Proofreader & Editor: Lotas
"Muhuang!" Feng Ji called out with a cry.
The Kylin's body immediately shimmered with radiance, beams of light falling upon the gathered Divine Beasts.
Blessings, banishments, health, purification…
The dying White Tiger muttered nonsensical vocabulary, likely curses, and the Kylin's blessings were most effective against such curses.
Blessing after blessing was cast, and the young Kylin cocked its head, eyes filled with confusion.
It didn't sense any curse.
The only oddity was the Dragon Turtle, looking startled as if frightened. The Kylin cast several more blessings upon it.
Still, no trace of a curse was found.
In fact, each of the Four Spirits' bloodlines had their specialties, all possessing abilities against curses. The Dragon Turtle, adept at defense, was the best among them, its True Blood forming weapons that feared no curse.
It looked puzzledly at Su He.
Although Su He's heart wasn't exactly tumultuous, it was still violently fluctuating.
The White Tiger's muttered words weren't curses! They were the titles of various Divine Beasts, Tiger Divine Beasts! Su He hadn't studied seriously in his past life, but he had played plenty of games, encountering Luwu and the Opening Bright Beast in more than one.
Zouyu… also known as Zouwu, which he had seen in a movie, quite adorable. But in that movie, Zouwu was very weak.
So, it wasn't that there were no Tiger Divine Beasts. It was just that there were no records? Erased by a giant hand?
Like hexagram?
But the erasure wasn't thorough, only removed from the middle and lower layers, at least the Dragon Turtle clan had detailed hexagram introductions.
The Dragon clan surely had them too, Yunmengze had the Dui hexagram.
Erasing all Tiger Divine Beasts, Su He didn't believe anyone could do it.
Divine Beasts were different. Their lineage didn't depend on parentage; ordinary beasts that obtained the Demon Morphing Fruit had the chance to activate the corresponding Divine Beast bloodline and embark on the Divine Beast path.
Even if all Tiger Divine Beasts were killed, future generations could still walk this path.
Once they did, it was impossible not to be noticed.
So, the issue with Tiger Divine Beasts was rooted at the source. There were no Tigers to prove the way of Divine Beasts.
Not even the Four Spirits had records! Then the span of time wasn't just a mere million years. Which of the Four Spirits didn't have ancient ancestors who lived over a million years?
Even among ordinary Divine Beasts, there was no shortage of million-year-old ancients.
Su He couldn't figure it out, mere speculation couldn't deduce the reason. He'd wait for Uncle Luo and the others to awaken from their shells and ask them.
Returning to his senses, Su He saw a Kylin cocking its head and peeking at him quietly.
"Thank you! I'm fine," Su He said to Muhuang. The little Kylin jumped, retracting its neck and instinctively wanting to retreat, but feeling it impolite, it weakly said, "No, no need to thank."
The White Tiger dissipated, and the barrier surrounding them vanished.
Su He transmitted a message to Meng Xuan, "Seventh Sister, do you know where the Evergreen Stone Milk is?"
This was Dragon territory, and asking Meng Xuan was sure to be right.
Meng Xuan feigned sudden realization and whispered, "For my great-niece?"
Without waiting for Su He to reply, she sent a message, "Head straight towards the falling star. With your original speed, fly for two to three months, and you will see a palm-shaped giant mountain. The Evergreen Stone Milk is at the center of the mountain."
Su He followed the dragon's tail direction, only one star in the sky, seemingly about to fall, trailing a long tail, hurtling towards the ground. But in the sky, it seemed fixed, not moving at all.
"Thanks, Seventh Sister!" Su He responded.
Meng Xuan waved her paw nonchalantly, "What's there to thank among family? Just remember to take me along next time you go to the opera."
"The Evergreen Stone Milk must be refined immediately after harvesting to remove the dragon essence within, or its quality and effectiveness will be greatly reduced."
Su He nodded in thanks; he already knew this, having done his homework before the Dragon God Festival, everything clear in his chest.
With a slap of her paw, a Flying Boat was released, rising upon the waves. The Flying Boat ascended, heading straight for the place Meng Xuan mentioned.
