Zhunti's Apology

"Dao Xuan!"

Zhunti was completely enraged and was about to fight Dao Xuan to the death, but at that moment, Jieyin at the side pulled him back. "Junior Brother, enough."

Jieyin forcibly pacified Zhunti, turned a pale complexion toward Dao Xuan, and said, "Fellow Daoist, this time you outmaneuvered us. Since Fellow Daoist has already succeeded, why not let this matter end here?"

"End here?"

Dao Xuan looked at the two of them, appearing extremely calm on the surface, but secretly he was ready to run away at any moment.

Yet after waiting for a while, Hongjun still didn't make a move against him, and Dao Xuan's heart finally settled down.

Daozu Hongjun truly was Daozu Hongjun, completely impartial! Haha!

Dao Xuan narrowed his eyes, sizing up Jieyin and Zhunti, putting on an expression as if he were deep in thought.

One could see that because Jieyin was most closely connected to the Dream World, the collapse of that Dream World and the destruction of hundreds of millions of Bitter Bamboo clones had caused him the heaviest injuries.

As for Zhunti, although he had also vomited blood repeatedly, most of the injuries he sustained were linked to the Dream World.

Although his Bodhi Golden Body had also been forged from his true body, he had long since refined his true body into his Dharma body, and thus it wasn't connected all that closely to his actual self.

At this moment, with the Bodhi Golden Body shattered, the damage to him wasn't all that great!

Of course, regardless of the situation, both of them had suffered major losses. Although Jieyin's expression was calm, Dao Xuan could still sense the towering fury hidden beneath that calmness, only to be forcibly suppressed by him.

This actually made Dao Xuan admire him quite a bit. Of the two Westerners, Zhunti was the most shameless, and usually stepped forward for everything.

Yet the one with truly superior skill was still Jieyin. To be able to hold his temper even at a time like this truly surprised Dao Xuan.

As for Zhunti, looking at Dao Xuan with a gaze full of hatred, that went without saying.

Things having reached this point, Dao Xuan was actually satisfied, but playing the part required a full act, and now Jieyin was starting to back down.

How should he respond?

Thoughts spun through Dao Xuan's mind, and he laughed. "Fellow Daoist Jieyin, this matter wasn't something I initiated. You lose to me now, and you want to dismiss me with a single sentence? Then what if I had lost? Could it be that the two Fellow Daoists would have also let me go with a few pleasant words?"

"Senior Brother, let's fight him to the death!"

Zhunti was holding the Seven-Treasure Wondrous Tree, roaring in anger.

Yet one of Jieyin's hands steadily pressed him down, and looking at Dao Xuan, a trace of a smile actually appeared on his pale face as he said, "It hasn't reached that point yet. Junior Brother, once Daoist Dao Xuan and I fail to reach an agreement, it won't be too late for you to use a secret technique and perish together with him."

"By then, I, your Senior Brother, will also activate this Sumeru Mountain Grand Formation, and even if it means sacrificing the last few ancestral veins of the West, perhaps we can still win."

"Hahahaha!!"

Hearing this, Dao Xuan laughed out loud. Looking at the eloquent Jieyin, his eyes were filled with admiration. "Good, good, good! What a brilliant scheme!"

"Fellow Daoist Jieyin, your true body is the Bitter Bamboo. It seems this bamboo is not only affectionate, but also full of scheming thoughts."

"Yet do you think I will be afraid just because you fight me to the death? Today's affair won't be settled easily unless you pay a sufficient price!"

As he spoke, Dao Xuan's form shifted back to his original appearance, and his body was once again draped in a Dao robe condensed from Dharmic power.

The Twelfth-Rank World-Cleansing White Lotus exhaled ten thousand zhang of brilliant light, lifting him up and suspending him in mid-air.

Behind Dao Xuan, that Four-Colored Divine Light soared into the sky, dyeing more than half the heavens in brilliant hues.

The aura around Dao Xuan grew increasingly turbulent and surging, his might vast and covering the entire region of Sumeru Mountain, making the sky itself appear to lower.

Dao Xuan's imposing aura firmly locked onto both Jieyin and Zhunti.

What is to be done now?

This time, even Jieyin hesitated out of concern, and involuntarily started communicating with Zhunti via divine sense.

"Senior Brother, do not panic."

Zhunti thought for a moment and said, "I can see that Dao Xuan doesn't actually want to clash with us to the bitter end either, but to extinguish this matter, we probably still have to pay a price."

One had to admit that Zhunti was also a figure of character; most of the anger on the surface was probably just put on.

Even at this moment, he still maintained his composure.

Jieyin said bitterly, "A price? Is the price not large enough already?"

Zhunti shook his head. He put away the Seven-Treasure Wondrous Tree in his hand, and with a wave of his large sleeve, an eye-catching golden light immediately flew over from somewhere within Sumeru Mountain.

The golden light landed in front of Zhunti, who caught it in both hands. The golden light gradually receded, revealing the object within—it turned out to be a bird's egg.

To be precise, this was a Phoenix Egg. However, Dao Xuan did not sense any exuberant vitality radiating from it.

Instead, it was more like a dead egg. Had the phoenix inside perished before even being born?

And what was Zhunti doing by taking out this dead egg? Suddenly, Dao Xuan thought of something, and his heart leapt with shock.

A Phoenix Egg! Could this Phoenix Egg possibly be...

Right! Aside from that single Phoenix Egg, what other Phoenix Egg in this world was worth Zhunti valuing to such a degree?

Sure enough, Zhunti spoke at that moment, "Fellow Daoist Dao Xuan, today's matter was Zhunti's fault, and Zhunti offers his apologies to Fellow Daoist."

"As for this egg, it can serve as an apology! Fellow Daoist, do not underestimate it; this was spawned by Yuanfeng."

Slowly, Zhunti recounted a piece of past history.

As it turned out, this Phoenix Egg was something Zhunti had picked up in a dead volcano in the southern lands while traveling through the Primordial World.

At the time, Zhunti had also assumed it was a dead egg.

However, after picking it up, Zhunti discovered that not only was this egg not completely dead, but there was also a powerful Innate Origin hidden within it.

The Innate Yin-Yang Origin.

Or rather, it was precisely because of this Innate Yin-Yang Origin that the phoenix fledgling inside had such weak vitality.

The Innate Yin-Yang Origin inside the egg wrapped around that tiny life like two currents of black and white.

Only when that tiny life absorbed this Innate Yin-Yang Origin could its gestation be completed and it could be born.

Yet that Innate Yin-Yang Origin was simply too powerful.

Even as the tiny life inside the egg absorbed and integrated the Innate Yin-Yang Origin on one hand, its vitality was simultaneously being worn away by this Innate Yin-Yang Origin without end.

By the time Zhunti discovered it, its vitality was already on the verge of exhaustion. It was only because Zhunti used his own origin that he saved the phoenix inside the egg, sparing it from death.

Yet Zhunti was also conflicted at the same time, because he also desperately wanted that strand of Innate Yin-Yang Origin.

Later, Zhunti brought this Phoenix Egg back to Sumeru Mountain, hiding it within the ley lines of Sumeru Mountain, using the spiritual energy of the ley lines to nourish this egg.

He hadn't even told Jieyin about this. He was simply waiting for the day when perhaps the life inside the egg could no longer endure the erosion of the Innate Yin-Yang Origin, and its vitality vanished completely.

Then he would be able to harvest that strand of Innate Yin-Yang Origin. Or perhaps the little phoenix could absorb the Innate Yin-Yang Origin along with the strand of Geng Metal Origin he had injected, thereby transforming into a powerful living being.