To the south, that aura drew closer and closer.
At last, tens of thousands of miles away, at the very limit of his sight,
a tiny red dot appeared.
The red dot moved swiftly; tens of thousands of miles were nothing to it.
In just a few breaths after he spotted it,
the red light had already flown to within three thousand miles of Mount Taixuan.
Li Xuan watched the red light and looked momentarily surprised.
Then he blinked and smiled.
The light faded, revealing the figure of a middle-aged Daoist.
The Daoist stood on an Auspicious Cloud, his face full of worry as he looked toward Mount Taixuan.
Name: Hong Yun.
Identity: Primordial lifeform.
Cultivation: Primordial Golden Immortal, Level 10.
Treasures: Soul-Scattering Red Sand, Primordial Red Cloud, Fire Cloud Sword.
Cultivation Art: Primordial Red Cloud Essence Art.
Strength Assessment: Powerful.
The Daoist's information appeared before Li Xuan.
It was precisely because of that information that Li Xuan was surprised—and then amused.
"Hong Yun? The greatest good Samaritan in the Primordial Wilderness? What's he doing here?"
Li Xuan rubbed his chin, baffled.
Meanwhile, Hong Yun stood outside the Grand Xuan Formation, anxiously peering inside, but he couldn't see through it.
After thinking for a moment, he called out loudly, "Fellow Daoist within the mountain! I am Hong Yun of Mount Wanshou. I was passing by and sensed that you were undergoing tribulation, so I came to help! How are you, fellow Daoist? Do you need assistance? Shall I protect you while you recover? I mean you no harm! If you were badly injured by the tribulation, don't try to tough it out! Otherwise, your Dao foundation could suffer serious consequences! I have a Ginseng Fruit here. Please, take it and eat it!"
As he spoke, Hong Yun really did take out a porcelain-doll-like fruit shaped like a person and let it float in his palm.
Li Xuan listened, clicking his tongue in disbelief...
If someone else had come and said those things,
Li Xuan would have sneered.
He might even have invited the man inside,
then used the formation to kill him!
Who would believe such nonsense?
It was obviously an attempt to take advantage of him while he was weak,
right after completing his tribulation!
But since it was Hong Yun standing there,
and he was saying those things...
he truly meant it.
He had come to help a stranger
he had never met, a lifeform he didn't even know!
As the saying went, people might be given the wrong names,
but their nicknames were never wrong.
The title of the Primordial Wilderness's greatest good Samaritan was well deserved.
Seeing Hong Yun pacing outside his formation,
his expression growing more and more anxious,
Li Xuan felt a touch of warmth in his heart.
Hong Yun really was worried about him.
"Fellow Daoist! Were you badly injured by the tribulation, and that's why you can't answer? If so, forgive my presumption—I'm breaking into your formation! Once I've saved your life, I'll apologize!"
After lingering outside for a while longer,
Hong Yun finally made up his mind.
He suddenly shouted, moved, and started to charge into the formation.
"Ah, you're a good person, but you're not exactly easy to deal with. This really isn't helping..."
Seeing that Hong Yun really was about to break in,
Li Xuan sighed to himself, then waved a hand.
The Grand Profound Illusory Realm Array opened at once.
"If you wish to come in, then come in. Why force your way through?"
Li Xuan's voice rang down from the mountain.
Hong Yun, however, stopped short.
Through the opening formation, he looked toward the distant mountaintop.
There he saw a young Daoist watching him calmly.
Hong Yun couldn't make out the young Daoist's cultivation or the fluctuations of his aura at all.
But it was clear that the young Daoist was perfectly fine.
Hong Yun's tense heart finally relaxed.
Looking at Li Xuan, Hong Yun smiled. "Congratulations on passing your tribulation, fellow Daoist! Since you're unharmed, I won't come in and disturb you. I was about to force my way in because I was genuinely worried about your safety. I hope you won't hold it against me."
Li Xuan shrugged.
He had no good way to respond to Hong Yun's sincerity.
Anything he said would make him seem like a petty man judging a gentleman by his own standards.
So he said nothing.
Hong Yun smiled and said, "It seems you don't enjoy talking with others. I won't impose on you, then. I am Hong Yun, and I live on Mount Wanshou, sixteen million miles south of here. If you ever have the time, you're welcome to visit. My dear friend Zhen Yuanzi and I would both welcome you wholeheartedly!"
Li Xuan nodded. "If I have the time, I'll visit Mount Wanshou."
Hong Yun laughed heartily. "Wonderful! I've always loved making friends. I firmly believe that if I treat my friends with sincerity, they'll treat me with sincerity in return. Until we meet again, fellow Daoist!"
Li Xuan nodded. "Until we meet again."
Hong Yun let out a long laugh, turned, and flew away on a streak of red light without the slightest hesitation.
Hong Yun had always been an open and honest man.
When he said he had come to save someone, that was all he meant. He had no ulterior motives.
Whether others might misunderstand him,
he didn't particularly care.
After all, once those fellow Daoists who misunderstood him had spent time with him,
they would eventually understand that he was sincere.
And now that the young Daoist had safely survived the tribulation and was in no danger,
and had no wish to befriend him,
Hong Yun simply left.
His conscience was clear.
Hong Yun, feeling that he had done another good deed that day,
smiled broadly, his mind at ease, and sang as he rode the clouds into the distance.
Watching the red light recede, Li Xuan waved his hand again, restoring the Grand Xuan Formation.
Hong Yun, Hong Yun.
If he could, Li Xuan would have liked to befriend him, perhaps even become his closest friend.
After all, Hong Yun was a genuinely good person.
With a friend like him, you would never need to worry about self-interest or petty scheming.
But unfortunately,
Li Xuan couldn't befriend him, or even tell him his name.
If he and Hong Yun became friends and he revealed his name,
then everyone who knew Hong Yun would soon learn that Li Xuan existed.
And then Hongjun would probably come knocking in no time.
That was another thing about Hong Yun that made him hard to deal with.
He trusted everyone, and naturally
assumed no one else should be guarded against, either...
It was like telling a close friend something deeply personal,
only for that friend to pass it on to someone else right away...
And yet Hong Yun truly had no ill intentions...
Li Xuan shook his head with a sigh. Knowing the tragic end that awaited Hong Yun, he could only think to himself, "Hong Yun, Hong Yun, you don't know... good people don't live long..."
Hong Yun's visit had been a brief interlude.
Mount Taixuan grew quiet once more.
Li Xuan continued to sit cross-legged and cultivate the Great Dao.
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, fifty thousand years had gone by.
Kong Xuan, Bright Rabbit, Qi Ying, Little Blue, and Little Purple had never returned.
This only made Li Xuan more worried.
Could they have perished out there long ago?
But the Primordial Wilderness was simply too vast. What could Li Xuan do, even if he was worried?
There was no way he could find them by going out to search.
So Li Xuan could only suppress his worries.
He thought of how Kong Xuan had the Five-Colored Divine Light, which kept even ghosts and gods at bay.
Unless he encountered someone as powerful as the Three Pure Ones,
even if he couldn't win because he was still young,
he could always escape.
One day,
Li Xuan heard a faint series of clicking sounds.
Frowning slightly, he opened his eyes and surfaced from his journey through the ocean of the Great Dao.
The little egg beside him, which had been incubating for almost two hundred thousand years,
had finally begun to tremble—and crack!
The Golden-Winged Great Peng!
It had finally made up for its innate deficiencies.
It was about to be born!
Before you continue