Dragons were born with spirits from the chaos.
If Qiongqi could be called a divine beast, then dragons were the kings among divine beasts.
In terms of nobility, only the phoenix clan could compare.
The young Qiongqi's mind was in a mess as he thought about these things, then suddenly realized something.
βHe had been stunned by Xu Mu's words, so when the latter rode on his back, he had forgotten to resist.
"Can't you walk? Why are you riding on me?"
His tone was unfriendly, making Xu Mu scratch his head.
"Ah... well, actually, I injured my leg."
"Just this once, I promise."
"Hmph!"
Qiongqi snorted coldly and carried Xu Mu towards the mine.
Along the way, he remained silent, his mind solely occupied with the dragon egg.
He had no doubt about what Xu Mu had told him.
After all, this was his only friend. If he said he had a dragon egg, then he had a dragon egg.
And Qiongqi spent the entire journey wondering where Xu Mu had gotten this dragon egg from. Weren't dragons supposed to be extinct long ago?
He couldn't figure it out and remained silent. Xu Mu was happy to have some peace.
Thus, soon, the man and beast arrived at the mine entrance.
"There's a risk of collapse at any time," Qiongqi said.
He hovered in the sky, observing that the mine was surrounded by cracks spreading a thousand meters in all directions, all caused by the sword energy.
The mine should have collapsed long ago, but after a series of freezing and tremors, it had somehow maintained a delicate balance, appearing not to collapse easily.
However, no one knew if it would collapse after they went down.
"I left a mark here, I can traverse space anytime. You should mark it too."
Xu Mu was taken aback. Marking? Did he mean spatial dao techniques?
But he didn't know any!
"Isn't one mark enough?" Xu Mu said, his face unblushing. "You can just take me up, I'm on your back anyway."
Qiongqi became angry at this:
"How long do you plan to ride me!"
"Besides, carrying someone across space is very tiring. I'm already this worn out. Can't you do something yourself?"
"Uh..." Xu Mu scratched his head. He wanted to do it himself, but he really didn't know any spatial dao techniques.
"Actually, I'm also very depleted. I can't use spatial dao techniques for now."
Xu Mu could only lie again, feeling a little guilty.
He wondered if using the same excuse twice would work.
Qiongqi was stunned when he heard this.
He seemed to recall that Xu Mu had asked for his help when he first arrived.
"This guy, holding a demonic sword, asked me for help. It seems he's really seriously injured," Qiongqi sighed inwardly, then said with some disdain, "I really can't do anything about you."
Xu Mu chuckled. He hadn't expected to get away with it so easily, but it was thanks to Qiongqi's willingness to trust him.
Otherwise, even if he amputated his legs, Qiongqi wouldn't have allowed him to be so presumptuous. After all, he was a divine beast with his own dignity.
"Be careful."
Qiongqi warned, and his body was swallowed by the ground as he burrowed into the mine.
...
On the mountaintop, the various ability users remained silent.
They watched Xu Mu disappear, feeling bewildered.
Xu Mu had killed Fang Jia in front of everyone, then suddenly followed the white tiger into the mine. What were they supposed to do now? How should they interact with each other?
Changsun Wuji's mind stirred with a bold idea, such as ambushing Nan Feng.
But it was just a thought, as they were all seriously injured.
Nan Feng's face was so grim it could drip water.
"Damn it!"
He had nowhere to vent his emotions and could only roar.
Nan Tong walked to Nan Feng's side with a terrifying expression and whispered,
"Big brother, do you think we should..."
As he spoke, he fiercely squeezed his right hand, clearly intending to kill Xu Mu.
"No," Nan Feng replied surprisingly decisively.
"Putting aside the people from the alliance, just that tiger with fire in its eyes is something we can't defeat."
Nan Tong was taken aback, then clenched his fist in unwillingness.
"So Third Brother just died for nothing?"
Nan Feng turned and glared at him.
"Or what? Do you want to go with him?"
Nan Feng's eyes were cold, scaring Nan Tong into a shiver.
In fact, he didn't care about the life or death of Xi Du or Fang Jia. He only cared about whether he and Nan Tong could maintain their previous status after leaving.
With two of the Northwest Four Evils gone, they would be notorious. Their brothers would likely face many troubles, and their old enemies would swarm them.
Nan Feng's face was ugly, and he scanned his surroundings. Many people were staring at them with burning eyes, because they still had a lot of points.
"As long as we stay alive, there will always be firewood to burn. This place is no longer suitable for us. Farewell!"
Nan Feng snorted coldly and quickly left with Nan Tong, without any hesitation.
"Heal here and await the Alliance Leader,"
Changsun Wuji retracted his gaze, cleared his throat, and said loudly.
Everyone exchanged glances, temporarily setting aside their fervent desires.
They had just narrowly escaped death and truly understood the value of life.
No matter how good the opportunity, one needed to be alive to enjoy it.
So, everyone sat down cross-legged to heal.
Thus, the mountaintop returned to its former silence, perhaps waiting for Xu Mu's return to break it.
...
Inside the mine, thanks to his familiarity with the terrain, Qiongqi descended much faster than before.
