Moonlight flowed like water, cold and hazy.
In a small world wreathed in immortal mist.
"How did you manage that sword strike that shattered the tribulation clouds today, kid?"
The Ninth Ancestor stood with his hands behind his back, studying Li Xunyuan closely. After a long while, still unable to make sense of it, he finally asked.
He had smashed the heavenly tribulation's sea of lightning to pieces in a single move. The Li Lineage didn't seem to have a sword art or immortal technique that defied the heavens to such an extent, did it?
"This sword technique is called One Sword Makes Immortals Kneel. It's an inherited divine ability that came with my Innate Chaos Sacred Body Dao Embryo."
An idea flashed through Li Xunyuan's mind, and he came up with a flawless excuse. Then, with a perfectly serious face, he spun his tale.
The system was too far-fetched to speak of, and the Ninth Ancestor probably wouldn't believe him anyway.
An inherited divine ability of the Innate Chaos Sacred Body Dao Embryo, on the other hand, was a little easier to believe.
It was an extremely perfect excuse.
There had never been a second Innate Chaos Sacred Body Dao Embryo in all of history.
As for whether his claim was true, there was no way to verify it.
Li Xunyuan was frantically praising himself inwardly. How could anyone in this world be so clever!
"Really?"
The Ninth Ancestor narrowed his eyes as he studied Li Xunyuan. Within them were terrifying scenes of all living things appearing and vanishing, and the people of the world rising and falling.
"Really, truer than a pearl!"
Li Xunyuan nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at grain. At the same time, he pressed two fingers together and pointed them at the heavens, pretending to swear an oath to heaven and earth.
He took seamless acting seriously. That was the professional standard of a veteran actor!
Hearing Li Xunyuan personally confirm and affirm it, the Ninth Ancestor's mouth twitched several times before he stopped pressing the matter.
He had expended an enormous amount of effort studying the Immortal-Severing Art alone, and had only barely managed to grasp its essence.
As for the second technique, the Immortal-Battling Art, he had only made a little progress in it recently.
Meanwhile, this junior of his had only been cultivating immortal techniques for a year or two at the very most.
And now he had even fused five Great Emperor Dao sword arts into one. Comparing yourself to others could make you die of frustration!
The Ninth Ancestor looked at Li Xunyuan fondly, growing more pleased the longer he looked. With this child around, why should the Li Lineage worry about failing to flourish?
"Xunyuan, I called you here this time because I wanted to tell you two things."
At this point, the Ninth Ancestor suddenly said, "The Three Lives Emperor Tomb will open sometime soon. Only cultivators below the Life and Death Realm can enter. It's a rare gathering of heavenly talents in the Primordial Dao Domain!"
"A towering tree can't grow in a greenhouse. I hope you'll lead the Li Lineage's younger generation in a friendly exchange of pointers with the juniors from the other factions. Hehe!"
By the time he finished speaking, the Ninth Ancestor couldn't help chuckling, his words carrying a hint of ill intent.
"No problem."
Li Xunyuan nodded in agreement. "I love fun things like exchanging pointers most of all."
The Three Lives Emperor Tomb was a newly appeared check-in location, so he was definitely going there.
If he checked in and obtained any more strange skills, he could take the opportunity to find someone to test them on.
In any case, his opponents wouldn't be members of the Li Lineage, and he didn't have to worry about running into anyone he knew. There was no need to fear embarrassment!
"Ninth Ancestor, what's the second thing?" Li Xunyuan asked curiously.
The Ninth Ancestor smiled. "There's one month until your eighth birthday. A month from now, the Li Lineage will invite the various factions of the Primordial Dao Domain to attend a ceremony and hold a coming-out banquet for you!
"Before then, I hope you'll prepare yourself. The other little fellows in the lineage aren't the obedient sort.
"As the divine son of the Li Lineage, you can't go without a few fighters under you. Do your best to knock all those little monsters flat. I'm sure you can do it!"
The Li Lineage's nine holy sons were also divine son candidates in name.
Each was qualified to compete for the position of divine son, and over the years, none of them had been willing to submit to the others.
Now that Li Xunyuan had barged in and settled firmly into the position, he was bound to arouse their collective resentment.
"I'm an easy person to talk to. If they behave and listen, everything is open to discussion. If they don't... I'll send them all flying!"
Li Xunyuan smiled faintly, brimming with the confidence to soar across the world, unmatched beneath the heavens.
"Good! That's how a man should be!" The Ninth Ancestor laughed heartily.
"By the way, Ninth Ancestor, do you know where the Heaven-Subduing Ancient City is?" Li Xunyuan asked.
Besides the Three Lives Emperor Tomb, the Heaven-Subduing Ancient City was another check-in location he needed to visit, but he didn't know exactly where it was.
