Chapter 1: I am a Willow Spirit

Liu Zhong’s life could be considered quite spectacular.

For the first twenty-five years, Liu Zhong lived a peaceful and stable life.

He was born into a wealthy family—the kind that owned mines.

His family had been in business for four generations; they were not nouveau riche, but a family with deep foundations.

Liu Zhong was the second son, with an older brother being groomed as the heir.

The eldest brother was capable and outstanding, the family’s most satisfactory choice for an heir.

With a satisfactory heir in place, and to prevent any fraternal strife, the Liu family took a hands-off approach with their other children.

Some cousins became playboys who lived off dividends from their shares.

Others were even spoiled to the point of being useless.

Although Liu Zhong also enjoyed the good life, there was always a thought in his mind urging him to study and acquire more knowledge to enrich himself.

Therefore, while he ate, drank, and played, he spent even more time on his studies.

Money was no object for his family, and they hired many private tutors for him.

He learned aristocratic etiquette, twelve foreign languages, how to play the piano and violin, and learned...

His academic grades never fell out of the top three in his grade.

During the college entrance examination, he achieved the top score in science, entered the best university in the country, finished his undergraduate studies in two years, and completed his master’s degree in another two.

By the time he was a doctoral student, he already had his own laboratory—though mostly funded by the Liu family—where he led research projects.

When he turned twenty-five, his parents arranged a blind date for him, which he refused.

He did not want to be a pawn in a family marriage alliance.

His parents were angry, but there was nothing they could do.

After all, he was already a national asset.

Not long after Liu Zhong returned to the laboratory, the world outside changed.

A meteorite struck the Earth, bringing with it an unknown and dangerous virus, leading to the apocalypse.

Yes, the kind of apocalypse with zombies, just like in games.

The virus caused most people to turn into zombies, a small number of people gained superpowers, and the rest remained ordinary humans.

Social order collapsed, and foreign countries were in utter chaos.

Fortunately, the Rabbit Country was efficient; after a brief period of chaos, they brought the situation under control.

Although society had not returned to normal, it was at least better than abroad.

Liu Zhong was invited to join other scientists to study the zombie virus and find a way to cure it.

The research institute was some distance from the survivor base in the capital, so a team was specifically sent to escort the scientists.

Unlike other researchers who lacked physical activity, Liu Zhong had practiced traditional martial arts since childhood and did not give up his daily exercise after joining the institute.

Therefore, his body was very healthy.

When the virus struck, many researchers turned into zombies, but Liu Zhong awakened a superpower.

Space ability.

He could not only create a portable space to store items but also create spatial blades to kill enemies.

The ordinary people in the research institute survived entirely because Liu Zhong eliminated most of the zombies, allowing them to join forces to clear out the rest.

With a powerful space-type ability user like Liu Zhong, the team sent to pick up the researchers suffered minimal casualties and completed the escort mission most smoothly.

After arriving at the base, Liu Zhong threw himself into research.

He and many other scientists worked tirelessly, and after several years, they finally developed an antidote for the zombie virus.

Humanity no longer feared the zombie virus and began a counterattack against the zombies.

It took two years for the scientists to eliminate all the zombies, and the apocalypse finally ended.

Then came the reconstruction of the world.

Liu Zhong walked out of the research institute and joined the reconstruction army.

He met his eldest brother and several cousins who had luckily survived.

Times had changed; the former playboys had grown into steady warriors.

The brothers reunited with deep emotions.

Liu Zhong lived for another thirty years in the post-apocalyptic world.

During this time, he developed many inventions that benefited people's lives.

When Liu Zhong died, many people spontaneously came to see him off.

...

When he closed his eyes, Liu Zhong thought he would fall into a permanent slumber.

But he did not expect to wake up again.

Even more unexpectedly, he was no longer human, but a willow tree growing on an island.

Energy similar to his superpower flowed through his body, and the energy in the air was incomparably abundant—thousands, even tens of thousands of times more than in the apocalyptic world.

With every breath, energy entered his body and circulated automatically.

Liu Zhong: "..."

Had he transmigrated?

And transmigrated into a Xianxia world?

Transformed into a willow spirit?!

Would there be demon hunters or cultivators coming to kill him?

Just as Liu Zhong was letting his imagination run wild, his head throbbed, and he received a massive amount of information.

After a long while, Liu Zhong finished absorbing all the information and let out a long breath.

It turned out he hadn't transmigrated into a willow spirit; the willow tree was his original form.

He was never human to begin with; he was a willow tree living in the Primordial World.

And the origin of this willow tree was quite extraordinary—it was a small twig left behind by the Great Immortal Yang Mei when he departed the Primordial World.

Great Immortal Yang Mei was of the same generation as the Dao Ancestor Hongjun; they existed even before Pangu the Great opened the heavens.

The original form of Great Immortal Yang Mei was a hollow willow tree, which mastered the laws of space and was extremely powerful.

