X-Dragon Era

And even after heaven was opened, the eight directions still needed the Sky-opening Axe itself to guard them, to block the chaotic currents from flowing in. Owing so much to it, how could one not feel indebted?

Therefore, Hongjun positioned it at the feet of Pangu's True Form, leaving it to fate. The Axe Soul of the Sky-opening Axe could not be destroyed; if the variable truly vanished, it would also go against the Way that Hongjun had comprehended.

The moment the Axe Soul of the Sky-opening Axe was destroyed, the heavens and earth would instantly become perfect, and without the capacity for change, they would collapse immediately.

The so-called Way of Heaven is fifty, yet the Great Expansion is forty-nine; the missing one is this Soul of the Sky-opening Axe. The moment this void is filled, the world, having no change, will return to chaos. However, although the Great Way lacks one, that one does exist, as a variable.

If it were truly eradicated, then the Way would no longer lack one but would be merely forty-nine and still bereft of change. Therefore, the Axe Soul could only be suppressed, not truly destroyed.

Hongjun's Way is like a chessboard with fifty empty squares. Each square can and may only hold one piece. Now... Hongjun's chessboard has forty-nine pieces, leaving one vacant square. Because there is a vacancy, the pieces can move. If that one piece were added, then there would no longer be any game to play, as the absence of vacancies would simply mean a dead game.

If the Soul of the Sky-opening Axe were destroyed, it wouldn't be a matter of leaving a vacant square but rather erasing that square, leaving only forty-nine squares with no vacancies and still no capacity for change. Hence, this does not conform with Hongjun's Way.

The missing one does not fail to exist; it simply isn't within Hongjun's control. It's precisely the presence of a vacant spot that has led to all kinds of changes, and that vacant spot leading to changes is called the variable, the elusive one!

Looking at the trembling Sky-opening Axe in his hand, formed of Five-Colored Radiance, Xin Yun thought a great deal in that moment, finally understanding which era he found himself in.

After Pangu opened heaven, this world belonged neither to demons nor to shamans, and humankind was far from being born. This was the world of dragons, the age of dragons! And this Sky-opening Axe was the only variable of this era!

In the legends, the birds are honored by the Phoenix, the animals by the Qilin, and the scaled creatures by the Dragon. However… that era had not yet arrived. In the current era, the dragon was the sole ruler of this world, and even The Three Pure Ones, transformed from Pangu, were now hiding in the shadows.
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At this point in time, Xin Yun finally realized that this so-called Tongtian Mountain was actually the Mount Buzhou spoken of in later times, formed from the body of Pangu, the very one later struck down by the Water God Gonggong.

Feeling wave after wave of information transmitted by the Axe Soul, Xin Yun experienced a strong sense of unwillingness in his heart, unsure if it was for himself or for the Sky-opening Axe.

In later generations, this axe had been submerged in the long corridor of time, its name even changed to Pangu Axe, but in truth, as one of the two great heroes of the creation of heaven, the Sky-opening Axe should simply be called the Sky-opening Axe!

Of course, after the Sky-opening Axe opened heaven, it wasn't without benefits. Although Hongjun interrupted its key moment of restoration, during the earlier restoration, the Axe Soul absorbed a part of the Xuanhuang Qi.

If all the Xuanhuang Qi were divided into fifty portions, the Sky-opening Axe would have absorbed about one-tenth, but this one-tenth was not under Hongjun's control—it was the sole variable.

The other forty-nine parts are contained within Hongjun, the eight fragments, and in the hands of The Three Pure Ones, forming the currently functioning Great Way. However, the portion contained within the Axe Soul is the only variable not under Hongjun's control.

Taking a deep breath, Xin Yun closed his eyes, channeled the Power of the Soul, and slowly connected with the Soul of the Sky-opening Axe in his hand. The next moment... Xin Yun felt a void in his hand as the brightly shining Sky-opening Axe instantly contracted and, guided by Xin Yun's right hand, entered into his body, appearing in his Sea of Consciousness.

Closing his eyes and entering the Sea of Consciousness, the Five-Colored Radiance of the Sky-opening Axe gently rotated within Xin Yun's Sea of Consciousness. Seeing this, Xin Yun took a deep breath and cast his soul into the Soul of the Pangu Axe.

The Pangu Axe Soul had a soul but no spirit; therefore, it had no self or consciousness. It was like a computer that, although knowing much and capable of calculation, lacked the power to think; it operated solely based on calculated results.

Therefore, when Xin Yun infused his own soul into it, he instantly merged with the Soul of the Sky-opening Axe, creating a unique existence dominated by Xin Yun with the Soul of the Sky-opening Axe as auxiliary.

Each human soul possesses three parts: the first is the Heavenly Soul, the second the Earth Soul, the third the Life Soul. The seven essences are; the First Soul Sky Rush, the second the Essence of Wisdom, the three as Qi, the fourth as Strength, the fifth the Central Pivot, the sixth as the Six Souls as Essence, and the seventh as the Heroic Spirit.

But the Xin Heaven Opening Axe, though having only five souls, perfectly corresponds to the Five Elements as the Innate Chaos Soul, thus cannot merge into a single entity. For Xin Yun, the Sky-opening Axe is akin to an affiliated soul attached to his own, two souls sharing one spirit.

To put it perhaps confusingly, put simply, Xin Yun has incorporated it into himself; the Sky-opening Axe has become like one of Xin Yun's own limbs.

Perhaps someone will ask why Hongjun didn't refine it for his own use. The reason is simple: the moment Hongjun refined the Sky-opening Axe, the Great Way would immediately be filled to fifty, losing all possibility of change. Therefore, it wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he could not.