Primordial Qilin Questions Guixu, Excessive Fortune Must Bring Tribulation

Primordial Qilin's divine sense descended with extraordinary quietness.

It lacked Ancestral Dragon's domineering aura that made the Four Seas bow their heads.

It also lacked Yuanfeng's sharp edge that could burn the heavens and boil the seas.

When he arrived, the Blackwater outside Dragon-Suppressing Pass merely sank slowly.

Yellowish-brown patterns lit up along the seabed earth veins.

Those patterns intertwined like the pulse of the land.

Immediately afterward, the phantom of an Earth-Virtue Qilin slowly emerged outside Dragon-Suppressing Pass.

Thick, tranquil, and unfathomable.

That was the first impression Primordial Qilin gave.

Yet no one dared underestimate him because of it.

None of the three leaders of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans were simple figures.

Ancestral Dragon ruled the Four Seas.

Yuanfeng scorched the heavens.

Primordial Qilin suppressed the earth.

All three stood among the greatest beings in the Primordial World.

Lin Yue led the Water Qilin Branch in kneeling together.

"Greetings, Your Majesty Primordial Qilin!"

Primordial Qilin lowered his head and looked at Lin Yue.

"You brought the Water Qilin Branch into Guixu?"

Lin Yue pressed his forehead to the ground.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Lin Yue said in a deep voice, "Our clan's young blood cannot endure the slaughter tribulation of the Buzhou Mountain battlefield."

"Lin Yue does not wish to lead the entire clan to their deaths."

Primordial Qilin did not grow angry.

He merely asked, "Do you think the Qilin Clan would send you to your deaths?"

Lin Yue fell silent for a moment.

"Your Majesty, the Three-Clan War is about to begin. Once the earth-vein defenses of Buzhou Mountain go to war, our clan will stand at the very front."

"We may be able to stabilize the earth veins."

"But we cannot protect the young blood."

His words were blunt.

So blunt that many of the Water Qilin Branch had reddened eyes.

Primordial Qilin fell silent.

After a moment, he looked toward the direction where the Guixu Dharma Body had yet to appear.

"Where is the Mysterious Abyss Emperor?"

Deep within Guixu.

When Lu Chen heard those words, he was already skillfully gathering his Dharma Body.

He had no choice.

Two of the three clan leaders had already come. One more would make little difference.

All he hoped now was that Primordial Qilin was truly as steady as the legends claimed.

He had better not start fighting the moment he arrived.

The gray Black Tortoise Dharma Body appeared above Dragon-Suppressing Pass.

Primordial Qilin looked at Lu Chen.

His gaze differed from those of Ancestral Dragon and Yuanfeng.

Ancestral Dragon scrutinized order.

Yuanfeng scrutinized bloodlines.

What Primordial Qilin examined was fortune.

That single glance made Lu Chen tense up.

The feeling was troublesome.

It was as though the other party were looking at how much karma, how many sparks of life, and how much future Guixu carried.

Primordial Qilin slowly spoke.

"Guixu took in the Water Qilin. Do you intend to seize the Qilin Clan's fortune?"

Lu Chen's heart skipped a beat.

As expected.

This one cared most about fortune.

Fortune might be a good thing to other great powers of the Primordial World.

But to Lu Chen, that stuff was far too scalding.

The heavier one's fortune, the heavier one's karma.

The heavier one's karma, the easier it was to enter tribulation.

He was already suffering enough from bearing the karma of helping Guixu's races evade tribulation.

If he actively seized the fortune of the three clans as well, he would truly be bathing in the Great Tribulation.

Lu Chen answered almost without thinking.

"Fortune is too heavy. To bear it is to invite tribulation."

"Guixu will not seize the fortune of the three clans."

"We only take in living beings fleeing tribulation."

Primordial Qilin's gaze abruptly sharpened.

Fortune is too heavy. To bear it is to invite tribulation.

Those words carried equal weight for him.

The Qilin Clan occupied the earth and naturally bore the fortune of earth virtue.

That made the Qilin Clan prosperous.

It also made the karma they bore increasingly heavy.

Mountains and rivers belonged to the Qilin.

Beasts belonged to the Qilin.

All living beings of the earth were ruled by the Qilin.

Their fortune seemed immense, yet behind every portion of it lay responsibility, karmic burden, and slaughter tribulation.

By this point in the struggle for supremacy among the three clans, the Qilin Clan was no longer simply a race of auspicious beasts that guarded the earth.

They too waged war.

They too oppressed others.

They too killed.

Of course Primordial Qilin could see it.

But the greater tide had already formed. The Qilin Clan could not retreat.

He looked at Lu Chen, his voice growing deeper.

"If you know that bearing fortune brings tribulation, why do you still accept branches of the three clans?"

Lu Chen said, "We accept those fleeing tribulation, not those fighting for supremacy."

"Once they enter Guixu, they must sever all external war orders."

"Those who use Guixu's name to fight for the fortune of the three clans will be expelled."

Lan Shuang's heart trembled slightly.

Those words of the Emperor once again drew a clear line around Guixu's position.

Branches of the three clans could enter Guixu to evade tribulation.

But after entering the pass, they could no longer act under their former war orders.

Guixu would not become a retreat camp for the Dragon Clan.

It would not become a Frostflame manor for the Phoenix Clan.

Nor would it become an earth-vein army for the Qilin Clan.

