Chapter 543: Universe of the Body
Jack surveyed his inner world. The matter previously created had forged a solar system, with his fist as the sun and various planets circling it. In the accelerated time of his inner world, Jack had already seen these planets go through a series of geological changes to settle on a somewhat more stable state.
Of course, these changes weren’t the exact same as what Earth had gone through. His Dao and the universe’s were subtly different—and that was expressed in everything that occurred inside them, whether big or small. Jack looked forward to discovering what the lifeforms he created would look like.
With the planets no longer erupting or getting smashed by a hail of meteors, Jack thought it was time to move to the next step. He manipulated their growth. Slowly, an atmosphere appeared around most of them—barring the ones too far or too close to the sun—followed by oceans. Millions of years passed in the blink of an eye, Jack manipulating the flow of time freely.
After the first oceans appeared, Jack descended on each of these worlds. His body was the size of a continent. He bent down, taking a deep breath and blowing into the oceans. The wind of his breath made them overflow, temporarily flooding the newly created continents—but it also contained the very first hints of life, a wealth of living cells placed in a safe haven. Jack moved from planet to planet, breathing life into each of them, then calmly stepped back to watch.
The bacteria began multiplying erratically. He saw, through his omniscient gaze, single-celled organisms adapt and thrive in their new environments. At the same time this happened, Jack himself experienced several changes. The flow of time, which he’d freely manipulated so far, now felt heavier, as if anchored in place by the very life he’d infused into his world.
To his surprise, even single-celled organisms possessed souls, their unique life signatures, and pulling the fabric of time under their feet was like tugging at a piece of cloth carrying multiple sharp stones. It was still possible, but it risked getting torn, and it was certainly heavier than it used to be.
Seeing that bacteria had souls, Jack laughed. At the very start of his cultivation journey, he’d been told that only cultivators had souls, while monsters did not. That was a load of crap. If amoebas could have a soul, then so could a three-meter-tall wolf.
Soon, however, his laughter was replaced by a frown. As life populated his world, he was beginning to get a distinct sense of wrongness.
Why?