World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 540: The Uncertain Existence of Pan Gu (II)

Seated inside his private meditation room, surrounded by the glow of defensive arrays, Wang Sheng faced a large character for the "Dao." Since he wasn't in a hurry to cultivate, he instead lowered his gaze and used his immortal power to draw three lines before him.

He had already heard three different creation stories, excluding the scientific singularity explosion theory from Earth. After listening to Linyuan today, he could not help but become genuinely curious about the origin of this world. Personally meeting Lishang—a half-human, half-serpent being—and hearing the myths her race had preserved, only deepened his curiosity.

The truth behind the endless space might not be very important to most cultivators, but Wang Sheng faintly sensed that the more he understood about it, the more insight he would gain on the path of Dao.

The Great Dao intertwined, shaping the universe. To seek the essence of the universe was to seek the essence of the Dao. This itself was also a form of cultivation.

His fingers lightly tapped the three drawn lines. Wang Sheng placed the three creation stories side by side and began sorting them out.

The first creation story he had learned was about Pan Gu opening heaven and earth. It was a legend that the Heavenly Court had presumably brought, becoming widespread in the ancient Hua Republic.

He then found the Great Dao creation theory in the testament that his sect's forefather had left. According to it, the Dao was one, then became two, then three, and the Three Pure Ones emerged. This version fit surprisingly well with Earth's scientific singularity explosion model.

The third was the Nuwa creation story, which he had just heard. Linyuan had supported it with many examples, most of which were conclusions that the Old Man of Xinghai had drawn from the Daoist texts he had once read.

Pan Gu didn't exist in the Primal Era. During the time when Daoist texts were prevalent in the Primal Era and during the Ancient Era of the Immortal Saint Realm, the widely recognized creation story had been Nuwa creating the world.

Placing the three creation theories in parallel, Wang Sheng pondered deeply. What set him apart from the cultivators of the endless space was his origin and the analytical tools and ways of thinking that he had learned before stepping on the path of cultivation.

The protagonists of the three stories were Nuwa, Pan Gu, and the Great Dao. What role had the Heavenly Court played in all this? What about the Three Pure Ones?

Touching his chin, Wang Sheng muttered, "I can't make random guesses. I should start by combining the history of the Immortal Saint Realm with that of the endless space."

Could Nuwa's place as creator have been replaced because the weight of primordial beings had gradually declined while created beings rose to prominence?

Primordial beings possessed innate Daoist arts and natural divine abilities. They could command wind and rain, and some even wielded laws.

What exactly had happened between the Primal Era and the Ancient Era? Why had primordial beings suddenly vanished, while the fiends and the witchcraft race, both created beings, rose to power? Although a few primordial beings still led those forces, created beings already dominated the vast Immortal Saint Realm and endless space by then.

Based on the ruins that Linyuan and the Old Man of Xinghai had explored, Nuwa lost the position of creator during the Ancient Era.

The Ancient Era was split into two stages, with the events of the heavenly pillars breaking and Nuwa mending the sky serving as the separation point of both stages.

The first stage consisted of wars among a hundred races. Countless died, and the Six Paths of Reincarnation were established. After mending the sky, Nuwa seemed to have exhausted her divine power and disappeared.

The second stage was an age of darkness and chaos. After this poorly recorded period, the human race rose to prominence, defeated the hundreds of races, and became the masters of the Immortal Saint Realm.

The second stage ended with the rise of the Heavenly Court. Haotian unified the Immortal Saint Realm, divided the Three Realms, and set out on expeditions across the endless space.

Then came the current era of the Three Realms.

In myths, Nuwa lost her title as creator and vanished completely, leaving only her two great merits of mending the sky and creating humans. Coincidentally, during this time, the legend of Pan Gu appeared, and the Heavenly Court rose.

"Maybe I'm just missing the crucial connection between the two." Wang Sheng murmured, then suddenly caught a spark of inspiration. "Could this be some scheme devised by Yaoyun's father?"

Aside from enough cultivation resources and exceptional leadership skills, faith was also often necessary for a powerful being to unite people. To secure an endless supply of celestial soldiers, Haotian could have altered ancient myths and created a new divine spirit.

That might be it. Haotian or his faction probably fabricated a perfect being and named it Pan Gu.

The giant of limitless strength stood between heaven and earth, splitting the two apart with his colossal axe and then transforming into all things. His Primordial Spirit then transformed into the Three Pure Ones.

The Three Pure Ones might have been three primordial beings who cooperated with Haotian!

His faction needed ultimate experts. Turning the origins of three primordial beings into divine legend and then elevating them onto the highest altar made perfect sense.

Wang Sheng's cultivation realm was still too low to see the deeper connections, but he felt that his guess wasn't baseless.

According to an incomplete Daoist text that the Old Man of Xinghai had once read, there had been three friends cultivating together in the Primal Era. They were very likely the Three Pure Ones during their cultivation.

Without more historical records from the endless space, Wang Sheng had no way of determining the role they played in the wars of the Primal Era and the Ancient Era. That didn't stop his imagination from running wild, though.

Among the primordial beings of the Primal Era, the final victors were likely the Three Pure Ones. They reached the end of the Dao and became one with it. The Heavenly Court revered them as the manifestation of the Great Dao.

Something about this seems off.

Wang Sheng rubbed his forehead. Remembering the story of the Immortal Emperor's death, he had an absurd idea.

