Dao Xuan's hearty laughter still echoed across the empty sea and sky, shaking the charred reefs beneath his feet until fragments of stone rattled loose and fell into the ocean.
Within that laughter was the relief of surviving a calamity, the wild joy of a treasure falling from the heavens, and even more so, boundless hope at the sudden glimmer of light illuminating the vast road ahead!
The Chaos Bead!
Though it was badly damaged, covered in spiderweb-like cracks, and even missing several fragments, the origin Dao rhyme within it—a trace of Chaos before it opened and primordial mist before it was divided—was undeniably real!
Merely sensing it with his primordial spirit made his newly condensed True Immortal Dao Fruit hum and tremble, as though a fledgling bird had encountered a Phoenix, instinctively feeling reverence and longing.
"With this treasure at my side, concealing heavenly secrets and forming a small world of its own, even when a calamity arises, I'll have an extra sliver of hope!
"The chance to become a Saint... may not be an illusion after all!"
Dao Xuan's heart surged. The faint glow of the Chaos Bead within his Sea of Consciousness seemed to become an eternal beacon upon his path of cultivation.
His wild elation gradually subsided, and his mind slowly calmed.
Dao Xuan sat cross-legged atop the reef, intending to sink his consciousness into his Sea of Consciousness and carefully comprehend the mysteries of the Chaos Bead, as well as the many changes to his True Immortal Dao Fruit.
Then he suddenly sensed something unusual at his side.
A gentle yet tenacious treasure light, carrying an incomparably sharp intent to shatter and destroy, quietly seeped from a crack in the reef beneath him. It reflected off the hem of his Apricot Yellow Eight Trigrams Robe, flowing with a chilly dark-golden radiance.
"Hmm?"
Dao Xuan's thoughts stirred as he lowered his head.
Within a crack in the blackened, rough reef lay an object in silence.
It was no more than a foot long and resembled a short halberd. Its entire body possessed an ancient, weighty dark-golden hue. It was neither metal nor jade, yet it contained a strange metallic texture, as though it had condensed the purest origin of Geng Metal in heaven and earth.
Mysterious and intricate patterns were naturally inscribed across its body. Counting them carefully, there were exactly twenty-seven!
Twenty-seven Innate Restrictions!
These restrictions were not lifeless things. Like living veins, they slowly circulated and underwent birth and death across the halberd's body. Every circulation caused the sparse spiritual energy around it to tremble faintly, releasing a chilling killing aura sharp enough to pierce all things, shatter all laws, and sever every obstacle!
Its treasure light was contained within, hidden yet not exposed, but it naturally carried a heart-palpitating pressure, as though once this halberd emerged, all laws could be broken!
"This..." Dao Xuan froze at first, then overwhelming delight surged into his heart once more!
A crystal-clear resonance and summons rose from deep within his bloodline!
"My companion spiritual treasure! My companion spiritual treasure!"
As if blessed by divine inspiration, a name naturally surfaced from the depths of his primordial spirit—Mysterious Gold Law-Breaking Halberd!
"Ha ha ha! Heaven truly favors me! Heaven truly favors me!"
Dao Xuan could not help laughing again as he stretched out a hand.
The dark-golden short halberd seemed sentient. It emitted a low, cheerful hum, transformed into a streak of dark-golden light, and flew into his palm with a whoosh.
It felt slightly heavy in his hand and icy to the touch. A sense of intimacy, as though it were connected to his bloodline and moved as freely as one of his own limbs, arose within him.
His divine sense entered it. The twenty-seven Innate Restrictions were like layers upon layers of labyrinths, profound and mysterious. With his Early True Immortal primordial spirit cultivation, he could barely glimpse the outermost few restrictions. Refining it would certainly not be accomplished overnight.
Yet merely through this initial perception, he had already sensed the terrifying power contained within this halberd—breaking laws! Breaking restrictions!
Shattering every tangible and intangible obstacle!
"A Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Mysterious Gold Law-Breaking Halberd! For attacking, protecting the Dao, slaying demons, and exterminating monsters, it will be invincible! What a fine treasure!"
Dao Xuan lovingly stroked the ancient patterns on the halberd's body, sensing the chilling will within it that sought to sever everything.
"A Chaos Bead fragment plus a Mid-grade Innate offensive spiritual treasure right from the start? This transmigration was worth it! A proper double-yolk opening!"
As he weighed the Mysterious Gold Law-Breaking Halberd in his hand, his gaze instinctively drifted toward the Chaos Bead fragment quietly floating deep within his Sea of Consciousness.
"One governs within, concealing heavenly secrets and nurturing my Dao foundation. One governs without, breaking laws, killing enemies, and keeping me safe! Cultivating both inside and out—with this setup, as long as I don't act recklessly, lying low until the era of Saints shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Dao Xuan calculated inwardly, and his sense of security increased greatly.
