Living among the lesser natives of the Great Wilderness was a vastly different experience from experiencing the world alone. Tian Hai had found the tranquil environment of the hidden oasis to be quite comforting.
A week had already passed since he made his grand debut and he had spent it mostly trying to get to know the locals. Naturally, none of them were too thrilled about it. Tian Hai’s presence made them all skittish.
While all of them knew of greater beings of power beyond the Heavenly Immoral realm, very few had actually seen the coveted Golden Immortal. From birth till now, these innate creatures had struggled with gaining strength. Knowledge of cultivation was difficult to infer and they had very little to work off of. That was why they had stayed stagnant in their realms even after hundreds and thousands of years.
As immortals, they possessed the great magical abilities. Yet the Great Wilderness is a super stable primeval environment. So even if it was still growing in strength, immortals still did not have the capabilities to tear apart the environment. In this era, they were little more then prey.
Tian Hai had trouble fitting with them. He looked far younger then any of them, more inexperienced. Despite that, his power was overwhelmingly far above that of theirs.
He introduced himself as an innate god of the East Sea yet he could still not seem to gain their trust and hence learned very little about them. But his curiosity had been piqued so despite his own mind telling him to move on, he elected to stay. Headaches and whatnot be damned.
So here he was, sitting on a rock next to the river side with his feet tucked to his chest and head resting atop his knee. Tian Hai resembled an immature boy and had dressed himself in a set of plain grey robes.
It had not been difficult to learn how to manipulate matter after observing the innate creatures and drawing upon his down memories. He had experienced performing plenty of such deeds within the Chaos Seas but had almost forgotten until reminded he could.
Day in and day out, the innate creatures performed various patrols into the mountains. Most of them stayed and experimented with cultivation, attempting to ascend. It was a sight strangely familiar to Tian Hai.
In his eyes, he saw pass what their humanoid Dao bodies hid. Their true forms tucked within and hidden beneath a guise of enlightenment. A union of creatures of fur, feather, and scale. In this, a memory came to him. A story of an unpleasant event most probable to take place in the future.
“Creatures of fur, feather and scale,” he murmured. “The archaic war between the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans. Oh how could I have forgotten until now.”
It was strange how easily he remembered things once certain thoughts and phrases crossed his mind. Yet he could not easily recall in any other circumstance. It was a mystery he was beginning to grow irritated with.
“It’ll be an easy way to farm treasures. A lot of benefits there. Hehe.” A rather dark smile crossed his face. Yet just as quickly as it came, it disappeared and an innocent smile returned “Huh? What was I? Oh yeah, the archaic war. Oh well, it’ll be a while until that era of history actually begins.”
‘Letting opportunities like that slide is unacceptable. I must prepare for the tribulation. This could be a hidden base I can use.’ ‘Sitting here dong nothing is pathetic. I should be practicing the Dao and restoring my strength!’
Tian Hai rubbed his forehead feeling slight pain again. He cradled the back of his neck and looked dizzily into the misty sky. “I wonder how I’ll breakthrough to the next realm?”
“Next realm? There exists a level above the lofty Golden Immortals?” A feminine voice snapped Tian Hai’s attention away from the clouds above and back to the earth below. The foxy visage of Hu Lingji the Nine Tailed Fox Golden Immortal was standing before him. She wore a plain set of orange robes and her water jug hung off her waist tied to her sash.
‘Heavenly Immortal but no crowns,’ Tian Hai immediately concluded. Then he widened his eyes and examined what that information meant exactly.
It was then that he realized that he too possessed flower like splendorous crowns within his body. Specifically contained within his inner cosmos within his soul. The representation of his completion of the three aspects of qi, the physical body, spirit, the soul, and essence, life force as well as what allowed him to sense the Dao.
Completing all three made one eligible to attempt to tear their own true soul out of the river of time and merge it onto their own body. This would transform them into Golden Immortals. The difference between being in full ownership of oneself and incomplete ownership.
