Everyone knew that Ancestor Dragon was a powerhouse beyond the Great Luo realm and that none dared defy his command of the Dragon Tribe. No matter how powerful East King Duke was, he was still only a Da Luo Cultivator.
When Ancestor Dragon had come to challenge him, East King Duke had chosen not to stay on the immortal island and rely on its formation for defense. Instead, he had left the island to face his foe head-on. That had already left many people baffled.
Some had called him presumptuous, while plenty had said he was courting death. Yet no one had expected that, after a series of fierce battles in the starry sky, East King Duke would return unharmed.
He had wiped out ten thousand Dragon Tribe members and slain Candle Dragon. Given the enmity between East King Duke and the Dragon Tribe, Ancestor Dragon clearly wouldn't let him off easily. But after the battle in the starry sky shook the Primordial World, East King Duke had returned to East Sea Mount Fang Island.
Everyone who had been following the battle was speculating, but apart from the two of them, no one knew how it had ended.
East King Duke had deliberately lingered outside Mount Fang Island for a while to announce his return to the beings of the Four Seas. After this battle, Supreme Yang Dao Lord, who had been born in the East Sea, seemed all the more mysterious.
On the other side, Ancestor Dragon also returned to the Dragon Tribe Territory and went to see Candle Dragon, who was astonished.
"Brother, did you capture East King Duke?"
Having lost his physical body and not yet fully recovered his primordial spirit, Candle Dragon could only remain in Ancestor Dragon's Dao Palace, where the Dragon Tribe's fortune and countless drops of Innate Spirit Liquid nurtured him. He knew nothing of what had happened outside.
Ancestor Dragon seemed perfectly calm. A Quasi-Saint could conceal his emotions well, and no outsider could tell what he was feeling.
"From this day forth, no Dragon Tribe cultivator may come within a hundred thousand miles of East Sea Mount Fang Island. If you encounter a cultivator of the Supreme Yang Lineage, take another route."
Ancestor Dragon's calm words left Candle Dragon stunned. Such a concession could only mean that he had failed to gain any advantage over East King Duke.
"Could East King Duke become not only my Inner Demon, but the Inner Demon of the entire Dragon Tribe?"
Candle Dragon's heart sank. He would likely never avenge the destruction of his Dao body. Worse, from now on, the Dragon Tribe might live forever in Supreme Yang's shadow.
"Candle Dragon, see to the affairs of the tribe. Once I break through to Mid-stage Quasi-Saint, we'll make our next move!"
Ancestor Dragon let a trace of anger slip into his voice. Clearly, he wasn't as calm as he appeared.
The opportunity to break through to Mid-stage Quasi-Saint seemed close at hand. Yet, to his great surprise, he never managed it—not even by the time the calamity erupted and the Dragon Tribe withdrew from the struggle for supremacy in the Primordial World. The Three Innate Tribes, once feared throughout the Primordial World, could not escape the workings of Heavenly Dao and Karma.
But that was a story for later...
"Welcome back, Master!" "Welcome back, Master!"
When East King Duke returned to his Daoist abode, his disciples and attendants came to pay their respects.
Everyone looked delighted, Qing Ling most of all. The Dragon Tribe had been like a mountain pressing down on her. Though her master hadn't said so outright, his return to his abode was explanation enough: the threat posed by Ancestor Dragon should have passed.
After encouraging his disciples, East King Duke planned to enter Secluded Cultivation himself.
In his battle in the starry sky against Ancestor Dragon, a Quasi-Saint, neither had won. But East King Duke had relied on the advantage of his many spiritual treasures. In terms of magical power alone, he was still somewhat inferior.
The battle had given him a clearer understanding of himself, and he had gained a great deal from it.
With his current strength, East King Duke could stand against Ancestor Dragon, but he was still far behind Luohu and Hongjun. He also fell short of Yin-Yang Ancestor and Qiankun Ancestor, the reincarnations of the remnants of two Chaos Demon Gods who were said to have claimed the titles of ancestors. And that was without even mentioning the astonishingly talented Great Immortal Yangmei, who would prove his Dao through Laws in the not-too-distant future.
There was something he wanted to seek in the Dao Demon War, and he would have to give it his all. But he had only recently reached Late-stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal. Making further progress and reaching Zenith Heaven Peak would not be easy. A hundred thousand years was too long; he had to seize the moment. His Dao Path was at stake, and no matter how difficult it would be, East King Duke had to try his best.
