After parting from Candle Dragon, Xuanyuan and Tongtian continued their travels through the East Sea.
"Fourth Brother, when Daoist Candle Dragon brought out his blood essence just now, did you sense nine auras no weaker than ours?"
Tongtian rode the Upper Clarity Qi, racing across the sea. Only after they were tens of millions of miles from Candle Dragon's secluded cultivation site did he finally ask.
"They were the Nine Sons of the Dragon: Qiu Niu, Ya Zi, Chao Feng, Pu Lao, Suan Ni, Bi Xi, Bi An, Fu Xi, and Chi Wen."
"They were all at Grand Unity Golden Immortal Perfection, but had yet to become Primordial Golden Immortals. Perhaps it was precisely because they had not entered the Primordial Golden Immortal realm that they managed to survive the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity."
"Ancestral Dragon is suppressed beneath the East Sea Eye, while Candle Dragon and the Nine Sons of the Dragon have gathered in the East Sea. They're still unwilling to accept their fate."
Looking back, Xuanyuan shook his head helplessly.
There had been no winners in the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity. The progenitors of the three clans had been burdened with heavy karmic force and calamity qi, and were all suppressed.
Yuanfeng was suppressed beneath the Volcano of Immortality, Beginning Qilin beneath the Central Land, and Ancestral Dragon beneath the East Sea Eye. They would never escape or regain their freedom.
Now Candle Dragon and the Nine Sons of the Dragon had gathered in the East Sea. Though they had not said so outright, given that the East Sea would remain the most important of the four seas in the future, the Dragon Race had evidently never given up on Ancestral Dragon.
"Ten Grand Unity Golden Immortals at Perfection—the Dragon Race's foundations are truly formidable. No wonder they were once the Lord of Scales," Tongtian exclaimed.
Out of ten Grand Unity Golden Immortals at Perfection, surely one or two would become Primordial Golden Immortals, right?
Xuanyuan shook his head, offering no opinion.
If the Dragon Race did not change, then with calamity qi clinging to them and their karmic force unresolved, they would surely decline even further.
Even if Ying Long later helped Xuanyuan claim the Human Emperor's throne, making the Dragon Race a totem of humanity and allowing them to share in its fortune, it still would not be enough to save a crumbling edifice.
They would still be treated like beasts of burden by the All Gods and Buddhas,
and their livers and marrow would still end up on the menu...
Hopefully, this time, Candle Dragon would lead the Dragon Race down the right path.
Xuanyuan and Tongtian continued traveling through the East Sea. They explored for an Eon, surveying the waterways and using the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler to sense space, but still failed to find the Three Immortal Islands.
One day, Xuanyuan's brows lifted slightly. His soul seemed to sense something, and, as if guided by a sudden inspiration, he struck out with the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler in his hand.
"Crack! Crack!"
The void ahead shattered inch by inch like a mirror. Then a stream of Chaos Residual Qi surged out, carrying the lingering might of Pangu Opens Heaven. Space-Time Turbulence twisted into a gigantic vortex that seemed capable of crushing heaven and earth.
Before the brothers could react, they were swept into the depths of the vortex by a force powerful enough to annihilate an ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortal.
When their senses cleared, Xuanyuan and Tongtian had fallen into a desolate, lifeless void.
Dense, ink-black baleful qi surged as Chaos Turbulent Flow raged. Fortunately, the two had treasures to protect them. Otherwise, caught in that maelstrom, even Grand Unity Golden Immortals at Perfection would risk having their bodies and souls destroyed!
Looking up, they saw a colossal vortex. Gloomy mist pouring down from above tangled with the waters of the East Sea, forming a whirlpool that stretched between heaven and earth. It looked like chains sealing away the Primordial World Heaven and Earth, and exuded an aura of annihilation.
In the distance, six enormous, charred tortoiseshells, each tens of thousands of miles across, floated in midair. Scorch marks left by heavenly lightning crisscrossed the shells with intricate patterns burned by earthfire, as though they were runes etched by time itself.
Around the tortoiseshells swirled dense baleful qi, potent enough to taint the soul and corrode the spiritual nature of treasures.
"Fourth Brother, look! Could those be the immortal islands we're searching for?"
The merit light radiating from the Coiling Dragon Flat Crutch parted the baleful qi. Tongtian's eyes lit up as he suddenly pointed into the distance.
Far beyond them, two hazy glimmers of immortal light flickered in and out of sight. They seemed to be two immortal islands, but they were sealed tight within a barrier woven from Innate Restrictions.
"They are immortal islands, but not the Three Immortal Islands we seek. Brother, if I'm not mistaken, this place must be Guixu."
Looking at the six colossal tortoiseshells, Xuanyuan sighed softly. How could he not know that they had arrived in Guixu?
These six tortoiseshells must belong to the six Golden Aos that the Dragon-Kin Giant had once fished up, bearing the immortal islands on their backs.
