Yellow Dragon Gains from Misfortune, Leaves Seclusion to Travel Kunlun Mountain

[Senior Brother Xuandu, Junior Brother Duobao, and Guangchengzi came to find me. I was very happy. When there's no division of interests, the Three Teachings truly are one family.]

[Good thing it was Senior Brother and the two junior brothers who came. If it had been those four traitors of the Exposition Sect, I wouldn't know what to do.]

[I never expected Master would directly bestow upon me the Southern Earth Detaching Flame Light Flag. This is one of the Primordial Five Directional Flags. Yellow Dragon is probably green with envy.]

[All my fellow disciples have realized the Golden Immortal Dao Fruit and leaped out of the River of Time. When will I break through? Ah, forget it. I'll just refine my treasure first. Hehehe...]

[...]

Laozi watched, and an involuntary smile crept across his face.

"The Three Teachings are one family. This Daoist and my two younger brothers share the same origin. It's only right that we be one family."

Inside the Jade Void Palace, however, Yuanshi's brow was deeply furrowed as he pondered carefully.

"This sinful junior martial nephew of mine actually mentioned four Exposition Sect disciples in succession. Yellow Dragon will envy his treasure..."

He snapped back to reality, a look of shock on his face.

Thinking back to the twelve personally taught disciples of the Exposition Sect, it seemed they truly did dislike Yellow Dragon.

It was only because when Yellow Dragon incarnated from the innate Mysterious Yellow Qi, he had been tainted by a drop of the First Dragon's heart blood.

In essence, he was still an innate God or Devil, a blessed true immortal.

But his original form, the Yellow Dragon, was a scaled and furred beast—precisely the kind of being Yuanshi detested.

At this moment, a bold thought arose in Yuanshi's mind.

"Could it be... that Yellow Dragon is one of the future traitors of the Exposition Sect?"

"No, that's not right. I feel like something is off."

After thinking for a long time, Yuanshi decided to trust his instincts and summoned Yellow Dragon.

Yellow Dragon walked to the Jade Void Palace with trepidation and bowed respectfully.

After all, from the moment he had joined the Exposition Sect, his master had disliked him.

This was the first time he had been summoned alone, and he truly couldn't steady his nerves.

"Disciple Yellow Dragon pays respects to Master!"

Yuanshi nodded slightly, thinking to himself.

"His conduct and manners are proper enough, but his temperament is a bit lacking. Still, that's my fault for being biased against him."

He casually took out a treasure and placed it before Yellow Dragon.

Yellow Dragon's face was full of confusion, and he didn't know what to do.

Then, Yuanshi's gentle voice sounded in his ear.

"Disciple, ever since you joined the Exposition Sect, I've seen that you have no treasure on you."

"This High-Grade Primordial Spiritual Treasure is called the Nebula Staff. It can communicate with the power of the stars. I obtained it from the Dividing Treasure Cliff back in the day."

"Now that you have already broken through to the Mystic Immortal Realm, it's only right that you have a decent treasure to accompany you."

Upon hearing this, Yellow Dragon trembled with excitement and accepted the Nebula Staff with both hands.

"Disciple thanks Master for bestowing this treasure! Disciple will surely cultivate diligently and must not bring shame to the Exposition Sect's prestige!"

In his heart, he was already utterly devoted to the Exposition Sect.

He had thought that because his master had never summoned him in all his years on the mountain, his master disliked him. He never imagined it was merely a trial.

He recalled how, back then, he had wanted to join the Dragon Race but was rejected by them, and then he had suffered for years after joining the Exposition Sect.

Looking at the Nebula Staff radiating Treasure Light in his hand, only two words remained in Yellow Dragon's heart.

Worth it!

Live for the Exposition Sect, die for the Exposition Sect, live and die for the Exposition Sect!

After Yellow Dragon left, Yuanshi took a deep breath and murmured.

"A good child. Truly a good child."

"So... who exactly are the four traitors of my Exposition Sect?"

Inside the Jade Azure Palace, Duobao held the Top-Grade Primordial Spiritual Treasure, the Duobao Pagoda, with an excited face.

"Master, are you really saying this treasure is for me?"

