Crunch!
Zulong bit into a mulberry fruit and grunted in pleasure as his body succumbed to a sudden rush of power primordial Qi. It invigorated him and restored him to good health.
It hadn't been long since Zulin fled. Only a few minutes had past and the dragon had opted to recuperate. Hence he sat down and began consuming his supply of the Fusang tree's mulberry fruits.
Xuanwu stood at the side and looked at the berry in wonder and amazement. Such a treasure was incredibly rare in the primitive world and would be a definite asset to any immortal in possession of one. Yet here Zulong is devouring three in a row and still had a bag full.
"Take these and heal up," Zulong said after he was finished. He tossed the sack to Yinglong to share with Qinglong and Xuanwu.
"Is it really alright for me to…" Xuanwu began to say before Zulong held his hand up.
"You've proven yourself our friend. Consider us brothers and just accept it," he said with a friendly smile.
"He's right Xuanwu, we're already brothers in arms so just accept one," Qinglong said with an arm around the beautiful human form of the black tortoise. He held up a mulberry fruit which Xuanwu humbly accepted.
The azure dragon and black tortoise chat along wonderfully after that. Under the watchful eye of Yinglong and Zulong, Ao had been cleared of primordial beasts.
"Still, why did you not give chase brother? If you used master's talismans then that horse would've been obliterated," Yinglong asked. Zulong looked back with an uncomfortable look.
"Those are for emergency uses against foes far greater than us, that fake emperor was well within my power to defeat," the dragon said.
"But what about as he was fleeing? Master's attack would've hit and killed him," Yinglong asked.
"Would've been embarrassing," Zulong whispered so low that Yinglong did not hear him.
"Sorry I didn't quite catch that," Yinglong said.
"I said that whatever ability that horse used made it impossible to hit him no matter how accurate I aimed. What's to say master's talismans won't suffer the same results?" The ancestral dragon responded.
"Yes quite right," Yinglong said with a nod. "What do you think that was?" He asked.
"Judging by his fire and clouds, something to do with luck," Zulong said with contempt. "Fucking moron, burning through your luck like that will have disastrous effects especially for one claiming to be emperor," he snorted just at the memory of Zulin's retreating figure.
"Forget him," Zulong said. "Without great amounts of karmic luck, that fake emperor's future is doomed anyway."
"Rest up for now, we will return to report our success after daybreak," Zulong said. He reached into his inter spacial ring and brought out a large map and unfurled it on his lap.
'Let's see,' he thought tracing his finger along the northern regions of the map. It was a map that Da Hai had given him beforehand to navigate the primitive world. It contained locations that Da Hai had been to in the past but also locations from rumours and legends.
"Quite a long trek to the west sea," Yinglong said looking over his elder brother's shoulder. "West sea, another region we hear nothing about," the winged dragon said grimly.
"Master warned us to be wary of that place above all others," Zulond said with a nod. "It's close to the west continent, the holy ground for the devilish Dao."
"Devilish Dao, I've never met any from their sect before," Zulong mused. "Master told us to be wary and to retreat immediately if they make any significant movements during our stay. From my observation, it looked as if even master is afraid of them."
"Master was afraid?" Yinglong exclaimed in shock. "I guess it makes sense. We know of at least five seniors of master's generation working within the devilish Dao. I think it is wise to retreat if anything major happens."
Zulong nodded in agreement taking his eyes off the map. He saw Qinglong and Xuanwu discussing their Daos. He occasionally caught a few words describing the concept of stars and seasons.
"You are right to be wary of the west," Ao's rumbling voice said in acknowledgement. It was so shocking that the innate gods on Ao's continent all stood up and braced themselves.
"Oh no need to be dramatic," Ao said in amusement. "I mean you lot no harm."
"Who is speaking," Zulong demanded eyeing his surroundings.
"You want to know who's speaking? Know that I am a god from your master's generation. I am in front of you, below you, behind you. I am all of this land, every piece of ground you stand upon is me," Ao's rumbling voice announced quaking the earth itself.
"The land itself?" Xuanwu said in nervous shock. "But that would mean."
"We're not on an island," Qinglong concluded. He looked at the ground in amazement. "If what I think is true then we've been standing on a creature."
Zulong clapped his hands and dispersed the clouds. For millions of kilometres, the sky was bright blue. The continent of Ao that was once shrouded in mist was revealed to the greater north sea.
Zulong from his position on a stone slab could see clearly around him for the first time since reaching Ao. He looked downwards and saw the shape of a mindbogglingly massive head in the distance. So large was it that Zulong struggled to comprehend Ao's size.
"What are you?" Zulong said. He could feel vast power emanating from the great tortoise. It easily eclipsed anything he'd felt before. Even his master was likely inferior loathed as he was to even think that.
However, the head made no movements. Ao made no indication that he'd heard them. There was no movement at all, not even the slightest twitch of muscle. It was almost as if he wasn't even alive at all.
"Have I not explained already young ones?" Ao said. "I am Ao, a godfiend of the chaos period reincarnated into… well not quite an innate god."
"You're a piece of land," Xuanwu said in realisation. "You're both a living creature as well as the environment."
"Stuck somewhere in between," Qinglong said in realization as well placing his held on the ground in a kneeling position. "Unable to move, you're trapped," he stated.
"Quite right young ones," Ao answered in his deep rumbling voice. "But it's not all bad, I get to… to… to…" and then there was a long stretch of silence. "Anyway, it was quite an impressive battle you were having."
"It was nothing much senior," Zulong said humbly.
"Oh but it is, you are already a step into the Great Principle realm, a very powerful one at that. I suspect that when you make the full breakthrough you will be among the top of experts at the Great Principle stage of the Chaos Immortal realm," Ao praised.
