Halfway up Buzhou Mountain, outside the special pocket world, several figures stood staring at one another, looking helplessly at the Innate Gourd that was on the verge of ripening.
When they first arrived, the gourd was already ninety percent mature. Now, after so much time had passed, it had indeed matured—moving from ninety percent to ninety-nine percent! Yet that final tiny fraction refused to be crossed. They were losing their minds. Were they being toyed with?
"No, I can't wait any longer!"
Kunpeng's patience was completely exhausted. Even if it wasn't fully ripe, he was going to harvest it; if the Sanqing returned, there wouldn't be anything left for him. The others watching nearby made no move to stop him, figuring they would let Kunpeng test the waters first—with their strength, they could certainly secure one for themselves.
Kunpeng reached out directly and grabbed for the lead-position purple-gold gourd.
At that exact moment, an Innate Grand Formation rose up beside the gourd vine, blocking Kunpeng's attempt. Treasures decreed by heaven had their own affinities; those without affinity could not obtain them.
"I don't believe I can't break your little formation!"
Seeing this, Kunpeng channeled his magic power into both hands and launched an attack against the Innate Grand Formation. After humming for a few moments, the grand formation could no longer bear the pressure and shattered apart.
Following Hongjun's first lecture, the vanguard of Primordial living beings had already broken through to the Daluo Golden Immortal realm, and Kunpeng happened to be right in that vanguard!
Overjoyed, Kunpeng went straight for the lead purple-gold gourd, while casting a greedy, stealthy glance at the remaining gourds.
"How dare you!"
A crisp female voice rang out, laden with intense fury. The refined young man beside her reacted instantly, summoning an ancient zither and plucking the strings with his five fingers. Notes of music rang out, intended to pin Kunpeng down. There was no helping it—Kunpeng had actually seized a purple-cyan gourd while they weren't paying attention. This particular gourd happened to have an affinity with Nuwa. How could she not be furious?
"Fellow Daoists Nuwa and Fuxi, we shall meet again!"
Even though Nuwa had discovered him in time and Fuxi had reacted swiftly, it was to no avail. The music of the Fuxi Zither missed entirely, shooting off into the sky and vanishing without a trace. Kunpeng's innate Law of Wind was no joke; it could truly be called the highest speed in the Primordial world! Operating it at full power, he quickly escaped the vicinity of Buzhou Mountain.
Once he fled to the North Sea, he would be safe. That was his base camp—if he couldn't beat them, couldn't he at least hide from them?
Feeling the two precious gourds in his embrace, Kunpeng was overcome with excitement. He was now someone who possessed spiritual treasures too! Whenever he saw treasures in the hands of others, envy would rise in his heart, but now he was about to obtain two extremely high-quality spiritual treasures. It felt amazing!
Just as he turned back to continue running, a pagoda-shaped spiritual treasure suddenly appeared right in front of him, growing larger by the second.
"I'm finished!"
*Bang!*
Kunpeng was knocked unconscious on the spot, plummeting straight down to the ground.
"These fur-clad, feather-wearing, egg-born creatures actually dare to seize our Eldest Brother's spiritual treasure. Utterly audacious!" Yuanshi said disdainfully in midair, preparing to finish off Kunpeng right then and there.
"Hold on, it is better not to commit murder," Laizi intervened, stopping Yuanshi. With a wave of his hand, the purple-gold gourd, the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Linglong Pagoda, and the purple-cyan gourd all flew into his grasp.
Taking advantage of this opening, Kunpeng regained consciousness and instantly fled without a trace.
Standing to the side, Feng Xuan remained silent. He now understood the timeframe: Hongjun's first lecture had just concluded, and the Innate Gourds of Buzhou Mountain had manifested. The item in his Eldest Master's hand was precisely the purple-gold gourd, one of his predestined spiritual treasures. It could preserve the medicinal potency of pills and temper them to enhance their effects; in the future, his Eldest Master would use it to store Nine-Turn Golden Pills. It also possessed the ability to absorb all things—also known as summoning souls—and in the future Journey to the West catastrophe, the Gold and Silver Horned Kings would use it to deal with Sun Wukong.
As for the Linglong Pagoda that Eldest Master had just hurled at Kunpeng, it was his companion spiritual treasure—the Houtian Merit Supreme Treasure, the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Linglong Pagoda! It was formed from the fusion of one percent of the merits of creation and a wisp of Xuanhuang breath from the very beginning of heaven and earth. Once deployed, it rendered the user inherently invincible, making it a top-tier defensive supreme treasure in the Primordial world.
As for that other purple-cyan gourd, it should be the Demon-Calling Gourd. It belonged to Nuwa, and inside the gourd was a small banner—the Demon-Calling Banner. It could command the Demon Race of the entire world, making it a supreme treasure of the Demon Race.
