Chapter 123: Crafting a Nuclear Weapon by Hand, Refining Elixirs the Primitive Way

A massive swarm of the Wu clan surged into Luo Village, packing the area inside and out until not even a drop of water could trickle through.

These Wu clansmen possessed bizarre and varied appearances, though most maintained a humanoid shape and walked upright. They were uniformly robust and towering; the shortest among them stood thirty to forty feet tall, while the largest reached nearly a thousand feet. As they moved at the foot of the mountains surrounding Luo Village, the very summit trembled under the weight of their footsteps.

Nevertheless, Luo Zu welcomed them hospitably. Guests from afar were not to be neglected. Furthermore, the Wu were more courteous than the Demon clan; they did not resort to violence upon arrival. Given their somewhat similar appearances and past interactions—especially the groundwork laid by Shixian, which had fostered considerable goodwill among the "Cave Dwellers"—the villagers were able to accept these Wu visitors.

Moreover, Luo Zu had never expressed any dissatisfaction toward the Wu, so the villagers felt nothing but awe and friendliness toward these powerful neighbors.

The "Cave Dwellers" had little to offer in terms of hospitality, mostly consisting of wild mountain melons, fruits, and the meat of wild beasts. Their newly cultivated livestock had only just begun to be harvested.

In contrast, the Wu of the Thermal Clan returned to their own tribe and brought back another contingent, along with a heap of tribal delicacies. However, the food prepared by the Thermal Wu was inedible for the Cave Dwellers. These Wu would draw upon geothermal fire, scrape up filthy, baleful energy, and temper it with the intense heat of the earth until it was refined into glowing, golden "delicacies."

Upon inspection, Luo Zu realized these "delicacies" were essentially raw materials for nuclear bombs.

"Good heavens... are these Wu capable of hand-crafting nuclear weapons?" Luo Zu marveled at their raw ferocity. They were completely oblivious to the nature of their creation, treating these nuclear materials as food.

"This is a potent supplement," the elder of the Thermal Wu insisted fervently.

Fortunately, everyone here was a denizen of the Primordial World, possessing strong and resilient bodies. Since these bodies had been sculpted and planned by the goddess Nüwa, the concentration of nuclear material was currently low enough that the terrifying radiation posed no immediate threat to the human race.

The Thermal Wu, unbothered, swallowed these golden dishes that radiated a dizzying light. Luo Zu observed that they could indeed digest them; through their unique physiological structure, they metabolized the materials into precious medicine that nourished their bodies. These nuclear precursors further stimulated the Wu bloodline within them, using the contained energy to strengthen their blood, flesh, and spirit.

The Wu did not shun the Primordial Spirit as is often claimed in legends. To be precise, in the entire Primordial World, aside from Luo Zu, no one cultivated a Primordial Spirit. If you mentioned the term, people wouldn't ask how to "activate" it; they would ask what it even was.

Everyone cultivated the "Spirit Soul." This was true for the Demons and the Wu alike. Although both possessed souls and spirits—with the spirit belonging to the divine and the soul to the physical body—once they reached a certain level of cultivation, they would merge the two into a single "Spirit Soul," leaving behind the soul-spirit duality.

In truth, this was quite similar to a Primordial Spirit. The difference was that a Primordial Spirit was like adding a suit of integrated armor to the soul-spirit, refining the spirit into Daoist techniques, and then constructing the Primordial Spirit from those techniques. They were mutually reinforcing; if the Primordial Spirit were damaged, the soul-spirit would suffer, yet they could still exist separately.

However, if a Spirit Soul were damaged, the physical body would be irreparably harmed; there was no possibility of separation. Yet, the Spirit Soul was more in tune with the laws of heaven and earth—it was the "current meta" of the Primordial World. In this regard, the Primordial Spirit was slightly weaker, though only by a margin of ninety-nine to a hundred.

Furthermore, the path of the Spirit Soul had been trodden by many predecessors—it was a well-paved road. Luo Zu was currently the only one to have progressed this far with the Primordial Spirit. Having achieved the Immortal Body of the Primordial Spirit, he had bridged the gap between his path and the Spirit Soul. As for which was superior, Luo Zu could not yet determine; he would need to continue his practice and research.

As for the Spirit Soul techniques of the Wu and Demons: the Wu technique was more aligned with their bloodline, thus emphasizing the physical body. Even after merging into a Spirit Soul, it remained within the flesh, continuing to strengthen it. Since their bodies were derived from the essence blood of Pangu, they were inherently in harmony with nature. Cultivating this way was simultaneously strengthening the body and practicing the Great Dao of heaven and earth.

The Demon cultivation of the Spirit Soul was more eclectic. Some focused on the physical body to manifest incredible supernatural abilities, while others sought transcendence, absorbing the essence of celestial stars and gradually anchoring their spirit to a star in the heavens, eventually refining it to become a Demon God.

There were thousands of ways to cultivate, each unique, even within the same clan. Yet, the general stages were consistent. For the Wu, these were: Wu Commoner, Wu Priest, Earth Wu, Heaven Wu, Great Wu, and Ancestral Wu. For the Demons, they were: True Immortal, Heaven Immortal, Mysterious Immortal, Golden Immortal, Taiyi Golden Immortal, and Daluo Golden Immortal.

Returning to the Thermal Wu’s nuclear-crafting technology, Luo Zu was quite envious, though the Thermal Wu thought nothing of it. They had not extrapolated the science further; they had not actually refined a "nuclear bomb." Even if they had, they would not have cared much, as the destructive power of such a weapon was not necessarily superior to their own innate combat abilities.

Just like the immortal technique Luo Zu had displayed moments ago—dazzling like a silver tree in bloom—the coverage spanned a thousand miles. If he were ruthless and added more immortal energy, he could expand it to three thousand miles.

The Thermal Wu clan did not hide their craft and taught their trade secret to Luo Zu. "I hear there is a Pill Wu to the east who specializes in using this method to refine 'Longevity Pills.' The medicinal benefits of their pills are far superior to ours," the elder said. "However, to cook this 'dish' or refine this pill, one needs an exceptional affinity for the Metal element. There aren't many in our tribe who can manage it."

Luo Zu could see the logic; nuclear materials were a form of metal, and extracting them from the earth's veins was no easy task.

"Though, this type of food might not be suitable for you," the elder advised specifically. "You should eat the flesh of beasts and the bounty of plants, and your pills should be refined from those. But since you possess all five elements, you cannot lack the nourishment of the Metal element. Eating salty things or certain mineral-rich earths can help. Also, the flesh of the Demon clan is highly nutritious for you; you should eat more of that."

Luo Zu did not know if this advice was given out of kindness or intent, but he felt it had merit. The Wu had existed for eons; they must have studied every race and delved deeply into the laws of nature and the Great Dao.

Yet, after all these years, why hadn't they fully grasped the secrets of the Primordial World? Luo Zu felt that if he were to lead the human race for as long as they had, and with their indicators constantly rising, he would have surely deciphered every aspect of the world. He would have remodeled the Primordial World over and over, perhaps even venturing beyond it to build a dozen or twenty more worlds like it.

How had these two clans, the Wu and the Demons, remained so stagnant, still playing "house" within the Primordial World?

Damn it, these two species were truly incompetent.