Around the hour of the Rabbit.
It was mid-April, already past the Beginning of Summer, and dawn came early, especially over the Eastern Sea. The cinnabar sun had already leaped above the sea, scattering its radiance and painting the waters crimson-gold. At that very moment, countless cultivators sat quietly at various points along Dragon Spine Road, facing east and gathering purple qi.
This was another benefit of Dragon Spine Road's construction. The farther east one went, the richer the purple qi became; this was common knowledge. Thus, whenever the sun rose over the sea and the cultivators gathered purple qi, Dragon Spine Road fell silent, purple mist drifting over a golden sea-a magnificent spectacle. Once the purple qi dispersed and yang qi grew stronger, everyone stopped gathering it and rose to their feet.
Whenever this happened, cultivators who had arrived over the past thirty years would hear those of the first wave reminisce. They spoke of that brief time thirty years ago when True Lord Evolving Transformation had presided over Fire Dragon Island and personally led everyone in gathering purple qi each morning. Back then, Lan Yizhou, now the Dragon Earl of North River in Yuyang, had yet to awaken his intelligence and had been a corpse attendant under the True Lord. Every morning, he had carried the True Lord off the island to bathe together in the morning light. A fire dragon rode the rosy clouds, the newborn sun like cinnabar-one could imagine what a wondrous sight that had been. There had even been a special name for the scene: "Fire Dragon Holding a Cinnabar." It had been one of Dragon Spine Road's great sights, drawing many mainland cultivators who came expressly to pay their respects.
Unfortunately, times had changed. "Three Rosy Clouds over Gourd Island," "Moon Bridge Facing