First Kill of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal

"This is... an Innate Spiritual Treasure?!"

A trace of greed flashed through the Golden Flood Dragon's eyes.

"A mere Primordial Unity Golden Immortal like you possesses an Innate Spiritual Treasure?"

The Golden Flood Dragon looked at Red Cloud excitedly. "Haha, what a fine treasure. Kill you, and it'll be mine."

The Golden Flood Dragon opened its huge mouth and spat out a golden beam of light. Rich Sun Law was contained within it, and wherever it passed, the lake water instantly evaporated.

"Literary Dao divine ability, Heavenly Flowers Cascading."

Red Cloud snorted coldly, driving endless Heaven and Earth Righteous Energy to gather. Blossoms of heavenly flowers enveloped him.

Heavenly Flowers Cascading: This art summoned ten thousand golden lotuses. Nothing could break it; all evils retreated, and ten thousand laws could not invade it.

A golden curtain appeared around Red Cloud. The beam spat out by the Golden Flood Dragon struck the curtain with a sizzling sound, yet it could not break through its defenses.

Heavenly Flowers Cascading was a defensive divine ability of the Literary Dao. Similar abilities included Body Untouched by Dust and Mosquitoes Cannot Approach.

Body Untouched by Dust, Mosquitoes Cannot Approach, and Heavenly Flowers Cascading—their defensive effects increased in that order.

"What kind of divine ability is this?!"

Sensing the defensive power of Heavenly Flowers Cascading, a trace of apprehension flashed through the Golden Flood Dragon's eyes as it asked in shock.

"Four Symbols Seal, Misty Chaos!"

Naturally, Red Cloud had no intention of answering the Golden Flood Dragon's question. He continued silently waving the Firecloud Banner.

At the same time, Red Cloud secretly unleashed the Four Symbols Seal divine ability. The power of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and the other Four Symbols revolved around it as the Four Symbols Seal descended upon the Golden Flood Dragon.

"The Dragon Repents, Golden Scale Transformation!"

The Golden Flood Dragon did not retreat, nor did it hold anything back. With an angry roar, a terrifying force erupted from its body, causing the nearby mountain ranges at the bottom of the lake to tremble.

In an instant, golden light blazed from the Golden Flood Dragon's body. Its true form swelled by hundreds of thousands of zhang, its scales gleaming with golden radiance, while the dragon horns atop its head emanated immense pressure.

After using an unknown divine ability, the Golden Flood Dragon's cultivation briefly rose by a minor realm to the Mid Primordial Unity Golden Immortal stage, already exerting a cultivation-level suppression upon Red Cloud.

Red Cloud's expression turned grave. The Golden Flood Dragon's strength had exceeded his expectations, but it was still not enough to make him afraid.

The Four Symbols Seal continued to suppress the Golden Flood Dragon.

The Golden Flood Dragon opened its maw and spat out a beam of light that transformed into a dragon's head, colliding with the Four Symbols Seal.

With a thunderous boom, the Four Symbols Seal and the phantom dragon head shattered simultaneously. Red Cloud staggered back several steps, his blood and qi churning, but he quickly calmed it.

"Hiss, what a powerful divine ability!"

The Golden Flood Dragon was not faring well either. Cracks appeared across its golden scales, and even its cultivation began to grow unstable.

"Daoist, just who are you?"

A trace of horror flashed through the Golden Flood Dragon's eyes. Looking at Red Cloud, it began to feel a sense of unease.

"Hmph, the one who'll take your life!"

Red Cloud said coldly, pouring all his power into the Firecloud Banner. Then, waves of Firecloud Sand surged from the banner like ocean tides.

The Firecloud Sand was entirely crimson and emitted a faint golden glow—the radiance left by Sunlight Divine Water.

Firecloud Sand was a substance refined by the Firecloud Banner from the blood and souls of living beings. It could corrode both soul and flesh, and when paired with Sunlight Divine Water, its power increased dramatically.

In an instant, a crimson sandstorm swept across the lakebed, and the Golden Flood Dragon was immediately swallowed by endless Firecloud Sand.

When Red Cloud recalled the sandstorm into the Firecloud Banner, the Golden Flood Dragon had already vanished from where it stood.

Red Cloud let out a long breath. Even a Mid Primordial Unity Golden Immortal Golden Flood Dragon could not withstand a single move before the Firecloud Banner.

"Spiritual treasures provide far too great a boost to combat strength."

Red Cloud sighed inwardly. "No wonder that during the Investiture Calamity, the three sects competed with magical treasures."

