Chapter 2814: Cosmic Primordial Fetus

The Wind Rises in Kyushu

Disoriented, Lu Ye walked forward, unaware of who he was, where he was, or why he was there. He had appeared there the moment he opened his eyes. Since then, he had been wandering aimlessly.

This place seemed to be a vast, boundless void, shrouded in darkness on all sides.

After an unknown period of time, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared ahead. Lu Ye hurried towards it. A moment later, he reached the light and saw that it was a water-like mass, twinkling with starlight within.

A figure sat before this water-like light. Lu Ye couldn't help but look. The figure was a very handsome young man, dressed in unremarkable clothes, who looked at him with a cheerful smile and asked, "Have you come?"

Lu Ye frowned slightly. He felt the young man in front of him looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere, but he couldn't recall where. He nodded slightly and replied, "Yes."

One asked a strange question, and the other replied as if it were obvious, like old friends reuniting after years apart. No need for much small talk, just a simple greeting to rekindle their past camaraderie.

Lu Ye sat beside the young man and quietly gazed at the light mass. The young man also fell silent, gazing at the light, with a hint of distress occasionally appearing on his face.

After a long while, Lu Ye couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"

The young man countered, "What do you think it is?"

"I'm asking you," Lu Ye said, glancing at the young man. What would be the point of asking if he already knew?

"Hmm... This is a primordial universe," the young man replied.

"A primordial universe?" Lu Ye had never heard of such a thing, and his mind was still somewhat muddled, making it difficult to comprehend.

The young man smiled. "You can think of it as a universe just born from chaos."

"So small?" Lu Ye was extremely surprised. This light mass in front of him was a universe?

"People grow up, and this universe will also grow," the young man said. "It has just been born; later it will be very, very big!" As he spoke, he gestured expansively with both hands, indicating the universe would become immensely large.

Lu Ye said thoughtfully, "That must be huge!"

The young man said, "But this universe has a problem."

"A problem?" Lu Ye was puzzled. He looked at the light mass in front of him but couldn't see anything special. "What kind of problem?"

"Look closely again," the young man said, raising a hand and pointing at the light mass.

Lu Ye looked at the light mass again, exerting his vision. This time, he indeed saw something different. Within the light mass, amidst the twinkling starlight, a faint, almost imperceptible black thread was intertwined, like a tiny insect swimming within.

"What is this?" Lu Ye asked humbly.

"Abyss!"

"Abyss?"

"Yes, in chaos there is a giant beast called Abyss," he explained. "It likes to devour universes. When a primordial universe is born, it will implant a trace of its power within, waiting for the universe to mature. When the time is right, its power will corrode the entire universe, turning it into its own sustenance!"

Lu Ye couldn't imagine how such a huge universe could be devoured by the Abyss, or how enormous the Abyss itself must be. Too lazy to ponder it, he asked, "Is this insect-like thing the power it implanted?"

"Exactly!" The young man nodded.

"Then why not just pull it out?" Lu Ye said matter-of-factly. As he spoke, he reached out towards the light mass and effortlessly pinched that trace of darkness.

The young man didn't stop him, only smiling without speaking.

Lu Ye, however, frowned. A moment later, he withdrew his hand.

"Is this what's troubling you?" he asked, having tried it himself and finally discovered the problem.

"Yes," the young man sighed. "Once the Abyss's power is implanted, it becomes inextricably linked to the primordial universe's existence. It is tightly connected to the embryo; they stand or fall together."

This was not something that could simply be pulled out.

Lu Ye thought for a moment and said, "Then it's simple. It's just a primordial embryo anyway, why not just destroy it?"

The young man said, "But this universe will eventually grow, and countless living beings will be conceived and born within it. Destroying it now would be equivalent to eradicating the possibility of their future existence."

Lu Ye blinked. "Then what should be done?"

"That's exactly what I'm pondering."

They were silent for a moment. Lu Ye then said, "Is there no way to deal with the Abyss's power?"

"There is a way," the young man nodded. Without waiting for Lu Ye to ask further, he continued, "The Abyss's implanted power will corrupt all living beings. When this corruption reaches a certain level, those beings will become its puppets, at its beck and call. However, a multitude of ordinary puppets is of little use to it. Only puppets whose cultivation and strength have reached a certain level will facilitate the birth of its intelligence. Once its intelligence is fully born, it will descend into the world, and then it can be eliminated!"

"Then just let it grow," Lu Ye said, raising an eyebrow. "Like raising a pig—fatten it up, then slaughter it!"

The young man chuckled. "It sounds simple, but doing it is difficult."

"How would you know if you don't try?"

"You're right!" The young man nodded. "There seems to be no other way, so shall we give it a try?"

"Let's try!" Lu Ye nodded.

The young man said nothing more, staring at the light mass in front of him. After pondering for a long time, he finally raised a hand. "The Abyss's power is too unruly; let's suppress it first."

