Chapter 1

"When do you think we'll be let out?"

"I don't know, maybe the next cosmic era."

In the void of the multiverse, within a bright and dazzling small universe, existences whose mere thoughts could shake the Great Dao, and whose will could mold heaven and earth like clay, were speaking.

It was a universe that appeared quite bright and sunny, with a warm sun. A majestic tower sat at the very center of this universe, solemn and awe-inspiring. The body of the tower, stretching to the highest heavens and rooted in the depths of the netherworld, was so vast that it looked like a small universe in itself.

In fact, it was indeed a small universe—the 'Zhuzhoutian First Prison Universe,' shaped around the Hongshi Zhendao Tower, located within the 'Zhuzhoutian Great World.' They were conceptually intertwined, layered upon each other, imprisoning and suppressing the beings within.

No matter how powerful, one had to break through the core Great Dao suppression of 'Primordial Zhuzhou' and 'Great Emperor Hongshi,' and then consecutively break through two universes of Great Dao manifestation that were essentially equivalent to them, to barely gain a chance at 'freedom.'

Passing these four checkpoints, each capable of obliterating ordinary Hedao (Harmony with the Dao) cultivators, was difficult enough, almost a miracle... but if it was for freedom, it wasn't an impossibility to challenge, was it?

Well, those who thought that were clearly mistaken.

Because the freedom that Hedao experts who could actually accomplish this could obtain was essentially a multiple-choice question.

--Did they want to face Great Emperor Hongshi, whose own universe order they had painstakingly perfected was shattered, who was so furious that he descended in person...

--Or did they want to face an omnipresent 'torrent,' that existed wherever they thought?

Beings who could become Hedao experts were generally, as long as their circumstances weren't so favorable that they were just useless people, even if they were very bad, they were cleverly bad.

And smart experts would definitely understand that when facing absolute power, the only thing they could do was obediently abide by all the rules set by it, and abandon all other superfluous thoughts!

So, like now.

Hedao expert, Taiyi Phoenix.

And Hedao expert, Xuan Renzi.

Were now following the orders of Hongshi, the Zhuzhoutian Warden, having regained a portion of their freedom, and were wearing the 'Zhuzhoutian brand,' which was, in a sense, their prison uniform, helping various worlds in the void of the multiverse to regulate the spiritual energy and Great Dao laws of heaven and earth, restoring world universes that had been damaged by accidents, multiverse natural disasters, and internal wars between living beings and experts, one by one, to their original state.

Just like this.

An immensely large, pale golden phoenix flapped its wings in the void of the multiverse, and a dim, damaged universe in front of it, clearly having had a part of its structure shattered by the aftermath of battles between some Hedao experts, was slowly recovering in the Taiyi Divine Light it released, becoming complete again as if time were flowing backward.

Taiyi is the origin of all things, the supreme center, its power can destroy everything, and naturally it can also restore everything.

The Phoenix's Nirvana Light was originally only for its own rebirth, but if it was willing to share it, it was enough to allow other unrelated things to receive another kind of salvation, another chance.

"Thank you, nameless Supreme Divine Phoenix!"

Such a voice came from this universe, the voice of the few remaining in their homeland, insisting on maintaining the operation of heaven and earth, instead of achieving immortality and then escaping to avoid the destruction and calamity.

They had originally struggled in this universe, filled with earth, water, fire, and wind destruction calamities, maintaining some scattered universe fragment sanctuaries, maintaining the final civilization inheritance... Not only that, they also had to fight against those powerful void behemoths who wanted to swallow the universe fragments, preventing them from destroying and recycling this rotten universe filled with 'death energy.'

This was originally extremely difficult, even powerful beings like creation gods couldn't maintain it forever.

But suddenly, a divine light from the outer void shone down, connecting the shattered chaos, reopening the earth, water, fire, and wind, recreating the one qi of heaven and earth, giving the universe, which was about to self-destruct and become food for the void behemoths, a chance to return to normal!

They were of course grateful—grateful from the bottom of their hearts, with the utmost sincerity!

