Chapter 175: Before the Western Era, There was the Thunder God (Two in One)

**Author:** A Three-Hundred Jin Smile**Word Count:** 256**Popular Novel:**

In this era, with heaven and earth newly formed, all order and cycles needed to be rebuilt. After all, it wasn't originally a complete world; it was a pitch-black void carved out of primordial mud. There were no natural suns, moons, rain, or rivers. Without establishing divine positions to create an internal cycle, it would be impossible to fully perfect this world. Thus, after establishing heaven and earth, the Daojun appointed various deities to begin building the order of this primordial, chaotic realm. The ancient primordial gods were tasked with mapping out mountains and lands, shaping rivers, swamps, mountain ranges, and forests.

This period, when chaos first gave way to order and the rules of heaven and earth were established, was later collectively known as "Pre-Western Epoch" or the "Honghuang Ancient Era." It was home to many ancient primordial beings unimaginable to later generations, such as Jianmu, the Tree of Heaven, which supported the heavens without collapsing.

Now, to the present.

With Jianmu's emergence, it was as if a divine stabilizing needle had been added to this ancient primordial world, completely perfecting the entire "Investiture of the Gods" world system. This world was divided into upper and lower layers, supported by nine pillars to prevent heaven and earth from merging again and returning to chaos. At the center of the nine pillars stood Jianmu, linking the divine and mortal realms, its roots spreading throughout the entire mortal land. Jianmu absorbed the life force of all beings on earth as sustenance. Whenever a living being died on earth, its soul was sucked by the nearby underground roots, flowed along the root system, converged, and surged up Jianmu, reaching the peak of the heavenly realm to condense into fruit.

Fifty years passed. Much time had passed since the sermon. Throughout the world, beings of the Sixth Cavern-Heaven Realm began to emerge. The fifteen beings who had attended the original sermon on the meditation cushions had all reached the Cavern-Heaven level. The era began to enter its flourishing period.

Meanwhile, Mengmei was browsing the forum.

Mengmei: "Huh, why is everyone so diligent? I woke up from a nap to find you all working through the night, evolving species? (Shocked)"

"Holy crap! A big shot has appeared!"

"Mengmei, how do you have time to be here? With such an immense opportunity, shouldn't you be striving for the pinnacle? (Terrified)"

"Of course, we're all evolving species now because we want to put in extra effort and get a piece of the pie."

"Exactly. The Alchemist Emperor back then took advantage of the early period when the natives were uncultivated, seizing the right time, place, and people. By relying on his advanced knowledge, he became the Alchemist Emperor. Naturally, we should seize this moment, while heaven and earth are newly opened, and divine positions are being distributed and the cosmic order established..."

Mengmei paused, then realized. She had just wanted to warn everyone to be cautious, that reality wasn't as great as they imagined, and that the Daojun inside wasn't exactly friendly... However, she then looked at the six species about to evolve in the sandbox and saw that all six were red-named players. Hehehehe. She smiled brightly, unable to resist posting: "Indeed, everyone should come in now! This is the uncultivated period. The moment I entered, I gained an immense blessing! Let me tell you about my current situation! First, I acquired a meditation cushion, becoming the sixteenth being to attend the Grand Sermon of the Dao, a monumental opportunity. Second, I was appointed as one of the ancient primordial gods, the Azure Vine Earth Mother, Mother of the Earth, overseeing the spring cultivation of all things and the place where life returns to the earth."

Earth Mother? Everyone's scalps tingled upon hearing this. A hundred-plus years had passed in-game, and Mengmei was already an ancient primordial god, one of the oldest beings from the creation of that world – the Earth Mother, overseeing the spring cultivation of all things?

"Peak from the start!"

Everyone was incredibly envious. It was a newly formed world, with opportunities everywhere. Before, who among them hadn't started tragically from scratch? These heretical gods were dismembered the moment they entered, and even towards the end, they didn't fare well. Even the Alchemist Emperor, who had the best run, started terribly, with a dreadful "slime" dark history, and only rose after a long period of struggle.

Screenshot. Screenshot. Soon, images were posted. They showed the ancient Jianmu, towering between heaven and earth, magnificent and splendid, with countless multicolored cloud-gods circling its vast trunk, a breathtaking sight, as if it were the sole existence in a mythical realm.

Mengmei: "Pictures for proof! Look at me—I support heaven and earth as the sole conduit between the divine and mortal realms! I'm one of the two great Pillar Gods of the ancient world, known to mortals as: Heavenly Father Sun and Azure Vine Earth Mother. I am the Earth Mother! Although there are nine suns, there's only one of me. I am the most powerful ancient god under the Daojun, who created heaven and earth!"

