Chapter 108: Yunque Wang Has a Favor to Ask; Mutual Coveting on the Return Journey from Treasure Hunting 【4k】

Three or five gulls fluttered past, their touch on the water creating colorful ripples, the reeds swaying in the light, all silent and desolate.

It could not even be called a polite exchange; the group bid each other farewell and all dispersed.

No one was a fool; what Fang Longye could figure out, the others present also understood perfectly well.

Those with ill intentions went without saying, and even those who acted with integrity knew the principle that "one must not be without defenses against others."

A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall; while the contract oath had not yet dissipated, it was only natural to distance oneself from the various threats.

The wind rose suddenly, stirring the expanse of green water at their feet, raising thousands of frost flowers that bloomed one by one.

Fang Longye turned his head to look at Yunque Wang beside him and asked, "I wonder what you mean, Xianzi, by sending a voice transmission to specifically ask me to stay?"

She smiled softly, "I think the Dragon Lord must understand what it is I truly seek in exploring these Cave Abode ruins. And it is precisely for this matter that I wish to ask for the Dragon Lord's help."

As Yunque Wang explained, her gaze swept over Ao Ying, who was standing in attendance beside Fang Longye, a flash of brilliance crossing her eyes.

To be able to have a True Dragon nearing the Golden Immortal Realm as a maid, one could imagine the background of this Dragon Lord.

She did not believe that the matter she sought to scheme would escape the discerning eyes of this Dragon Lord.

"Oh?" Fang Longye scrutinized Yunque Wang with an inquisitive look.

After a moment, he shook his head and smiled, "I do not think that I, a member of the Dragon Clan, can help you in the transformation of your Phoenix Clan Bloodline."

He was naturally crystal clear about what Yunque Wang sought within this Honghu Mansion.

Between the Phoenix Blood Wood and various Phoenix-attribute spiritual medicines born from the Honghu Dao Rhyme, and given that she belonged to the Feathered Tribe, she was naturally plotting to transform her own bloodline toward the Phoenix attribute.

After all, as an ordinary bird, who would not want to achieve the body of a Phoenix?

"With this conspicuous Dragon Clan aura of mine, it would be good enough if I didn't hinder you in your transformation of the Phoenix Clan Bloodline. How could I possibly have the ability to help you?"

Yunque Wang smiled gently, "That is not necessarily true."

Then, she changed the subject and asked, "Has the Dragon Lord ever read *Zhuangzi*?"

"Naturally, I have read it." Fang Longye nodded.

Not to mention the reading, copying, and reciting of his past life—that triple set.

In this world, the Daoist canon written by Zhuangzi, who was almost on par with the manifested incarnation of Laozi, also had a long and far-reaching circulation.

As a cultivator, Fang Longye was naturally well-read in it.

Moreover, this famous figure, mentioned alongside Laozi as "Lao-Zhuang," was the incarnation of that person from Beiming.

Among the Demon Clan, this classic was quite sought after.

This was no secret; in Beiju Luzhou, demon immortals with even a little foundation vaguely knew of it.

It was not known to everyone, but it was not a secret either.

If a demon cultivator did not carry a copy of *Zhuangzi* on them, they would be too embarrassed to say they were from Beiju Luzhou when discussing the Dao with others.

In Beiju Luzhou, demon immortals who did not read *Zhuangzi* might even be ostracized.

Because if you do not even read the works of the Demon Master, as a member of the Demon Clan, you are guilty of a heinous crime; you are disloyal!

This act of sucking up to a big shot made Fang Longye feel a sense of déjà vu.

Thinking of this, the content of "Free and Easy Wandering" from *Zhuangzi* surfaced in his mind, and he suddenly gained some insight.

The discussion of the distinction between the small and the great therein used the quail as an example. It was also the original source of that famous saying everyone knew.

"Could it be? You yourself do not wish to achieve the Phoenix lineage?"

"That's right, I don't care about some Phoenix true form. As for the swan goose? Pfft—how can the swallow or sparrow know the ambition of the swan goose?" Yunque Wang sneered.

"Hehe—so what if they are swallows or sparrows? Swallows and sparrows just lack the ability; who says they don't have the ambition to soar into the nine heavens?"

"I do not covet casting aside my original Yunque body to achieve the Phoenix lineage."

"What I seek is to use these Phoenix-attribute spiritual essences to strengthen my own Yunque bloodline. I want to achieve a divine beast species no less than a Phoenix while remaining a swallow or sparrow!"

Mentioning this, Yunque Wang's whole person instantly radiated brilliance, with an upward, spirited air, quite like the stance of 'a swallow or sparrow's life, not inferior to others.'

