Chapter 481: Opening the Inner World, God-level Primitive Species

True Spirit Fruit is one of the few treasures capable of strengthening the True Spirit, and it can only be produced in the Primal Realm. Even sector lords from various star systems within the Empire, such as Lord Beihe, who spent centuries campaigning, received only one such fruit every thousand years. It wasn't until he cultivated a talent like Zhao Xing, who then entered the Primal Realm, that the allocation increased to three, highlighting the fruit's immense value.

Yet, in just a short while, Zhao Xing had already consumed ten of them. Approximately three hundred more lay before him. This was simply a testament to his connections and wealth!

“Normally, one True Spirit Fruit is enough to break through to the Reincarnation Realm, but my situation is different,” he mused. Consuming ten fruits in one go was just the beginning for Zhao Xing. This was because within his Natal Palace, one hundred and one soul bodies stood queuing on a mountain.

“Among the one hundred and one soul bodies on the mountain, the one that has merged with the Earth Soul is the main soul body. The others are sub-souls created by tearing the main soul after cultivating the Primeval Straw Effigy technique.”

After mastering the Primeval Straw Effigy technique, a significant soul-tearing process occurs. The original intention was for the soul to differentiate, strengthen collectively, and then re-merge to enhance the True Spirit. As Gu Tianyang envisioned, after a thousand tears, once all sub-souls survive the True Spirit Tribulation and achieve demigod status, their fusion would result in a True Spirit strength a thousand times that of a demigod.

Naturally, a side effect was that if the sub-souls remained independent for too long, they would develop their own thoughts. The tearing process itself wasn't arbitrary. After tearing, the main soul body's cultivation realm would decrease, and the sub-souls would need to reside within Primeval Straw Effigy bodies to continue growing. Furthermore, the material requirements for the Primeval Straw Effigy were a tier higher than those for the Primeval Void Effigy. While the Primeval Void Effigy typically required Origin Divine Weapon-grade materials, the Primeval Straw Effigy demanded Reincarnation Dao Soldier-grade materials. Only then could the sub-souls reside permanently within the Primeval Straw Effigy bodies and their cultivation realms could advance.

Zhao Xing learned the Primeval Straw Effigy technique three hundred years ago but had only torn his soul once. There was no other way; at that time, he was recovering from a serious illness and burdened with significant debt, so he dared not split his soul further. However, after unearthing a treasure, he suddenly became debt-free. Consequently, within just sixty years, he split his soul one hundred times, creating one hundred Primeval clones. These high-grade clones were all crafted using Reincarnation Dao Soldier materials. After one hundred soul tears, all his sub-souls had reached the Life-Death Dao Domain Realm.

The sole difference between his main soul body and the sub-souls was that the main soul's Natal Soul had merged with the Earth Soul, while the sub-souls had not. The sub-souls were not bound by karma and did not undergo reincarnation. However, their combat power was almost identical to the main soul body's, and they could be swapped out at any time. Yet, when it came to breakthroughs, they all had to advance simultaneously. This technique, created by Gu Tianyang, demanded both. As a result, Zhao Xing's True Spirit breakthrough now required resources multiplied by a factor of one hundred.

“Eat quickly, don’t dilly-dally!”

“Master, why am I relegated to the back of the line?”

“Where are the True Spirit Fruits? Did you buy too few?”

“Awesome, this feels great.”

Among the more than one hundred queuing sub-souls within the Natal Palace, several began to squabble. Zhao Xing felt rather peculiar at that moment. He could sense that the sub-souls were part of him, yet not entirely so. It was akin to a person having many different thoughts simultaneously. These were sub-souls created with significant time gaps, a known side effect. To suppress these side effects, one method was mental suppression. When one's spiritual will was strong enough to achieve singularity of thought, it effectively unified all sub-souls.

“The side effects of the Primeval Straw Effigy technique are also precisely its strengths.”

“When cultivating this technique, to suppress side effects, spiritual will cultivation methods take precedence over methods for strengthening the soul body, and over the materials used for the effigy bodies.”

Zhao Xing performed the Mind Field technique, unifying his will. As expected, the thoughts of his sub-souls also became unified, and the peculiar sensation of division vanished.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Ninety True Spirit Fruits flew into his Natal Palace at once. Each sub-soul swallowed a True Spirit Fruit and began to transform. At this point, all sub-souls had completed their transformation, reaching the ordinary Reincarnation Realm.