Lu Ye turned to look. He saw nine long needles appear in the young man's hand. As he moved, the nine needles transformed into nine streams of light, piercing into the light mass.

Inside the light mass, the insect-like black thread seemed to sense the danger and rapidly darted about, but it was utterly unable to escape. The nine beams of light pierced in, sealing off all its escape routes.

"This is the Nine Heavens Profound Policy Tome," the young man slowly explained. "While it can suppress it for a time, it cannot suppress it forever. One day, when its intelligence is fully born, it will break free. At that time, it will depend on whether the powerful individuals within this universe can slay it. If they can, then this universe can be set right. If they cannot, then it will become sustenance for the Abyss."

"You just said that the birth of the Abyss's intelligence is related to the number of corrupted strong individuals?" Lu Ye asked. "How many people need to be corrupted for that?"

"Since I'm using the Nine Heavens Profound Policy Tome to seal it, it will need to corrupt nine individuals."

Lu Ye frowned. "Nine? That's too few. Why not stab it with hundreds or thousands more needles?"

The young man shook his head. "Nine is the extreme of numbers; no more can be added."

"You're not very capable, are you?" Lu Ye said with a hint of disdain.

The young man chuckled wryly. "Such is my ability."

Lu Ye then said, "But its power is extremely corrosive and can turn people into puppets. If that's the case, it only needs to corrupt enough strong individuals, and it can then control the entire universe, expanding from a few points to cover the whole. Then it can find suitable individuals to cultivate and easily gather the nine candidates."

"Then what do you suggest?" the young man asked him.

Lu Ye scratched his head. "I don't know." Suddenly, as if remembering something, he said, "Can we find a way to divide this universe into several layers?"

"Divide it into layers?" the young man inquired.

"Yes. When one's strength reaches a certain level, they will automatically descend to the next layer," Lu Ye explained. "This way, even if a supreme strong individual is corrupted, they won't be able to freely ascend to higher layers and run rampant. This would undoubtedly greatly delay the birth of the Abyss's will."

"That's a good idea," the young man nodded upon hearing this. "You try it."

"Me?" Lu Ye asked, pointing at himself.

The young man gave him an encouraging look. "You came up with the idea, so naturally you should do it."

Lu Ye pondered for a moment, then turned to look at the light mass, saying hesitantly, "I... I don't know if I can do it."

"You can," the young man assured him.

Lu Ye raised his hand and reached for the light mass, as if grabbing a glowing orb. He then kneaded it for a while, expending great effort, before finally smiling with delight. "It really worked!" he exclaimed. "I can actually do it, but I can only divide it into three layers."

"Three layers are enough," the young man nodded. "The Abyss is in the innermost layer. However, according to your idea, if strength dictates descent to the next layer, we'll need to add some restrictive measures."

"I don't know how to do that," Lu Ye shook his head decisively.

"I'll do it!" The young man smiled. His hand gestures changed as he continuously pointed at the primordial universe. For a moment, the primordial embryo flashed with brilliant light. The young man then seemed to have another ingenious idea: "The Abyss will eventually corrupt supreme strong individuals, and their methods are very powerful. Why not plant stronger restrictions in the innermost layer to bind their movements, so they can't leave freely?"

As he spoke, Lu Ye clearly saw a small, dark chain thrown into the primordial embryo from his hand. Only then did he nod in satisfaction. "This way, once any supreme strong individuals are born, they will be locked into the innermost layer."

"That's perfect!" Lu Ye clapped his hands.

"Not yet," the young man shook his head.

"What's still wrong?" Lu Ye asked, puzzled. "We two brothers did a good job!"

"We still need to plant a seed," the young man smiled faintly.

"What kind of seed?"

"The Abyss's power is corruption," the young man explained. "That seed must have the ability to counter corruption. Otherwise, how can we resist the Abyss? And how can we slay it?"

"You have a point," Lu Ye agreed. "Then what kind of seed should we leave?"

"Let me think," the young man said, raising a finger and tapping the side of his head, appearing to ponder deeply. But after only two breaths, he exclaimed, "I've got it! Why not plant a seed like this?"

He raised his hand and pointed again. A drop of crystalline blood seeped from his fingertip, and within that blood, an object was encased.

Lu Ye looked closely and saw what appeared to be a tiny sapling.

"This thing looks a bit familiar!" Lu Ye said.

"This is a Dao Tree Seed!" the young man explained. "I created it by imitating the legacy of a dear friend. Currently, it is still very fragile, but I believe one day, it should be able to grow into a towering tree, shielding this universe from wind and rain."

"Let's hope so," Lu Ye said noncommittally.

The young man seemed to have other ideas, continuously injecting streams of profound light into the primordial universe in front of him. Each stream of light contained strange and wonderful objects.