Chapter 134: She Is the Breath of Earth

The Essence Soil remained motionless after entering the chaotic burial ground, while time continued to pass swiftly.

Xuanyuan Tunhan looked up at the sky.

Ning Xianyu followed his gaze and noticed a hole had appeared in the sky.

The hole was not large, but it truly existed.

This opening was carved by the Jade Fairy's sword, and the surrounding area still held the aura of the Universe Sword.

That strike was indeed formidable—capable of cleaving the heavens.

Though the hole soon seemed to vanish from sight, she could still sense its presence.

The entire Yunhuang Continent underwent a tremendous transformation; the air became less abundant than before, and spiritual energy began to dissipate from that very hole.

The land was no longer suitable for the survival of such massive ancient trees, so the ancient tree space, in a way, became a protective sanctuary for their clan.

Cultivators found it increasingly difficult to advance; breaking through to the Void Fragment Realm was now a rare feat.

Many did not understand why the Yunhuang Continent had changed so drastically, attributing it to the will of Heaven.

Ning Xianyu herself was puzzled. From a scientific perspective, the sky is the atmosphere—a protective layer formed by air under the influences of gravity and attraction on the planet's surface.

If it is a protective layer, how could there be a hole?

Could it be that the ozone layer had been damaged?

At that moment, a massive fiery red sphere rolled in from afar.

Originally, it should have passed by the planet, but due to the hole's existence, it was suddenly drawn in.

"Damn, no way!"

The fireball hurtled toward the Yunhuang Continent, scratching fragments off its outer shell as it passed through the outer air layer. These fragments fell to the ground, sparking wildfires and creating a massive crater.

The flames reddened the sky, turning half the world into scorched earth.

The red sphere remained fixed in the sky, becoming a gigantic red sun.

"So that's how the Demon Star came to be?"

Looking at it this way, the catastrophe of the Demon Star was self-inflicted by the creatures of the Yunhuang Continent.

Had there been no great war, no spatial rupture; if the Jade Fairy had not cleaved the space, the hole in the sky would not have appeared, and the Demon Star would never have been attracted and trapped there.

From beginning to end, it was a case of self-inflicted disaster. Alas.

Xuanyuan Tunhan’s expression shifted as he lowered his head to examine the spot where the Essence Soil had vanished.

They had only stood there for a brief moment, yet the surroundings had undergone immense change—ten thousand years, fifty thousand years, a hundred thousand years... Time hastened by.

Then, the Essence Soil finally moved.

It slowly rose from the earth, continually transforming.

Day by day, from a pillar, it gradually took on the shape of a human.

At first, the figure was vague—barely recognizable as a person.

But over time, the human form became more refined, and after an unknown span, it fully transformed into a real person.

This person was small, only five or six years old—a little girl dressed in tattered clothes scavenged from corpses.

She searched nearby for food, eating anything she could find.

Soon, she began to grow like a regular human.

Not long after, someone passing by took her in.

She entered the human world, learning to survive, slowly becoming a genuine person—mischievous yet still fond of food.

Later, she heard that the nearby Immortal Mountain was recruiting disciples; intrigued by the power of becoming an immortal, she went along.

Once on the mountain, after changing into new clothes and by a stroke of fate entering the Qi Refining stage, she underwent a complete transformation.

Ning Xianyu reached up and closed her own jaw.

"Is this... me?"

The gluttonous little disciple before her was none other than herself.

So, she was the Essence Soil transformed?

She was a spirit born from a pile of earth?

Xuanyuan Tunhan glanced at her and nodded.

But he was somewhat puzzled. He could only say that her body was Essence Soil, but her soul was not.

Her soul should not be an ordinary spirit from another world; it ought to be a fusion of soul and the consciousness of the Essence Soil.

This was a marvelous existence—one never before seen in the Yunhuang Continent’s millions of years of history.

Ning Xianyu remained stunned, unable to shake off the shock.

She was actually formed from soil. She was literally a pile of earth.

She had always thought herself a simple nobody, but it turned out she was a gem-encrusted nobody.

She had a great origin.

Xuanyuan Tunhan murmured, "No wonder."

Everything became clear at this point.

No wonder she was so strongly drawn to stones—whether Blood Source Stone or Heaven Mending Stone—they all favored her, preferring to stay in her divine residence.

Because she was the Essence Soil incarnate, the primordial source of the land, she offered the sentient stones a motherly sense of security.

Also, because she was Essence Soil, he could help her swiftly improve her cultivation; only she could absorb the cultivation from Nian Laisheng so rapidly.

And only she could fuse the Heaven Mending Stone back to its original form and mend the hole in the sky.

So this was the turning point.

The Essence Soil had been wounded in that great war and had now finally recovered—transformed into a human woman.

No wonder they had searched for over a hundred thousand years without a trace.

Now this woman had appeared, bringing the most crucial factor; by sacrificing her, the Yunhuang Continent could be saved.

Xuanyuan Tunhan looked deeply into Ning Xianyu’s eyes and tightly grasped her hand.

Ning Xianyu, unaware of what had transpired, simply thought she was a lucky gem-encrusted nobody born under great fortune.

[“Tongzi, did you see that? It seems I’m actually the heroine of this story. Haha, my luck’s incredible!”]

The system remained silent, utterly clueless about what she had seen and could only ask in confusion what was going on.

Ning Xianyu suddenly remembered—the system could only perceive the outside world through her body but could not enter her soul to see anything.

So she did have some privacy.

She hurriedly told the system about being the Essence Soil incarnate, boasting about how awesome her body was.

[“I’m a body transformed from Essence Soil. Does that mean I’m essentially immortal? I don’t have to fear death anymore?”]

The system was stunned beyond belief; it never expected that the body it casually found for her was one transformed from Essence Soil.

[“When I brought you here, the original soul of this body was long gone. I don’t know what the original soul of the Essence Soil was like, but I always felt it wasn’t something good.”]

Ning Xianyu proudly said, [“You’re just jealous of me.”]

The system was speechless: [“Jealous of you? Think again. You’re not the heroine. You’re just a background character in this story. Now, what kind of treatment does a background character with hidden treasures get?”]

Ning Xianyu immediately recalled every uplifting novel she had read and quickly drew a conclusion.

[“They’re all stepping stones for the leads. The more treasures they carry, the faster and crueler their deaths. I... am doomed?”]