Holy crap! Heavenly Father Sun? Azure Vine Earth Mother? Mengmei is totally awesome! She's truly standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the suns? Everyone was incredibly envious, their breathing becoming ragged. Compared to the Alchemist Emperor who struggled his entire life, Mengmei surpassed him in an instant. They were instantly thrilled! To be a great being in an ancient era, wielding divine authority over a realm—this second life was simply beautiful to imagine.

Mengmei continued: "As one of the most powerful beings in the world, I don't have to work at all! No one dares make me work! Occasionally, I pop out to chat with you guys, and inside, I'm surrounded by handsome men. My harem is huge now, full of muscular guys, and I've already reached the peak of my life! (Blushing) If you want to get in, hurry up! I estimate that if you're too late, the era of creation will have passed, all divine positions will be filled, and the Daojun might even be planning to establish the Primordial Heavenly Court after perfecting the world's rules. Then, there won't be any room for you."

As these words fell, it wasn't just the netizens who were envious; even the major research institutes had flushed faces, clenched fists, and reddened ears! They had to get in before the Heavenly Court was established, otherwise, they wouldn't be ancient beings who helped create and define the cosmic order!

"Must be quick!"

"Get ahead of other research institutes!"

Instantly, throughout the research institutes, white-coated researchers moved about, clutching clipboards, their expressions tense and serious, working like rapidly spinning gears.

Originally, they had already completed their research in the past day or two; now, they were making their final push. In less than seven or eight hours, a message was the first to echo in the sandbox:

Announcement: Congratulations to player "SwordTurtleBreath" whose evolved species, "Sonic Cube," possesses great potential and has received an achievement reward.

Damn! The second one in was a red-named player!? The entire sandbox erupted. Netizens were utterly bewildered, and other red-named players instantly looked anxious.

SwordTurtleBreath: "Hahahaha! Everyone, I won this time, a step ahead! You must be curious about my species' abilities, right? I won't tell you." He naturally kept his species' information hidden; it was his trump card, and he wasn't foolish enough to reveal it. In reality, his species was born with magical patterns, imitating the internal structure of a music box, possessing powerful throat vibration organs capable of emitting innate attacks similar to sonic witchcraft. He had previously ventured into the Wizard World and gained a lot. They thoroughly comprehended certain witchcraft principles from the Wizard World, and when evolving their species, they added those innate "Dao patterns" into their bodies, essentially endowing them with a singular witchcraft talent. This already transcended the scope of ordinary biological evolution, evolving into a supernatural species with innate talents!

However, the difficulty was infinitely greater than evolving ordinary creatures, as the precision required was too high. It was like the skin patterns of a creature: if you wanted to evolve a black bear to have panda-like stripes, you'd have to constantly screen and eliminate, keeping only those developing in that direction. After countless generations of reproduction and natural selection, the population would uniformly display black and white fur patterns. His supernatural species was also similar to the "panda's" skin Dao patterns, but the patterns were much finer and more precise. Furthermore, there was a serious flaw. The required precision for the magical patterns was too high; even a slight error would render it useless. But how could a creature's patterns be perfectly identical with no deviation when they could only be roughly similar? Most of these creatures had subtle distortions in their patterns, so the majority of his species were born as waste, with only one in a hundred possessing the "sonic" talent from birth.

"Everyone, I'm heading in first! The Daojun has only recently opened heaven and earth, and the ancient primordial gods in the sky are still planning lands and shaping mountains, accumulating great merit for the world. There should be a merit position for me!" With that, he entered the world channel.

Inside Lingtian Palace. A bizarre-looking creature, along with a few talented members of its species, was prostrating itself. On the imperial throne in Lingtian Palace, the Phoenix Daojun frowned slightly. "Another one has arrived, and this one is quite special... This fellow's aura and behavior are a bit familiar, instinctively repulsive..." Her expression remained calm for a moment, then a faint smile appeared, and she suddenly said, "State your talent."

Yamada respectfully knelt, immediately embodying his role. "My talent is to emit resounding roars! I can create tremendous vibrations, shake souls, and even shatter the spirits of the weak!"

"A good talent." The Phoenix Daojun clapped her hands and smiled, then closed her eyes slightly in thought, seemingly contemplating what divine position to arrange for it. A moment later, the Phoenix Daojun said, "Since your roars shake the heavens, I appoint you as the Primordial Thunder God! Before Rain God Shuize spreads clouds and brings rain, you shall be responsible for sounding the thunder, warning the mortal realm that rain is coming!" A flame descended, deeply searing itself onto its body. Yamada's heart skipped a beat. His role was Thunder God? Responsible for sounding thunder as a rain warning before Rain God Shuize spreads clouds and brings rain? He pondered in secret. The role wasn't major, but it was an indispensable part of the process. The Thunder God of this world? He thought it was enough; he could certainly climb higher gradually.

