Era of Primal Chaos

Xu Xian was a bit excited, feeling that his bowel movements over the past six days hadn't been in vain.

Of course, it didn't really seem to have anything to do with that.

Regardless, it was definitely worth it.

With one Sword Tower and twelve divine swords, pulling out each one required every ounce of strength he possessed.

Not to mention the Heaven-Burning Sparrow; although it took the shortest amount of time, only he knew the twists and turns involved.

During the battle of Yecheng, he had truly danced on the edge of death to obtain a single strand of immortal essence, reaching core formation in a finger-snap and nascent soul in an instant after gaining millions of spirit stones.

Yellow Spring Burial had cost him a full six years.

From learning to forge swords to opening a forging workshop in Demon-Slaying City, navigating business wars, and pitting his wits against others while forging day and night for four years, he had finally pulled it out.

This third sword was even more of a struggle; after all that tossing and turning, the progress bar was only at twenty percent.

God knows how many more setbacks were waiting for him.

Not to mention the fourth or fifth swords; the difficulty was unimaginable...

Even so, using these swords wasn't simple, as he had to summon the Sword Tower and maintain them with spirit qi.

Because they were tainted with too much slaughter aura, the swords themselves were still suppressed by the Sword Tower, their artifact spirits unawakened, and their power greatly diminished.

But this mirror was different; though it was also a divine weapon, he had obtained it without any effort, just picking it up on a whim.

Most importantly, he could use it however he pleased.

And it wasn't half bad.

An Era of Primal Chaos emperor weapon.

Just listen to that name and tell me if it sounds impressive or what.

This trip was truly worth it; the more he looked at it, the more he liked it, feeling lucky that the old tortoise was such a jerk and insisted on antagonizing him.

If it had been a bit more cowardly, kinder, or acted like a decent being, he would have truly missed this opportunity.

Honestly, the old tortoise couldn't handle this thing at all; it was meant to be his.

Squinting, he circled the suspension mirror, his voice filled with excitement. "Come on, tell me in detail just how powerful this thing is and where it came from."

The little book spirit spoke with an air of sophisticated age, "【Bixu】 refers to water; elegant bamboo contains clear scenery, and the ornate pool is filled with emerald emptiness."

"I remember that the Bixu Mirror was one of the life-bound divine weapons of the Xuanwu Emperor, making it an emperor weapon. The era the Xuanwu Emperor lived in—the same era my former master and I coexisted in—was called the Era of Primal Chaos. Thus, this item is known as an Era of Primal Chaos emperor weapon."

"This also means the Era of Primal Chaos has passed, and the Upper Realm has already entered a new era, implying at least one full cycle of iteration has occurred."

"I just detected that the Bixu Mirror is currently masterless, which indicates the Xuanwu Emperor has fallen, likely dying during the Era of Primal Chaos."

As the little book spirit spoke, it seemed to drift off-topic, giving Xu Xian a lesson on the eras of the Cangming Realm. Xu Xian didn't interrupt, finding it quite interesting.

An era was an iteration of life, the rise and fall of all things, and the replacement of all living beings in an entire world.

To put it simply, it was like the world he came from.

The leaps in civilization: the slave society, the feudal society, the age of steam engines, the age of internal combustion engines, and the age of intelligent AI.

Translated to the Cangming Realm, it was divided into the Chaos Era, the Ancient Desolate Era, the Ancient Era, and the Era of Primal Chaos...

As for whether multiple eras existed after the Era of Primal Chaos, or if there was only the current one.

What those eras were called, the little book spirit didn't know.

Because it had been asleep.

It had no relevant memories.

Moreover, Fanzhou was a lower realm; while it might be affected by the changing of eras, the sheer time span made it extremely difficult to record.

Those were matters for the immortals in the heavens; the ants of the mortal world naturally couldn't compare.

In fact, Fanzhou had similar divisions of time.

In Fanzhou, there was also the concept of the ancient period, meaning a very, very long time ago.

The same was true for the Demon Abyss; historical records there mentioned three periods: the Ancient Period, when nether beasts and demons were born, and the Primordial Period, when demons dominated the Demon Abyss.

Then, after a great catastrophe, it reached the current Heavenly Demon Period.

The Demon Abyss was now ruled by the heavenly demon race.

"A long time" in the Demon Abyss or Fanzhou was measured in units of ten thousand, fifty thousand, or a hundred thousand years...

But in the Cangming galaxy, an era was measured in units starting from at least several hundred thousand years.

For instance, the incredibly ancient Chaos Era was recorded to have spanned a full ten million years across the river of time.

By the time the little book spirit fell asleep, nearly a million years had already passed in the Era of Primal Chaos.

The little book spirit made a bold conjecture.

The current era should still be part of the new era following the Era of Primal Chaos.

Of course, this was just speculation; perhaps the old tortoise would know something.

Xu Xian interjected, mentioning that Lu Yuan might also know.

The little book spirit didn't deny it; Lu Yuan's origins were as mysterious as the old tortoise's, perhaps even more enigmatic.

He was very likely part of a new generation of powerhouses born after the Era of Primal Chaos.

The little book spirit also said that at the end of the Era of Primal Chaos, a group of Immortal Emperors from that era must have fallen, and the Xuanwu Emperor was one of them.

This included the renowned Immortal Emperor giants of that age, who had likely been swallowed by the river of history.

The so-called end of an era could also be described as an Age of Dharma Decline.

The world was like this, governed by an eternal law: the conservation of energy.

The little book spirit said that whenever an era reached its peak, it would inevitably be followed by a decline.

It was unavoidable.

Scarcity of resources was the fuse for war, and once internal conflict erupted and the Immortal Emperor powerhouses fought, the entire world would collapse and be completely reset.

In a war at the Immortal Emperor level, there was no such thing as victory or defeat; there was only mutual destruction.

It was true for the Chaos Era, the Ancient Desolate Era, and the Ancient Era; naturally, the Era of Primal Chaos would be no exception.

Every changing of an era was a reckoning, a man-made disaster that was also a natural catastrophe.

The Heavenly Dao would forcibly intervene at the right moment to influence everything, so people called the series of events that changed the era a "Great Cataclysm"!

And with every changing of an era, there would be a downgrading of the world; the realms that could be reached in the past became harder for successors to step into.

It said a lot.

Xu Xian found it wasn't complicated to understand.

A very obvious truth: the flourishing and withering of plants, birth, aging, illness, and death, the rise and fall of dynasties, and the succession of generations...

The ordinary world was like this, and so was the world of immortals.

Only.

A mortal's life was too short; an era change lasted only a few thousand years, but for those who cultivated, life was too long, and a transition took hundreds of thousands or even millions of years...

"...It's very likely that this old tortoise was imprisoned here at the end of the Era of Primal Chaos by the Li family it mentioned. And the Li family should be one of the few winners from the Era of Primal Chaos."

Xu Xian nodded thoughtfully, finding the analysis quite reasonable, but...

"I'm not here to listen to you give a history lesson. I just want to know how powerful this Bixu Mirror is and what abilities it has."

The little book spirit said word by word, "He who possesses the Bixu Mirror can control all the waters of the world!"