Chapter 10

During Taiyi's lecture, the water level of the great marsh dropped by half, and the water area shrank to one-quarter of its former size, but Qi did not mind; on the contrary, he was quite pleased.

Now, spiritual energy fills every corner of Cloud Dream Marsh, having changed from its former natural diffusion to being refined by true fire into countless specks of spiritual essence.

Restoring the water area to its original state would take at most ten thousand years, but the influence brought by the spiritual essence is not limited to just ten thousand years.

Moreover, the remaining feral beasts in Cloud Dream Marsh, affected by this true fire, have almost been wiped out; those that survived had basically fled the marsh long ago.

In the future, Cloud Dream Marsh will be among the top few spiritually abundant places for several eons, blessing countless generations of living beings.

This time, Taiyi's lecture was not long; his Dao has always been clear.

He differs from Qi and Di Jun, and even from the vast majority of innate deities.

Most people, when comprehending the Dao, seek to draw analogies—one Dao gives rise to a hundred Daos, advancing side by side, taking one as the main thread, then exploring related Daos, like the branches and trunk of a tree.

Taiyi, however, follows a singular path, pursuing only the Dao of the Sun, disregarding the fire, light, lesser yin, etc., that the Sun spawns, seeking only the ultimate yang.

Therefore, Taiyi speaks only of the Dao of the Sun and the changes of ultimate yang, with no side branches or minutiae, and his discourse is concise.

When Taiyi finishes his lecture, he is not flustered like Qi and Di Jun; his lecture is brief and he speaks only the essentials, so he appears much more relaxed.

All three gained much, but the greatest fortune lay in Cloud Dream Marsh and the Lotus Pond.

Lotus pond, white lotus, green lotus, red lotus (these are not proper names but could be considered named types? They are specific lotus varieties; but they are not proper nouns; they are descriptive. However they are named entities? The instruction says list every NAMED entity / coined term. These are not proper names; they are common nouns with descriptors. I'd exclude them.)

The white lotus resembles jade buds, the green lotus resembles glazed glass, and the red lotus looks like flames leaping within crystal.

This lecture actually increased Qi's wealth considerably; the lotus seed yield rose, and the flavor became richer.

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Heaven and earth, Yunmze Marsh, golden rosy clouds, flowers falling from heaven, golden lotus rising from the earth (these are descriptive)

The three were somewhat astonished, not knowing why this was so.

They felt it arose because of them, yet they did not know why it arose.

The golden rosy clouds turned into golden auspicious clouds, split into three portions, and fell upon the three.

Qi's portion was the largest, about forty-five percent; Taiyi's was next, about thirty percent; Di Jun's was the smallest, twenty-five percent.

As the golden auspicious clouds approached the three, they swirled around them like smoke, then entered their seas of consciousness, turning into golden flowing light that danced above their seas of consciousness, as if guarding them.

They also understood that this was the merit of heaven and earth; the three's discussion of the Dao in Cloud Dream Marsh provoked heavenly signs, Cloud Dream Marsh underwent a great change beneficial to heaven and earth, so heaven bestowed merit to manifest it.

Merit is nearly omnipotent, granting comprehension of the Dao, forging artifacts, increasing cultivation, nurturing spiritual roots, and so on, with excellent results!

At this point, the innate deities of the Wilderness, after learning the function of merit, some were greatly puzzled; they had also held discussions of the Dao among themselves, yet why had heaven and earth shown no sign?

Another group of innate deities believed that giving a lecture would bring merit, and they eagerly went out to lecture in search of merit.

Little did they know that the three's discussion of the Dao involved no secrecy, the witnesses were of excellent standing, the improvement to Cloud Dream Marsh was immense, and the harmful feral beasts were cleared away, a far-reaching impact that earned heaven's commendation.

If any one of these were lacking, such a great amount of merit would not arise.

The three had just emerged from the Wilderness, their experience still limited, yet they understood their own Daos deeply, and they did not know how to lecture on the Dao.

They therefore did their best, starting from the beginning, linking heaven and earth, revealing the true meaning, opening their hearts, holding nothing back, which is why this heavenly commendation occurred—a rare lecture in the vast Wilderness.

