Chapter 9: The Gods Emerge from the Primordial Chaos

  The story goes that Zhou Cheng used the primordial stone as the base, with the essence of heaven and earth serving as the catalyst. The trigrams of the universe were used as the furnace, and after 100 years of refining, he finally succeeded in creating a treasure. Holding the treasure in his hand, Zhou Cheng burst out laughing, "My way is accomplished!" Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the treasure was indeed shaped like a brick, but not just any ordinary brick. It was actually an inkstone, with three simple characters inscribed on its surface: "Heavenly Inkstone".

  When the inkstone attacks, it can be welcomed by the wind and grow long. It has a similar effect to the Tianyin Seal, but the latter's power is far inferior. This inkstone is indeed the most precious treasure of the Post-Heavenly First Attack, and it can be said that it is a temporary contradiction with the Tian Di Xuan Huang Ling Long Pagoda.

  Zhou Cheng put the inkstone on the pine wood tea table, waved his hand to withdraw the formation, and went out.

  It's so comfortable, Zhou Cheng's refined method of cultivation may have only taken a hundred years, but for someone who is naturally eager for freedom and ease, although he didn't get used to it, he also didn't like it. Of course, when he was in the chaos before, he never counted the years, nor could he complain about the loneliness and desolation of being in the chaos.

  Looking at the floating clouds on Qingqiu Mountain and the spiritual birds rolling in the sea of clouds, Zhou Cheng felt a sense of comfort. The mountain was still the same, and no enemies had been attracted due to the surge in spiritual energy, after all, the large array outside blocked it, and the changes inside were not something ordinary people could detect. Although there were some powerful spiritual beasts on the mountain, they also knew that the changes on Qingqiu Mountain were caused by the person in the thatched cottage on the mountain, and their great magical powers were not something they could provoke, so everyone got along with each other, all absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, practicing the art of refining their bodies and transforming their shapes.

  Standing still for half a day, Zhou Cheng remembered that he still had two young apprentices and walked towards the distant bamboo hut where they were staying.

  As he walked up to the thatched cottage, Zhou Cheng was startled. Were these really his two disciples with whom he had a deep affinity?

  Only to see Shi Zhong and Zhu Yu haven't changed much, just a bit taller, about ten years old. After all, it was Zhou Cheng who helped the two transform, but he didn't want them to lose their childhood, so he let them start transforming with the body of a child and wisdom, and then grow up. Only to see that Zhu Yu is now collecting the clouds and mist in the sky, weaving a shining cloud robe in his hands, while Shi Zhong is holding a bamboo pole, lying by the small lake on the mountain top fishing. The thatched cottage hasn't changed much, but one room has all bamboos in front of it, and another room has all jade stones in front of it. Zhou Cheng can't help but laugh at the sight, it seems that his two disciples really haven't forgotten their roots.

  Zhou Cheng walked over and coughed loudly: "Huh? What are you guys doing?"

  The two were initially startled, but when they turned around and saw that familiar sly face, they suddenly jumped up with some surprise, rushing towards Zhou Cheng, one of them grabbing him by the arm and shaking him from side to side: "Master, you still remember us! I thought you'd gone mad from sleeping too much and couldn't come out!" Bamboo Language said tearfully. "Master, Bamboo Language is right, I was thinking of digging through the wall corner to take a look, but for some reason that wall corner is too hard." Shi Zhong's words were also quite lethal.

  "Hmph, Master just slept a bit longer, that's all. Look at you two little ones. How's your cultivation going?" Zhou Cheng asked casually, he really didn't mind, it was just a question to show concern and win people over. Hehehe.

  "Hey, Master, what kind of rubbish are you teaching us? We feel like we're reading a heavenly book or something, and can't understand it at all. We don't have anything else to do, so we just sit around and play randomly." Zhuyin didn't blame the master, anyway she wasn't too into practicing either.

  Zhou Cheng was stunned, no way? Although his two apprentices were not very talented, they shouldn't be completely unable to understand the basics of the Chaos Chapter he taught them. Was there a problem somewhere?

