The primordial dawn began with a beastly roar that shattered the heavens.
Sunlight streamed through the rough cracks of the stone house, like golden swords piercing the dim dust within.
Seventeen opened his eyes, a hangover headache momentarily slowing his otherwise sharp logic. He instinctively reached for his side, his fingertips touching warm, soft skin, which finally relaxed his tense nerves.
Shen Qingqiu was curled up in his arms, her head resting on his demonic arm, sleeping soundly.
She was covered with a huge saber-toothed tiger skin, exuding a faint, fishy smell. The rough fur contrasted sharply with her jade-like, delicate face.
"Awake?" Shen Qingqiu's eyelashes trembled slightly as she slowly opened her eyes.
In that instant, the morning light reflected in her golden pupils, like two pools of newly thawed spring water.
"Hmm." Seventeen sat up, his long black hair cascading down his chest, obscuring the dark red demonic markings.
"I'll go get something to eat." He had just reached the door when he saw Xing Tian stride in, carrying a bloodied, still-twitching dinosaur hind leg.
"Brother! Awake?" Xing Tian grinned, tossing the leg to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Eat it while it's hot! This stuff's super nutritious!" Seventeen stared at the raw, mangled flesh, his stomach churning.
While his body could digest this high-energy protein, Shen Qingqiu couldn't.
She was human, the spark of civilization; how could she eat like a beast?
"Take it away." Seventeen said coldly, a flicker of disgust in his eyes.
Xing Tian was stunned: "What? Not enough? Then I'll go hunt another one!"
"It's not too little." Shen Qingqiu, wearing the tattered purple dress, stepped out from behind Seventeen.
She looked at the raw meat, then at the witch tribe women and children around her, chewing on raw meat, blood trickling from their mouths.
A sense of compassion and responsibility from the civilized world welled up within her.
"Great Witch Xing Tian."
Shen Qingqiu picked up a sharp flint and tossed it lightly in her hand.
"Food isn't eaten like this."
"Since you're here, I'll teach you..."
She pointed to the still-burning campfire in the distance.
"What is... 'human warmth'?"
...
[Civilization Reconstruction · First Step: Dining]
For the witch tribe, fire was merely a tool for warmth and light.
They possessed powerful stomach acid, capable of digesting raw meat, but this also wasted a large amount of spiritual energy in the food and easily fostered violent, malevolent energy.
Shen Qingqiu didn't waste any words.
She directed Seventeen to use his indestructible star-shaped right arm to hollow out a massive basalt rock, polishing it into a smooth stone pot.
"Water, fire, meat, herbs." Shen Qingqiu conducted a precise chemistry experiment.
She took out some spices she had collected in the cultivation world from her storage space (her last remaining supplies), and picked a few "Dragon Saliva Grass" plants from the jungle to neutralize malevolent energy.
The water boiled.
The aroma of meat began to permeate the air.
That was the Maillard reaction between proteins and fats after high-temperature cooking.
This aroma was a devastating surprise to the primitive natives of the prehistoric world who had never smelled cooked food before.
"Slurp..." Xing Tian sniffed, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
"What...what does this smell? It's even better than my mother's wine!" The surrounding witch tribe members also gathered around, swallowing hard, as if they had witnessed a miracle.
"Try it." Shen Qingqiu ladled out a bowl of milky-white meat broth and handed it to Xing Tian.
Xing Tian carefully took it, as if holding a rare treasure. He gulped it down.
Boom!
A warm current flowed down his throat and throughout his body. There was no raw meat's gaminess, only a rich, savory aroma.
More importantly, the spiritual energy in the broth was perfectly locked in, gently nourishing his meridians.
"Good! Good stuff!" Xing Tian roared, his eyes shining.
"I feel even stronger!" Shen Qingqiu smiled.
She turned around, ladled out the most concentrated portion, blew on it to cool it, and held it to Seventeen's lips.
"Seventeen, open your mouth."
Seventeen obediently drank it.
At that moment, he felt not in the wilderness, but back in his Suzhou-style garden home.
This bowl of soup melted away the primordial cold.
...
[Civilization Reconstruction - Step Two: Celestial Garments]
After eating and drinking her fill, Shen Qingqiu didn't rest.
Her gaze fell on a pile of carelessly discarded white silk stalks in a corner of the tribe.
Those were cocoons of **"Heavenly Silkworms"**.
The silk spun by this primordial species was impervious to blades and spears, and impervious to water and fire.
But in the eyes of the Wu tribe, this stuff was neither edible nor edible, and could only be thrown away as garbage. The women still wore rough, abrasive animal hides, their skin chafed red.
"What a waste."
Shen Qingqiu shook her head.
She walked to the pile of cocoons and picked one up.
[Civilization Library - Material Analysis]
[Name: Innate Cloud Silkworm Silk.]
[Characteristics: High energy conduction, extremely high physical defense.]
[Suggested Use: Nanoscale Armor Material] "Girl, that thing is useless." The dark-skinned girl who wanted to have Seventeen's babies approached and kindly reminded her, "It can't even be torn, it can't be made into a rope."
"It can't be torn because you don't understand its 'texture'." Shen Qingqiu smiled slightly.
She didn't use brute force.
She extended her slender fingers, a faint golden light (spiritual power) shining from her fingertips.
