Chapter 543: 元神八层

A powerful force, one that made life tremble, broke through all suppression and surged forth completely.

Meng Chuan held his brush and began to paint.

The initial scene was dark and oppressive: A Godfiend stood in the air, looking down from above at a ruined city. The ruined city was also dark in tone, with countless corpses scattered everywhere. This was a city the size of a prefectural city, and with so many bodies, Meng Chuan naturally depicted them with simpler lines.

Yet, behind the simple lines, there was still an overwhelming aura of death.

Meng Chuan had witnessed with his own eyes far too many massacred cities. When the demon race ran rampant across the land, he rescued city after city throughout the world and saw too many cities and strongholds slaughtered.

Having seen it firsthand, his paintings were even more deeply ingrained, reaching into the very soul.

Massacred cities and villages, vast numbers of ferocious demons pouring in from unstable world entrances, and ordinary people frantically fleeing — these elements formed the initial depiction of the entire long scroll, representing the very beginning of the war.

Following this, humanity began constructing majestic 'fortress passes' at stable world entrances. Godfiends and mortal soldiers, one after another, garrisoned these passes.

People dismantled ordinary villages and began building heavily fortified 'strongholds' filled with mechanisms, where thousands of mortals gathered to live.

The entire world was changing because of the demon race.

Meng Chuan painted scenes of mortals enlisting in the army.

A young mortal carried his pack, bidding farewell to his parents; a valiant young woman bowed to an old man in a Daoist robe, bidding farewell; a one-armed man embraced his wife, still departing without hesitation; a middle-aged man ruffled his children's heads and entrusted them to his wife...

Each of these figures had a real-life prototype, as Meng Chuan had seen many dossiers of mortal soldiers.

In the earliest stages, fortress pass soldiers were openly recruited purely on a voluntary basis. Anyone who reached the 'Marrow Cleansing' level among mortals could sign up. Many young people thus joined the army without hesitation to fight the demon race.

As he painted these scenes of enlistment, Meng Chuan thought of the countless names in the dossiers. Too many people left behind only a single name.

As Meng Chuan looked through the dossiers, when he fully understood why his Primordial Spirit had been trembling, his Primordial Spirit began to glow.

As he put brush to paper, his Primordial Spirit continuously glowed, undergoing constant transformation.

After painting for most of the day, as Meng Chuan continued to paint those scenes of mortal enlistment—

"Boom!"

The Primordial Spirit, which had been transforming for most of the day, underwent a complete qualitative change.

Every thought of his Primordial Spirit emanated a seven-colored light, as if it were a treasure of the world. The 'Primordial Spirit' formed by countless such thoughts was even more vast and mysterious. Meng Chuan's Primordial Spirit was clad in a seven-colored robe, emanating seven-colored light throughout its entire being.

Primordial Spirit Eighth Layer!

Even cultivators at the Emperor level, many stayed at the Primordial Spirit Seventh Layer their entire lives. Even those with extremely high Primordial Spirit talent, many found it difficult to take that step and reach the 'Primordial Spirit Eighth Layer.'

Patriarch Cang Yuan's Primordial Spirit talent was not high; his physical body cultivation talent was extremely high. Yet, as a mighty Seventh-Tribulation Realm expert, his Primordial Spirit remained at the Seventh Layer.

Meng Chuan...

From a young age, he had a heart that observed the world and possessed painting talent.

However, it was only after cultivating for over seven hundred years, his state of mind having returned to 'Nirvana,' and after experiencing the entire war, that he finally stepped into the Primordial Spirit Eighth Layer while painting this current work.

The higher the realm, the harder it became for the mind and Primordial Spirit to transform. This was because they had witnessed too much; they could remain calm even in the face of cataclysms. How difficult, then, was it to make their minds transform?

Primordial Spirit Eighth Layer!

In the vast River of Spacetime, it represented the Primordial Spirit Tribulation Realm!

