Chapter Fifty-Three: The Heaven-Earth Interlayer, the Remnant Zone of Turbid Qi
Volume Two: The Separation of Clear and Turbid — The First Opening of Heaven and Earth
The continued separation of Heaven and Earth left a vast region between them. This region belonged neither to pure Heaven nor to pure Earth but was a transitional zone where Clear and Turbid mixed. Pangu called it the Heaven-Earth Interlayer. He noticed that this interlayer was undergoing unique evolution.
The upper region of the interlayer was mainly occupied by residual Clear Qi, forming cloud-like structures. This Clear Qi was lower in thickness than the Celestial Dome but denser than the Void above. It drifted slowly through the interlayer, forming various flowing shapes. These drifting Clear Qi would play an important role in the future world.
The lower region of the interlayer was the remnant zone of Turbid Qi. Turbid Qi that had not fully settled to the bottom accumulated here, forming a semi-fluid state. It was neither as solid as the Great Earth nor as light as the Celestial Dome, but a chaotic transition between the two.
Pangu realized that the Heaven-Earth Interlayer would be the key region for future interactions between Heaven and Earth. Clear Qi and Turbid Qi converged and mixed here and might catalyze new substances different from pure Clear and Turbid. But he did not yet have the energy to study this question deeply; the immediate priority was to let Heaven and Earth complete their basic shaping as quickly as possible.
He left the Heaven-Earth Interlayer to future evolution and continued to focus on the main structures of the Celestial Dome and the Great Earth. One day, this interlayer would evolve its own splendor. But now was not the time.
Not all Turbid Qi, in the settling process, reached the bottom. A portion of Turbid Qi was intercepted on its descent by the rising currents of Clear Qi and became suspended in the middle region of the Heaven-Earth Interlayer, forming a belt-like space. That belt, like a gray sash wrapped around the newborn Great Earth, divided Heaven and Earth into two starkly different worlds, above and below.
In certain low-lying areas of the Heaven-Earth Interlayer, the gathering of Turbid Qi was markedly higher than in other regions. Those regions were like forgotten corners, not yet fully covered by Pangu's Primordial Qi circulation. He spent time specifically checking those regions and discovered that most of them were topographical depressions where Turbid Qi, once deposited, was difficult to carry out through circulation. He marked those regions — not with physical marks but with perceptual marks. These regions might, in the future, become zones distinct from the rest of Heaven and Earth, because their foundational material composition differed from elsewhere, and what grew from them in the future would also differ.
The existence of the Heaven-Earth Interlayer was not accidental. It was the transitional zone naturally formed in the process of Clear-Turbid separation — the upward-driving force of Clear Qi and the downward resistance of Turbid Qi met here, forming a special region belonging to neither Heaven nor Earth. The gases in this region were in a mixed state, containing components of both Clear Qi and Turbid Qi — like a third color produced from stirring two colors together. Standing in this interlayer, Pangu felt the flow of mixed-state gases around him — this interlayer would become the most active region between Heaven and Earth. Pure-clear Heaven and pure-turbid Earth were like two poles, and the transitional zone between the poles was where change was greatest and possibility most abundant.
The distribution of Turbid Qi within this interlayer was uneven. Some regions had extremely high gatherings of Turbid Qi, forming dense masses nearly akin to chaotic qi; other regions were almost dominated by Clear Qi, with only trace amounts of Turbid Qi mixed in. Those masses of high-gathering Turbid Qi were like dark spheres suspended between Heaven and Earth, slowly rotating in the flowing gases. The positions of those high-gathering masses were relatively fixed — they seemed locked into specific positions by some force-fields between Heaven and Earth. What would those positions become in the future? He did not know, but he remembered every one.
Besides their higher gathering, the Turbid Qi in the interlayer possessed a special thermal property — they were higher in temperature than the surrounding Clear Qi. Pangu extended his palm into a mass of high-gathering Turbid Qi and felt a warm, even scorching tactile sensation. That temperature came from no external heat source but from the energy released by extremely slow internal nuclear reactions within the Turbid Qi. Turbid Qi was not dead matter — something within it was undergoing reactions he did not yet understand. Those reactions would continue across the long ages to come, providing energy for the thermal activity deep within the Great Earth.
