Chapter 62: The Dao of Nuwa is Accomplished

"Congratulations, fellow daoists, on your profound advancements in cultivation!" Bai Jing congratulated the Ancestral Witches.

"Brother Bai Jing, your progress is hardly trivial either! Your physical body is already at the peak of the Hunyuan Golden Immortal realm, just like mine," said Zhu Jiuyin.

"I suspect it goes even further than that. Second Brother, did you not sense a deep, perilous aura when facing Fellow Daoist Bai Jing?" asked Xuanming.

"Elder Sister is right; I felt it as well. Fellow Daoist Bai Jing, could it be that you have fully mastered the Dao of Devouring?" asked Houtu.

Bai Jing smiled and nodded.

"Fellow Daoist Bai Jing, your speed in comprehending the Dao is simply astonishing! Truly leaving others far behind in the dust," Houtu sighed with admiration.

"Fellow Daoist Houtu, how much of the Dao of Reincarnation have you grasped?"

"Close to ninety percent."

"Fellow Daoist Houtu, your speed is hardly sluggish either!"

"That final ten percent is the most arduous part. It will likely take several epochs to achieve perfection."

"As it happens, I have a few treasures here that may aid Fellow Daoist Houtu in her comprehension." With a single thought, Bai Jing materialized twenty Enlightenment tea leaves and a small twig of the Enlightenment tea tree right before Houtu.

Previously, Houtu possessed no primordial spirit, rendering the Enlightenment tea tree useless to her.

Now that Houtu had birthed a primordial spirit, she could utilize the Enlightenment tea tree to accelerate her comprehension of the Dao.

Sensing the dense dao rhythms emanating from the tea leaves and the twig, Houtu knew these items were of immeasurable value to her. Without further declining, she accepted them directly.

By now, the Wu clan owed Fellow Daoist Bai Jing a vast debt of gratitude; when one has too many debts, one ceases to worry, and she could simply find an opportunity to repay him in the future.

*Rumble—* A tremendous crash outside interrupted Houtu's train of thought.

The Ancestral Witches conversing with Bai Jing also halted their words, turning their gazes outward in unison.

A moment later, Kuafu entered to report that the commotion was originating from deep within Mount Buzhou.

Hearing this, a thought stirred in Bai Jing's mind: "Could it be that Nuwa is beginning to create humanity?"

With this in mind, Bai Jing turned to the Ancestral Witches and said, "Fellow daoists, I shall step outside to take a look."

"I shall accompany Fellow Daoist Bai Jing! Should any unforeseen event occur, we can look out for one another," Houtu chimed in.

Bai Jing nodded, and together with Houtu, he departed the Pangu Palace and entered Mount Buzhou.

The two swiftly arrived at Mount Buzhou and beheld Nuwa, who was responsible for such a massive disturbance.

Seeing the arrival of Bai Jing and Houtu, Nuwa paused her task and flew toward them.

"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, it has been a long time," Bai Jing greeted, his gaze drifting intentionally or otherwise toward the skies above.

Bai Jing could sense that the Heavenly Dao was closely watching Nuwa.

Upon realizing she had been detected by Bai Jing, the gaze of the Heavenly Dao Hongjun slowly drifted away, presumably wishing to avoid Nuwa's awareness of the surveillance.

Being tactful, Bai Jing bypassed the subject entirely. Brandishing the Grandmist Measureless Ruler to conceal the heavenly secrets, he asked Nuwa, "What is Fellow Daoist Nuwa attempting? Why has it caused such a tremendous commotion?"

"I have found my path to enlightenment and am currently attempting to证道 (prove the Dao)," Nuwa replied expressionlessly.

"Does Fellow Daoist Nuwa intend to forgo comprehending the Dao of Creation? From my observation, you were merely a hair's breadth away from its complete mastery."

"I can comprehend the Dao of Creation concurrently while proving the Dao."

"In that case, this item should undoubtedly offer some assistance to Fellow Daoist Nuwa." With those words, Bai Jing opened his palm, revealing a segment of the Enlightenment tea tree branch.

Nuwa's eyes brightened; this item would indeed be immensely useful to her.

With this artifact to assist her, her mastery of the Dao of Creation would surely reach perfection in no time.

