Although he had mentally prepared himself, the vastness of the Great Desolation (Honghuang) still far exceeded Yuan Yi’s expectations.
He had been flying for several hundred years, yet he still hadn’t left the borders of the Eastern Sea.
Everywhere he looked was still endless ocean—he couldn’t even glimpse the edge of the Great Desolate land.
The only good news? The Dragon Clan hadn’t come after him. He had already abandoned his old lair and made a clean getaway anyway.
Born immortal, a Golden Immortal, carrying innate yin-yang qi and shrouded in the fierce energies of heaven and earth, his foundation upon the Dao formed naturally—he wasn’t short on time. He was gradually adapting to the concept of time in this world, and while traveling, he also started to explore methods of cultivation.
Even though he didn’t know how to advance his realm further, he never stopped studying how to wield the power of his current foundation.
Strength—that was the ultimate foundation for survival. Only when strength fell short did one have to look elsewhere.
Yuan Yi understood clearly that his greatest asset was the innate yin-yang energy tainted with killing aura, so he focused all his effort on refining and developing that.
This yin-yang energy excelled at offense, so Yuan Yi aimed to maximize its destructive power.
Aside from offensive techniques, the other area Yuan Yi studied most diligently was escape techniques.
If he could win a fight, great. If not—running away was the only choice.
It was said that yin-yang escape techniques were even more rare and powerful than the classic five-element escape techniques. Yuan Yi had a natural advantage in this, so he was determined to develop it further.
He didn’t know whether it was due to a lack of talent or just that cultivation was inherently difficult, but even though his speed had increased several times, he still hadn’t developed a true escape-type divine ability, which left him somewhat disappointed.
At the same time, on his journey, Yuan Yi often wondered if he might stumble upon some treasures. Wasn’t it said that the Great Desolation was full of them?
If he was lucky enough to pick up a few innate spiritual treasures, wouldn’t that be amazing?
But he had dreamed too much. As someone not born a true innate deity, he lacked the fortune and cultivation level for such encounters. Worse yet, he’d emerged so late into the world—he had no share in treasure-hunting. After hundreds of years, he hadn’t even found a single hair of an innate treasure.
At best, he’d collected a pile of junk—some decent-looking spiritual herbs and materials, but none of it was innate grade.
Especially since the Eastern Sea wasn’t unclaimed territory. While the Dragon Clan had fallen, many innate divine beings now occupied this area.
From the news Yuan Yi had heard, this territory was likely claimed by a group of innate gods led by Lord Dongmu, the leader of male immortals. They were said to be stationed on the famed Three Immortal Islands.
Yuan Yi didn’t dare go anywhere near them. From what he knew, Lord Dongmu was one of the earliest to start making big moves—and also one of the earliest to die. Even if he were captured just as cannon fodder, he absolutely refused to fall into that camp—he’d die too early and never get to enjoy any benefits.
As for Yuan Yi’s intended destination, it was Kunlun Divine Mountain. The third sermon at Zixiao Palace had not yet begun, and the saints had not taken their positions, so the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) hadn’t yet gone their separate ways—they should all still be living in eastern Kunlun.
Would he be able to achieve his goal? He didn’t know. But he had to at least give it a try.
The killing aura that clung to him was truly troublesome. Even though he was a naturally-born divine being, he’d already been mistaken several times as some evil creature meant to be slain for karmic merit. What bad luck!
This era belonged to the innate divine beings. And there were quite a few with similar roots to Yuan Yi.
Many had even already given birth to entire clans or races. Yuan Yi had seen some himself on an island in the sea.
However, what Yuan Yi was fairly certain of was that among the innate divine beings, his own strength wasn’t considered weak—many didn’t even match his cultivation level.
A divine rainbow tore through the sky and suddenly stopped in midair, revealing a young man in plain-colored Daoist robes. Yuan Yi’s golden eyes turned toward a particular direction, his brows slightly furrowed.
He had sensed a rather strong fluctuation of magical power—someone was battling in that direction.
While Yuan Yi was indeed curious about watching people fight, he wasn’t the type to stick his nose into every random event.
What really caught his attention was a faint premonition—as if something there was related to him.
He didn’t dare ignore this sudden gut feeling. Could it be that his luck had finally turned, and some spiritual treasure had recognized his worth?
Yuan Yi focused on the energy fluctuations coming from afar, trying to gauge the cultivation level of the combatants.
Soon after, he made up his mind to go take a look. Judging from the intensity of the magic waves, the ones fighting were all at the Daoist-peer level—no “senior” realm experts were involved. Nothing to worry about.
What if he really got lucky and found a treasure? He had never seen an innate spiritual treasure in person.
Yuan Yi concealed his own aura, using his innate yin-yang energy to mask himself, and silently slipped toward the source of the commotion.
Before long, Yuan Yi approached the battle site—but what he saw left him greatly disappointed. There didn’t seem to be any innate spiritual treasure or innate spiritual root attracting him here.
Hiding within the void, he observed the two sides fighting: more than a dozen mountain- and forest-born spirits that had taken on humanoid innate Dao bodies, and one figure radiating with pure innate energy—an innate divine being.
That innate being had a cultivation slightly higher than Yuan Yi’s own, which surprised him.
What surprised him even more was that those other spirits, who were not born as innate beings, also had remarkably high cultivation—some even reaching the Golden Immortal level.
Yuan Yi quickly understood what was going on. These spirits had clearly received teachings or cultivation methods from a powerful being and had begun a true path of cultivation—not just relying on their innate Dao.
So they have a powerful backer? Yuan Yi mused.