The Primordial Spirit Tribulation Realm also required undergoing tribulations. Each Primordial Spirit Tribulation was a test for the Primordial Spirit.

Of course, the first Primordial Spirit Tribulation would arrive at the earliest in one year.

"Primordial Spirit Eighth Layer?" Meng Chuan noticed his own change, but didn't pay it much mind.

Before this current painting, the transformation of his Primordial Spirit could be set aside.

This painting was a reflection of his inner self!

Previously...

Meng Chuan's state of mind had returned to 'Nirvana,' making it difficult for anything to stir significant ripples within him. This was because Meng Chuan believed that the ultimate destination of all things was 'Nirvana'; he saw the entire world as if it were 'gray'.

But now, his state of mind had changed, completely shattering the 'Nirvana mindset'.

This was a new state of mind.

It was because he had shattered the 'Nirvana mindset' that Meng Chuan was finally able to paint.

Meng Chuan was completely immersed in his painting.

After finishing the scenes of mortals enlisting, Meng Chuan painted the majestic 'fortress passes'.

In this fortress pass, there were Godfiends, mortals, and world entrances. The 'youth,' 'woman,' 'one-armed man,' and 'middle-aged man' who participated in the war were all among the mortal soldiers.

The Godfiends led the mortals, resisting the demon race.

Some soldiers vigorously beat war drums. Accompanied by the drumbeats, other mortal soldiers coordinated with each other, fighting fiercely against the demon race. The Godfiends also battled the demon kings.

During the battle, some soldiers fell, but the other soldiers continued to fight wildly.

The battle was won.

But quite a few soldiers died. Some comrades grieved, while others stood on the city walls, gazing at the world entrance.

Scene after scene depicted victories. The 'youth,' 'woman,' 'one-armed man,' and 'middle-aged man' remained alive in the fortress pass army, but many of their comrades perished repeatedly.

Finally, there was another scene.

A demon king roared as it soared into the sky, and the demon race ran rampant. All of humanity fell.

The bodies of the youth, the woman, the one-armed man, and the middle-aged man were also among them.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

The youth's parents, the woman's master, the one-armed man's wife, and the middle-aged man's wife and children were still gazing into the distance.

This section depicting mortals joining the war, fighting, sacrificing, and families waiting, took a total of nine days to paint. While it seemingly focused on only a few key soldiers, it actually represented countless soldiers who died in battle, numbering in the hundreds of millions. Behind countless soldiers were families, and they all had their own aspirations. If it were peacetime, they might have preferred to spend more time with their families, with their wives, and educating their children.

Yet, one by one, they all went to war.

In the early stages, participation was voluntary. By the middle and later stages, with more and more fortress passes, 'conscription' became necessary. Those conscripted were given various benefits, but casualties among them remained heavy.

Meng Chuan painted this section and then paused. What appeared in his mind were the stories he had seen in the dossiers, and the countless items left behind, many of which were letters. It was as if he was looking at living, breathing people.

Many of them also missed their families, and felt they owed them.

But the fortress passes had to be defended! If undefended, the demon race would run rampant and massacre, and even more people would die.

If no one resisted, humanity would be annihilated by the demon race.

Only a few Venerables knew about the extinction plan. Even many Marquis Godfiends, and even the Venerables of Two World Island and Black Sand Grotto Heaven, believed that if the demon race wasn't resisted, the entire human race would face annihilation. To avoid annihilation, generations of Godfiends had to fight with all their might.

Meng Chuan was the same back then; he also fought with all his might.

Meng Chuan continued to paint.

He painted 'The Beginning of War,' 'Fortress Passes and Strongholds,' 'Mortal Participation,' 'Godfiend Garrison,' and 'Heavenly Demon Calamity'...

He painted the entire history, over nine hundred years of it.

He also painted heroes. As he painted each hero, Meng Chuan thought of real historical events.

What he painted was also 'will,' the 'will' of the entire human race in Cang Yuan Realm.