The primordial era began with the Upper Cave Man.

Another 100,000 years.

The primordial world has undergone earth-shattering changes.

A new ruler ascended to the throne, and Gonggong selected a great god from the rivers and lakes on land to inherit the throne.

However, the new rulers of the four seas are no longer called Dragon Kings, but Sea Lords. They are no longer called Great Luo Dao Venerables like the former Four Seas Dragon Kings, but only Taiyi Dao Lords, hence this title.

The entire world is now Gonggong's private property, and no one should interfere with it now.

However, Gonggong transferred control of the East Sea to the Jie Sect, essentially appointing him as the Sea Lord, while entrusting all other affairs to the Jie Sect.

If the Jie Sect still wants to divide the East Sea and allocate its various islands, water palaces, and emerging grotto-heavens to its disciples, the East Sea Lord cannot interfere in the slightest.

The East China Sea Guardian has only one duty: to monitor the situation of the East China Sea Eye.

Besides the changes in the four seas, the landscape of the primordial land has also been undergoing violent upheavals in the past 100,000 years, with major forces migrating from the earth to the vast universe.

Even the Golden Immortal Dao Lords who ascended from the Great Thousand Universe had to take their subordinates and fellow Daoists with them and "ascend" back to the Great Thousand Universe.

This also means that the Wu tribe's rule over the land is becoming increasingly strict. Now, there are four Hunyuan beings in the tribe, and they are no longer restrained on the land. Any force that dares to challenge them will only meet its entire family in the underworld.

After such domineering methods were used for a long time, one force after another had no choice but to withdraw from the prehistoric land.

Even in the vast universe, the Wu Clan relentlessly pursued them, determined to conquer every single one of those universes.

The Wu Clan's relentless pursuit naturally displeased many factions.

But what can we do now? The best options are either to become vassals of the witch clan or to seek refuge with the demon clan. No, there are two other options: one is to go overseas to seek the protection of the Jie Sect, and the other is to go to the West in the hope of entering the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

However, both the Wu and Yao races are now intentionally or unintentionally downplaying the existence of the sages, preventing the creatures of the primordial world from seeking refuge with them.

Of course, they wouldn't dare to do this openly; directly modifying the primordial principles and rules was absolutely impossible. But they quietly established another law, making an impact by stepping on the ambiguous boundaries.

That would be a feasible option.

Furthermore, the primordial world is vast, and many creatures cannot traverse mountains and rivers measured in light-years in their entire lives. Even a land spanning a hundred or two light-years would require dozens of generations of descendants to pass through before the conclusion is reached that it is impossible to cross.

Even when they face a vast lake created by a giant beast, they feel that this is the "Four Seas".

Therefore, many "oceans" appeared in the primordial world, and they were all inland seas with no salty taste.

Of course, this only applies to mortal civilizations. For civilizations that have already produced True Immortals or higher, a distance of hundreds or thousands of light-years can still be bridged within a lifetime.

But now there is a big question: those below the Golden Immortal level are often subject to so-called calamities. Moreover, compared to the calamities of the past, which were previously only those below the Mysterious Immortal level who had inner demons, and later, due to the Luo Ancestor, even the Taiyi level had inner demon calamities, those below the Golden Immortal level also have various kinds of calamities without immortality. Those who have not obtained immortal spirituality will encounter such calamities.

This calamity, in the past, was mostly a calamity of decline—decline of the body, decline of the mind, decline of the Dharma, and decline of the Way.

Now, however, there is a decline in the spirit (original spirit) and a decline in life force.

These calamities do not increase one's spiritual cultivation; on the contrary, they often cause one's spiritual cultivation to decline.

In addition, the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth will descend, and all those who still have a physical body will have to go through this ordeal.

Those who discard their physical body and retain only their spirit (original spirit), or whose physical body merges with their spirit, must undergo the four tribulations of earth, wind, water, and fire.

These are just the major problems that those below the Golden Immortal level face.

Those below the True Immortal level face another tribulation: the Three Calamities – Wind, Fire, and Thunder, which are the Heavenly Thunder, Yin Fire, and Bi Wind mentioned in Journey to the West.