This Flying Boat was a gift from Orient Loong God Qingcang before the Dragon God Festival when Su He paid respects to the Dragon clan elders. It had no pavilions or towers, just an empty frame. It had no features, just one thing: speed.
Greatly compensating for Su He's slow flying speed.
What originally took three months could now be done in half a day with the Flying Boat, and that was with spirit stones and elemental crystals powering it. If Su He used his True Essence, the speed would be even faster.
But as a Dragon Turtle outside, one must know how to protect oneself. No one knows what the next moment might bring, and sufficient True Essence is the guarantee of safety.
With the White Tiger gone, various roars of Divine Beasts rose, some curious about the existence of the White Tiger, others about why there was a barrier.
But no one came forward to ask; none were fools. Since there was a barrier, the White Tiger incident was clearly a matter for the Four Spirits. Knowing too much about certain things isn't necessarily good.
Divine Beasts dispersed, seeking their own opportunities while guarding against their peers.
The rules within the Dragon Gate were special, with traces and rhyme left by the Dragon Ancestor. External Divine Beasts couldn't monitor this place.
It wasn't that there hadn't been deaths of Divine Beasts during past Dragon God Festivals.
But the treasures born here were unique, unobtainable with any amount of spirit stones in the outside world.
Some treasures could even advance a Divine Beast further. Not to the extent of the Four Spirits, but getting infinitely close was always possible.
This was why Divine Beasts tirelessly pursued it.
Those familiar with each other, knowing each other's roots, formed teams, two or three partnering up.
A Heavy Eyed Bird flapped its wings, flying not too high nor too low, its eyes spinning wildly with each flap, either observing the surroundings with its special eyeballs or trying to clear the feathers stuck on them.
"Eh? Mu Yin, weren't you not planning to come in?" Fu Zhu trotted over on deer hooves.
The Heavy Eyed Bird glanced at her, flapped its wings, "Fog, you're here too." It shook its head helplessly, nodding its beak towards the direction Su He flew off, "Nah, with the Dragon Turtle here, the Flame Crow refused to come in. I didn't want to stay outside with the Flame Crow, so I had to come in."
The Heavy Eyed Bird clan didn't get along with the Flame Crow.
"Why not find the Heavy Eyed Bird?" Probably because both were Divine Birds with outstanding pupil-based Divine Abilities, the Heavy Eyed Bird clan actually had a good relationship with the Heavy Eyed Bird.
Mu Yin shook its head, "I'm not familiar with the Heavy Eyed Bird that came in this time, and it's already teamed up with the Glutton."
The Heavy Eyed Bird was seriously injured and didn't dare to venture alone, pairing up with the Glutton early on.
"That's good!" Fu Zhu nodded, then advised, "You haven't opened your realm, don't go far, just touch upon opportunities around here, the harvest doesn't matter, just broaden your horizons."
Mu Yin chirped in agreement.
Fu Zhu's hooves generated water, treading towards the distance.
During the battle on the first day of the new year, it had entered the battlefield but made no achievements, even causing trouble, and didn't dare to pursue the Dragon Turtle in the end, becoming the laughingstock of the Divine Beasts.
The Heavy Eyed Bird Mu Yin was one of the few Divine Beasts it could call a friend.
***
The Flying Boat was swift, and in less than half a day, the palm-shaped giant mountain Meng Xuan mentioned was clearly in sight, truly resembling a giant palm on the ground, just missing a little finger.
Su He retracted the Flying Boat and descended upon the broken palm mountain, looking around. There were traces of Dragon clan activity here.
The Dragon clan must have explored this place, with an existing entrance to go inside.
Leaping in, he followed the tunnel straight down. At the center of the mountain belly was a cavern, within which stood a stone resembling a Dragon Blood Tree.
"Found it!" The center of this stone tree was the Evergreen Stone Milk. Without Meng Xuan's guidance, who knew how long it would take to find this place.
Condensing water into a blade, he carefully split open the stone tree. A dragon's might emanated from within, and a fist-sized drop of stone milk floated up and down inside.
