Encountering Qiun again: “Fellow Daoists, Please Stay”

Qing Yi smiled. "This pearl contains a world within it and is highly compatible with the World Dao you cultivate now. Don't tell me you intend to give them to me?"

Qing Xuan did not deny it. Instead, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Didn't you say that what's mine is yours? Besides, the Sea-Calming Pearls have already become independent Innate Spirit Treasures. They are not as important to my Dao as you think."

He had just obtained a fragment of the Chaos Pearl and merged it into his origin.

Qing Xuan felt that this was already the limit.

Not to mention that it was likely impossible to find any more fragments later, even if it were possible, Qing Xuan would not use them to mend his own Dao.

That would make it too easy for the Great Dao Divine Thunder to strike him.

Although Qing Yi did not lack means of slaughter, she had never possessed a truly suitable offensive spirit treasure.

Moreover, the worlds within these pearls had yet to truly take shape. Nurtured by the power of creation, they might yet evolve into something else in the future.

The young woman raised her hand, and the twenty-four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls immediately turned into streaks of light, falling one after another into her palm.

Having accompanied each other for endless years, they cared more about whether a spirit treasure suited one's Dao or could serve a greater purpose.

Naturally, there was none of that so-called false politeness or insincere refusal.

After collecting the Sea-Calming Pearls, the two stepped out of the Innate Grand Formation. The shattered space behind them sank back into the Sea Eye, and all strange phenomena swiftly vanished.

Qing Xuan had not planned to remain here for long and was about to leave with Qing Yi when a somewhat familiar voice suddenly rang out from where sea met sky in the distance.

"Fellow Daoists, please wait!"

Qing Xuan: ???

Qing Yi also lifted her eyes and looked toward the source of the voice.

A figure strode over the waves. Wherever he passed, vast rolling waters naturally parted.

The newcomer wore a Daoist robe patterned with golden lines. His features were gentle, yet an aura of flawless, complete Dao already surrounded him.

It was Qiuniu, whom they had not seen for several Epoch Cycles.

After sensing the Dao fluctuations here, he had assumed that an unfamiliar Great Luo had entered the East Sea. He had not expected to find two old acquaintances upon rushing over.

A smile could not help appearing on Qiuniu's face.

"It has been several Epoch Cycles since we last met. I never expected to encounter you two again in the East Sea."

"It seems that you two truly share a bond with this humble Daoist."

As soon as he spoke, the atmosphere immediately turned strange.

"Two sentences, and it seems he didn't miss either one." Qing Yi turned to Qing Xuan, a questioning look in her cool eyes.

Seeing this strange scene, the smile on Qiuniu's face stiffened slightly. With the instincts of a Great Luo, he suddenly felt an extremely ominous premonition rise within him.

"You two are..."

"Eh? Wait! We can talk this ou—"

Boom!

Bang!

Thud!

A moment later.

Deep within the East Sea, on an unnamed immortal island shrouded in mist.

Qing Yi and Qing Xuan sat on one side of a bluestone table.

Qiuniu sat opposite them, his Daoist robe slightly disheveled, with a faint bruise still circling his left eye.

The eldest son of Ancestor Dragon said nothing at this moment, merely staring at the two of them with a rather resentful gaze.

Qing Xuan could not stand it any longer. "Stop looking at me like that."

Qiuniu gave a dry cough and regained the composure befitting Ancestor Dragon's eldest son.

"Forget it."

"I simply did not expect that after several Epoch Cycles, the cultivation of you two fellow Daoists would have advanced so much again."

Qiuniu looked at the two before him, and his expression gradually became serious.

"These past years, I cultivated with the fortune of the Four Seas and received my father's personal guidance before crossing that threshold and attaining Great Luo. I had thought that even if I still fell short of you two, the gap would not be too great."

"Now it seems I had been too naive."

Qing Xuan glanced at him and smiled. "You are not bad either."

Qiuniu was different from them.

