"Brother Dao truly possesses formidable divine power..."

After Indra had fled into the distance, Yun Zhongzi breathed a sigh of relief, just about to utter words of praise when he saw Qi Zhongjun's face turn pale, suddenly plummeting downward.

Yun Zhongzi was startled and hurried forward to assist, anxiously asking, "Brother Dao, what's wrong?"

Yu Yuan pushed him away, settling himself atop a mountain peak below to sit in meditation, saying, "Nephew, no need to worry, I just need a moment to rest."

Seeing this, Yun Zhongzi thought to himself that this must be due to using some divine skill that overdrafted magic power during the fight with Indra, now beginning to backlash against him.

No wonder he was so formidable yet not widely known before.

At that moment, he suddenly felt a distant call beckoning him.

"Is Dao Xing elder brother looking for me?"

He muttered to himself, instinctively reaching out to cast a spell, but upon seeing Yu Yuan sitting motionless on the mountain peak, seemingly in a trance detached from the world, he stopped his action.

To avoid disturbing the other, he quickly set up an array for alert against any sneak attacks, then teleported to a waterfall thousands of feet away and quickly traced several symbols in the air.

Thus, a large water mirror appeared in the air.

This was a minor spell used for communication by those of the Yuqing lineage, though if the distance was too vast, this spell couldn't be used.

At that moment, two figures appeared within the giant water mirror.

On the left was a man wearing a dark Eight Diagrams Daoist robe, tall with a long beard, exuding an air of venerable Daoist charisma; on the right was a man in a cyan pine-patterned Daoist robe, fair-skinned and beardless, appearing quite scholarly.

"Greetings to the two elder brothers."

Yun Zhongzi bowed respectfully, smiling, "I have finally found you after such a long time."

"Heh~ Found us?"

Dao Xing Venerable snorted coldly, his tone unfriendly, "Haven't you been busy 'upholding justice' these days?"

Yun Zhongzi's face felt warm, slightly embarrassed, "So you all knew. I was thinking of waiting until I found you to..."

Before he could finish, Dao Xing Venerable coldly interrupted, "Let's not talk about these useless things. Where is Yu Yuan? How come you are mixed up with him? Didn't I tell you that this person is despicable and vicious? Have you actually taken my words to heart?"

This string of questions filled Yun Zhongzi with confusion, frowning, "Elder brother, what are you talking about? When did I mix with Yu Yuan?"

"You don't know?"

The previously silent Yu Ding lifted an eyebrow, speaking seriously, "The Qi Zhongjun with you is that Yu Yuan."

"Impossible!"

Yun Zhongzi shook his head decisively, "Didn't you say Yu Yuan is selfish and malicious, greedy by nature? That for a treasure he would dare face the bombardment of Heavenly Punishment Divine Thunder… But Qi Zhongjun even disdains the Eight-Leaf Star Grass placed before him!

Moreover, it was he who led me to uphold justice, helping many robbed Immortal Gods reclaim their treasures... and he never claimed those treasures for his own!

He is the most upright, most open and noble True Immortal of Dao I have met since my transformation, how could he possibly be the despicable Yu Yuan you speak of?"

Yu Ding, Dao Xing: "..."

Both had never seen their Junior Brother, reputed as Fude True Immortal, hold anyone in such high regard before, which made them somewhat doubt themselves; could it be that they were really mistaken?

Turning their heads unconsciously towards the side, a graceful and handsome young man in a white robe appeared within the water mirror.

"Every word the disciple speaks is true! The one the disciple saw that day was indeed Yu Yuan!" Yang Jian spoke earnestly, "I am willing to make a vow, inviting the verification of Heavenly Dao!"

"No need!"

Dao Xing Venerable interjected sharply, looking at Yun Zhongzi decisively, "Junior brother, it seems you have been deceived! Yu Yuan is extremely cunning and sly; he must have deceiving you due to your limited worldly experience, deliberately pretending to be virtuous in front of you, but in reality harboring malicious intent!"

Yun Zhongzi frowned deeply, displeased, "Elder brother, do you think I can't distinguish right from wrong, good from evil? Whether he is Qi Zhongjun or Yu Yuan, during the time I spent with him, would I not know if he harbored ill intentions?

Or do you think I have become so foolish as to not discern right and wrong, unable to distinguish good from evil?"