That nameless phoenix, with its almost infinite power, reassembled their universe from fragments into a whole. In this way, even without follow-up, such help was enough to allow the universe itself to restore its self-healing ability, and recover to a normal state in the next hundreds of thousands, millions of years.

And that was enough—for them, who had persisted for hundreds of millions of years, or even traveled through destruction for even longer, this was already a salvation called 'hope.'

In this universe, all the remaining lives were thanking this strong one who came nameless and left nameless.

They thanked, believed, and loved this phoenix who brought salvation from the bottom of their hearts.

"To be honest, if they knew that the Savior Phoenix they speak of, the Holy Venerable who recreates heaven and earth, was just a sentenced prisoner, what would they think?"

The Taiyi Phoenix's expression was quite complex at the gratitude of such a universe.

To say that it wasn't delighted and moved by it would naturally be false. The praise, eulogy, and even all other emotions of all beings, whether it was obedience, fear, or despair, were enough to be noticed by Hedao experts.

In the past, the Taiyi Phoenix was praised in its own world as the ancestor of all ages, the sage who opened the way forward. The worship and faith of a universe's beings wasn't something strange to it.

But... this time, the thanks and praises it heard seemed different from before.

Similar, but not the same.

"Perhaps, they don't care about these things."

And to the Taiyi Phoenix's rather negative self-deprecation, the human-shaped Daoist, Xuan Renzi, who was also a Hedao expert, shook his head slightly.

At this moment, he was also condensing the light of stars from many worlds in the multiverse, to treat those damaged, injured, and even 'sick' universes.

Eliminating those strange and immortal tumors in the universe, capturing those seeds of evil that oppressed living beings but hadn't yet reached the Hedao level, regulating the universe's own circulation... The work he did was the kind he used to see often, but never took to heart, never cared about.

After all, it wasn't he who destroyed these universes, so what did all this have to do with him?

Of course, this was Xuan Renzi's thought in the past, but now, after experiencing a long period of labor reform, he faintly had another kind of understanding.

So, he sighed lightly to his old opponent, also a fellow inmate: "Even if you are a prisoner, you are the former Great Demon King, you are the Heavenly Devil Demon Lord who oppressed living beings... So what?"

"You saved them, that is an undeniable fact."

At this moment.

Both the Taiyi Phoenix and Xuan Renzi couldn't help but recall how indifferent they, these former 'Heavenly Daos' and 'Great Daos,' were when the punishment of 'labor reform' was proposed not long ago.

"This is labor reform."

Hongshi said at that time, carrying the will of Zhuzhou: "The merit you achieve by helping countless universes return to normal, causing all beings to be grateful to you, believe in you, and love you, is your merit for redeeming your sins."

"Many beings who have committed great sins, you used to destroy time and space, devour living beings, and take pleasure in oppressing and destroying the innocent. Now, if you don't want to encounter the means you once inflicted on other beings, you must learn to give, to love and be loved, to believe and be believed."

At that time, they were full of sneers and contempt for these ethereal words, thinking that Hongshi and Primordial Zhuzhou just wanted to change the method of tormenting them, so why use such a ridiculous reason.

But now... except for a few stubborn existences.

Most of the 'Heavenly Daos' were beginning to awaken slightly.

The implementation of all this didn't seem to be a kind of torment.

Instead, it was a kind of...

Compassionate mutual accomplishment.

They, these former sinners, and those universes and all things that had been harmed by other sinners...

"They are saved now, so how can they deny that your implementation allowed them to survive from destruction? How can they deny the joy in their hearts from their true spirits, that genuine love for you?"

Xuan Renzi murmured, as if talking to himself, and also as if explaining to the silent Taiyi Phoenix on the side: "Of course, this love will fade and weaken with time, but if you implement it eternally, such love will also become eternal, and then gradually..."

The Daoist raised his head and looked at the distant void of the multiverse.

Xuan Renzi's tone was quite complex, and could even be described as gratefully sighing: "Gradually..."

"Transform into a roaring torrent."