Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Earth Dragon Beast in an Awkward Predicament — Uncle Bear Is the Only Good Man in the World

In this way, the Earth Dragon Beast found itself in an awkward predicament. It was just about to revive a strand of divine consciousness and be reborn through the dragon clan’s blood and soul, but unexpectedly, the dragon soul remained as steady as a boulder, unmoving.

A mournful dragon’s wail echoed forth from the shadowy dragon form, summoning the surrounding shadow beasts to attack Long Yi and the formation diagram. Yet, from within the formation, identical dragon roars resounded, perfectly matching the shadow’s cries.

It was as if, on a battlefield, a general shouted, “Charge!” only for another voice just like his to countermand, “Hold your ground!”

Within the formation diagram, an existence identical to the Earth Dragon Beast emerged. This technique alone could be so flawlessly mimicked by none but Wuyun.

Under such interference, the Earth Dragon Beast was utterly at a loss.

“Feels like you tried to steal a chicken and lost the rice instead!” Wuyun invoked the Sword of Dread Hate, symbolically severing the hundreds of twisting, morphing nails. The Earth Dragon Beast, witnessing this, was struck dumb with terror.

“Who are you to the Azure Tides Imperial Serpent? How do you possess her immortal sword?” the Earth Dragon Beast stammered, realizing its doom was inevitable.

“I see now! You deliberately lured me out with a dragon, only to exterminate me in one fell swoop! Azure Tides, you shall die a wretched death! You’ve annihilated my dragon clan, but there are dragon emperors in other galaxies who will come for revenge, there will be—”

Before it could finish, the Sword of Dread Hate plunged straight into the heart of the massive millstone. Then, together with the dragon blood Long Yi had just shed, and the indestructible will of the Earth Dragon Beast, all was drawn back into Long Yi’s body.

“That big mudfish has struck it rich!” Old Bear Third imitated Wuyun’s sigh, only to be met with a fierce glare from two dragon eyes. Alarmed, he darted behind Wuyun, muttering, “I was only voicing my senior’s sentiment, just expressing emotion...”

As Long Yi absorbed the immortal dragon soul, Wuyun was not idle either. He drew a shadow beast into the formation diagram for observation. Magnified within the formation, the essence of the shadow became clear—a conglomerate of countless mosquito-sized entities forming a single body.

After some study and reflecting on knowledge gained from the Third Immortal Realm, Wuyun concluded these were “Xuan Beasts,” a type of spirit creature forged by an Immortal King’s technique. These Xuan Beasts were undying and indestructible; only when synchronized with an immortal dragon soul would they manifest in the material world to attack—a rare and precious treasure indeed!

In terms of rank, they were second-grade immortal artifacts.

After tens of thousands of years, most of the Xuan Beasts’ energy had been absorbed by the Sword of Dread Hate, reducing them to sixth grade. If restored, they would be as powerful as the Yellow Turban Giants, ghostly soldiers, and generals—wielding boundless might!

“Such treasures, left to rust!” Wuyun lamented. His formation diagram could hold only one, and not subdue it; this was a treasure tailor-made for Long Yi, who alone could command them!

Circling the area, they could not find an exit, leaving Wuyun perplexed. As he pondered how to extricate themselves, the pillar upon which Long Yi rested began to glow, transforming into a luminous immortal artifact. Amidst Long Yi’s furious roar, both the pillar and millstone were ground to dust and vanished—along with the shadowy Xuan Beasts, which returned to the void, awaiting their next summons.

“People say dragons are lascivious by nature. What remains is that thing!” The Battle King was about to lecture Yue Qi when he turned around to see Long Yi standing tall and proud behind him.

It’s said when a man grows arrogant, his words grow bold; when a dragon swells with pride, his words are bolder still!

“Immortal body at its peak—after some rest, I’ll ascend straight to Great Immortal!” Long Yi boasted. Yet Wuyun was even more delighted. After gifting Long Yi the Xuan Beast, he instructed, “The safety and training of Yue Qi are now entrusted to you. At last, a worthy teacher!”

Long Yi... The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. The task of watching over the little one fell to Long Yi. Especially when Yue Qi curiously tugged at his dragon scales, Long Yi could distinctly feel the stirring within his dragon body.

Afterward, the Six-Talents Ancestor Dragon appeared, joining Yue Qi in play—climbing from dragon tail to horn, teaching the child to relieve himself wherever he pleased...

No matter how irascible Long Yi’s temper, he could not tolerate being soaked by a child’s urine.

Just as Long Yi was about to complain to Wuyun and beg Old Bear Third to take over, the Six-Talents Ancestor Dragon narrated, “Ah, once, when my rebellious son was young, he waited until I slept and relieved himself right on my dragon head...”

Upon hearing this, Wuyun looked questioningly at Long Yi, who only grinned sheepishly and wilted.

After all, with the Sword of Dread Hate in hand, not even the Startling Spirit Blade could match its edge.

This divine artifact from the Celestial Realm, after descending to the mortal world and being worn down by countless trials, was now little different from mundane objects save for its superior quality—its divine attributes stripped away.

Fine as it was, being unusable was a problem. With the artifact spirit sealed, the Sword of Dread Hate could not be refined unless one defeated the Azure Tides Imperial Serpent or broke the seal she had placed.

There were many methods, but not enough strength.

“This was the weapon of the Viper Empress. Mishandled, its power could obliterate us all. Better to wait until Ten Heavens and Nine Earths are restored to Seven Heavens and Seven Earths before making any plans!” Wuyun muttered to himself. Then, turning to the others, he asked, “Any unusual space fluctuations?”

“None!” Little Bug and Old Bear Third shook their heads. Since Wuyun himself had no way out, the task of seeking spatial anomalies had fallen to them—after all, both could spin silk.

