Hope Placed in Him

Moyan asked softly, "What was the price?"

She wasn't one of the core figures in the Qilin Clan and knew very little about what had happened back then. Now was the perfect chance to ask about the doubts she'd been carrying.

"A vow." Moyuan's gaze grew distant. "Back then, to preserve the last of our clan's bloodline, Ancestor Shi Qilin made a vow with Yuanshi Tianzun, a personal disciple of Hongjun Dao Ancestor."

"Our Qilin Clan was allowed to settle and multiply at Qilin Cliff on Kunlun Mountain, under Yuanshi Tianzun's protection. But the price was that our clan's fortune would be bound to the Chan Sect. We would never again be allowed to set foot beyond the Kunlun Mountains, much less compete for the position of ruler of Heaven and Earth."

Moyan stared at him in shock. "Something like that really happened?"

The younger generation of the clan had no way of learning such secrets.

"Yes." Moyuan gave a bitter laugh. "It was called protection, but in truth, it was also a form of confinement. Under the Heavenly Dao, our clan's fortune was set in stone long ago. There's no chance of turning things around."

He turned to Moyan and asked, "Do you know who the Daoist was who just took that child away?"

Moyan shook her head.

"He was Yuanshi Tianzun's disciple, and the only First Disciple among the Three Pure Ones today: Xuanqing," Moyuan said slowly.

"What?!" Moyan was completely stunned.

"This was all arranged by Ancestor Shi Qilin." Moyuan explained, "That child has the purest bloodline in our clan, and he's my only son. Having him follow a disciple of the Mysterious Gate will settle some of the Karma from that time. It will also give him—and our Qilin Clan—a chance to find a way out."

His voice carried the heavy resolve of a father.

"With the Heavenly Dao suppressing us, it's harder than reaching the heavens for the Qilin Clan to produce even one Da Luo Golden Immortal. Look at me. I'm the direct son of Ancestor Shi Qilin and the head of our clan, yet I've been stuck at the Da Luo Golden Immortal realm for countless epochs. I haven't made the slightest progress."

Moyuan's voice brimmed with frustration.

"But disciples of the Mysterious Gate are different. They have extraordinary origins and abundant fortune. Their future achievements are limitless."

"Following him, that child might... might be able to break the Heavenly Dao's shackles on our clan and forge a new path."

Moyuan fell silent.

Giving one's own child to someone else to serve as a mount was a humiliation for any proud clan.

But for the sake of his clan's future, and so his child could have a brighter future, he had no choice.

Moyan fell silent too. She finally understood Moyuan's painstaking intentions.

After a long while, she asked softly, "Will that child... understand why we did this?"

"He doesn't understand now, but he will someday." Moyuan gazed into the distance, his eyes filled with both reluctance and a glimmer of hope.

"Let's go. Back to Qilin Cliff. From this day on, the Ink Qilin Clan has no Prince."

With that, his enormous body turned into a streak of black light and vanished from the cavern.

Moyan took one last look in the direction Xuanqing had gone, let out a quiet sigh, then left as well.

With a little creature perched on his shoulder, Xuanqing's flight through the air was no longer so dull.

The little Ink Qilin recovered quickly. The Three Lights Divine Water lived up to its reputation. In the space of a moment, it went from barely clinging to life to bouncing around happily. Now it was gazing curiously at the landscape below with its fluffy head.

"Little guy, you'll be staying with me from now on, so you need a name." Xuanqing flew along at an unhurried pace, turning his head to look at it.

The little Qilin gave a soft whimper, its glossy black eyes full of confusion. Clearly, it didn't understand.

"You're black all over. How about I call you Xiao Hei? Simple and easy to remember."

The little Qilin seemed to recognize the sound of those two words. It chirped excitedly twice and nudged Xuanqing's chin with its head to show it agreed.

"Fine, Xiao Hei it is." Xuanqing smiled, though inwardly he was complaining. The Qilin Clan's royal heir, a direct descendant of Ancestor Shi Qilin, and he'd ended up with such an ordinary name. He wondered if its parents would come charging over from Qilin Cliff if they found out.