"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, if you trust me, even when the Dao of Creation is perfected, do not abandon the Grandmist Purple Qi. Achieve the realm of the Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal first, and only then become a sage."

"What does Fellow Daoist Bai Jing mean by this?"

"Do not press further for now, Fellow Daoist. When the time comes, I shall explain it to you."

Nuwa cast a deep, searching look at Bai Jing, then nodded in agreement.

Without further ado, Bai Jing withdrew the Grandmist Measureless Ruler.

Expressing her gratitude to Bai Jing, Nuwa returned to her endeavor of proving the Dao.

Meanwhile, the gaze of the Heavenly Dao Hongjun returned to focus upon Nuwa.

Naturally, the Enlightenment tea tree branch in Nuwa's hand did not escape the notice of Heavenly Dao Hongjun.

Hongjun's initial instinct within the Heavenly Dao was to destroy the branch, but a split second later, a trace of emotion flickered within his cold, detached eyes: "There is no need for haste. If Nuwa ultimately discards the Grandmist Purple Qi, it will not be too late to strike then."

After merging with the Heavenly Dao, Hongjun had confirmed one fundamental truth: the Heavenly Dao is merciless, but it is not entirely selfless.

The Heavenly Dao possessed no personal emotions and treated all living beings with a measure of fairness and justice, yet it tolerated no entity transcending its authority.

Especially beings of paramount importance to the Primordial World, such as Nuwa; allowing her to slip beyond control was utterly out of the question.

To the Heavenly Dao, all living creatures of the Primordial World ought to evolve strictly within the rules it had established. Any entity attempting to break free from those rules must either be banished from the Primordial World or reduced to ashes.

Yang Mei had been a prime example, and Nuwa, showing similar inclinations now, was destined for the same fate.

Should Nuwa choose to prove the Dao as a Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal, the Heavenly Dao would obliterate her without a shred of mercy, even if it meant disrupting the birth of the protagonists for the next kalpa.

Fortunately, Hongjun still held some influence over the Heavenly Dao, prompting it to temporarily suppress its urge to strike and continue observing the scene below.

Upon acquiring the Enlightenment tea tree branch, Nuwa's comprehension of the Dao of Creation accelerated considerably.

One must not underestimate this slight acceleration; Nuwa had already been just a hair's breadth away from mastering the Dao of Creation entirely, and with the aid of the Enlightenment tea tree, she genuinely stood a chance of gaining complete dominion over it.

Unbeknownst to all, a millennium slipped by.

Within Mount Buzhou, as Nuwa continued fashioning figures from mud, a sudden surge of enlightenment welled up within her heart, and the Dao of Creation—which had remained stubbornly stuck at the final hurdle—was thoroughly comprehended.

The next second, Nuwa sat cross-legged upon the ground as her good corpse and evil corpse manifested behind her.

"Sever!" Accompanied by Nuwa's resonant cry, she cleaved away both her good and evil corpses with her own hands.

Her cultivation base, previously at the late Quasi-Sage stage, instantly plummeted to the peak of the Daluo Golden Immortal realm.

Yet Nuwa remained utterly unfazed, initiating the process of merging her being with the laws.

The complete Dao of Creation integrated into Nuwa's body, causing the spiritual Qi of Mount Buzhou to surge backward into her form in a torrential flood.

Within a mere century, Nuwa had attained the realm of the Hunyuan Golden Immortal, and after another thousand years, she had steadily advanced to the late Hunyuan Golden Immortal stage.

At this juncture, Nuwa was fully capable of taking a step further—using the Dao of Creation as her foundation to continue refining primordial spiritual Qi and proving the Dao as a Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal.

However, Nuwa halted her breakthrough, remembering the words Bai Jing had spoken to her.

Furthermore, now that she had fully mastered the Dao of Creation, she could distinctly perceive the surveillance of the Heavenly Dao.

To be frank, Nuwa perceived no inherent conflict between refining the Grandmist Purple Qi to become a sage and proving the Dao as a Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal; she harbored virtually zero aversion toward the Grandmist Purple Qi.

The Heavenly Dao's surveillance of her was entirely redundant!

With this realization, Nuwa hesitated no longer, having now fully understood how she ought to prove the Dao.

Taking the innate Dao body of Great God Pangu as her template, she would create a race born naturally possessing the innate Dao body.