The space was crisscrossed with Little Bug’s rainbow threads; not even a breeze could pass unnoticed, much less a flea.

Bored, Wuyun counted the Xuan Beasts—one thousand and seventy-nine in total, one in his formation, one absorbed by Long Yi, making one thousand and eighty altogether.

What did this number signify? The number of voids where Xuan Beasts were hidden!

“Which one is the exit?” Wuyun guessed that among the voids hiding Xuan Beasts, one must be the sole portal, and prepared to use his power to open it.

This was the most arduous and clumsy method—each hidden void required immense immortal strength to open, at least Celestial Immortal level, and even then, it would take days to open just one.

Long Yi, only just at Great Immortal level, could barely manage one every ten days, even with all his treasures.

A month passed, and Long Yi could bear it no longer. He addressed Wuyun as “senior” at every turn, seeking instruction. But Wuyun remained serenely seated, cultivating his spiritual path; occasionally, his soul would emerge, only to be quickly captured by a cage rising from his head.

This Saint Tyrant had forcibly refined his own skull into a spiritual curse array; should his soul depart, the array would destroy both itself and Wuyun’s soul.

Thus, Long Yi’s questioning came just as Wuyun was irritable. With a roar, he scolded, “Can’t you observe more carefully? What’s the use of that Xuan Beast you captured? Was your Immortal King cultivation bought for you by your father? You—”

Several such rebukes drew hearty laughter from the Six-Talents Ancestor Dragon within the Startling Spirit Blade.

Long Yi, having met resistance, summoned the Xuan Beast, but communication proved difficult. Another half month passed before Wuyun, having calmed, checked everyone’s cultivation.

Battle King: Mid-stage Hard Immortal Body!
Old Bear Third: Mid-stage Thunder Immortal Body!
Little Bug: Late-stage Buddha Immortal Body!
Long Yi: Early-stage Great Immortal!

As for Wuyun, still the weakest—early-stage Dark Immortal Body! Yet, occasionally, a dazzling white light would burst from his body, highly reminiscent of the Bright Immortal Body!

Dark and Bright Immortal Bodies, utterly unrelated—how could one cultivator possess both? This was a trait only found in ordinary immortal bodies.

Little Bug whispered a question. Wuyun retorted, “What? Speak up!”

Little Bug hurriedly raised his voice, “Senior, how can your immortal body have two systems—one dark, one bright? That defies cultivation logic!”

“So, you’ve noticed the Bright Immortal Body?” Wuyun replied, suddenly pleased and forgetting his earlier irritation. With a smile, he explained, “My cultivation is shackled by this body—I can’t practice directly, only take a circuitous route. Darkness is light, light is darkness; Buddha is demon, and demon can become Buddha. Do not judge by appearance, but by essence. Do you understand, Little Buddha?”

The seven strange beasts murmured uncertainly, reciting “Form is emptiness...” as a comparison.

“You’re still caught in appearances!” Wuyun snorted, glancing at Long Yi’s unhappy face, and thundered, “There’s nothing strange about special immortal bodies. Some can ultimately transform into supreme forms! But those are mere side paths. The true path is to gather many immortal bodies into one—only after becoming an Immortal Emperor can you reach the Celestial Realm and claim a place there!”

“Otherwise, entering a higher plane without any unique skills, you’d be better off enjoying yourself in the middle realms and living out your days in peace!”

Wuyun’s words left the listeners feeling inferior. Then, with a wave, he had the Xuan Beast prostrate itself before Long Yi. Like an old master instructing, Wuyun bent close, listened, nodded, and finally pointed at the many void spaces. “There!”

At his direction, Long Yi swiftly cleaved open a space. The Xuan Beasts within remained still, but a hazy portal appeared behind him.

This portal was one-way: you could exit, but not enter. What lay beyond, no one knew.

Yet in the void, Wuyun laid a positioning array and said to Long Yi, “These Xuan Beasts are treasures that can greatly advance your cultivation. You already have a strong foundation and don’t need to consolidate further. Once you reach the peak of Celestial Immortal, you can return to subdue them—they’ll be of immense help in overcoming the Immortal King Tribulation.”

Long Yi nodded, and, led by Wuyun, entered the formation and passed through the portal.

The portal was a one-way transport array. No sooner had they landed than an endless storm of Steel Killing Qi, like meteorites, ground against the Four Heavens and Three Earths.

No wonder it was said that even Celestial Immortals faced peril here. Solidified, the Steel Killing Qi was a hundred times more potent than its liquid form; the formation diagram was compressed like an egg—unbroken, but a single crack would shatter it!

Any lesser protective immortal tool, unless at least fifth grade, would be worn away. Yet under Wuyun’s control, they mounted an effective defense against this danger—like holding an egg, impossible to crush in the palm, but fragile if struck.

They advanced with utmost caution, shouting as they went; Yue Qi led the chorus: “In all the world, only Uncle Bear is good!”

After a month of aimless drifting, the pressure suddenly eased. With a bang, they crashed into a wall. Wuyun activated the formation’s outer layer to cleanse and restore it to its original state; outside, a vast, transparent wall of glass appeared.

An icy chill swept over them—a subterranean glacier unfolded before their eyes.

“A million-year glacier of ultimate cold!” Wuyun exclaimed, comparing their location to a map. Suddenly, he felt as if the sky had collapsed. This glacier stretched boundlessly underground, endless and vast. The deadly cold energy here was even more perilous than the Steel Killing Qi by a third!

While Steel Killing Qi ground and compressed, the Extreme Cold Qi was pervasive, altering the properties of all things. Even immortal artifacts would be frozen into useless lumps, melted away into worthless scrap.