She came back to her senses, restrained her mood, and smiled at Fang Longye, "The Dragon Lord must understand that once these Phoenix-attribute spiritual essences enter the body, they will spontaneously transform my bloodline. As a member of the feathered kind, I have no power to resist."

"The Dragon Lord is different; as a member of the Dragon Clan, you can naturally help me suppress the restlessness of these Phoenix-attribute spiritual essences, allowing me to absorb the creation within and raise the level of my Yunque bloodline."

Seeing Fang Longye open his mouth to speak, she immediately said, "I understand; I certainly won't let the Dragon Lord help for nothing."

She immediately tossed out a small bottle, which Fang Longye caught.

"Twelve Yin-Yang Dao Pills, and the secret method unique to the Feathered Tribe for cultivating a Companion Spiritual Root acquired later in life. This is a deposit of six Yin-Yang Dao Pills."

"Do not underestimate this secret method. Back then, the Dragon and Phoenix fought for who knows how many years. Both sides imitated each other's methods. This secret method was not infrequently borrowed by the Dragon Clan."

"Qinglong Holy Venerable was not born with a Jianmu companion; the legendary Jianmu was also cultivated later by referring to this very secret method."

Fang Longye put the Yin-Yang Dao Pills into the Wanfu Ruyi Gourd and said, "With Yunting Xianzi being so sincere, Fang naturally has no reason to refuse."

"I wonder when I should lend you a hand, Xianzi?"

He was still planning to go do business! "Rest assured, not now. In about half a year, please come here to find me then~" As if seeing through his thoughts, Yunque Wang said with a smile that was not quite a smile.

"Come here?"

"The Dragon Lord wouldn't think that I could be that trusting of you, would I? Without a means of checks and balances, I wouldn't dare ask the Dragon Lord to help me transform my bloodline."

She gave a cunning smile, flipped her fair wrist slightly, took out the Jade Talisman Sword Order, and shook it at him.

"I have to thank all the fellow Daoists for their help, which allowed me to control these Cave Abode ruins today."

After entering the ruins, she used the Jade Talisman Sword Order in her hand to initially control the core of the entire Cave Abode.

Fang Longye was speechless; this was the remaining blessing brought by her elders, so there was naturally nothing to complain about.

"Alright! The Dragon Lord should go do good deeds! I won't delay you any longer!"

Yunque Wang activated the Jade Talisman Sword Order in her hand, and then she vanished into the ruins.

With such a Dharma array guarding her, she naturally did not fear being coveted by others in secret.

……

Wispy clouds obscured the sun, making the originally golden sun look like a cinnabar furnace, red and fiery, as if dotted with cinnabar.

Inside the cloud carriage, Ao Ying reported to Fang Longye the matters that had occurred after he entered the ruins.

"Just as you, Great King, had anticipated, not long after you entered that Cave Abode ruin, an unknown True Immortal attempted to ambush me. However, I did not fail your commission; they have already been slain by my blade."

"Did you manage to ask whose hidden hand it was?" Fang Longye activated the Refining Immortal Pot, refined the corpse of the ambusher offered by Ao Ying into a pill, and tossed it to her.

Seeing such methods from him, Ao Ying's eyes shimmered with brilliance. After hearing his question, she apologized: "I hope you, Great King, will forgive my incompetence. This ambusher's strength was not weak, and this servant was unable to capture them alive for Soul Searching Technique."

Fang Longye waved his hand and said, "It does not matter; in any case, it is just those few people."

He looked at the floating clouds outside the carriage, "Three days have already passed. I just do not know, besides Mingxue Wang, who else among those three is a wolf~"

……

High above in the sky.

Amidst the clouds and mist, Meng Huai circulated his Dharma, traveling by lightning escape. Purple electricity burst forth~ Suddenly, he stopped his flight, lowered his cloud head slightly, and looked around.

Wispy clouds were clear and pure, the wind blowing with a refined grace.

The sunset glow passed over the mountain peak, leaving only a sharp corner above, like a young girl's dark hair bun, appearing and disappearing.

Moss grew between the mountains, green and lovely.

The gentle daylight spilled down, landing on the dense pines and bamboos, mixed with swaying spiritual dew, like little stars, falling to the ground with a tinkling sound from time to time.

The green mountains were clustered together, with clouds and mist growing between them.

The mist condensed into dew, washing and soaking the green mountains.

The entire scene looked extremely exquisite, but not a single sound was emitted.

Yes, there was no sound at all.

On all sides, a kind of deathly silence spread out.

