King Pan, Pan Hu

The newcomer stared intently at Donghua, treating the others as if they were invisible.

Donghua watched him calmly. Ever since he had severed his Evil Corpse and reached the peak of the early Quasi-Saint stage, he had felt far more confident. He now had the swagger of someone who believed the vast Primordial Wilderness was his to roam.

"Who are you?"

The newcomer didn't look away. Still fixing his gaze on Donghua, he said, "I am King Pan, a friend of Wuyi Gong."

"Oh!"

Donghua replied nonchalantly, then ignored the man before him and began bidding farewell to the others beside him.

But he never let his guard down for a moment, keeping all his attention on King Pan.

A great man once said, "Despise your enemy strategically, but take him seriously tactically."

Seeing that Donghua was ignoring him, King Pan was so furious that his beard bristled and his eyes bulged. As one of the first Innate Deities to take physical form, he had never been treated with such disregard.

"Youngster, I'm asking you a question! Is the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin in your hands?"

Donghua turned around and asked carelessly, "Are you talking to me?"

King Pan suppressed his anger and tried to compose himself. "Who else would I be talking to?"

"Oh, I don't have it."

The Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin truly wasn't in his hands. It was in the spiritual platform of his Purple Mansion.

King Pan gritted his teeth. "The Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin's aura was last sensed here. There's no one here but you lot. If it isn't in your hands, whose hands is it in?"

Donghua replied coolly, "Then I don't know. If you want to find out, go ask the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin."

"You..." King Pan pointed at Donghua, so furious that he couldn't get the words out.

"Hahaha!"

At the sight of this, the three little phoenixes beside him couldn't hold back their laughter.

Hearing them, King Pan shot them a glare, his eyes flashing like lightning. The three little ones immediately fell silent and ducked behind Donghua.

"The Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin's aura was last sensed on you. How can you say you don't have it?"

King Pan once again swallowed his anger and spoke calmly. "The Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin was the possession of my late friend, Wuyi Gong. If it's in your hands, fellow Daoist, I hope you'll hand it over. I'm willing to trade something of equal value."

Donghua asked, "What treasure do you intend to offer in exchange?"

Not wanting to complicate matters, King Pan took out a spirit treasure in the shape of a diagram. "I'm willing to trade this Sun Moon Diagram for it. What do you say?"

Donghua looked at it and scoffed. "Your wishful thinking is so loud, you could hear it in Chaos. You're offering a High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure in exchange for the Top-tier Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin? What were you thinking? Have you cultivated yourself stupid?"

"Hmph. Youngster, do you think I don't know what you're thinking? Though the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin is a top-tier treasure, using it requires merit and fortune. Its actual usefulness is no greater than that of a High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure."

"Don't try to drive up the price. Just hand over the spirit treasure. If I weren't doing this because the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin belonged to my late friend, why would I bother trading with you?"

At that, Donghua finally couldn't hold back his laughter. In his Previous Life and this one, he hated nothing more than being guilt-tripped.

"What a sanctimonious Old Ancestor King Pan you are. You really are a fine dog."

King Pan cursed furiously, "You brat! How dare you insult me?"

Donghua replied, "So what if I insult you? Aren't you, King Pan—Pan Hu—a dog?"

King Pan's name was Pan Hu. His true form was a dragon-dog, and he had taken human form in the ancient times. He cultivated the Divine Dao and attained the Dao during the Dragon-Han Period. He was of the same generation of Innate Deities as Ancestor Dragon and Yuanfeng.

Before King Pan could speak, Donghua continued, "And you still have the nerve to call Wuyi Gong your friend? You clearly coveted his treasure and secretly harmed him. Yet here you are, shamelessly spouting nonsense. I've never seen anyone with such a thick skin."

When Donghua saw Wuyi Gong's remains, he had noticed that Wuyi Gong had been deeply poisoned. He had assumed that one of the Fierce Beasts was responsible.

But King Pan's behavior now made it clear that he couldn't possibly be uninvolved.

"Impudent brat! You dare besmirch my name? Die!"