However, that sense of security did not last long.
The Great Desolation World never lacked variables.
Dao Xuan gathered his thoughts and decided to calculate the present general situation of the Great Desolation.
Though he was only a True Immortal, he was the first golden flood dragon transformed by heaven and earth. His bloodline carried a trace of the imprint of creation, making him more sensitive than ordinary True Immortals to changes in the heavenly currents.
He closed his eyes and formed mysterious hand seals. It was the Heavenly Star Evolution Technique inherited through his bloodline.
This technique specialized in deducing heavenly secrets and sensing the flow of fortune.
The power of his primordial spirit connected to the unseen void, drawing down the power of the Stars of the Heavens.
In an instant, Dao Xuan's awareness seemed to rise above the solitary island, transcending it as he looked down upon the entire Great Desolation World.
A vast, boundless will—impartial and righteous, yet cold and emotionless—slowly revolved between heaven and earth like an eternal wheel of the Heavenly Dao.
This will was even more majestic, more profound, and more... complete than the killing intent that had previously locked onto him!
"Dao Ancestor Hongjun... has already merged with the Dao!"
Dao Xuan's mind shook violently!
Immediately afterward, he "saw" an ancient and magnificent purple palace faintly appearing within the endless Deep Chaos above the Nine Heavens Above. It radiated the supreme authority of enlightening all living beings and expounding the Great Dao.
Around the palace, purple qi stretched for thirty thousand miles, a thousand auspicious mists descended, and countless mysterious Dao sounds lingered in the void, as though a grand assembly that had shaken the universe had only recently ended.
"Purple Firmament Palace... the second lecture... had only just ended not long ago?"
Dao Xuan's heart sank sharply!
The timing was far too crucial!
After Dao Ancestor Hongjun became a Saint, he gave his first lecture at Purple Firmament Palace, accepting the Three Pure Ones, Nuwa, Jieyin, Zhunti, Red Cloud, Kunpeng, and others as disciples, whether nominal or direct. He distributed the Saint position cushions and established the number of Heavenly Dao Saints.
During the second lecture, he expounded the path of the Quasi-Saint.
The third lecture would concern the Primordial Dao and the distribution of Innate Spiritual Treasures at Treasure Distribution Rock. After that, Hongjun would merge with the Dao and would not emerge unless heaven and earth faced a great calamity!
"The second lecture just ended... doesn't that mean the third lecture is coming soon? The treasure distribution at Treasure Distribution Rock is coming soon as well? And then... the Witch-Demon Calamity will officially begin?!"
Dao Xuan felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of the head!
The Witch-Demon Calamity!
That was the second great calamity of the Great Desolation!
The Witch Clan ruled the earth, while the Demon Clan ruled the heavens. The two races fought for supremacy, shattering the Great Desolation, causing stars to fall and countless living beings to suffer!
Grand Unity Golden Immortals fell like rain, and even mighty Quasi-Saints struggled to escape the calamity!
In the end, both sides were grievously weakened and withdrew from the stage of the Great Desolation. Only then did the human race rise.
A tiny Early True Immortal like him would not even qualify as cannon fodder in such a world-destroying calamity! A random aftershock from battle could reduce him to ashes!
"No! Absolutely not!" Cold sweat beaded on Dao Xuan's forehead. "I must improve my strength as quickly as possible! I must find someone to rely on! The shade beneath a great tree is pleasant—in the Great Desolation, the ultimate destination is official status under a Saint!"
Find a powerful backer!
That was the only thought that flashed through Dao Xuan's mind.
In the Great Desolation World, all beneath Saints were ants.
Only by joining a Saint's sect, gaining their protection and true teachings, could one fight for a sliver of survival in the calamity—and perhaps even hope for that supreme Primordial Chaos Dao Fruit!
"The first choice is naturally the Three Pure Ones, Pangu's orthodox lineage!" Dao Xuan's thoughts raced.
"Grand Pure Laozi is detached and tranquil, the orthodox leader of the Mystic Sect. If I can enter his sect and receive the Grand Pure Immortal Method or the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique, my foundation will be the most stable!
"Jade Pure Primordial Heavenly Venerate places the greatest importance on heritage and origins. I am the first golden flood dragon transformed by heaven and earth, so my roots count as Innate divine. Perhaps I have a chance?
"Upper Pure Heavens Master teaches all without distinction, seizing a sliver of survival. My chances with him are the greatest!"
"My second choice would be Empress Nuwa! The Human Race Sage Mother will possess boundless merit in the future, and she has not yet become a Saint. If I can forge a good connection with her now, the future benefits will be endless!
"It's just that Empress Nuwa's temperament... seems a little difficult to fathom?"
