Hongjun

Li Xuan watched the deathmatch in the sky, thinking to himself as he prepared to take a detour.

After being killed dozens of times by the aftershocks of powerful battles.

He had long understood what to do when encountering fights between strong opponents.

So, this great battle between the Luan Bird and the Flood Dragon—best to steer clear quickly.

"Sigh, this world grows more turbulent by the day, everywhere it's you slashing me, me slashing you..."

Li Xuan muttered, swiftly distancing himself from this place of trouble.

At the same time, he continued moving forward cautiously.

Where exactly was the death limit for this incarnation of his?

A year from now?

Ten years?

Or would it never die at all?

Come to think of it, I'm starting to look forward to it now...

Heh, just sitting around waiting to die...

I think I'm a lunatic...

Carefully skimming low over the ground for half a day, the sounds of the Luan Bird and Flood Dragon's fight had faded to nearly inaudible.

No matter how formidable those two were, their aftershocks couldn't possibly reach here.

Only then did Li Xuan relax, popping his head out again, and flew westward through the air.

The further west he went, the more frequent the battles became.

The three tribes of Birds, Beasts, and Scaled Creatures were slaughtering each other everywhere.

Li Xuan's evasions grew increasingly difficult, sometimes nearly dying.

Persisting like this for two months, Li Xuan felt more exhausted than he had in the past ten-plus years!

Truly surviving in the cracks! Deathmatches everywhere!

One day, Li Xuan carefully climbed over the tallest mountain, then stood at its peak, looking ahead, and froze in utter shock.

Before him, an endless, boundless wilderness.

Countless living beings were locked in fierce battle, in deadly struggle!

As far as the eye could see, seas of blood surged to the heavens, killing intent filled the wilds!

Mystic Immortals! Golden Immortals! Primordial Unity Golden Immortals!

All kinds of creatures tangled together.

Without exception, every one of them had manifested their true forms, roaring and howling!

Within a radius of a million li, it was like a hellscape!

At the same time, even more powerful, more terrifying shadows loomed at the very top of the sky, emitting rumbles that seemed to annihilate heaven and earth—they too were locked in combat!

That was a super-level battle at the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal and Golden Immortal of the Origin tiers!

"What the hell... I actually managed to live long enough to reach the center of the battlefield?"

Hiding behind a massive boulder, Li Xuan cautiously poked his head out.

Staring at the cataclysm before him, the shock in his heart was beyond words!

Only the sight of the Three Thousand Demon Gods being slaughtered by Pangu back then could compare to the shock he felt now.

This, this was the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity!

And right now, it was still the early stages of the calamity; the Beast Clan hadn't yet been completely crushed!

When it reached the later stage, with the Ancestor Dragon and Primordial Phoenix each leading the Scaled Creatures and Birds, along with the surrendered Beasts mixed in.

When the two sides engaged in their final deathmatch, that would be the true mountain of corpses and sea of blood!

"What a waste of those ingredients..."

While secretly observing the battle, Li Xuan couldn't help but drool over the corpses of Mystic Immortals, Golden Immortals, Primordial Unity Golden Immortals, and even one Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal that had fallen to the ground.

If he could drag those back to Mount Taixuan, they'd surely let his main body's cultivation advance a few more steps.

But a mere incarnation, a waste at the Heavenly Immortal level—how could he go down there to drag corpses?

He couldn't even get close; the battle aftershocks would instantly kill him.

As for the main body coming over?

Heh heh...

Li Xuan thought to himself, while secretly mulling over whether to turn back or keep pushing forward to explore, and maybe wait to die in the process?

After all, it was just an incarnation; spending another ten-plus years to return to Mount Taixuan would be far too idle.

"Forget it, I'll keep going forward. After experiencing this calamity firsthand, death is just death."

After thinking it over, Li Xuan made up his mind. He moved his body and was about to head down the mountain.

"Karmic tribulations of the mortal world roll in endlessly; all living beings suffer their hardship. Sigh..."

But just then, a faint voice suddenly drifted from beside him.

The voice, appearing like a ghost, instantly startled Li Xuan so badly he jolted.

He leaped to the side and immediately struck a Bagua Palm stance, shouting, "What the hell!?"

There, beside him, stood an old man, appearing as if from nowhere.

Li Xuan squinted, studying the old man, but couldn't sense any of his aura.

Clearly, he was just like Li Xuan—cowering like a coward.

All his aura was completely concealed.

Too bad he was only a clone and couldn't bring the system's functions along.

Otherwise, he could use the system to check the old man out and know exactly what he was.

But since the old man was just as much a coward as him, not daring to reveal his aura, he definitely wasn't that strong.

So Li Xuan rolled his eyes and said, "Hey, old man, why you gotta scare people like that? This whole mountain's huge, you could stand anywhere and look, but you had to get right next to me? Got no sense of security, huh?"

The old man had white hair and a white beard, and wasn't very tall—half a head shorter than Li Xuan.

He was also bald, with a ring of white hair hanging down around his shiny pate, giving him a somewhat shifty look.

Still, his features were decent, with long eyebrows and a long beard both snowy white.

If you ignored the bald crown, he had quite the immortal, otherworldly bearing.

Hearing Li Xuan's words, the old man smiled and said, "Young friend, This Poor Daoist sensed a similar aura on you, so I came to take a look. Unfortunately, young friend is but a clone, so there's no chance to meet your true self."

"Heh heh..."

Li Xuan let out a dry laugh, thinking to himself, This old geezer's still putting on airs in front of me. Aren't you just a clone too? Would your true self dare to come?

"We each mind our own business. What's this about a 'similar aura'? A cowardly aura? Don't follow me. I'm heading to the central region to check things out."

Li Xuan shot the old man a glance, then started down the mountain.

The old man didn't stop him, only smiling as he said, "Under the great calamity, young friend may try to hide, but I fear you won't escape it in the future. You and This Poor Daoist will meet again."

"Meet your sister, putting on airs..."

Li Xuan muttered under his breath, then took a step, carefully making his way down the mountain.

The old man watched Li Xuan slowly descend, then smiled and suddenly called out, "Young friend, would you tell This Poor Daoist your name? We are, after all, fated to meet."

Li Xuan was heading down the mountain when he heard this. He just curled his lip and said, "My name? No harm in telling you! This young master is called... Long! Ao! Tian!"

Long Aotian...

The old man heard this, nodded slightly, and smiled. "Young friend's name is quite domineering, easy on the tongue. It's not inferior to the name This Poor Daoist chose for himself."

Li Xuan laughed at that. He stopped and turned to look at the old man on the mountaintop. "Then what's yours? Let's hear it. You say it's not inferior to my Long Aotian, a name so mighty? I don't believe it."

The old man smiled again and said, "Hong means the beginning of heaven and earth, the source of all laws. Jun means the universe's containment, the weight of infinite kalpas. So, This Poor Daoist named himself: Hongjun."

"Oh, Hongjun, huh? I thought it'd be something special..."

Li Xuan nodded with a laugh, starting to mock naturally, but then he stopped mid-sentence...

"Gah?"

Li Xuan's eyes went wide in an instant. He stared at the old man on the mountain, completely frozen, and then his whole body began to tremble slightly.

As for words? He couldn't get them out anymore.

The old man, meanwhile, looked at Li Xuan with a smile. "A name is just a name, a vessel for hopes and dreams. Young friend needn't be so shocked. We will meet again in the future, and then we can discuss the Great Dao. After all, we share the same origin."

With that, the old man's figure slowly faded away.

Then, after a long while, as the mountain wind blew, Li Xuan's nearly petrified body suddenly let out a shocked shout: "You're Hongjun!?"