“Now, the main soul body.”

Zhao Xing’s main soul body was more unique because he cultivated the secret art of the Reincarnation Divine Palace, "Reincarnation," given by Qing Yuzi. Having first merged with the Natal Soul, his main soul body maintained its core existence, possessed dominant thoughts, and was consequently stronger. Secondly, the main soul body was influenced by Azure Flower divine power, which encompassed all Great Daos, including naturally the Dao of Soul and the Dao of Will. Zhao Xing intentionally prevented his sub-souls from being amplified by the Azure Flower divine power.

“Wow~”

The main soul body consumed the remaining two hundred True Spirit Fruits.

“Roar~”

The main soul body let out a roar, rising swiftly from the ranks of soul bodies. Soon, the main soul body's height surpassed all the sub-souls.

“My goodness, how can the main soul body grow so large!”

“Still daring to keep secrets from the Master, hmph.”

“Everyone, stop quarreling, can you be quiet for a moment?”

“Alas, cultivating so many sub-souls without sufficient willpower is courting disaster.”

These distracting thoughts quickly subsided. As Zhao Xing’s main soul body broke through, his sub-souls also strengthened slightly.

At this point, Zhao Xing felt that even three hundred True Spirit Fruits weren't enough. So, he immediately opened a purple jade bottle from within the valley.

“Whoosh!”

Five golden droplets fell onto his forehead. The droplets, however, passed through his body, reaching deep into his soul.

“Sea Soul Sacred Water, a natural treasure condensed from the Primal Ocean, capable of enhancing soul power. A single drop costs 1,000 Profound Spirit Ancient Coins, equivalent to the entire fortune of a Lord-level cultivator.”

The main soul body swallowed the five droplets. After consuming the five droplets, his soul body surged once more, becoming even more substantial.

Meanwhile, in a temple located in a corner of the valley...

Zhao Xing’s statue suddenly cracked. A golden light streaked forth and merged into his main soul body.

“Om~”

A faint azure light intertwined to form a flower, imprinted on his main soul body’s forehead, but with a golden thread outlining the azure flower.

“The Heavenly Soul has also merged.”

Zhao Xing opened his eyes. The Heavenly Soul resided in a temple; Zhao Xing’s Heavenly Soul had always been enshrined within the Grand Zhou’s Temple of Agriculture. The third stage of the Reincarnation Divine Palace's soul technique, "Reincarnation," involved merging the Heavenly Soul. At this moment, his main soul body had completed its breakthrough, and the "Reincarnation" secret art had also advanced. His status panel showed that Zhao Xing's soul cultivation had reached the Lord-level! He had directly bypassed the ordinary and veteran realms.

“Boom-crack!”

Just as Zhao Xing was savoring the sensation of growing stronger, his soul body suddenly shivered, and he faintly heard thunder.

“The True Spirit Tribulation is not far off,” he realized. A sense of enlightenment arose within Zhao Xing, and he looked up at the starry sky above. Strengthening the True Spirit through reincarnation was one method, but not the only one. During the True Spirit's growth, one would encounter the True Spirit Tribulation, and an inexplicable sense would arise. Like Zhao Xing, who reached the Lord-level True Spirit upon breakthrough, he immediately sensed the presence of his first True Spirit Tribulation. However, he couldn't predict the exact date or the form it would take.

“Hoo~”

Zhao Xing let out a long breath. Encountering the True Spirit Tribulation after breaking through to the Reincarnation Realm was normal. After all, he had lingered in the Origin Realm for so long and cultivated three different factions, accumulating profoundly deep foundations.

“Swish!”

The World-Opening Divine Stone was taken out from his storage ring by Zhao Xing.

“Origin Projection, manifest!”

With a thought, a shadow immediately enveloped the entire canyon. The Origin Space opened, and the Dark Sky Moon Tree and Soul-Devouring Grass appeared. However, both of these Emperor-level plant entities were suppressed by the Primordial Dao Pagoda, a divine artifact.

“Emperor, are you finally going to break through?” In a corner of the canyon, the Thousand Illusions Tree swayed its branches, its eye-like leaves turning to face Zhao Xing, brimming with excitement.