A trace of gloom rose in Meng Huai's eyes.

Immediately, he circulated his Dharma Eye, projecting a black-purple light containing a power that sought to break through the unusual sight before him and witness the truth.

Once the divine light shot out from his Dharma Eye, the entire scene seemed to come alive; the mountains became bright, the water became clear, and the leaves took on the aura of autumn.

The space rolling over in layers was like a peerless Treasure Map being rolled up bit by bit; being inside it, one could hardly control oneself. Meng Huai's complexion instantly turned incomparably gloomy.

Despite all his calculations and constant caution, he had still fallen into a trap in the end.

"Fellow Daoist is indeed extraordinary; you noticed it the moment you entered my Qiuming Map." A voice came.

"It is you?"

"That is right, it is indeed this King!" The person who arrived wore armor and carried a large axe, his aura stern; it was none other than the previous Longxiang Wang.

Only, there was no longer a trace of coarseness on his face; instead, his eyes darted around, appearing incomparably shrewd.

"I am afraid there is more than just you! All you fellow Daoists hiding in the surroundings, come out!"

Seeing no one respond, Meng Huai's mind stirred, and a small purple-blue stone appeared above his head.

It spun around, moving along a mysterious trajectory, then communicated with the void; suddenly, there was thunder in the cloudy sky, like a stone mill pressing over the ground, coming with a boom.

Then, the thunder became dense, and in the center, streaks of lightning connecting heaven and earth flashed, smashing straight down in all directions.

It was unimaginably fast, manifesting the might of heaven and earth.

"Kill—"

With an eagle's cry, like the roar of a dragon and the call of a phoenix, he raised his painted halberd and charged toward the overlapping figures that had appeared! ……

Above the firmament, clouds surged and mist gathered.

Ten thousand golden rays danced with the waves of clouds, as if there were countless shimmering scales, which was very spectacular.

The Bishui Jinjing Beast stepped on the golden light, lotus flowers blooming with every step, the sound of hooves ringing out as it pulled a carriage filled with precious light and carved with dragons and phoenixes, flying continuously.

Inside the cloud carriage, Fang Longye appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but in reality, he was constantly sensing the state of the surrounding void.

Just at this moment.

"Stop!"

He opened his eyes, and brilliant divine light flashed within the space of the cloud carriage.

Hu Qiuyue, who was driving the carriage outside, heard his command and immediately halted the cloud head, stopping the carriage.

The Bishui Jinjing Beast let out a roar and stopped abruptly, golden light overflowing.

"Hahaha! I never thought that for the sake of Fang, you all would go to such great lengths! Good, good, good!"

Fang Longye clapped his hands and laughed; this was good, he would not need to rack his brains to intercept and kill them one by one anymore.

The gathering of three forces actually saved him the trouble.

As soon as his voice fell, a loud sound came from outside.

Listening carefully, the sound came from all directions, making it hard to distinguish the source.

Deep and heavy, heavy and profound, like the beating of a great drum; every strike had the force of a thousand jun, echoing in the air, the sound waves overlapping.

It carried an aura of rolling smoke, killing intent soaring to the heavens, unstoppable wherever the battle flags pointed, looking down on everything with contempt.

Thick, desolate, tragic, and ancient.

"Hiss—"

Hu Qiuyue, who was only at the Yuan Immortal realm, felt her blood and Qi become unstable and her face turn pale upon hearing the drum sound; it was only after receiving the protection of Fang Longye's Dharma power that she recovered.

Even Ao Ying, who was at the True Immortal Realm, frowned.

"Hanlong Drum!"

She gritted her silver teeth and said with a gloomy face.

This was a standard Spirit Treasure specifically targeting the Dragon Clan during the wars between the three clans in the distant past.

"As expected of the famous Dragon Lord of Bei Zhou; even a servant girl under your command has such knowledge. Now, does the Dragon Lord understand why we had to unite?"

One could see the white clouds in the surroundings ringing with frost, and the brilliant light connecting into one piece.

Then the light dissipated, and thousands of figures appeared from the void, with banners arrayed in rows, filled with a stern killing intent.

Leading them were a dozen or so True Immortals, among whom were figures like Yunque Wang and Chiyang Wang, who could contend with ordinary Golden Immortals.

"I just didn't expect that the two of you would actually join forces. Logically speaking, shouldn't the two of you have fought each other first? After all, one should pick the softest persimmon to squeeze~"

Fang Longye looked curiously at the two familiar figures among the dozen or so True Immortals and asked.

It was precisely Lu Zhu and Mingxue Wang.

