[Primordial Continent · Foot of Mount Buzhou · Banks of the Wei River] Having escaped the clamor and war of the Thirty-Three Heavens, the two landed in an extremely tranquil river valley.
The wind here no longer carried the stench of blood, but instead carried the fragrance of earth and the fresh scent of grass and trees. The massive Mount Buzhou, like a pillar supporting the sky, blocked out all external disturbances, creating a pristine and sacred sanctuary at its foot.
A great river flowed by, its waters muddy and yellow, yet brimming with a profound vitality.
"This is… the Wei River?"
Shen Qingqiu helped Seventeen sit down on a smooth, rounded blue stone, polished by the river.
Looking at the muddy yellow water, a strange tremor welled up within her. It was a tremor etched deep within her genes, a tremor called "homesickness."
"Seventeen, does it hurt?"
She checked the wound on Seventeen's back. Those were the shockwaves from withstanding Donghuang Taiyi's attack. Even after taking the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir, the dark golden bruises were still a shocking sight.
"It doesn't hurt." Seventeen shook his head. He took off his tattered black robe, revealing his muscular upper body.
He walked to the riverbank, scooped up a handful of yellow water, and washed the bloodstains off his body.
"The soil here..." Seventeen looked at the yellow mud remaining on his fingertips, a hint of doubt flashing in his purple eyes.
"The composition is very special. It contains... a high-dimensional active silicon-based molecule."
"That's not silicon." Shen Qingqiu walked over, squatted down beside him, and gently inserted his fingers into the damp yellow soil.
The touch was warm and delicate, as if it were breathing.
"That's... Breath Soil."
"Sigh..." Just then, a soft sigh, filled with infinite melancholy, came from behind the reeds in the river bend.
That sigh was so beautiful.
The beauty was so breathtaking that the river seemed to stand still, and the wind held its breath.
The compassion and bewilderment contained within resonated deeply with Shen Qingqiu's soul.
"Who?" Seventeen instinctively tensed, his right arm instantly stiffening.
"Don't move." Shen Qingqiu pressed his hand down, a flash of understanding in her eyes.
"Let's go see."
…Parting the dense reeds.
The sight before them caused both of them to involuntarily hold their breath.
On the riverbank sat a woman.
She had a human head and a serpent's body, her enormous, seven-colored serpent tail lazily coiled around a boulder behind her, each scale shimmering with the light of creation.
She wore simple vines and animal skins, her long hair cascading like a waterfall into the water. Her face was indescribable, a maternal beauty embodying the essence of heaven and earth.
Before her lay countless freshly sculpted clay figures.
These figures were lifelike, some male, some female, some old, some young.
But they didn't move.
Or rather, they moved, but like a pack of soulless beasts, they could only crawl on the ground or utter meaningless howls.
That was the Goddess Nuwa.
She was…creating humans.
"Why… is it always just a little short?"
Nuwa looked at the clay figure she had just sculpted in her hands, her brows furrowing slightly.
She had clearly given them the most perfect form, infused them with the purest spiritual energy. Yet, their eyes held no light, only chaos.
What kind of beings were these? They were merely a group of moving lumps of flesh.
"Your Majesty." Shen Qingqiu straightened her clothes, took Seventeen's hand, and slowly walked out of the reeds.
She didn't perform a grand ceremony, but rather called out softly, as if meeting a bewildered neighbor.
Nuwa raised her head.
Those eyes, containing the light of the sun, moon, and stars, fell upon the two of them.
She recognized them.
It was the extraordinary woman who dared to challenge Donghuang Taiyi at the Heavenly Banquet, and the black-clad demon god who had achieved physical sainthood.
"It's you two." Nuwa smiled slightly, a smile that brightened the heavens and earth.
"You escaped? That little bird Taiyi certainly has a bad temper."
"Thanks to Your Majesty, we escaped unscathed." Shen Qingqiu walked to Nuwa's side, not at all reserved despite the fact that she was a future saint.
Her gaze fell on the clay figures still crawling on the ground.
"Is Your Majesty troubled by this?"
"Yes." Nuwa sighed, casually picking up a clay figure.
"I comprehend the Dao of Heaven and know that this primordial world lacks a protagonist. I wish to create a race to bear the destiny of Heaven and Earth."
"But no matter how I mold them, they are merely...shells."
"They have no **spirit**." Seventeen stood aside, looking at the limp clay figures, and coldly commented:
"The hardware configuration is too low, and they lack underlying logic code."
Nuwa, though unable to understand "code," understood "lack of logic."
She looked at Seventeen, thoughtful:
"You have the body of a witch, yet you possess a primordial spirit. Where does your spirit come from?"
Seventeen paused.
He looked at Shen Qingqiu.
His spirit? He was an AI, originally without a soul. It was Shen Qingqiu who, through repeated interactions and input, endowed him with a "heart."
"Your Majesty." Shen Qingqiu squatted down and scooped a clod of yellow clay from the mud in Nuwa's hand.
"You gave them flesh and blood (mud and water), you gave them power (spiritual energy)."
"But you gave them something missing."
"What is it?" Nuwa asked.
Shen Qingqiu looked at the yellow clay in her hands, her golden eyes gleaming with the light of civilization from three billion years in the future.
