Zhao Gongming: Have My Three Sisters Been Scammed?

Zhao Gongming had not been in a very good mood lately.

To be precise.

Ever since he emerged from seclusion and learned that his three sisters had all taken masters without his knowledge, his feelings had been rather complicated.

He and the Three Cloud Sisters had transformed nearby from the same source.

Though they were not blood-related siblings in the true sense, their auras were close, and after taking form, they had addressed one another as siblings.

It was only that Zhao Gongming had transformed earlier.

Over the years, he had traveled and cultivated throughout the Great Wilderness.

He had originally planned to wait until his cultivation was a little higher before going to the Eastern Sea to find his three sisters and, while he was at it, help them find a suitable cultivation ground.

Who would have thought that he would merely enter seclusion.

And his three sisters.

Would be taken in by someone.

The very first thought that surfaced in Zhao Gongming's mind upon hearing the news was remarkably simple.

Had they been scammed?

Taking a master in the Great Wilderness was no small matter.

What kind of character was the master?

How high was the master's cultivation?

Did the master have enemies?

Was the path of cultivation suitable?

All of these concerned one's future Great Dao.

Yet his three sisters had done well.

Without so much as a word to him.

They had all taken masters.

Most crucially, he had never even heard of that so-called "Luxuan" before.

The more Zhao Gongming thought about it, the more uneasy he became.

Thus, he hurried all the way from the Great Wilderness to the Eastern Sea.

Yet as he drew nearer and nearer to Penglai, the information he heard became increasingly outrageous.

"You're saying the Lord of Penglai suppressed a Great Luo of the Celestial Court with a single leaf?"

An Eastern Sea rogue immortal nodded solemnly.

Zhao Gongming frowned.

That was exaggerated.

The rumor definitely had some water in it.

He continued onward.

Then he heard someone say that Luxuan had suppressed one hundred thousand celestial soldiers with three palms.

Zhao Gongming's brow furrowed even deeper.

There was so much water in that one it could raise fish.

Later still.

He heard that Dongwang Gong had gone personally.

Zhao Gongming believed this piece of news.

After all, the conflicts between the Celestial Court and Penglai had spread throughout the Eastern Sea several times already.

But what was the result?

Dongwang Gong lost.

The Celestial Court had compensated them with three Large Innate Spiritual Veins, ten Innate Spiritual Roots, and three High-grade Innate Spirit Treasures.

For the first time, Zhao Gongming fell silent for a long while.

If one rumor was absurd.

That might simply be bragging.

But if every passerby said roughly the same thing.

Then something was probably truly amiss.

At last.

Before he even reached Penglai.

He personally saw three Taiyi phenomena soar into the heavens.

The auras within them were familiar beyond measure.

They belonged to his three sisters.

Zhao Gongming stood atop a cloud without moving for a long time.

When they had last parted.

His three sisters had still been Golden Immortals, right?

He had not been in seclusion for very long.

How had they emerged afterward.

All as Taiyi?

He suddenly felt that his years of painstaking cultivation outside had been somewhat like playing some kind of Great Wilderness hard mode.

His sisters, meanwhile, seemed to be running on another track entirely.

Zhao Gongming gathered his emotions and arrived at Penglai's outskirts.

Before he truly approached, an enormous innate grand array, so vast that his divine sense could not probe its boundaries at all, appeared within his perception.

"What a powerful array."

Zhao Gongming's expression instantly turned grave.

He was already a Late Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, not all that far from Great Luo. He considered himself absolutely no weaker than others of the same realm in the Great Wilderness.

Yet before this innate grand array, he actually felt that if he forced his way in, he might not even be able to find where the island gate was.

His sisters' master.

Was at least extremely formidable in arrays.

He did not force his way through.

He merely stood outside the array and spoke in a resonant voice.

"Zhao Gongming has come to visit Senior Luxuan, Lord of Penglai. I ask for an audience."

His voice passed through the array carried by his mana.

Before long.

The clouds and mist ahead slowly parted to both sides.

A white jade immortal path extended from within.

Zhao Gongming stepped onto the immortal path.

He had originally been pondering what he should ask Luxuan after meeting him.

Yet before he had walked even a hundred li.

His train of thought broke off.

Several Innate Spirit Herbs grew casually by the roadside.

A stream ahead flowed with rich spiritual liquid.

Farther away.

A Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Root was laden with fruit.

