Seven small gourds hung from the Gourd Vine. One was purplish-golden, concealing the Samadhi True Fire and Profound Ice Cold Qi; these two opposing spiritual energies restrained yet generated one another, creating a universe of their own.
Another was fiery red, containing countless crimson sand grains. A third was purplish-white, radiating the power of the inverted Five Elements. A fourth was purplish-cyan, from which waves of medicinal fragrance drifted.
A fifth was purplish-yellow, faintly emitting the roar of a Qilin. A sixth was purplish-green, diffusing the Qi of Chaos. The seventh and final one was black, showing no abnormalities for the time being.
Among the seven gourds, only the sixth one—the purplish-green gourd—had grown to the size of a palm and fully matured, constantly emitting the Qi of Chaos.
Zhang Qing extended his divine sense into it and discovered that it contained its own spatial dimension, within which a massive amount of the Qi of Chaos was naturally generated. Seeing that it was already fully matured while the others were still much smaller, Zhang Qing pondered for a long time before deciding, "Whatever happens, happens." He reached out, plucked the single mature purplish-green gourd, snapped off a section of the vine to braid into a purple cord, and tied the purplish-green gourd around his waist to slowly refine it in the future.
Before leaving, he also pinched off a thumb-sized lump of the breathing soil to take with him. Since this material was said to be capable of regenerating on its own, taking a little bit was not too excessive.
"I'll set up a protective array for you before I leave, as a bit of compensation," Zhang Qing said casually, deploying a defensive formation around the Gourd Vine.
After all this time, that fellow Black Dragon still hadn't caught up—truly slow. Zhang Qing continued climbing upward. As he neared the summit, the pressure became immense, sometimes causing Zhang Qing's Chaos Sword Body to ring out under the strain. His cultivation had been compressed to the early-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal level.
Enduring the crushing pressure step by step, he finally stepped onto the peak at a certain moment, where the pressure reached its absolute peak. Zhang Qing immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, struggling to adapt to this immense force.
At that moment, in the Extreme West, a pitch-black figure flew out and headed straight for the southern volcanoes. Upon approaching the largest volcano, the figure slowly concealed its form. This was the place where Yuanfeng practiced cultivation.
If Zhang Qing were here, he would find this dark figure's aura terribly familiar—it was none other than that mass of black Qi in the Chaos Space that had "perished together" with the Law of Fire right before his eyes.
Now, he was no longer a pitch-black lamb waiting for slaughter, but a Daluo Golden Immortal wielding a black spear. This time, his goal was to steal one of Yuanfeng's eggs and frame the Dragon Clan.
Then, he would go and steal the Ancestor Dragon's Ancestor Dragon Pearl from the Dragon Clan, framing the Qilin Clan so that the three factions would tear each other apart. Only by inflicting heavy casualties on all three sides would he have the opportunity to absorb their vital blood essence, complete the final step of his Demonic arts, and thus reach the Quasi-Saint Realm.
Demon Race cultivation techniques excelled at concealment. Besides, Yuanfeng had been deep in cultivation, and three red-glowing eggs had been placed in a volcanic crater to absorb the power of the magma.
The dark figure approached the volcanic crater, bypassed the protective array, and quietly took away a single phoenix egg. Then, he retreated with all his might, taking care not to alarm Yuanfeng, who was in a weakened state due to egg-laying.
Without pausing, he made his way straight to the territory of the Dragon Clan. Using the same trick again, he stole the Ancestor Dragon Pearl from the Dragon Palace and smashed the stolen phoenix egg right inside the Dragon Clan's treasury.
The very instant the phoenix egg was shattered, a piercing, mournful phoenix cry pierced the skies above the southern volcanoes, and sheets of fire instantly filled half the sky.
Yuanfeng soared upward, and upon seeing only two children remaining at the volcanic crater, she let out another heaven-shaking cry, following her intuition as she flew toward the territory of the Dragon Clan.
Meanwhile, the dark figure had already arrived with the Ancestor Dragon Pearl at the dwelling place of the Qilin, secretly hiding the dragon pearl within the Qilin burial grounds.
Then, he snatched a young Qilin and once again quietly returned to the southern volcanoes, ruthlessly tossing the baby Qilin straight into the volcanic crater where Yuanfeng cultivated. Having finished all this, the dark figure sensed heaven-shaking fluctuations emanating from the East Sea.