Su He took out the stone milk and refined the true dragon essence within.
The Evergreen Stone Milk was brewed from the true dragon essence, but after harvesting, it was necessary to refine away the true dragon essence within. This was a time-consuming task, and Su He estimated it would take at least a month.
It wasn't that he couldn't speed up the process; he could do it quickly, but the Evergreen Stone Milk couldn't be rushed.
As the True Essence slowly refined, Su He's consciousness sank into the Sense Realm Palace, once again receiving the inheritance.
The toad didn't follow into the Dragon Gate; Su He needed to prepare resources for his later cultivation, currently selecting treasures in the Mountain Sea Mysterious Realm.
Now with the Dragon Gate blocking contact, unable to snatch the inheritance, Su He was merely accepting the various knowledge of the Dragon Turtle clan.
The accumulation of knowledge from countless generations of Dragon Turtles was vast as the sea, impossible to learn without tens of thousands of years. Su He seized every moment to absorb.
As days passed, indeed, Divine Beasts within the Dragon Gate began to fight. The treasures here were all unique, worth fighting for.
But no casualties had occurred yet.
A slight magical fluctuation came through, and Su He slowly opened his eyes.
The stone milk was refined by more than half, enough for Feng Yaya to use, but more treasures were always better, especially since the Dragon God Festival only happened once every ten thousand years. This item was hard to come by.
After collecting the stone milk, Su He extended his Divine Sense. He saw a Heavy Eyed Bird tiptoeing outside, setting up a Formation, a large array enveloping the broken palm mountain.
Mu Yin…
Su He recognized it; it was a Heavy Eyed Bird with a good nature. The toad had collected many treasures from it, and after Su He descended from Chenfeng Mountain, it was the first one he was introduced to.
The Heavy Eyed Bird was a relatively weak existence among Divine Beasts—very weak.
However, this bird's mastery of formations was high, far surpassing Su He. Su He's current study of formations was limited to recognition!
His means of breaking formations were limited to smashing them!
The outside was a "Heavenly Prison" Formation. It could isolate all auras, and if there were soul beasts, it could sever the connection between the soul beasts and the Mysterious Realm. It also had some additions, likely with effects to solidify space and prohibit teleportation.
It was also here for the Evergreen Stone Milk.
"Is that you, Daoist Mu Yin?" Su He called out. The Heavy Eyed Bird outside was startled, seemingly unable to believe that someone had already taken the lead here. But it dared not fail to respond, flapping its wings and landing.
"Daoist Su He, I didn't expect you to arrive first." It shook its head helplessly, glanced at the already broken stone tree, and sighed even more.
Then it looked at Su He, "I don't know how much Evergreen Stone Milk Daoist Su He needs? If there's excess, could you spare me some? I'll trade with other items."
Su He smiled, "Sure, I only need half, the rest can be exchanged for a beam of Purple Pupil Divine Light. I wanted to exchange with Daoist the other day, but you were reluctant to part with it."
The Purple Pupil Divine Light was condensed from the divine eyes under the wings of the Heavy Eyed Bird, requiring at least twenty to thirty thousand years to refine a single beam.
Its power was not to be underestimated.
Mu Yin's eyes showed difficulty, struggling for a while before saying, "Alright, you know I'm not old enough to condense Divine Light, this is the only one given by my clan for protection."
It reluctantly took out a bead and tossed it to Su He, its head slightly lowered, looking very reluctant, but a glint flashed in its eyes.
Su He was overjoyed, about to speak, but what came out was a thunderous roar.
"Roar!"
The Heavy Eyed Bird's eyes suddenly became clear, and then its expression changed drastically, struggling to regain consciousness, looking up in horror, "Dragon Turtle, what are you doing?"
No one answered, only a heavy raindrop hit the bead, and the bead beside it exploded. Purple light shot onto the Heavy Eyed Bird.
Still trying to pretend!
It was possible for the Heavy Eyed Bird to have exceptional formation skills, but it hadn't opened its realm yet, so where did it get such profound True Essence to set up formations?
