Chapter 647: Filling the World

The first island rose from the sea, reefs exposed, vegetation just beginning to grow.

But this was not enough.

One island was only a beginning; the world still needed more land, more life, and complete meaning.

Under Yu Lin's command.

Izanagi and Izanami descended onto the island.

Their light and shadow circled above the island twice, then landed on an open space in the island's center.

Izanagi plunged the Heaven Swamp Spear into the ground; the shaft stood upright, tip pointing up, flashing a dim metallic sheen in the chaos's light.

Izanami stood beside him, looking around.

"Older brother, where should we begin?" Izanami asked.

"First, erect a pillar." Izanagi looked up at the sky, then down at the ground.

"Prop open heaven and earth, and fix this land in place."

They set to work together.

Izanagi drew threads of light from chaos, while Izanami refined rock from beneath the sea.

The light threads and rock intertwined, stacked, and solidified in their hands into a massive pillar that rose from the ground to pierce the heavens.

The pillar was jet black, its surface etched with spiral patterns identical to those on the Heaven Swamp Spear.

Izanami called it Heaven's Pillar.

Once the pillar stood, the heavens no longer pressed down, the earth no longer sank, and this land finally acquired a stable shape.

"We still need a place to dwell," Izanami said.

They built a great hall beside Heaven's Pillar.

Hachijun Hall—eight chi high, eight chi wide.

Its walls were built from the first batch of rock solidified from chaos.

The hall was vast, empty of furniture or decoration, only wind pouring in through the doorway and sweeping between the pillars.

Izanagi stood in the hall's center, gazing at Izanami.

She was crouched in a corner, drawing something on the floor with her finger. He walked over and squatted opposite her.

"Younger sister, how did your body grow?" Izanagi asked.

Izanami lifted her head, looking into his eyes.

"My body is fully grown, but there is a part that has not closed."

She pointed to a spot below her abdomen.

Izanagi nodded. "My body is also fully grown, but there is an excess part."

He pointed to the corresponding spot on himself: "I wish to use my excess to fill your gap, thereby birthing the land. What do you think?"

Izanami lowered her head and remained silent for a moment.

Her cheeks flushed a faint red in the light and shadow.

"Very good."

They agreed to walk around Heaven's Pillar, uniting whenever they met.

Izanagi walked from the left, Izanami from the right.

The pillar was thick; circling it took a long time. Izanagi walked quickly, Izanami slowly. They met on the pillar's far side.

Izanami spoke first:

"Ah, what a handsome man."

Izanagi spoke afterward:

"Ah, what a beautiful woman."

Then.

They united.

But the child born was not a sturdy infant, but a limp, boneless thing, like a rotten-soaked tree root.

It curled on the ground, unmoving, silent, only occasionally twitching.

Izanami crouched, reached out to touch it; her finger passed through its body—it had no substance.

"What is this?" Izanami's voice trembled.

Izanagi said nothing. He stared at it for a long time, then rose and walked out of the hall.

He gathered some reeds nearby, wove a small boat, returned, and placed the thing inside.

The thing shrank into a bundle in the boat, like an abandoned cub.

Izanagi carried the boat out of the hall, went to the shore, and set it upon the water.

The waves pushed the boat, drifting farther and farther, until it vanished into the chaos's mist.

Izanami stood behind him, biting her lip: "Why?"

At that moment.

Yu Lin's voice came from beside, saying:

"Because you got the order wrong—Izanagi should have spoken first."

"Try again."

"All right!" Izanagi believed Yu Lin's words.

He turned with Izanami and walked back to the hall, telling her, "Let's try again—this time you speak first."

"All right."

They walked around the pillar again.

This time Izanagi moved very slowly, Izanami moved even more slowly.

They met behind the pillar.

Izanagi spoke first: "Ah, what a beautiful woman."

Izanami replied: "Ah, what a handsome man."

They united again.

Yu Lin watched, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

The secret passage still demands that they be embodiments of two laws, if they were real.............. cough.

Meddle less in the gods' affairs.

Just watch and that's all.

This time what was born was not a deformed child, but an island.

The island rose up from beneath the sea, smaller than the first, yet whole. The land was solid, the reef hard, the coastline winding, like a piece of silk crumpled by the wind.

Izanami stood at the sea's edge, looking at the newborn island. "Let's call it Awaji Island."

Izanagi nodded.

Next, they consecutively gave birth to Shikoku, Oki, Tsukushi, Iki, Tsushima, and Sado.

Each island rose from beneath the sea, each bearing its own unique shape.

Shikoku resembled a spread leaf, Oki looked like two stones pressed together, Tsukushi resembled a prone beast.

Izanagi named each island, and Izanami carved the names onto the reef.

The Great Eight Island Nation took shape.

But land alone was insufficient; the world still needed gods to govern all things.

They began to produce abstract natural concepts.

The first to be born was the Great Deed Ninja God, who governs the earth.

When he appeared, the whole archipelago trembled, magma deep beneath the earth churned, pushing more land up from beneath the sea.

Next came the Stone Earth Bi Gu God and the Stone Nest Bi Mai God, a male and a female, who govern rocks and soil.

Where they walked, the soft soil hardened, and scattered pebbles coalesced into mountains.

The Great Household Day God governs doors and houses.

When he appeared, Hachijun Hall's doors shut automatically, tightly sealed, preventing wind from entering.

The Heaven's Blow Male God governs wind.

He burst out of Chaos, moving as fast as a flash of light, circling the Great Hall several times, blowing Izanami's hair into a mess.

Izanami reached out, holding her hair, and glared at him.

The Heaven's Blow Male God chuckled, surged out again, and ever since roams the heavens and earth, blowing wherever he goes.

The Great House Bi Gu God governs dwellings.

When he appeared, outlines of doors and windows floated onto Hachijun Hall's walls.

The Wind Wood Tsukibetsu Ninja God governs trees and forests.

Where he walked, the barren land sprouted saplings, which quickly grew into great trees, their foliage merging into a canopy that blocked the sky.

Then came the Sea God and the Mountain God.

The Sea God rose from the deepest part of the Chaos Sea, drenched, with seaweed hanging from his hair.

He glanced at Izanami, grinned, and sank back down.

From then on the ocean had a master, and the waves no longer surged without reason.

The Mountain God descended from the highest peak, each step causing the mountain to tremble.

He stood atop the summit, surveyed the surroundings, nodded in satisfaction, then turned and walked back into the mountain.

Izanami stood at Hachijun Hall's doorway, watching the newborn gods depart one by by—some to the heavens, some to the underground, some diving into the sea, some hiding in the mountains.

Her belly swelled again.

Finally.

She gave birth to a god that caused her own death.

Fire Kagutsu God!

But.

This no longer concerns Yu Lin.

His task was merely to aid them in creation.

As for the rest,

it is not within his mission; departing first is a courtesy.