Over the Eastern Sea, the battlefield, which had been left in utter disarray after a hundred thousand Celestial Court soldiers fell into the sea, had yet to fully settle when an immense pressure far greater than that of any previous Celestial Court cultivator slowly swept in from billions of miles away.
Wherever it passed, the clouds parted of their own accord. The sea seemed pinned down by an invisible hand, and the towering waves that had been surging moments ago fell silent in an instant. Even the previously lively innate spiritual energy between heaven and earth became much more sluggish.
A Purple-Gold Immortal Chariot came from the horizon, drawn by nine flood dragons bearing true dragon bloodlines. Immortal light swirled around it, while dozens of Celestial Court experts at the Great Luo and Taiyi realms stood guard on either side.
At the very front of the chariot stood a middle-aged Daoist with his hands behind his back, wearing a purple-gold imperial crown and a Daoist robe embroidered with nine dragons amid clouds.
He was none other than the current leader of the male immortals of the Great Wilderness.
Dongwang Gong.
Compared to the Great Luo immortals from the Celestial Court earlier, his aura belonged to an entirely different level. Though he had not deliberately unleashed all his pressure, simply standing there had already caused layer upon layer of fine ripples to appear in the surrounding void.
Above Great Luo.
Early Quasi-Saint!
There were not many innate great powers in the present Great Wilderness who could truly step into this realm. Since Hongjun had personally appointed Dongwang Gong as the leader of the male immortals, he naturally could not rely on a mere title to hold up appearances.
"The Sovereign has arrived!"
Above the sea, the Celestial Court cultivators whom Luxuan had sent crashing into the Eastern Sea finally seemed to have found their backbone. Their previously dispirited morale instantly rose considerably.
The eight Great Luo immortals who had only recently crawled out of the sea, in particular, looked toward Dongwang Gong with faint expectation in their eyes.
They could not defeat Luxuan.
That did not mean the Sovereign could not defeat him either.
Though Great Luo and Quasi-Saint seemed to be separated by only a single realm, the difference was in truth like a heavenly chasm. Countless Great Luo immortals at Great Luo Perfection had spent endless years unable to cross that threshold.
No matter how strong Luxuan was, he was ultimately still only at Great Luo.
By Penglai Island.
The Three Cloud Sisters also sensed that completely different aura.
Bixiao had been lying atop a cloud watching the Celestial Court cultivators flounder about in the sea. Now, she finally put away her smile and came to Luxuan's side.
"Master, is this one much stronger than those people from before?"
"Yes."
Luxuan nodded.
"Early Quasi-Saint."
Bixiao subconsciously shrank her neck at those words.
They had not even reached the Taiyi realm yet. When facing Great Luo immortals earlier, they had already needed to rely on Supreme-grade Spirit Treasures and the formation to contend with them. Now, a Quasi-Saint had appeared directly. The gap in their realms alone was nearly wide enough to separate a galaxy.
Qiongxiao tightened her grip on the Mystic Origin Immortal-Slaying Sword, her expression becoming much more serious than before.
Only Yunxiao noticed something rather strange.
After seeing Dongwang Gong, her master did not seem worried at all. Instead, his eyes seemed to brighten slightly.
How should she put that feeling?
It did not seem as though he had seen a powerful enemy.
Rather, it was a little like the look in his eyes when the Celestial Court had sent over those thirty-six Taiyi "sparring partners" years ago.
A rather ominous premonition suddenly arose in Yunxiao's heart.
Sure enough.
The next moment, Luxuan turned to look at them.
"Don't rush back to the island later."
"Stand farther away and watch carefully."
Bixiao blinked.
"Watch what?"
Luxuan raised his chin.
"Watch how a Quasi-Saint uses laws, how he borrows the power of heaven and earth, and how a higher realm suppresses a lower one."
"Living teaching material like this is not easy to find normally. Since he has delivered himself to our door, we cannot waste the opportunity."
The Three Cloud Sisters: "..."
Dongwang Gong in the distance clearly had no idea that, having come to Penglai in such a grand manner, he had already been automatically demoted in Luxuan's words from "leader of the male immortals" to "living teaching material."
If he had known, having a dark expression would probably have been the least of his concerns.
