Chapter Thirty-Six: The Celestial Mountain Carried by the Giant Turtle—Thus Was the World Shaped!

“Clan of Sin? What clan of sin?” Xu Xing asked in confusion, unable to grasp the meaning.

Zi Yan drew out a mysterious purple sachet, opening it to let the fragrant powder within drift in the wind. Xu Xing couldn’t avoid inhaling some; the powder also seeped into the decayed wooden block at his waist. The wood emitted a dark green glow, embedding itself within Xu Xing’s body.

He felt his vision grow dim, his mind clouded, and slowly closed his eyes.

“My child, my child.”

Xu Xing startled awake. A mysterious voice pierced through countless planes and times, breaking the silence of the uncanny.

Before him was chaos—only darkness where his gaze fell.

“Is this… a dream?” Xu Xing steadied himself.

Then, countless scenes streaked past like meteors, coloring the chaos in brilliance. Some truths began to emerge.

Within the visions, there was endless void, barren and lifeless. Fifteen colossal turtles appeared in the darkness. Their size unfathomable, they could tread upon stars, their backs adorned with rivers of starlight.

Each carried five immortal mountains, wandering through the void. Wherever they passed, life returned, and new beings were born.

Yet the turtles, bearing their mountains, had no destination, and so wandered aimlessly. Their passage left indelible footprints in the void. These marks, worn by ages, became star rivers; their trails formed constellations.

It’s unknown how long they journeyed, but eventually the fifteen turtles arrived at a desolate ruin. Battered battle flags stood planted, countless corpses lay about, and the willful spirit of battle songs lingered.

Xu Xing’s heart trembled violently, his blood ran hot, and the shackles buried deep in memory began to break.

“This is… Guixu?”

The memories of his predecessor grew clearer. Guixu—what place was it? Searching his mind, he recalled the legend: it was the world’s end, devoid of order, time, and control.

Upon arriving at Guixu, the fifteen turtles rose, their weight anchoring the immortal mountains so they could rest in peace. They observed from outside a veil of light for a long time.

Each turtle took turns every five years, alternating to restrain the five mountains from drifting away.

All seemed to proceed in order, with beginnings and ends, until a group of giants appeared. They used the thick essence of heaven and earth as bait, fishing for the turtles carrying the mountains.

None could say how long the giants fished. At last, one turtle spoke and swallowed the bait; a turtle was caught and taken.

Above, the immortal mountain began to collapse, falling into Guixu. Countless great immortals acted, deploying every skill and treasure.

All powers joined together, shaking heaven and earth, thunder roared, the earth trembled, and they drove away the remaining giants.

But the mountain continued to crumble.

Countless powers fused their strength, forming beneath the mountain a teleportation array just large enough to contain it. As the fragments entered, they broke apart further—Xu Xing counted them carefully:

One, two, three, four…

Ten thousand and eight hundred…

One hundred thousand and one.

So many! Such a mighty mountain, reduced to precisely one hundred thousand and one fragments, which, entering the array, became countless worlds.

At this point, the vision faded, the world collapsed.

Soon, heaven and earth plunged once more into darkness, not a shred of light could pierce through the nine heavens and ten earths.

“This… what is this?”

Within the light, a fragment from the collapsed mountain was undergoing transformation, becoming space.

Xu Xing watched as a fragment became a world! Yet chaos still reigned.

Then a group of people appeared.

Someone wielded a brush, drawing the world open with a stroke.

Someone became fire, igniting heaven and earth; another gently struck a drum of beast hide, calling forth wild thunder.

Within chaos, countless boulders fused, creating a dazzling red star, burning like a bonfire.

And then a bright blue planet formed.

“Is this… the world we live upon?”

The blue star was gradually forged under the divine instruments and powers of those people.

Among them was a woman—human-headed, serpent-bodied, traversing the ravaged heavens alone.

Arriving upon the blue star, she grasped earth in her hand. The sky was high and clouds thick, and rain fell. She molded the earth in the rain, inscribing countless intricate, immeasurable runes upon the land.

The runes turned, shining gold and crimson, linking the light of the red star, illuminating the blue planet.

“She… is she our creator goddess?”

She shaped clay dolls, untold numbers, placing them upon the densely written runes. The runes spun, and she muttered incantations.

Gradually, humans took form.

Such a wondrous process left one speechless. As heaven and earth took shape, all others departed, leaving only the beings she had made and other creatures.

As order reached its peak, a meteor descended from beyond the skies.

From the meteor emerged a group of people. Xu Xing looked closely.

“What! That person holds a sapling of a willow tree—why does it resemble the willow in my own courtyard?”

Those who descended from the sky settled here, living by the sea.

“So this is the original Sea City?”

He saw a land plate, leaning against the vast ocean and mountains.

Xu Xing couldn’t help but marvel—such a grand world, formed in this way.

Time flew, civilization exploded in growth. The goddess not only created humans, but countless plants and animals.

The spiritual essence of heaven and earth overflowed; humans could absorb it to cultivate and grow stronger. Soon, two rulers emerged.

Both had lofty ambitions to govern under heaven, but even so, disagreements arose.

“Is this Shu Kingdom?” Xu Xing murmured, gazing at the ravine stretching to the sea.

Soon, the two factions, unable to reconcile, waged war.

Corpses lay everywhere, millions fell, the earth split; what was once contiguous land was divided, and eventually, one side claimed victory.

The victors sent many to suppress those who had descended by the sea—the meteor-fallen outsiders—who rebelled.

Their leader soon crushed the uprising, imprinting a mark upon their bloodline, called: Sin.

“This… this is the clan of sin?” Xu Xing’s heart was shaken—was he a descendant of those rebels?

Unable to discern the details, only glimpsing broad events, Xu Xing was awed, his heart restless day and night.

“Could the sin blood Zi Yan mentioned be the mark placed upon my ancestors?”

No! Impossible!

Xu Xing screamed. At that moment, the land by the sea was split off, seemingly by a single palm from someone.

With one strike, a piece of land separated, moving into the sea before stopping.

“No, it can’t be—was Sea City formed this way?!”

He watched as the isolated land became an island, matching exactly the template of Sea City.

Yet, for reasons unknown, his heart burned with fervor. Staring at the separated island, Xu Xing’s soul trembled, blood within him ablaze!

The island was the site where the meteor had fallen, after countless years of turmoil. Now, the meteor rose from the island, forging several immortal mountains.

One of these mountains was none other than the Shu Mountain where he now stood!

Thus, those who fell here had departed, the willow saplings they brought split into nine, scattered across the seas.

The vision faded, leaving Xu Xing alone in chaos, shocked beyond measure.

Across the chaos, an immortal turtle carrying countless corpses appeared before him, its steps shaking heaven and earth.

It was vast beyond imagining, countless suns, moons, and stars shone, illuminating the chaos—yet before the turtle, all stars were insignificant!

The giant turtle approached, prying open its mouth, its sharp beak inching toward Xu Xing. Xu Xing cried out in terror:

“No, don’t!”