My classmates chose martial arts and fantasy, but I chose the prehistoric world.

The East China Sea, the deep sea.

Darkness and stillness reigned; under the immense pressure of water millions of feet deep, time seemed to stand still.

Meng Chuan stood once again on the smooth, mirror-like black ground and looked up at the center.

The pale blue halo remained, and the Azure Dragon was still curled up, protecting the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl in its arms, as if guarding the last dream it would never wake from.

This time, he didn't hide it.

The powerful magic of a peak Golden Immortal was unleashed, and the clear light of the Primordial Golden Cauldron showered down upon him, dispelling the lingering death energy.

The Golden Dragon Scissors hummed softly in his sea of ​​consciousness, emanating a murderous aura.

The broken gun was cold, but the principles of slaughter flowed silently in his blood.

"roar--!!"

A deep, resonant dragon roar, as if awakened from a nightmare, echoed from the depths of the abyss.

The Azure Dragon slowly raised its head.

The dragon's dim eyes opened, its cloudy pupils locking onto Meng Chuan, two crimson dots lighting up.

"Outsider...you're not welcome here..."

A hoarse voice resounded directly in Meng Chuan's mind.

The dragon stretched out its body, its ten-zhang-long form rugged and broken, but the life force of the peak Taiyi level pressed down with a bang!

The seawater froze, and the space became stagnant.

Meng Chuan's bones cracked, and the protective aura around him fluctuated violently.

"Leave...or die..."

Meng Chuan did not answer.

He took a step forward.

The ground beneath his feet shattered, and his figure transformed into a pale golden light, tearing through the stagnant seawater and charging straight at the Azure Dragon!

First come, first served!

"court death--!!"

The Azure Dragon roared angrily, and swung its tail!

The deathly aura within the abyss was stirred, transforming into a ferocious, pitch-black python that bared its fangs and lunged at Meng Chuan!

Meng Chuan's eyes turned cold, and with the God-Slaying Broken Spear in his right hand, he thrust it out towards the giant python!

A wisp of dark red blood, condensed to its fullest extent, extended from the tip of the spear and disappeared into the python's head.

laugh--!

The pitch-black python split open in mid-air, dissipating into a sky full of deathly energy.

The bloodline continued its relentless advance, piercing straight for the Azure Dragon's face!

The Azure Dragon's eyes narrowed, and it jerked its head to the side, the bloodline grazing its corner and leaving a deep mark on the rock wall.

"The Way of Slaughter... the legacy of Rahu?"

The Azure Dragon's voice was filled with surprise and doubt, which then turned into fury!

If it weren't for Rahu, the dragon race might not have ended up in such a state!

"You will die—!!"

It opened its mouth, and a torrent of grayish-white breath gushed out!

That was neither fire nor ice, but the ultimate, condensed Daoist essence of annihilation, which decayed and vanished wherever it passed.

Before he could even exhale, Meng Chuan felt his life force slipping away; his skin wrinkled and the ends of his hair turned gray.

"town!"

The Hunyuan Golden Cauldron shone brightly, transforming into a light curtain that blocked the way.

The grayish-white breath struck the light barrier, producing a corrosive sound, and the clear light visibly dimmed and melted away.

But they managed to stop it in the end.

Meng Chuan seized the opportunity to advance again, and was already a hundred feet in front of the Azure Dragon!

The broken spear was raised, the killing intent erupted, and blood flowed from the spear shaft, transforming into a ten-foot spear shadow, which fiercely stabbed down towards the Azure Dragon's reverse scale!

This spear thrust embodies the full power of a peak Golden Immortal, blends the killing intent of a divine-slaying spear, and carries the deadly intent honed through a thousand years of bloody battles!

The Azure Dragon watched coldly, neither dodging nor avoiding.

The spear tip was about to touch the enemy's Achilles' heel—

Countless fine, silvery-white ancient runes lit up on the dark dragon scales all over the Azure Dragon's body!

Runes flowed and formed a giant net, enveloping the dragon's body.

