Chapter 260: with translation of chapter title

260. Chapter 260 Nüwa arrives, the Three Corpses Method

Qi had lingered in Cloud Dream Marsh for ten thousand years, and after Taiyi persuaded Fuxi, he too was unwilling to stay any longer in the stern atmosphere of the Heavenly Court.

Soon after Qi's return, Taiyi departed the Heavenly Court once more and hurried to Cloud Dream Marsh to seek him.

We had thought peace would continue for a time, yet Qi did not expect Nüwa's sudden arrival to break it.

Qi, you really never change—you keep ditching us to roam the Primordial Wilds with Taiyi by yourself! This is already the second time, and it shouldn't happen more than three times!

I can't help it—it's just a coincidence. Whenever I have some free time, you're always in seclusion trying to make up for the time you wasted before.

And congratulations—you've reached the Primordial Chaos Dao realm, so after relinquishing your title you can rightly claim to be a supreme god of the Primordial Wilds.

Nüwa's retreat this time finally compensated for her shortcomings in life-force cultivation, arriving just before the Primordial Wilds experienced a total transformation.

When Nüwa heard Qi's congratulations, she instantly set aside her earlier accusatory tone and spoke with a delighted smile.

That's to be expected—given my abilities, I'm bound to be the foremost under heaven.

At that moment, Nüwa appeared as if a tiny snake tail had sprouted behind her, but then she seemed to recall something and resumed a dignified, holy demeanor, speaking earnestly: 'Qi, Taiyi, I differ from you—I practice the Severing Three Corpses technique, using the Spirit Treasure Mountains Rivers Land and State Diagram to lodge the evil corpse, thereby compensating for the shortfall in my life-force cultivation.'

After cultivating this technique and cutting away the evil corpse, I clearly felt my cultivation speed quicken, with hardly any impact on myself.

Many desires were severed along with the evil corpse, leaving my primordial spirit and life force untouched; instead, the evil corpse can cultivate and strengthen its own life force.

Though it doesn't equal my own, its boost is enormous—nearly an extra third—and its power is hardly less than mine.

It too has its own thoughts and feelings; if I could still sense that it is a fragment of me, sharing the same source, I might find it hard to discern which of us is the genuine Nüwa.

In my view, this technique is unsurpassed in the world, so much so that I find it hard to believe; its marvelous intricacies astonish even the heavenly beings.

Furthermore, those who follow the Primordial Chaos Dao can also practice this method, as long as they possess a spirit treasure to act as a vessel.

Qi, Taiyi, if you both practice this method, the Heavenly Court would effectively gain two more eminent Primordial Chaos Dao masters.

Moreover, its benefit to both cultivation and combat is enormous—almost beyond belief.

We've all learned this technique together, so why aren't you two practicing it? Unless there's some disadvantage I haven't noticed?

When Nüwa posed her question, Qi and Taiyi looked at each other, and Taiyi was the first to speak.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun once said that when practicing this method, the spirit treasure used to lodge the Three Corpses should ideally be of the same origin or have a karmic bond with the practitioner, and any disparity should be minimal.

All I have is the East Emperor Bell as my innate spirit treasure, plus the Azure Light Yin-Yang Lamp.

But the East Emperor Bell is far too exalted—a Primordial Supreme Treasure—and the only items sharing its origin are the Taiji Diagram in the hands of the Virtuous Dao Person and the Pangu Banner wielded by the Primordial Dao Person.

They too are Primordial Supreme Treasures, granted by the Dao Ancestor Hongjun, and both consider them essential safeguards of the Dao.

Besides, their worth is so immense that even draining the Heavenly Court's resources could not buy them.

The Azure Light Yin-Yang Lamp is indeed karmically connected to me, yet it is only a high-grade Primordial Spirit Treasure, so its disparity with the East Emperor Bell is vast.

Luckily, I had earlier acquired the Purple Gourd, which also shares a karmic bond with me; it is a supreme-grade Primordial Spirit Treasure, and employing it as a buffer works out quite well.

The reason I haven't cultivated it yet is that I'm still refining it; the Azure Light Yin-Yang Lamp previously didn't attract my attention, and I've only just started.

If the spirit treasures entrusted with the Three Corpses bore no relation, later efforts to subdue the corpses and restore their unity would carry excessive risk.

As you noted, the Three Corpses' fighting strength is hardly weaker than the main body, and they have their own thoughts and emotions, so dealing with them later could bring many troubles.

Nüwa nodded, indicating she understood, then looked toward Qi, wondering why he refrains from practicing this technique.

