Chapter 1: Minghe in Untainted Land  

When Pangu formed Untainted Land after separating the heaven and earth, he saw that a barren, dead land was not what he hoped for. Thus, he sacrificed himself to nourish the land and turned it into a utopia full of spiritual air. As time went by, spiritual creatures mushroomed all over the land, eventually becoming what was later known as the Hundred Tribes of Untainted Land.

Untainted Land became bustling with life but it was quiet in the Blood Sea that Pangu’s own blood formed. Except for a slight breeze and rippling of water in the Blood Sea, the deathly stillness continued for more than a million years after the separation of heaven and earth. "Ah!..." A scream from the center of the Blood Sea pierced the silence, causing the still sea to be abruptly turbulent.

An enormous red lotus floated in the middle of the Blood Sea, its twelve petals coated in a curious sheen. A young man, just on the brink of his twenties, stood on the lotus altar. To be precise, it was not a human, but a soul. Looking out at the Blood Sea in front of him, he couldn’t help with his fear. One must understand; he was no more than a technology otaku in his past life.

The young man was named Musen. He lived in new era of China and enjoyed the wonders of the 21st century. Times were good, but even so, stress was everpresent. Slaves to their house and car mortgages were everywhere. Musen, however, was neither. He did not even have a girlfriend; what need did he have for a house or a car? As a great technology otaku, cars and houses were dispensable for him.

Musen led a repetitive life, working from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and basically stayed home after work. He did not have much of a social life, but he had a hobby of studying unusual or high-tech things. He had researched the Eight Trigrams of Zhouyi and the Secret Arts of Fengshui. He even studied simple robotics and developed plug-ins for games. As long as it was something he was interested in, he would spend time to carefully study it.

But who could foresee unexpected events? One moment he was admiring the meteoric shower on the rooftop, and a lightning inexplicably struck him in the next. As the saying went, one who survived a great disaster was destined for good fortune. But what was going on right now? Where was his body? Everything was a mystery to him, especially this sea of blood. Even though Musen had seen blood, he had never seen this vast amount. The endless sea of blood made him scream out of fear.

Musen frowned as unfamiliar memories emerged in his mind. The more he relived those memories in his head, the more fearful he felt. He was so stunned that his jaw slacked, his mouth opened so wide that even a light bulb could be fit inside. He was momentarily dazed, before he regained his composure. Musen then swore to the heaven, saying, "With the Great Way as my witness, Musen will no longer exist. There’s only Minghe, Lord of Blood Sea."

Musen, no, it was Minghe now. He had just finished his oath to heaven when ripples flashed across the void above Blood Sea, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. Minghe breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. His earlier memories were a spiritual inheritance from Ancestor Minghe, the owner of Blood Sea. He had been transported to a time before the birth of Ancestor Minghe, yet the Dao acknowledged him as the Lord of Blood Sea.

But still, he came from the future; an anomaly unacceptable by the Great Way. He had to give up his past and become a native of Untainted Land. Only then would he not be considered an anomaly. But when he was making his oath, a thought came to him. He swore to the Great Way instead of the Way of Heaven, for the Way of Heaven was newly born and had not awakened yet. Untainted Land was under the control of the Great Way. By swearing to it, the Way of Heaven had no way of knowing his past and Minghe would not have to worry about his origins being exposed.

Taking things as they came was one of the strong points of Minghe. Since he can’t change the present, then he will accept it. It was akin to a phrase that went viral on the internet: "Life is like being raped. If you can’t fight it, then you might as well enjoy it." What Minghe needed was to survive and live his life to the fullest.

Thinking about it, Ancestor Minghe, the Three Pristine Ones, Ancestor of Sorcery, Jieyin, Zhunti, Goddess Nvywa, Fuxi, Emperor Jun, and Taiyi were all Primordial Mazingers. They began far ahead of the other creatures in Untainted Land. The Three Pristine Ones, Jieyin, Zhunti, and Goddess Nvywa became Sages of the Heavenly Way, while Emperor Jun, Taiyi, and the Twelve Ancestors of Sorcery perished. However, as the leaders of the Sorcery and Demon tribes, they had at least reigned over one untainted cultivation tribulation of the land. Even Kunpeng and Zhen Yuanzi left behind legacies of their own.

Ancestor Minghe, on the other hand, was the Lord of Blood Sea. In the first place, he was far higher on the cultivation path than most creatures. But what he did turned him into a joke in Untainted Land. According to his knowledge of Untainted Land myths, Ancestor Minghe wanted to be a sage so he robbed Hong Yun trying to get his Hong Meng Immortal Qi that could pave the way to become a heavenly sage. This infuriated Emperor Jun, Taiyi, Kunpeng, and even Zhen Yuanzi. He got nothing and even lost what he already had.

Soon, Goddess Nvywa became a sage for creating humans. Ancestor Minghe followed suit by creating the Shura Tribe. He was awarded merit for his deeds, but it was very limited. When the Three Pristine Ones and the Two Saints of the West formed a tribe, he followed that too. But the merit he received was still not enough for him to become a heavenly sage. Thereafter, the Two Saints of the West snatched a few members of his Shura Tribe and created Demi-gods and Semi-devils. He even had to live with an evil neighbor like Kṣitigarbha. If Blood Sea had not remained full, or if he did not have a magical undying nature, or his status as one of the rulers of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, he would not have be able to live in peace.

