Chapter Ninety: The Human Race Emerges, and Laozi Spits Blood

Chenxing hurriedly thrust out a hand and, with a sweep, caught the little spirit creature that had been flung toward him. Then he looked over at Nüwa, who had already begun molding figures from the clay.

By now, the creative power swollen by Chenxing and Nüwa's divine blood had already been absorbed ninety percent by the little spirit creature. Even the mere tenth left behind for the human race below was far beyond the power of creation that had existed before.

Chenxing nodded with satisfaction. The little spirit creature's body was already fully saturated, and it could still bring endless blessings to the human race of the future. His drop of blood had not been wasted.

In the blink of an eye, three thousand humans had been shaped by Nüwa and placed within the creative energy, gradually condensing into flesh and blood. Seeing the process was too slow, Nüwa grew anxious and simply pulled over a vine from nearby, dipped it in the multicolored earth, and flicked it into the creative energy.

In an instant, countless humans appeared before Chenxing, male and female alike, all undergoing metamorphosis within the power of creation.

Before long, several days had passed. The creative power had been exhausted, and nearly ten thousand humans now stood neatly before Chenxing and Nüwa.

"Greeting to Holy Mother and Holy Father!" Led by the first few, they all knelt and cried out in reverence.

Seeing the humans she had brought forth, Nüwa was deeply moved. Were these not her children? Her heart was suddenly filled with a strange, overflowing tenderness.

If she told Chenxing of this feeling now, he would certainly tell her that it was called maternal love.

With a gentle voice, Nüwa said to the kneeling crowd, "Rise. Since you have come into the world, I grant your race the name Human. From this day forth, the human race shall be under my protection for ten thousand years. After ten thousand years, you must rely on yourselves. Remember this well."

"We obey your teaching, Holy Mother. We will remember it," the humans answered together.

Nüwa nodded in satisfaction and waved her hand, sending them all into the space she had prepared long before.

At that very moment, boundless merit descended from above. It had intended to split into several streams, falling toward Nüwa, Chenxing, and the vine in Nüwa's hand, but with a flick of Chenxing's finger, ninety percent of it was forced into the little spirit creature's body. The remaining portion fell upon the vine and transformed it into a merit treasure: the Whip of Humanity.

Under the cleansing of merit, the little spirit creature's body shone with limitless violet light, as if it filled the entire world. Countless mighty beings assumed a supreme treasure had been born and swept their divine senses toward the place. But when they saw that it was Chenxing and Nüwa, they were startled at once and hastily withdrew their senses, fearing to offend these two great beings.

The little spirit creature's new body was washed and refined by merit, and only after three full years did the process finally end.

One day, as Chenxing and Nüwa were teasing the little rascal, now three years old, they suddenly felt something stir and quickly looked toward the little spirit creature floating in the air.

The little spirit creature was slowly opening her eyes. At first her gaze held a trace of confusion, but the moment she saw Chenxing and Nüwa, her eyes lit up. She sprang up at once and flew straight into Chenxing's arms.

Chenxing hastily passed the child in his arms to Nüwa and caught the little spirit creature as she扑 into him.

"Big brother! You're back at last. I've missed you so much!" The little spirit creature sobbed in his arms, and Chenxing's heart ached terribly. He quickly stroked her back and soothed her, saying, "It's all right. Big brother is back."

After a long while, under Chenxing's comfort, she finally stopped crying. When she learned that her body had been transformed into that of a true human being, and that she could even bear children with her big brother, she was overwhelmed with excitement, her eyes brimming with longing.

Only after calming down did the little spirit creature notice the child in Nüwa's arms. Her eyes lit up, and she reached out to take the child, insisting that she would raise her from now on so she could learn how to care for her own future children. The little one was not shy at all, and the spirit creature's teasing made her laugh giddily, which delighted the little spirit creature as well.

"Where do you plan to place those humans?" Chenxing asked Nüwa solemnly.

After a moment of silence, Nüwa said, "I want to place them first along the shores of the Eastern Sea. That way, it will be easier for me to care for them during these ten thousand years."

Chenxing nodded, deeply comforted. This was exactly how the Holy Mother of the human race should be. Thankfully she was not like the Nüwa of legend, who could abandon the human race for the sake of the demon race. Such coldness would have been far too heartless.

