The East Sea Dragon Clan

Donghua finished cultivating and flopped down on the lotus throne without a care for his image. He felt truly exhausted.

"Slaying the Three Corpses is so difficult!"

Those Desires and Obsessions could truly drown him. Then he had to gather them together and overcome them amid all those Desires and Obsessions.

After lying there for a while, Donghua sat up. A seal appeared in his right hand.

It was the very seal-shaped spiritual treasure Hongjun had given him.

He had studied it several times, but had gained nothing. When his Primordial Spirit entered the treasure and tried to leave a mark to refine it, it was like a stone sinking into the sea.

Inside, his Primordial Spirit found only a hazy expanse, with nothing else. He didn't even know what the treasure did.

Two Great Dao Talisman characters were engraved beneath the seal: Seal Heaven.

Donghua had tried many methods, even dripping his blood onto it to claim ownership, but he still couldn't refine it.

"I've never heard of this treasure, the Seal Heaven Seal, in my Previous Life. But Dao Ancestor kept it instead of giving it away. It can't be an ordinary treasure."

"Maybe the time isn't right yet, and it's not meant to appear just yet. Still, it'll make a decent weapon to hit someone with." Donghua couldn't figure out anything about it, so he put it away.

He left the great hall and went to the top of Suspended Peak on Purple Mansion Continent. It was the highest point among the Three Islands and Ten Continents.

He wanted to go out and see the Primordial Wilderness from his memories. More than anything, he wanted to travel through it and dull the Desires and Obsessions left over from his Previous Life.

"At this time, those Innate Deities should all be cultivating in seclusion, comprehending the Great Dao and seeking to prove the Dao by Slaying the Corpse."

Donghua took a single step and appeared above the East Sea.

"Since I've come to the Primordial Wilderness, how can I not visit the Dragon Clan? In my Previous Life, I was known as a descendant of the dragon, after all. Besides, the Dragon Clan is famous for its wealth."

He arrived at the East Sea Dragon Palace and glanced over its inhabitants.

"Only three Grand Unity Golden Immortals, and not a single Quasi-Saint?"

Donghua frowned. That level of strength didn't seem to match the Dragon Clan. After all, during the Three Clans' struggle for supremacy, the Dragon Clan had preserved more experts than either of the others.

Donghua revealed his true form and headed toward the Crystal Palace.

"Who are you? How dare you trespass in the Dragon Palace?" The soldiers guarding the palace gates immediately stepped forward with their spears and surrounded Donghua.

Two figures emerged from the Crystal Palace: the current East Sea Dragon King and the Turtle Prime Minister.

The moment they saw Donghua, both were startled. They clearly recognized him.

"We didn't know East King would grace us with his presence. This king failed to welcome you properly. Please forgive me." The man at the front stepped forward and spoke, then ordered the soldiers to stand down.

"You're the current East Sea Dragon King?"

Donghua asked. This was the same Grand Unity Golden Immortal he had seen in the hall earlier.

"This king is Ao Ming, the current Dragon King of the East Sea Dragon Clan."

"Your cultivation is a little lacking for your position. Where are Candle Dragon and Ying Long?" Donghua nodded and asked.

Before Ao Ming could answer, a voice rang out.

"May I ask why East King has come to my East Sea?" A voice came from the sky.

Donghua recognized it from the sound.

"Fellow Daoist Candle Dragon, it's been a long time. A neighbor comes to call, and you don't even show yourself to welcome me?"

"Hahaha! That depends on whether an unwelcome guest or a fellow Daoist has come to visit. Since it's a fellow Daoist, I should welcome you. But today is inconvenient. Please leave for now, and I'll host a banquet for you another day."

Hearing Donghua's introduction, Candle Dragon understood that he meant no harm, but still declined to meet him. The reason was unclear.

Donghua didn't understand, so he said, "If it's inconvenient for you, I'll come to you myself."

A streak of light shot through the sea and headed straight for the place where Candle Dragon was.