The Purple-Gold Immortal Chariot soon stopped outside Penglai.
Dongwang Gong's gaze first swept over the bedraggled Celestial Court cultivators scattered across the sea before slowly settling on Luxuan.
After only one glance, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Late Daluo Immortal.
He truly was only at Great Luo.
Yet strangely, Luxuan gave him a far more dangerous feeling than an ordinary Great Luo immortal at Great Luo Perfection.
Especially as Luxuan stood at Penglai's edge, the entire immortal island seemed connected to his aura as one. For a moment, Dongwang Gong could not tell whether he was facing merely one person or the whole of Penglai itself.
"You are Luxuan?"
Dongwang Gong spoke. His voice was not loud, yet it clearly resounded throughout a million-mile radius.
Luxuan nodded.
"You are Dongwang Gong?"
The surroundings instantly fell silent.
The brows of quite a few Celestial Court cultivators twitched.
The Sovereign had asked for his name, yet he had turned around and asked whether the Sovereign was Dongwang Gong?
That manner of speaking practically had "I don't take you seriously" written across his face.
Dongwang Gong did not lose his composure over a single sentence, but his voice turned several degrees colder.
"I have sent people to Penglai three times. My original intention was merely to have you register your immortal status and acknowledge the Celestial Court's authority. I had no intention of forcibly taking your Daoist grounds."
"Yet you first injured the Celestial Court's envoys, then defeated three Great Luo immortals, and now you have suppressed all one hundred thousand Celestial Court soldiers into the Eastern Sea."
"Luxuan, should you not give me an explanation?"
Luxuan's expression turned somewhat strange after hearing this.
"Your people came to my doorstep three times and told me to listen to you."
"Now that they could not win, you want me to give you an explanation instead?"
"Dongwang Gong, I have not seen any of your other abilities as the leader of the male immortals for now, but you seem quite practiced at twisting the blame around."
Bixiao could not hold it in and immediately curled her lips into a smile.
The expressions of the Celestial Court's Great Luo immortals, meanwhile, became uglier than the last.
Dongwang Gong's gaze completely darkened.
"It seems there is indeed no need to continue talking today."
Luxuan smiled.
"It should have been this way from the start."
"Why say so much?"
"Didn't you come here to fight?"
Dongwang Gong's aura abruptly changed.
Boom!
The pressure of a Quasi-Saint was fully unleashed.
The previously calm Eastern Sea erupted once more. The seawater across billions of miles was forced outward all at once, while a vast purple sun slowly rose behind Dongwang Gong. Within it, the fortunes of countless male immortals vaguely gathered, its boundless majesty even causing the surrounding space to begin warping.
The Three Cloud Sisters instantly felt their shoulders sink.
Even with the Penglai Formation blocking most of the pressure, the aura of a Quasi-Saint still made their primordial spirits instinctively tremble.
Luxuan lightly waved his sleeve.
All the pressure descending upon the three of them immediately vanished without a trace.
"Retreat two hundred thousand miles."
"Do not merely watch the excitement."
"Especially you, Yunxiao."
Luxuan's gaze fell upon his eldest disciple.
"Pay attention to how the surrounding aura changes each time he mobilizes the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."
Yunxiao's expression grew solemn.
"This disciple understands."
Dongwang Gong's expression finally became difficult to maintain.
The two sides were already about to fight.
Yet this man was actually teaching his disciples?
"Arrogant!"
With a cold shout, Dongwang Gong raised his right hand in a grasping motion.
An ancient staff, entirely purple-gold and coiled with a dragon's head, instantly appeared in his palm.
A Supreme-grade Innate Spirit Treasure.
The Dragonhead Staff!
The moment the treasure appeared, boundless purple qi gathered from all directions of heaven and earth.
Dongwang Gong stepped forward.
The Dragonhead Staff pointed ahead.
It seemed like a simple strike, yet the space across tens of thousands of miles before him collapsed at once. A Purple-Gold Divine Dragon formed from pure Quasi-Saint mana raised its head and roared, crashing toward Luxuan with boundless immortal fortune.
Luxuan remained standing where he was.
Only when the Purple-Gold Divine Dragon had come within a thousand miles did he turn to glance at Yunxiao.
"First lesson."
"Watch carefully."
Before you continue