The surrounding clouds were indistinguishable from ordinary ones, yet the clouds Wu Tao and You Meng stood upon were no ordinary formations; they were as solid as stone, made of cloud-rock.
The miraculous creation of heaven and earth was beyond human imagination.
...
While Yunzhou was not as vast as the Nine Provinces' immortal cultivation world, nor even as large as Zizhou's immortal cultivation world, it still constituted a region of immortal cultivation.
Yunzhou, suspended in the heavens, held mysteries and wonders entirely different from the immortal cultivation realms Wu Tao had visited.
"Such potent spiritual energy! The spiritual energy here in Yunzhou is even denser than in the Nine Provinces, the underground immortal cultivation world, or Zizhou's immortal cultivation world."
Despite Yunzhou's actual area being smaller than the Nine Provinces, the underground immortal cultivation world, or Zizhou's immortal cultivation world, its spiritual energy was remarkably concentrated.
As the two continued forward, Wu Tao's pupils contracted slightly.
Pushing aside the swirling mist, they saw that the plants and trees before them were extraordinarily large.
Any random large tree had a diameter of at least ten *zhang*, and even more incredibly, these were ordinary trees, not spiritual ones.
Hiss, how could a mere bird, devoid of any spiritual energy, grow to be over ten *zhang* tall?
And the caterpillars, as thick as an adult's thigh, crawling wantonly on those trees – they were the most common of insects, yet they had grown so immense.
What was wrong with Yunzhou?
Why did everything seem… magnified?
Wu Tao was filled with questions.
Though Wu Tao possessed Su Ming's memories, it was only a portion, and many things remained unknown to him.
According to legends in Zizhou's immortal cultivation world, Yunzhou, the celestial realm, was a great continent that the three thousand demon gods had collectively lifted into the sky at the dawn of creation.
Later, when the world underwent drastic changes, the three thousand demon gods all perished for reasons unknown.
This Yunzhou, isolated in the sky, became a land without a master, and many races came to inhabit it.
...
However, Wu Tao's visit was merely an inspection; he had no intention of staying long.
"Let's go!"
"We'll gather some information and then return to Zizhou!"
With that, Wu Tao moved, intending to transform into a streak of light and fly into the distance.
"Wait a moment."
You Meng reached out and grabbed Wu Tao, a determined expression on her face.
Prompted by You Meng, Wu Tao's divine sense spread out, and a pensive look appeared on his face.
Within the range of his divine sense, two groups were battling not far ahead.
What did he see? The Giant race and the Celestial race, which should have long vanished from the annals of history, were now engaged in combat less than ten *li* away.
In the sky, beings resembling humans, but with wings on their backs and claw-like hands, could be seen.
"Are these winged humans the Celestial race?"
The Celestial race members moved with wings swift as the wind, their claws sharp, their movements creating a fierce gale, clearly adept at wind and cloud-based spells.
In terms of performance and offensive power, they were in no way inferior to human cultivators of the same level, and in fact, slightly superior.
...
The Giants on the ground were even more formidable.
Each stood a thousand *zhang* tall; describing them as mountain-like would not be an exaggeration.
Moreover, their vitality was incredibly dense, and they possessed various innate divine abilities.
Two intelligent races that should have faded into history were now putting on a spectacular battle before Wu Tao and You Meng.
In terms of individual combat, the Giants were naturally more dominant.
However, at the moment, the Celestial race held a numerical advantage, and not a small one.
There were over a thousand Celestial race members besieging a dozen Giants.
The thousand-plus Celestial race members flapped their wings, creating gusts of wind and swirling tornadoes, launching attacks upon the dozen Giants below.
...
A single Giant could handle ten Celestial race members, or even a dozen, but to face a hundred alone would be absurd.
Yet, these dozen Giants were not to be trifled with.
...
Finding themselves at a disadvantage, they chanted ancient syllables.
Large amounts of their blood flowed from their bodies.
The streams of blood danced in the air, and under the control of these dozen Giants, they transformed into blood spears.
In just a short while, more than half of the thousand-plus Celestial race members flying in the air had been killed or wounded.
And these dozen Giants merely appeared pale and severely weakened.
This demonstrated that the bloodline divine abilities of the Giant race far surpassed those of the Celestial race.