The spear struck the talisman net with a dull thud!

The next moment, the gunshot shattered!

The force of the recoil was so strong that Meng Chuan was struck as if by lightning. His tiger's mouth exploded, and pale gold blood splattered everywhere. He was sent flying backward and crashed hard into the rock wall.

"puff--!!"

He coughed up blood and looked at the broken gun in his hand.

The gun trembled slightly, and the blood-red light dimmed a bit.

The silver-white talisman net surrounding the Azure Dragon rippled slightly before returning to normal.

"The Ancestral Dragon... Protective Dao Patterns..."

The Azure Dragon looked down at the runes on its body, its dragon eyes filled with complex emotions, which ultimately turned into a cold killing intent.

"You think you can break through?"

It gave him no chance to catch his breath. With a swift movement, the dragon was already in front of Meng Chuan, its claws reaching out to grab his head!

Before the claws even arrived, the powerful wind had already torn apart the rock wall, and the protective light shattered like paper!

A matter of life and death!

Meng Chuan's pupils shrank sharply, his internal magic power burned wildly, and the Golden Dragon Scissors shot out from between his eyebrows, transforming into two intersecting golden shadows that slashed at the dragon claw!

At the same time, he drew a line behind him with the Qiankun Ruler, tearing open the void, and was about to disappear into it—

"Certainly!"

Azure Dragon growled softly.

The space within a radius of a thousand feet instantly froze!

The full might of the Taiyi Peak is displayed here!

The cracks drawn by the Qiankun Ruler were fixed in place and could not be closed.

The silhouette formed by the Golden Dragon Scissors struck the dragon's claws, sparks flying, leaving only two shallow marks before being crushed by the dragon's claws!

Meng Chuan groaned, feeling a sharp pain in his mental connection with the Golden Dragon Scissors.

The dragon's claws were already at his face.

You can even see the patterns on each of the dull dragon scales on its claws, and feel the cold, deathly aura of destruction...

Even if she crushed the bone fragment, the girl wouldn't be able to get there in time.

Am I going to die?

A thousand years of arduous cultivation, a bloody battle in the East Sea, the refinement of a vicious weapon, touching the Taiyi... and it ends here?

Unwilling!

How could I accept this!

The chaotic vortex in his chest spun wildly, and the golden light at its center pulsed violently, almost exploding!

Just a little bit more...

In that split second between life and death, Meng Chuan's thoughts remained remarkably clear.

Mount Buzhou... valley... beside the emerald pool... that barefoot, hemp-clad, quiet figure...

Zixiao Palace... three thousand years... Golden Immortal is just the threshold... the goal is Great Luo...

Do not!

I can't die here!

He wanted to enter the Purple Cloud Palace, he wanted to stand on that stage, he wanted to attain the Great Luo Dao, he wanted to... get closer to that figure.

Instead of turning into unknown, withered bones at the bottom of the deep sea!

"roar--!!"

The roar of the Azure Dragon exploded in my ears, and its claws were already closing!

In Meng Chuan's eyes, the last light went out.

But in that deepest darkness, a pure thought ignites like a spark.

cut!

Cut off this fear! Cut off this despair! Cut off this life and death! Cut off... all shackles!

boom--!!

Thunder roared within his body, and the Daoist sound arose spontaneously!

The three illusory flower shadows above his head suddenly solidified, shining brightly with red, gold and white light. They attracted each other and drew closer, finally converging at a point three feet above his head and slowly rotating!

Three flowers gather at the top, proving the Dao of Taiyi!

Moreover, the enlightenment gained in the face of life and death is not limited to the attainment of Taiyi through the primordial spirit—

The Nine Revolutions Profound Technique also progressed smoothly, breaking through to the sixth revolution, and the physical body also entered the Taiyi realm!

The combination of these two factors is far beyond what is typical of the early stages of Taiyi.

Dragon claws, closing together.

What I grasped was merely a slowly dissipating afterimage.