Did the Three Pure Ones kill Haotian because their arrangement turned into a battle between divine authority and imperial authority?

According to Lu the Progenitor's testament, the Three Pure Ones were said to be manifestations of the Great Dao. That meant the Three Pure Ones had been extracted from the divine status of Pan Gu's Primordial Spirit, turning them into meaningless manifestations of the Great Dao.

Painted as the Great Dao itself, everyone assumed that the trio didn't require deliberate worship. The Three Realms were led to believe that they only had to follow the Immortal Emperor's commands.

Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for the hundreds of races in the endless space to rise up in rebellion the moment the Three Pure Ones destroyed the Immortal Emperor.

If Wang Sheng was right, then Haotian couldn't have failed to leave some kind of contingency. After all, he could even overturn countless races, unify the Immortal Saint Realm, and extend his influence to every corner of the universe.

"The Daoist texts that are carved on the six celestial tablets!"

Wang Sheng clapped his hands unconsciously, then speculated even further. Following his train of thought, Nuwa might not have necessarily been the one who created this world. Through the long ages of the Primal Era and the Ancient Era, those in power could have also defied her all so they could use her to strengthen their rule.

Divine spirits and fiends were nothing more than reflections of the human heart.

Wang Sheng shook his head. If he denied the existence of every so-called god of creation and treated the cycles of shifting divine authority through history as a rough outline, then it would likely mean that during the Primal Era, the powerful primordial beings survived either through instinct or unimaginable wisdom.

The created beings then began to appear, and the path of cultivation started to flourish. They steadily grew and became as strong as those from the Primal Era, forming power gaps and hierarchies. The strong began to rule the weak, even using myths and legends to tell the weak that they were fated to be ruled.

As created beings continued to develop and immortal cultivation and their systems matured, their greed for the Immortal Saint Realm's resources grew. Eventually, they set off a drawn-out and unimaginably long war that ended the Primal Era. Judging from the legends that came after, the war had no true victor.

In the end, the primordial beings disappeared, and the created beings gained the right to rule. After what had likely been endless years of conflict, a compromise was made where primordial beings led certain races of created beings, marking the dawn of the Ancient Era.

Primordial and created beings still coexisted during that era, but the created beings had become the "protagonists." During this period, Nuwa was likely deified little by little and was granted the title of creator.

Later, the human race rose. Since they were weak by nature, they wanted a protector. Hence, they claimed themselves to be the creations of a creator goddess. As time went on, this myth became more complete and turned into the story of shaping humans from clay.

The Ancient Era had to have witnessed another great war, which became the opportunity for Nuwa to fall or withdraw.

Time passed. The human race prospered, while the hundreds of races declined. Haotian rose, the legends of Pan Gu grew louder, and three powerful experts of Haotian's faction were granted the "halo" of Pan Gu's Primordial Spirit.

After countless campaigns, the Immortal Saint Realm was finally unified. Haotian then divided the Three Realms.

According to myths, Nuwa created the world, shaped humans, and repaired the sky. However, only the last two were remembered. All new human cultivators revered Pan Gu as the creator and therefore held deep respect for the Three Pure Ones.

At that point, Haotian strengthened imperial authority. He molded the three creator gods he had once shaped into manifestations of the Great Dao. However, he did not expect the Three Pure Ones to strike first, putting a swift end to his reign.

***

Wang Sheng sat speechless, pondering the images cycling in his mind.

All of it had only come from his own speculation and assumptions, though. If he wished to explore these matters in the future, he would have to conduct extensive research and verification.

"The Daoist sects' forefathers, who have been around since the Primal Era, all know about the true history of the endless space and the Immortal Realm."

Wang Sheng sighed. Having gained yet another reason to grow stronger, a surge of determination rose within him. If he could not reach a higher realm, he would never discover what truly happened in the Primal and Ancient Eras.

Although the Three Pure Ones could annihilate even someone as powerful as Haotian, Wang Sheng felt that they would have no reason to strike him down for as long as he did not fight over power or fame, only walked his own path, and bowed respectfully to the Trio on festive occasions.

Lishang might be worth recruiting, Wang Sheng considered carefully.

She possessed not only overwhelming strength but also immeasurable potential. Her racial divine abilities were remarkable, and, in the future, she could find more of her kin who had reached the level of great experts. If he could win her to the side of the Earth's cultivation world, her support would prove invaluable for the trials to come.

How am I supposed to recruit her, though?

The first people that came to Wang Sheng's mind were Xu Xian and then Liu Yunzhi, but the thought only made him scratch his head.

Such an approach felt far too improper.

"Forget it. I'll let fate decide. I should just cultivate for now and worry about the rest later."

Undying true spirit... Undying...

A sudden flash of insight struck Wang Sheng. The thoughts he had just set aside surged back again.

If primordial beings had emerged from chaos, could they be manifestations of true spirits? According to the principles revealed by the Great Dao, all beings were merely projections of true spirits in the mortal world.

How would true spirits project themselves within chaos? Is chaos not supposed to be a place without distinction between yin and yang?

Wang Sheng's mind raced. He immediately closed his eyes and steadied it, allowing his Primordial Spirit to sink into his Heavenly Abode.

Before long, a faint and obscure Dao Rhythm flowed around him. As if his Primordial Spirit had pushed open a great door within the Heavenly Abode, a wisp of phantasm shimmered faintly across Wang Sheng, then vanished without a trace.