Previously, when he probed Mingxue Wang's thoughts and intentions, he hadn't realized that he and Lu Zhu knew each other; in fact, this Mingxue Wang had even set his sights on Lu Zhu.

He hadn't known that this Mingxue Wang and Lu Zhu truly cherished each other.

After leaving the ruins, they had directly sought each other out and had a "black-on-black" confrontation.

As a result, both sides were deadlocked, so they simply decided that cooperation was mutually beneficial, cleared up their past grievances, and sought out others.

They then encountered the group of companions behind Chifeng Wang, and the three forces directly combined to set their sights on him.

"The logic is indeed as you say, but who told Dragon Lord, a member of the Dragon Clan with such a great background, to come to our Bei Zhou to open a Cave Abode? There is a big problem here!"

"As the Demon Clan who are the local snakes, we naturally cannot stand a strong dragon like Dragon Lord!"

Lu Zhu still had a grinning face, his expression carrying a hint of simple honesty, but his attire had long since changed completely.

He was seen wearing armor, with a large animal-skin drum hanging at his waist, which looked exceptionally awkward with his chubby, short stature, even possessing a sense of comedy.

He was still continuously patting the animal-skin drum with his hands, and behind him, black Qi hung down for a thousand zhang, illuminating the surroundings.

Thousands and hundreds of patterns were born and perished, with faint markings of a hundred beasts, and from time to time, there were bursts of mournful cries of divine dragons in the surrounding void.

The momentum was immense and extraordinary.

"Clang—"

Fang Longye activated the Longyin Bell, instantly breaking the disturbance of the Hanlong Drum.

The surroundings returned to calm.

"Local snakes? Pfft~" Fang Longye sneered, "What kind of local snakes do you count as? Are you even worthy of being called local snakes?"

"Also, Fellow Daoist's attire, especially finding this large drum that restrains the Dragon Clan, is quite reminiscent of the Kuiniu Drum that Xuanyuan Huangdi used to crush Chiyou!"

"As a descendant of a demon traitor, are you even worthy of representing the Demon Clan to argue right and wrong with me? Who gave you the right?"

"If you want to do business without capital, just say it straight! Don't drag in grand righteousness and high-sounding words!"

For a moment, Lu Zhu was so angry his face turned red, unable to retort.

An elder of the Iron-Eating Beast race beside him, seeing Lu Zhu like this, thought to himself: "This kid is still too inexperienced and can't let go of his pride! Watch your grandfather here!"

He immediately stepped out and cursed loudly: "Bah! The junior has a sharp tongue! Even if we once yielded to the enemy and served Chiyou, look at our Zhu'er, how he knows shame!"

"Look at you again, with a smug face. Acting so luxurious and flashy, in every word and deed, you consider yourself part of the Dragon Clan and look down on us of the Demon Clan. How shameless!"

"No matter what, we can be considered as knowing shame and then improving, and now we are free and easy in this Beiju Luzhou, doing as we please. Compared to three-surname slaves and fence-sitters like your Dragon Clan, who is more shameless?"

After this burst of angry cursing, Fang Longye didn't feel anything, but Ao Ying beside him was already filled with shame and anger, wishing she could rush forward and fight them.

A middle-aged-looking old demon beside Mingxue Wang said sinisterly: "It's better for the junior to curse less, lest you suffer a fate worse than death in a while."

"Now the space is sealed by us, and the Heavenly Secrets are also locked. With the addition of the 'Tianluo Diwang Array' passed down from the Heavenly Court, even Golden Immortals will be suppressed by us."

"I think you had better surrender. For the sake of your Dragon Clan elders, we won't make things difficult for you. After handing over your treasures and kneeling down to call us ancestors a few times, we will let you go."

Once these words were spoken, the thousands of demons blocking the way all laughed wildly.

"Oh? Is that so?" Fang Longye sat upright on the cloud chariot and chuckled, "I return these words to you. However, even if you kneel and beg for mercy, it will be useless!"

"Just relying on you and these two chicks? Hahaha! This is simply the funniest joke I've ever heard~"

Hearing Fang Longye's words, the group of demon immortals burst into loud laughter.

Just at this moment, a horn sounded! The sound was mournful and long, intertwined with the murderous intent of metal and iron.

Fang Longye reached out and waved the brush-sized Panlong Spear, pointing it at the group of thieves blocking the way.

He was all smiles.

"Formal notice, you have been surrounded by me!"

Today's chapter~ I'm working seven days a week this week, no days off. Today was especially busy too~ I only just finished writing this chapter. I'll make up for today's second chapter tomorrow. So tired today~ (End of chapter)