Time, space, and all energy here have compressed into the smallest conceivable point. This point is so infinitesimally small that conventional concepts of volume cannot describe it; the point is immeasurably heavy, its absolute mass beyond estimation; and the temperature within it is staggeringly high—hundreds of millions of degrees—sufficient to melt and destroy everything.

Within this point, which defies conventional physical description, there exists an alternate void. Just as a single grain of sand contains three thousand worlds, this point held within it an infinite expanse of emptiness.

In the boundless void, myriad twinkling lights, warm and brimming with the breath of life, filled the emptiness. Within this void, the colossal body of a serpent, shimmering gold and radiant with seven-colored divine light, was coiled into a circle. The upper half of this massive serpentine form was distinctly that of a dignified, beautiful, profoundly serious, and majestic yet somewhat benevolent-looking woman. In her left hand, she held a fluttering banner woven from seven-colored light; in her right, a gleaming white ruler. Her slender eyes occasionally opened and closed, revealing undisguised indignation and shame in her gaze.

Within the circle formed by her coiled serpent body, a planet exceeding ten billion kilometers in diameter hovered, slowly revolving in the endless void. This planet was predominantly blue, with green continents rising from the boundless azure oceans. Billowing white clouds rushed to and fro across the atmosphere, occasionally churning into hurricanes, accompanied by flashes of lightning and thunder.

The distribution and shape of the landmasses on this planet were an exact replica of Earth from ages past, identical down to the finest detail, only magnified tens of thousands of times.

On the seven-colored banner held by the woman, a swirl of golden cloud mass churned, cradling a thick slab of deep yellow soil. Wisps of earth constantly lifted from this soil, merging into the floating Earth, causing the impossibly large planet to expand slightly further and solidify a bit more.

At fixed intervals, a piece of soil the size of a thumb would detach from this deep yellow slab, and a fissure would open on the woman’s brow, weeping a few drops of golden blood. The golden blood mixed with the yellow earth, transforming into a viscous, swirling mist carrying faint trails of seven-colored radiance, which descended towards the ground. Once this mist touched the surface, it instantly shattered, either splitting into thirty or fifty smaller clusters, or breaking into eighty or a hundred. Each wisp of mist, catching the heavenly winds, immediately coalesced into bustling figures with black hair and yellow skin, scrambling across the land.

These humans, formed from the swirling mist, were born with all their meridians clear and their Primordial Spirit fully formed. They manifested with at least the cultivation of the Nascent Soul stage, each already possessing the qualification for immortality. They ran and cheered excitedly across the limitless plains, sometimes playing in the clouds, sometimes frolicking by the riverbanks—a picture of pure innocence, their eyes entirely without impurity.

There were already over a hundred thousand people like these, fashioned from the woman’s vital essence and that yellow soil, and more continued to be generated.

If one looked closely, as the swirling mist split to form human shapes, pinpricks of light would emerge from the surrounding void and merge into the mist. These lights contained the visages of men, women, and children, but all bore expressions of sorrowful crying, their faces etched with indignation, resentment, and malice. Yet, once integrated into the mist, these features melted into joyful smiles, all expressions softening immensely, their accumulated grievances instantly dissolved.

In the void, the woman suddenly uttered a profound chant, meticulously expounding an esoteric and mysterious Daoist scripture. Her power was truly immense; every sound and every word, intensified by her overwhelming might, solidified into tangible, colossal golden characters. These distorted ancient serpentine glyphs gradually transformed into clusters of golden lotuses descending to the ground, successively merging into the bodies of the upturned faces waiting below. Instantly, a flicker of bright, clear wisdom entered their eyes, maturing their demeanor.

Gradually, as the woman continued her sermon, some of the people on the ground began to master various divine abilities. Some could transform into swift lightning, streaking across the void; others could become gentle breezes, soaring through the forests. Even more could transform into fierce birds and beasts, roaming freely in the mountains and woods, while others learned to summon wind and rain, predict fortune and disaster, forge weapons, craft armor, and organize armies for simulated combat. Others still learned to build shelters and prepare diverse meals.

