Innate Five Grains

Without the Ink Jade Qilin as a mount, Taiqing would have been even less able to comprehend the Five Elements Law and the Heaven and Earth Law.

Similarly, if Ao Jiang had not provided information about Penglai Immortal Island, he certainly would not have found it smoothly.

It is indeed fair to say that Ao Jiang and the Ink Jade Qilin had their merits.

Taiqing had always been clear in rewarding and punishing; this statement might sound like empty promises.

But this was the Primordial Wilderness, where cause and effect were taken most seriously.

Once words were spoken, they had to be fulfilled.

Otherwise, at some point, unfulfilled promises would return as karmic retribution.

Taiqing currently had nothing worthy to offer.

He could only promise future rewards.

Since Taiqing emerged into the world, he first went to Buzhou Mountain to pay homage to the will of Pangu Father God.

Then, without pause, he rushed from Buzhou Mountain to the Eastern Sea.

Along this journey, he had no time to seek opportunities in the Primordial Wilderness.

It was no surprise that he had nothing valuable to give.

"Thank you, Master."

The dragon and the qilin both heard Taiqing's words and happily expressed their gratitude.

Observing the Ink Jade Qilin and Ao Jiang, Taiqing nodded with satisfaction.

"Good, you haven't wasted this nearly one Eon; your cultivation hasn't fallen behind."

When the Ink Jade Qilin and Ao Jiang first followed Taiqing, both were at the Early-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm.

On Penglai Immortal Island for nearly one Eon, the dragon and qilin guarded Taiqing while cultivating.

Their cultivation had also advanced to the Mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm.

"Hehe, Master, with you being so powerful, as your mount, we can't let our cultivation slip.

If our cultivation were too low, it wouldn't look good for you to ride us out, would it?"

Ao Jiang was clearly more talkative than the Ink Jade Qilin and also bolder.

He rubbed his head and chuckled.

"You little slick, always the one to talk.

Penglai Immortal Island will leave the Primordial Wilderness and return to the Chaos Void in tens of thousands of years.

Do you two want to explore it?"

Now that Taiqing's ultimate goal of finding the Three Immortal Islands was achieved, he felt the urge to leave.

Breaking through to Golden Immortal of the Origin and walking the Law Path to Sainthood was such a joyous event that he naturally wanted to return to Kunlun Mountain to share it with his second and third brothers.

Counting the time, his second and third brothers were also about to be born.

Taiqing planned to return to Kunlun Mountain before they emerged.

Although his second and third brothers were protected by the Merit of World Creation and even the Heavenly Dao dared not harm them before birth, there was no guarantee that powerful beings wouldn't attack them after they were born.

By rushing back, Taiqing could also guard his two brothers and return their Companion Treasures to them.

"Master, I sense no opportunity here."

The Ink Jade Qilin sensed for a while but found nothing, realizing that Penglai Immortal Island held nothing fated for him.

In the Primordial Wilderness, unclaimed treasures all followed the principle of fate.

Those with fate would be drawn to the treasure; those without would feel nothing even if the treasure was right before them.

"Master, at the core of Penglai Immortal Island, there is an Innate Great Formation guarding it.

Our Dragon Clan has explored it several times but returned empty-handed.

Based on our clan's speculation, there must be a powerful treasure inside.

Master, why not give it a try? Perhaps you are fated with that treasure, and it will willingly acknowledge you as its master."

Ao Jiang didn't mention himself but instead suggested Taiqing go to the core of Penglai Immortal Island.

As a member of the Dragon Clan, Ao Jiang had naturally set foot on Penglai Immortal Island more than once.

He already knew whether there was any treasure fated for him on the island.

There was no need to explore further.

But Taiqing was on Penglai Immortal Island for the first time; perhaps there was something fated for him here.

"That's true. Then Poor Daoist will go and explore. If there is nothing fated for me, I can still leave and return to Kunlun Mountain without delay."

Anyway, it wouldn't take much time.

Besides, it wasn't easy to come to Penglai Immortal Island.

The next time Penglai Immortal Island manifested would probably have to wait until Dong Wang Gong was born.

With that, Taiqing, the dragon, and the qilin headed toward the core of Penglai Immortal Island.

Taiqing was already certain that what was gestating at the core of Penglai Immortal Island was Dong Wang Gong.

Although he couldn't enter the place where Dong Wang Gong was being nurtured, he could still explore other areas.

The place nurturing Dong Wang Gong was merely the core within the core of Penglai Immortal Island.

After attaining the Golden Immortal of the Origin, Taiqing's speed was countless times faster than before.

From the outer reaches of Penglai Immortal Island, he quickly entered the core territory.

Along the way, Taiqing casually collected a few Innate Spiritual Roots and plants that looked decent.

For instance, the top-grade Innate Spiritual Plants like the Innate Five-Colored Rice and Innate Millet—five types of Innate Five Grains spiritual plants.

Taiqing hadn't expected that the Innate Five Grains spiritual plants, so closely tied to the future human race, would be right here on Penglai Immortal Island.

He collected them in advance; perhaps they would prove useful later.

Ink Jade Qilin and Ao Jiang, however, couldn't understand why their master was gathering some Innate Spiritual Plants.

And only top-grade ones at that.

Spiritual plants were a rank lower than Spiritual Roots.

A single extreme-grade Innate Spiritual Plant was only equivalent to a mid-grade Innate Spiritual Root.

Though they didn't understand, Ink Jade Qilin and Ao Jiang kept their mouths shut.

As mounts, being carried along by Taiqing while he traveled was already a dereliction of duty on their part; how could they dare question their master?

"If I let the future human race obtain the Innate Five Grains ahead of time, I wonder what kind of impact it would have on them?"

Having obtained the Innate Five Grains, Taiqing silently calculated in his heart.

But the variables were simply too great. Even with his current cultivation level, combined with his knowledge of the Primordial Wilderness's course, he couldn't smoothly deduce anything useful.

In fact, because the time span was too vast and the variables too numerous and immense, even with the Taiji Diagram aiding his deduction, Taiqing felt a severe drain on his mental energy.

"It seems I still need to cultivate the Time Law, supplemented by the Innate Eight Trigrams deduction method, along with the Space Law to evolve the myriad possibilities.

Only then can I calculate future events."

Taiqing opened his eyes, weary in both mind and body. After this round of deduction, he had determined which Laws he should cultivate next.

The Heavenly Dao, Hongjun, Luohu—every one of these existences was a terrifying schemer.

As the saying goes, "It's easy to dodge an open strike, but hard to guard against a hidden arrow." Taiqing wanted to thrive in the Primordial Wilderness and ultimately break free from the schemes and control of old enemies like the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun, all while his cultivation and strength couldn't surpass these powerhouses.

He had to be an even better schemer than his foes.

If he could, Taiqing would also prefer to brute-force his way through with raw power.

As the saying goes, "All conspiracies and tricks are paper tigers in the face of absolute strength."

But that wasn't the case now—his strength wasn't enough to crush everything.

If he had been born in the same era as Hongjun, Taiqing would naturally dare to say that.

But the truth was, Taiqing's birth came far too late compared to existences like Hongjun—countless Eons too late.

Lost in thought, Taiqing led Ink Jade Qilin and Ao Jiang toward the Innate Great Formation.

At that moment, a faint summons came indistinctly from within Taiqing's Primordial Spirit.