This is the tribulation that leads to becoming an immortal.

Only by experiencing these three calamities can one achieve perfection and attain true immortality.

Therefore, after so many tribulations, many cultivators in the prehistoric world probably had to go to the Netherworld and Yellow Springs before they became Golden Immortals, and only through lifetimes of cultivation would they have the opportunity to become Golden Immortals.

However, this makes it very difficult for cultivators below the Golden Immortal level to fully explore the entire prehistoric world within their lifetime.

This greatly limited many beings' understanding of the primordial world, which strengthened the Wu tribe's rule over the primordial land. The Wu tribe used this to promote its religion, and many lower-level beings joined the religion without having to become direct vassals of the Wu tribe.

That's why Luo Zu sighed that the Wu Clan had become clever, with corresponding recruitment policies for beings at all three levels: high, middle, and low.

Moreover, when Luo Zu learned of the calamities and changes over the past 100,000 years, he couldn't help but sigh in his cave: "A new broom sweeps clean, and the entire prehistoric world is in turmoil."

He is indeed a new official. This is Gonggong, the ancestral witch, who took control of the Sea of ​​Bitterness and used it to carry out his actions.

Under the sweeping reforms and the impartial enforcement, even the Wu tribe was not spared.

Fortunately, this fire can no longer reach those above the Golden Immortal level. The inner demons and tribulations that Golden Immortals used to fear have now disappeared without a trace. However, everyone has memorized the Tao Te Ching by heart.

Therefore, nowadays, even powerful figures above the Golden Immortal level have developed a more favorable impression of Gonggong, the Ancestral Witch, and no longer resent or despise him as they did in the past.

Besides this major change, the reform of the Underworld was also rapidly advancing under the leadership of Houtu Niangniang, the suggestion of Luozu, and the concerted efforts of many great gods.

The Netherworld was once the realm of the dead. After being drawn to the Netherworld, the spirits of the deceased would randomly and disorderly fall into the ghost realms ruled by various gods and spirits. After a simple examination and introduction by them, they would be directly transported to the Bridge of Helplessness, drink a bowl of Meng Po soup, have their memories of their past life erased, and be reincarnated as new spirits.

Now, various underworld spirits and deities have established institutions to reward good and punish evil. After the true spirit of the deceased falls into the underworld, it is first examined to determine good and evil, and then it is distinguished according to the current unified good and evil rating system of the underworld.

As for this rating of good and evil, it was developed through extensive discussions, incorporating suggestions from various underworld spirits and deities, and after 30,000 years of research and exploration, resulting in a relatively rigorous set of regulations.

It is called a standard because its accuracy cannot be fully determined yet. It needs to be judged during the implementation process. If it is almost accurate, then it is not a standard, but a rule that is implemented throughout the entire Netherworld.

Unfortunately, this system of good and evil rating is still just a system, because the primordial land is changing rapidly, and thousands of new species of living beings are added every day. In addition, geographical factors and changes in the Great Dao make it difficult to fully establish this system of good and evil rating.

Therefore, during the 70,000 years of its implementation, the regulations were constantly being modified, rather than being formalized into rules and directly integrated into the rules of the Netherworld Dao.

However, the levels of good and evil are based on the ten-level standard suggested by Luo Zu in the early days, with ten levels for good and ten levels for evil, totaling twenty levels.

The virtuous go directly to reincarnation, while the most virtuous will have the opportunity to be invited by various ghosts and gods.

Those who commit the ten evils will suffer various punishments, among which the most evil will be completely destroyed, both in body and soul, and their true spirit will be erased. This was not proposed by Luo Zu, but by other great gods.

Therefore, the actual levels of good and evil are actually twenty-one.

In short, the discussions on the criteria for judging good and evil over those 30,000 years greatly broadened Luo Zu's horizons; he realized that everyone was playing such elaborate games.

So what does Luo Zu, the one who sets the hierarchy of good and evil, know about good and evil? The true hierarchy of good and evil should be judged by these "primordial benefactors".

(End of this chapter)