Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 502 Taiyi
Ren Yuan's memory stopped at the moment when he was shattered by Wu Yang's palm, after which he fell into a long period of chaos.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape that eternal darkness. But Ren Yuan still refused to give up and kept trying to find a way to escape.

After he tried hundreds or thousands of times, he finally heard a voice sneer: "Don't waste your energy."

"Who are you?" Ren Yuan tried to open his mouth, but no sound came out. He could only shout in his heart.

The other person could hear his thoughts, and he replied in his mind, "We have become one, don't you know who I am?"

This proves that they are indeed one. After making this judgment, Ren Yuan thought to himself, "Are you Yinglong?"

"Who else could it be?"

"This is where?"

"Chaotic Void".

How long have I been here?

"There is no concept of time here."

"Then how do we get out?"

"We can't get out, because there's no concept of space here."

"So how did you get out in the first place?"

"Summoned by you, huh? Now, if you want to leave, you need someone inside the Xuanji Tower to establish contact with you and pull you out from the outside." Yinglong said gloatingly, "No, you're not a god yet, the Xuanji Tower can't find you at all. This is completely hopeless."

"Now that we've become one, what's there for you to gloat over?" Ren Yuan asked speechlessly.

"I'm happy to see you in trouble, because the Xuanji Tower is nothing but a trap for the gods!" Yinglong cursed. "It made us think it was a passage back to the human world, but instead, we all ended up inside your bodies and became food for the Three Corpse Worms!"

"Then you should thank me, at least you didn't let the Three Corpse Worms eat you."

"It's the same whether you kill me or not."

"You're not dead, are you?"

“Uh…” Yinglong softened his tone and said, “What you said makes some sense. It’s better to be one with the whole than to be eaten as food.”

He paused for a moment, then added angrily, "But that doesn't change my opinion—you're a bunch of despicable fraudsters!"

"I don't even know who I've scammed," Ren Yuan said with a wry smile. "Could you tell me the whole story first?"

"Hmph, ignorant brat!" Although Ying Long maintained his aloof demeanor, he couldn't help but start talking:
"The universe was originally like a chaotic egg, and after countless ages, Pangu was born. When Pangu grew to be eighteen thousand years old, he finally had the ability to separate heaven and earth!" "Thus, in the beginning of chaos, the clear Yang became heaven, and the turbid Yin became earth. Pangu was in the midst of it all, changing nine times a day, becoming a god in heaven and a sage on earth. The heavens rose one zhang higher each day, the earth thickened one zhang each day, and Pangu grew one zhang taller each day. After eighteen thousand years, the heavens reached their highest point, the earth reached its deepest point, and Pangu reached his greatest height..."

Ren Yuan wanted to say that he had heard all of these things, but there was no concept of time here, so there was no question of wasting time.

He patiently listened to Yinglong recount the ancient tale: "...Later, Pangu died from exhaustion. His breath became wind and clouds, his voice became thunder, his left eye became the sun, and his right eye became the moon...His blood became rivers, his veins became geography, his muscles became fields, his hair and beard became stars, his skin and fur became grass and trees, his teeth and bones became metal and stone, his essence became pearls and jade, his sweat became rain, and the insects on his body, moved by the wind, transformed into the common people."

"But these Li people are completely different from modern humans. They are descended from Pangu, born with unparalleled physical strength and abilities that transcend heaven and earth. You humans, after your birth, called them demon gods!" Yinglong said proudly.

"For a very long time, almost a million years, the world was completely ruled by demons and gods. We believed in the supremacy of the strong, and would fight recklessly at the slightest disagreement. In our anger, we would smash the pillars of heaven and earth, shattering the world; we would unleash floods that would drown all things!" What a carefree era those were!

"..." Ren Yuan thought to himself, "You may be enjoying yourselves, but what about the flowers and plants? How will other living beings survive?"
"However, as time went on, the ancient gods and demons inevitably suffered heavy casualties and their vitality was greatly depleted. At the same time, a species created by the demon gods—humans—quietly multiplied and grew stronger under the protection of some traitorous demon gods."

"After a million years of quiet development, humanity produced its first emperor capable of challenging the demon gods—Taiyi! Taiyi led humanity through ten thousand years of bitter struggle, and through various means, won over many neutral demon gods, completely reversing humanity's disadvantaged position!"

"It was fitting that the human race should prosper. After Taiyi, the even more powerful Xuanyuan Huangdi emerged. He forged the Treasure Cauldron and fought the Demon Emperor Chiyou three times, completely defeating the demon gods and driving them to the barbaric lands."

"Later, Yu the Great cast the Nine Tripods to suppress the remaining gods and demons, thus ushering in the era of Chinese destiny. With this, the primordial era completely ended, and the human race began to rule the world alone." Yinglong said, then asked Ren Yuan:

"We only learned after we were suppressed that Taiyi did not die, but ascended to the chaotic void, established the Heavenly Court, called himself the Jade Emperor, and appointed the demon gods he suppressed as civil and military officials, driving them to continue to suppress the demon gods and strengthen the power of the Heavenly Court."

"And then what happened?" Ren Yuan was finally captivated by Yinglong's story and couldn't help but ask, "Does the Heavenly Court still exist now?"

"Hahaha, that's the funniest part!" Yinglong laughed loudly. "Taiyi is ambitious and wants to do so much! But he forgot that even someone as powerful as the Primordial Ancestor Pangu would eventually die from exhaustion. He first fought the most powerful demon god in the mortal realm for ten thousand years, and then forcibly established the Heavenly Court in the void, constantly expanding the boundaries of his rule, wanting to bring all of the universe under his rule! To establish eternal rule!"

"As a result, ten thousand years ago, his consciousness gradually merged with the Heavenly Dao, entering a state of chaos and obscurity, and finally became completely integrated with the Heavenly Dao! Hahaha, now He has finally gotten what He wanted, Heaven is Taiyi, and Taiyi is Heaven!" Yinglong gloated and laughed wildly.

Ren Yuan, despite his differing stance, was deeply moved. Taiyi was clearly a great hero and guardian deity of the human race!

"Then, what about those gods who were appointed by Taiyi?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Taiyi was able to sense that something was wrong with him, and before transforming into the Heavenly Dao, he also took those major demon gods with him." Yinglong said with mixed feelings, "They have now all become unconscious stars in the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions."

"Then why are you still conscious?" Ren Yuan asked. "Isn't it because you're not a primary demon god?"

"Nonsense!" Yinglong roared, "I am the ancestor of all dragons! The original thunder god and rain god were deities who controlled the four seasons and the mountains and rivers! I pulled Nuwa's chariot! I presented Fuxi with the Hetu and Luoshu! I even helped him create the Bagua diagram!"

"I also taught Emperor Yan Shennong. I even transformed into the divine dragon Gengchen to help Emperor Huang kill Chiyou and slay Kuafu! After Emperor Huang cast the tripods, he rode me to heaven! After arriving in the Heavenly Court, I was appointed by the Jade Emperor as the 'Dragon God Who Responds to Heaven's Will and Protects the Capital Region.' Later, I was ordered by the Heavenly Emperor to descend to the mortal realm again, where I suppressed the water god Wuzhiqi under Turtle Mountain and used my dragon tail to draw rivers on the ground, helping Yu the Great control the floods! The Dragon Gate in Luoyang was opened by me!"

Ren Yuan was shocked after hearing this, and after a long while, he managed to stammer out, "Why do you always act as someone else's mount?"

"You, you son of a bitch!" Yinglong cursed in a very vulgar way.

(End of this chapter)