  Zhou Cheng felt that something was fishy, why his own disciples couldn't cultivate in the primordial chapter, could it be that they still had to acknowledge their master!!! So he carefully checked his disciples and asked them if there were any special situations during their cultivation and enlightenment process.

  The conclusion is very cruel, it turns out that the problem was not with the Chaos Chapter, but with the two little apprentice treasures.

  At that time, Zhou Cheng only gave them the basic ability to transform, so they could have a more complete life later on. As a result, although they transformed and emerged tens of thousands of years earlier, their cultivation was only at the late stage of Qi Refining. 100 years passed, and they barely reached the late stage of Spirit Transformation, which wasn't even the result of their own efforts, but rather due to the abundant spiritual energy of Qingqiu Mountain.

  Zhou Cheng was at a loss, and he hadn't thought that the two apprentices of the later period could understand the Hunyuan chapter after being inspired. However, the fact proved that they couldn't, and he didn't know whether it was right or wrong to only give them basic shape-shifting abilities in the first place. But for now, he had to think of a way to let the two apprentices at least possess the cultivation of the Hunyuan chapter.

  Zhou Cheng carefully examined the Hunyuan chapter and only then discovered that its cultivation requirements must at least reach the Return to Void realm, that is, having at least a basic understanding of the Heavenly Way. Zhou Cheng had taken in two disciples and casually set up a Life and Death Annihilation Array. The greatest effect of this array lay in helping with heart-nature cultivation. Through Zhou Cheng's comprehension of the Great Dao principles, he created an illusory realm, thereby using it to transmit a tiny portion of his Great Dao enlightenment to his two disciples as a guide for them to cultivate their own Hunyuan chapter in the future.

  Zhu Yu and Shi Zhong walked to Zhou Cheng's side, and in a daze, they felt that their master was smiling at them, beckoning them over with his hand. However, the sly Master was now emitting an ethereal aura.

  Bamboo and Stone were getting close to Zhou Cheng when they suddenly entered a fantasy array. Instantly, two different scenes appeared before them.

  The bamboo forest came to a colorful world, the endless earth was covered with green grass like a carpet, and the wild flowers were inlaid on it. The deer ate grass from time to time, raised their heads alertly from time to time, ran swiftly in pairs from time to time, and rubbed their ears and noses against each other from time to time. The blue sky was vast, with white clouds drifting by, a beautiful scene of the blue sky and earth.

  Wearing a green jacket, Zhu Yu was enchanted by the scene in front of her, running wildly and forgetting herself, bursting into peals of laughter like ringing bells, sometimes teasing the little deer eating grass, and sometimes bending down to pick a wildflower.

  Suddenly, the beautiful world was like a ripple, and it changed greatly in an instant. The sky was no longer clear and sunny, but instead, dark clouds filled the air, with flashes of lightning illuminating the darkness. A massive thunderbolt shot towards the ground, twisting and turning like a snake. In an instant, the dry grass on the prairie was ignited by the lightning, and it began to burn fiercely with a loud crackling sound. The strong winds howled across the land, blowing so hard that the bamboo trees swayed violently, unable to stand upright. The fire on the prairie grew even more intense, fueled by the wind. In front of the massive thunderbolt, everything was being destroyed, destroyed.

  Bamboo cried out, crying loudly "Master, younger brother, I'm so scared, come and save me quickly." Crying for the beautiful world that was destroyed, also crying for the merciless fire that was about to engulf herself.

  The change happened suddenly, and the tears that dripped from Zhuyu's eyes instantly turned into a mighty flood of water, rushing towards the raging fire that filled the sky. The water overcame the fire, and in an instant, the scene before their eyes changed again, until finally, the sly smile of Shifu reappeared before Zhuyu's eyes.

  "Wow." Bamboo language burst into tears and rushed towards Zhou Cheng, tightly hugging him, mumbling: "Master, big fire, big fire, so scary big fire, Bamboo language got lost, almost got burned to death by the big fire."

