Primordial Era: A brick knocks Hongyun unconscious, and he seizes the throne at the start.

During the millennium-long truce, the wilderness was unusually peaceful.

Both the Witch and Demon races were licking their wounds. The Demon race was busy repairing the Zhou Tian Star Array, while the Witch race was trying to find ways to make up for the incompleteness of the Du Tian Divine Fiend Array—Hou Tu transformed into reincarnation, and with one less of the twelve, the power of the array was greatly reduced.

But some things don't stop just because there's a ceasefire.

For example, becoming a saint.

Nuwa Palace, beyond the thirty-third heaven, at the edge of chaos.

The sage Nuwa sat quietly on her cloud bed, with two things floating in front of her: a mass of Heavenly Breath Soil and a pot of Divine Water of the Three Lights.

She has been sitting here in solitude for three hundred years.

Ever since the first war between the Lich King and the Demon King, she had felt a strange stirring in her heart—the Heavenly Dao was guiding her to do something great that could mend the primordial world and bring her immeasurable merit.

But what exactly it is, she has been speculating about for a century, and it remains a mystery.

Even today, as her gaze sweeps across the primordial land and she sees those weak creatures struggling to survive in the flames of the war between the lich and the demons, she suddenly understands.

"In the primordial era, all races were powerful and warlike, constantly engaging in slaughter. The witch and demon races, in particular, regarded all living beings as worthless weeds... This world is lacking a certain kind of life."

She slowly rose, her voice as clear as a spring from the heavens:

"What's missing is a kind of being that knows etiquette, understands benevolence, can educate, and can pass on its knowledge."

She raised her hand, and the Nine Heavens Breath Soil flew into her palm, while the Three Lights Divine Water transformed into a light drizzle.

The soil, when it came into contact with water, came to life and constantly changed shape in her hands. Nuwa used the laws of creation of sages as a guide to begin creating the first living being.

At first, she didn't do a good job of sculpting it.

The creatures created by sculpting are either crooked in limbs, lack intelligence, or cannot survive more than three breaths.

But a saint is still a saint.

On the three hundredth attempt, a clay figure, the size of a palm, with delicate features and coordinated limbs, slowly opened its eyes in her palm.

In the eyes of that clay figure shone a light that Nuwa had never seen in the eyes of other living beings—curiosity, innocence, and a trace of…spirituality.

"It's done." Nuwa's eyes flashed with joy.

She placed the clay figure on the ground, and it took root and grew rapidly, transforming into a humanoid creature draped in leaves and standing barefoot.

The creature knelt before Nuwa, uttering indistinct yet sincere syllables: "Mother...Goddess..."

Nuwa was startled.

She finally understood what she was trying to create.

"This race should be called 'human.' People who stand tall and upright, and who strive unceasingly for self-improvement."

She started having babies in large numbers.

With a flick of his wrist, the Heavenly Soil transformed into countless specks of mud, which were then nourished by the divine waters of the Three Lights. One by one, the mud figures fell to the ground and grew into human form, quickly numbering in the tens of thousands.

These newly born humans, though as weak as ants and with a lifespan of no more than a hundred years, showed Nuwa another possibility for the future of the primordial world with their yearning for life and their desire to explore the world.

"good."

She continued to create humans, and the human race grew in number, gradually forming tribes and beginning to thrive on the vast land.

Meanwhile, a million miles outside the Nuwa Palace.

Lu Chen squatted in a chaotic cloud, with a chaotic brick in his left hand and a Qiankun Diagram in his right. He also had a "cloak of invisibility" that he had just taken from the Treasure Dividing Cliff hanging around his neck, making him look like a rice dumpling.

"Here it comes, here it comes, the iconic scene is about to begin..." He had a root of Chaos Grass dangling from his mouth, his eyes fixed on the direction of Nuwa Palace.

When he saw the first human being born, Lu Chen's eyes lit up instantly.

But he didn't move.

He is waiting.

When Nuwa reached the pinnacle of creating humans, and Heaven was about to bestow merit upon her—that was the moment when Nuwa was most focused and least vigilant.

Finally, when the human population reached 129,600, and the ultimate unity was achieved, boundless golden clouds of merit began to gather in the heavens above!

A vast expanse of golden light, representing merit, cascaded down like a waterfall, enveloping the entire Nuwa Palace! Nuwa's aura began to rise rapidly, her saintly status was completely solidified, and there was even a faint tendency for her to advance further!

It's now!

Lu Chen moved.

With the Brick Escape fully activated, the Chaos Brick transformed into an almost invisible streak of black light, silently making its way to the edge of Nuwa's Palace under the cover of the golden light of merit.

Nuwa was completely focused on absorbing merit and stabilizing her realm, and had no time to spare for anything else.

Lu Chen slipped into the back hall of Nuwa Palace like an eel—where leftover scraps from the creation of humans were piled up: three baskets of fragments of the Nine Heavens Breath Soil, two pots of remnants of the Three Lights Divine Water, and a dozen or so discarded clay embryos.

"I'm rich, I'm rich..." Lu Chen rubbed his hands together and swept all three baskets of Xirang fragments into the Qiankun Diagram. This was innate divine soil that could grow on its own and generate infinitely. A single fragment could cultivate a large area!

Then there's the remaining liquid of the Three Lights Divine Water. Although there are only two jars left, every drop contains the essence of the sun, moon, and stars, making it a top-tier material for healing and refining treasures.