"As for those two from the west..." Dao Xuan curled his lip, recalling the two future Saints whose favorite words were, "This item is destined for me."
"Jieyin, Zhunti... Hmm, they can be the backup choice! If there's truly no alternative, then for the sake of survival, I'll have to hold my nose and acknowledge them! After all, the name of a Saint's disciple is a gold medal of immunity in the Great Desolation!"
Once he made up his mind, Dao Xuan abruptly rose to his feet, his eyes blazing as he looked toward the northwestern region of the Great Desolation continent!
"Kunlun Mountain! The Three Pure Ones' Dao field! That's where I'm going!"
His heart surged as though he could already see the bright future of joining a Saint's sect, listening to the Great Dao, and roaming freely through the Great Desolation from then on.
However, just as he prepared to raise his escape light and fly straight to Kunlun, his steps halted again.
With an indescribably "affectionate" gaze, Dao Xuan slowly swept his eyes over this solitary island that had birthed and raised him—though only in his flood dragon form—helped him transform, and hidden both the Chaos Bead and the Mysterious Gold Law-Breaking Halberd.
"Am I just leaving like this?" he muttered, his eyes flickering. "Why does it feel like... I'm losing out on something?"
The transmigrator's soul within him stirred restlessly!
"You've got to be kidding! This is an overseas immortal island! It may not be large, but it was formed from a Chaos Fragment. Its Innate Spiritual Energy is abundant, and it even gave birth to a spiritual creature with roots like mine!
"According to the rules of Great Desolation novels, other than absurd places like Buzhou Mountain formed from Pangu's Spine, overseas immortal islands are where the most treasures can be found!"
"Penglai, Fangzhang, Yingzhou... which one of them isn't filthy rich?
"My island may not compare to those three great immortal islands, but even a mosquito's leg is still meat!
"If I don't strip it clean, can I call myself a transmigrator?
"Would that be worthy of the fine tradition of 'a thief never leaves empty-handed'... pfft! I mean, 'pluck every feather from a passing goose'?"
"If you're shearing sheep, of course you start with your own! That's called the rational use of resources and avoiding waste!"
Dao Xuan instantly convinced himself. A sly grin appeared on his face, and none of the solemnity or resolve he had displayed while calculating heavenly secrets remained.
He immediately spread out his divine sense, letting it flow across the island like spilled mercury, searching every inch of the solitary island with painstaking care.
Reefs, caves, ancient trees, deep pools, secluded valleys... he spared no corner.
Every scene on the island became clear beneath his divine sense.
There were Thousand-Year Vermilion Fruits, crimson as fire and wreathed in spiritual qi.
There was Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Jade, deep blue throughout and radiating chilling cold.
There was a Geng Metal Ore Vein, its sharpness hidden within the mountain's belly.
All were rare Postnatal Spiritual Materials, treasures in the eyes of ordinary cultivators.
But Dao Xuan merely swept his gaze over them without stopping.
His appetite had grown. Such postnatal objects no longer caught his eye.
In the end, his divine sense focused upon a deep pool at the island's heart!
The water of the deep pool remained dark and unfathomable, faintly glimmering with golden light. It was where Dao Xuan had once coiled in his flood dragon form and absorbed spiritual energy.
On the damp spiritual soil beside the pool, adjacent to several smooth, rounded black reefs polished by the water, grew a strange spiritual root!
The tree was not tall, only about ten feet. Its trunk twisted like a dragon and possessed a gentle jade-white hue, with faint radiance flowing across it. Its crown was not lush, bearing only nine leaves.
The nine leaves were all differently shaped. Some resembled swords, some fans, some hearts, and some clouds... Every leaf was crystal clear, as though carved from the finest jade. Their veins were plainly visible, flowing with seven-colored rosy light and rising mist, illuminating several yards around them in dazzling splendor.
Even stranger, at the top of the tree's crown, at the center encircled by the nine leaves, hung a fruit!
The fruit was only the size of a pigeon's egg. It was perfectly round and chaos-colored, neither blue nor white, neither black nor purple. It seemed to contain every color in heaven and earth, yet also seemed to be the purest colorlessness.
Nine mysterious cloud patterns naturally grew across its skin, like imprints of the Great Dao. They slowly circulated and released a strange Dao rhyme that calmed the mind and clarified the Dao heart.
Though the entire spiritual root possessed no overwhelming aura, it carried a unique innate purity capable of nourishing the primordial spirit.
"An Innate Spirit Root!" Dao Xuan's eyes lit up, and his heart raced!
Upon carefully sensing it with his divine sense, he found that the origin aura emitted by the spiritual root was pure and ancient. Though it could not compare to even one ten-thousandth of the Chaos Bead, it far surpassed postnatal objects and had clearly reached the Mid-Grade Innate level!