Man and beast flew leisurely toward Mount Buzhou.

In Honghuang, years went uncounted, and time was merciless.

Several hundred more years passed in the blink of an eye.

When an enormous mountain, so majestic it defied description, appeared on the distant horizon, Xuanqing knew he had arrived.

Mount Buzhou!

It was the supreme divine mountain formed from the spine of Great God Pangu, holding up the sky and supporting the earth.

Even from billions of miles away, its boundless, ancient, and weighty aura swept over him, pressing down on his chest. Kunlun Mountain was the ancestral vein of the immortals, a place of peerless beauty, but compared with Mount Buzhou, it lacked the latter's domineering power to suppress Heaven and Earth.

"Now that's a true pillar supporting the sky," Xuanqing exclaimed sincerely.

The closer he got, the clearer the lingering pressure of Great God Pangu became. Space here was so stable that even he, a Golden Immortal, felt an unseen force slowing his flight considerably.

Xuanqing simply descended from the clouds and continued on foot with Xiao Hei, as a show of respect for Great God Pangu.

The foothills of Mount Buzhou teemed with life and were rich in spiritual energy. Treasures of Heaven and Earth were everywhere. Many Spiritual Roots rarely seen in later ages were as common here as roadside weeds.

Xuanqing didn't touch any of them. He had a clear purpose in coming here. He wasn't out treasure hunting.

He noticed there were especially many living beings here, particularly members of the Yao Clan.

But strangely, they didn't carry the Malevolent Qi and battle intent he recognized from the Demon Soldiers once led by Baize. Most of them weren't very powerful. They cultivated peacefully in their own territories and got along quite well with one another.

"So this must be a place protected by Empress Nüwa," Xuanqing realized.

Though Nüwa was a great sage of the Yao Clan, she was kind by nature and felt compassion for weak living beings. Many members of the Yao Clan who didn't want to join the Demon Court or take part in the struggle for supremacy had come to Mount Buzhou to seek her protection. Over time, this place had become a paradise away from the world.

Seeing this, Xuanqing couldn't help thinking of the future Witch and Demon Calamity.

When it came, Heaven and Earth would collapse, and rivers of blood would flow. How many of these carefree little demons would survive?

He shook his head, casting the thoughts from his mind. Even Sages were pawns in a Tribulation. He was only a Golden Immortal; it was too early for him to worry about such things.

Ever since Hongjun Dao Ancestor had announced that he would Merge with Dao and no longer interfere in Honghuang's affairs, the situation across Honghuang had become increasingly delicate.

The first to act was the Demon Emperor Dijun.

This ambitious ruler of the Yao Clan was now free of all restraints. Lately, he'd been making frequent moves. Word was that he'd grown close to Dongwanggong, the "leader of the male immortals" personally appointed by the Dao Ancestor.

Xuanqing scoffed at the thought.

Dongwanggong? He was just a man blinded by an empty title. Dijun was courting him only for that title, hoping to use it as justification to rule the immortals of Honghuang. Once Dongwanggong was no longer useful, his fate was obvious.

Relations between the Yao Clan and the Witch Clan had also fallen to a breaking point.

The Witch Clan ruled the land, while the Yao Clan ruled the skies. They had never been under one another's authority, and conflicts between them were already rife. Now that the Dao Ancestor was no longer holding them back, small clashes had become frequent along their resource-rich borderlands. A major war could break out at any moment.

All of Honghuang was shrouded in an oppressive atmosphere, like the stillness before a storm.

Thinking of this, Xuanqing furrowed his brow.

He remembered the looks Dijun and Dongwanggong had given him at Treasure Distribution Cliff in Zixiao Palace. Their expressions had been complicated, but what stood out most was the wariness they'd tried to conceal.

It seemed that, as the only disciple the Three Pure Ones had taken on so far, he'd attracted too much attention. Those two had already set their sights on him.

If you think this book is good, add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose track of it next time.