Chapter 62: The Sutra of Creation

Without a sound, the apparition of the Great Yan Sovereign vanished into the air, leaving Lin Zhan immersed in the subtle recollection of every message he could glean from those words. These fragments of wisdom would prove crucial for the path ahead.

“Wait, please, don’t leave yet, elder,” Lin Zhan cried, leaping atop the pile of spirit stones and gesturing desperately toward the empty sky. “Can you say it again? I didn’t understand much of it!”

He pondered the talk of the creation of heaven and earth and the promise that fate would bring them together again. Was the Great Yan Sovereign only a projection sent here on a mission? If so, where would he find him in the future?

The sovereign had merely sent a clone, departing without a second thought, while Lin Zhan, his true self, remained in this perilous place.

Lin Zhan finally ceased his frantic gestures. Truly, he wished to pull the sovereign back, but more so, he was stifled by the loneliness of having finally met another who shared his strange fate—a fellow traveler from another world, someone with whom he could finally converse. Yet time slipped away, and the sovereign was gone in the blink of an eye.

His mind was a tangled mess, riddled with doubts and secrets. He longed for someone to whom he could pour out his heart.

“Great Yan Sovereign, elder…” Lin Zhan murmured, the words a reflection of the emptiness following the shock in his soul.

Suddenly, a luminous message jade floated up in the cave, and another phantom of the Great Yan Sovereign appeared.

“Ahem, I’ve returned once more…”

Lin Zhan was speechless. It turned out the Great Yan Sovereign had left his messages in segments, leaving Lin Zhan both amused and moved.

“Will you speak more this time?” Lin Zhan mused, his eyes shining as he gazed at the phantom. “Or perhaps point out a few hidden treasures in the secret realms? Give me something to look forward to!”

The sovereign spoke, “Because of the ancient seal, I could not bring my artifacts and treasures. I leave behind only a copy of the Human Emperor’s Sealing Sutra, a creation scripture for future seekers. The Human Emperor used the true Creation Scripture to seal a vast world into a microcosm. Yet the scripture brings great virtue and great calamity. Only I measure good and evil by my own heart…”

Lin Zhan understood. All supreme scriptures and peerless techniques, while granting extraordinary achievements, inevitably cast a shadow of sin and slaughter. Their wielder holds the power of life and death in a single thought.

The Great Yan Sovereign raised his hand, and golden script materialized around Lin Zhan, clearly the Creation Scripture’s incantations.

“Heaven and earth are shaped by the creation force, chaos is the foundation, one creates myriad things, human strength has no limit. Laws reign supreme, all methods return to one… Boundless in greatness, as small as dust, creation springs from a single thought, life and death revolve endlessly…”

With a whoosh, the golden words transformed into arrows of light, piercing Lin Zhan’s brow. His mind, previously untapped, exploded open, forming a clear pool comparable to the size of the Heroic Pool. The nine pages of the Creation Scripture became towering cliff faces, standing firm and majestic.

Lin Zhan clutched his head, sweat streaming from the sudden pain as his spiritual sense expanded unstoppably—ten feet, twenty feet… one hundred feet. The cave, most of the lakebed beneath the blazing lake, and the surface above became as clear as if laid out before his eyes.

The golden script on the scripture’s pages flickered like pearls, gradually fading away. At the same time, the nine-star diagram within him responded to some unseen force, its internal structure shifting, golden dragon radiance flashing like lightning, carving out new territory. Part of the chaotic space became real and solid, with a hundred-foot radius of land growing and taking shape.

His spiritual sea at the dantian continued to be reforged, vast and sturdy, golden waves crashing against the shore in resonance.

When the pain finally subsided, Lin Zhan sat up from the ground, inspected his inner body, and was overjoyed.

Marvelous—truly marvelous! The Creation Scripture was as astonishing as legend, transforming the most difficult areas to cultivate and strengthen. He wished to thank the Great Yan Sovereign, but the elder’s apparition had already vanished.

Ha! The nine-star diagram—now it ought to be the nine-star space!

Lin Zhan experimented, and instantly a dozen spirit stones vanished into the newly-cleared space within the nine-star diagram.

“It works!” Lin Zhan clapped his hands, delighted. “Why not take the entire spirit stone vein? I wonder if it’s possible?”

He activated his spiritual sense and drew upon the nine-star diagram.

A few moments later, he had to stop, frustrated.

The spirit stone vein was buried deep underground, and only the exposed spirit stones could be moved—only objects not bound to the earth could be stored, just as with the storage rings before. Clearly, his spiritual sense was not yet strong enough.

“Then let’s take all the visible spirit stones for now!”

With a mighty surge, all the spirit stones rushed in like a tidal wave, swept into the nine-star diagram in his palm.

Inside the nine-star diagram, it resembled a cascade of stars pouring from the heavens, spirit stones raining down and covering the land.

Lin Zhan’s spiritual sense gathered the stones into a single area, even constructing some simple buildings—a few warehouses, at least, to categorize and store other items.

He unpacked the contents of several storage rings and transferred everything into the nine-star space.

“Yun Yin, your brother Lin Zhan is a little tycoon now, haha… If I can grow herbs and raise fish here someday, it’ll be even better!”

The cave was stripped of spirit stones, though the main spiritual vein remained untouched.

Lin Zhan decided not to mine further, leaving it for future needs. As long as the place remained, the treasure would not flee.

Surveying his surroundings, he prepared to leave, but his spiritual sense detected a brilliant cluster at a spot where the vein was exposed.

He approached and was delighted to discover, “Spirit marrow!”

Spirit marrow, the essence of spirit stones, soft as glutinous rice in the mortal world.

Lin Zhan lifted a hefty chunk, weighing at least a dozen kilograms.

Take it!

He found several more, some buried deep in the vein, each varying in depth.

With the Ink Sword, he excavated and collected them all, gaining greatly.

With his enhanced spiritual sense, Lin Zhan also discovered the tunnel leading to the Heroic Pool’s hidden chamber, located on one side of the cave. From now on, he could pass freely.

Yet expanding his spiritual sense consumed spiritual power, so he usually kept it within a twenty-foot radius—a range suitable for fighting or retreating if danger arose.