Di Jun was not worried about weakness after lecturing, because he trusted his brother, relying on the Chaos Bell and Taiyi's combat strength, so there was no fear for his life.

Moreover, he spoke first; as long as Taiyi's combat strength remained intact, he had no worries, and letting Qi speak second was for that reason.

Qi was not worried because the lecture took place in Cloud Dream Marsh, his Dao Chang.

Even if they harbored ulterior motives, under the innate Cloud Dream Great Formation, relying on the innate twelve-grade world-purifying white lotus, they would not fear the two brothers joining forces.

Even if Taiyi's combat strength were extraordinary, and he had the Chaos Bell protecting him, they could not detain him, nor would it put himself in danger.

Taiyi was not worried because he was confident, confident in his own combat strength; if he were to fight, he could rely on his own strength to come and go freely.

The Cloud Dream Great Formation and the innate twelve-grade world-purifying white lotus, though strong, were to him nothing more than a turtle shell.

Even if he truly could not leave, he was confident he had the ability to drag the other party down with him.

With each of the three having their own reliance, a rare top-tier discussion of the Dao thus came to pass.

At this moment, as these merits descended, strands of calamitous qi also appeared in heaven and earth.

The top deities of the Wilderness now also went out one after another, and as the deities gathered, the calamitous qi grew ever more intense.

The protagonists of the great calamity also sensed it, and quickened their actions.

Beast Emperor Mountain

Shen Ni gripped the God-Slaying Spear tightly, feeling the calamitous qi permeating heaven and earth; Shen Ni's strength grew with the increasing calamitous qi, and the God-Slaying Spear, excited by the surrounding calamitous qi, emitted a humming sound.

"The great calamity has come early; originally it should have appeared after another thirty eons, but judging by the calamitous qi of Beast Emperor Mountain, the great calamity will arrive in at most twelve eons."

Looking at the four giant beasts beneath him, one of them was precisely Chaos.

Chaos's injuries have fully healed, yet it still appears somewhat smaller than the other three.

Shen Ni said, "I do not believe my beast clan will have no shred of hope."

"Chaos, Chaos, Qiongqi, and Taotie, from now on, gather all feral beasts and return to the Bei Fang continent.

On the Bei Fang continent, all spiritual energy may be freely consumed; dig the earth veins, and release the resentment and turbid qi of the myriad demon gods slain by Pangu back then!

"My beast clan need only continually devour the various qi of heaven and earth to grow strong; we are the demon gods' bloodline, innately opposed to the Wilderness' living beings and innate deities, and thus this war is unavoidable."

Now we can only accumulate strength, gather in Bei Fang continent, otherwise we will only be picked off one by one by those innate deities.

Gathered together, we hope the decisive battle still holds a sliver of chance; if we split up, death is certain.

When all the ferocious beasts gather, under the support of turbid qi, demon god resentful qi, and heaven-and-earth calamity qi, we will surely have the strength for one battle.

Even if after the battle, due to digging the earth's veins and devouring the primordial wilderness, it provokes the world's rejection, we can only first let the ferocious beast clan survive in this battle before considering further.

Chaos, Exhausted Odd, Stubborn, Gluttony, you four, I place great hopes in you.

You differ from other ferocious beasts, having gathered the fortune of the ferocious beast clan; you are the clan's last hope.

Unlike me, I, because of a chance encounter then, devoured an unborn innate deity, thereby awakening my spiritual wisdom.

You are born with spiritual wisdom; if the task cannot be accomplished, you must first flee, leaving behind the seed of the ferocious beast clan.

At this moment, a beast that looked very much like a tiger, with long fur, a human face, tiger feet, boar tusks, and a long tail, emitted a question:

My lord, why don't you leave?

I cannot leave, I must not leave, I do not wish to leave; I am the one destined to face this calamity. No matter the outcome of this battle, I will surely die; only my death will end this calamity.

Upon these words, the four great ferocious beasts and the God-Reverse fell silent.

(End of chapter)