Chapter Twenty-Five: The Universal Script of the Primordial Era

As countless beings continued to arrive, time flowed steadily on. By the end of the three-month period, more than a thousand had gathered. Li Tian immediately began to preach, expounding upon the path of cultivation—from the transformation of spirits into physical form, ascending through the ranks of Earth Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, Golden Immortal, and Grand Golden Immortal—essentially repeating the teachings of Hongjun.

After several months, however, he found himself at a loss for words and thus called upon Fuxi to continue. In contrast, Fuxi's explanations were far more meticulous. Truly worthy of his future title as the Human Sovereign, under his guidance, it was not long before beings began to experience breakthroughs; some who had yet to take physical form did so, and most succeeded in becoming Innate Dao Bodies.

Such is the difference between guidance and none; without instruction, not even one in ten thousand might achieve an Innate Dao Body on their own.

In the blink of an eye, a hundred years passed. With the steady influx of living beings, the territory within ten thousand miles around the Southern Heavenly Gate was packed densely with all manner of life. A rough estimate put their numbers at several tens of millions, almost all possessing cultivation above the level of Earth Immortal. Of these, there were perhaps several million Heavenly Immortals, though only a few dozen Golden Immortals.

At this, Li Tian instructed Fuxi to cease preaching. Moments later, the multitude roused themselves from their enlightenment, gazing longingly at the high platform, clearly wishing for the teachings to continue, yet none dared act presumptuously.

“The period of preaching is over. Now, listen to my arrangements,” Li Tian declared, his authority pressing down upon the assembly.

He selected thirteen Golden Immortals, each unburdened by karma, and divided Mount Buzhou into thirteen regions, assigning each one a territory to govern.

This was akin to the ancient practice of enfeoffing vassals—each lord managed their domain, while the sovereign ruled over the lords. This form of governance was the simplest, and least likely to collapse.

Of course, what Li Tian truly desired was a centralized feudal system, not this enfeoffment. But the conditions were not yet ripe; he lacked both people and resources. For now, this would suffice. Once his rule had expanded, he could gradually centralize power.

The thirteen Golden Immortals immediately swore allegiance, gave their thanks, and departed to their respective regions.

Li Tian then summoned the remaining sixteen Golden Immortals, assigning one to dispatch all beings below the Earth Immortal level. Next, he divided the several million Heavenly Immortals into ten groups, appointed ten Golden Immortals over them, and sent them across Mount Buzhou to gather spiritual materials.

As for the remaining five, they were tasked with overseeing the tens of millions of Earth Immortals left behind, charged with constructing the Heavenly Court.

Li Tian himself was not idle. First, he summoned three hundred sixty-five stars with his great power and refined them with the Cauldron of Heaven and Earth into three hundred sixty-five Heavenly Pillars.

He then broadly planned the construction of the Heavenly Court: in the very center, a Lingxiao Palace for court assemblies; by the section where the Heavenly River flowed into the palace complex, a pool named Jade Pool, with a Jade Pool Sacred Hall beside it, and so on—an endless list of plans.

Of course, Li Tian’s design was based only on his impression of the Heavenly Court in later ages—a general outline rather than detailed plans, which he left to Fuxi.

Fortunately, Fuxi proved highly capable, managing several tens of millions with perfect order.

Seeing the Heavenly Court’s construction proceeding with such vigor, Li Tian was deeply satisfied. To him, the most important task now was to finish building the Heavenly Court; everything else could wait and be accomplished in due time.

With all matters entrusted to Fuxi, Li Tian spent his leisure accompanying Nuwa in wandering the mountains and rivers, and found time to invent a written script.

There were written characters in the primordial world, but these were innate scripts, found in the inherited memories of many divine beasts and often inscribed upon innate spiritual objects. For instance, the Creation Jade Tablet bore the Three Thousand Great Daos, recorded in innate script.

However, such writing was exceedingly complex—except for innate deities and divine beast clans, ordinary beings could scarcely comprehend, let alone master it.

In the original history, it was Kunpeng who created the demon script, earning immense merit and being revered as Demon Master by the demon clan.

Later, humanity developed their own writing.

Yet Li Tian’s script was not meant for any one race; he sought to create a universal script for the primordial world.

Naturally, it was impossible for Li Tian to invent a script entirely on his own, so he transplanted simplified Chinese.

To facilitate its spread, he spent over a year compiling a dictionary.

The instant the dictionary was completed, the Heavenly Dao did not disappoint him—a colossal pillar of merit descended from the heavens, seventy percent falling upon Li Tian, thirty percent upon the dictionary itself.

Under the transformation of merit, the ordinary dictionary radiated boundless golden light, becoming a postnatal treasure of merit.

At the same time, across all races of the primordial world—even among the witch tribe, innate deities, and divine beasts—Li Tian’s "Universal Script of the Primordial World" appeared in their minds, spread personally by the Heavenly Dao.

“Heavenly merit descends?”

Nuwa, standing by Li Tian’s side, widened her eyes in astonishment.

Heavenly merit descends only when a being accomplishes a deed of immense benefit to the primordial world.

Nuwa could never have imagined that Li Tian would gain so much merit simply by creating a script!

“Would you like some merit?” Li Tian shook the "dictionary" in his hand, smiling.

He planned to share some merit with Nuwa. In truth, he had expected a reward for creating the script, but not nearly so much. If he were to convert all the merit now upon him into cultivation, it would be enough to raise him to the late Quasi-Saint stage!

However, he had no intention of doing so. Using merit to increase one’s cultivation made it nearly impossible to later practice Hongjun’s method of proving the Dao through the Three Corpses. He could end up like Zu Long, Yuan Feng, and Shi Qilin—unable to make further progress unless he obtained vast amounts of merit in the future.

But how could merit be so easily acquired?

Therefore, Li Tian decided to wait until after Hongjun finished teaching the method of proving the Dao with the Three Corpses. After practicing it, if he reached an impasse, he would then use his merit. After all, merit was like money—spend it whenever one wished.

“How can I obtain it?” Nuwa blinked, her expression adorably puzzled.

“Create a cultivation technique suitable for ordinary beings, and write it in the Universal Script I created. That will do,” Li Tian replied with a smile.

In the annals of primordial history, the demon script and a cultivation method suitable for the demon clan were both invented by Kunpeng, bringing him great merit and reputation.

Of course, it would be impossible to gain as much merit as just descended. Li Tian surmised that since his Universal Script would later be used by humanity as well, the Heavenly Dao had granted so much merit all at once.