Primordial Era: The Three Senior Brothers of the Taiqing Clan

Zhen Yuanzi indeed believed that Chen Qing had come for the Primordial Purple Qi.

After all, with Chen Qing's current strength, the only way for him to advance further is to break through to the Saint realm.

But how could Hongyun's last remaining trace of true spirit withstand such turmoil? That's why he was so vigilant.

The atmosphere in the main hall immediately became tense.

Chen Qing suddenly laughed and said proudly, "Although the Primordial Purple Qi is known as the key to the Great Dao, I don't care about it."

The chaotic demons before the creation of the world were all no less powerful than saints. Could it be that they all possessed primordial purple energy?

Ultimately, even sages are merely subject to the Dao of Heaven. If I, Chen Qing, wish to break through, I must prove the Dao through force, shatter the shackles of Heaven and Earth, and attain the Primordial Chaos Realm.

He exuded a powerful aura, and Zhen Yuanzi was momentarily stunned by his words.

All living beings in the primordial world looked up to the lofty sage, yet they never expected that in this person's eyes, the Heavenly Dao Sage would be completely disregarded. What a magnificent spirit!

After a long while, Zhen Yuanzi finally came to his senses, shook his head with a wry smile, and sighed inwardly: This person is truly a monster, beyond the comprehension of ordinary people like us.

He bowed apologetically to Chen Qing, saying, "I did not expect you to have such lofty aspirations, fellow Daoist. It is I, Zhen Yuanzi, who have been impolite. I hope you will forgive me."

Chen Qing smiled and said, "This is only human nature. What crime have you committed, fellow Daoist? It's just that I didn't explain it clearly enough."

Zhen Yuanzi raised an eyebrow: "Oh? Is there something else going on in this matter? Please enlighten me, fellow Daoist."

Chen Qing then told Zhen Yuanzi everything that his master Laozi, his two uncles, and the goddess Nuwa had discussed.

Upon learning this, Zhen Yuanzi's face showed a hint of joy, but it quickly turned into sorrow.

Chen Qing's heart tightened. Could it be that something had happened to Hongyun's true spirit? He quickly asked, "Fellow Daoist, is there some unspeakable difficulty you are facing?"

Zhen Yuanzi sighed: "I thank the sages and Fellow Daoist Chen Qing on behalf of my old friend. However, I'm afraid my old friend is not fortunate enough to receive such kindness."

He sighed again, "Fellow Daoist, please follow me."

With that, Zhen Yuanzi led Chen Qing to the backyard.

When Chen Qing saw the trace of Hongyun's true spirit, he was still startled, even though he was mentally prepared. He saw that Hongyun's true spirit was enveloped by a ball of innate wood spirit energy and was showing signs of dissipating.

"This...I wonder if there's any way to solve this?" Chen Qing was also at a loss. True spirit is different from primordial spirit, and he really didn't have any solutions, after all, this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

Zhen Yuanzi smiled bitterly, "If I had a way, I would have solved it long ago, instead of waiting until now."

Just then, Chen Qing heard his master Laozi's voice in his mind: "Take Hongyun's true spirit to Kunlun Mountain and find your Yuanshi Uncle."

Chen Qing's eyes lit up. Since his master said so, his uncle must have a way. He turned to Zhen Yuanzi and said, "If you trust me, take him to Kunlun Mountain."

Zhen Yuanzi was overjoyed and grabbed Chen Qing's arm: "You mean the Jade Purity Saint can save Hongyun?"

Chen Qing looked at his arm that had been grabbed with a wry smile—this Zhen Yuanzi was far too excited.

Zhen Yuanzi realized his mistake and quickly released his grip, apologizing, "I was a little excited and offended you, fellow Daoist."

"It's alright. The friendship between Fellow Daoist Zhen Yuanzi and Fellow Daoist Hongyun is truly enviable." Chen Qing said this, but in his heart he wondered: Could these two have some kind of perverted habit?

Upon learning that Hongyun could be saved, Zhen Yuanzi's face lit up with a smile. After so many years, a solution had finally been found.

Moreover, Hongyun has turned misfortune into blessing this time. Back then, he was harmed because he could not refine the Primordial Purple Qi. Now he has become one of the three emperors of the human race. Although he is not a saint, he is not far off. He is also protected by the fortune of the human race, which is not bad.

What happened next left Chen Qing both amused and exasperated. After learning that Hongyun could be saved, Zhen Yuanzi's words conveyed only one message—that Chen Qing should leave immediately.

To this end, he even went so far as to knock down fifteen ginseng fruits and give them to Chen Qing to take back. In the end, if Chen Qing hadn't stopped him, Zhen Yuanzi probably would have knocked down all the fruits on the tree so that he could pack them up and take them away.

Chen Qing shook his head helplessly, carefully collected Hongyun's true spirit along with the primordial wood spirit energy, and then set off back to Kunlun Mountain.

Concerned for his best friend's safety, Zhen Yuanzi naturally followed along.

Upon arriving at Kunlun Mountain, the two headed straight for Yuxu Palace.

"Chen Qing pays respects to his martial uncle."

"Zhen Yuanzi greets fellow Daoist."

"Brother Zhenyuan, it's been a long time."

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Zhen Yuanzi, Yuanshi Tianzun turned to Chen Qing and said, "Bring out Hongyun's true spirit. Let me stabilize it. When it is sent into reincarnation, with our protection, there shouldn't be any problems."

Chen Qing nodded, took out Hongyun's true spirit, and wanted to see how his martial uncle stabilized the true spirit.

However, when he saw the method by which the Primordial Celestial Venerable stabilized the true spirit, the corner of his mouth twitched a few times.

