Opportunity in the East Sea, Breaking the Formation to Enter Penglai

That fluctuation was so faint, like a thread of silk—had it not been for a faint, elusive thread of opportunity tugging at his spiritual senses, Donghua would have almost passed it by entirely.

He looked out across the sea. The surface was calm, the waves gentle, a hazy layer of mist hanging over the glittering blue. On the surface, there was nothing at all.

Even if one flew overhead at great height and swept the area with Divine Sense, they would encounter no obstruction.

Donghua stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze deep as the stars, staring at this eerie stillness.

Having cultivated to his level, his Dao Heart had long since mirrored the void, clear as a polished mirror.

The faint ripple that had stirred in his heart just now could not be a rootless illusion—it had to be the manifestation of an opportunity.

There was only one explanation for what lay before him: an Innate Great Array, borrowing the power of heaven and earth, had perfectly concealed and protected whatever was inside.

Donghua's gaze sharpened. Without a moment's hesitation, light blazed above his head, and his companion spirit treasure, the Jingyang Bell, hung resplendent in the void.

He swept his sleeve, and vast Magic Power surged like a river in flood, crashing into the bell's body.

Dong—!

The Jingyang Bell shuddered violently, unleashing a thunderous, majestic peal.

The sound did not scatter; instead, it condensed into countless visible blades of Mysterious Sound, sweeping outward in all directions!

The next moment, a colossal, transparent ripple exploded across the void, as if a mountain had been hurled into a placid lake.

Following that, layer upon layer of array restrictions and seals were forced into visibility, interweaving and flickering—they actually covered an endless expanse of sea!

Upon those restrictions, countless patterns flowed without cease, accompanied by gorgeous, ethereal rays of light that appeared and vanished, drifting and otherworldly, as if breathing in unison with heaven and earth.

"What a exquisite Innate Great Array!" A brilliant light shone in Donghua's eyes. Though he was no master of formations, after fully refining the guardian array of his own Daoist Ground, Zifu Continent, his insight was far beyond ordinary.

The array before him was in no way inferior to the formation on Zifu Continent. Its mechanism of operation was deeply hidden within the flow of wind and water, cycling endlessly.

If not for the premonition he had felt earlier, locking his spiritual senses onto this spot, even if he had passed by here a thousand times, he would never have detected the slightest trace.

This array did not seem particularly lethal, but its transformations were wondrous, its concealment exquisite—truly profound and unfathomable.

In his tens of thousands of years of wandering, he had encountered only one opportunity before, obtaining a high-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure with thirty-six restrictions, called the Azure Emperor Longevity Lamp.

The Innate Great Array before him was extraordinary in bearing. Based on the Dao resonance and power it contained, there was at least a high-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure inside!

An opportunity was before him—he could not afford to lose it.

Donghua's Divine Sense spread like a tide, sweeping across the ten thousand li of sea around him. Aside from a few ignorant, drifting creatures, he sensed no threatening presence.

Even so, Donghua did not let down his guard.

He waved his sleeve lightly, and streaks of Mysterious Light flew out, laying down layer upon layer of concealing restrictions around him, hiding his own aura and the commotion he was about to cause.

Generally speaking, there were two ways to break an array.

One was to use absolute divine power, to act with overwhelming force and blast it open by sheer strength.

The other was to calmly comprehend it, to discern the secrets of its operation, and break it with skill.

Donghua made his decision in an instant.

He naturally chose the second option. Faced with such a seamlessly natural array, he might not be able to break it at all. Even if he tried to force it open, who knew how many years it would take? Moreover, the disturbance would be too great, and it might attract unnecessary trouble.

And comprehending such an Innate Great Array was itself a rare form of cultivation, beneficial to his Dao.

Time flowed on. In the blink of an eye, ten thousand years had passed.

Stars shifted, tides rose and fell, while Donghua's mind was completely immersed in deducing the array's principles.

On this day, as he observed the Innate Great Array shifting with the wind and currents, a flash of insight suddenly lit up his eyes.

It was not a fixed "gate" he had found, but rather a fleeting flaw that appeared as the array moved with nature!

The moment was fleeting! Donghua's figure transformed into a wisp of elusive Dao resonance, following that subtle gap, and silently slipped into the array.

Though this Innate Great Array possessed spirit and infinite mystery, it was ultimately a dead thing operating on the instincts of heaven and earth, lacking adaptability.

As long as one had the patience to find its rhythm, there would eventually come a moment when it could be seen through.

The next instant, he felt his form steady, and he found himself standing on solid ground.

He looked around. The spiritual energy here had condensed into mist, immortal clouds swirled, rare flowers and strange herbs covered the mountains, and ancient, towering trees soared into the sky.

The air was filled with a refreshing fragrance of grass and wood. One breath of it and he felt his spirit clear and his mind refreshed.

"Penglai..."

The moment he entered this place, an ancient, true name naturally surfaced in his Dao Heart, clear and unmistakable.

It was none other than one of the legendary Three Immortal Islands of the Outer Seas—Penglai Immortal Island!

Even with Donghua's steady temperament, his heart stirred with emotion at this moment.

This was a supreme cave heaven that countless great powers in the Primordial World had sought but never found. That he had discovered it today was truly an earth-shaking opportunity!

Just as his emotions surged, a unique fragrance, different from the scent of grass and wood, quietly drifted into his nostrils.

That single wisp of fragrance entering his body caused his Magic Power to circulate lively on its own. His Dao Body felt as if it had been washed by a sweet spring, every part of him comfortable and relaxed. Even his cultivation seemed to have advanced faintly by a sliver!

Donghua's spirits soared. A brilliant light burst from his eyes, and he immediately traced the source of that wondrous fragrance, his Divine Sense spreading like a net toward the front.

Something with such an effect—it had to be an Innate Spirit Root without a doubt!

As soon as he set foot on Penglai Immortal Island, this treasure revealed itself through karmic resonance, its strange fragrance guiding the way—it was fated for him, and rightfully his.

Without hesitation, Donghua transformed into a streak of escaping light, cutting through the mist-shrouded skies above Penglai Immortal Island. His figure flickered across the void several times, leaving trails of afterimages.

Before long, he arrived at the location of the spiritual root.

This place was utterly unlike the outside world—no resplendent scenery, no lingering spiritual energy, only a desolate, deathly stillness, where even the wind seemed to vanish into nothingness.

Just as Donghua was drawn toward the spiritual root, the ground below turned pitch-black without warning. A ten-thousand-zhang dragon tail, like an ink-black mountain range stretching across the sky, crushed space itself and slammed down toward him with pure, savage force—silent, yet devastating.

"A mere ant dares to covet what belongs to This Venerable One?"

Before the words had even faded, the earth shattered with a thunderous roar! A sky-obscuring dragon shadow burst forth from the ground, kicking up a ten-thousand-zhang dust storm, its icy gaze locking onto Donghua.

"Then let your flesh and blood nourish my spiritual root."

As the dust settled, Donghua stepped leisurely out of the chaos, golden immortal light flowing around him, his Pure Yang Daoist Robe untouched by a single speck of dust.

"I wondered which fellow Daoist had made this place their lair—turns out it's just a skulking reptile."

The dragon shadow was startled to see Donghua completely unharmed, but in the next moment, greed overwhelmed its wariness. Its gaze locked greedily onto the Pure Yang Daoist Robe, and a vicious grin spread across its massive dragon head:

"An Innate Spiritual Treasure? Hah! It is fated that I, Ao Qiu, should obtain this fortune! For the sake of this treasure, I'll overlook your insolent words just now. Hand it over, and This Venerable One will grant you a whole corpse!"