Outside Kunlun Mountain's gate, killing intent had congealed into something tangible.
Ancestral Dragon, Yuanfeng, and Primordial Kirin—three ancient overlords who had once washed countless miles of mountains and rivers in blood with a single burst of rage—now knelt on the ground like children who had made a mistake.
They did not even dare breathe too loudly.
Behind them, hundreds of elders from the Dragon, Phoenix, and Kirin tribes were pale as paper.
If they had known this would happen, why had they acted that way in the first place?
If they had not provoked the calamity and turned the primordial world into a river of blood, how could they have alarmed the three terrifying beings of Kunlun Mountain?
And now, this was the result.
Those people had quelled the calamity without even lifting a finger and had even attained the Dao in the process.
Meanwhile, their three tribes had become the greatest joke of all.
Not only had they suffered devastating casualties and been severely weakened, they now had to come to someone else's doorstep and humbly beg forgiveness.
Their dignity had been tossed into the primordial void.
"Big Brother, do you think the three Dao Brothers will just..."
Primordial Kirin's divine sense trembled, and he could not even finish his sentence.
The three days and three nights of waiting had felt like years to him.
The faint yet ever-present Chaotic Primordial Dao aura within Kunlun Mountain had nearly crushed his primordial spirit apart.
"They won't."
Ancestral Dragon's voice was bitter.
"If they truly did not wish to see us, they would have slapped us to death long ago."
"They are warning us, making us understand who truly rules the primordial world."
Ancestral Dragon understood this perfectly.
These three days appeared to be punishment, but in truth, they were a test.
If they did not even possess this much patience, the three Dao Brothers might truly consider replacing the "managers" of the primordial world.
"Alas..."
Yuanfeng's beautiful eyes were filled with despair.
"I only hope the gifts we brought will satisfy the three Dao Brothers and their little junior brother."
She looked back at the mountain of treasures behind her.
For this visit to Kunlun Mountain, the three tribes had nearly emptied their treasuries.
Ancestral Dragon had brought out the Dragon Palace's supreme treasure, the "Myriad Dragons Paying Homage Chart," a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure that could summon the power of myriad dragons when unfolded.
He had also brought ten thousand Sea Calming Divine Pearls nurtured by the Eye of the Eastern Sea, each containing an exceedingly pure law of water.
There were also three thousand sets of Dragon Scale Armor refined from Ancestral Dragon's reverse scales.
Yuanfeng had taken out a Phoenix Tree Heart from the sacred phoenix tree of the Phoenix Tribe's Sacred Land, condensed from Innate Yimu Essence and priceless beyond measure.
She had also brought a thousand Phoenix Feather Robes that she had tempered with Southern Bright Leaving Fire for one hundred thousand years.
Primordial Kirin was even more ruthless, directly bringing over the Earth Fetal Membrane, the supreme treasure that suppressed the central land.
Any one of these treasures was enough to stir the primordial world into a bloody frenzy.
Yet now, they lay outside the Mountain Gate like cheap wares spread across a roadside stall, waiting for their owner to choose them.
"Creak—"
The Mountain Gate finally opened.
It was still that chubby Daoist Duobao, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he yawned.
"The three masters have finished their meal. You may enter."
Finished their meal?!
The three clan ancestors nearly spat out blood.
They had knelt here for three days and three nights, and those people had merely been eating a meal?
A meal that lasted three days? Had they been eating Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow?
Though they felt utterly stifled inside, they did not dare reveal the slightest dissatisfaction on their faces.
Instead, they wore expressions of overwhelming gratitude.
"Thank you, Daoist, for conveying our request!"
"Sorry to trouble you, Daoist!"
The three clan ancestors hurriedly rose, adjusted their appearances, and respectfully followed behind Duobao.
The instant they stepped into Kunlun Mountain—
Boom!
The Chaotic Primordial Dao aura descended like a mountain range!