Nüwa is aware that Qi's spirit treasures—the Water Splendor Awakening World Drum, the World-Transcending White Jade Token, and the Primordial Twelfth-Grade Pure World White Lotus—spring from a single source and are his natal treasures, thereby fulfilling the innate requirements for this practice.

Furthermore, even if he passes on those, he still possesses the Water-Control God-Subduing Staff and the Azure Jade Gourd as backups—authority treasures that are rarely matched in the world.

The Azure Jade Gourd is remarkable too—it shares a karmic link with Qi and is a supreme-grade Primordial Spirit Treasure, so using it likewise allows this method to be cultivated.

Qi's usable treasures for this method are mostly high-grade, yet they all share the same origin or are karmically linked, leaving Nüwa puzzled as to why he refrains from cultivating it.

Qi wanted to confess his true feelings, but just as he was about to speak, he instinctively felt it would be inappropriate.

After a brief pause, Qi replied with a wry smile: 'My reason is a bit silly—I just want to wait a little longer.'

'Wait?'

Nüwa and Taiyi cried out together, their eyes wide with disbelief, since they regard Qi as an extraordinarily diligent practitioner.

The Three Corpses technique offers such huge benefits in battle and cultivation that Qi would surely not give it up; if it were him, he'd have started practicing it as soon as he acquired it.

Qi's decision to wait leaves the two of them puzzled.

Noticing their skepticism, Qi gave a far-fetched but somewhat plausible excuse: 'Even high-grade Primordial Spirit Treasures are lacking; the spirit treasure that houses the Three Corpses determines future battle strength and cultivation.'

Taiyi possesses the East Emperor Bell as compensation, so he can overlook such concerns.

Nüwa, you own numerous spirit treasures, including plenty of karmically bound supreme-grade Primordial Spirit Treasures, enough to cultivate the Three Corpses method.

I am somewhat different: though I too have extra supreme-grade Primordial Spirit Treasures, I lack the karmic bond, so cutting away the corpses now would probably impede future progress.

I'll wait a while longer; when I find another item that shares a karmic bond with me and is a supreme-grade Primordial Spirit Treasure, I'll reconsider—otherwise I could run into restrictions later.

Qi's statement left Nüwa and Taiyi somewhat unwilling to accept, though they could somewhat comprehend; on the cultivation path, seeking higher standards is natural, and Qi's power and position indeed merit stricter criteria. Nüwa is easy to placate, but seeing Taiyi's look, Qi realizes he still harbors doubts and isn't fully convinced.

Taiyi also remained unconvinced; while he knows Qi well and might concede that explanation could play a role, it is certainly not the primary reason.

Since Qi prefers not to say more, Taiyi sees no point in digging deeper, convinced that Qi's silence must arise from some underlying reason or difficulty.

It's uncommon for us three to meet in Cloud Dream Marsh, so let's drop the cultivation talk—Nüwa's joy at her breakthrough is a rare blessing, and we ought to celebrate with a grand banquet.

Qi abruptly changed the subject, drawing a skeptical look from Nüwa, but she merely smiled and said: 'That's only natural; we haven't been to Cloud Dream Marsh in ages, so today we should get drunk. Let me take a good look—having been away so long, I wonder how much the vista of mist-shrouded clouds and rosy glimmer, water-bound stars has altered.'

The three soon fell into joking and rough play; as the drinks took hold, they pointed to the marsh's floating islands, disputing which formation foundation each had personally crafted.

They compared the effort each had invested in their own creations and noted the differences.

Or they recalled past funny episodes—like what unusual growth had sprouted on a particular hill worth remembering—speaking with a nostalgic tone.

Qi pointed to a barren island tens of thousands of li distant, where a scaly beast remarked: 'Nüwa, behold—the beings you fashioned have inhabited Cloud Dream Marsh for untold eons, yet after such a long inheritance they still stand with mouths open to the heavens.'

Ugliness aside, such laziness—no different from a stone—yet it persists; I wonder whether Cloud Dream Marsh is simply too tranquil, or if it harbors some other method.

Nüwa's face flushed red; raising her gaze, she saw the odd creature with its mouth lifted skyward, as if begging for sweet rain.

At that moment a bird passed overhead, its droppings landing straight into the beast's mouth, but the creature stayed dazed, still mimicking the mountain stone.

Taiyi and Qi naturally also saw this scene, and couldn't help bursting into laughter; Nüwa, somewhat annoyed and angry, said: "This is merely an accident; back then I created so many species—how could this clumsy fool possibly represent my power!"

Qi's eyes grew strange upon hearing this, his smile twisting as he said: "Oh? Why not carefully sense it a bit and see how much of your past care still remains in this Cloud Dream Marsh?"