King Pan cursed and conjured a black banner in his hand. He had given up any hope of obtaining the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin without a fight.

Donghua chuckled. "Who's the brat?"

King Pan didn't even think. "I'm calling you a brat."

Donghua burst out laughing, suddenly realizing that King Pan wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Indeed, you're calling me a brat. What an obedient little mongrel."

King Pan was an Innate Deity, and his dragon-dog form was his Dao-body. He had nothing to do with mongrels; Donghua was simply trying to provoke him.

He knew there would be no peaceful resolution today. Who could resist the temptation of a Top-tier Innate Spiritual Treasure?

Besides, from what had happened today, King Pan had clearly been plotting to get the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin for some time.

And Donghua certainly wasn't going to give it up. They would have to settle this with a fight.

King Pan wasn't good with words and couldn't outargue Donghua, so he simply attacked.

The King Pan Banner whipped through the air, and the surging power of a Mid Quasi-Saint pierced the sky. Dark clouds spread overhead, drizzling a gray mist.

A fine drizzle shrouded Wuyi Mountain.

On closer inspection, it wasn't rain at all, but a downpour of poisonous insects formed from the laws of tribulation.

Donghua unfurled the Pure World White Lotus to shield the others. The rain of poisonous insects fell on the barrier formed by the lotus and vanished without a trace, as if it had met its natural enemy.

King Pan cried out in shock, "The Twelve-grade Pure World White Lotus!"

Donghua snorted. "Correct. Your reward is a Pure Yang Sword."

As he poured magic power into the Pure Yang Sword, it released a celestial radiance imbued with pure yang. The radiance spread like rosy clouds across the sky, and the rising sun shattered King Pan's aura of tribulation.

He thrust out his sword, and one sword became ten thousand.

It was a case of one sword bringing life to all things.

Though Donghua didn't specialize in the laws of creation, he had some knowledge of them. Besides, the Pure Yang Law itself possessed an inexhaustible power of renewal.

Wherever the sword rays passed, space shattered. The rain of poisonous insects was cleaved in two, and King Pan's first assault fell apart.

"Ah! Ah! Little Qing Niao, look! His Majesty King Dong is amazing!"

"That's right, that's right! East King truly lives up to his title as Head of Male Immortals!"

"East King really is amazing. His swordsmanship is like the Dao itself!"

The three little ones stood beneath the lotus, chattering about the battle as if they were experts.

But Crown Prince Changqin and Qianyu never let their guard down. As the saying went, amateurs watched for entertainment while experts saw the danger. With their low cultivation, the three little ones couldn't perceive how perilous the fight was.

The two of them had reached the Grand Unity Golden Immortal stage and could at least recognize some of what was happening.

King Pan's attack just now had been no more than a probing strike, yet neither of them was confident they could have withstood even that.

They could only wonder how much strength East King Gong had used.

King Pan wasn't disheartened when his attack was stopped. He was simply wary of the Pure World White Lotus.

This treasure was the nemesis of cultivators like them.

He swung the King Pan Banner and charged into close combat. The banner carried the Power of Tribulation, as if the apocalypse had descended.

Every Divine Dao cultivator had to cultivate their physical body, and their bodies were formidable.

The Immortal Dao, by contrast, valued life and focused on cultivating the primordial spirit. Though its cultivators also trained their bodies, they were still inferior to Divine Dao cultivators in that regard.

Donghua advanced with his sword, meeting King Pan head-on.

Pure Yang Power surged from the swordlight, transforming into countless sword auras.

The two clashed.

Wherever the banner's shadow passed, all life withered.

The swordlight flowed like the bright sun.

They fought from Wuyi Mountain to the Southern Continent, then circled back to the South Sea, unleashing torrents of energy.

After battling their way across the land, they returned to Wuyi Mountain and stopped atop two separate peaks.

Donghua marveled inwardly. As expected of a Mid Quasi-Saint; his cultivation was truly formidable.

By now, both of their auras had reached their peak, and the final battle was about to begin.