Time passed, and the sun and moon turned. The Supreme Yang Dao Palace remained closed for tens of thousands of years. Everything on Mount Fang Island stayed as it had been, but throughout the Four Seas and across the Primordial World, great events seemed to be brewing.
After the battle in the starry sky, the Dragon Tribe seemed to quickly regain its confidence as overlords of the Primordial World. They ruled the Four Seas and, apart from keeping their distance from Mount Fang Island, continued to wage war without pause.
As that "great hand" in the West continued to pull the strings, tensions among the Three Innate Tribes deepened. Clashes broke out on all sides, and the Dragon Tribe, by far the strongest, kept the other two in check.
The scale of the fighting grew ever larger. Perhaps all it would take was one opportunity for all-out war to erupt.
Apart from the Three Innate Tribes stirring up trouble, the world continued to evolve, and talented figures emerged throughout the Primordial World. Great Supernatural Beings would occasionally enter the world and display their powers.
The Pangu Three Pure Ones of Kunlun Mountain, for instance, were blessed with merit and held exalted status. Their magical arts and abilities were extraordinary, and the three brothers' auras were linked. As they traveled the Primordial World, they carried themselves like accomplished sages.
Then there was Ancestor Hong Yun, an Innate Divine Being from Huoyun Cave Beyond the Heavens. He traveled the Primordial World, making friends everywhere and earning a reputation for kindness.
There was also Old Ancestor Kunpeng, born in the Northern Darkness, who soared through the sky as a roc and swam the depths as a kun; and the brother and sister Great Supernatural Beings on Buzhou Mountain, among others...
After more than thirty thousand years of Secluded Cultivation, a streak of Supreme Yang light flew out from Mount Fang Island. He made no effort to conceal himself as he traveled over the East Sea.
Half a year later, he stopped above a stretch of sea. It was none other than Supreme Yang Dao Lord, East King Duke.
"This is the place."
While in his own abode, he had sensed an opportunity through his primordial spirit and come straight here.
After carefully examining the area with his Spiritual Sense, he confirmed that something was unusual. He already had a suspicion. Using a method to break formations, he spent several years before an immortal island emerged from the sea. His Pure Yang Sword broke through the formation, and he entered.
"Just as I thought!"
Of the Three Immortal Islands of the East Sea—Penglai, Mount Fang, and Yingzhou—only Penglai and Mount Fang had appeared before. From this day onward, all three islands had finally emerged.
That's right. This island was Yingzhou of the East Sea, famed alongside East King Duke's Mount Fang Island.
At the moment he stepped onto Yingzhou, the third island's emergence brought the three islands together. As the master of Mount Fang Island, East King Duke clearly felt his Dao body grow serene. The three islands shared the same origin, and now he was blessed by the fortune of the Three Immortal Islands of the East Sea.
That alone had made the trip worthwhile.
East King Duke eagerly explored Yingzhou. The island was about the same size as Mount Fang, and it held no shortage of opportunities. Within just a few years, he found a treasure: a Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure shaped like an umbrella, named the Xuanyuan Pure Umbrella. When activated, it cast down a purifying spiritual light and offered formidable defense.
At East King Duke's current level, this sort of spiritual treasure was of little use to him. At most, he could grant it to one of his disciples. But the wonders of Yingzhou Island weren't limited to this Innate Spiritual Treasure.
When he reached the center of the island, he came upon something that shook him to the core.
A divine tree stood straight and impossibly tall, so massive that it would take ten thousand people to encircle its trunk. Radiant light shimmered across it, and it brimmed with vitality. It seemed to absorb turbid energy and purify the world, yet had neither branches nor leaves.
It resembled a jade pillar supporting the heavens. Its base towered tens of thousands of feet into the air, while its upper end pierced the void and vanished from sight.
The moment he sent his Spiritual Sense into the tree, East King Duke's eyes blazed.
"The Sky-reaching Jianmu Divine Tree!"
The tree growing at the center of Yingzhou Island was this very spiritual root. Jianmu was an exotic species from Chaos. Though it did not rank among the Ten Great Innate Spiritual Roots after entering the Primordial World and bore neither flowers nor fruit, its uses were in no way inferior to those of the Yellow Middle Plum and the other roots.
In some respects, its wonders even surpassed those of every other spiritual root.
With the Sky-reaching Jianmu Divine Tree, East King Duke might have a chance to seek the Great Merit that awaited in the distant future.
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