Nüwa was momentarily stunned, her divine sense spreading across the entire Cloud Dream Marsh, possibly because the wine disturbed her mind, she was somewhat dazed and with a hint of disbelief she said: "Only it remains? I didn't create tens of thousands of beings back then? How could only it remain?"

Just in that instant, Nüwa truly felt a hint of doubt about her own abilities, then immediately she sobered and said: "Something must have happened here that I don't know about; even that lazy black-shelled beast could survive, it's impossible that the powerful beings I created back then couldn't even leave a trace of their bloodline."

Taiyi was indeed drunk, paying no heed to Nüwa who was busy calculating with her fingers, he spoke: "Qi, you never even considered that back then Nüwa was merely a Luo Tianzun deity, the beings she created were only comparable to Golden Immortals—how could they be called powerful?"

"The primordial world is so perilous, the number of extinct tribes is more than myriad; for Nüwa to still have a single kind of being survive is already her fortune."

"We have left Cloud Dream Marsh for nearly a hundred great cycles, rarely setting foot there; without anyone carefully tending it, given Nüwa's methods back then, it's not bad."

Upon hearing this, Qi was almost startled sober from his drink, while Nüwa, who had been calculating with her fingers, clenched her fists, and faint blue veins appeared on her crystalline skin.

Taiyi sensed that the atmosphere was somewhat off, only then noticing that Nüwa was about to lose her patience. He quickly amended his words: "Just look, in the primordial world, whose created beings have survived to this day? Over a hundred great cycles, they have not only not perished, but have even grown considerably."

"In my view, within the primordial world, the Way of Creation, Nüwa is already the foremost; she still has a clan surviving, let alone outsiders."

Watching Taiyi's tone grow increasingly flustered, not knowing what he was saying, Nüwa instead suddenly wasn't so angry, merely rolling her eyes and saying:

"You had better be speaking the truth!"

Qi stood to the side watching, seeing that the two seemed to be winding down, he couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed.

"It was my misspeaking, it was my misspeaking; let's drink first."

Taiyi put on an apologetic smile, downed a full cup of wine, whereupon Nüwa relented, refilled the cup, and said to Qi and Taiyi: "Speaking of which, we have known each other for two Great Calamities already; back when ferocious beasts ran rampant, in the Dragon Clan's great camp, we recognized our own insignificance."

"And recall how we once vowed not to let outsiders look down on us; looking back, the only thing that earned us respect back then was our status as innate divinities."

"But today, you and I sit in possession of the Heavenly Court, governing all beings of the primordial world; under us are countless innate divinities, with all heavenly gods and earthly spirits entering the Heavenly Court."

"With such might, the promise of years past is finally fulfilled today!"

Nüwa spoke to this point, her emotions slightly stirred; Qi and Taiyi were likewise, but her words had not yet stopped, only hearing her say: "But I feel that, although we now possess such authority and have become the protagonists of heaven and earth as we hoped back then, we seem to have lost a bit of freedom."

"Even this Cloud Dream Marsh, if one is slightly inattentive, already over seventy great cycles have passed without our visiting; the five of us wishing to gather here again do not even know what year or month it would be."

Nüwa fell somewhat silent at this point, but then immediately smiled and said:

"Fortunately, Cloud Dream Marsh is guarded by a great formation; the boundless clouds, rosy mists, starlight and water hues will not vanish, and at any time we can still behold them."

"But it's a pity for a certain water deity; as early as back then, our Dao Chang was occupied by us, becoming a shared resource—not to mention that now it has almost become impossible for them to return home."

Nüwa chuckled to herself at this, Taiyi and Qi also gave a faint smile, and Taiyi then wore a mischievous grin, saying: "Indeed, that water deity is truly hateful; I don't know what tricks he used, whether heavenly gods or divine beings, upon encountering him one cannot escape."

"No wonder the Great God Yang Mei originally regarded him that way."

He went on with a weird laugh, uttering an 'oh' and then said: "No, no, even the Great God Yang Mei was drawn to him, lingering in Cloud Dream Marsh for a long time—thinking of Chaos or not?"

Qi saw this and, somewhat speechless, said: "Indeed, that water deity is truly unlucky; not only was our Dao Chang shared by everyone, but even his well‑meaning friendship ends up being mocked to his face."

"Who knows what these people are thinking; they all seem to have had their minds bewitched."

"Sometimes they don't even stay together, yet they grow resentful, claiming that the water deity shows favoritism."

As Qi's words fell, the three burst into laughter, Nüwa's face flushed with a rosy glow as she said:

"What a Qi, so calculative, even waiting for me here!"

(End of chapter)