Chapter 9: Dragon Clan
\nThere was no grand battle as imagined\u2014only faint thuds echoing through the air. The seven mightiest beings of the Ancient Ruins Continent vanished under Zuo Meng\u2019s will, erased as casually as swatting flies. In this world he created, his laws reigned supreme. If he decreed no air existed, air ceased to be.
\n\u201cSeven\u2026 like stone-carved gourd dolls.\u201d
\nZuo Meng glanced at the Seven Stones scattered on the ground\u2014former apex beings reduced to lifeless rocks. With a flick of his sleeve, he hurled them beyond the Taichu Immortal Island. Even these primordial remnants held no worth for him. Why collect what he could effortlessly recreate?
\n\u201cA reset is needed. My first attempt at governing this world was sloppy\u2014too many flaws.\u201d
\nHe stretched out his hand and swept it across the land.
\n*Hummm!*
\nAn invisible force rippled outward. The sky over the Ancient Ruins Continent darkened. Mountains split, oceans boiled, and volcanoes roared. A world shaped over billions of years spiraled into apocalyptic ruin within moments.
\nA massive turtle clawed through the mud, trembling as it stared skyward.
\n\u201cI warned them.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Taichu Immortal Ancestor\u2014source of all laws, root of existence\u2014could never perish. Those fools rebelling against him? Suicide! Now their stupidity drowns even Grandpa Turtle!\u201d
\nThis was the Turtle Ancestor, survivor of Zuo Meng\u2019s earliest teachings. When the Three Chaotic Beings\u2014Huang, Ling, and Kun\u2014had rallied others to assault the Taichu Immortal Island, this cunning reptile had burrowed into hiding. Cowardice saved his shell.
\n\u201cThe world ends, yet I\u2019ve done nothing wrong!\u201d
\nThe turtle let mud engulf him. Before hibernating, he etched symbols onto his shell with shaky claws:
\n*Ancient Era. Three Chaotic Beings defied Tai Chu. Heaven shattered. Earth drowned. All life perished\u2026*
\nChaos raged for seven days.
\nWhen stillness returned, the world had rebooted\u2014not destroyed, but remade. Lands remained, select creatures survived. The Turtle Ancestor, now strongest among survivors, shivered as Zuo Meng\u2019s gaze brushed over him. The creator said nothing.
\n\u201cTrying to mimic the Honghuang legends was folly. How can I codify transcendent laws when I barely grasp them myself? Better mirror the real world\u2019s rules\u2026 then enhance slightly.\u201d
\nMountains sank. Oceans shifted. Time accelerated, compressing eons into breaths. Floating continents fused into a spinning sphere. Zuo Meng strode east, poked a glowing orb\u2014*whoosh!*\u2014flames birthed the sun. Westward, his fingertip kindled the moon. A handful of fragments tossed skyward became stars.
\nHe reshaped rivers and peaks from memory, purging illogical remnants: nonsensical cultivation methods, instantly sapient chaotic beings. The world\u2019s energy plummeted from mythic grandeur to earthly simplicity\u2014the dawn of the Totem Era.
\n\u201cXuan Gui.\u201d
\nZuo Meng tapped the ground.
\nThe Xuan Gui awoke, mud crusting its shell. Seeing the transformed world\u2014and the Taichu Immortal Ancestor\u2014it flattened itself in terror.
\n\u201cThis age is called the Totem Era. No more chaotic beings. You alone remain from the past.\u201d Zuo Meng preserved the turtle as a guide for newborn intelligences. Downgrading the world\u2019s power had merits\u2014stability increased, resonance with reality strengthened. More influence would seep outward upon awakening.
\n\u201cTeach all creatures how to wield totems. Succeed, and immortality is yours.\u201d
\n\u201cYour will be done!\u201d
\nThe Turtle Ancestor quivered with exhilaration. The Three Chaotic Beings had sought eternal life through rebellion\u2014now their bones were dust, while he, the coward, gained paradise. Heaven\u2019s humor was dark indeed.
\nZuo Meng vanished.
\nThe Taichu Immortal Island dissolved, its remnants becoming black holes in cosmic crevices. Above the clouds, Zuo Meng resumed his true form\u2014an unfathomable entity beyond mortal comprehension. This realm was his alone, unlike the restrained avatar he\u2019d used for teaching.
\n\u201cDefying heaven? Child\u2019s play. My creations can\u2019t kill me unless I script their triumph for amusement.\u201d
\nSilence settled.
\nUnlike the botched Ancient Era\u2014where emulating Daoist ancestors spawned half-baked cultivators who later turned on him\u2014Zuo Meng now withdrew completely. Let the world grow untended.
\nYears trickled by.
\nA century. Five centuries.
\nIn the Eastern Sea, a serpent crawled ashore. Over generations, fins became claws, scales hardened, horns sprouted. When the Nth generation emerged, they bore no resemblance to ancestors.
\nThe first wise serpent named their kind\u2014Dragon Clan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chapter 9: Dragon Clan There was no grand battle as imagined\u2014only faint thuds echoing through the air. The seven mightiest beings of the Ancient Ruins Continent vanished under Zuo Meng\u2019s will, erased as casually as swatting flies. In this world he created, his laws reigned supreme. If he decreed no air existed, air ceased to be. \u201cSeven\u2026 like stone-carved gourd dolls.\u201d Zuo Meng glanced\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[3],"tags":[],"fcn_genre":[],"fcn_fandom":[],"fcn_character":[],"fcn_content_warning":[],"class_list":["post-1387","fcn_chapter","type-fcn_chapter","status-publish","hentry","category-dreaming-to-become-a-creator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/1387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fcn_chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/1387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_genre?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_fandom","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_fandom?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_character","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_character?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_content_warning","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmp.gravitytales.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_content_warning?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}