Qing Xuan and Nuwa had searched the East Sea for thousands of years. They had seen all sorts of islands and collected plenty of Innate Spiritual Roots and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. They had even obtained several Low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.
Yet after all those thousands of years, they still hadn't found a trace of the Overseas Three Immortal Islands. If Qing Xuan hadn't been a transmigrator who knew the islands truly existed, they would probably have given up long ago.
One day, Nuwa and Qing Xuan landed on an island. It wasn't even a Blessed Land. The whole island was barren, without a single Innate Spiritual Root in sight.
What's more, the island was so low that it would be submerged when the tide came in. Qing Xuan and Nuwa had landed there only to take a short rest.
"Little Gourd Vine, there are only two thousand years left until the Dao Ancestor's Sermon. It looks like our trip to the East Sea will end in failure."
"But don't lose heart. Once we've heard the Dao Ancestor's Sermon, I'll come back to the East Sea with you and keep searching. We have to find those three islands, no matter what."
At this point, Qing Xuan had no other choice. He could only nod to Nuwa. Once they had rested a little, they would return to Buzhou Mountain to find Fu Xi.
Just as Qing Xuan and Nuwa were about to leave, a massive dragon burst out of the sea and began ramming the island with its enormous head.
Each impact made the entire island shake violently. The force of the shaking nearly knocked Qing Xuan and Nuwa off their feet.
Qing Xuan hurriedly opened the Folding Fan in his hand and stabilized the huge boulder beneath them, keeping it from swaying along with the island.
The moment Qing Xuan opened the fan, Nuwa, whose eyesight was exceptionally sharp, noticed something different about it.
"Little Gourd Vine, look! There's another picture on your fan. It looks like you and the Twenty-Four Grade Creation Green Lotus facing Heavenly Punishment together."
Qing Xuan had spent this entire time searching the East Sea for the Overseas Three Immortal Islands, and he had rarely taken out the fan. Now that Nuwa had pointed it out, he turned his gaze to the fan surface.
Sure enough, just as Nuwa had said, a new picture had appeared beside the Innate Gourd Vine. In it, a Green Lotus soared into the sky to face the trial of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning.
An Innate Gourd Vine coiled around the lotus stem. Several of its tendrils were lashing at the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning in the sky.
Qing Xuan frowned. "Could it be that only things I experience firsthand can turn into pictures and appear on the fan?"
The Folding Fan wasn't a system or some old-timer offering guidance. It couldn't give Qing Xuan any answers, so he could only guess.
After looking it over, Qing Xuan suddenly had an idea. He raised the fan and swept it toward the giant dragon.
I'll find out whether my guess is right by testing it now, Qing Xuan thought.
Unfortunately, the result left him thoroughly disappointed. The Creation Law he had imagined did not emerge from the fan. It merely stirred up a light breeze.
Just as Qing Xuan was feeling disappointed, a bolt of Heavenly Thunder fell from the sky and struck the dragon squarely on the head.
Qing Xuan's eyes lit up at once. The scene was so familiar. It was exactly like the day the Creation Green Lotus had suffered Heavenly Punishment.
The next moment, Qing Xuan fanned the dragon again. Sure enough, another bolt of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning came crashing down and struck the dragon on the head.
After two successive bolts of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning, the giant dragon was struck dead. Its enormous head crashed heavily onto the island.
Even then, Qing Xuan didn't stop. Wanting to test whether his guess was correct, he swept the fan at the dragon's corpse once more.
A rumbling roar followed, and another bolt of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning fell from the sky, splitting the dragon's head cleanly in two.
Nuwa stared at Qing Xuan in shock. "Little Gourd Vine, was that you who released the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning?"
Qing Xuan nodded. By now, he was certain that he had been the one to unleash all three bolts of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning.
He opened the Folding Fan to explain things to Nuwa, but the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning on the Green Lotus Fan Surface had changed from purple to gray.
Damn, so this thing can't be used whenever I want. It even has a cooldown? Qing Xuan grumbled inwardly.
Nuwa had also noticed the change in color. She blinked her lively eyes as she examined the fan for a while, then spoke to Qing Xuan.
"It seems the thunder stored inside this fan was only enough to release three bolts of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning. If you want to use it again, you'll have to store more thunder in it."
Qing Xuan thought Nuwa's explanation made perfect sense. In other words, he needed to recharge its mana.
Qing Xuan closed the fan and said to Nuwa, "We'll try again another time. We need to return to Buzhou Mountain, or we really won't make it in time for the Dao Ancestor's Sermon."
As Nuwa nodded, she saw a fist-sized Dragon Pearl rise from the split dragon's head.
Without hesitation, Nuwa went over and picked up the Dragon Pearl. After all, Dragon Pearls were top-tier materials for refining artifacts. How could she possibly pass one up?
Nuwa had planned to take the Dragon Pearl and leave, but then she noticed the dragon's corpse turn into a stream of dragon breath and flow into the pearl.
Seeing this, Qing Xuan thought to himself, Damn, what's going on? Do we have to collect all seven Dragon Pearls and summon a dragon?
Nuwa didn't share Qing Xuan's wild imaginings. She was busy examining the Dragon Pearl in her hand and soon discovered what made it unusual.
"Little Gourd Vine, take a look. This isn't an ordinary Dragon Pearl. That giant dragon wasn't truly part of the Dragon Clan, either. It was a Spirit Qi Dragon formed from a spiritual vein."
"That means there must be an exceptionally pure spiritual vein nearby. Otherwise, something like a spiritual vein manifesting as a dragon couldn't happen."
"Even the spiritual vein at Phoenix Perch Mountain had only just reached the point of being on the verge of manifesting as a dragon. It was still a long way from actually doing so."
Qing Xuan's eyes lit up. "Are you saying we might have found a true Blessed Land?"
Nuwa nodded excitedly. "It could be one of the Overseas Three Immortal Islands you mentioned."
"But there's something I'm worried about. You killed the Spirit Qi Dragon formed from the spiritual vein. Could that be the same as destroying the island?"
Qing Xuan shook his head. "It shouldn't be. The spiritual vein manifested as a dragon because the spiritual energy was so abundant that it gave birth to a Spirit Qi Dragon."
"It wasn't that the spiritual vein itself had turned into a dragon. Otherwise, how could those three bolts of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning have killed it?"
Nuwa nodded. "That's good. Otherwise, all our work over these past thousands of years would have been for nothing."