Pangu spent a long time exploring the full extent of the Heaven-Earth Interlayer. He discovered that this region was not a uniform belt-like space but a composite formed from countless local spaces of varying size and form. In some local spaces, the Clear-Turbid ratio was nearly perfect, reaching the most ideal state of equilibrium — those regions radiated a gentle white light, and energy flowed smoothly without obstruction. Some local spaces were occupied by residual Turbid Qi, forming dark, murky qi-mass zones; those regions emitted a stifling, oppressive aura, and the flow of energy there was nearly stagnant.
Pangu attempted to purify those Turbid-occupied regions, but his energy was already insufficient to support large-scale clearing. He concentrated his limited energy on those residual Turbid Qi closest to the Clear-Turbid equilibrium zones — if the Turbid Qi in those positions was left unchecked, it might spread into the already-balanced regions and disrupt the stability of the entire interlayer. He set energy barriers at those key positions, like placing sandbags on a dike where the river was about to overflow, plugging the most dangerous gaps with the minimum energy. These barriers required his periodic maintenance and energy replenishment — an additional task he had assigned himself.
The Turbid Qi remnant zones in the interlayer were not entirely without positive significance. Pangu noticed that in those regions of extremely high Turbid Qi gathering, the primal Primordial Qi, catalyzed by the Turbid Qi, produced some special new substances — substances that were neither Clear Qi nor Turbid Qi, but products of fusion between the two extremes. The structure of those products was more complex than pure Clear or Turbid, and the forms of energy they contained were more diverse. The richest possibilities often existed not at the two poles themselves but in the transitional zone between them.
Those suspended Turbid Qi masses in the Heaven-Earth Interlayer displayed, under Pangu's observation, a disquieting activity. They did not sink still like normal Turbid Qi but pulsated slowly like living objects; each pulsation absorbed some Clear Qi from the surrounding surroundings into their own interior. Turbid Qi masses that absorbed Clear Qi would briefly expand, then contract, expelling a portion of mixed gas — a third type of gas produced from the fusion of Clear and Turbid. That third gas belonged neither to Heaven nor to Earth; it was a transitional-state substance possessing the properties of both Clear and Turbid simultaneously. Its role in nature was perhaps far more profound than that of pure Clear Qi or pure Turbid Qi.
Pangu's hand moved through the newly formed Heaven-Earth Interlayer, feeling the textural differences of different regions. Regions near the Celestial Dome had thin, cool air; his fingers, moving through it, felt almost no resistance. Regions near the Great Earth had thick, warm air; his hand, moving through it, felt a distinct viscosity. In the gradient from cold to hot, from thin to thick, the three-dimensional layering of the Heaven-Earth Interlayer was clearly visible — it was not a uniform layer of space but an orderly transitional band from Clear to Turbid, each height possessing different properties.
In exploring the Heaven-Earth Interlayer, Pangu discovered an interesting phenomenon — though those regions of highest Turbid Qi gathering gave a stifling, oppressive feeling, they simultaneously emitted a low pulsation, and the rhythm of that pulsation was almost perfectly synchronized with his own heartbeat. He tried holding his breath, and that pulsation weakened accordingly; he quickened his breathing, and the pulsation quickened with it. He was not merely standing upon the Great Earth — he was the extension of the Great Earth's core upon its surface. Even through layer after layer of rock strata and air currents, the Turbid Qi in the deepest reaches of the Great Earth was still responding to his existence.
Between those Turbid-accumulating regions in the interlayer, a thin transitional band existed — within that band, Clear Qi and Turbid Qi mixed in nearly equal proportions, forming a new substance Pangu had never before seen. That substance felt neither light and icy-cool like Clear Qi nor thick and warmly-heavy like Turbid Qi, but hovered between the two, carrying a gentle, neutral temperature. A tactile sensation belonging completely neither to Heaven nor to Earth — a sensation belonging completely to 'between Heaven and Earth'.