Chapter 48: Tiger's Head and Snake's Tail, the Struggle Ends; Fear of Disaster Befalling the Pond Fish (Begging for First Subscripti

The valley is deep, sifting gold; the sky is heavy and dim.

Evening mist spreads across the land.

For a moment, all is deathly silent, with only those bursts of hearty laughter echoing back and forth.

Fang Longye gathers all his focus, watching the mountain spirit's body before him with vigilance, as if it had become a different person.

After a long while, he, who has been laughing incessantly, stops his mirth; suddenly, crimson flames rise to the heavens, red mist shrouds his form, and the halo of light flickers.

A phantom of an old man with white hair and beard falls out from the divine body—it is the mountain spirit.

He looks astonished, exchanges a glance with Fang Longye, and then looks at the divine figure obscured by the fire clouds and mist.

Wonderful sounds arise, celestial music plays, auspicious light descends, and a pure fragrance wafts over, rich and fragrant, swaying and drifting. The sky above is filled with red clouds, a sea of crimson.

Mist, pill fragrance, and mysterious sounds.

All reveal profound mysteries.

Purple and green vapors rise, shining brilliantly, then fold downward to condense into a canopy, flowing with radiant colors, a sight that makes one forget the mundane.

The fire-red mist reveals seven-colored halos, layer upon layer, until finally, the figure of a Hongpao Daoren appears.

"Worldly affairs are but a great dream; how many times does life feel the chill of autumn?" The Hongpao Daoren looks up at the sky, his face full of emotion.

A long time passes.

He first looks at the mountain spirit.

He speaks: "Since you wish to live freely and at ease, then go."

He immediately reaches out a finger, and a black hole radiating mystery appears before the mountain spirit.

Six Paths of Reincarnation!

Even though they have never seen it before, the moment they see this black hole, an inexplicable piece of information falls into their hearts, making them understand that this black hole is the passage to the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

The mountain spirit looks solemn, bows to the Hongpao Daoren, and immediately walks toward the black hole without hesitation.

"Oh, right! Actually, you have always been yourself." The Hongpao Daoren says lazily.

The mountain spirit's figure pauses, then steps into the black hole and goes to reincarnate.

Afterward, the black hole dissipates. The Hongpao Daoren turns his head to stare at Fang Longye, his eyes lighting up; he keeps sizing Fang Longye up, making Fang Longye's skin crawl.

"Interesting, too interesting." The more the Hongpao Daoren examines Fang Longye, the more he marvels.

"Kid, what is your name?" the Hongpao Daoren asks lazily.

"Fang Longye pays his respects to the senior." Fang Longye bows cautiously.

"Dragons fight in the wild, their blood is black and yellow. Interesting—a good name."

Just as the Hongpao Daoren is about to say something, he suddenly slaps his forehead, appearing to have a sudden realization.

Then, he waves his hand.

A stream of brilliance flows out.

It scatters into a thousand layers of auspicious light and ten thousand kinds of colorful rays, raining down upon the entire Small World.

The scarred Ten Thousand Mountains miraculously return to normal.

The mountains return to their places, and the rivers are renewed.

Verdant life flourishes everywhere.

For a moment, it seems as if the recent battle was merely an illusion.

However, the sparse birds, beasts, fish, and insects still prove that the life-and-death struggle had indeed occurred.

The natural disasters in the Yuan Kingdom, originally caused by his battle with the mountain spirit, are also dissipated into nothingness, and peace is restored.

The reshaping of the mountains and rivers leads the believers in the human lands to prostrate themselves in worship to him, the 'Dragon Lord'.

Countless dense Incense Vow Power flows from the void and merges into his Divine Dao Talisman.

Fang Longye looks embarrassed. He steals a glance at this Hongpao bigwig, and seeing that he is completely unconcerned, he finally feels relieved.

"Let's go! Take this ancestor to meet that little sweetheart of yours!"

The Hongpao Daoren waves his hand carelessly, signaling for Fang Longye to follow.

As the Hongpao Daoren performs his creation.

The clouds disperse and the rain clears.

The first light of a sunny day appears on the branches, haloed with light and condensed with color; suddenly, a breeze blows, and the branches and leaves sway, heavy as if they might fall to the ground at any moment.

Looking closer, one discovers that on the surrounding branches and leaves, beneath the trees and among the stones, and in the vines and earth, there are spots and speckles—bloodstains like plum blossoms, beautiful yet shocking. Qingshe leans against a jagged rock, spits out a mouthful of blood, and using her Qinggang Precious Sword—transformed from her hairpin—as a crutch, she stands up.

Looking at the corpse of Jinshe, which still radiates monstrous hatred even in death, she says: "Do not blame me; once one enters the path of cultivation, it is as deep as the sea. Today, my skills were superior, which is why I killed you. If I had been a move behind, it would be me lying here."