In just a moment, he reached the bottom.
Xu Mu climbed off Qiongqi's back, his expression solemn.
The cave was too deep. When they reached the middle, the sunlight would completely disappear. However, he could still see clearly because of the corpses of the great demons and the chilling frost.
And based on his rough estimate, there were at least a thousand fourth-stage great demon corpses in this mine.
Most of them had died by that sword.
Xu Mu stared at the center, at the frozen shore flower, and couldn't help but shake his head.
He was still too weak. In conflicts of this magnitude, he treaded on thin ice. Even if he did his best, at critical moments, he still had to rely on luck.
If the Gan Jiang Sword had attacked them just now, then undoubtedly, ninety-nine percent of the people on the mountaintop would have become corpses under the sword, or even vanished into thin air, leaving no remains.
"Is this thing dead or not? I have a feeling it's still alive."
Xu Mu snapped back to reality, remembering what was important.
He walked past countless demon corpses and arrived before the giant, frozen shore flower.
Xu Mu sensed it carefully. The reason he asked that question was because he felt too much death within the shore flower's body.
"Although it is indeed dead, it shouldn't be dead to this extent."
Xu Mu suppressed his astonishment and shook his head.
He merely extended his divine soul, as if he had entered hell. Mountains of corpses and seas of blood appeared before him, and the chilling intent shot straight to his soul, making him dare not look a second time...
Qiongqi also sensed something was wrong and cautiously approached, using his claws to cut off a section of the root to examine it closely.
"Shore flower, it's been many years since I've seen one."
The voice of the demon god also echoed from the sword in Xu Mu's hand.
"That's right, you're the demon god."
Xu Mu suddenly remembered that the sword in his hand still held the soul of the demon god.
The shore flower grew in the Yellow Springs, a realm that, in myths, was one of the territories governed by the demon gods.
The demon god carefully recalled the shore flower and then said,
"The shore flower, although I have not seen it with my own eyes, I know of its existence."
"The four hundred and twenty-first millionth demon general once described its mystique to me, and explained that it is a symbiotic entity that gathers the extremes of life and death, hence it has two main bodies."
Xu Mu's spirit perked up at this, he automatically ignored the absurd number and asked,
"Two main bodies?"
Demon God:
"Yes, one symbolizing life, and the other symbolizing death."
Then, when Xu Mu looked at the corpse of the shore flower again, his gaze was completely different.
According to the demon god, the shore flower had two main bodies. The one symbolizing life had been taken by Ji Chang, so the one before him should be the one symbolizing death.
Since they were both main bodies, their value should be the same. If the life-affirming body could bring the dead back to life and allow reincarnation, what could this death-affirming body do?
"It probably has no use."
"Keeping it by your side might allow you to comprehend the Great Dao of Death."
The demon god concluded, making Xu Mu's heart pound.
No use, meant the Great Dao of Death?
The Great Dao of Death!
Although Xu Mu didn't understand the strength of this Great Dao, just from its simple and direct name, he knew it must be very powerful, outrageously powerful.
If he could comprehend this Dao, his combat power would at least increase severalfold!
"Every part of it contains unimaginable death energy, as well as traces of the Great Dao."
"You can cut off some pieces to keep with you, which will make comprehending the Dao easier."
Qiongqi also reached a conclusion, the same as the demon god.
He stored the root section, which had grown into a tail, into his spatial storage.
Xu Mu nodded. This corpse was so large, he could take more back. In the future, when he was short of money, he could even sell some of it...
So, he quickly chopped off fifty pieces of the shore flower's corpse, each about the size of a calf, mostly taken from the roots.
After finishing all this, Xu Mu took a deep breath.
Then, under Qiongqi's unwavering gaze, he slowly took out the golden egg from his spatial storage. It was covered in vine-like patterns and exuded an extraordinary nobility.
Sensing the aura emanating from the egg, Qiongqi's body involuntarily hunched over.
For the second time in his life, he felt a pressure from a higher tier of life.
Other divine beast races, over thousands or tens of thousands of years, might not encounter such a thing even once, yet he had encountered it twice.
Divine beast bloodlines were incredibly noble, accustomed only to oppressing others. Setting aside cultivation levels, even the bloodline of a Human Emperor was not as noble as theirs.
Yet, this noble bloodline had encountered oppressive pressure twice, both times from this creature.
The first time was Xu Mu.
Qiongqi recalled their first meeting, when Xu Mu had attacked him with a demonic sword, terrifying him.
That was not due to cultivation level, but a genuine sense of pressure from a higher life form. However, it was gone now. Perhaps it was because he had just seen the demonic sword then?
Qiongqi shook his head; that was uncertain.
But the golden egg before him now truly gave him an indescribable pressure, originating from his soul and bloodline.
The life gestating within this egg might be several times more noble than his own.
Thus, even Qiongqi, who believed Xu Mu wouldn't lie, was not immune to shock upon seeing this golden egg.
"You really do have a dragon egg!"
Qiongqi's eyes blazed with desire, then he said pitifully,
"Good friend, where did you get the dragon egg? Can you give me the whole thing? I want to take it home and raise it!"
...