering fragments everywhere.
Su Fan was thrown away by the shockwave and crashed to the ground.
Chaos walked up to him, squatted down, and took the small fragment from his pocket.
The fragment glowed in Chaos's palm, its golden light far brighter than the larger fragment he had taken. Chaos stared at the fragment, the two golden dots in his eyes throbbing wildly, almost leaping out of their sockets.
"This is the true way."
He stuffed the fragment into his chest. The small fragment merged into his body, and the golden light in his chest exploded, illuminating the entire Southern Heavenly Gate.
His aura began to surge. Peak of the fifth level of the Chaos Realm, sixth level, peak of the sixth level, seventh level.
Seventh level of peak.
Su Fan lay on the ground, watching the chaotic aura rise all the way to the peak of the seventh level of the Chaos Realm, with only one thought in his mind.
It’s over.
Chaos stood up, looked at his hands, and smiled.
"Thirty thousand years have passed. I am finally complete."
He raised his hand and struck the South Heavenly Gate with a palm.
The palm print was as large as a mountain, obscuring the sky and the sun. If this palm strike landed solidly, not even a trace of the Southern Heavenly Gate would remain.
Just then, a beam of white light shot out from behind the South Heavenly Gate.
The white light collided with the palm print, Boom—!!!
The palm print shattered, and so did the white light.
The moment the white light dissipated, the air in front of the South Heavenly Gate seemed to freeze.
Everyone was looking in the direction where the white light disappeared.
Su Fan lay on the ground, propping himself up on his arms to lift his head. His chest ached as if he had been hit with a hammer, and several of his ribs were broken, but he couldn't care less. He stared at the source of the white light—behind the South Heavenly Gate, behind the half-collapsed city wall.
Footsteps.
It was so light, like stepping on cotton. But every step felt like a blow to everyone's heart.
An old man emerged from behind the city wall.
The man wore a tattered Taoist robe, his hair was a mess like a bird's nest, and his face was covered in mud. His body was translucent, like a piece of ice that was about to melt, and sunlight passed through his body, casting a faint shadow on the ground.
Hunyuan.
Su Fan recognized the face. It was the person lying halfway up the mountain in the Chaos Realm. It was Hongjun Ancestor's senior brother.
Hunyuan walked up to Chaos and stopped. He was two heads shorter than Chaos, and his body was as thin as a sheet of paper, as if a gust of wind could disintegrate him. But he stood there, and Chaos did not move.
Chaos looked down at Hunyuan, golden veins throbbing wildly beneath his gray skin.
"You're still alive?"
Hunyuan looked up at him, his cloudy gray eyes devoid of light.
"You're not dead yet, how dare I die?"
Chaos laughed. It was a cold laugh, the corners of his mouth stretching to his ears, revealing gray gums.
"What's the difference between you looking like this and being dead?"
Hunyuan didn't speak. He raised his hand, his withered fingers drawing a circle in the air. Gray mist surged from the circle, condensing into a rope that wrapped around Hunyuan's neck.
Chaos looked down at the rope around his neck and reached out to pull it. The moment his fingers touched the rope, a golden light burst forth, repelling his hand.
Chaos's expression changed.
"This is……"
Hunyuan said, "This is something I have guarded for thirty thousand years. I also know the Dao of the Corpse."
He flicked his finger, and the rope tightened. A deep mark was left on Chaos's neck, several golden veins were severed, and blood gushed from the cuts, splattering on the ground and burning holes in it.
Chaos roared and slammed a palm towards Hunyuan. The palm print was as large as a mountain, blotting out the sky and the sun, even stronger than the palm strike that had just struck the South Heavenly Gate.
Hunyuan neither dodged nor evaded, but raised his other hand and drew a circle. Gray mist surged from the circle, condensing into a shield that blocked his way.
The palm print slammed onto the shield, boom—!!!
A deafening roar shook the heavens, and half of the South Heavenly Gate collapsed. The shield shattered, and Hunyuan was sent flying backward, crashing into the ruins of the city wall. His body became even more transparent, and a large hole appeared in his chest. There was no blood in the hole, only gray mist emanating from it.
Chaos looked down at the rope around his neck. It was still there, but tighter. He reached out to pull, but his fingers were snapped away. He tried to pry it off, but the rope wouldn't budge.
Hunyuan crawled out of the ruins, leaning on his knees and panting heavily. His body was trembling, like a piece of glass about to shatter.
"This rope," Chaos stared at him, "you risked your life for it?"
Hunyuan laughed, but his smile was more like a grimace.
"I have guarded this place for 30,000 years, all for this moment. For 30,000 years, I have fed this rope with my life, bit by bit. Now, this rope contains all of my Dao."