“Yes, Thousand Illusions. Stay still. The commotion will be significant soon.”

“Understood.”

The Thousand Illusions Tree obediently lowered its branches. Upon soul breakthrough, reaching a Lord-level True Spirit, one could control the intensity of the Origin Space's breakthrough. However, even with his True Spirit formed, Zhao Xing dared not be negligent in establishing his Inner World.

“I bought so many treasures; eighty percent of them were prepared for this world creation.”

“The main reason is this World-Opening Divine Stone in my hand; its amplifying effect on creating an Inner World is too powerful.”

“I hope my preparations are sufficient.”

A Reincarnation Realm Sinong could create an Inner World without a World Stone, but the chances of success were slim. The World Stone, cultivation technique, and accumulated foundation from the Origin Realm collectively determined the Inner World's grade, size, and most importantly, the birth of indigenous species. The normal standard involved an average cultivation method, an ordinary World Stone, and average accumulation. Regarding World Stones alone, typically only common ones like Yin-Yang World Stones or Five-Element Stones were used. What would be created then was a standard Inner World. The indigenous species born would not exceed Emperor-grade quality; lesser ones might even be King-grade.

A mid-tier level involved using a mid-tier cultivation method, becoming a Great Divine Abilities expert during the Origin Realm, and utilizing World Stones from the 'Rain Immortal Stone' series. Such a creation would result in a mid-tier Inner World and definitely give birth to Emperor-grade indigenous species. An excellent level involved using high-grade materials, such as the 'Heart of the World' seen in the Medicine King Realm, which possessed enough energy to overturn the core formations of top-tier powers. The cultivation methods practiced were typically created by top-tier powers, and the cultivator would have been a Great Divine Abilities expert with profound accumulation. This usually led to the creation of a top-tier Inner World and the birth of Emperor-grade indigenous species.

Zhao Xing believed that none of these reference standards applied to him, because he had exceeded all of them. His cultivation technique was the strongest force-multiplying method, "Primordial Chaos Realm." During his Great Divine Abilities phase, he cultivated three factions simultaneously, accumulating such profound strength that he could even kill veteran-level Reincarnation Realm cultivators. And the World Stone he used was the World-Opening Divine Stone. Each of these was exceedingly rare, so Zhao Xing's extensive preparations were more than justified.

“Clatter~”

The various bottles and jars in the canyon opened one by one, their contents cascading into the Origin Space. A purple crystal gourd floated into the sky, pouring out a river of spirit liquid collected from the Immortal Spirit River of the Origin Heavenly Palace. A block of golden soil sank into the ground, emitting a sound like a heartbeat. It originated from the Primal Ancient Vein, one of the Nine Veins of the Primordial Hills. A dark yellow leaf, imbued with surging vitality, drifted with the wind. It was a withered leaf that had fallen from the Primeval Divine Tree.

Once all items entered the Origin Space, the Primordial Dao Pagoda began to emit wisps of airflow from its top, dividing the entire Origin Space into a grid resembling the Bagua. Zhao Xing then released the World-Opening Divine Stone from his hand.

“Pop!”

As the World-Opening Divine Stone descended, it emitted four streams of chaotic mist the moment it touched the Origin Projection. The Origin Space's boundaries seemed to be struck by a storm. The chaotic mist surged outwards, instantly expanding the Origin Space from its original 10 world-element units to 100 world-element units.

The expansion speed was terrifying! Zhao Xing's body nearly toppled to the ground, as his cultivation technique, "Primordial Chaos Realm," involuntarily amplified tenfold. This was a height he had never reached before, akin to someone being pulled by a speeding vehicle, exceeding their physical limits, and risking a fatal fall.

“Agh!”

Zhao Xing's body writhed and contorted, smoke rising from him. His magical power circulation instantly became chaotic. The Origin Space, his magical power, even his consciousness — all at this moment were like wild horses unbound, completely out of control! The immense power of the divine artifact, vast and mighty, was not something a Lord-level True Spirit could hope to slow down.