The area around Candle Dragon was oppressively still. The sky was pitch-black, and heaps of Dragon Clan bones lay along the way.

"What is this place?"

Donghua asked in shock. He could tell that the blackness in the sky was the baleful aura that had existed when Heaven and Earth first opened, mixed with boundless demonic energy.

Such baleful aura and demonic energy could only come from a Quasi-Saint.

Candle Dragon stood at the center of a great formation, surrounded by more than a dozen Grand Unity Golden Immortals, all within the formation.

The formation's profound light flowed, suppressing a space deep within.

Yet black currents sometimes seeped out of that space, corroding the formation, while roars of beasts echoed from within.

When Candle Dragon saw Donghua had arrived, he immediately increased his magical power and struck out several hand seals, forcing the exposed black aura back inside.

Then he rose to his feet, and the other Grand Unity Golden Immortals stood as well.

"Why didn't East King heed my advice? Why did you insist on coming here?" Candle Dragon asked in an unfriendly tone. He seemed very displeased that Donghua had come.

Seeing Candle Dragon approach, Donghua cupped his hands in a Daoist salute. "I had nothing to do today and thought of you, my old neighbor, so I came to ask you for a cup of wine. But you wanted me to leave at once. That's a serious breach of hospitality. This is hardly what I'd expect from the courteous Dragon Clan."

Candle Dragon saw that Donghua meant well and couldn't bring himself to lash out. Still, he wondered to himself, Why is East King Gong being so friendly today? He's nothing like the domineering figure he used to be. How strange.

"Fellow Daoist Donghua, now that you've come here, you've seen how dangerous this place is. We truly have no time to host you. Why not leave?"

Candle Dragon didn't care what Donghua had come for. He just wanted to send him away.

"Candle Dragon, don't push your luck. I came all this way to visit you in good faith. How can you keep trying to drive me off?"

"Has it been so long since we last fought that you're itching for a beating again? Do I have to loosen your bones for you?"

Donghua was growing angry too. He had come to travel around the East Sea Dragon Clan in good faith. If he left like this, everyone who heard about it would laugh at him.

"Hmph, Donghua, our last battle never reached a conclusion. If the timing weren't so poor today, I'd fight you for three hundred rounds and show you once again how formidable the Dragon Clan's divine arts are."

Their conflict went back a long way. Though it wasn't really a grudge—just the youthful rivalry of two young men.

The Dragon Clan member who had been ordered to attack the Three Islands all those years ago was Candle Dragon.

Donghua had only recently emerged in his true form then, with the cultivation of an early-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal, while Candle Dragon was already at the peak of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm.

But they had both been young.

In the end, Donghua had used the formation of the Three Islands to drive Candle Dragon back.

Now, both of them were Quasi-Saints.

A Grand Unity Golden Immortal of the Dragon Clan hurried forward. "Ancestor, East King, please calm down."

"East King, it's not that our Dragon Clan doesn't wish to welcome you today. We simply can't. You've seen how dangerous this place is, and today the disturbance is especially violent.

"Even with the Ancestor joining forces with us, we've only just managed to suppress it. We truly have no strength left to host you. Please understand, East King."

Donghua had also noticed the strange state of the place, so he stopped glaring and trading barbs with Candle Dragon.

He stepped forward and swept his Primordial Spirit Power across that space.

To his surprise, the moment his Primordial Spirit Power brushed against it, it was swallowed whole, disappearing without a trace.

Donghua quickly withdrew his Primordial Spirit Power.

"Hahahahaha! Donghua, you took a hit, didn't you? I told you to leave, but you wouldn't listen. You had to go looking for trouble yourself." Candle Dragon burst into laughter.

In this book, before the Immortal Dao emerged, the Quasi-Saint realm was called the Ancestor Realm, and the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm was called the Emperor Realm. To make the book easier to read, the terms Grand Unity Golden Immortal and Quasi-Saint will be used from now on.