If I Were A Creator

A lone fire wolf leaped into view, its flaming eyes gazing cautiously at the Nethari. The wolf has a master level cultivation, allowing it to survive the hellish environment and breathe fire. The beast was ordinary and a master level human could easily take care of it using a sword, however, a grandmaster would have a problem in handling a pack of them alongside their grandmaster level alpha.

But for Mithra, who could rival newly elevated Immortal God realm cultivators, even a million packs could barely scratch him. He wasn't worried about this creature but of the demon beasts that are behind it. He could sense hundred millions of grandmaster level beasts, millions of demigod level beasts, thirty thousand Spiritual God level beasts, several hundred Sea God level beasts and a dozen Immortal God level beasts.

All of them are attracted to the divine lava the creator generated when he destroyed a nearby volcano with heavenly lightning. The divine lava was filled with enough divine essence to elevate an Immortal God into an Earthly Immortal. Luckily, this will spark competition amongst the ocean of demon beasts until one powerful beast emerges and takes control.

To make things more favorable, the Immortal God beasts have roughly the same amount of power and are all hostile to one another, ensuring that they will be fighting amongst themselves first. All he needs to do is to kill many master and grandmaster beasts to trap their souls and refine it into something. 'A spirit beast or a cultivation object?' Mithra is still weighing the options.

He decided to do both and compare the results. Mithra leaped into the air and fired a bolt of silver lightning upon the wolf. The bolt struck hard and the wolf exploded into charred, mangled remains.

Like a grenade, the ground lightly shook at the explosion and lumps of dirt were thrown up into the air. Quickly, he approached its remains and brought out the White Bone Demon Flute. The flute showed him the wolf's lingering spirit, a few black puffs of smoke centered around the largest fragments of its body.

The creator's disciple tried playing the flute, which seemed to attract the wolf's spirit. The puffs of smoke gradually floated towards the flute's other end, spiraling towards it like a fish trapped in a whirlpool. Soon, the spirit was assimilated into the bone flute, a small node of red light appearing within the flute.

First, he tried manifesting a spirit. The creator left no method in doing so but his lessons taught him much about the immaterial consciousness known as the spirit or the soul. Animals only have spirits while sapient beings have a spirit and a soul, such is the difference.

The spirit is the puppeteer of the flesh, the collection of instinct encoded into all living things. When spirits fade, they enter the Immaterium and either grow or be assimilated by a greater consciousness inhabiting the unseen realm.

The soul however, is the incarnation of sapient will, the conscious will of life that demands many things unnecessary to primal survival. It is the will of innovation and evolution that guides sapient beings to accomplishing their goals, whether of flesh or divine.

The spirit has no will and can be easily trapped by any altar based artifacts. Hungry ghost altars and Demon summoning boxes are examples of artifacts capable of trapping and utilizing spirits. Dead cultivators of grandmaster realm and above can have their souls persist in the material realm and survive for a century before being drawn into the afterlifes.

Possession is a common method for them to survive though their new bodies will have a reset cultivation. They can choose to be dormant in altar artifacts and then inhabit another body later on to survive too. This dormancy method could keep their cultivation by slowly inhabiting the body and preferably a dead or unsapient body so that their soul can shape the body.

It will take a year or two before the body is completely inhabited and the soul is highly vulnerable during the gradual possession stage. Cultivating to higher stages is the better option and the Spiritual God stage is the best choice for anyone seeking to be immortal after death.

With that in mind, he tried refining the trapped spirit with the bone flute. A spiral of energy surrounded the red node and began compressing it. The spirit node gradually shrunk and darkened, a sign of its density increasing.

Several moments later, the node stopped shrinking at the size of a dot. It was barely existent, a tiny black point within the spiritual ocean of the bone flute. From its size, he could infer that the soul of a master level beast is not enough, he will need at least a thousand of them in order to summon anything.

It is too faint to summon as a spirit and too weak for cultivation.

Then, dozens of energy signatures begin to appear in the horizon. A pack of hunchback ghouls made of shadow, possessing master level cultivation and powerful souls. They ran towards Mithra in rapacious frenzy, finding him and his bone flute as the perfect fuel for their impending evolution.