  "Alright, that was just an illusion, everything is over." Zhou Cheng had been watching the two of them from the side. He made Zhu Yu feel the way of destruction because Zhu Yu's personality was too weak and couldn't cultivate that great way of life excessively. On the other hand, Shi Zhong was thrown by him into a world of vast ocean and desert, letting him experience the changing years of the boundless sea and shifting sands, observing the way of life.

  Shi Zhongye came to and didn't cry. His face was filled with endless vicissitudes, his temperament had matured a lot, and he also gained insight into the Tao.

  Zhou Chengguan's two disciples had already reached the state of returning to emptiness, and the accumulated magical powers over the past hundred years were enough for the Great Dao to return to emptiness. He said with satisfaction: "Well, from now on you must carefully comprehend the nameless mantra and soon understand the heavenly mechanism of the Great Dao. You two follow me in, as your master may be leaving for a while."

  Zhu Yu and Shi Zhong walked into Zhou Cheng's thatched hut, and suddenly felt a faint aura coming towards them, like a spring breeze, and curiously looked around the master's house.

  Zhou Cheng sat down on the straw mat, gesturing for the two to sit as well. He then took out a small bottle and poured a few drops of Pre-Heaven Water Essence into the Tian Di inkstone, adding a pinch of Pre-Heaven Golden Essence. Stirring it lightly, he picked up the Hun Dun Wheel Return pen that was carelessly placed on the table and wrote three words in bold strokes on two small banana leaves: "Flowing Light Escape".

  Looking at the work in front of him, Zhou Cheng was very satisfied. These two Flowing Light Escapes were quite effective and somewhat similar to that Nail Head Seven Arrows Book or Hou Yi's Sun Shooting Bow. Although they weren't anything extraordinary, they had a unique use. The softness of the pre-heavenly water essence and the hardness of the pre-heavenly metal essence made the Flowing Light Escape's defense not bad, while the banana leaf was wind-natured and could ward off the wind, making the Flowing Light Escape have an evasive effect. Adding to that, using the Heaven and Earth Inkstone to grind ink, the Primordial Wheel Pen dipped in ink to write symbols, and finally merging with Zhou Cheng's Supreme Divine Ability, it was completed in one stroke. In the end, two different treasures were created. As long as they didn't encounter a Quasi-Sage level opponent, they could temporarily escape.

  "These two things are for you, on the days when I am not around, you must cultivate well. If you get bored, you can go to Qingqiu Mountain and take a stroll. If by any chance you get into a fight with someone, remember to use this treasure, don't worry. Be careful not to leave the mountain before I return, otherwise be careful that I will lock you in the black room." Zhou Cheng recently felt that something was going to happen and he had to leave the mountain for a while, so he carefully instructed his two mischievous and lovely apprentices.

  "Master, we'll definitely listen. But when you come back, be sure to bring us delicious food and fun things." Zhū Yǔ and Shí Zhōng had matured a lot after going through the trial of the Illusory Formation Spell, but they still couldn't escape their childish nature.

  "Master will bring you many delicious foods." Zhou Cheng burst out laughing, he really liked his two disciples, not because of their talents, but because of the simple warmth they brought him, something he hadn't felt in a long time since his rebirth.

  Zhou Cheng was about to say a few more words to his two disciples, but unexpectedly, the heavens and earth suddenly rippled, and the mighty power of the Heavenly Way surged forth like a tidal wave. The spiritual energy on the Desolate Continent rolled in, bringing immense benefits to all living beings under heaven. As a result, countless beings awakened their spiritual intelligence, and none could count them. All living beings received great blessings and bowed their heads in gratitude. Zhou Cheng looked up and saw that high above, auspicious clouds were churning, presenting a magnificent spectacle of heavenly good fortune. After a moment's contemplation, he suddenly understood.

  "I have attained the Way, and tomorrow I will lecture at the Purple Cloud Palace, transmitting my great Daoist teachings. Those who are destined to learn may come." The vast wilderness was suddenly filled with a thick yet calm voice. Zhou Cheng understood that Hong Jun had finally achieved enlightenment. Without looking back at his two disciples, Zhou Cheng flew straight towards the outside of Qingqiu Mountain on a cloud.

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