Moreover, Su He didn't conceal his aura when he came here; the Dragon Turtle aura was everywhere. If the Heavy Eyed Bird had come, it would have sought him out first, so why set up formations?
And Su He never mentioned exchanging Purple Pupil Divine Light on the day they met, yet this bird didn't deny it!
The bird wasn't big, but it had many thoughts! Who the hell are you?!
The purple light passed through the Heavy Eyed Bird, piercing the outer skin, revealing the bird's feathers of green and red, a flame ignited, and the bird instantly turned into the Flame Crow, glaring at Su He with a mix of shame, rage, and murderous intent.
Seeking death!
As a Divine Beast, who didn't have a few trump cards? That day on Chenfeng Mountain, under the watchful eyes, it couldn't use even half of its strength, allowing you, a milk-smelling brat, to take advantage.
Today, however, you're getting ahead of yourself!
Knowing it's me, you should've just honestly exchanged treasures. Exposing me, isn't that seeking death?!
It glared straight at Su He, only to see a dice rapidly enlarging in front of it. It had no time to dodge and collided head-on.
Despicable! Ambush!
With a muffled sound, darkness fell before its eyes, and the Flame Crow spat out a mouthful of blood, its eyes filled with shock and rage, its form instantly turning into a sea of fire.
"Dragon Turtle! I kindly offered to exchange with you, yet you harbored vile intentions, you're seeking death!"
Damn it! How could the Dragon Turtle's strike be so powerful? It knew the Dragon Turtle had opened its realm, and all Divine Abilities would increase in power. But to such an extent, it was unreasonable!
Exchange your ass! If you're so kind-hearted, why set up a formation? And imprison space, dare you say it wasn't targeting my Divine Machine?
Su He didn't say a word, roared, and his Divine Might swept in all directions. The leaping flames instantly solidified for a moment.
"Roar!" A dragon head flew out, tearing off a large piece of the sea of fire.
The Flame Crow cried out.
You're devouring my essence again! The Glutton's devouring method targeted the fundamental existence, like the essence. Otherwise, it wouldn't have thought of coming here to collect the Evergreen Stone Milk.
Indeed, it had planned to hide its identity in the Dragon Gate world and trouble the Dragon Turtle, but that should have been after refining the Evergreen Stone Milk and stabilizing the injury from the Dragon Turtle's bite.
But it never expected the Dragon Turtle to be here too!
Did this turtle already see through its identity, knowing its purpose, and was specifically waiting here?
The Flame Crow cried out, and within the sea of fire, beast shadows emerged. Fire beasts leaped towards Su He.
The might was like a sea, the murderous intent chilling. This time, the Flame Crow held nothing back.
But Su He stood fearless, stomping a forepaw, and an ocean unfolded within his domain, the surging waves smashing directly at the fire beasts.
This was Su He's first time fully mobilizing the power of the world after opening his realm. Even ordinary seawater in the domain, containing the power of the world, was heavier than a thousand catties.
Wave after wave crashed down, instantly smashing the fire beasts to the bottom of the sea.
It had the essence of the heavy water from Su He's Tribulation Crossing.
Chaotic blades slashed down from above, their power much stronger than before he opened his realm. No longer flying knives or curved blades, but a Guandao slashing wildly in the sky, blade qi falling.
The Flame Crow's sea of fire burned atop the vast ocean. With a crane's cry, it reappeared in bird form, rising into the air, its wings shaking, and trees sprouted in the vast ocean, their roots plunging into the sea, drawing water.
The branches formed pavilions, shielding the Flame Crow's head. Blocking the chaotic blades.
Above its wings, feathers like arrows shot out, piercing space, heading straight for Su He.
Su He seemed to see nothing, his outer form manifesting, braving the arrow rain and charging at the Flame Crow.
Approaching, he opened his mouth and struck with the Mountain God Seal. The Flame Crow's eyes showed mockery, its form once again turning into a sea of fire, the Mountain God Seal shooting through the sea of fire towards the outside.