‘Yet she has accomplished none of the three. Is this why the immortals of Daoism are called Zhenren(true person)?’
“Ahem, lord Tian Hai?” The fox immortal asked.
“Ask away. There is no need to be formal.”
“Right. I wanted to ask your purpose in staying here for so long. But you just said there exists realms beyond Golden Immortal?”
‘Yes, they were…uh.” Tian Hai closed his eyes to think. It took him a moment but the knowledge came to him. “Great Unity Golden Immortal is when we sprout the cosmic tree to bear a Dao fruit. To ascend pass that is to reach Chaos Immortal where I was formerly at.”
“Formerly?”
“I existed before the current Chaos World. We were the Chaos Godfiends and far beyond you insects. But Pangu’s actions diminished us and as we were too strong to be contained within the river of souls, we reincarnated as innate gods,” Tian Hai instinctively said with a dismissive snort. His lips curled down as if remembering an unpleasant memory that great angered him.
‘What gave him the right?’ ‘I want to reach Pangu’s strength!’
“Uh sorry, we got a bit off topic.” Tian Hai massaged his temples before relaxing his posture. “As for your actual question. I was curious I suppose. You are the first innate creatures I have encountered
‘It’s my natural superiority as a chaos lifeform.’ ‘Irrelevant information. I really need to clear these animals out less they become an information leak.’
“The first. Well that is to be expected. Even with the Mysterious Saint of Profound Mysteries regularly clearing out primordial beasts, the population is simply too big for him to be effective at it. That is the sad reality of the world. You are lucky to be born strong, nothing can even harm you.”
Tian Hai stopped at her words. After she uttered the phrase, ‘Mysterious Saint of Profound Mysteries’, he could not help but recall a famous figure from mythology.
Until now, he had no knowledge of him but suddenly feelings of dismissal and fear coursed through his mind at Mach speed. There was only one man with such a title and that was the founder of immortal cultivation and teacher of the legendary Three Pure Ones, Ancestor Hongjun.
Tian Hai’s eyes diluted as he rapidly thought of the possibilities. Hu Lingji’s words became background noise to him as he experienced panic and concern. It was said in ancient days that Hongjun and another figure, Luohu had an ideological clash that coincided with the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin war. While the three Beast Sovereigns controlled the universe, Hongjun and Luohu resided in the east and west respectively.
They were far in a way stronger than the Beast Sovereigns and were the true major players during the tribulation. In the end, Hongjun bested Luohu and went on to spread immortal cultivation which latter transformed into Daoism through the efforts of the Three Pure Ones. In this way, Hongjun could be considered the founder of Daoism. With this revelation in mind, Hongjun has likely claimed the East Continent as his territory.
‘Hongjun? That little cricket? Impossible.’ ‘Oh shit, that’s someone who can really interfere with my plans. Oh shit what do? What to do? Can I kill him while he’s weak? No he’s definitely stronger then me. All the more reason to tunnel down and hide!’
Tian Hai felt an overwhelming headache and keeled over with his head in his hand. His groans stopped the fox immortal’s ramblings and she looked at him with concern.
“Senior do you require medicinal herbs? We have managed to cultivate some mind soothing flowers over the years that works wonders with stress.”
“No hallucinogens are needed. A Spirit Stillness Pill would be appreciated but I doubt you primitives can make them,” Tian Hai bit back with aggression born through annoyance. “Gah I’m fine anyway.”
“Pills?”
Her questions caused more memories to suffice in Tian Hai which drove his headache all the more painfully. He closed one eye and glared at her to zip it with the other. The influenced bloodlust he oozed no doubt encouraged her to do so.
“Alchemi… whatever. And I’m not a senior, I’m barely three thou…wait three thousand? I could’ve sworn I was only…Bottom line is you’re far older then me. Your bone age reads twelve thousand at least.”