"Thank you, four fellow Daoists, for intercepting Kunpeng. Fuxi is eternally grateful."
At that moment, Fuxi and Nuwa arrived just in time. Seeing the spiritual treasures in Taiyi's hand, they instantly understood what had happened. The two of them made an obeisance and offered their thanks.
"Since these belong to you, Fellow Daoist, I shall return it."
Understanding the purpose of their visit, Laizi handed the Demon-Calling Gourd over. Nuwa received it joyfully and offered another expression of gratitude.
The six of them returned to Buzhou Mountain together.
By now, Di Jun and Taiyi had seized the opportunity to take the purple-white Immortality-Slaying Gourd, the purple-yellow Water-Fire Gourd, and the purple-black Chaos Gourd. Zhenyuanzi and Hongyun had collected the red gourd and were riding clouds away to the side.
"Di Jun, Taiyi, you have some nerve taking our things!"
Seeing that the gourds belonging to himself and his second brother had been taken, Tongtian let out a furious roar, hoisting the middle-grade innate spiritual treasure Kunwu Sword and charging straight at the two of them. That was his style—ruthless and sparing with words, fighting upon meeting!
*Clang!*
With a resonant chime of a bell, Tongtian's attack was blocked by the Chaos Clock.
"Tongtian, how dare you launch a sneak attack on us!" Taiyi and Di Jun shouted angrily.
"What, two thieves and you still dare to spout nonsense here?"
Though he had been blasted back by the Chaos Clock, Tongtian's momentum did not wane. He couldn't lose face!
"Well done, Third Brother! These fur-clad, feather-wearing, egg-born creatures are truly shameless scoundrels. Hand over the gourds and we might spare your lives."
Yuanshi stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Tongtian, jointly applying pressure on the pair.
"In your dreams! These Innate Gourds are ours now that they're in our hands."
"Hand them over? Impossible!"
Di Jun and Taiyi were almost laughing. With the Chaos Clock backing them up, they were confident they could retreat unscathed even if all three of the Sanqing attacked together. Therefore, they had nothing to fear!
Seeing the two of them so obstinate, Yuanshi and Tongtian attacked directly, battling midway up Buzhou Mountain. Fortunately, the stones of Buzhou Mountain were indestructible and could not be shattered by mere Daluo Golden Immortals. Otherwise, the pillar of heaven would have snapped ahead of schedule!
After dozens of rounds of combat, even though Yuanshi and Tongtian were higher in cultivation realm than Di Jun and Taiyi, they still could not break through the defense of the Chaos Clock and could do nothing against them.
Seeing his two younger brothers suffering, Laizi immediately joined the battlefield.
*You have the Chaos Clock, but I have the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Linglong Pagoda!*
With Laizi's addition, the tide of battle instantly turned. Taiyi and Di Jun had underestimated the strength of the Sanqing and overestimated the power of the Chaos Clock. Just a few rounds after Laizi joined, blood was trickling from the corners of their mouths, and the Chaos Clock rang out with continuous *clangs*. Yet the Sanqing remained completely unharmed.
The Sanqing were invincible individually and peerless together. Mere mortals like Di Jun and Taiyi simply could not resist them.
"Oh no, Eldest Brother, I can't hold on!" Taiyi said laboriously, pouring every ounce of his magic power into resisting the attacks of the Sanqing, though his aura grew weaker and weaker by the second, his magic power on the verge of exhaustion. Because the innate restrictions of the Chaos Clock had not been fully refined, combined with the power of the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Linglong Pagoda which was in no way inferior to the Chaos Clock, they were about to fail to hold the line!
"Then run! Once we return to the Sun Star, we'll be safe," Di Jun said with difficulty, pointing out a direction as he prepared to flee.
As Feng Xuan stood by, applauding and cheering for his three masters, the voice of the system suddenly rang in his ear.
[Ding! Detected that Di Jun and Taiyi are preparing to break through and escape past the host. Please make the following choices.]
[One: Overestimate yourself and try to block Di Jun and Taiyi. As the Eldest Disciple of the Sanqing, how could you let the enemy escape? Reward: Be slapped to death by Di Jun and Taiyi on a whim.]
[Two: Ask Nuwa to step in and stall the two of them for a moment. Your Great Dao blessing causes all living beings to feel close to you—go on, young man. Reward: One bottle of Three-Light Divine Water.]
[Three: Do nothing and let Di Jun and Taiyi escape. Reward: The system's contempt.]
Did this even need pondering? Option two, obviously!
He had no desire to die, nor did he want to let them escape with the treasures. Feng Xuan turned to look at Nuwa, who was watching the show with a calm expression, and put on a pitiful, pleading look:
"Sister Nuwa, could you please help me block Di Jun and Taiyi for a moment later? I'm begging you."