Chapter 1346: Nüwa

How difficult it must be to find the humanity lost over the past hundred years...

A paradox loomed before Qi Xia.

If he could maintain his humanity, he would never be able to forge a world out of flesh and blood.

If he couldn't maintain his humanity... how could he create true people?

At that moment, Qi Xia inexplicably thought of Nüwa.

Nüwa, the legendary deity who lacked the seven emotions and six desires, yet managed to create people full of joy, sorrow, parting, and reunion—

How did she accomplish that?

"Bai Yang... you're really crazy..." After sensing Qi Xia's thoughts, Tian Long instantly furrowed his brow. "Do you know what you're doing? You're comparing yourself to Nü—"

Tian Long stopped mid-sentence, stunned.

What was the original purpose of establishing "Taoyuan"?

It was to create a "Nüwa."

Qi Xia's current motivation unexpectedly aligned with that of the "master."

So, was Qi Xia the person the "master" had been searching for all along?

"It's just a pity the 'master' has already abandoned this place... Bai Yang..." Tian Long sighed despairingly, "Your arrival is at least eighty-four years too late."

Qi Xia sat in his home, lowered his head, and began to contemplate the feelings Nüwa must have had when creating people.

After about a few months of preparation, he was ready for his first attempt.

As Qi Xia's thoughts surged, a strange humanoid figure appeared in his home.

Tian Long involuntarily stepped back at the sight of this so-called "person."

This "person" had no skin when created; its raw flesh was exposed, and upon landing, it splattered blood across the living room.

Even with the situation so bizarre, Qi Xia stared at the humanoid creature for a long time.

He seemed to be determining whether this thing truly counted as a person.

The creature appeared to be in excruciating pain, its body convulsing all over, and it soon collapsed from excessive blood loss.

Qi Xia sighed softly, then extended his hand. The floor beneath his feet opened like a gaping maw, swallowing the creature and merging it back into the world.

From then on, Tian Long watched as Qi Xia repeatedly created "people," only for them to fail time and again.

He had seen people with missing limbs, people with misplaced features.

Following Qi Xia, he witnessed nearly every kind of deformed monstrosity that would never exist in the real world.

As time passed, what terrified Tian Long was no longer "eternity," but the fact that he could no longer sense Qi Xia's thoughts at all.

He didn't know if Qi Xia was deliberately hiding them or if his ideas had transcended humanity.

Tian Long felt his information becoming isolated; he had no idea what Qi Xia was doing or thinking.

Countless things that looked like "people" appeared and then vanished from this land.

Until Tian Long's eyes began to show signs of age, the first perfect person finally emerged.

Qi Xia looked extraordinarily exhausted; simply creating one perfect person had nearly depleted all his "belief."

Under psychological suggestion, the person awakened, and upon landing, believed this place to be the real world.

In their eyes, everything around them was not made of flesh and blood.

Before Tian Long could react, Qi Xia merged the person with the entire world once again.

"Bai Yang... are you insane... You succeeded..." Tian Long snapped back to his senses, stunned. "What are you doing?"

"It's not enough... Far from enough..." Qi Xia murmured.

When Qi Xia spoke, Tian Long, after many years, once again sensed his thoughts.

He wanted not just one person, but all people.

He was seeking a way to make this world "teeming with life."

If every person required such complexity, he could never create a whole world.

If crafting one person took so much time and such vast "belief," the first batch would already be aging and dying by the time he made the second.

He could wait, but people could not.

Thinking of this, he emptied his mind and carefully recalled.

What method could quickly turn this place into a full world?

Those people of all shapes and sizes, those walking the streets, those passing by in various places... what was his last impression of them?

Of course.

Qi Xia couldn't remember their faces.

"This world is 'me,'" Qi Xia murmured. "'I' am this world... So, apart from me, no one else needs a face."

Without faces, people wouldn't need expressions; they wouldn't have to carry joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness.

They wouldn't need to see, hear, or speak—things would become instantly simpler.

Here, only thought was necessary.

As long as they believed they had senses and faces, they could see, hear, and speak.

So, as long as they believed... they would think this was the real world.

This would save a tremendous amount of "belief," allowing tens of thousands of people to appear in an instant.

Tian Long was once again shocked by Qi Xia's train of thought, but before he could say anything, people began walking past the window outside.

Men and women, old and young, tall and short, fat and thin—countless individuals started moving about the streets.

Apart from the eerie silence everywhere, it was indistinguishable from the real world.

A word floated into Tian Long's mind—"lively."

But this strange, quiet liveliness—who could believe it without seeing it firsthand?

Qi Xia exhausted several waves of "belief," filling the world with people, creating about two million faceless individuals in the visible small city.

Tian Long couldn't see farther, but thinking about it, there might be "people" even beyond that. Tragically, based on Qi Xia's creation logic, those people might not even have "thoughts."

They would just stand there motionless.

During this time, Qi Xia also created a faceless Tian Long on a barren patch of fleshy ground.

As he said, in this space, everyone except himself didn't need a face.

The observer Tian Long was baffled by this step. Though he didn't know what had happened, given Qi Xia's experiences... hadn't Tian Long already died?

What was the point of creating another Tian Long here?

From then on, Qi Xia would gaze at the sky at night and fight the faceless Tian Long during the day.

Due to the constant massive collisions and earthquakes, which always disturbed the nearby "residents," Qi Xia simply transformed the area into a massive abandoned amusement park.

Seeing those enormous, monster-like amusement facilities, Tian Long knew Qi Xia's state could no longer be described as "mad." With a mere gesture, he could summon massive creatures... no word in the world could capture Qi Xia's current condition.

The faceless Tian Long's every move was indistinguishable from the real Tian Long's.

But its "Clever Object" was used to produce flesh, its "Disintegration" to break down flesh, and it used its feet to tread on flesh for "Levitation"—these were all the abilities Qi Xia could replicate.

On this day, Qi Xia once again fought the faceless Tian Long to a draw.

This situation made the observer Tian Long gradually notice something off; it wasn't that Qi Xia couldn't win, but that he was deliberately focusing on defense.

He could have easily reached out and had the entire world swallow the faceless Tian Long, yet he only defended.

He defended continuously for decades, all just to sustain the most basic "perpetual motion" for his own survival.

Afterward, he returned home and stood on the rooftop, gazing at the pitch-black night sky for a long time.

"Bai Yang... what on earth are you trying to do?" Tian Long murmured beside him.

At that moment, Qi Xia was different from any other time in the past few hundred years. He turned his head, as if looking at Tian Long, or perhaps at the void, and softly replied.

At the same time, Qi Xia's voice echoed from the void, the two voices intertwining and drifting gently into Tian Long's ears.

"I want to make everything start over. I want to turn back time to seven years ago."

"I want to make everything start over. I want to turn back time to seven years ago."

As the words fell, dazzling, radiant stars began to emerge in the dark sky.