Tongtian helplessly pursed his lips and quickly waved his hand.

"Take it, take it, take it. It's just a mere Top-Grade Primordial Spiritual Treasure. Look at you, so pathetic."

"If disciples from the Human Teachings and the Exposition Sect saw this, they'd think I couldn't afford to give things away. Get lost and go refine your treasure. Stop blocking my sight here!"

Duobao suddenly revealed a mischievous smile and asked.

"Could it be that Master was provoked by the generous gesture of Senior Uncle?"

At these words, Tongtian slammed the table with a bang and abruptly stood up.

"What do you mean, what do you mean? Is your master the kind of shallow person you think?"

"Let me tell you, your master's state of mind is perfectly stable. This is merely a reward for your breakthrough to Golden Immortal—don't overthink it!"

"You're slandering me, outright slandering me! A disciple daring to slander his own master—get lost!"

Duobao scurried away from the Jade Azure Palace, humming a little tune all the way.

Tongtian, meanwhile, wore a full, wicked grin as he murmured to himself.

"I'm laughing my ass off. Second Brother's Exposition Sect actually has four traitors—and they're even Blessed Virtue True Immortals!"

Back when the sects were founded, the doctrines of the Exposition Sect and the Interception Sect had already clashed.

This led to constant friction between Yuanshi and Tongtian.

In the past, it was usually Yuanshi, as the elder brother, lecturing Tongtian. But after seeing the contents of the diary...

Tongtian suddenly felt a strange sense of triumphant satisfaction.

"(#^.^#) Heehee~~"

Boom—!!!

The temperature inside Li Yuan's cave dwelling skyrocketed, like a Heaven and Earth Furnace.

Two treasures floated by his side, currently being refined.

One of the Five Innate Directional Flags—the Southern Earth Detaching Flame Light Flag!

And the Jade Void Cauldron, a Top-Grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure personally refined by Yuanshi!

Though one was Innate and the other Acquired, the number of restrictions they contained was exactly the same!

Supreme treasures had forty-nine restrictions; top-grade spiritual treasures had thirty-seven to forty-eight; high-grade spiritual treasures had twenty-five to thirty-six.

Mid-grade spiritual treasures had thirteen to twenty-four; low-grade spiritual treasures had one to twelve.

Both the Southern Earth Detaching Flame Light Flag and the Jade Void Cauldron contained forty-eight restrictions—the cream of the crop among top-grade treasures!

A joyful smile spread across Li Yuan's face.

"Second Senior Uncle's mastery of artifacts is truly terrifying. I wonder if one day I'll be able to reverse the Acquired back into the Innate, turning the world upside down."

"If that were possible, I could probably mass-produce Innate Spiritual Treasures. Truly terrifying."

Cultivation knows no time—five hundred years passed in the blink of an eye!

Even though Li Yuan had grasped the Law of Fire, speeding up the refinement process somewhat...

The number of restrictions contained in two top-tier, peak-grade spiritual treasures was still monstrous.

Moreover, the further along the refinement went, the slower it became.

Left with no choice, Li Yuan had to temporarily stop, but he had already refined twenty percent of the restrictions in both treasures.

He estimated he could use about fifty percent of their power—more than enough for a True Immortal Peak like Li Yuan.

Li Yuan stored the treasures in his Primordial Spirit to warm and nurture them, then stood up and stretched.

"Damn, my body didn't even crackle and pop. Guess novels really are all lies."

He raised his hand to open the stone door, and sunlight happened to spill in.

Zero-frame start, epic lungful.

"Mmm—the scent of Dijun. The sun of the Primordial World really is plenty masculine."

"Just as Senior Brother said, shutting yourself in to cultivate isn't the way. It's better to go out and take a stroll."

"Now that Kunlun Mountain is full of Exposition Sect and Interception Sect disciples, I ought to go and get familiar with their faces."

"Otherwise, when Kunlun is filled with disciples of the Three Sects, and no one knows there's a senior brother from the Human Sect—that would be a real failure."

With that, Li Yuan ambled out. He hadn't expected to accidentally wander into the Exposition Sect's grounds.

Four figures stood atop a mountain peak, looking down at Li Yuan from on high.

"..."