Fortunately, Zhao Xing possessed more than one divine artifact. The Primordial Dao Pagoda, a divine artifact bestowed by Emperor Chixing, began to exert its power. It had been at the center of the soil, and now it suddenly rotated, likewise dispersing four streams of airflow. However, these chaotic airflows were rotational, far more orderly than the effects caused by the World-Opening Divine Stone. It rotated in the opposite direction, and the mist seemed to twist into reins, bridling the runaway wild horses. This made the expansion of the Origin Space's boundary orderly. Consequently, Zhao Xing's consciousness was the first to recover, no longer contorted. After approximately one hundred and eight thousand immeasurable moments, his magical power also resumed normal circulation.

“Emperor is amazing!”

Zhao Xing lay on the ground, shouting in his heart. He had never imagined the World-Opening Divine Stone to be so formidable; after all, he hadn't used it in his previous life. But he hadn't conceived that the Emperor was even more formidable, capable of controlling the World-Opening Divine Stone's effects, transforming its uncontrollable burst into something manageable.

“Truly a work that led to achieving godhood,” Zhao Xing couldn’t help but exclaim. Emperor Chixing was the God of Mechanisms; it was rumored that the moment he created the Primordial Dao Pagoda, he broke through to the God Realm.

The mist's expansion continued, and soon Zhao Xing’s Origin Space broadened to 1,000 world-element units.

“Splash!” Upon reaching 1,000 world-element units, Zhao Xing heard the sound of waves. Around the Primordial Dao Pagoda and the World-Opening Divine Stone, an ocean appeared. It was murky, yet it seemed to contain all Daos. Mist rose, and from the primal ocean, turbulent clouds formed. It was a vast, hazy expanse, also gray and turbid, seemingly containing many solid substances.

“Buzz!”

The ocean roared below, and the clouds spun above. At a certain moment, a high mountain suddenly rose from the ocean, connecting the ocean and the clouds. The first World Mountain had formed! It continuously expanded, its base soon spreading to form tracts of land. Some landmasses were swept away by the primal ocean's currents, fragmenting into many pieces.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, the sound of wind swept through. Zhao Xing felt a refreshing sensation. His consciousness moved with the wind, appearing in the primal ocean, as well as within the clouds and the World Mountain. At this moment, Zhao Xing's consciousness permeated the entire world.

“I am the world, and the world is I.”

A miraculous feeling arose in Zhao Xing's heart. He felt he could now simultaneously control the Primordial Dao Pagoda and the World-Opening Divine Stone.

“Primal Ocean, rise!”

“Clouds transform into rain, fall!”

The Yin and Yang energies separated, and rain began to fall from the boundless clouds. The spiritual energy rain first descended from the World Mountain.

“Plop!”

When the first drop of rain fell, the black and white world instantly gained a touch of color. The colors spread from a single point to encompass the entire world, and Zhao Xing felt the world before him become vibrant.

“From this moment on, the Origin Space has transformed into an Inner World.”

The vibrant light wasn't physical light, but rather the Great Dao of Life beginning to manifest. From this moment forth, what Zhao Xing possessed was no longer an Origin Space, but an Inner World!

“World Stars, form!”

Boom!

The primal ocean surged against the World Mountain, sending countless shattered rocks flying, which then formed into scorching molten stars. Numerous golden light points, these golden light points revolved around the World Mountain. With a thought, Zhao Xing transformed the World Mountain into the shape of five fingers. The Five-Finger Mountain began to emit mist, kneading the molten planets. He directly manipulated the transformations within his Inner World. The first Solar Star was born, followed closely by the Lunar Star, and the Five-Element Stars, representing Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

“The first Yin-Yang Nine-Star System, complete!”

Zhao Xing looked at this star system, his heart filled with joy. Typically, a Sinong’s Inner World was a nascent small world, like the structure of the Profound Yellow Realm. However, his current nascent Inner World resembled a universe, similar to the Inner World of Gu Luohe. Evidently, a cosmic-level Great Dao was far more complete than that of a small world. With abundant spiritual energy materials prepared, coupled with the combined effects of the World-Opening Divine Stone and the Primordial Dao Pagoda, his Inner World now had the semblance of a miniature universe.

“What grade should my Inner World be?” Zhao Xing wasn't sure. At this point, his Inner World contained a primal ocean, a World Mountain, an endless continent, and a chaotic cloud continuously nurturing stars. The first Yin-Yang Five-Element Star System had also been born.

“The Inner World is finalized. In terms of quality, it's a cosmic model; in terms of size, it measures 10,000 world-element units, completely comparable to an Emperor-level Inner World.”

