Chapter 39: Origin Perfected

Zhu Qingyun wasn't being polite either; the dragon clan really took advantage of him this time!

These things are trivial to me; exchanging them for the dragon clan's friendship and gratitude is still worthwhile.

Ancestor Dragon didn't say much in thanks, and after inviting Zhu Qingyun and the others into the dragon palace, several dragon clan experts began to expound their own Daos.

【You listened to Ancestor Dragon's lecture on the Dao of the flesh; it shares much common ground with martial Dao principles, your comprehension of martial Dao principles has increased, current mastery, 68%!】

【You listened to Candle Dragon's lecture on the Great Dao of Time; you gained some insight into the Great Dao of Time, current mastery, 34%!】

【You listened to Azure Dragon's lecture on the Dao of Wood and the Dao of Life; you gained some insight into the Dao of Wood and the Dao of Life, current mastery of the Wood principle 29%, mastery of the Life principle 28%!】

【You discovered common ground between the Life principle and the Great Dao of Creation; your insight into the Great Dao of Creation increased, current mastery 49%!】

【You listened to Ying Dragon's lecture on the Great Dao of Battle; you gained some insight into the Battle principle, current mastery 26%!】

【You discovered common ground between the Great Dao of Battle and martial Dao; your comprehension of martial Dao increased, current mastery 69%!】

【You used the literary Dao to derive myriad Daos, and by reverse‑deducing the literary Dao from the principles you currently understand, the literary Dao received a feedback boost, current mastery, 73%!】

The four great experts of the dragon clan lectured on the Dao for six thousand years; Zhu Qingyun's grasp of the principles achieved a major breakthrough! Especially martial Dao—only a little progress remains before breaking through to the late stage of the fleshly Primordial Chaos Golden Immortal! If martial Dao can break through, the improvement for Zhu Qingyun would be enormous!

Because having gone through the trial of Pangu's heart, Zhu Qingyun's fleshly foundation has become strong enough to surpass levels and compare with Ancestor Dragon and the others! In other words, reaching the late stage of martial Dao Primordial Chaos Golden Immortal is equivalent to the peak of the fleshly Dao Primordial Chaos Golden Immortal!

After the lecture, having declined Ancestor Dragon's attempt to detain them, Zhu Qingyun and the others left Dragon Island.

After leaving Dragon Island, Zhu Qingyun recalled that there was still an impulsive feeling pulling him toward the north of the East Sea.

Although the calamitous qi between heaven and earth is thick, Zhu Qingyun estimates that it will still take another twenty or thirty thousand years before the situation of the three clans' decisive battle arrives.

It's not that he's in such a rush to go to the Phoenix and Qilin clans right now; it would be better to first go see what exactly is pulling him.

Immediately, following the sense in his heart, Zhu Qingyun promptly led the way toward the northern part of the East Sea.

On this trip to the dragon clan, Zhu Qingyun gained the most; Yin-Yang and Qiankun, having already reached the peak of the Primordial Chaos Golden Immortal, thus gained little.

But the gains of Nüwa and Fuxi were also not small.

Although neither of them broke through to a new realm, Fuxi, while Zhu Qingyun was studying the Myriad Dragon Grand Formation, made rapid progress in his understanding of formation Dao, and has already faintly sensed the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation.

Nüwa, on the other hand, extracted the useful parts of the Great Dao of Life and the Dao of the flesh and integrated them into her own Creation Martial Dao, bringing her now infinitely close to the mid‑stage Primordial Chaos Golden Immortal!

The new disciple Ao Tian, during these several thousand years of listening to the Dao, also broke through to the early stage of the fleshly Primordial Chaos Golden Immortal, and with Nüwa's help created the battle‑dragon martial art best suited to himself! At the northeastern part of the East Sea, near the border with the North Sea, Zhu Qingyun arrived here under the pull.

Just arrived here, Zhu Qingyun felt a sense of blood‑line connection! The missing origin of the Auspicious Clouds… found it!

Zhu Qingyun unleashed his mana; his powerful mana swept across the void, and a concealed innate secret realm appeared.