Suddenly, the Phoenix Daojun's voice resounded throughout the entire heavenly realm: "Sipu, come forth!" Moments later, a half-humanoid creature with a thunder-god's beak-like mouth and black wings respectfully arrived at Lingtian Palace and knelt. "Sipu, you are the son of the Primordial Ancient God Ziyun, extraordinarily gifted and extremely powerful among the Post-Primordial Gods. I appoint you and this deity to jointly oversee the position of Thunder God." Yamada's heart sank slightly again. He had to share a position with this Thunder-God-beaked fellow? It was a bit less than ideal, but still somewhat acceptable.

Six months later.

Rumble! Rumble! Yamada completely discovered it was manual labor; his throat was hoarse from all the shouting. Sipu was responsible for flying him around, and he was responsible for shouting! At first, he was quite happy, humming tunes, singing songs, even shouting out two DJ tracks... but eventually, he couldn't take it anymore. His few subordinate species had literally shouted themselves to exhaustion. Over the years, he continuously bred offspring, but their magical patterns were all crooked, with only a handful possessing the "sonic" talent. It was a losing battle, so he had to do it himself.

*Whirring sound!* At this moment, Sipu flapped his black wings, soaring through the sky, holding a black cube.

"I can't shout anymore," Yamada's voice was hoarse.

"Rain God Shuize is waiting for the rain. If you don't make thunder now, you'll delay the rain for these southern mountains. I'll have to use other methods." Sipu was of the most extreme faction of ancient gods, violent and irritable, and had a strong disdain for these detestable demon tribes! Azure Vine had already risen to power, becoming the Earth Mother Jianmu. How could they allow another "cube" demon tribe to seize power? Now, humanity was subtly rising, holding grudges against the primordial ancient gods. After all, the ancient gods continuously seized human bodies to transform. Before, humanity was weak and dared not speak, but now resentment was naturally beginning to brew. Humanity was steadily growing stronger, showing signs of resistance, which was very troublesome. It was impossible to allow the demon tribes to rise again. The cosmic order was gradually being perfected. The establishment of the rules of heaven and earth would mark the founding of the Heavenly Court, at which point the Daojun who created heaven and earth would retire. So, who would be the co-ruler of the Heavenly Court in this world? Which race would become the protagonist of this realm? The Golden Crow Prince had secretly reminded him to trip up this demon tribe, and he certainly hadn't forgotten.

"If you don't make a sound and fulfill our divine duty as Thunder God, don't blame me for being ruthless." Sipu sneered, took out a black rope and a short stick, and bound the "music box cube" tightly with the rope around the stick, shaping it into the handle of a "hammer."

Yamada: "???" What was he doing? A vague sense of foreboding flickered in his heart.

"I heard that in mortal human tribes, disobedient children get their bottoms spanked..." Thunder God Sipu then pulled out another black nail hammer, and in the sky, slowly aimed it at the "music box cube" body.

*Clang!* A fierce strike. The tip of the nail hammer clashed violently with the tightly bound black cube-hammer. Ah!!!! Yamada's face instantly flushed red, his rear feeling as if struck by lightning, and he couldn't help but let out a soul-rending roar:

Rumble!!

The sharp-beaked, ape-faced Thunder God flapped his black wings, soaring above the sky. Each time his two "hammers" collided, a muffled thunderclap resounded throughout heaven and earth, a roar echoing, and sonic ripples dispersing the clouds.

*Crackle!!* A sudden clap of thunder flashed across the sky. On the ground, everyone in the tribe looked up in a daze. The formerly clear sky was rapidly gathering large masses of clouds.

"Thunder's sounding, it's going to rain."

"This time, the thunder is unexpectedly loud!"

On the ground, ape-like women in animal skins from the tribe began to come to the racks to collect clothes. Hunters, farmers, and fruit-gathering women from various parts of the mountains and rivers also returned to the tribe and took shelter in their homes.

A moment later.

"Sipu's thunder hammer has struck! Thirteen reverberations! Today's rainfall count: seven chi and three cun!" Rain God Shuize, a cloud-bird emitting black light, led a group of colorful miscellaneous clouds. In the cloudy sky, he opened his divine consciousness, and stored water poured down from his spiritual space, rapidly dispersing in the sky.

*Pitter-patter!* Fine, dense rain fell from the sky, yet no one knew that heart-rending tears were mixed within the raindrops.

*The Ancient Gods* records: "Pre-Western Epoch, the Daojun established the cosmic order for heaven and earth, declaring that thunder should precede rainfall. Thus, Thunder God Sipu was commanded to wield the Thunder God's Hammer, sounding it throughout heaven and earth before rain."