Yu Ding quickly tried to explain, "Junior brother, please don't misunderstand..."

Before he could finish, Dao Xing Venerable interrupted again, "There's no misunderstanding! Tell me where you are now? We will come right away and expose the 'Qi Zhongjun's' true face in front of you!"

"No need!"

Yun Zhongzi let out a cold snort and waved his hand to dissipate the water mirror before him.

He turned his head to glance back, only to see Qi Zhongjun still sitting quietly at the summit meditating and adjusting his breath, with the sunlight shining upon him and reflecting a brilliant treasure-like radiance.

Qi Zhongjun, or was it Yu Yuan?

Yun Zhongzi sighed in his heart and a wisp of cloud formed under his feet, carrying him away.

However, just after he had flown away, he came back again, landing back at the summit and resuming his seated meditation, quietly waiting for the other to awake.

...

Tens of thousands of miles away, Yu Yuan, whose primordial spirit had emerged, had just killed Indra with a hammer strike and framed Dao Xing Venerable, before quickly returning to his body.

The journey of the primordial spirit was instantaneous over thousands of miles and if all went well, it would return to the body in a mere blink of an eye.

But on his way, he unintentionally bumped into a "familiar face".

The man was tall and imposing, rugged and rough, dressed in a black robe – he was the bear demon that had previously failed to steal the treasure and instead got robbed by Yu Yuan.

At that time, he briefly interrogated him and learned that this bear demon was a black bear that had cultivated into the Golden Immortal Dao Fruit, and he had come from the Northern Continent.

In other words, he was a remnant of the Demon Court!

Although nothing useful was gleaned from the interrogation at that time, and he was let go, Yu Yuan stumbled upon him again and noticed his suspicious actions, seeming stealthy and sneaky.

Curious, Yu Yuan secretly followed behind the bear demon.

Soon, the bear demon arrived at a small mountain with numerous valleys and competing cliffs.

After looking around and ensuring it was safe, he suddenly produced a black banner in his hand, forcefully plunging it into the top of the mountain, then instantly turned into a dark light and hurried away.

Yu Yuan took one look and saw the banner enwreathed with starlight and auspicious qi... the Star Banner!

Witnessing this scene confirmed Yu Yuan's suspicions.

The Star Banner was indeed intentionally released, and the location indicated by the "treasure map" was likely not a benign place!

With a plan in mind, he scooped up the Star Banner and caught up with the bear demon, striking directly with his hammer.

"Bang!"

The perfectly measured blow caused the bear demon's primordial spirit to tremble violently, stars bursting before his eyes. Before he could react, a large, hard object was shoved into his mouth, rapidly expanding and completely filling his mouth, forcibly splitting it open.

"Ooh... I..."

Once the bear demon came to his senses and saw Yu Yuan in front of him, his pupils contracted, his face filled with terror.

Yu Yuan was unforgiving, straightforwardly stating, "If you don't want your head to burst, answer my questions honestly… or I'll start by bursting your head with this Mixed Gold Hammer, then stuff it down your throat into your belly and let it expand...

Of course, if you fancy the experience of soul-searching and soul-scratching, I can accommodate that too!"

Bear demon: (;ﾟДﾟi|!)

Moments later, Yu Yuan got the answers he wanted and conjured a Treasure Hall, locking the bear demon inside.

The bear demon knew little; he was simply following orders. He only knew about the reappearance of the Demon Clan Crown Prince, an elusive, surviving great figure, during this unveiling of the Eastern Emperor Heaven.

It was he who ordered some highly skilled Demon Immortals to enter Eastern Emperor Heaven to search for treasures, and later contacted them through a secret technique to retrieve the previously hidden fake Star Banners at the designated place, and then discreetly spread them out.

As for the whereabouts of this Demon Clan Crown Prince and his objectives, he knew nothing at all.

"It seems that the former Crown Prince is very cautious,"

Yu Yuan murmured to himself.

What could be confirmed now was that the treasure map was deliberately forged by the Crown Prince to draw everyone to the same place.

Whether this was a distraction, a way to lure the tiger away from the mountain, to borrow strength against rivals, or to fish in troubled waters, was still unknown.

But Yu Yuan was no longer in a hurry.

Like fishing, it's not about fearing the fish won't bite, but fearing there are no fish in the water!

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