“Uh…”
It took several minutes for Tian Hai to fully calm down from his episode and this only concerned the Nine Tailed Fox more. From her perspective, Tian Hai while a rich source for cultivation knowledge, was volatile. He was too strong to get rid of and needed to be placated.
Her sisters back in the South Continent learned the hard way not to cross innate gods. Despite being so far removed from them, she wasn’t about to make the same mistakes they did. She wondered if she’d made a wrong move by approaching him.
“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” Tian Hai said with regret after recomposing himself. He pulled at his robes awkwardly before standing up on the rock and sliding off. “So what did you originally want me for again?”
“Ahem, I wanted to know your intentions to be exact. You’ve been here for several days now and my compatriots are on edge,” she said tilting her body. Her gesture revealed many distant individuals who were eying their actions. It made Tian Hai disheartened by their distrust.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
‘Pathetic, who cares what rabble think.’ ‘Must’ve been tough.’
“I care,” he whispered in an almost trance like state before shaking his head and regaining clarity. “Anyway, Please stop asking me questions anymore. I just wanted to know what it was like living here is all. So consider me a guest, a regular immortal among fellow immortals.”
The fox immortal shuffled uneasily. She glanced back and it was as if she was having a psychic discussion with her comrades. Tian Hai wasn’t privy to it nor did he intrude on their privacy.
Eventually, they settled on an agreement. Since Tian Hai wanted to live alongside them, he may. And while they won’t push him to do chores around the place, he may participate as well.
In terms of the latter though, there wasn’t actually much to do. Just a few people to keep watch for intruders and to cultivate some special herbs that were good for meditation. As such, Tian Hai mostly acted as an odd guest who would help keep watch over the valley.
The attitude he received in turn was cold to say the least. There was an air of curiosity and awe when others approached him. But it was never with a friendly nor warm air he had wanted to experience. Neither did they provide him any comfort to his headaches with their questions every so often.
In the current world order, everyone was some sort monstrous creature. Even if Tian Hai’s physical form reassembled that of a child, he was not viewed that way. The innate god wouldn’t say it was unwarranted nor unexpected but there was a side of him that felt disheartened. The feeling of lost had never really gone away and remained ever present even now.
Yet a vindictiveness also lay present within the recesses of his mind. Not for the aforementioned reasonings but for another reason altogether. Who were these lesser beings to not be groveling at his feat. Who were they to not be appreciative of his presence?
On the plus side, he did learn some interesting information regarding the Great Wilderness.
Previously, he was already innately aware of the structure of Pangu’s Chaos World referred to by the natives as the Primitive World. The majority of space was taken up by two dimensions separated but closely linked. These were the Great Wildness where he stood and the Starry Skies which he saw every night when he looked up and it was cloudless.
The separation of the two dimensions occurred through a barrier, a sky box that was the sky which projected the image of the Starry Skies towards the lands of the Great Wilderness. In addition, Mt Buzhou was the sole pillar holding the two apart and balanced the universe.
The Great Wilderness itself resembled the triliocosm Tian Hai was somehow familiar with. It was a name the he became aware of the longer her pondered upon the topic. A single piece of landmass divided into four quadrants with a fifth circular domain int he centre known collectively as the Five Continents. They in addition to the four seas that border the four shores made up the Five Continent Four Seas.
But that was common knowledge. What Tian Hai learned instead was that the lands were constantly prowled by hordes of primordial beasts. Be it the North, South, East, or West these deadly creatures lived hunting living beings.
It was especially bad in the North and South Contents where these animals ran rampant and the local innate gods didn’t care. The West Continent was too far away for concrete news and only the East Continent was well known by this group.
It was here that he learned that the east was a safe haven of sorts due to the presence of the innate god Hongjun. Hongjun had taken up residents at a mountain called Mt Yujing which was south of his location and one of three exceptional mountain ranges in the east. The others celestial mountains were known as Kunlun and Mt Tai.