He looked at the chaos, and suddenly a light shone in his cloudy eyes.
"Three years. This rope will bind you for three years. You won't be able to move for three years."
Chaos's face changed drastically. He struggled desperately, grabbing the rope with both hands and pulling hard. The golden light on the rope exploded again and again, tearing his fingers to a bloody pulp. But the rope didn't budge, and the marks on his neck grew deeper and deeper.
Su Fan got up from the ground and looked at this scene.
Three years. Hunyuan traded his life for three years.
Hunyuan turned around and looked at Su Fan. His body was so transparent that it was almost invisible, leaving only a faint human figure.
"The Envoy of the Gods"
Su Fan rushed over and reached out to help him. His hand passed right through Hun Yuan's body, and he grabbed nothing.
Hunyuan looked down at his dissipating body and smiled.
"I cannot hold on much longer. This rope will loosen in three years. Within three years, you must find Nuwa. Only she can mend the sky."
Su Fan asked, "Where is Nuwa?"
Hunyuan raised his hand and pointed to the eastern sky.
"Return to the Void. The end of heaven and earth, the place where all things return. Nuwa is there, she has always been there. For thirty thousand years, she has been guarding there, waiting for this day."
His hands fell limp, and his body began to dissipate. Starting from his feet, he gradually turned into gray mist. The mist was blown away by the wind and drifted into the sky.
"Tell Hongjun," Hunyuan's voice grew weaker and weaker, "that I have done right by him."
Su Fan opened his mouth, wanting to say that Hongjun Ancestor was dead. But he swallowed the words back.
Hunyuan vanished. The gray mist dissipated, leaving nothing in the sky. Only the rope around Hunyuan's neck still emitted a faint golden light.
Chaos stood before the South Heavenly Gate, a rope around his neck, unable to move. His eyes were fixed on Su Fan, his golden pupils filled with killing intent.
"Three years. Three years from now, I'll be the first to kill you."
Su Fan ignored him. He turned around and walked back to the South Heavenly Gate.
On the city wall, ten thousand and fifty people were watching him. Yuanshi Tianzun crawled out of the ruins, his Taoist robe torn in half, and his mouth covered in blood.
The Tongtian Sect Leader stood up, leaning against the wall; a piece of his Qingping Sword was broken off. Di Jun lay on the ground, Donghuang Taiyi trying to stop his bleeding. Fuxi and Zhuanxu supported each other, their faces as white as paper.
The Bodhi Patriarch walked over, a few strands of his whisk broken off, but he was unharmed. He looked at Su Fan and remained silent for a long time.
"Are you going to find Nuwa?"
Su Fan nodded.
"Where is Guixu?"
Patriarch Bodhi shook his head: "No one knows. Guixu is not in the primordial wilderness, not in the chaotic realm, not anywhere else. It is the end of heaven and earth, the place where all things return. Only those who are destined to die can go there."
Su Fan was stunned for a moment.
"Damn it?"
The Bodhi Patriarch said: "A person who is about to die, or... a person who has already died."
Su Fan fell silent. Had he ever died? Did being torn apart in the Chaos Realm count? Did having his bones broken at the Southern Heavenly Gate count? He didn't know.
Yang Jian walked over, his three-pointed double-edged sword now straight, and most of the cracks in his silver armor had healed. He looked at Su Fan, the vertical line between his brows glowing.
"I'll go with you."
Su Fan shook his head: "You can't go. You have the Heavenly Eye, and the Heavenly Eye is alive. Guixu only accepts the dead."
Yang Jian didn't speak, but he didn't insist either.
Sun Wukong rushed forward: "I'll go with you! I've died before! I was imprisoned under the Five Elements Mountain for five hundred years, it was practically the same as death!"
Su Fan looked at him, then at Bodhi Patriarch.
Patriarch Bodhi nodded: "We can give it a try. But Wukong, you must remember, once we reach the Ruins of Return, you cannot move, speak, or make a move. If you move or open your mouth, you will truly die."
Sun Wukong patted his chest and said, "I, Old Sun, understand."
Su Fan turned around and looked at Yuanshi Tianzun.
"Seniors, I entrust the primordial world to you. I will return in three years."
Yuanshi Tianzun looked at him, took out a jade talisman from his robes, and handed it to Su Fan.
"This is my teleportation talisman. After finding Nuwa, crush it to return directly to the Southern Heavenly Gate."
Su Fan took the jade talisman and put it in his pocket.
He walked to the city wall and looked out of the South Heavenly Gate. Chaos stood there, a rope around his neck, like a statue. His eyes were closed, and golden veins throbbed beneath his eyelids.
Su Fan took a deep breath, jumped off the city wall, and headed east.
Sun Wukong followed behind.