"Daoist Yang Mei, just you wait! Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west—don't bully me, Eastern Prince Gong, for being poor!"
At that moment, space suddenly shattered, and Daoist Yang Mei stepped out of a Space Rift.
Daoist Yang Mei looked at the two of them and asked, "What are you talking about? I came back to get something."
Thud!
Eastern Prince Gong and Ao Qing suddenly felt their knees go weak and dropped to their knees again.
"Nothing. We were just discussing your deeds, Senior."
Ao Qing said with a smile to Daoist Yang Mei.
Eastern Prince Gong nodded along and said, "That's right. I never expected you to be so mighty and imposing even in ancient times!"
"Enough flattery, youngsters! I'm leaving!"
Daoist Yang Mei shattered space and left Three Immortal Island once more.
This time, Eastern Prince Gong and Ao Qing remained kneeling on the ground for a long while.
By dusk, Daoist Yang Mei still had not returned. It seemed he had truly left Three Immortal Island.
"Sigh, Eastern Prince Gong, let's explore the island together."
Ao Qing rose to his feet and spoke calmly to Eastern Prince Gong.
Eastern Prince Gong said with an ashen face, "Let's go. Sigh."
A boundless heroic spirit had originally risen within Eastern Prince Gong, but now that towering ambition seemed like a paper structure, blown flat by Daoist Yang Mei's gentle breeze.
When the two of them climbed onto Penglai Immortal Island and saw the countless spiritual roots scattered across it, their terrible moods seemed watered by spring rain, finally reviving with renewed vigor.
"With so many spiritual roots, the Immortal Court will surely rise again!"
Seeing so many radiant spiritual roots, Eastern Prince Gong's towering ambition blazed once more.
Ao Qing was likewise stunned by the countless spiritual roots on Penglai Immortal Island. Even in ancient times, he had never seen so many spiritual roots.
Ao Qing exclaimed, "As expected of the legendary Three Immortal Island. Only heaven and earth could nurture so many spiritual roots!"
However, when the two prepared to pluck a spiritual root, they discovered that every spiritual root on the island was covered by layers upon layers of formations.
"Formations? Could this be a test set by Daoist Yang Mei?"
Ao Qing had a headache as he faced the many formations on Penglai Immortal Island.
Eastern Prince Gong, however, said with unusual excitement, "Let's break them! For the sake of all these spiritual roots, I'm willing to bury myself in breaking formations!"
Thus, Eastern Prince Gong and Ao Qing began breaking the formations on Penglai Immortal Island.
Several days later, after Eastern Prince Gong and Ao Qing had broken every formation on Penglai Immortal Island, both were mentally exhausted.
"Finally! We can finally pluck the spiritual roots!"
Eastern Prince Gong and Ao Qing looked at each other excitedly.
Then Eastern Prince Gong reached toward a spiritual root radiating divine light and innate aura.
Eastern Prince Gong's Collapse and Hatred
When Eastern Prince Gong touched that Innate Spiritual Root, he suddenly found that it felt wrong—somewhat wet and slippery.
Startled, Eastern Prince Gong quickly pulled back his hand, only to find mud smeared across his palm. The Innate Spiritual Root had already turned into a lump of rotten mud.
"Why did the spiritual root turn into rotten mud?"
Already exhausted, Eastern Prince Gong looked at the mud in his hand in confusion.
Completely worn out, Ao Qing simply dropped onto the ground and said to Eastern Prince Gong, "Wake up, Eastern Prince Gong. Daoist Yang Mei set us up!"
"There are no spiritual roots on this immortal island at all! All these spiritual roots were made by Daoist Yang Mei out of mud. They were only meant to deceive us."
"How could that be?"
Eastern Prince Gong found it hard to accept Ao Qing's words.
He hurried over to another Innate Spiritual Root and reached out to touch it.
This time, the other Innate Spiritual Root did not turn into rotten mud. It turned into an ordinary blade of wild grass.
Still unwilling to believe it, he continued touching the other spiritual roots.
Just as Ao Qing had expected, every spiritual root on the island had been conjured by the white-robed Daoist Yang Mei!
Some spiritual roots had been conjured from rotten mud, some from wild grass, and others from stones.
After Eastern Prince Gong had touched every spiritual root on Penglai Immortal Island, he discovered that there was not a single real spiritual root on the entire island. His hands were already covered in mud and wild grass.
"How did this happen?"
Eastern Prince Gong's mind was beginning to blur.
Eastern Prince Gong screamed, "I don't believe it! I'm going to check the other two immortal islands."
Thus, Eastern Prince Gong began breaking the formations on the other two immortal islands.
Several more days passed. When Eastern Prince Gong had broken all the formations on those two islands, he found not a single spiritual root or immortal stone. His mind collapsed on the spot.
The Opportunity he had anticipated for so long had all turned into mud and wild grass.
Not only had he gained nothing, he had even lost his Nine Dragon Golden Staff.
Once all the formations were broken, the three immortal islands became desolate, barren islands.
Standing above the three immortal islands, Eastern Prince Gong remained silent and motionless, like a statue suspended in the air.