Guixu only accepted living beings who wished to survive.

Primordial Qilin remained silent for a long time.

Then he looked at Lin Yue.

"Are you willing to sever the Qilin war orders and abide by Guixu's rules?"

Lin Yue heavily struck his forehead against the ground.

"I am."

"What if the Qilin Clan needs you to return?"

Lin Yue's body trembled slightly.

After a long while, he gritted his teeth. "If Your Majesty personally commands it, Lin Yue is willing to return."

"But I ask Your Majesty to allow the young blood to remain in Guixu."

As soon as those words fell, the people of the Water Qilin Branch began to weep.

Lin Yue had not fled from his responsibility.

If Primordial Qilin truly wanted him to return, he was willing to go back.

But he wanted to leave the young blood of his clan a path to survival.

Primordial Qilin looked at him, and his gaze finally softened somewhat.

"At least you still remember that you are a Qilin."

Lin Yue lowered his head without speaking.

Primordial Qilin raised a hand.

An earthen-yellow seal descended from his divine sense.

The seal resembled a tiny mountain, yet it contained exceptionally pure earth-vein power.

"This is the Earth-Vein Seal."

"If young Qilin blood suffers tribulation, they may use this seal to enter Guixu's Three Lives Gate."

"Black Tortoise."

Primordial Qilin looked at Lu Chen.

"Since you do not seek to seize the Qilin Clan's fortune, then take a look for me. Can the Water Qilin lineage survive this tribulation?"

Lu Chen's scalp tingled slightly.

The Ancestral Dragon's Reverse Scale.

Yuanfeng's Frost Feather.

And now, the Primordial Qilin Earth-Vein Seal.

Had these three discussed this beforehand?

One after another, they kept stuffing tokens into Guixu.

But the system notification had already arrived.

"Primordial Qilin Earth-Vein Seal detected. Please choose, Host."

"First: Refine the Earth-Vein Seal and seize the Qilin Clan's earth-virtue fortune. Reward: earth-virtue divine ability, *Ten Thousand Peaks Suppress the World*."

"Second: Refuse the Earth-Vein Seal and avoid Qilin karma. Reward: three Earth-Evasion Talismans."

"Third: Transform the Earth-Vein Seal into a token that guides young Qilin blood into Guixu, and evolve Mysterious Peak Mountain. Reward: Old Shell Earth-Bearing Method."

Lu Chen's eyes lit up slightly as he looked at the third reward.

Old Shell Earth-Bearing Method.

The moment he heard it, he knew it was related to supporting the heavens in the future.

The heavenly pillar not only had to support the sky, but also connect to the earth.

If the Old Shell could bear the earth veins, then supporting the heavens in another's place would make even more sense in the future.

"Choose the third."

"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained the Old Shell Earth-Bearing Method."

Within Dragon-Suppressing Pass, the Earth-Vein Seal was sealed by a gray phantom of a turtle shell.

Then the Guixu Inner Realm suddenly shook.

On the western side of the Northern Darkness Sea, a vast stretch of gray space split apart.

Dense earth-virtue energy rose up.

A mountain range slowly rose from the depths of the Guixu Minor World.

The range was not especially tall, yet it was remarkably stable.

Water patterns and earth patterns converged across the mountain, making it naturally suited for the cultivation of Water Qilin, the Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe, and countless land-dwelling beings.

The Book of Cause and Effect turned on its own.

A line of text emerged.

Mysterious Peak Mountain—the first true mountain range of Guixu.

Guixu's races were stunned.

After the Northern Darkness Sea, Guixu finally had a true mountain.

Water and earth merged, further perfecting the minor world's structure.

Lin Yue watched Mysterious Peak Mountain rise, his eyes filled with excitement.

This meant the Water Qilin Branch had gained a foothold in Guixu.

Primordial Qilin saw this as well.

His divine sense stirred slightly.

"Water and earth nourish each other."

"The Guixu Minor World truly has the makings of something."

Lu Chen did not respond.

He was contemplating the Old Shell Earth-Bearing Method.

After the intent of this method merged with the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method, Lu Chen could clearly feel his Old Shell becoming far more substantial.

A new connection had formed between the Old Shell and Guixu's earth veins.

This was good.

In the future, when the Old Shell held up the heavens, the stronger its earth-bearing ability, the less strain it would place on his true body.

Primordial Qilin's divine sense gradually faded.

Before leaving, he left behind only one sentence.

"Fortune is too weighty; whoever bears it will surely face tribulation."

"Black Tortoise, I will remember your words."

The divine sense dispersed.

At Dragon-Suppressing Pass, countless Guixu creatures were still immersed in shock.

Ancestral Dragon left behind a Reverse Scale.

Yuanfeng left behind Cold Feather.

Primordial Qilin left behind an Earth-Vein Seal.

The leaders of all three races had actually left behind tokens of kindling in Guixu.

What did this mean?

It meant Guixu had already been designated by the three race overlords as a route of retreat.

Lan Shuang took a deep breath and knelt toward the depths of Guixu.

"The Emperor observes tribulations; the three races leave their tokens."

"Today, Guixu truly possesses the semblance of bearing all races through tribulation."

Hearing this, Lu Chen silently withdrew into his tortoise shell.

He did not want to bear all races in the slightest.

But the rewards were just too good.

Besides, he had already accepted the tokens of all three races.

It seemed it was too late for regrets now.