On the Desolate Island, Summoning Lightning to Strike the Dragon

Qing Xuan and Nuwa had searched the East Sea for several thousand years, encountering all sorts of islands, collecting no small number of innate spiritual roots and heavenly materials and earthly treasures, and even acquiring a few low-grade innate spiritual treasures.

Yet in all those millennia, they had found not a single trace of the Overseas Three Immortal Islands. If Qing Xuan weren't a transmigrator who knew the Three Immortal Islands truly existed, they would have given up long ago.

One day, Nuwa and Qing Xuan landed on a secluded island. This island didn't even qualify as a Blessed Land; the whole place was barren, not a single innate spiritual root in sight.

What's more, the island's height was such that it would be submerged at high tide. Qing Xuan and Nuwa had only landed here to rest their feet.

"Little Gourd Vine, there are only two thousand years left until the Dao Ancestor's sermon. It looks like this trip to the East Sea is going to end in failure."

"But don't lose heart. After we hear the Dao Ancestor's sermon, I'll come back with you to the East Sea to keep searching. No matter what, we have to find those three islands."

With no other options left, Qing Xuan could only nod at Nuwa. After resting a bit, they planned to return to Buzhou Mountain to find Fu Xi.

Just as Qing Xuan and Nuwa were about to leave, a giant dragon burst out of the sea, ramming its enormous head directly into the small island.

Each impact made the entire island shake violently. The fierce tremors nearly knocked Qing Xuan and Nuwa off their feet.

Qing Xuan quickly unfolded his folding fan, stabilizing the giant stone beneath his feet so it no longer swayed with the island's shaking.

The moment Qing Xuan opened his fan, Nuwa, with her sharp eyes, noticed something different on its surface.

"Little Gourd Vine, look—there's another picture on your fan. It seems to be a scene of you and the Twenty-Four Grade Creation Green Lotus enduring the Heavenly Punishment together."

During this time, Qing Xuan had been searching the East Sea for the Overseas Three Immortal Islands. He rarely took out his fan, but now, hearing Nuwa's words, he couldn't help but look at the fan surface.

Sure enough, just as Nuwa had said, another painting had appeared beside the Innate Gourd Vine. In the painting, a green lotus shot up into the sky, welcoming the test of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning.

And coiled around the lotus stem was an Innate Gourd Vine, with several of its vines lashing out at the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning in the sky.

This made Qing Xuan frown. "Could it be that only my personal experiences can evolve into patterns on this fan's surface?"

The fan was no system, nor an old master; it couldn't give Qing Xuan any answers, so he could only guess.

After a moment's thought, Qing Xuan had a sudden inspiration. He raised his fan and waved it toward the giant dragon.

"Whether my guess is right or not, this test will tell." Qing Xuan thought to himself.

Unfortunately, the result left Qing Xuan utterly helpless. The power of the Creation Law he'd imagined didn't emerge from the fan—it only stirred up a faint breeze.

Just as Qing Xuan felt disappointed, a bolt of Heavenly Thunder fell from the sky, striking the giant dragon's head squarely.

This instantly made Qing Xuan's eyes light up, because the scene was all too familiar. It was exactly like when the Creation Green Lotus had endured the Heavenly Punishment back then.

The next moment, Qing Xuan waved his fan at the dragon again. Sure enough, another bolt of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning descended from the sky, once more striking the dragon's head.

After two consecutive bolts of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning, the giant dragon was killed outright. Its massive head crashed heavily onto the island.

Even so, Qing Xuan didn't stop. To test whether his guess was correct, he waved his fan at the dragon's corpse once more.

Then came another rumbling boom. A bolt of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning fell from the sky, splitting the dragon's head cleanly in two.

At this point, Nuwa spoke to Qing Xuan with a face full of shock. "Little Gourd Vine, was that Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning released by you?"

Qing Xuan nodded, because by now he was certain. Those three bolts of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning had indeed been struck by him.

He opened his folding fan to explain to Nuwa, and noticed that the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning on the Green Lotus Fan Surface had changed from its original purple to gray.

"Damn, so this thing isn't free to use—there's a cooldown period?" Qing Xuan grumbled inwardly.

By then, Nuwa had also noticed the color change in the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning. She blinked her lively, big eyes for a long moment before speaking to Qing Xuan.

"It seems the lightning power stored in this fan is only enough for three bolts of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning. To use it again, you'll have to recharge it."

Qing Xuan thought Nuwa's explanation made perfect sense. In other words, he needed to replenish its mana.

So he closed his fan and said directly to Nuwa, "We'll try again next time. We need to get back to Buzhou Mountain—any later and we'll really miss the Dao Ancestor's sermon."

Just as Nuwa nodded, she noticed that from the split-open dragon head, a fist-sized Dragon Pearl was floating up.

Without hesitation, Nuwa flew toward the Dragon Pearl and grabbed it in her hand. After all, a Dragon Pearl was a top-tier material for refining qi—how could she let it go?

She originally planned to take the Dragon Pearl and leave, but suddenly saw the giant dragon's corpse transform into a stream of dragon breath, merging into the Dragon Pearl.

Seeing this, Qing Xuan couldn't help thinking to himself, "What the hell? Do I need to collect seven Dragon Pearls and summon a divine dragon or something?"

Nuwa, free of Qing Xuan's wild thoughts, was busy examining the Dragon Pearl in her hand. Soon, she discovered its uniqueness.

"Little Gourd Vine, come look—this isn't an ordinary Dragon Pearl. That giant dragon wasn't a true member of the Dragon Clan either; it was a Spirit Qi Dragon manifested from a spiritual vein."

"That means there must be an extremely pure spiritual vein nearby. Otherwise, a Spiritual Vein Manifesting as Dragon couldn't happen."

"After all, the spiritual vein at Phoenix Perch Mountain has only barely reached the point of nearing dragon manifestation. It's still far from truly transforming into a dragon."

Qing Xuan's eyes lit up at this. "You mean we might have found a true Blessed Land?"

Nuwa nodded, her face full of excitement. "It could be one of the Overseas Three Immortal Islands you mentioned."

"But there's one thing I'm worried about now: since you killed the Spirit Qi Dragon manifested from the spiritual vein, does that mean you've destroyed the island?"

Qing Xuan shook his head. "Probably not. The Spiritual Vein Manifesting as Dragon only happened because the spiritual qi was so dense that it gave birth to a Spirit Qi Dragon."

"It wasn't the actual spiritual vein turning into a dragon. Otherwise, how could three bolts of Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning have killed it?"

Nuwa nodded at that. "Good. Otherwise, these past few thousand years would have been a complete waste."