Old Hard Coin Hongjun, Penglai's Seclusion

At this moment, Tianlu was ecstatic to the point of madness, his golden eyes shining with the greedy glint of a miser.

Yet, after the initial frenzy, his furry brows furrowed slightly, a flicker of profound contemplation crossing his eyes.

"Wait a minute. How could a fragment of the Jade Plate of Creation—a supreme treasure from Pangu's act of splitting the heavens and earth—fall so easily into a backwater place like Penglai Immortal Island?"

Tianlu stroked his chin, the original trajectory of the Primordial World surfacing in his mind.

In the original timeline, Duke of the East was personally appointed as the Head of Male Immortals by the Dao Ancestor Hongjun, bestowed with the top-grade innate spiritual treasure, the Dragon Head Cane. He was infinitely glorious, using Penglai Immortal Island as his dojo to establish the Purple Mansion Prefecture and command the masses of immortals.

But what was the result?

This arrogant Head of Male Immortals was eventually besieged by the Demon Race Heavenly Court army led by Di Jun and Taiyi, meeting a miserable end where his body perished and his soul was nearly extinguished.

"Could it be that this was all a scheme by that old schemer Hongjun from the very beginning?"

The more Tianlu thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

The Jade Plate of Creation fragment was a supreme treasure containing the three thousand Great Dao laws, and it was an indispensable key for Hongjun to merge with the Heavenly Dao in the future.

Given Hongjun's calculating and watertight nature, how could he possibly let such a treasure drift outside?

Perhaps Hongjun had long known through the resonance of the Jade Plate of Creation that this fragment was hidden on Penglai Immortal Island.

That was why he had specifically lured Duke of the East here, elevating him to the high position of Head of Male Immortals to make him a target for everyone.

Once Duke of the East was slaughtered by the demon race during the tribulation and thoroughly perished, Hongjun could logically step in and quietly recover the fragment of the Jade Plate of Creation.

As for Queen Mother of the West, Yang Hui, the Head of Female Immortals, she was likely just a convenient addition to numb the world and make this grand game of chess appear more legitimate.

"What deep schemes, what vicious calculations!"

Tianlu couldn't help but smack his lips, but immediately after, he chuckled with utter disdain.

"But so what?"

"This master is the dignified darling of the Great Dao, the Child of the Great Dao! I can even watch the Purple Heaven Divine Lightning sent down by the Heavenly Dao like celebratory fireworks; why would I fear a mere scheme from Hongjun?"

Tianlu patted his round belly, his heart instantly settling.

With the invincible status of being the Child of the Great Dao, any creature that dared to harbor malice toward him would suffer the backlash of the Great Dao—at best, they would suffer qi deviation and unstable luck; at worst, they would be directly punished by the Heavenly Dao and reduced to ashes.

If Hongjun dared to come and demand this Jade Plate of Creation fragment, it would be purely like an old man eating arsenic—tired of living.

Having figured this out, Tianlu couldn't be bothered to leave Penglai Immortal Island to search for Fangzhang or Yingzhou islands.

He waved his large sleeve, piling all the mineral veins and divine materials he had scavenged earlier, which were radiating various colors, in front of him.

"Since Penglai Immortal Island will be this master's dojo from now on, I must have a decent nest. I can't sleep on the grass every day, can I?"

Tianlu opened his mouth wide and spat out a scorching hot natal true fire, completely enveloping the mountain of mineral veins and divine materials.

With his current formidable cultivation at the mid-stage of Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, coupled with the tyrannical assistance of the Law of Devouring, refining a palace was naturally a trivial matter.

Time passed like a white horse galloping past a crevice; in the blink of an eye, a hundred years slipped away.

On this day, as a dazzling beam of treasure light shot into the sky, dispersing the clouds and mist above Penglai Immortal Island, a magnificent and resplendent palace finally took shape within Tianlu's natal true fire.

Although this palace was refined post-natally, because Tianlu had spared no cost in pouring in countless top-grade divine materials and inscribed countless profound array patterns, its grade had already reached the level of a top-grade post-natal spiritual treasure, making it indestructible.

"Go!"

Tianlu waved his front paw, and the massive palace transformed into a stream of light, landing steadily in the very center of Penglai Immortal Island.

The painstaking effort of a hundred years had finally transformed into this resplendent dojo.

The moment the palace landed, the innate spiritual energy of the entire Penglai Immortal Island seemed to be drawn by some force, surging madly toward the palace and condensing into liquid spiritual essence, forming a spiritual pool in front of the main hall.

Tianlu looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction, his round body turning into a golden light as he flew directly into the main hall.

With this nest, he began his closed-door cultivation.

Inside the hall, Tianlu sat cross-legged on a cloud bed carved from top-grade innate jade marrow. He opened his mouth and spat, and the fragment of the Jade Plate of Creation, radiating an ancient and vast aura, floated before him.

He extended his divine soul power, which surged like a tide into the fragment of this Pangu treasure.

In an instant, Tianlu felt his spirit drift, carefully sensing the Great Dao laws contained within. Although this fragment was not large, it was inscribed with several extremely complete Great Dao veins.

The most dazzling among them were the four supreme laws: Devouring, Time, Space, and Destruction.

Beyond these were a pile of miscellaneous minor laws, such as the Law of Wind, the Law of Rain, the Law of Metal, and so on.

However, these laws were severely incomplete within the fragment and their power was pitifully low, so Tianlu merely glanced at them before filtering them out.

Subsequently, Tianlu began his closed-door cultivation.

The Jade Plate of Creation fragment hovered above his head, dripping down threads of Great Dao rhyme.

The four Great Dao laws of Devouring, Time, Space, and Destruction transformed into four illusory long rivers, circling his body and manifesting clearly.

In addition, the Twenty-Four Petal Creation Green Lotus within his body vibrated, and strands of the ultimate source of the Great Dao of Creation surged out, manifesting the supreme mysteries of the Great Dao of Creation for Tianlu.

At this moment, Tianlu entered deep closed-door cultivation on Penglai Immortal Island.

Meanwhile, on the Primordial World.

The famous innate sacred beings of the Lich era had all emerged.

The three brothers of Kunlun Mountain—The Grand Pure One Laozi, Yuqing Yuanshi, and Shangqing Tongtian—wandered the Primordial World, calling themselves the orthodox descendants of Pangu.

On the Sun Star, the two Three-Legged Golden Crows, Di Jun and Taiyi, were peerlessly domineering, their names echoing throughout the Primordial World.

Beneath Mount Buzhou, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, born from the essence and blood of Pangu, possessed physical bodies that shook all directions.

There was Ancestor Minghe of the Nether Blood Sea, Zhenyuanzi of the Five Villages Temple on Longevity Mountain, Kunpeng of the Northern Nether Ocean, and many others.

These innately gifted primordial divinities wandered the lands of the Primordial World, traveling far and wide to visit friends and discuss the Dao, each seeking an opportunity to achieve a breakthrough.

However, as the long, leisurely years drifted by, countless yuanhui passed.

These primordial powerhouses were all stuck at the realm of the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal; no matter how they debated the Dao or how bitterly they cultivated, they remained unable to glimpse the higher realms beyond the Zenith Heaven.

The confusion of a severed path forward shrouded the heart of every primordial divinity.

Until this day.