After pondering for a moment, Chenxing spoke again. "Now that you have placed them inside the Chaos Pearl, they can survive thanks to the boundless spiritual energy you prepared for them. But once they are outside, they will need food, and they will also be preyed upon by the beasts of the primordial wilds. They may even face extermination. Have you prepared for all this?"

Nüwa fell silent once more, then smiled and said, "I cannot speak for after that, but within these ten thousand years, if anyone dares slaughter them, I will wipe out that entire race!"

Her voice carried a domineering force Chenxing had never heard from her before.

Then she added softly, "I hope you won't blame me for adding trouble to your burden."

Chenxing smiled faintly and said warmly, "What kind of husband would I be if I blamed my own wife's troubles? Rest assured, I will shoulder even the heavens for you." The two exchanged a smile, and everything was understood without words.

That very day, a voice rang out across the entire primordial world: "Today I, Nüwa, have created humankind. Now that the human race has been brought into the world, it shall be under my protection for ten thousand years. If any race seeks to commit genocide against the human race, I will exterminate that race to the last!" The voice radiated boundless authority, making all living beings in the primordial world tremble inwardly and remind themselves never to provoke the human race.

As the first being in the primordial world to truly attain the Primordial Unity, Nüwa indeed had the confidence to say so.

And as the Lord of the Great Origin, Chenxing was even more overwhelmingly domineering. Without his consent, not even the Dao of the chaos would dare lay a hand on his woman.

As for the so-called course of history, that depended only on what Chenxing thought and how he acted. If someone truly enraged him, then since he had once erased the entire ferocious beast race from existence, would he care to erase another race as well?

On the shores of the Eastern Sea, ever since the day the human race was created by Nüwa, it had displayed terrifying fertility. In only a few hundred years, the human tribes had grown from little more than ten thousand to tens of millions.

Because the people from Fragrant Mount Island frequently came down from the island to play in the human tribes, they also taught many humans how to survive, reducing the number of deaths when facing beasts to the bare minimum.

In particular, that fellow Zhu Feng, who every day dragged along the hulking Niu Zhengwei to the human settlements, guided them in building houses from wood and grass, clothing themselves in animal skins, and even taught them how to make fire by drilling wood. They were eating cooked food very early on.

If Chenxing had not given prior instructions, that fellow would have been eager to teach them all of it by hand. Even so, Zhu Feng was hailed by the humans as a Saint Teacher and received great respect from them, which pleased him for a very long time.

Seeing the clans that had awakened to building houses, developing the method of making fire by drilling wood, and learning to sew clothing, Chenxing was speechless.

If not for Chenxing's interference, that fellow might even have dragged out Cangjie, the inventor of written characters.

Human development had already advanced far beyond its original path, giving Chenxing a headache. He could not help but grumble at the fellow a few times, but the man argued back with perfect logic: "I'm cultivating the law of causality you gave me. Is there anything wrong with building a good relationship with the future protagonist of heaven and earth?" Chenxing was left utterly speechless.

Just as everything among the humans was settling into order, one day an old man with a white beard entered a human settlement. Looking at the people before him, who spent their days busy simply making a living yet were still able to create many things useful to themselves, he fell into thought and developed the idea of staying to pass on his teachings.

This man was none other than Laozi. He had originally come down the mountain in search of an opportunity to attain sainthood. When he passed by the human settlements, he vaguely sensed that his chance to become a saint was intimately tied to the human race, and so he decided to remain and teach among them.

Before long, another year passed. By then Laozi had already prepared everything and intended to begin preaching to the humans in hopes of obtaining the chance to become a saint.

What he never expected was that just as he had built a wooden platform and was about to speak, he would hear a group of children chanting a song:

The Way that can be spoken is not the constant Way.
The name that can be named is not the constant name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth;
The named is the mother of all things.

Therefore, ever without desire, one sees its subtlety;
Ever with desire, one sees only its outer form.

These two arise together, yet bear different names;
Together they are called the Mystery.
Mystery upon mystery, the gateway to all wonders...

Laozi was struck as if by thunder. This was clearly the Daodejing he had comprehended over the years according to his master's teachings, yet for some reason it had become a children's song.

In an instant, he was filled with rage and shock, and he roared, "Who has ruined my chance at destiny!"

Then, with a great "wah!" Laozi spat out a mouthful of blood!