Having said this, she walks unsteadily toward the corpse, kneels down, and performs three kowtows and nine bows to pay the respects of a disciple.

Afterward, she rises and paces to a rock not far away to sit in meditation and regulate her breath.

A short while later, a cloud descends, carrying Fang Longye and that Hongpao Daoren.

"Senior..." Along the way, through subtle probing, Fang Longye has initially grasped the personality of this Hongpao bigwig, finding him quite easygoing, so he immediately looks at him with a face full of hope.

The Hongpao Daoren smiles: "Very well, since you and I are fated."

He immediately reaches out and waves a stream of brilliance, which merges into Qingshe's body.

Her injuries vanish in an instant.

Qingshe opens her eyes in astonishment and sees Fang Longye standing not far away with a Hongpao Daoren.

Being clever, she immediately rises and steps forward to thank him! The Hongpao Daoren points a finger, turning mud into jade, creating a magnificent palace of jade and stone, beautiful and breathtaking.

He immediately leads the two inside to take their seats.

He sits upright on a cloud bed, and his first words make both of them tremble with fear.

"This ancestor hates the Demon Clan most in all my life!"

Then he smiled broadly and said, "Fortunately, you brat have good fate, just happening to meet the predestined Dharma of this Old Ancestor. Moreover, that was all a matter of who knows how many eons ago. As for you two little demons, naturally, I will not lower myself to your level."

With that sudden pause, he scared Fang Longye and Qingshe half to death.

Qingshe asked cautiously, "Might I ask what feud the Senior has with the Demon Clan?"

Hongpao Daoren waved his hand: "Nothing more than the feud of blocking the Dao and causing death!"

Upon hearing this, Qingshe nearly fainted, feeling all the more that she should not have asked so much.

Fang Longye listened and became lost in thought.

"Speaking of which, the origin of this Small World lies here. That was a matter of who knows how many eons ago. At that time, a supreme mighty figure appeared in the world; after attaining the Dao, he opened his palace gates wide to preach the Great Dao.

Later, he even bestowed the greatest opportunity and fortune of this world. I was lucky enough to obtain a portion, but in the process, due to various reasons, I formed enmities with several mighty figures of the Demon Clan at the time, and in the end, I was besieged and killed by these people."

He sighed, his words light and breezy, without a trace of hatred. Seeing this, Qingshe could not help but feel admiration.

She said softly, "Senior is truly as bright and clear as the wind and moon; to be able to remain so light and breezy in the face of such enemies—Cuiwei admires you."

Hearing this, Hongpao Daoren shook his head and laughed, then continued: "This Small World is a fragment of space-time shattered by that struggle back then. It just so happened to be stained with a thought of mine and a wisp of the origin of my personal Spirit Treasure.

As time passed, this thought combined with that wisp of Spirit Treasure origin to form a Spirit Root Treasure Seed.

Because this Spirit Root Treasure Seed possessed my characteristics, it subsequently became the core of this space-time fragment, and this Small World evolved from it.

Although this bit of my thought has never awakened, it has caused this Small World to always act according to my instinctive will, constantly letting the Gourd Seed containing my thought be reborn and reincarnated, and also suppressing and killing any Demon Clan that comes into contact with this Gourd Seed."

Hearing this, Qingshe could not help but be shocked by the great power of this Senior; merely the unconscious instinct of a single thought could influence the operation of a Small World.

Fang Longye's expression remained as usual, but his heart was churning like a stormy sea.

Because he already knew who the Hongpao Daoren before him was.

It was just, how should he put it?

If he did not have a Golden Finger, he would be very happy to be associated with this mighty figure.

But, as things stand now—with a Golden Finger in existence, he really did not want to have any intersection with this mighty figure.

The main thing was that although this big shot did not have many enemies, their quality was extremely high.

In this world already confirmed to be the Primordial World, there were not many who could be called supreme existences. Those who had causal entanglements, or even feuds, with this big shot could account for two of them.

Casting aside these two supreme existences whose relationship with him was unclear and hard to define.

The mighty figure with the deepest feud with this big shot was right here in Beiju Luzhou! Although Fang Longye's expression was as usual, what kind of mighty figure was this Hongpao Daoren?

With one glance, he saw through his thoughts and said with a beaming smile, "It seems, little friend, you have guessed my identity?"

Fang Longye knew deeply that lying in front of such a mighty figure was the most inadvisable thing to do, so he immediately gave an awkward smile.

"That, Old Ancestor, should we avoid the limelight? Of course, this little dragon's suggestion is by no means to diminish your reputation. After all, you have only just returned to the world..."

"Who told you that I, the Old Ancestor, have just returned to the world?" Hongpao Daoren said with a teasing tone.

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(End of this chapter)