Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two: Summer Qi Blazing — Growth Flourishing

Volume Four: The Dao Gives Rise to Myriad Things — Life First Sprouts

Summer arrived with a fierceness that transformed the world. Xiwei climbed to its highest point in the sky, and its light beat down upon the earth with an intensity that made the air shimmer. Heat rose from the ground in visible waves, distorting the horizon into a mirage of liquid silver.

The green traces on the earth now spread like wildfire. What had been faint dustings of color in spring now deepened into rich carpets. The moss-like growths that had first appeared in Vol 3 now covered entire hillsides, their colors shifting through every shade of green. Pangu walked through fields of it, and the moss yielded softly under his feet like a living carpet.

Water evaporated from the lakes and rivers in great billowing clouds of steam, rising to meet the cooler air above. The Heaven-Earth Interlayer grew thick with moisture, and the first true rain clouds gathered — not the thin mists of earlier ages, but towering thunderheads that darkened the sky and released torrents of water. Pangu stood in the first true rainstorm, letting the warm water cascade over his body. It washed away the dust of ages and left his skin tingling with the beat of countless droplets.

Summer was the season of abundance. Every process that had begun in spring now accelerated: the rivers ran faster, the winds blew stronger, the green spread farther. The world was in its prime, burning with the fierce joy of existence. Even Pangu, fading as he was, felt the pulse of that vitality resonating through what remained of his body.

Summer qi blazing, growth flourishing. In the heat of noon, when Xiwei hung directly overhead, the world seemed to pause — suspended in a moment of perfect fullness. It was the peak of the year, and everything that could grow was growing, everything that could bloom was blooming, even if the blooms were only invisible clusters of Spirit Resonance waiting to become something more.