"You're dead!" The Flame Crow's voice came from the sea of fire. In the direction Su He charged, the fire beasts suppressed at the bottom of the sea exploded.
But it wasn't fire; it turned into a pool of Divine Beast True Blood, enveloping Su He. These fire beasts were just a disguise; the True Blood was the real body.
A familiar aura, Zhu Yan True Blood.
The Flame Crow came prepared. First, it used the formation to fix space, rendering Su He's Divine Machine unusable, then doused him with Zhu Yan True Blood.
As long as Su He had a moment where he couldn't use his Divine Abilities, his outer form would break, and it would have a seventy percent chance of striking him down in one hit.
Watching the Zhu Yan True Blood enveloping him, the Flame Crow's eyes gleamed with joy.
No matter how talented the Dragon Turtle was, the lack of cultivation time was a hard injury, lacking experience in combat, and even if your realm was lower, you could still play them to death! Especially since I'm a realm higher than you!
But at the moment of its light laughter, a loud bang erupted above.
The Flame Crow was stunned , its Divine Sense sweeping out, only to see the Mountain God Seal Su He had struck smashing into the broken palm mountain.
The entire mountain was crushed.
The Formation laid upon the broken palm mountain twisted, the space-binding technique shattered in an instant. Su He's figure had already taken the opportunity to flash away, escaping the Zhu Yan True Blood.
Snow Concealment was used simultaneously, vanishing in a flash.
The Flame Crow's flames danced chaotically.
"The Mountain God Seal was aimed at the mountain from the start!" It gritted its teeth in its voice. The Mountain God Seal was never meant to hit it!
A misstep, and it watched helplessly as the Zhu Yan True Blood fell towards the vast ocean. The Flame Crow cried out, and the trees immediately reached towards the vast ocean.
But at that moment, the vast ocean surged with waves, directly colliding with the Zhu Yan True Blood, scattering it and leaving the tree branches empty.
The Flame Crow's expression changed instantly, without the Zhu Yan True Blood, it would be difficult to win this fight. Flames surged upward, transforming into the Flame Crow's true form, flapping its wings and flying towards the mountain's exit.
It had a good plan; if it couldn't win, then it would leave quickly. It could find another opportunity later.
But at that moment, a heavy rain poured down from above.
The rain was blood-red, rich with the scent of Zhu Yan.
Water Manipulation, unable to control the fresh True Blood within a Divine Beast's body, but unable to control the dead blood brought out by others? Especially after being washed by the vast ocean, carrying Su He's domain aura.
The Flame Crow's expression changed again, fear in its eyes. It saw another dice condensing above, and immediately shouted, "I concede! We have no mortal feud, you've already won, I concede!" The Flame Crow screamed.
But the dice continued to condense.
"No! White Spirit didn't kill me, you can't…"
As it shouted, the dice condensed even faster, becoming the size of a human fist, and suddenly smashed down. Piercing through the Flame Crow's chest, it hit the ground, and the entire land collapsed.
"White Spirit didn't kill you, what does that have to do with me? I'm petty!" Only at this moment did Su He slowly appear.
When you played Zhu Yan, you should have known I'm petty.
He was relentless after landing a successful hit. Another dice fell, pressing the Flame Crow into the ground.
Boom!
The dice dissipated immediately after the impact.
The Flame Crow lay in the pit in a strange posture, thoroughly dead.
But Su He didn't stop, the Mountain God Seal smashing down repeatedly. Divine Might roared towards the Flame Crow's corpse.
This roar was the strongest Divine Might Su He had unleashed since opening his realm, infused with the power of the world. The roar came out without sound, but the Flame Crow's corpse was blown away.
Spinning, several dice fell from the sky, landing on the Flame Crow's body, rolling various numbers.
A bead topped with a three-pointed dice fell from the Flame Crow's body.
A dangerous aura rushed forward, making the turtle's heart skip a beat. If he had thought the Flame Crow was already dead and carelessly approached, he would have been seriously injured if not dead.
But… playing dead was useless with Su He.
Before the dice even landed, you tell me you're dead, who would believe it?