He was not an Innate Divine Being directly nurtured by the Primordial World, but had been born bearing Ancestor Dragon's bloodline.

Yet with his own foundation and comprehension, attaining Great Luo in such a short time already surpassed the vast majority of innate beings in the Primordial World.

The fragrance of tea gradually spread through the air.

Qing Xuan set down his teacup, and his tone shifted.

"Since we happened to meet today, there is something I should make clear to you."

He did not conceal anything and recounted everything that had occurred at the old battlefield in the North Sea from beginning to end.

From how that Dragon Race Great Luo had secretly laid a trap using the seal of a remnant world, to his attempt to devour their Dao Fruits and origins, and finally to Qing Yi completely destroying his remaining Dao Fruit.

The ease on Qiuniu's face gradually disappeared.

After hearing the whole story, he remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking.

"I do know something about the seal in the old battlefield of the North Sea. That elder of my clan perished long ago during the Fierce Beast Tribulation, but his remnant will refused to disperse. Back then, because my father remembered his contributions in battle for the Dragon Race, he did not completely erase him."

At this point, Qiuniu let out a soft sigh.

"If it truly happened as you fellow Daoists said—if he was the one who first harbored murderous intent toward you two and sought to devour your Dao Fruits to rebuild himself—then meeting such an end was his own destruction."

"However, this matter concerns a Great Luo of the Dragon Race after all."

"I will truthfully report the karma involved to my father. As for how the Dragon Race will ultimately judge the matter, that is not something I alone can decide."

Qing Xuan nodded slightly, not particularly concerned.

So what if the Dragon Race held them accountable? At worst, they would return to Buzhou Mountain.

Seeing that Qing Xuan bore no resentment because of this, a smile returned to Qiuniu's face.

"Now that the matter of the North Sea has been clarified, I too have something I wish to ask you two once more."

Qing Xuan raised a brow. "You want to invite us to the Dragon Palace again?"

His thoughts having been exposed on the spot, Qiuniu rarely showed a trace of embarrassment.

However, he quickly admitted it openly. "That is correct."

"Your foundations and Daos are undoubtedly among the finest in the entire Primordial World. If you are willing to become guest elders of the Dragon Race, not only may you sit with my father and discuss the Dao, but the spirit treasures, divine abilities, and cultivation insights stored by the Dragon Race will all be open to you."

"These are not terms offered when recruiting ordinary beings."

Qiuniu's tone was solemn. "Even the Dragon Race as it is now gives every Great Luo sufficient respect."

Yet Qing Xuan did not hesitate at all. "The same as last time."

"I can brew tea and discuss the Dao with you here, but I will not become a guest elder of the Dragon Race."

Qiuniu watched him quietly for a while before finally letting out a soft sigh.

"As expected."

"Actually, when we parted last time, I already felt that Fellow Daoist Qing Xuan viewed the Dragon Race differently from other innate beings."

"Only after the frictions among the three races grew ever more frequent in recent years, coupled with certain things my father occasionally mentioned, did I gradually come to understand."

For the first time, obvious surprise appeared in Qing Xuan's eyes.

"You know?"

"I did not know at first."

Qiuniu lowered his head and watched the tea ripple faintly in his cup, his voice gradually deepening.

"But I am, after all, Ancestor Dragon's eldest son. Though my father never said certain things outright, after watching for long enough, one can always infer a little."

Qing Xuan gazed at him.

"Since you know, why continue down this path?"

In Qing Xuan's view, Ancestor Dragon was one of the most powerful beings in the present Primordial World.

He could not be a fool, nor could he fail to know where the three races would ultimately end up if they continued expanding.

So why insist on this?

Qing Xuan could not really understand it. Even if the power of the great tribulation was driving them onward, they should not blindly throw themselves into it.

Qiuniu raised his head and looked toward the vast, boundless East Sea.

"Because there is no other path left. The path beyond Great Luo has already been severed."