"Quite right senior, my big brother is the foremost talent in the world," Qinglong said with reverence with Yinglong nodding. Even Xuanwu couldn't help but agree after witnessing everything that's happened.
"Fellow daoist Da Hai truly knows how to pick good disciples," Ao said in agreement.
"You know master?" Zulong's attention snapped to Ao along with his brothers.
"Not well but you can consider us acquaintances," Ao said.
"Then it is an honour to meet uncle master," the three dragons cupped their hands and bowed politely.
"Haha, since you showed me so much respect then I naturally have to reward you," Ao said cheerfully. "It's not much but since you cleared my itch you may have some of my special soil. It's blessed with the primal chaos of creation itself and anything grown on it will yield much better results."
From deep within the earth, a ball of rich soil that resembled ash flew up. It came out of a small crack on Ao's continent and appeared before Zulong.
"Many thanks," Zulong said storing away the soil.
"As for you Xuanwu," Ao said catching the black tortoise's attention. "How about becoming my disciple?"
"What?" Xuanwu said in surprise. "You really mean it?"
"Heh of course. Seeing fellow daoist Da Hai and his ilk got me interested. So how about it kid? From one tortoise to another?" Ao said.
"Accept it Xuanwu, mentorship from a senior of the chaos period is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Qinglong said. "Your cultivation will soar leaps and bounds, I know mine did."
"Well if you think so," Xuanwu said and after some reservations, flew to the top of Ao's head. "Disciple greets you master," he said and proceeded to perform the discipleship ceremony.
"Good, very good, then from this day forth our destinies are intertwined," Ao said. A stream of ancient mantras flowed into Xuanwu's head. "These are the introductory lessons to my cultivation arts, memorise them well," the living continent instructed.
Zulong and his brothers stayed and recuperated on Ao after that. Around a week after, they left along with Xuanwu to report the good news.
Xie Chun and those in his camp were nearly brought to tears when the dragons honestly completed their task. Zulong had not deceived them and had kept his word.
"Xuanwu, how about joining our empire?" Zulong proposed when they were about to leave. "You are already familiar with us and we've helped each other out. I promise you that we'd treat you very well."
Xuanwu scratched his chin in thought. "Well, you're certainly better than that Zulin fellow. Alright, I can join as an elder. But not now, I still have much to learn under master Ao."
"No problem, the establishment of my empire is still far off in the future. May I ask you to guard the north sea until then?" He said.
"The north sea is my home. You don't have to worry about it," Xuanwu reassured. "Though if Zulin comes looking for trouble I will not hesitate to flee," he said. "That fellow daoist is a little too high above my weight class."
"I wouldn't expect you to," Zulong said. "You're an asset now, preserve your own life above all else for now," he ordered.
"As you wish, your majesty," Xuanwu replied with a bow of courtesy. "Safe travels," he offered before leaving when Zulong gave him the signal.
"This trip's been very enlightening," Qinglong said after bidding Xuanwu farewell. "There are so many things in the primitive world that master never even told us about. Who knew there was a living continent in the shape of a tortoise or a giant pool of super cold water underneath the north sea."
"It is, the north will need a lot of work. Thankfully, the east is resource rich enough to send relief aid," Zulong said with a nod. "Well then brothers, let us move westwards."
"Agreed," the two dragons answered following after the senior dragon. The western border was a distance away but the trio could afford to fly leisurely. The north sea was very depopulated and empty of dangers.
…
The former personal abode of Shenni was long since been in a state of disrepair. With no one remaining to care for it, this cave palace had long since been abandoned.
Zulin, the ancestral qilin lay on the floor of the cave licking his wounds. His encounter with Zulong had both enraged yet also humbled him. He thought himself weary enough having had accounted for the appearance of the ancient godfiends. But who knew someone from his generation could beat him so badly.
The qilin hissed in pained annoyance as the scar on his face stung. Zulong's attack damaged his vitality and it was unlikely it'd fade. The qilin got up from his resting spot and moved deeper into the cave.
He strolled down a set of stairs to deep beneath the mountain. His hoofs clipped and clopped against the dusty slabs of stone. His destination was just before him.
An entire underground storehouse containing millions of primordial beasts. Shenni once controlled these creatures using his own mysterious methods. Legends say he'd amassed an army in the billions, perhaps even trillions.
In this day and age, primordial beasts were hard to come by in any place other than the north continent. Much of Shenni's store houses still remained.
Zulin pulled out his scroll. It was a gift given to him by his benefactor in exchange for a place in his government. It was a simple exchange, that old man had good precognitive abilities and knew of his destiny.
Zulin opened his draconic mouth and released the piece of luck cloud. He winced at seeing his own pool of karmic luck. It had decreased until it was a small dry well.
The cloud disappeared releasing the mutilated mantis. Zulin smiled when he saw the creature. Its physical strength was extraordinary. It may be crippled but the physiology of primordial beasts allowed it to recover eventually.
Illusionary red and green chains flew down from the roof of the storage chamber. They dangled from an elephant chess board hanging from the roof. They wrapped around the struggling mantis and held it up.
It was a valuable treasure he came across a very long time ago. Since he acquired it, he'd also cultivated it to the level of a top grade xiantian spiritual treasure by feeding it large amounts of luck, treasures, and souls.
"Primordial beasts grow stronger by devouring those with powerful Qi," Zulin murmured. "How did you grow so strong, this warrants more investigating," Zulin said shaking his head.
The innate god held up the scroll and set about the binding mechanisms. Hit was a longer process than usual but successful in the end. The mantis fell under his control.
"Now I need to regain my luck," Zulin grumbled. The ancestral qilin left the chamber and continued to lay low. For now, he'd need to fully heal, then find some good spots to siphon more luck.