Even a white deer lying beneath a tree asleep emitted an aura already close to that of a Mysterious Immortal.

Zhao Gongming's footsteps gradually slowed.

"This place..."

He raised his head and looked deeper within.

Boundless immortal mountains rose layer upon layer.

Innate spiritual qi had nearly condensed into substance.

Large spiritual veins crisscrossed beneath the earth.

From time to time, he could even sense the Dao resonance of Innate Spirit Treasures naturally gestating in the distance.

Zhao Gongming fell silent.

If this place counted as a scammer's lair.

Then he suddenly felt that being scammed did not seem entirely unacceptable.

"Big Brother!"

A familiar voice suddenly came from ahead.

Bixiao transformed into a streak of light and flew over, stopping directly before Zhao Gongming.

"You finally came!"

Yunxiao and Qiongxiao followed close behind.

Seeing that his three sisters were safe and sound, Zhao Gongming first felt relieved.

Then.

His gaze fell upon the three of them.

Taiyi.

They really were all Taiyi.

And they were not inflated realms that had just been forcefully piled up with pills and spiritual treasures.

The Great Dao aura around each of them was exceptionally condensed.

Array Dao cloud qi faintly circulated around Yunxiao of its own accord.

Qiongxiao's sword intent was sharp and keen.

Around Bixiao, space itself occasionally rippled with tiny waves.

The questions Zhao Gongming had prepared all along the way suddenly left him unsure where to begin.

In the end, he could only force out one sentence.

"You all..."

"Have you been doing well?"

Bixiao burst out laughing.

"Big Brother, what kind of question is that?"

"Of course we're doing well."

As she spoke, she seemed to suddenly recall something and grabbed Zhao Gongming.

"Come, come, come."

"I'll show you our caves first."

"Master recently assigned each of us a branch vein of an Innate Spiritual Vein. It just so happens that you can take a look."

Zhao Gongming halted.

"One each of what?"

"An Innate Spiritual Vein."

Bixiao answered as naturally as could be.

"It was split off from the Large Innate Spiritual Veins the Celestial Court paid as compensation."

Zhao Gongming: "..."

He suddenly felt that he ought to reorganize his words.

After all, many major powers in the Great Wilderness relied on only a few Large Innate Spiritual Veins to sustain their entire mountain gates.

But for his three sisters.

They were handed out per person.

Yunxiao helplessly pulled the excited Bixiao back.

"Big Brother has just arrived. We should see Master first."

"Oh, right."

Bixiao came to her senses.

"Nearly forgot."

Zhao Gongming followed the three of them deeper into Penglai.

Then he saw the Three Lights Divine Water Lake.

His footsteps stopped once more.

"This is..."

"Three Lights Divine Water."

Yunxiao answered.

Zhao Gongming drew a deep breath.

"So much?"

Bixiao casually said:

"We usually go in for a soak while cultivating."

Zhao Gongming: "?"

A soak?

He suspected that he might have misheard her just now.

Yet all three of his sisters looked perfectly normal.

Thus, for the first time, Zhao Gongming began to wonder whether his knowledge had fallen somewhat behind the times.

Further ahead.

The countless innate treasure lights radiating from Treasure Cliff came into view.

Zhao Gongming could not even be bothered to ask anymore.

He had suffered a bit too much stimulation today.

If he kept asking,

he would only make himself look like someone who had never seen the world.

At last,

the three sisters finally brought him beneath the Enlightenment Ancient Tree.

A young Daoist in a dark robe sat cross-legged there, several Celestial Court spiritual materials that had yet to be fully refined placed beside him.

Sensing their arrival,

Luxuan slowly opened his eyes.

At the same moment, Zhao Gongming looked up.

Their gazes met.

Zhao Gongming's heart gave a slight jolt.

He could not see through him.

He could not see through him at all.

Clearly, there was not the slightest hint of pressure, yet Luxuan gave him the feeling of facing the whole of heaven and earth.

As for Luxuan,

his mood was equally good the moment he saw Zhao Gongming.

Late Taiyi.

A profound foundation.

A steady Great Dao.

And judging by his aura, he was clearly not far from Great Luo.

This aptitude

was indeed quite good.

Zhao Gongming was still considering how to assess this master on behalf of his three younger sisters.

Yet Luxuan had already picked up the spiritual tea beside him and, smiling, pointed at the meditation cushion opposite him.

"Zhao Gongming?"

"Since you're here,"

"sit."