Hearing Zhenyuanzi thank him, Hong Yun hurriedly waved a hand. His crimson robe stirred with the motion, like sunset clouds rippling across the sky.
His expression was utterly sincere, and fire seemed to burn in his eyes as he spoke in a clear, urgent voice:
"Fellow Daoist Zhenyuanzi, there's no need to be so polite! We came into being together. We're as close as brothers.
"Before I took form, I drifted through the world in ignorance, nothing but a rootless wisp of red cloud. Yet you never turned me away. Day after day, you expounded the Dao of the Earth atop Longevity Mountain, helping me gather my wits and find my way with the deep resonance of the Earth Veins.
"Without your guidance, how could I have seen through my confusion and attained the Da Luo Dao Fruit?
"After I took form, you knew my essence belonged to fire and my nature was suited to wind and thunder. You even gave me the Four Symbols Plantain Tree, an Innate Spiritual Root perfectly matched to me, helping me advance in cultivation and stabilize my essence.
"Standing guard this time was the least I could do. Compared with all you've done for me, it was nothing. I can't possibly accept your thanks!"
He spoke rapidly, as though slowing down for even a moment would make him seem less sincere.
Cloud patterns shifted faintly across his crimson robe, setting off the brightness in his face. Even the surrounding spiritual energy seemed to grow warmer.
Lord Wanshouyuan smiled calmly. His blue-green robe stirred without wind, and the embroidered pines and cypresses seemed to come alive, giving off the refreshing fragrance of Yi Wood.
He added in an even tone, as if stating something self-evident:
"Fellow Daoist Hongyun is right. Besides, you and I are one, born of the same source. Why distinguish between us?
"What I do for you, and you for me, comes naturally from the heart. Protecting you is protecting myself. How could there be any question of treating each other as outsiders?"
His gaze was gentle as he looked at Zhenyuanzi and Hong Yun, carrying a bond and understanding beyond words. He was Zhenyuanzi's incarnation, and what he said came straight from the heart.
After taking form, Zhenyuanzi had an ancient, imposing face and a presence as solid as Mount Buzhou. At their words, a warm smile spread slowly through his eyes. Like a boulder sinking into a deep pool, it made little stir on the surface, yet carried immense weight beneath.
He said no more, merely nodding. Some bonds had long since passed beyond words. Etched deep into their Dao origins, they needed no mention to endure forever.
His sleeve trembled slightly, and the surrounding Earth Vein Qi hummed in response, as though answering that unspoken bond.
But just as the three relaxed into each other's company and that enduring friendship—
Almost as one, the three Da Luo Golden Immortals turned toward one side of the courtyard!
There, a Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon lay quietly coiled. Its immense body radiated vast, pure golden light from its Merit Profound Yellow Qi, bathing nearly half the courtyard in splendor.
It had always been an inanimate thing, formed from Father God Pangu's final breath mingling with Immeasurable World-Opening Merit and Xuanhuang Mother Qi after he opened the world. It could be called the first wonder of the Primordial Wilderness. Yet for all its supreme and majestic form, it had always lacked the spark of intelligence.
But now!
An exceedingly faint yet unmistakable stirring of spirit seeped from the deepest part of that flawless, lifeless dragon body. It was like the first clear drop of spring water emerging from beneath ten thousand feet of ice—quiet, tentative, and utterly new.
The stirring was tender and unformed, like the first hint of Yinyang intertwining at the dawn of creation, or the tiny tremor before a newborn's first cry shook its world.
It held the pure curiosity of a being encountering the world for the first time. The vast Merit Profound Yellow Qi nearly drowned it out, but it endured!
The dragon was no longer merely a mass of inanimate energy. It showed signs of awakening to true intelligence!
"This is..." Delight flooded Hong Yun's face. He stared at the Golden Dragon, scarcely daring to breathe.
Restless and warmhearted by nature, he greeted the birth of new intelligence with boundless curiosity and goodwill.
Green light flickered fiercely in Lord Wanshouyuan's eyes. Yi Wood Vitality flowed around him and resonated with the Ginseng Fruit Tree. After sensing it closely for a moment, he nodded, a trace of surprise in his clear voice:
"It is indeed the first stirring of intelligence. Marvelous. Truly marvelous!
"It seems the immense vitality and rhythm of the Great Dao unleashed when my original body took form shook heaven and earth and reached all living things.
"Longevity Mountain is also one of the nodes of the Primordial Wilderness's Ancestral Veins. With my original body's attainment of the Dao, it has gathered Innate Spiritual Qi and Earth Vein Essence and Qi so dense they have nearly liquefied.
"Through this remarkable convergence of fortune, the dragon's essence, dormant for countless ages, has been nourished, bringing forth this spark of awareness."
Zhenyuanzi stepped forward at an unhurried pace. Each steady footfall seemed to rise and fall with the Earth Veins beneath Longevity Mountain.
He extended a hand that seemed to bear the contours of the earth and the patterns of mountains and rivers, holding it gently above the enormous dragon's head without touching it. He did not want his own immense Qi Flow to disturb that fragile newborn spirit.
Closing his eyes, he sensed it carefully. Earthen-yellow divine light flowed faintly around him, resonating with the Xuanhuang Golden Light on the dragon's scales.
A moment later, he opened his eyes. His voice rumbled like a sound from deep within the earth:
"Good! Very good! This being has an extraordinary origin. Born of Father God's legacy, blessed by merit and nurtured by Xuanhuang Mother Qi—if it gains intelligence and casts off the shackles of its inanimate state, it will have received a true gift of creation. Its future will know no bounds. This is an unexpected joy, and a tremendous opportunity."
The three Da Luo Golden Immortals exchanged glances, each seeing keen interest and anticipation in the others' eyes.
At their level, ordinary events in the Primordial Wilderness could scarcely stir them. But nothing like this had happened since the world was opened!
A Golden Dragon forged from Father God Pangu's final breath, World-Opening Merit, and Xuanhuang Mother Qi was about to awaken!
They all wondered what kind of being it would become once it possessed a complete mind. Its body held powers so varied and exalted that it was perhaps the strangest creation in the Primordial Wilderness.
Would its nature be steadfast as the earth, lofty as Xuanhuang Mother Qi, or auspicious as merit? What astonishing Innate Divine Ability might it possess? Could it inherit some unimaginable part of Pangu's Legacy?
"Then let us lend it a hand. We can hasten the awakening of its intelligence, establish an unmatched Dao Foundation for it, and guide it toward goodness and the Dao. It must not squander the legacy and merit Father God left within it."
Zhenyuanzi made the decision at once. As their host and the eldest among them, he had spoken, and Hong Yun and Lord Wanshouyuan readily agreed.
And so, within the tranquil, auspicious, spirit-filled Wuzhuang Temple, a discourse on the Dao began—one of the grandest and most unusual the Primordial Wilderness had yet seen.
Its listener was neither a Primordial Great Power nor an ordinary cultivator or spirit, but a wondrous Golden Dragon on the verge of awakening.
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