“Next is the crucial moment for the birth of indigenous species.”

Zhao Xing's consciousness vibrated across the entire world as he began to circulate his cultivation technique, "Primordial Chaos Realm." He proceeded with the four stages of world evolution.

“Whoosh~”

A streak of light seemed to tear through space; it appeared at sixty-eight immeasurable moments, so swiftly that Zhao Xing didn't even notice as his Inner World entered the 'Origin Stage'.

“It's complete?”

Zhao Xing only had a very faint and vague sense that the 'Primal Stage' had already concluded.

“Truly worthy of being 'Instantaneous Primal,' my consciousness already pervades the entire Inner World, yet I barely felt how it happened.”

At this point, Zhao Xing searched throughout his world for the first 'indigenous species'. To Zhao Xing’s surprise, the first indigenous species did not appear in the primal ocean, nor on the first World Mountain or the boundless continent, nor even within the boundless clouds. Instead, it appeared within the Yin-Yang Nine-Star System, which was constructed based on the "Six Fierce Theories."

“I created the primal ocean according to the theories of the Egoist Faction.”

“I created the chaotic clouds, based on the theories of the Celestial Time Faction.”

“The boundless continent was modeled after the earth vein structure of the Extreme Land cultivation technique.”

“Applying the profound principles of all three factions to form indigenous species at the world's genesis should also improve their quality.”

“It didn't grow in so many good places, but instead appeared here?”

Zhao Xing muttered to himself, his vision expanding to focus on the Yin-Yang Nine Stars. As luck would have it, the indigenous species grew between the Metal Star and the Fire Star.

“Hmm?”

Zhao Xing examined it closely, finding something amiss. He realized the indigenous species' location was very unique. This was originally meant to be the Earth's position in a solar system, and in the 'Six Theories of Annihilation Stars,' it also represented life. But now, the Earth he had created was gone, replaced by a seed resembling a planet.

“This is my indigenous species?”

Zhao Xing blinked. At this point, the entire world began its natural evolution, and he no longer needed to constantly control it. More indigenous species appeared, and a large number of plants were born; at the very beginning of the world's creation, plants formed first. Among the first batch, seven Emperor-grade plants and tens of thousands of Royal-grade plant life forms appeared.

“Other indigenous species, after being born, quickly absorbed the power of the World-Opening Divine Stone, acquiring life characteristics. A quick glance at my panel immediately revealed their type.”

“Let's see what quality this first indigenous species is.”

Zhao Xing looked at the seed, which resembled a planet.

Indigenous SpeciesQuality: Divine-gradeStatus: Gestating

“A Divine-grade indigenous species!”

Zhao Xing had vaguely guessed the quality of this seed, but upon seeing the words "Divine-grade," he couldn't help but burst into ecstasy. However, seeing its status was still 'Gestating' left him somewhat perplexed.

“After an indigenous species is born, as the master of the Inner World, its category and type should be clear at a glance. Why is this one still gestating?”

“Is it a lack of energy?”

With a thought, Zhao Xing moved the remaining portion of the World-Opening Divine Stone. By now, only a tiny sliver of the World-Opening Divine Stone remained. Zhao Xing no longer focused on its quality or size but directed all its remaining energy to the indigenous species. The Primordial Dao Pagoda also channeled this energy, transmitting it into the indigenous species.

However, Zhao Xing discovered that this indigenous species surprisingly wasn't consuming the energy.

“No, it is consuming it.”

“But the conversion rate is too low. Even from the World-Opening Divine Stone, it only absorbed one percent?”

“If you're not consuming the energy from the World-Opening Divine Stone, then what *will* you consume?”

Zhao Xing was somewhat shocked. He continued to experiment, eventually reaching a conclusion. It only absorbed two types of substances: one was Azure Flower divine power, with an absorption efficiency of merely one ten-thousandth. This meant that for every ten thousand parts of Azure Flower divine power supplied, only about one part was absorbed. The World-Opening Divine Stone was similar, though its absorption rate was one percent. All other spiritual energy substances were completely ineffective for nourishment.

“What type of indigenous species is this exactly?” Zhao Xing pondered, "Azure Flower divine power can be used as nourishment, and so can the World-Opening Divine Stone. Is there anything common between these two?”