Hongjun had practically claimed the continent as his own and occasionally cleaned out primordial beasts. Though he didn’t interact with the local nor immigrated population, his actions had afforded them spots of safe haven. As such, over time many who had lost the majority of their clans had gravitated into communities to defend against the wilds.
Tian Hai pondered on the news he received. As time went on, his thoughts became more complicated and more information about himself surfaced. Listening to the facts about the time period and state of the world caused more prominence memories to surface. It was deeply confusing for the young immortal.
So he often found himself using watch duty as a means to think. He compartmentalized his knowledge and began contemplating upon his life up till this point.
He knew for a fact that he had lived in the Chaos Sea as a godfiend. He saw himself as one and he knew of his relationship with others as one. But at the same time, he remembered a blue star named earth by its people. A planet devoid of the supernatural and had its roots in the technological.
A world wherein the place he was in resembled the fantastical world based in Chinese myths. Pangu, Primitive World, Great Wilderness, Mt Buzhou, Hongjun? These were all names and places he knew the moment he heard them.
While Tian Hai couldn’t quite piece together that part of his life yet, he could conclude he had quite a bit of knowledge of mythological stories. He remembered reading internet novels about legendary figures and locations all stemming from this setting. As such he had likely reincarnated from earth into the Chaos Sea.
“That last strike by Pangu must’ve split my head and caused some amnesia,” Tian Hai whispered looking up at the night sky.
Complex thoughts and memories were hard to process for the young immortal. Everything felt so new to him even now thousands of years after his birth. But really, it felt like a matter of days from a certain perspective. It was easily deduced as some dissonance between his experiences with time from his memories of earth and his experiences as an immortal cultivator.
But really? He preferred to push these things to the back of his mind. That was when he was most comfortable. Nothing to bother him from experiencing the little enjoyments he found in just living. There was something about it that he loved, a lazy yet carefree lifestyle where he did not worry about anything.
It was cloudless tonight and the stars, all three hundred and sixty five of them were visible. The Lunar Star especially glowed with a hauntingly chilly, yet radiant and enchanting light. It sent a wave of resonance through him and he enjoyed bathing under its rays. His natural affinity with water no doubt helping in this feeling.
“Hey Hou Pi, don’t you find the world beautiful?” Tian Hai called out to his partner for the night.
Hou Pi was similar to Hu Lingji. They were both immigrants but whereas the Nine Tailed Fox hailed from the South Continent, Hou Pi was from the North. He was a grim and solemn man who always looked at Tian Hai as if the latter would kill him in his sleep. Honestly, he was pretty sure Hou Pi had something against him on principle.
“You know the stars in the sky actually exist in another dimension beyond what we physically see? That each celestial body is actually a construct millions to billions of kilometres in size?”
“Each of them posses unbound resources and natural spiritual veins that dwarf most gathering spots of primordial qi in the Great Wilderness. For a Profound Immortal like you, you can easily find chances to improve if you go there.”
“I’m sure you’ll encounter many wonderful phenomena as well….”
“Disastrous phenomena is what you mean,” Hou Pi interrupted Tian Hai rather harshly. His scathing attitude did not go unnoticed and Tian Hai was visibly upset. Yet he did nothing to retaliate physically.
Hou Pi’s gaze was on Tian Hai. He eyed him as if one would eye a predator who wondered into his village. A potential wild animal who would attack them at any random interval.
“Fellow daoist,” Tian Hai addressed Hou Pi using the standard greeting among equals. “Do you have something against me?”
“I do not know what you mean.”
“I’m not stupid, I can see your look. With the others I see suspicion and fascination. But in you? All I see is revulsion.”
Hou Pi scoffed and looked away. He couldn’t help but hug his forearm after being called out by the innate god. His presence suddenly felt reduced and it was as if he was experiencing a memory of fear.
Before long he looked back at Tian Hai with a bitter gaze.