"The Heaven-Subduing Ancient City?"
The Ninth Ancestor's eyes grew thoughtful. A moment later, he answered, "The Heaven-Subduing Ancient City is located at the center of the three thousand heavenly domains, yet lies apart from them. You need special coordinates to enter."
The Primordial Dao Domain was divided into three thousand heavens. The place where the Li Lineage's ancestral lands lay was called Eastern Emperor Heaven.
"No one manages the Heaven-Subduing Ancient City as a whole. Instead, it operates under a divided system of management, with each faction occupying a piece of territory to invest in and administer."
As he listened to the Ninth Ancestor's detailed account, Li Xunyuan gained a rough understanding of what sort of place the Heaven-Subduing Ancient City was.
It was a place akin to a black market, encompassing numerous immortal clans, primordial imperial clans, ancient kingdoms and imperial dynasties...
They established various markets there, gathering information while also earning benefits for the factions behind them.
The Ninth Ancestor raised an eyebrow and glanced at Li Xunyuan. "Why do you suddenly ask? Are you going to the Heaven-Subduing Ancient City?"
"Yes!"
Li Xunyuan nodded truthfully. "I heard there was news of the Three Lives Emperor Key at an auction in the Heaven-Subduing Ancient City. I want to go take a look."
"All right."
The Ninth Ancestor waved his hand, and a golden jade slip floated in front of Li Xunyuan. "The jade slip contains the coordinates of the Heaven-Subduing Ancient City, as well as a breakdown of the Li Lineage's holdings there."
Li Xunyuan had just accepted the jade slip when he saw the Ninth Ancestor raise his hand again and reach beyond the clouds and sky.
Rumble!
High above the nine heavens, countless stars shook violently, and a terrifying dragon's might swept across the entire void like a hundred-grade tsunami.
Roar!
A dragon's cry rang out, shaking heaven and earth through the ages. Countless enormous fragments of stars fell from beyond the clouds.
Between heaven and earth, the true dragon's terrifying, overwhelming pressure surged and roared like an enraged ocean.
A five-clawed golden dragon, radiant with immortal light, leaped out as though it had crossed the long river of time.
The five-clawed golden dragon's immense body blotted out the sky and sun, stretching between the sun and moon. Like a vast expanse of blue sky, it covered the entire starry firmament, plunging the sky into darkness in an instant.
Hum!
The golden dragon's entire body shone with golden light, as though cast from gold, with ancient Dao intent flowing over it.
Boom!
The terrifying blood Qi of the Demon Race pierced the heavens, bearing down so heavily that even the void wailed.
"A pureblood true dragon at the Creation Realm?"
The five-clawed golden dragon coiled in the sky. Feeling the true dragon's endlessly desolate pressure, Li Xunyuan couldn't help marveling at the Li Lineage's powerful foundation.
He was equally shocked by the Ninth Ancestor's strength: he could casually reach out and seize a true dragon of pure blood.
"It's a pureblood Chaos Ancestral Dragon hatchling. In terms of bloodline purity, it could be the ancestor of the ancestor of the ancestor of the Great Void Demon Court..."
The Ninth Ancestor stroked his beard and said with a smile, "From today onward, it's your mount."
With that, the Ninth Ancestor waved his hand through the air again.
The Chaos Ancestral Dragon that stretched between the sun and moon and blotted out the sky gradually shrank, turning into a breathtakingly beautiful golden ribbon that coiled around Li Xunyuan's shoulder.
The man and beast were very close, like old friends meeting again after a long separation.
At that moment, the Chaos Ancestral Dragon affectionately rubbed its small, formidable horns against Li Xunyuan.
Then it naturally extended its dragon tongue and licked Li Xunyuan's cheek.
With that affectionate manner, it looked nothing like a Chaos Ancestral Dragon capable of swallowing ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers. It was as docile as a little lamb.
The Chaos Ancestral Dragon behaved this way partly because it feared the Ninth Ancestor's oppressive might.
Secondly, it was because Li Xunyuan possessed 206 immortal bones and the Innate Chaos Sacred Body Dao Embryo.
Those two things gave the Chaos Ancestral Dragon an indescribable sense of pressure, creating the illusion that it should kneel and submit.
There was an even more important point.
Although the beautiful youth in red before it had a cultivation level that was a little too weak, only at the Life Palace Realm,
the Chaos Ancestral Dragon's innate intuition could tell it very clearly that Li Xunyuan could cleave it to death with one sword strike!
This wasn't nonsense or wild speculation. He really was capable of cleaving it to death!
This was the Chaos Ancestral Dragon's innate sixth sense, which had saved its old life countless times...