"The Nine-Orifice Transparent Jade Heart Tree? Or... the Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin Chaos Fruit?" Several famous Mid-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots from the Great Desolation flashed rapidly through Dao Xuan's mind, but none fully matched. Yet that did not matter!
What mattered was that it was here! In his own backyard!
"I'm rich! I'm really rich!" Dao Xuan beamed and rubbed his hands together like a glutton who had spotted an unmatched delicacy.
"This spiritual root contains a pure Dao rhyme. It is best suited for nourishing the primordial spirit, clarifying the Dao heart, and assisting enlightenment!
"The fruit it bears is an unparalleled treasure for nourishing the primordial spirit and breaking through heart demons! It will be immensely beneficial for stabilizing my foundation and overcoming bottlenecks!"
"Transplant it! I must transplant it! When I establish a cave dwelling in the future, I'll plant this tree there. If I receive its Dao rhyme every day, wouldn't my cultivation progress twice as fast with half the effort?"
Dao Xuan no longer hesitated and immediately began to act.
He was extremely careful, afraid of damaging even the slightest part of the spiritual root.
First, he used his divine sense to envelop the entire spiritual root, examining the paths of its roots and its connection to the earth veins.
Then he circulated his mana and condensed incomparably sharp Geng Metal Qi at his fingertips, enhanced by the Dao rhyme of the Mysterious Gold Law-Breaking Halberd and controlled with even greater precision.
He began cutting through the spiritual soil and rocks surrounding the root, preparing to excavate its roots along with the attached spiritual soil and the essence of the earth veins in one complete piece.
His movements were gentle and fully focused, while he continued muttering to himself.
"Don't be afraid, little treasure. Come with me. I'll take you to live in a big house, where you can eat and drink well. It'll be much better than catching cold winds on this deserted island..."
He was just about to completely remove the Nine-Orifice Transparent Jade Heart Tree—at least, that was what he would call it for now—along with a large mass of spiritual soil beneath it.
At that critical moment!
"Hey—!!!"
A heaven-shaking roar erupted like Nine Heavens Divine Thunder. Carrying violent fury, greed, and incomparably oppressive might, it rolled in from the distant horizon!
Wherever the sound waves reached, the sea exploded into towering waves hundreds of feet high! Sand and stones flew across the island, and ancient trees snapped apart!
Caught off guard, Dao Xuan was struck by the sound wave containing terrifying mana. His blood and qi churned, darkness swam before his eyes, and his movements immediately stalled!
Right after that, a crimson escape light descended like a falling meteor. Carrying the scorching heat to burn mountains and boil seas, it tore through the sky and crashed onto the cliff opposite the deep pool!
The escape light dispersed, revealing a figure.
This person wore a Nine-Cloud Blazing Crown, surrounded by red clouds, with blazing flames rising from its peak and the faint cries of fierce birds within.
He wore a Great Red Eight Trigrams Blazing Robe, whose flame patterns danced and burned like living things, radiating scorching heat.
Around his waist was a Crimson Gold Lion Barbarian Belt. Its buckle was savage, shaped like the head of a roaring lion.
On his feet were Fire-Treading Wind-Chasing Shoes, with faint firelight beneath them.
Then there was his appearance:
His face resembled a red date, crimson as fire. His thick, bristling beard spread outward, every hair like a needle and red as blood!
His brows stood upright, like two burning Flame Sabers thrusting toward his temples!
His eyes were as round as bronze bells. Fierce light burst from them whenever they opened or closed, as though molten lava flowed within!
His broad mouth split open, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth and an aura of savage tyranny, ferocity, and bloodlust!
Truly:
Red hair and crimson beard surpassed fire clouds, bronze-bell eyes seized demon souls.
The Nine Cloud Crown burned with fierce flames, the Eight Trigrams Robe swirled with baleful miasma.
The Lion-Barbarian Belt bound mountain-burning strength, Fire-Treading Shoes chased earth-rending tracks.
One furious roar shook the vast sea; a fierce god had descended upon the mortal realm!
The instant he landed, his fierce gaze—like that of a Great Desolation Fierce Beast—locked firmly onto Dao Xuan, who was about to transplant the spiritual root beside the pool, as well as the Nine-Orifice Transparent Jade Heart Tree glowing with rosy light!
Greed flared in his eyes as though a starving wolf had spotted a fat lamb!
"How dare you!" the red-faced Daoist roared like a great bell, making the pool water boil.
"What wild cultivator are you, daring to covet the Nine-Orifice Transparent Jade Heart Tree that this ancestor has guarded for ten thousand years!
"Get lost at once and offer this treasure to me. Then this ancestor may spare your dog life!"
Before you continue