"In battles between opponents of the same level, a handy magical treasure can unleash combat power several times greater than one's own."

Red Cloud searched the surroundings, put away the Golden Flood Dragon's Sunflame Mystic Stone, then swiftly left the scene.

The disturbance from that battle had been too great. It would surely draw other experts to investigate, and this was not a place to linger.

Sure enough, not long after Red Cloud left, several powerful auras appeared at the battlefield.

"A battle at the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal level..."

The owner of one aura murmured, "And neither side was weak. I never expected it to end so quickly."

"Judging from the traces, it should have been the Golden Flood Dragon."

The owner of another aura said, "As for the other one, I don't know who it was. From the aura, it wasn't a Water Beast."

"What? The Golden Flood Dragon is dead? Who could kill the Golden Flood Dragon? Could it have been the Waterborne Man again?"

"I don't know, but if he could kill the Golden Flood Dragon in Sunfire Lake, he must at least possess the strength of a Late-Stage Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, perhaps even a Peak Primordial Unity Golden Immortal."

"Report this matter to Lord Sunfire. Whoever dared kill the Golden Flood Dragon, we must retaliate."

The several auras came swiftly and departed just as swiftly.

After leaving the Golden Flood Dragon's territory, Red Cloud did not hurry toward the next production site. Instead, he found a safe and reliable place to sort through his gains.

Killing the Golden Flood Dragon had only yielded one Sunflame Mystic Stone, but a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal-level mystic stone was far more precious, containing greater Blazing Sun Power and Sun Law.

Red Cloud did not intend to refine it directly. Instead, he would use it to concoct pills, combining it with Golden Coral Fruit and other spirit herbs to refine some Eighth-Turn Body Tempering Pills.

Before that, Red Cloud needed to improve his pill-refining success rate. He could refine Five-Turn Golden Pills with a one hundred percent success rate, and one batch of spirit herbs could yield nine Golden Pills.

Nine pills were already the absolute limit for a single batch of spirit herbs, squeezing out every last trace of their medicinal potency.

Red Cloud could also refine Six-Turn Golden Cores with a one hundred percent success rate, but he could produce at most seven pills, still far from extracting all their medicinal potency.

Previously, Red Cloud's success rate in refining Seven-Turn Golden Pills had been roughly fifty percent. But after breaking through to the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm, it had risen to around eighty percent.

Before refining Eighth-Turn Body Tempering Pills, Red Cloud needed to raise his success rate for Seven-Turn Golden Pills as much as possible. Only after reaching a one hundred percent success rate would he attempt Eighth-Turn Golden Pills.

"This trip to Sunfire Lake has been quite rewarding."

Red Cloud nodded in satisfaction, then headed toward that medium-sized Sunlight Divine Water production site.

There was one Primordial Unity Golden Immortal-level Water Beast and several Golden Immortal-level Water Beasts guarding the place, but they posed no problem for Red Cloud. He easily dealt with the guardian Water Beasts.

At the medium-sized production site, Red Cloud collected a large amount of Sunlight Divine Water and Golden Crow Grass, transplanting it all into the Hundred Herbs Garden.

Though he could not produce and sell them himself, preserving the Golden Crow Grass's vitality so he could use it whenever needed was still a fine thing.

Red Cloud calculated inwardly, With this Sunlight Divine Water and Golden Crow Grass, I won't lack materials for Eighth-Turn Great Sun Divine Pills or Ninth-Turn Great Sun Divine Pills in the future.

Great Sun Divine Pills were not merely Seven-Turn Golden Pills. From First-Turn Golden Pills to Nine-Turn Golden Pills, they formed an entire set of pill formulas.

Yet whether it was the First-Turn or the Ninth-Turn, the main ingredients were Sunlight Divine Water and Golden Crow Grass.

The difference lay in the amount of Sunlight Divine Water and Golden Crow Grass used, as well as the quality of the auxiliary ingredients. The higher the quality of the auxiliary ingredients, the higher the grade of Golden Pill refined.

Red Cloud possessed the Illustrated Record of Literary Fortune, which allowed him to deduce pill formulas with all kinds of effects from various materials.

This was something others could not accomplish.

"I'll begin refining pills once I return to Heavenly Treasure City."

Having made up his mind, Red Cloud began his return journey.

But he did not know that the deaths of two Primordial Unity Golden Immortal-level Water Beasts had already enraged the Sunfire Beast.

The Sunfire Beast issued an order. Under the command of Primordial Unity Golden Immortal Water Beasts one after another, a beast tide sweeping across Sunfire Lake began, with every city within its range of attack.