They clawed their way through the rocky terrain and leapt towards him like a panther. For him, these ghouls are nothing but pests as he slashed them all in half with a split second qi sword. He collected their souls, floating black liquid as opposed to the gaseous spirit of the flame wolf.

He refined them and they transformed into slightly larger dots that merged with the wolf's condensed spirit. 'Still not strong enough.' He thought. Fortune smiles upon him as the ground shook and the sounds of fierce battles between billions of demon beasts boomed throughout the land.

Soon, herds of master beasts and packs led by grandmaster beasts appeared and charged towards one another in bestial rage, summoning supernatural and natural attacks to kill their enemies. As the battle rages on, a demigod beast enters the fray and wreaks havoc on the warring clans of demon beasts. The pack leaders worked together to slay the demigod beast, only to fight and kill one another for the possession of the greater beast's corpse.

Mithra decided to join in, stealing the demigod beast's corpse and soul before effortlessly slaying the two dozen peak grandmaster level beasts and also taking their souls. Larger, blurry dots of red and grey joined together with the small black dot, forming a small dark crimson wisp. The wisp was formless and empty, not possessing any living or manifesting characteristics.

However, the spirit making process is half complete as the foundation for the spirit is present and it can evolve, a sign that it might develop a soul after reaching a certain level of power. Now, he only needs more spirits to form the spirit beast's attributes.

Mithra took account of the attributes and abilities of the creatures here. Only fire, earth and darkness oriented beasts were sighted and killed so far. Taking account of what characteristics are available, he rubbed his chin with a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt and thought, 'I've always wanted a turtle.'

After using the monster carcasses to refine a cultivation pill, Mithra managed to get a step closer to the demigod realm. He just needs a strong enough pill to act as a core for his divine form, a sort of super saiyan mode for cultivators who have reached the demigod realm. This mode is really draining, a lot like super saiyan transformations, but it cannot be turned off automatically.

It will even persist after death and the lingering soul would appear as the cultivator's divine form. Divine forms have to be imagined and designed, using artifacts, spirits and carcasses to refine the correct characteristics. Divine forms are hard to change and would require seclusion in order to edit as the changing will force the cultivator to enter a dormant stage until the new divine form is completed.

While Mithra contemplated on his divine form, three demigod beasts ambushed him with powerful qi attacks. A deer made of living fire crashed upon him like a meteor, a snake of shadows pierced him with a thousand shadow needles and a tortoise of basalt wrapping him tightly in spiritual tendrils. The beasts of Huilu are much stronger than the ones of Earth, a master level beast could easily kill a grandmaster cultivator from Earth.

These demigod beasts rival powerful Spiritual Gods and their aura made it seem that if the three worked together, even Sea God level masters would have a hard time against them. Instead of feeling annoyed by these lion cubs, Mithra was elated at gaining their souls and refining their bodies. Their souls would allow the spirit to take form and their bodies would help defining his divine form.

A week later….

He couldn't care anymore whether all the souls were harvested or whether the remains of his formisable foes can be refined. For once, he felt a threat of death loom over him like the darkness encroaching the sky as dusk arrives. His training had been rigorous and excruciatingly painful, but the fear of death never occured to him.

Though he was thrown off cliffs, attacked by all manner of deadly beasts and personally beat up by the creator on every sparring match, whose fighting style aims to inflict extreme amounts of pain and seems to be blind of mercy. Not to mention the unusual disciplinary methods such as scavenger survival, running from ravens and vultures brainwashed to try and kill him, bamboo barrage, having to run from the creator wielding a bamboo spike shooting machine gun, peek a boom, placing c4 charges inside of anything he's not supposed to open, Mithra could go on. The creator has a things of making the most dangerous and painful punishments to discipline and temper him.

He even saw him writing a book titled '1001 ways to torture your disciple to Godhood'. And yet, he never feared death from his punishments, only fear of the unknown choice of punishment. As a submissive but engaged student, Mithra understood that these punishments are a way to strengthen him, to make him mentally and physically greater.

It was so brutal that getting stabbed or shot only felt like a short, half assed punch. And that's before he cultivated. But still, he trusted his teacher, he knew that he would never let him fall into the jaws of death despite the almost weekly discipline tortures.