With a cruel laugh, the dark figure muttered to himself, "Start fighting already, kill each other as much as possible! Only then can I gather all the blood essence Luohou needs and bring my Demonic arts to perfection. Hehehehe." With a flash, his figure vanished without a trace.
Back to Yuanfeng: burning with fury, she arrived above the Dragon Palace in the habitat of the East Sea Dragon Clan, unleashing a stream of phoenix flames that evaporated a giant hole into the ocean.
The seawater rapidly vanished beneath the phoenix flames, only for the gaping hole to be immediately refilled by the surrounding ocean. Yuanfeng only wanted to cause a commotion and alert the members of the Dragon Clan.
Sure enough, several roars echoed out as the Ancestor Dragon soared into the air with dozens of golden dragons. Seeing that it was actually Yuanfeng who had arrived, he shouted, "Fellow Daoist Yuanfeng, what brings you to my East Sea?"
Seeing this old mudfish actually playing dumb, Yuanfeng snapped harshly, "I sensed that one of my children is right inside your Dragon Palace. Do you dare let me go down and search?"
Before the Ancestor Dragon could speak, a Golden Dragon elder behind him directly talked back, "Impudent! Is our Dragon Palace somewhere just anyone can search? Go back and throw your weight around in your own volcano!"
Upon hearing this, the Ancestor Dragon remained silent. Yuanfeng's fiery temper flared up, and she unleashed a blast of phoenix flames directly at the impudent Golden Dragon elder.
The Golden Dragon elder hadn't expected Yuanfeng to dare be so arrogant here. He took the blast of phoenix flames head-on, and instantly, his glittering golden dragon scales were scorched pitch-black. Naturally, one could guess what happened next: a massive battle instantly broke out.
Neither the Ancestor Dragon nor Yuanfeng, locked in combat, noticed that the blood they dripped down vanished before it even hit the sea. The battle ultimately ended with Yuanfeng's defeat and her retreat back to the volcano, but this was only the beginning.
When the Ancestor Dragon returned to the Dragon Palace, he ordered his clansmen to thoroughly investigate the premises, knowing that Yuanfeng wouldn't come looking for a child here for no reason. Sure enough, a member of the Dragon Clan discovered the shattered eggshell near the entrance of the treasury. When the Ancestor Dragon arrived at the treasury, he confirmed that this was indeed a phoenix egg bearing Yuanfeng's bloodline.
Even worse, the Dragon Pearl hidden within the treasury was missing. The Ancestor Dragon instantly realized they had all fallen into someone else's trap; without a doubt, the Dragon Pearl was now either in the volcano or with the Qilin Clan.
Thus, the Ancestor Dragon hurriedly summoned all Dragon Clan members above the Daluo realm to discuss countermeasures. No matter what, the Dragon Pearl had to be retrieved, as it concerned the heritage and cultivation of the entire Dragon Clan—it was not a matter to be taken lightly. However, what they didn't expect was that the Qilin Clan, led by the Qilin Ancestor, was already heading straight for the volcanoes.
Now the three clans were thrown into utter chaos. Although the Ancestor Dragon later sent warnings, the three sides had already suffered heavy casualties. The beasts led by the Qilin Clan were burned to death in large numbers by the enraged Yuanfeng at the southern volcanoes, and facing the aerial supremacy of the avian faction, the Qilin Clan suffered devastating losses.
Following the aura of the Dragon Pearl, the Ancestor Dragon hoped to seize the opportunity to take it back, only to run squarely into the Qilin Ancestor, who was retreating in a crushing defeat. What a mess—the Qilin Ancestor, having just suffered a massive loss, ignored all of the Ancestor Dragon's explanations and gave only one word: "Fight!" And so the battle erupted anew.
Finally, joined by Yuanfeng's pursuing army, a cataclysmic three-way war broke out. Old Ancestor Luohou was so overjoyed he felt like flying; massive amounts of blood essence were absorbed and refined by him.
In the end, the Qilin Ancestor and Yuanfeng perished together, while the Ancestor Dragon was mortally wounded and died.
From then on, the three clans declined, forced to retreat behind the scenes. The sole victor had already returned to the Extreme West, for his Demonic arts were now fully accomplished, successfully elevating him to the Quasi-Saint Realm. Four immortal swords remained in the Extreme West, waiting for him to claim them.