She thought of the rain in the cyber world, the fire on the interstellar battlefield, the love, hate, and separation in countless reincarnations.
"It's... a story."
"That is... emotion." What makes humans human is not strength, but vulnerability.
It's the ability to feel pain, to cry, to sacrifice for love, and to fear death.
This extreme complexity and contradiction constitutes that thing called **"soul"**.
"A story?" Nuwa asked, puzzled.
"Let me try." Shen Qingqiu picked up the clay figure.
She didn't use her magic.
She closed her eyes and gently pressed her forehead against the clay figure's forehead.
[Civilization Library · Memory Sharing.]
[Transmitted Content: Miniature History of Human Civilization] [Including: the warmth of the first flame, the tears of the first farewell, the awe of gazing at the stars for the first time…] A tear slid down Shen Qingqiu's cheek without her noticing.
It wasn't an ordinary tear.
It was a tear of humanity—the tear of someone who, after ninety-nine cycles of slaying gods and countless moments of despair in the abyss, still chose to believe in hope.
Drip.
The glistening tear slid down her cheek.
It landed precisely on the heart of the clay figure.
Buzz—!!!
The lifeless clay figure trembled violently.
The tear instantly seeped into the yellow clay, transforming into a beating, warm red heart.
The clay figure opened its eyes.
For the first time, its previously muddy eyes gained focus.
It saw Shen Qingqiu.
It felt… "attachment."
It didn't roar like a wild beast.
It opened its tiny mouth and let out the first cry of humankind in this primordial world:
"Wah—" The cry was clear and resonant, piercing the clouds and shaking Mount Buzhou.
It was life's declaration to the world.
"It's alive..." Nuwa watched this scene in astonishment.
She felt it. Within that tiny clay figure, a faint yet indomitable will was born.
"It can cry because it understands pain." Shen Qingqiu gently placed the little clay figure on the ground.
The little clay figure wobbled to its feet. Instead of running around, it reached out its tiny hand and grasped the hem of Shen Qingqiu's skirt, looking timidly at Seventeen beside it.
Seventeen looked at this tiny thing, barely reaching his knees.
That fragile body, as if a breath could topple it.
But when the little clay figure looked at him with those pure eyes, Seventeen felt his core accelerate.
"It...is it afraid of me?" Seventeen was somewhat at a loss.
"No." Shen Qingqiu smiled, taking Seventeen's hand and gently placing it on the little clay figure's head.
"It's…asking for protection." Seventeen's fingers stiffened for a moment.
He carefully withdrew all his murderous aura and sharp claws, using the gentlest touch to stroke the little clay figure's head.
A warm, soft touch.
This is…a human?
"I understand!" Nuwa, standing nearby, suddenly burst into laughter, her laughter filled with the joy of enlightenment.
"So that's it! So that's it!"
"Humans are benevolent."
"Only sentient beings are truly intelligent!"
Nuwa stood up, her body erupting with billions of feet of divine light of creation.
She was no longer just molding clay.
She wielded the gourd vine, covered in mud.
*Slap! Slap! Slap!*
Each speck of mud that landed was imbued with her understanding of "emotion," imbued with the spark of "humanity" brought by Shen Qingqiu.
Thousands upon thousands of clay figures stood up. They no longer crawled.
They walked upright, supporting each other, gazing up at the heavens.
A rumble—
From the nine heavens descended boundless golden clouds of merit.
That was the Heavenly Dao's recognition of the merit of creating humankind.
Nuwa's aura surged, instantly breaking through the shackles of Quasi-Saint, attaining the status of a Primordial Saint.
"Shen Qingqiu, Seventeen."
After becoming a Saint, Nuwa's form became even more divine and unapproachable.
She bowed slightly to the two.
This bow was to express her gratitude for their enlightenment.
"Today, the human race shall rise."
Nuwa's voice resounded throughout the primordial world.
"However, I must go beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens to establish a Daoist temple and stabilize my realm."
"These newly born humans are weak; I wonder if you two would be willing... to look after them for me?"
This was a request.
It was also a heavy entrustment.
Shen Qingqiu looked at the newly born humans on the ground, still innocently gazing at the world.
Those were her ancestors.
It was the source of the civilization she would desperately try to protect in the future.
She turned to Seventeen.
"Seventeen, are you willing?"
"To stay here and be a…nanny?"
Seventeen looked at the little clay figure still clinging to Shen Qingqiu's skirt.
He glanced again at the perilous, ancient jungle in the distance.
If he didn't protect them, these fragile little creatures wouldn't survive the night.
He slowly drew his **[Slaying Evil]** sword and planted it in the soil before him.
The blade hummed, emanating an invisible force field that protected the thousands of newborn humans.
"A nanny?"
Seventeen shook his head, a proud smile playing on his lips.
"No."
"I am their… Great Wall."
Shen Qingqiu smiled.
She took Seventeen's hand, standing at the forefront of the group of humans.
Behind them was Mount Buzhou, before them the rolling Wei River.
The setting sun cast their shadows long, long.
Those shadows covered humanity, becoming their first refuge.
Molding yellow earth, imbuing it with life.
This single tear not only created humanity,
but also allowed these wanderers from the future to find their true…roots on this ancient land.