Finally, his gaze fell on the discarded clay figures.

These clay figures were the failed creations of Nuwa, some missing limbs, others lacking sentience, and should have been destroyed. But Lu Chen sensed a faint remnant of the laws of creation within them.

"Good stuff." He rolled his eyes and took all the dozen or so clay lumps.

After doing all this, he was about to slip away when a thought suddenly struck him, and he turned back.

He looked toward the center of the hall—there, the last small clump of the essence of the Nine Heavens Breath Soil, about the size of a fist, remained of the main material Nuwa used to create humans.

This was specially left by Nuwa, to be used in the future to create a treasure to protect the human race.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I need to borrow a little bit." Lu Chen grinned, stretched out two fingers, and carefully pinched off a tiny pinch, about the size of a fingernail, from that large mass of life-giving soil.

It really is just a tiny minority.

But this small amount is the most essential and original essence of the Nine Heavens Breath Soil.

He mixed this small amount of the Breath Soil with the "Fragment Powder of the Jade Disc of Creation" that he had previously smuggled from the Treasure Dividing Cliff, and then added three drops of his own essence blood.

Then, I started sculpting the character.

It wasn't like Nuwa meticulously shaping things; it was just randomly shaping them.

I sculpted twelve oddly shaped little clay figures: some had three heads and six arms, some had wings on their backs, some had eyes between their eyebrows, and some were covered in scales...

"Anyway, the Empress is sculpting 'normal people,' so it's not too much for me to sculpt something 'special,' is it?" Lu Chen muttered to himself as he sculpted.

After shaping them, he blew a breath on the twelve little clay figures—this breath contained some of his cultivation insights and a trace of the seed of the Law of Power.

The little clay figure landed and quickly grew into twelve "innate humans," each about ten feet tall and possessing a different aura.

They looked at Lu Chen and knelt down in unison, crying, "Father God!"

Their voices were loud and clear, their eyes were bright, and each of them... started as an Earth Immortal! They were many times stronger than the mortals created by Nuwa!

"Keep it down, keep it down." Lu Chen quickly covered their mouths. "From now on, you'll be called the 'Twelve Yuan Chen.' Go to a remote corner of the prehistoric land, build a tribe, and cultivate diligently. Remember, don't reveal your relationship with me. If you encounter danger, run. If you can't escape, just... mention the name of Goddess Nuwa."

The twelve celestial beings nodded in bewilderment.

Lu Chen put them into the Qiankun Diagram, preparing to find a suitable place to release them.

Only after doing all this did he slip out of Nuwa Palace, completely satisfied.

At this moment, the golden light of merit gradually dissipated.

Nuwa stabilized her realm, slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she did was look at the essence of the Nine Heavens Breath Soil—this was the key to her future plans.

Then, she froze.

The Breath of Earth... seems a bit lacking?

She sensed it carefully and indeed found that a small tuft of her fingernail was missing.

Although it is insignificant, it is the very essence!

"Who is it?!" The aura of the sage Nuwa reverberated, and the entire Nuwa Palace trembled.

She deduced the secrets of heaven, only to find it all in chaos—someone had used a supreme treasure to obscure the secrets of heaven!

"Could it be..." A figure carrying bricks and banging on people's heads flashed through her mind, but she immediately shook her head. "Impossible. Lu Chen may be cunning, but he wouldn't stole from me. Besides, he doesn't have the ability to hide it from me..."

Nuwa frowned and pondered for a long time, finally attributing it to "the natural losses during the creation process".

After all, that small group was so few that even a sage might have thought he had misremembered.

Meanwhile, on a deserted island on the shore of the primordial East Sea.

Lu Chen released the Twelve Yuan Chen and gave them a bunch of cultivation manuals, jade slips, pills, and magic treasures, instructing them: "Develop well, don't cause trouble. I'll come back for you when your cultivation level is higher."

"Yes, Father God!" The Twelve Divine Beasts knelt down again.

Lu Chen nodded and vanished using the brick-遁 (brick-遁 is a type of magic or technique).

He was in a very good mood.

This trip not only resulted in the theft of the Nine Heavens Breath Soil and the Three Lights Divine Water, but also the creation of twelve "favored sons" with unlimited potential.

More importantly, he gleaned a sliver of the true meaning of Nuwa's creation law from those discarded clay figures—though faint, it greatly benefited his later understanding of the "creative" aspect of the law of power.

"Next, we should go and check on the 'aftereffects' of the Lich and Demon races."

He looked towards Buzhou Mountain, where Zhu Rong and Di Jun were simultaneously feeling something was wrong with their bodies.

The backlash from the Demon-Slaying Sword and the Witch-Slaying Blade is about to begin.

The person who started all this is already carrying bricks, humming a little tune, and heading towards the next "opportunity".

On the vast chessboard, Lao Liu's pieces are being placed more and more.

Meanwhile, deep within the chaos, in the Purple Cloud Palace.

Hongjun Daozu watched as Lu Chen stole soil and created humans in the water mirror, shaking his head and chuckling:

"This kid... he even dares to fleece a saint."

"However, the Twelve Earthly Branches... are a variable."

He lightly swept the dust with his whisk, and the water mirror dispersed.

The workings of Heaven have brought an added layer of chaos.

All of this was part of a certain sixth brother's plan.