[Analysis of the Great Dao.] In her vision, this chaotic cocoon transformed into orderly lines of law.
As long as she found the "thread end," she could gently pull it.
Swish— A transparent thread, as thin as a hair and a thousand meters long, was pulled out, refracting a seven-colored halo in the sunlight.
"Wow…" The dark-skinned girl was stunned.
Shen Qingqiu found an animal bone and ground it into a needle.
She sat on the steps in front of the stone house and began to weave.
Her movements weren't fast, but they possessed a pleasing rhythm.
Her slender hands moved deftly, silver needles darting about.
She wasn't just making clothes; she was weaving threads representing "defense principles" into miniature **"array circuits"**.
This was an art form combining "cultivation arrays" with "modern textile technology."
At sunset.
A jet-black, shimmering robe appeared in her hands.
The robe appeared as thin as gauze, yet it was as tough as iron and could automatically regulate its temperature.
"Seventeen, come here." Shen Qingqiu beckoned.
Seventeen came over and removed his tattered animal hide.
Shen Qingqiu personally dressed him in the new robe.
The black silk clung to his strong physique, concealing the hideous demonic markings, revealing only the pale collar and wrists.
The once bloodthirsty Asura had instantly transformed into an impeccably elegant young gentleman.
"Beautiful." Shen Qingqiu fastened his belt and nodded in satisfaction.
"Now you deserve it." The surrounding witch women stared, their eyes wide.
They looked at their own tattered animal skins, then at Seventeen's divine robes, and for the first time, felt a strong yearning for "beauty."
"Priest! Teach us!" The dark-skinned girl knelt down, her eyes filled with adoration.
Shen Qingqiu helped her up.
"This stitch weaves the warp and weft; this thread embroiders the universe."
"Women shouldn't just revolve around the stove and men."
"Your hands can also weave... armor to protect your people."
...Late at night, in the stone house.
Seventeen, dressed in new clothes, sat cross-legged on the stone bed.
But he wasn't feeling well.
As night fell, the blood-red aura began to retaliate. The demonic markings on his arms seemed to come alive, like red centipedes, frantically crawling beneath his skin, trying to erode his brain.
"Ugh..." Seventeen groaned, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
A red light flickered in his purple eyes.
"Don't move." Shen Qingqiu knelt behind him.
She didn't use her magic to suppress him, because she knew that guidance was better than suppression.
She extended her nimble hands, the same hands that had just woven the celestial robe.
Her fingertips touched the starting point of the demonic runes on his back.
[Great Dao Analysis - Fully Unlocked.]
In her eyes, Seventeen's back was no longer flesh and blood, but a complex holographic circuit diagram.
Those demonic runes were segments of chaotic, bug-ridden **"evil energy code"**.
"Seventeen, bear with it." Golden light shone from Shen Qingqiu's fingertips.
She slowly traced the paths of those demonic runes.
She wasn't eliminating them.
She was **"rewriting"** them.
Rewriting those violent, chaotic "laws of destruction" into controllable, cyclical "laws of power".
Like a top-tier programmer fixing a system on the verge of crashing.
Fingerprints brushed against his skin, sending a tingling, stinging sensation through him.
Seventeen gripped the sheets tightly, veins bulging on the back of his hands.
But he didn't struggle.
Because he could feel that, with the movement of her fingertips, the restlessness that threatened to drive him mad was gradually subsiding, transforming into a gentle yet powerful force flowing into his dantian.
"Qingqiu..."
He breathed heavily, his voice hoarse and sexy.
"Don't talk." Shen Qingqiu's forehead was also covered in sweat. This was not only mentally taxing, but also mentally exhausting.
Finally.
When the last stroke was made.
The magic markings on Seventeen's back changed.
No longer chaotic scribbles, but a star map composed of dark gold lines, full of geometric beauty.
It was a miniature version of the **[Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array]** (although it was only in its prototype at the moment).
"It's done." Shen Qingqiu collapsed weakly onto his back.
Seventeen turned and embraced her.
He looked at the steadily flowing dark gold patterns on his arm, feeling the unparalleled power within him.
He knew he had become stronger again.
And it was a qualitative leap.
"Qingqiu."
He lowered his head, looking at the pale-faced woman in his arms.
She had won over the giant's stomach with a bowl of soup.
She had enlightened a savage civilization with a needle.
She had soothed his raging, demonic body with a single finger.
"How did you do that?" Seventeen asked, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Shen Qingqiu opened her eyes, smiling wearily.
She reached out, her fingertips gently touching his heart.
"Because this is the Primordial World."
"The Great Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Evolution is forty-nine."
"And I..."
Her gaze deepened and became mysterious, a spark ignited by the collision of wisdom from a higher-dimensional civilization with this ancient mythology.
"I am that vanished...one."
"A variable, and also...your destiny." Seventeen didn't understand the grand principles.
But he understood the last sentence.
He was her destiny.
He tightened his arms, as if trying to meld her into his very bones.
In this simple stone house, in this desolate night.
Two hearts drew closer than ever before.
Outside the window, the moonlight was pure and bright.
Xing Tian was still drinking madly from the stone vat.
And inside, the two lit the first flame in this primordial world, embroidering a universe uniquely theirs on each other's fingertips.