Ao Qing stood beside Eastern Prince Gong, his brows tightly furrowed, unsure of what to do.
Suddenly, Eastern Prince Gong threw back his head and let out a shrill scream. "Great Immortal Yang Mei, I will not rest until one of us is dead!"
Eastern Prince Gong's scream echoed above the East Sea for a long time.
A blood-colored dark cloud flew out from Eastern Prince Gong's body and merged into the Heavenly Dao of the Hong Huang World.
With Eastern Prince Gong's cultivation, his hatred should not have been able to merge into the Heavenly Dao.
However, Eastern Prince Gong had some connection to the great momentum of the era in the Hong Huang World, and his fate was closely linked to the Heavenly Dao.
Thus, Eastern Prince Gong's hatred manifested within the Heavenly Dao and was noticed by Great Immortal Yang Mei, who was recuperating from his injuries.
As a Quasi-Saint, Great Immortal Yang Mei could clearly sense that blood-colored dark cloud within the Heavenly Dao.
Yet Great Immortal Yang Mei was puzzled. He truly could not understand the source or cause of this hatred.
He was now far from the immortals of the Hong Huang World and had not come into contact with any living being. How could anyone harbor such deep hatred toward him?
Could it be Fuxi?
But Fuxi had not suffered any losses at his hands. Why would he hold such intense hatred for him?
Unable to make sense of it, Great Immortal Yang Mei shook his head and temporarily stopped thinking about the dark cloud's origin.
If he were a Saint, he would certainly have been able to discover why this cloud of hatred had formed.
But his Good Corpse had already been destroyed by Fuxi. He would never have another chance to become a Saint.
At that thought, the cloud of hatred Great Immortal Yang Mei held toward Fuxi within the Heavenly Dao grew even denser.
However, if Great Immortal Yang Mei learned why Eastern Prince Gong hated him, he would probably hate Fuxi even more.
That was because Daoist Yang Mei's true identity was Fuxi's Good Corpse.
In order to toy with Eastern Prince Gong, Fuxi had deliberately disguised himself as Daoist Yang Mei and given Eastern Prince Gong a great surprise.
He had originally thought Eastern Prince Gong would never hand over the Nine Dragon Golden Staff, since Hongjun had bestowed it upon him.
But to Fuxi's surprise, Eastern Prince Gong was spineless and terrified of death. In the end, he still handed over the Nine Dragon Golden Staff.
Fuxi was now very curious. Without the Opportunity of Three Immortal Island and the Nine Dragon Golden Staff, how would Eastern Prince Gong challenge Eastern Emperor Taiyi in the future?
If Eastern Prince Gong became low-key from this point on and no longer dared to provoke Eastern Emperor Taiyi, would Honghuang History change because of it?
Fuxi was not as skilled at deductions as Hongjun, but he was incomparably certain of one thing.
That was that Hongjun would definitely intervene and ensure that Honghuang History continued along its proper course.
Meanwhile, the Hongjun Fuxi had thought of was currently observing the changes in the Heavenly Dao.
Hongjun had noticed Eastern Prince Gong's cloud of hatred long before Great Immortal Yang Mei did.
When he discovered that the two sides involved in this cloud of hatred were Eastern Prince Gong and Great Immortal Yang Mei, a flash of confusion appeared in his eyes.
Great Immortal Yang Mei was far beyond the Nine Heavens. How had he provoked Eastern Prince Gong?
With this question in mind, Hongjun began using the cloud of hatred to trace the major events that had recently happened to Eastern Prince Gong.
The reason Hongjun did not trace matters from Great Immortal Yang Mei's side was mainly because Great Immortal Yang Mei's cultivation was relatively powerful, making such tracing extremely difficult.
Moreover, the matter had ultimately happened to Eastern Prince Gong. He still needed to understand the cause and effect from the first-person perspective.
When Hongjun used the power of a Saint to look back and saw the white-robed Daoist who had appeared before Eastern Prince Gong, his brows suddenly twitched upward twice.
Eastern Prince Gong and Ao Qing did not know the white-robed Daoist's identity, but Hongjun could see through the immortal light and clearly discern his face.
The owner of that face was Fuxi.
"It's that little fellow again..."
Hongjun's tone was somewhat helpless.
He did not know whether Eastern Prince Gong was fated to be suppressed by Fuxi, but Fuxi always managed to bring Eastern Prince Gong terrible misfortune.
When Hongjun heard Fuxi call him by name, he was not angry. Instead, he smiled faintly.
But when he saw Eastern Prince Gong hand over the Nine Dragon Golden Staff Hongjun had bestowed upon him in order to survive, even Hongjun, a Saint, could no longer smile.
On one hand, he had not expected Fuxi to dare rob Eastern Prince Gong of this treasure.
On the other hand, he had not expected Eastern Prince Gong to truly hand over the Nine Dragon Golden Staff.
Eastern Prince Gong had actually surrendered the Nine Dragon Golden Staff just to stay alive. Was he not afraid of being punished by Hongjun?
Or was this brat simply so spineless that all he could think about at the time was surviving?
With Eastern Prince Gong's backbone, was it really reliable to have him fight Eastern Emperor Taiyi?
Before you continue