On this impossibly vast planet, atop the peak of Mount Everest, Siren and Aredia sat cross-legged.

Behind Siren floated twelve dark wings, slowly drifting. His entire form was enveloped in black flames, and his hair and eyes had turned the profound black of midnight. His skin, however, was incomparably pale, so fair it was dazzling and chilling to behold. He formed a mudra with his hands before his chest, within which a thread of black flame gently writhed.

Aredia also bore twelve wings, but hers were fiery red. Flames of terrifying heat coiled around her body, and her hair and eyes had become crimson. Under the embrace of the flames, her body appeared almost transparent, light red ripples surfacing on her skin, resembling molten colored glass.

After an indeterminate time, Siren suddenly opened his eyes. The void before him distorted, and countless extremely fine black fire-tendrils sprang up, condensing into an extraordinarily light, slender, and delicate longsword that flew into his hand. With a slight flick of his fingers, the sword slashed wildly through the void with a faint hissing sound, creating several thin spatial rifts that lingered for a full fifteen minutes before slowly vanishing.

Aredia also opened her eyes. She snorted coldly and pointed a finger at the void. A torrent of flame erupted from below, solidifying into a staff of blazing red before her. Gripping the staff, she swung it lightly, and vast sheets of fire descended from the sky, instantly melting several thousand meters of rock beneath them, sending plumes of thick smoke billowing into the heavens, carried away by the wind.

The woman in the void sensed the actions of Siren and Aredia. Her body twisted, rapidly shrinking, transforming into an elegant and noble beautiful woman who appeared before them. She held the jade ruler in her left hand, the long banner floating above her head, every movement filled with consummate grace and an unchallengeable, supreme authority. Siren and Aredia immediately knelt, pressing their foreheads deeply to the ground.

The beautiful woman found a rock face and slowly sat down, stating coldly, "How far has your cultivation progressed?" Siren hurriedly reported, "Aredia and I have both attained the strength of the Third Grade Heavenly Immortal!"

The beautiful woman nodded. "Weak, yet likely sufficient for the current mortal world. Do you know who I am?"

Siren nodded vigorously, daring not to look directly at the beautiful woman. He could still recall the scene of Earth’s destruction—the warships of the Polaris Empire causing the planet to collapse instantly, reducing its billions of inhabitants to ash in a flicker. Siren had only managed to preserve a single wisp of Aredia’s residual soul, but facing the absolute peril of a black hole, the low-powered Siren could only cling to life, on the verge of being torn to shreds by the black hole’s force.

Just as Earth and Siren were about to vanish, an incomparably brilliant golden light erupted from Earth's core, followed by the woman's colossal form, stretching for hundreds of millions of miles, spanning the void. Holding the banner and the jade ruler, she roared toward the heavens in fury. With a swing of her banner, in the blink of an eye, she stabilized the encroaching black hole power at the periphery, preserving Earth, Siren, and Aredia within the minute singularity at the black hole’s heart.

Not only did she preserve them, but the banner in her hand also saved the residual souls of the billions who had instantly turned to dust. Although these souls had been eroded by the black hole’s power to near non-existence, leaving only a fragment of their original essence, through the woman's divine shaping, these souls were reassembled into complete spirits and merged into the newly created humans. When Siren and Aredia witnessed the woman using her own vital essence to mold humanity from the yellow soil, they understood her identity: the ancient Sage, Nuwa, the only female among the Sages.

Nuwa nodded slightly, frowning as she glanced at the wings behind Siren and Aredia, sighing softly, "You are both of my human lineage, yet you cultivate these strange arts. However, judging by your auras, these techniques and bloodlines are inherited from the Primordial Deities, so it is perhaps acceptable."

With a light tap on a nearby stone, Nuwa’s tone suddenly turned chillingly sharp and filled with killing intent: "Do you know who dared to covet my Human Origin Star?"

Siren and Aredia exchanged a glance and both shook their heads. "We do not know, but perhaps our friend might."