The Dao aura outside had only been faintly perceptible, but within the mountain, it had nearly become tangible.
Every wisp of spiritual energy carried a terrifying will that transcended the Heavenly Dao.
The three clan ancestors felt like ants that had stumbled into a land of giants, forced to endure immense pressure with every step.
Before long, they arrived at the Three Pure Ones' Daoist grounds.
There, three Daoists with unfathomable auras sat around a stone table.
Taiqing Laozi was Pure and Inactive.
Yuanshi Tianzun was majestic and solemn.
Tongtian Jiaozhu was bold and unrestrained.
Their auras seemed utterly out of place with heaven and earth, yet they blended into it perfectly, as if they were the very center of this world.
However.
What truly shook the three clan ancestors to their cores was the "little junior brother" surrounded by the Three Pure Ones.
He was a toddler who looked only three or four years old!
Chubby and fair, as delicate as carved jade, with a small emerald-green leaf atop his head, he sat in a specially made little chair.
He held a glittering golden "branch" in his hand and scratched something into the ground.
There was not a trace of mana fluctuation around him.
He looked just like an ordinary child from the mortal world.
Yet the three clan ancestors could clearly sense the Life Origin radiating from him, pure to the utmost extreme!
That aura was more vast and pure than any Innate Spiritual Root!
What made their hearts tremble even more was this.
Around the toddler, wisps of calamitous baleful energy were unconsciously drawn into his body, then transformed into the purest vitality and dispersed.
So that was it!
It was him!
It was this harmless-looking toddler who had devoured the baleful energy of the entire calamity!
Stormy waves surged through the hearts of the three clan ancestors.
What little junior brother? He was clearly an ancient Great God wearing the skin of a toddler!
"Ancestral Dragon of the Dragon Clan greets the three Dao Brothers!"
"Yuanfeng of the Phoenix Clan greets the three Dao Brothers!"
"Primordial Kirin of the Kirin Clan greets the three Dao Brothers!"
The three clan ancestors did not dare delay and immediately stepped forward to perform a grand salute.
They addressed them as "Dao Brothers," both to indicate their own status and to test the waters.
"Three Dao Friends, there is no need for such courtesy."
Taiqing Laozi's voice was as calm as water.
"Why have you come here together?"
Ancestral Dragon's heart tightened. Here came the main matter.
He took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"We have come for three matters."
"First, we have come to apologize to the three Dao Brothers for provoking the calamity and causing the primordial world's living beings to suffer."
He bowed deeply once more.
"Second, we thank the three Dao Brothers for acting to quell the calamity and restore clarity to the primordial world! Our three tribes will never forget this Great Merit!"
"Third..."
Ancestral Dragon glanced at Lin Shen, who was playing with the branch, and put on an exceptionally sincere expression.
"We heard that the three Dao Brothers have taken in a new little junior brother, one blessed with peerless talent and fortune that benefits the primordial world. Our three tribes have specially prepared modest gifts to apologize to little junior brother for our previous wrongdoing and to congratulate him on entering Kunlun Mountain!"
He waved his hand.
The elders behind him stepped forward with gift boxes that shone with soaring treasure light.
"A modest gift from the Eastern Sea: one Myriad Dragons Paying Homage Chart, ten thousand Sea Calming Divine Pearls, and three thousand sets of Dragon Scale Armor, all for little junior brother!"
"A modest gift from the Phoenix Tribe: one Phoenix Tree Heart and one thousand Phoenix Feather Robes, all for little junior brother!"
"A modest gift from the Kirin Tribe: one Earth Fetal Membrane, to stabilize little junior brother's Daoist grounds!"
The voices of the three clan ancestors echoed across Kunlun Mountain Peak.
They had actually designated all these supreme treasures, enough to drive the primordial world mad, as gifts for that toddler who was still playing in the dirt!
It was an undeniably clever move.
To curry favor with the Three Pure Ones, the best way was to curry favor with their beloved disciple!
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