Within the secret realm, the Dao resonance permeated; the powers of the wind, water, and fire origins surged! And at the place where the wind, water, and fire origins gathered, a clump of fiery‑red blazing cloud drifted silently.

Sensing the faint spiritual consciousness on the blazing cloud, Zhu Qingyun let out a soft sigh. "Surely a consciousness of life has been born?"

Zhu Qingyun had long suspected this.

He himself occupied the largest portion of the Auspicious Clouds of the myriad heavens; giving birth to consciousness is intolerable to heaven and earth.

But the missing portion of the Auspicious Clouds' origin is actually just a cluster of righteous qi; naturally it can give birth to consciousness! As everyone knows, the Three Pure Ones are transformations of Pangu's primordial spirit, representing the gods among the three talents of Pangu's Dao body! The Twelve Ancestral Witches are transformations of Pangu's essence‑blood, representing the essences among the three talents of Pangu's Dao body! It makes no sense that the qi, one of the three talents of Pangu's Dao body, cannot take form!

Zhu Qingyun closed his eyes and sensed for a moment; the innate wind‑water‑fire grand formation outside the secret realm shattered instantly, and then he took a step into the secret realm.

"But it's also excellent foundation!"

This blazing cloud has ample foundation; its main body is naturally righteous qi, yet faintly bears the aura of Pangu's essence‑blood and is accompanied by the wind, water, and fire origins! As soon as Zhu Qingyun stepped into the secret realm, the hazy consciousness of this blazing cloud made him feel extremely close to Zhu Qingyun.

It drifted involuntarily toward Zhu Qingyun, the tender consciousness attempting to establish a link with Zhu Qingyun.

Zhu Qingyun shook his head, feeling somewhat helpless, and chose not to form a bond with it.

He is no saintly mother; for his own strength he must replenish the missing origin of the Auspicious Clouds.

This consciousness of his only tries, when devouring and merging with the blazing cloud, to see if it can be stripped off and preserved!

We'll see later!

Zhu Qingyun once again transformed into the true form of the Auspicious Clouds of the myriad heavens; the Auspicious Clouds floated and came into contact with the blazing cloud.

Instantly a wondrous scene appeared.

"Huh?"

Zhu Qingyun was astonished to discover that, under the impact of his vast aura, that hazy origin consciousness not only did not vanish, but actually gradually grew stronger.

One sees that the righteous qi origin within the blazing cloud is drawn in by the Auspicious Clouds, while the wind, water, and fire origins are absorbed by the Auspicious Clouds' internal primordial world; at the same time, an image from ancient times appears before Zhu Qingyun.

A towering giant holding a great axe splits Chaos apart; afterward his head reaches the heavens and his feet tread the earth—this is precisely the scene of Pangu cleaving heaven!

The primordial world, under the support of the Great God Pangu, becomes completely solidified, and then his essence‑qi‑spirit separates!

The gods rise and merge with the pure qi; the essences descend and merge with the turbid qi; the qi remains in the air, mingling with the strands of innate origin qi!

If nothing were to change, under Pangu the Great God's arrangement, essence, qi, and spirit would all materialize and come into being! But just as the primordial world is fully formed and Pangu is about to transform his body into the myriad things, a point of light reminiscent of the initial opening of heaven and earth appears!

A figure extremely familiar to Zhu Qingyun appears in the primordial world…… it is Hongjun! At this moment Hongjun's body is replete with the aura of decay and death; after arriving in the primordial world, his awe‑inspiring aura gradually wanes, dropping straight down to the early stage of the Grand Luo Golden Immortal before his cultivation stabilizes!

That surging aura of decay and death emanates from his body, the tumultuous impact striking Pangu's spine; at this moment Pangu the Great God is at the final instant of transforming his body into the myriad things, he spouts a mouthful of heart‑blood, which splashes onto the righteous qi!

The innate origin qi is scattered by that mouthful of heart‑blood; a clump of righteous qi is severed, intertwining with the residual wind, water, and fire origins to form the blazing cloud, while the remaining righteous qi origin transforms into the Auspicious Clouds of the myriad heavens, cutting off the chance to materialize! (End of chapter)