As for the being those dozen or so were chasing—it looked so strange: one was a milky-white blob, one was yellowish, and the last one was bright green. Judging from their aura, all three seemed to be pure-blooded innate beings.
The three odd-looking creatures were darting around in panic, fleeing in all directions as they were hunted down.
Yuan Yi’s gaze locked onto them—that faint resonance he had sensed earlier—it seemed to be coming from these three peculiar, delicate-looking things.
Could it be… eating them would raise my cultivation? A faint blood-red killing aura flickered in Yuan Yi’s eyes.
But in the next instant, he forcefully suppressed it, his mind clearing again.
Eat, eat, eat… Clearly, his mind had been influenced by the killing aura. His first instinct was to devour them—if he let that primal urge run wild, he’d surely end up bringing disaster upon himself someday.
Yuan Yi’s intellect once again took the high ground, and he began to form a guess about the identities of these three swirling clouds.
Their shape, their number, their colors—it was almost too easy to guess. After all, his knowledge of the Primordial Wilds (洪荒) was limited, so the pool of possible candidates was small.
And these three? They just so happened to match one particular group he’d heard of.
The unformed, pre-transformation states of the Three Xiao Sisters—Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, and Bixiao.
Yuan Yi was greatly disappointed. This wasn’t some lucky break where a spiritual treasure had taken a liking to him and flirted its way into his life.
Instead, these three were beings who were supposed to have karmic ties to his corpse—more precisely, the owners of the Golden Jiao Scissors (金蛟剪) that were forged from his remains.
“Ugh, what rotten luck,” Yuan Yi muttered inwardly. His luck really was no good.
He glanced around the surroundings, hoping to spot the legendary big brother Zhao Gongming, often associated with the Three Xiao Sisters—but he saw no trace of him. Had they not yet met?
Yuan Yi watched the ongoing chase calmly. It wasn’t his business, so why get involved?
But then—just as he was about to leave and watch from a safer distance—he paused. His gaze returned to the three colorful clouds still darting around in panic, and a flicker of thought flashed through his eyes.
He didn’t know how to run into Tongtian (the Sage), but these three almost certainly would. Could they become his navigators?
And more than that—if he stuck with them and built a good relationship, wouldn’t that increase his odds of success? Maybe he could gain a legitimate identity in this world, and avoid the fate of being slain and refined into treasure?
Come to think of it, he was just an innate being, while Tongtian was nearly a Saint. Why would Tongtian come all the way into the East Sea to kill him? That didn’t make sense.
Yuan Yi squinted at the Three Xiao Sisters. Could it be that the original “Yin-Yang dragon” bullied these three at this exact moment in the timeline?
He wasn’t entirely sure, but he recalled some tales: Zhao Gongming had once damaged his own Dao foundation to protect his sisters before they took form, and that had long-term effects on his path to the Dao. That was the root of their deep bond.
Was that Zhao Gongming’s origin story? Was he himself—as the Yin-Yang dragon—the villain Zhao Gongming fought against?
And maybe, after that, Tongtian took revenge by slaying the Yin-Yang Jiao and refining them into the Golden Jiao Scissors, gifting them to the Three Xiao Sisters?
A flurry of thoughts passed through Yuan Yi’s mind, but he quickly came to a decision.
Whether it was true or not—he was taking this role. After all, he loved helping people—especially if there were benefits involved.
“Fellow Daoists, don’t panic! I’m here to help you escape!”
His voice echoed directly into the ears of the fleeing clouds. Yuan Yi’s body coiled with innate Yin-Yang energy, and with a flick of his finger, the energies transformed into two swords, one black and one white, slashing down from the sky at the dozen pursuers.
“Who dares meddle in our business?!”
One of the Golden Immortal-level innate beings among the pursuers turned and shouted angrily, his magic power surging.
Yuan Yi ignored him. His Yin-Yang swords carried with them the fierce energy of heaven and earth, pure destructive force brimming at their edges.
In one exchange, he sent the others flying, seriously injuring them—even the Golden Immortal wasn’t spared. Golden Immortals vary in strength, after all.
Though Yuan Yi had yet to fully refine the Yin-Yang energy into one, the swords he formed separately were already formidable.
Having landed a clean blow, Yuan Yi didn’t stop. His mind moved, and the twin swords charged together at the only opponent who had resisted his earlier strike.
“Boom!”
With a thunderous explosion, the shockwave spread for thousands of miles, carving a deep abyss-like sword scar into the sea. The Golden Immortal was blasted straight into the water.
“I’ll take you with me—don’t resist,” Yuan Yi sent another message.
With a flash of movement, he appeared at the side of the Three Xiao Sisters and swept his sleeve, enveloping the three colorful clouds within it.
There was a moment of resistance, but they soon yielded, letting him easily take them into his sleeve.
Without a moment’s pause, Yuan Yi summoned back his Yin-Yang energy, and broke through space to flee.
On the way, he changed direction multiple times, afraid of being tracked.
He didn’t dare go too far—after all, the opponents seemed to have a powerful backer, probably another innate divine being. That’s why he hadn’t dared kill anyone—he just wanted to escape cleanly.
With the luck and destiny tied to the Three Xiao Sisters, Yuan Yi felt confident that sticking with them wouldn’t lead him to ruin.
He didn’t trust his own luck much—but he did trust theirs.
Meanwhile, the group that had failed to capture the Three Xiao Sisters was furious. After a fruitless search, they soon stumbled across another target—an innate being born from a strand of clear wind—and immediately took off chasing in that direction instead.
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