Guixu lay at the far end of the East Sea, where heaven and earth met in the Primordial World. There was no direction or time there. It was where all things in heaven and earth returned to their origin—and a place abandoned by the Heavenly Dao.
It lay beyond reincarnation and causality, and its secrets could not be divined.
If an ordinary mighty cultivator accidentally entered this place, death was all but certain.
"Guixu? So that's where the other two Chaos Fragments became immortal islands?" Tongtian asked, finally understanding.
Xuanyuan had previously said that there were originally five immortal islands, but only the Three Immortal Islands remained. So the other two islands had fallen into Guixu?
"Exactly. They're the two immortal islands, Yuanqiao and Dai Yu. Well, since we're here, we may as well make the best of it. There should be opportunities to be found on these two islands as well."
Xuanyuan nodded.
Ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortals who fell into Guixu would be doomed, but the two brothers were different.
With the Chaos Supreme Treasure, the Chaos Pearl, the Houtian Merit Supreme Treasure, the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler, and the top-grade merit spirit treasure, the Coiling Dragon Flat Crutch, this place could not hold them.
"Fourth Brother is right. Whether it's the Three Immortal Islands or these two, we've come all this way. If we don't explore them, wouldn't the trip have been for nothing?"
Tongtian nodded. Then, holding the Coiling Dragon Flat Crutch in one hand and the Qing Ping Sword in the other, he flew toward the two immortal islands. The Purple Lightning Hammer and Fishing Drum floated around him, carried by his Spiritual Sense, as bolts of yang thunder and yin lightning coiled around his body.
Tongtian led the way. The fierce sword intent of the Qing Ping Sword cleaved through layer upon layer of Chaos Turbulent Flow. Just as he was about to approach the outlines of the two immortal islands, protected by Innate Restrictions, a hoarse, venomous curse tore through Guixu's silence:
"Damn the heavens! We divined and offered sacrifices to the heavens, seeking their will and honoring them above all. Why, for the sake of a few damned turtles, did you cut down our territory, destroy our people, and shrink our bodies?"
"The heavens are blind! This hatred will never fade!"
Before the words had even ended, a violent aura powerful enough to set the Space-Time Turbulence in motion swept over them. Dark purple baleful qi solidified, ripping countless cracks through the surrounding Chaos Turbulent Flow.
"Brother, be careful!"
Xuanyuan hurriedly pulled Tongtian behind him and held the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler across his chest.
Then a black figure slowly emerged from the void ahead.
He stood only four feet nine inches tall, yet the ominous aura radiating from him was more venomous than the baleful qi of Guixu.
Golden runes densely encircled his entire body. Each time they completed a circuit, charred flesh peeled from his skin, then dissolved into Guixu, vanishing into nothingness. They were marks of the curse placed upon him by the Heavenly Dao.
"So it's the Dragon-Kin Giant."
Xuanyuan's gaze sharpened. Studying the ancient aura faintly visible between the runes, he spoke slowly.
That was right. This unwelcome visitor was the chieftain of the Dragon-Kin Giant Clan, one of the Hundred Innate Races.
Back then, he had fished up the Golden Aos, causing the two immortal islands to sink into Guixu and leaving the Heaven and Earth Five Elements Origin incomplete. As a result, he had been subjected to Heavenly Punishment. His clan's homeland had vanished, his entire race had perished, and even he had lost the magnificent body he had once been so proud of under the Heavenly Dao's curse.
And judging by the aura coming from him, he must have entered the Primordial Golden Immortal realm back then!
At the words, the black figure jerked his head up as if struck by some painful memory. His blood-red eyes roiled with boundless fury. The runes of the Heavenly Dao's curse writhed violently with his rage, and black blood seeped through the gaps between them.
"In the past, I could cross the East Sea in just a few steps. Now the Heavenly Dao has shrunk me into this dwarf's body! I refuse to accept it!"
With a lift of his hand, an immense force that devoured all things erupted. The baleful qi within Guixu was forcibly drawn toward him. "Since you've entered this place with treasures to protect you, you must be favored by Heaven. Then pay with your lives for that damnable Heavenly Dao!"
Before the words had even ended, the Dragon-Kin Giant charged at the two of them, wrapped in the power of the curse and boundless baleful qi.
"Fourth Brother, it seems this battle will decide both victory and defeat—and life and death. Let's kill him together!"
"Ancestral Shaman True Form, manifest!"
Tongtian roared and manifested his Ancestral Shaman True Form, 129,600 zhang tall. His three heads and six arms churned the Space-Time Turbulence.
One hand gripped the Qing Ping Sword, another held the Coiling Dragon Flat Crutch;
one wielded the Purple Lightning Hammer, while another beat the Fishing Drum;
with his remaining two hands, he unleashed successive blasts of Yin Yang Law power against the Dragon-Kin Giant.
"Then let's fight."
Xuanyuan nodded and manifested his own Ancestral Shaman True Form. The Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler in his hand tore through the void, while the Chaos World Projection suppressed heaven and earth. He paired the rare treasures Qiankun Bow and Zhentian Arrow, firing shot after shot.
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