Pure Yin Energy, Journey to the Starry Sky

Xuan Yang had been in existence for less than a thousand years. Although he was an Innate Being, he lacked any profound heritage. Upon taking human form, he only possessed the cultivation of the late True Immortal stage. After cultivating alone for several hundred years and breaking through to the Mysterious Immortal stage, he finally left his Daoist sanctum to travel and seek opportunities.

However, not long after leaving his sanctum, he encountered cultivators from the Kirin Clan who coveted his Innate Spiritual Treasure. He was hunted for over ten thousand miles, and had it not been for the appearance of the East King Duke, he would have inevitably met his end.

While feeling fortunate, he took out his companion spiritual treasure and presented it to the East King Duke.

"This is the low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure that was born with me, known as the Blazing Sun Pagoda. I wish to offer it to you, Master."

The East King Duke laughed in surprise. He understood Xuan Yang's intentions, but even without mentioning that he himself possessed supreme treasures and had no interest in a mere low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, he would never covet his own disciple's belongings even if he were empty-handed.

"Put away your thoughts. How could I, your Master, covet your spiritual treasure?"

As he spoke, he reached out and tapped lightly, imprinting a cultivation technique into Xuan Yang's sea of consciousness.

"This is a portion of the inheritance of my Supreme Yang Lineage, which can lead you directly to the peak of the Golden Immortal stage. Once you attain the Golden Immortal realm, I will pass on the subsequent techniques to you."

"Many thanks, Master!"

"I intend to make a trip to Kunlun Mountain, so I shall first find a place of cultivation for you. Cultivate diligently; within ten thousand years at the shortest, or thirty to fifty thousand years at the longest, I will return to take you back to my Mount Fang Island sanctum."

"Rest assured, Master, I have my own place to go."

The East King Duke brought Xuan Yang back to the sanctum where the latter was born. After setting up a Pure Yang Formation capable of resisting attacks from a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, he set off for Kunlun Mountain with peace of mind.

There were no further obstacles along the way. The East King Duke stepped upon the Twelfth-grade Innate Yin-Yang Dao Lotus, unleashing the power of his mid-stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal cultivation. His movement technique was extremely swift, and in less than ten thousand years, he arrived at the borders of Kunlun.

Kunlun Mountain was truly worthy of being a Divine Mountain of the Primordial World. Even though this was not the main vein of Kunlun—the future site of a Saint's sanctum—but rather the region of Western Kunlun, it was still filled with a serene Innate Artistic Conception that was truly mesmerizing.

Everywhere one looked, auspicious beasts roamed and cranes sang in unison.

Mount Fang Island was also a top-tier Grotto-Heaven, and its spiritual energy was perhaps even more concentrated, but it lacked living creatures. Compared to this Western Kunlun, it felt a bit less lively and vibrant.

The East King Duke had come to find the Queen Mother of the West. As he possessed the Innate Pure Yang Qi and she the Innate Pure Yin Energy, they shared a connection through their primordial spirits ordained by the Heavenly Mandate. He followed this sensation.

He spent a hundred years traveling, and while the subtle connection remained, strangely, he could never manage to meet her.

"This is impossible!"

The connection ordained by the Heavenly Way could not be wrong. The Innate Pure Yang Qi was clearly nearby. Furthermore, the Queen Mother of the West should obviously be able to sense his arrival. As fated Dao Companions, she should certainly come out to meet him. The current situation left him completely baffled.

Unwilling to return empty-handed, the East King Duke pondered for a moment. He summoned the Yin-Yang Dao Lotus, which transformed into a massive lotus throne. He sat upon it, took out a Yellow Middle Plum to consume, and then channeled his Pure Yang Immortal Power, extending his divine sense to its limit.

On this day, while in deep meditation, his expression shifted. After decades of effort, he finally detected something unusual: an Innate Formation.

After inspecting it, the East King Duke sent a strand of Pure Yang Energy into the formation.

He suspected this might be the sanctum of the Queen Mother of the West. Fearing that she might be disturbed during her seclusion, he intended this as a warning, thinking that once the Queen Mother of the West sensed the Pure Yang Energy, she would understand.

Yet, after waiting for a long time, there was still no response from the formation.

After a moment of hesitation, East King Duke decided to break the array and take a look. After expending some effort to breach the formation, he entered, only to be taken aback.

"This..."

Inside the great array, a mass of Innate Pure Yin Energy was currently gestating. Within the energy mass, a faint primordial spirit had already begun to form, radiating a sense of intimacy.