But that was not the future the current Minghe wanted. Even though it would allow him to live forever, it was no different than him being dead. Minghe had his own ambitions. He had lived a mundane life for the past twenty odd years, but it was different now. There were hundreds of thousands of mythological characters and stories that he knew by heart from his past life, and thus he was not willing to sit idly... Er, wait a moment. It seemed like he did not even have a physical form yet.

After his thoughts had wandered too far, Minghe only came to remember that he did not have a body. After being transported here, he received the approval of Blood Sea and received the Eternal Spiritual Treasure that belonged to Ancestor Minghe.

It must be admitted that Ancestor Minghe had considerable wealth. When it came to Eternal Spiritual Treasures, he alone had four of them. The first was Red Lotus of Fire, the Primordial Spiritual Treasure of the highest grade. It was the lotus he sat on earlier. Next, the flag floating above his head was one of the Primordial Flags of the Five Regions, Xuanyuan Water Control Flag. Like Red Lotus of Fire, it was also a Primordial Spiritual Treasure of the highest grade.

After Red Lotus of Fire and Green Lotus of Chaos withered, their four lotus seeds became Green Lotus of Creation, Red Lotus of Fire, Golden Lotus of Merit, and Black Lotus of Destructions respectively. These were all Primordial Spiritual Treasures of the highest grade, dubbed the Twelve Grade Lotus. The Fire of Karma that came from Red Lotus of Fire could exterminate everything in its path and it was also at top class defensive item. One became indestructible simply by sitting on the lotus altar. Red Lotus of Fire would produce a seed every now and then. Stimulated by Three Light Holy Water, the seed could grow into a Nine Grade Lotus Altar, but the water was a rare find.

Xuanyuan Water Control Flag was another Primordial Spiritual Treasure of the highest grade. It was a creation of Green Lotus of Chaos. It was not only indestructible and omnipotent; It could also obscure the heaven and earth and keep evil at bay. More importantly, it was able to control water. Over a period of time, it can produce a drop of the extremely rare Three Light Holy Water. It can also form the Primordial Five Elements Formation when combined with Wuji Apricot Flag, Emerald Lotus Flag, Floating Flame Flag, and Natural Cloud Realm Flag.

With two onyx swords guarding both sides of the lotus altar, it was filled with murderous intent despite its mundane appearance. They were Top Grade Primordial Spiritual Treasures, named the Yuantu Sword and Abi Sword. The two swords were filled with a destructive force that surpassed any Primordial Spiritual Treasure of their grade. With their prowess combined, they were on par with even a Primordial Spiritual Treasure of the highest grade.

Besides this, Minghe actually had a half-formed Merit of Creation. One must know that the Three Pristine Ones only had one percent of merit by the Great Way. Any merit they received thereafter would simply be merit by the Way of Heaven and was incomparable to the merit of the Great Way. As long as Minghe do not lose his Merit of Creation, it was akin to him having a protection amulet in Untainted Land that even Ancestor Hong Jun had to be cautious of.

Thinking about it, his Merit of Creation was not received in vain. After the separation of heaven and earth, Pangu’s blood, the blood of the Mazinger, and the Primordial Killing Intent were all gathered in Blood Sea. It was safe to say Blood Sea was simply a garbage dump. The Great Way was just. The half-formed Merit of Creation was considered compensation to Minghe.

But when it came to the birth of his physical form, Minghe had to reconsider. The body of Ancestor Minghe was made from the essence of the Blood Sea. It allowed him to cultivate at a faster pace, but that restricted his future cultivation. That was because that essence was fused with the blood of Pangu and Mazingers, as well as the Primordial Killing Intent. It was impure, thus making the Sage-to-be realm the furthest he could go.

The different cultivation realm stages in Untainted Land could be categorized into Convert Essence into Qi, Convert Qi into Spirit, Convert Spirit into Emptiness, and Convert Emptiness into Tao. Followed by Realm of Celestial Beings, Earthly Immortals, Heavenly Immortal, Veridical Immortal, Black Immortal, Primordial Unity Black Immortal, Golden Immortal, Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, Sage-to-be, the Sage (Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal of the Origin), Sage of the Heavenly Way (Fate Golden Immortal of the Origin, and the Sage of the Great Way (Wu Ji Golden Immortal of the Origin). Every single realm could be segregated into four smaller stages as Early Stage, Secondary Stage, Late Stage, and the Peak.

Even if there would only be seven sages, including Ancestor Hong Jun, in Untainted Land in the future, but would Minghe be satisfied? Of course not! Since he had the chance to be reborn again, he should live boldly. If he was to reside in a corner while being fearful of everything, then he would be better off dead.

It was necessary to lay a good foundation to reach a higher goal. The blood needed to create his physical form was too impure. To purify it, what Minghe had to do was to ensure to assimilate all elements of the blood into one. This might cost him the distinctiveness of Pangu and Mazingers, but Ming He knew that the best thing was what he made out of it. After all, every loss was a gain.

There were not many methods to purify the blood essence. The first method was using Cauldron of Heaven and Earth, a Primordial Supreme Treasure. The cauldron had the ability to Return to Genesis and convert any post-celestially to primordiality. While this fulfilled Minghe’s needs, but who the hell knew where this cauldron was. So it was a pass for him.