Subsequently, the dozen Giants wielded their stone weapons, combined with their innate divine abilities, and hewed the remaining Celestial race members into scattered fragments.
"Hahaha, today's spoils are excellent! Not a single brother lost, and over a thousand of those bird-people of the Celestial race are dead!"
Among these dozen Giants, the leader was over three thousand *zhang* tall, his muscles bulging with explosive power, only wearing a beast-skin loincloth.
Despite his weakened state from using his innate abilities, he was still in good spirits, laughing heartily with a robust voice that rolled like waves of air.
"The boss is right, today's gains are indeed considerable!"
"Without a single brother lost, we've slain over a thousand bird-people of the Celestial race. Such a powerful feat, we can boast about it back at the tribe!"
"It's all thanks to the boss's brilliant plan to ambush these bird-people here!"
"..."
These dozen Giants, resembling mountains, burst into laughter after annihilating all the Celestial race members in the sky, their moods evidently high.
"Esteemed sirs, please remain!"
Just as the Giants began to collect the corpses of the Celestial race and prepare to leave, Wu Tao strode forward, his figure flashing as he appeared directly before them.
"Who goes there?"
The dozen Giants, who had been chatting and laughing, froze at the sound.
The leader roared, his hundred-zhang stone axe whistling through the air with a fearsome sound as it hurtled towards Wu Tao.
The other Giants were not slow to react, picking up clubs and swinging their weapons at Wu Tao.
Their intention was to strike first and avoid being struck.
Unfortunately, their plan was destined to fail.
"I bear no ill will, why the need for such tension?"
Wu Tao chuckled softly, then gently waved his sleeve forward.
An invisible force spread outwards.
These dozen Giants, wielding their weapons, were instantly repelled.
Fortunately, Wu Tao had held back; the dozen Giants merely tumbled onto their faces.
Next, Wu Tao released a trace of his aura.
Upon sensing this aura, the dozen Giants trembled violently, as if they had encountered something terrifying.
Lying on the ground, they exchanged glances, then roared as if to bolster their courage.
The next moment, they moved their massive bodies, turned abruptly, and fled into the distance.
The corpses of the Celestial race were nothing compared to their own lives.
Watching the dozen Giants flee, Wu Tao's smile widened.
A hint of curiosity flickered in his eyes.
...
"Still trying to leave?"
"Stay where you are!"
Wu Tao extended his right middle finger and gently tapped the void.
Countless sword threads formed a vast net, instantly enveloping them.
These sword energies, finer than hairs, seemed as delicate as the wind, easily broken.
Yet, no matter how earth-shattering their strength, how they struggled, these Giants could not break free from the giant net woven from sword threads.
Even setting aside sheer power, in terms of bloodline hierarchy, Wu Tao, who had refined the Chaos Primordial Embryo Stone and possessed a portion of the Giant ancestor's blood, needed only to release a wisp of his aura to suppress these dozen Giants.
It was precisely because they sensed the bloodline pressure emanating from Wu Tao that these dozen Giants had turned and fled without hesitation.
...
Looking at the dozen Giants bound by the sword threads, trembling.
Wu Tao shook his head slightly and said, "Why run? Will I eat you? Do you think I will?"
"In fact, we share the same blood flowing within us."
As he spoke, the dense sword threads surrounding them vanished.
It was as if Wu Tao harbored no concern about their escape.
The dozen Giants, feeling the homologous aura emanating from Wu Tao, trembled.
Then, their eyes revealed an uncontrollable excitement and joy.
At this moment, they finally truly recognized Wu Tao as one of their own.
Moreover, Wu Tao's bloodline was not that of an ordinary Giant, but a supreme king's bloodline.
Almost simultaneously, the dozen Giants hunched their bodies, their heads bowed, their forms nearly prostrate on the ground.
The fervent admiration on their faces was entirely genuine.
The Giant race was a unique clan among the myriad races.
...
In the era of creation, after the three thousand demon gods slaughtered each other and fell, their bloodlines transformed into the Giant race.
In their infancy, Giants could uproot mountains and divert rivers; as adults, they could pluck stars and chase suns, standing a thousand *zhang* tall. Their bloodline divine abilities, during the ancient era when myriad races coexisted, ranked within the top ten.
They possessed unimaginably potent power; each member could capture the sun and moon, and move mountains and fill seas with their might.