Now, his master is gone and he'll be away from him until another century passes. Now, he is alone and fearing this fact will only lead to death. He made a promise to cultivate and improve himself for his master, now, he shall prove it with determination.

Swiftly, he drained any remaining spirits and enlarged the node, transforming it into black silhouette drenched in wrathful flames. A bestial aura of wrath and retaliation permeated the figure, and by extension, the flute itself emitted a horrifying pressure filled with untamable, primal wrath. Using the spirits of the fallen beasts, he shaped the spirit beast.

An igneous behemoth armored in a hell forged shell of cooled spiritual lava, marked in rivers of flowing magma and supported by four pillars of obsidian. Its eyes were bright, auburn flames, seeking to burn the world with its self righteous wrath. A serpent of hellfire coiled around its shell, whispering promises of suffering to the world.

The ground trembled in its gigantic presence, akin to a great mountain overseeing the world below it with lofty indifference. He named it Huoshan, the Devil Devouring Volcanic Ridge Tortoise. Huoshan's arrival came with an almighty roar, slaying all grandmaster level monsters and blowing away the demigod level beasts in a ten mile radius.

The Spiritual God level super beast began its rampage, tearing into the battlefield with a charge. Later on, the spirit beast is followed by its master, who had achieved his divine form and entered demi-godhood by refining the corpses of many demigods, two dozen spiritual gods and a few sea gods. His divine form is Geb Behemoth, the World Breaking God.

15 years later, he elevated to the Sea God realm. Geb Behemoth's appearance is transformed and augmented, giving a more divine appearance. Huoshan has stagnated his cultivation on the mid level Immortal God realm because of fighting simultaneously against two Immortal God level beasts. This battle had lasted two years.

15 years later, he ascended to the Immortal God realm during a very violent period. Tribulation lightning struck from the skies, igniting the battlefield and elevating those who survived the devastating strikes. Qi levels rose to impossible levels and breakthroughs were being done almost every day.

The Immortal God level beasts have ascended to Earthly Immortals thanks to the destructive lightning bolts. They hold the power to shatter the Earth with their full might. Luckily, their battles grew more fierce and they did not pay any attention to the growing Huoshan, whose form had fully materialized and thus could finally ascend to the Earthly Immortal realm once his body is transformed.

20 years later, the tribulation lightning grew fiercer and more numerous each year, causing many surviving beasts to ascend to Immortal God realm and the dead beasts becoming Spiritual Gods. Huoshan had more trouble in spirit collection and thus could not finish his immortal body without enough divine essence refined from spirits. Mithra was defeated and injured twice by an Earthly Immortal beast who retreated to recuperate.

The tribulation lightning storm made it much stronger than before and Mithra was almost killed if not for Huoshan's intervention and the arrival of another Earthly Immortal beast. Their auras have reached the highest realm, and their next breakthrough would lead to the Heavenly Immortal Realm. This ascension would be a catastrophe to the world as a newly born Heavenly Immortal would be like a supernova, the birth of a star.

Realizing that, Mithra cultivated harder and purposely struck himself with the tribulation lightning, limiting the power increase received by the world ending beasts. He kept using his divine form to minimize injuries and effectively absorb the divine lightning bolts shooting down from the turbulent heavens.

A decade later, he had broken into the Earthly Immortal realm alongside Huoshan, his spirit beast, and joined the battle against the Earthly Immortal beasts. A great battle ensued for two decades, ravaging the world with catastrophic attacks.

Corona mass ejections rained from the sky, solar winds stripped the planet of air and tsunamis of lava engulfed the world. A crust of igneous stones covered the skies like a shell, shielding the world from the barrage of solar flares and world ending disasters from above. Mountainous spikes rose from the ground, impaling millions of surviving beasts who howled in rage and agony.

The battle came to abrupt end when a stray attack caused more chaos and complete carnage. With the beasts slaughtering each other, Mithra and Huoshan managed to slay them all one at a time. After the battle's end, Huoshan restored the world after absorbing the spirits of all remaining beasts.

Thanks to this, he grew to the size of earth and leaped into high orbit, becoming Huilu's one and only moon. Then, Mithra cultivated to Heavenly Immortal realm inside the divine lava and made a breakthrough upon the creator's arrival. His master's arrival prevented the supernova event and instead reversed it, strengthening his foundation instead.