“Do you know where I’m from?”
“North Continent, Hu Lingji told me. She said primordial beasts there are even more vicious then the South Continent.”
“She doesn’t know the half of it. Those sinful abominations are just the least of my worries.”
Hou Pi glared directly at Tian Hai with an accusatory look.
“Innate gods like you. I’ve encountered your kind before. Lofty arrogant beings who believe themselves above the world. Treating me, my family, my people as livestock!”
Hou Pi’s mouth curled revealing an animalistic set of fangs. His breathing became heavy and rapid, his humanoid face briefly flickered to something more primate and the hairs on his body rose up.
Tian Hai leaned back in shock at the sudden shift towards aggression. He swallowed a gulp and did not really know how to proceed. He hadn’t thought Hou Pi’s revulsion towards him ran this deep.
“Forget it, it’s all in the past,” Hou Pi sighed. “I’m not even in the north anymore.”
“What happened in the north?”
“Have no one ever told you it was rude to pry?”
Tian Hai gasped. Then he gripped his head in visible pain. Ultimately he nodded with Hou Pi’s statement.
“If keeping watch is such a pain for you, then just sleep or something. I’ll keep watch for the both of us,” Hou Pi said dismissively before leaving Tian Hai on his own.
Left to his own devices, Tian Hai began suffering his headaches again. It seemed the longer he spent around these people the more this problem keeps coming up. He sighed and stared into the sky.
‘I’ve never seriously tried to cultivate before. Then again I’ve never needed to since I’m way pass the point of needing to circulate qi. But I can use the meditative stance. Perhaps I can finally get a grip on myself if I try it,’ he concluded.
He shifted into a lotus position and began meditating. Cultivation as a Golden Immortal was second nature to him due to his time as a member of the Chaos Godfiend civilization and meditation was just an aspect of it.
This was because cultivation from the point of Golden Immortal realm required the contemplation, creation, and nurturing of one’s own original Dao. A path they create that would use the primal unity as a platform to sprout the cosmic tree before birthing a Dao fruit. As such he could start meditating just fine.
Like this, Tian Hai fell into a trance. A deep trance where he could comfortably examine his knowledge and memories of his two previous lives. It was confusing at first as both sets melded together as if they were the same person just in different settings.
He was familiar with all the ones he’d recalled so far. Everything from trying Italian food to visiting Singapore to fighting for domination in the Chaos Sea over a treasure map and spending time with Yang Mei and Huoyun. But even though there was a deep familiarity with his memories, it still felt a bit foreign.
To was almost like he was watching a film reel. Tian Hai contemplated on the nature of his previous lives.
“Reincarnation is so strange,” he said. “There’s no Granny Meng to wipe my memories nor six path to dictate where I’ll end up. But neither of those even exists. I doubt Houtu is even alive in this era.”
Tian Hai’s murmuring regarding deities of Chinese myth only served to assault him with more miscellaneous information. Trivia that he couldn’t really find an answer in.
“I lived two radically different lives one after the other. I guess human came first and then I ended up in the Chaos Sea before the universe’s inception. God damn it why is my head so fuzzy!”
How he reincarnated to begin with ultimately did not matter however. Right now his most urgent issue was resolving his constant headaches. In order to do so, he began trying to dig out as much memories from his fractured mind as he could. In doing so, he hoped he would have anymore sudden recalls.
In this state, Tian Hai became almost like a statue in the outside world. He was unmoving with closed eyes and ignored everything around him. He was practically dead to the outside world and deaf to all its problems.
This was extremely common among immortal cultivators. They could go into these cultivation states for very long periods of time lasting tens of thousands to even millions of years. Even mortal cultivators could wander into caves and leave only to find out generations had passed and all their loved ones were dead.
For Tian Hai, he only experienced this self induced meditative coma for a short while. A few short days in fact. Yet those short days were enough for him to awaken to a world of chaos.