The Primordial Celestial Lord received the true spirit of the Red Cloud Daoist, took out a small jade-like bottle from his sleeve, and carefully poured out a few drops of divine water that emitted a shimmering light. He gently enveloped the true spirit with the divine water, his movements so gentle as if afraid of wasting a single drop.

Chen Qing's lips twitched slightly—that was clearly the Three Lights Divine Water. He hadn't expected that this stuff could be used to nourish a true spirit.

Seeing his uncle's cautious demeanor, Chen Qing wanted to say, "There's no need to be so frugal," after all, there was still a large pond on his immortal island.

But then I thought, my uncle knows about this. As a saint, how could he forget this? He must have his reasons for doing this.

After a moment's thought, Chen Qing understood. This was to highlight the preciousness of the Three Lights Divine Water, so that Zhen Yuanzi would owe him a great favor. Indeed, experience counts.

After a long time, the Three Lights Divine Water had completely seeped into that wisp of true spirit. At this moment, although the true spirit of the red cloud still looked weak, it had stabilized and no longer showed any signs of dissipating.

Chen Qing also breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from Zhen Yuanzi's appearance, if something had happened to Hongyun, he would have had a hard time explaining himself.

He took out five ginseng fruits and handed them to Yuanshi: "These are from Daoist Zhenyuanzi, a gift for my uncle to try."

Yuanshi glanced at it, put it away, and nodded, saying, "Brother Dao, you are very thoughtful."

"Haha, it is I who should thank you, fellow Daoist. How can a few fruits express my gratitude?" Zhen Yuanzi quickly said politely.

Afterwards, Zhen Yuanzi exchanged a few more pleasantries with Yuanshi, then reluctantly glanced at Hongyun Zhenling before taking his leave.

After seeing Zhen Yuanzi off, Yuanshi Tianzun said to Chen Qing, "Your master is currently refining elixirs. When you have time, go and visit Shouyang Mountain. As his eldest disciple, it's simply unacceptable that you don't know how to refine elixirs."

He paused, then said, "You have already learned the art of array formations from your Uncle Tongtian. As for the weapon-refining techniques of my lineage, I will pass them on to you as well."

Having said that, the Primordial Celestial Venerable flicked his finger, and a beam of jade light entered Chen Qing's brow.

Upon a brief sensing, Chen Qing discovered that this was not merely a technique for refining weapons; it was clearly the entire heritage of the Jade Void Palace.

Just as he was about to decline, Yuanshi waved his hand and said, "You are the vice leader of the Chan Sect. What kind of person will you be if you don't learn the Yuqing Technique? Alright, that's settled then."

Chen Qing had no choice but to agree.

After finishing up the matter at Kunlun Mountain, Chen Qing headed straight for Shouyang Mountain.

Although he wasn't very interested in alchemy, he figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look.

After all, the famous Nine-Turn Golden Elixir of later generations was refined by his own master. Legend has it that a single Golden Elixir can make one a Great Luo Golden Immortal, a miraculous effect that even the Ten Great Innate Spiritual Roots cannot achieve.

In the Shouyang Mountains, Xuandu stared at a spiritual herb with a troubled expression, sighing repeatedly.

My master was refining the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir, but I accidentally damaged this spiritual herb. The remaining years won't be enough; what should I do? The innate spiritual energy is gradually dissipating, and such spiritual herbs are becoming increasingly rare.

"Sigh—" Xuan Du sighed again.

"Junior brother, I heard you sighing as soon as I got back. Is something bothering you?" A voice suddenly came from behind, startling Xuandu so much that he jumped up.

Turning around, his eyes lit up immediately: "Senior Brother!"

Chen Qing stared speechlessly at Xuan Du's feet. Just moments ago, Xuan Du was worrying about the spiritual herb, but in the blink of an eye, he had crushed it to pieces.

Xuan Du followed Chen Qing's gaze and looked down, almost bursting into tears.

Well, that's bad. The medicinal herb was barely alive, but at least it was still alive. Now it's been trampled into several pieces.

Xuandu's face darkened further, his expression filled with sorrow, almost as distressed as that of the Western monk Jieyin.

"What's so precious about this elixir that it's causing you so much worry?" Chen Qing asked curiously.

"Senior brother, do you have any of these spiritual herbs? Master needs them for alchemy, but I accidentally broke them, and then I just crushed them..." Xuan Du's eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked at Chen Qing expectantly. Senior brother's wealth is well-known; surely he should have some?

Chen Qing glanced at the spiritual herb and shook his head: "I do have quite a few spiritual herbs in my dojo, but I don't refine pills and have never looked at them, so I don't know if I have any."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Du looked disappointed, then became anxious: "What can we do? Master is about to start refining pills, and we don't have enough years left!"

Chen Qing looked at the spiritual herbs on the ground, his eyes flashed, and he took out five ginseng fruits. Zhen Yuanzi had given him fifteen before, and he had given five to his Uncle Yuanshi. There were ten left, and it was fair to leave five for his Uncle Tongtian.

"Can we use this instead?"

"This is... the ginseng fruit from Wuzhuang Temple!" Xuandu exclaimed in shock. This is a fruit from one of the ten great spiritual roots, extremely rare. Senior Brother truly lives up to his reputation!

Chen Qing nodded.

Xuan Du immediately took it and said happily, "It should be fine. I'll go ask the teacher first." He then started to walk inside.

"Hey, one of them is for you. Eating it will benefit your cultivation," Chen Qing reminded him.

Xuandu nodded and gave his senior brother a grateful look.

"Chen Qing, Xuan Du, come in." Laozi's voice suddenly rang out from nowhere.

"Yes, Master!" The two replied respectfully, exchanged a glance, and walked together toward the main hall.

Inside the hall, Lao Tzu sat cross-legged beside the Tai Chi Yin Yang Bagua Furnace, looking at the two with a smile.