"Innate Pure Yin Energy? How can this be? Queen Mother of the West has actually not yet taken form."

As the Heavenly Dao operates, Yin and Yang must be in harmony. Even if the two could not take form simultaneously, the gap should not be this large. Yet, he had already taken form for tens of thousands of years, and Queen Mother of the West had still not emerged. Furthermore, judging by the state of the Pure Yin Energy, it was clear that quite some time was still required.

After some contemplation, East King Duke arrived at a likely hypothesis. It must be that his rebirth had altered his own destiny, causing his own manifestation to occur much earlier, while the Innate Pure Yin Energy had continued to gestate according to its original trajectory. The time for her emergence had simply not yet arrived.

Comparing the two, it appeared that Queen Mother of the West was late in taking form.

Having understood the reason behind this, he felt relieved.

Queen Mother of the West would likely still be the same Queen Mother of the West; as long as that remained unchanged, it was enough. East King Duke observed the mass of Pure Yin Energy closely, then sat cross-legged upon his lotus platform and began to recite the Pure Yang True Scripture, engaging in a discourse on the Dao with the yet-to-be-born Queen Mother of the West.

"Things possess Yin and Yang, dividing into Heaven and Earth, internal and external. Those who cultivate internal things follow natural principles; such matters are inherently extraordinary..."

Though it was called a discourse on the Dao, it was actually just him lecturing. This lecture lasted for five hundred years.

Five hundred years later, the sound of East King Duke's Dao abruptly ceased. As the lecture concluded, the primordial spirit within the Pure Yin Energy had solidified significantly. The energy mass vibrated repeatedly, releasing a sense of joy; this Path of Pure Yang was clearly of great benefit to the Innate Pure Yin Energy.

Not long after, a patch of golden auspicious clouds, a full acre in size, descended from the nine heavens. It was the merit of the Heavenly Dao, which fell directly before East King Duke.

The harmonization of Yin and Yang was an act that secretly aligned with the Heavenly Dao, and it was only natural to receive merit. East King Duke waved his hand, collecting the merit into his own primordial spirit.

"When you have finished taking form, you may come to Mount Fang Island in the East Sea for a visit."

After saying this to the Innate Pure Yin Energy and imprinting a message into the energy mass, East King Duke departed.

Upon exiting the Innate Great Array, East King Duke did not continue his travels across the Primordial Continent. Instead, he stepped onto his Innate Yin-Yang Dao Lotus and flew toward the nine heavens.

The fact that Queen Mother of the West had not yet taken form gave him an idea. He wanted to take a trip to the starry sky. If those two on the Sun Star had also not yet emerged, and he could locate them, then his plans for his own path of cultivation might be achieved ahead of schedule.

Above the nine heavens, the gale winds were biting. The higher one went, the more oppressive they became. However, the Innate Yin-Yang Dao Lotus was a supreme treasure of defense, and with the Yin-Yang Two Qi protecting him, the winds could not harm East King Duke in the slightest.

Soon, the starry sky appeared before him.

The Ziwei Star led the way, incomparably dazzling, surrounded by the stars of the entire sky. The Ziwei Star was the head of all stars and originally the master of the Zhou Tian Star Dou. Alas, those two on the Sun Star were the protagonists of the next great calamity, and with the Heavenly Mandate upon them, the Sun Star was able to defy the order and rule over the other stars—but that was a matter for the future.

The destination of East King Duke's journey was this Sun Star.

If Queen Mother of the West had not yet emerged, then Di Jun and Tai Yi, those two future masters of the Heavenly Court, were also very likely yet to take form.

From the legends of his past life, he knew that East King Duke's Path of Pure Yang had not led to success. Reborn, he did not want to repeat the same mistakes. He wanted to go further, wishing to transform Pure Yang into Supreme Yang, and then harmonize it with the Supreme Yin energy to plant a Supreme Yin seed. With the union of Supreme Yin and Supreme Yang, the Path of Yin and Yang could be cultivated.

This was the Supreme Chaos Great Dao, far more powerful than the Path of Pure Yang.

The trip to the Sun Star was the first step, for the Three-legged Golden Crow was the Innate Being of Supreme Yang in the Primordial world. If he could extract the origin of this Golden Crow and integrate it into himself, his plan would naturally succeed.

Furthermore, those two possessed spiritual treasures that made his eyes burn with envy.