"Oh?" Nuwa paused, then suddenly reached out and touched Siren’s brow, effortlessly scanning all his memories. After a moment of contemplation, Nuwa laughed. "Interesting children. That little one named Gu Yechen is quite intriguing. Looking at the images in your memory, this child has an extraordinary destiny, an acquired being who has cultivated the Primordial Harmony True Method and the Grand Yin True Scripture. Even in ancient times, those with such destiny were exceptional." She nodded, her voice light. "Very well, very well. With Gu Yechen's temperament, if he is still alive, he must be investigating the mastermind now. Siren, I have a task for you."

Siren hurriedly prostrated himself. "Please command me."

Nuwa spoke solemnly. "Whoever dares covet the Human Origin Star—annihilate their entire clan, erase all relatives. If that Gu Yechen has already begun his actions, assist him. If he fails, this matter falls to you. Can you accomplish this?"

Siren ground his teeth fiercely. "That is certain. No matter who they are, they killed so many people; I will not let them rest easily."

Nodding with satisfaction, Nuwa fell silent for a moment, then suddenly flicked the jade ruler in her hand. It transformed into a six-foot, one-inch-long, extremely thin and slender rapier, which she handed to Siren. She gestured toward the banner floating above her head; a flame rose from it, turning into a three-foot, six-inch long staff, entirely crimson. She handed the staff to Aredia. She smiled. "These two treasures were famous in their time. One is the Fate Ruler, crafted by my elder brother to measure the destiny of all living beings; the other is the Banner of Ten Thousand Spirits, which I fashioned myself. I grant them to you today."

After a slight pause, Nuwa took the slab of yellow soil floating above the banner and forcefully split it into two pieces. Then, with a forceful throw, she merged them into Siren's and Aredia's brows. A massive, potent warmth surged into their bodies; their bones and muscles made popping sounds, and they felt their physical forms strengthen significantly. Nuwa chuckled. "There is little of this Xirang left; I might as well fulfill your destiny, and its own."

Nuwa meticulously explained the miraculous effects of the Xirang. Siren and Aredia listened with mingled astonishment and joy, nearly jumping with excitement.

Siren had inherited the power of the Dark Angel Lord, Mnemosyne, and within this black hole, he had transferred a portion of that power to Aredia to repair her soul and body. Both practiced the Great Dream Reincarnation Path, and with Nuwa's aid, they achieved the realm of the immortal and indestructible Twelve-Winged Angel. But although they possessed undying bodies, their physical foundations were comparatively fragile. While enemies might not be able to kill them, they could be permanently sealed, just like Mnemosyne in the past. By integrating the Xirang into their bodies, their physical strength—be it defense, speed, or reaction time—was enhanced a hundredfold. Their bodies no longer feared ordinary sealing powers. As their cultivation deepened, they would further unlock the marvelous efficacy of the Xirang, eventually becoming like it: endless, without beginning or end, impossible to destroy unless the fundamental Heavenly Dao laws of this universe were invoked.

And as their cultivation deepened, the Xirang would draw a portion of their power to gradually proliferate and increase, and the more Xirang they possessed, the stronger their power would become. Such was the miraculous nature of the Xirang, hailed as the wonder of the world.

Their immediate benefits were apparent: the World Puppets summoned by Siren and Aredia were also imbued with a trace of the Xirang's aura, making their puppets stronger! Furthermore, due to the extraordinary life force contained within the Xirang, their World Puppets would transcend the category of mere energy aggregates and begin to resemble living beings.

Nuwa slowly detailed the myriad divine effects of the Fate Ruler, now transformed into the longsword, and the Banner of Ten Thousand Spirits, now the staff. She interspersed her teachings by offering occasional pointers on the mysteries of the Dark Angel's Undying Body inherited by Siren and Aredia, allowing them to grasp their powers more directly. She even commented occasionally on their Great Dream Reincarnation Path cultivation; though only a few words here and there, these brief remarks deepened their comprehension of the path by more than several times.

The insight and divine powers of a Sage were far beyond the imagination of mortals. The karmic affinity that allowed Siren and Aredia to receive personal tutelage from Nuwa was, in a way, even greater than that of Gu Yechen.