Di Jiang's divine sense locked onto the Yin-Yang Banana Tree swaying gracefully in the valley, its tempting treasure-light shimmering. He was just about to whisk it away with a suave Sleeve Universe, but his movements suddenly paused.
An extremely well-hidden Innate Magic Array shrouded the Banana Tree. It was a protective formation that came with the tree itself. On top of that, there was another Acquired Human-Arranged Formation, with a familiar trace of Pure Qi Dao Rhyme faintly flowing through it—the aura of the Three Pure Ones!
"Oh?"
Di Jiang raised an eyebrow!
"So those three Three Pure Ones had found this leek ages ago and even carefully fenced it in, waiting for it to grow plump before harvesting it!"
That meant the Yin-Yang Banana Tree was already considered someone's property in the Primordial World. If he took it now, the nature of the act would be entirely different—from foraging in the wild to breaking into someone's home and robbing them!
Any powerful figure with even a shred of shame would probably have to think twice before going through with it! But Di Jiang rubbed his chin, not the slightest hint of guilt in his eyes!
"Mm, it belongs to someone, so taking it outright does seem a bit like robbery. Not good, not good."
"But! If I move a little faster and keep my hands a little cleaner, then muddle the heavenly secrets... so they won't know who did it and can't find the victim, can that really be called robbery?"
"At most, it counts as stealing! Besides, I'm doing this to prevent the Three Pure Ones from turning against each other over an unfair division of treasures in the future! I'm preserving their precious brotherly bond! I'm doing a good deed! Such boundless merit means it doesn't count as stealing!"
After constructing this powerful bit of self-justification, Di Jiang felt refreshed and clear-headed. He wasn't here to rob or steal; he was here to deliver all living beings from suffering.
"Decision made! For the sake of domestic harmony among the Three Pure Ones, and for little sister Jiu Feng's Dao, I, Di Jiang, will graciously accept this Banana Tree!"
Before anyone knew it, Di Jiang swept out his hand! The Space Law ignored the Innate Magic Array, and the entire tree, along with the Spirit Soil beneath it, was uprooted in an instant and compressed into a ball of flowing light. With a whoosh, it vanished into Di Jiang's sleeve. The whole maneuver was smooth, clean, and efficient—a model of professional excellence!
Right after that, he flicked his sleeve again. A power that muddled the heavenly secrets and disrupted karma spread out, wiping away every trace of the Banana Tree and himself from the area. It was as if the tree had never grown there at all.
Satisfied, Di Jiang clapped his hands and looked around.
"Perfect! Now it's not robbery, but borrowing without anyone knowing! Right, borrowing! After I finish comprehending the Yin-Yang Law, I'll think about whether to return it..."
"Ah, being the eldest brother isn't easy. I have to support the family and handle emotional counseling and my own moral development, too." As Di Jiang left, he thought this, feeling that he had truly given too much for his family.
Just as Di Jiang had left, the Three Pure Ones, who were each meditating and healing while cultivating in their own caves, felt their hearts jolt almost simultaneously!
The wisp of Pure Qi Dao Rhyme they had left on the Banana Tree as a marker and protection had vanished with a smack! They had also completely lost their connection to the tree itself, which they had watched for so long, intending to harvest it once its Yin Yang Two Qi had reached its fullest!
"This is bad!"
"Thief, how dare you!"
"What rat dares this!"
Three streaks of furious, clear light shot into the sky from the Three Pure Ones' caves on Mount Kunlun and converged at the valley where the Banana Tree had once grown, almost in the blink of an eye.
But the valley was utterly empty. Only the lingering, chaotic heavenly secrets remained, along with a faint trace of spatial fluctuation that was almost impossible to detect. The thief was long gone, vanished without a trace and faster than the clouds over Mount Kunlun!
Taiqing's face darkened. Yuqing Primal's expression turned ashen, while Shangqing was so furious that he cursed outright.
"Shameless scoundrel! Hiding your head and showing your tail! If I find out who you are, I'll grind your bones to dust!"
Yuqing also flicked his sleeve and snorted. "To dare commit such a petty, thieving crime on my Mount Kunlun! Truly, you're no child of man!"
After venting their anger, the Three Pure Ones forced themselves to calm down and began analyzing the identity of this brazen thief.
Taiqing mused, "This person took the treasure and fled in an instant, before we could even notice, and was able to muddle the heavenly secrets so we couldn't divine their identity. Their strength must be at least Peak Da Luo. Most importantly, their speed is astonishing."
Yuqing chimed in with an air of lofty analysis.
