Sealed in the deepest layer of space, there was nothing to watch here.
The ever-stretching darkness, with different shades, would oscillate and flow erratically before changing into different hues once again.
In this situation, the only entertainment that Niu Chang could have was his mind and creativity alone.
'Although I can't access my second brain, it should run in the background so that every idea I create will be stored in it. Even if that's not the case, it should still be good fertilizer for both the Chaotic Mind and the Lazy Tree.'
Niu Chang's second mind consisted of three auxiliary thinking skills: the Celestial Astrolabe, the Lazy Tree, and the Chaotic Mind.
The Celestial Astrolabe was like a typical machine; it needed human touch to work.
But for the other two, one worked based on accumulation while the other one worked on probability.
With low energy, the Lazy Tree and the Chaotic Mind should benefit from Niu Chang's attempts at creating various ideas in his boredom.
'This place also has some time adjustment,' Niu Chang commented after realizing the time flow was different to his perception.
'Maybe the Land Dao Spirit uses some time-based seal to dilate the time in this place to buy him more time.'
It was a rational choice for someone who wanted to accomplish something while unable to eliminate a threat like Niu Chang.
And the reason why Niu Chang said the time was wrong was that, with his false truth attainment, he could glimpse the natural laws of this world more easily.
Everything has its natural path, so when someone changes it, it becomes more apparent to the discerning eye.
Niu Chang didn't bother counting every single second that passed to keep up with the time flow. In fact, he found it rather wasteful of his resources.
Why bother counting the time if he already knew it would take a very long time and his mind, like that of other creatures, was unable to handle complicated tasks like that?
It was better for him to dream and speculate on various ideas to feed his second brain.
He didn't know how long it had been, but the progress he had made was negligible in terms of his overall recovery.
But he soon realized that the world was changing rapidly.
'What is this?' Niu Chang observed tiny lines, like worms squirming in the very fabric of reality itself, manifesting themselves from nothing.
He couldn't capture them directly, but he was able to perceive them in their newly born state.
There were various shapes and colors among them, and Niu Chang could even discern other qualities from them, like their taste, sounds, and even their smell.
Another period of time passed as Niu Chang played with those tiny worms from his secret chamber.
He watched them grow and become more difficult to observe in his current situation.
However, some of those tiny worms became aware of his existence. Niu Chang felt ecstatic when he discovered this, but somehow they actively avoided him.
It was as if a group of toddlers were being reprimanded by their teacher not to approach a mysterious man.
He felt heartbroken about this, but he couldn't help it. He had watched all of those tiny worms from their birth to their youth, and now they no longer cared about him.
Niu Chang shook his head, realizing his plan to hasten his escape was wasted.
'But it's not a complete waste of thought. After all, what else could I do in this state?' he mused, watching those tiny worms grow into something more intangible, becoming incorporated into the very fabric of reality.
He knew what those tiny worms were.
'Their first appearance should mark the unification of Land and Sky, creating a more complete path for those walking the path of immortal cultivation, and those worms were the dao.'
The saints born before the unification of heaven and earth were walking the only path that had existed since time immemorial.
They didn't depend on things called the dao of the world; they were the true ascenders in the logical sense.
As for those who followed the cultivation method of the new heaven and earth, after reaching the golden core stage, they would take different paths according to their world dao.
'They would endure that long cultivation journey, seemingly endless.' Niu Chang could see how ridiculous it was, with more than twenty levels or more just to reach the same level as the saints from the old world.
'The reason was simple. Not only was this path easier and simpler, but it also helped the world to grow and mature, thus increasing the world's foundation.'
'Heh,' Niu Chang scoffed when he found this rather similar to something. 'Isn't this basically a farm or a form of slavery? The world opens up the cultivation path, and the cultivator diligently cultivates only for the world to take their progress and creativity to fatten itself up.'
'But this shouldn't be the case. How can the world be the main character? There will be a time when the destined person will be born to lead the revolution of dao.'
Niu Chang yawned as he found this story rather boring. 'He's the destined person, what else is there to follow? He will succeed no matter what. It's all according to the will of living beings versus the will of the world.'
'Although it sounds grand, it's basically the generic xianxia story.'
. . .
The benefit Niu Chang gained from observing the dao from their birth to their present state was that he learned everything he could.
With his false truth attainment, he was also able to create his own tiny worms. Not just one, but several.
He instilled some seed of loyalty in them since he was the one who created them and released them into the world to grow and assimilate.
Naturally, one of them was the dao of the protagonist!
What else could it be if not that kind of dao? It was the strongest dao in existence.
However, his small plan went awry when the second change of the world occurred.
All the tiny worms were captured by something, and that something devoured them all.
Niu Chang made a prediction that this something must be the true Heavenly Dao, the fusion of the Land Dao Spirit and the Sky Dao Spirit.
Since it was the Heavenly Dao, how could it let go of those small daos to be free?
So it devoured all of them.
Only three tiny worms that Niu Chang kept to himself survived this Dao Calamity.
'Don't be afraid,' Niu Chang gently said, trying to calm down his tiny worms. They were trembling in fear, feeling as though a great disaster could befall them at any given moment.
Niu Chang didn't attempt to hide them. In fact, he couldn't even do so, as his level of existence was too minuscule.
Thus, the Heavenly Dao was naturally aware of these three pets of Niu Chang. However, it didn't take any action against them.
Regardless of which side emerged victorious, whether it be the Land or the Sky, the new Heavenly Dao naturally learned about the unconventional and unnatural Niu Chang, who grew stronger in the face of people showing animosity towards him.
This was especially true for those who deliberately took actions to affect him, such as disturbing his possessions.
"Futile."
A booming sound, reminiscent of calamitous lightning streaking from the highest heavens, reverberated in the deepest layers of space. The noise was so intense that Niu Chang felt as though his eardrums were about to burst.
He grew annoyed by this pretentious display, but he merely huffed and continued to carefully caress his three tiny worms.
'Don't be afraid. That dog wouldn't dare to set foot in this place. He's just a coward, no different from a third-rate mob.'
Since Niu Chang possessed his own dao that lay outside the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Dao, the Heavenly Dao naturally needed to prevent it from growing.
Thus, the Heavenly Dao sealed off the entire sea area where Niu Chang was confined and severed all connections to it, creating a dead zone devoid of energy and living beings.
But the Heavenly Dao's actions didn't stop there. In its bid to maintain control over the world, it chose to dump all the negative karma accumulated by living beings in order to prevent Dao Usurpation.
As time passed, the seawater and clouds within this dead zone would become infused with various forms of bad karma, which could potentially transform into something sinister.
And so, another quiet day filled Niu Chang's time.
But now, he has three friends with him. Due to the nature of the dead zone where he was sealed, the three tiny worms were unable to grow since there was nothing for them to absorb.
The only thing that could nourish their growth was Niu Chang himself. His thoughts, carrying traces of the false truth, barely provided sustenance for these tiny worms.
As for their names, their intrinsic dao had been stripped away by the Heavenly Dao, leaving them as empty shells of their former selves, carrying nothing.
Even if Niu Chang wanted to, he couldn't call them by their true names. Instead, he referred to them based on their characteristics.
The first worm was short and had an unstable outer layer, lacking any clear differentiation between its head and tail. Niu Chang called it Spiky.
The second worm was big and soft, moving in a wriggling manner like jelly. Thus, Niu Chang referred to it as Jelly.
Lastly, the third worm was more active than the rest, displaying higher spirituality and possessing a body different from the others. It didn't conform to the typical worm shape, instead resembling an ever-changing fluid that consciously avoided adopting a worm-like form. Niu Chang dubbed it Reddy.