Even Hongjun was no match for Great Immortal Yang Mei.

And the Primordial World could not contain such a powerful existence as Great Immortal Yang Mei.

Therefore, he spent most of his time living in the Chaos.

After Hongjun became a saint, Great Immortal Yang Mei knew that the Primordial World belonged to Hongjun, not him.

He then left the Primordial World and dived into the depths of the Chaos.

Before leaving, Great Immortal Yang Mei had a premonition and snapped off a willow branch from his own body, casting it into the Primordial World.

The willow branch landed on a giant sea turtle.

The sea turtle was lazy and motionless, and over time, dust accumulated on its back, which appeared to other creatures as an island.

The willow branch took root on the turtle's back and gradually grew into a small willow tree.

The willow tree gradually developed consciousness.

Just as it developed consciousness, it was influenced by its innate abilities, which carried his soul through time and space to a small world outside the Primordial World, where he was born into a human womb.

When his human body in that small world died, his innate abilities carried his soul back to his original willow tree form.

Therefore, he did not transmigrate; he returned.

Liu Zhong: "..."

He was actually the descendant of a big shot?

A pleasant surprise!

But the big shot had already left the Primordial World, so he couldn't rely on him!

And the Primordial World was so dangerous!

How miserable!

Liu Zhong was both happy and sad, his mood extremely complex.

When he was still in school, Liu Zhong loved playing games, reading manga, and web novels.

After entering the research institute, whenever he had time, he would go online to read novels to pass the time.

Liu Zhong had read quite a few "Primordial" genre novels.

At the time, he had a strange feeling about the word "Primordial," and he sought out every novel of that genre, whether popular or obscure.

Even if the author's writing was questionable, he endured it and finished the novels.

He didn't know why he was so interested in Primordial novels back then.

Now that he was back in the Primordial World, he finally knew the reason.

It was to gather intelligence!

To brainstorm and use the experiences of the protagonists in the novels to survive in the dangerous Primordial World.

Although the real Primordial World was certainly different from the novels, there were always similarities that could serve as a reference.

Recalling one Primordial novel after another, Liu Zhong hugged his weak and helpless self.

Wuwuwu, the Primordial World is too dangerous.

Old Ancestor Yang Mei, why did you leave me in the Primordial World when you left!

Why didn't you take me with you?!

Liu Zhong sighed, Liu Zhong grieved, Liu Zhong was helpless.

But Liu Zhong had no choice but to accept his fate.

Since he lived in the Primordial World, he had to find a way to live well, find a way to avoid the deadly events in the Primordial World, and just lay low for now.

Of course, he had no choice but to lay low.

He couldn't even take human form yet and couldn't leave the land where he was rooted.

Fortunately, he grew on an island overseas, not on the mainland, so the flames of war there wouldn't reach him.

Liu Zhong breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Eh, the little guy has awakened?"

A voice echoed in Liu Zhong's mind.

Liu Zhong was stunned for a moment before realizing that someone was using their divine sense to transmit a message to him.

This was a basic operation in the Primordial Continent.

"Who are you?"

"I am the Golden Ao. You are currently growing on my back."

"Golden Ao? Golden Ao Island?"

"Yes, yes, I am Golden Ao Island."

Liu Zhong: "..."

He had actually become a native of Golden Ao Island?

Wouldn't that mean when the Master of Heaven (Tongtian Jiaozhu) built the Biyou Palace on Golden Ao Island later, he would be occupying his home?

Uh, it didn't really count as occupying his home.

After all, the place where he grew was only a foot square.

A thought arose in Liu Zhong's mind.

As a native of Golden Ao Island, could he take advantage of his proximity to the source and directly apprentice himself to the Master of Heaven when he came to build the Biyou Palace?

The Master of Heaven was famous for "teaching without discrimination" and didn't care about a disciple's background; he shouldn't refuse a little willow tree as a disciple, right?

After all, he even took a rat as a disciple.

The more Liu Zhong thought about it, the more excited he became; the possibility of this idea being realized was very high.

You say the Jie Sect had a bad ending in the Investiture of the Gods?

So what?

As long as he didn't go to the Ten Thousand Immortal Formation, he shouldn't get into trouble.

After all, quite a few Jie Sect disciples survived in the end; didn't Our Lady of the Turtle Spirit (Wudang Shengmu) live freely later under the name of the Old Mother of Mount Li?

Aside from the calamity of the Investiture of the Gods, being a disciple of the Master of Heaven had many benefits.

If nothing else, he could get quite a few magic treasures, right?

Unlike now, he was penniless and had no magic treasures.

If he encountered an enemy, he wouldn't even be able to fight.

And—

Although he had the cultivation techniques left by Great Immortal Yang Mei in his mind, they were obscure and difficult to understand, and there were many parts he couldn't grasp.

If he became a saint's disciple and received the saint's guidance, he would be able to understand the inherited techniques better and cultivate more smoothly.

(End of chapter)