"Hmph. This behavior suggests they lack a suitable Innate Spiritual Treasure of their own, which is why they coveted a High-grade Spirit Root! Looking across the Primordial World today, which powerful figure of any standing doesn't have a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure to accompany them? Zhenyuanzi has the Book of Earth, Di Jun has He Tu Luo Shu, the Eastern Prince has the Pure Yang Sword and Purple Sun Furnace, and the Queen Mother of the West has the Kunlun Mirror..."
Yuqing paused and glanced at his brothers, instinctively overlooking the fact that the three of them themselves lacked a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure besides the Heaven and Earth Exquisite Pagoda. Still, the Heaven and Earth Exquisite Pagoda was even more precious than those Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures!
Besides, Yuqing considered his own Origin/Foundation noble, and naturally expected to have no shortage of spiritual treasures in the future. He continued his reasoning. "Only those with lesser Origin/Foundation, shallow fortune, and no powerful spiritual treasure to protect them would be so desperate!"
Hearing this, Shangqing immediately counted on his fingers. "High cultivation, incredible speed, and no decent spiritual treasures! Kunpeng! That old bird is unrivaled in speed across the Primordial World. He comes from the North Sea and had no spiritual treasures when he listened to the Dao at the Purple Heaven Palace. He's the prime suspect!"
Yuqing Primal added, "And Taiyi! I've heard he has no spiritual treasure to accompany him. The Sun Gold Wheel belongs to his elder brother, Di Jun. He's also quite fast, and he acts domineeringly."
Taiqing nodded slightly, then thought of the two in the West. "And Jieyin and Zhunti! They spend all their time in our East begging for alms. Their shamelessness is rare in the Primordial World! If they learned there was a treasure on Kunlun and did this, it wouldn't be surprising."
And so, through the Three Pure Ones' "meticulous" back-and-forth reasoning, a "suspect list" full of prejudice and subjective conjecture was drawn up!
Prime suspect: Kunpeng (Reason: fast, poor)
Second suspect: Taiyi (Reason: no accompanying spiritual treasure, had motive)
Third suspects: Jieyin and Zhunti (Reason: prior offenses, shameless)
After their "rigorous" analysis, the Three Pure Ones looked at the suspect list, their eyes converging in unison on the first name—Kunpeng!
A cold glint flashed in Yuqing's eyes. The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. "It must have been that feathered beast! At the Purple Heaven Palace, he fought Jieyin for a Saint Seat Cushion and was forced back by our combined efforts. He must have held a grudge! Stealing the Banana Tree was both revenge and greed for the treasure!"
Shangqing immediately agreed. "Second brother is absolutely right! Kunpeng's speed is unrivaled in the Primordial World, and he comes and goes like the wind. He fits the thief's profile perfectly! And the North Sea is bitterly cold; he really doesn't have much in the way of possessions. How could he resist a High-grade Spirit Root?"
Taiqing did think Jieyin and Zhunti were quite suspicious, but the two from the West were far away and seemed more suited to going straight to someone's door and crying about how hard life was in the West, then using tearful pleas to wear them down!
They were less likely to pull off this kind of "lightning-fast theft." Add to that Kunpeng's old grudge with Yuqing, and Taiqing slowly nodded, accepting the conclusion.
"Third brother has a point. Kunpeng is the prime suspect. He had the motive, the ability, and the need. There's a nine-in-ten chance he did it!"
The Three Pure Ones were one body, bound together by the same breath. To Taiqing and Shangqing, Yuqing Primal's enmity with Kunpeng was enmity with all three of them. Now that a thief had broken into their home, the blame for their anger naturally fell on the prime suspect, Kunpeng!
"Hmph! At the next lecture at the Purple Heaven Palace, we'll make Kunpeng give us an explanation!" Yuqing said coldly, already considering how to interrogate Kunpeng and even make him pay.
"If he denies it, we'll make him understand that Pangu's Three Pure Ones aren't people he can afford to offend!" Shangqing spoke with a combative glint in his eyes.
Taiqing made no threats, but his expression showed that he supported his younger brothers' decision. The Three Pure Ones had already decided that Kunpeng was the thief who had stolen their Banana Tree!
Meanwhile, far away in the depths of the boundless North Sea, Kunpeng was cultivating in his Demon Master Palace, focusing on digesting what he had heard at the Purple Heaven Palace. For no apparent reason, he shivered, a chill running down his back.
Kunpeng opened his eyes in puzzlement and swept his divine sense across the frigid North Sea, but found nothing unusual.
"How strange. Could something have gone wrong with my cultivation?"
Kunpeng frowned and carefully examined himself, but nothing was amiss! He could never have imagined that a huge, round Black Pot from Mount Kunlun had already crossed countless mountains and rivers to lock precisely onto him!
And at the next lecture at the Purple Heaven Palace, it would land squarely on his head.
Before you continue