Meng Chuan's true form was already a hundred feet away.

He looked down at his hands.

Dark gold patterns flow beneath the skin, blood surges like a turbulent river, and the bones emit a clear, resonant Daoist sound.

This is the physical body of the Taiyi Golden Immortal!

For the first time, Qinglong's eyes showed a solemn expression.

It sensed that the aura of this tiny creature before it had undergone a qualitative leap in just a moment, its life level rising to a new level!

Although still inferior to myself, they are no longer ants that can be crushed at will.

"A breakthrough in the heat of battle... early stage of Taiyi?"

Azure Dragon's voice was hoarse, filled with surprise.

"So what? You have no idea the difference between the peak of the Taiyi realm and the initial stage!"

Its dragon body coiled, the silver-white runes around it shone brighter, and its gray-white breath condensed in its mouth, making it several times more powerful than before!

It's about to get serious!

Meng Chuan slowly raised his head and looked at the Azure Dragon.

His eyes were as still as a deep pool, devoid of sorrow or joy.

He reached out and grasped the broken, black gun.

Step out.

With this step, golden lotuses spontaneously bloomed in the void beneath his feet, their Daoist aura flowing freely.

The Taiyi magic power and the Taiyi physical body, combined, surged into the broken spear without reservation!

Om-! !

The gun trembled violently, and the dark red light deep within the cracks was more intense than ever before. A hundred-foot-long spear shadow extended from the tip of the gun, no longer illusory, but almost solidified!

Above the shadows of gunfire, the principles of slaughter flowed, and even more so, a will that transcended slaughter itself—

The true meaning of "power" that cuts through everything and breaks through all laws!

The Azure Dragon's grayish-white breath surged forth!

Meng Chuan neither dodged nor evaded, holding the gun with both hands, he thrust the gun forward at the destructive breath!

The gun was fired, without light or sound.

Only a straight, dark red line pierced through the grayish-white breath, through space, through the silver-white rune net surrounding the Azure Dragon, and finally—

It runs through the space between its eyebrows.

Time seemed to stand still here.

The Azure Dragon's enormous body froze in mid-air, and the crimson in its eyes quickly dimmed and went out.

It opened its mouth as if to say something, but in the end only let out a barely audible sigh.

A dark red spot quietly spread across his brow, like a spider web covering his entire body.

next moment.

The hundred-foot-long dragon body, along with its dull scales, broken horns, and silvery-white ancestral dragon patterns, silently transformed into a sky full of grayish-white dust, which scattered in a soft rustling sound...

Only a crystal-clear dragon pearl with the phantom of a blue dragon coiling inside, and the pale blue Sea-Stabilizing Pearl, fell from the dust of light and were caught by Meng Chuan.

The abyss has returned to deathly silence.

Meng Chuan stood alone, holding the Dragon Pearl and the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl, feeling the completely different Taiyi Golden Immortal power surging within his body...

After a moment, he looked down at his palm.

Twenty-four Sea-Stabilizing Pearls gathered together and resounded joyfully in the Dantian.

With a thought, the precious pearl appeared, and the twenty-four pale blue beads slowly rotated, echoing each other and forming a mysterious formation.

A vast and magnificent spatial Daoist energy erupted!

The surrounding seawater, rock walls, deathly air, and space began to distort, fold, and evolve!

The nascent form of the Twenty-Four Heavens is beginning to appear!

Although it was only in its nascent stage, the power of the world and the suppressive might it contained had already shaken Meng Chuan's mind.

He put away the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl and the Dragon Pearl together, took one last look at the empty and desolate abyss, turned around, and took a step out.

The Xuanhuang Daoist rhythm of the Qiankun Ruler flowed, and the void in front of him naturally separated.

He stepped inside and disappeared.

They reappeared outside the valley.

As I fell back to the valley entrance, a sliver of hope lingered in my heart, a hope I didn't even want to dwell on...

Perhaps if you push open the formation, you'll see that barefoot, hemp-clad figure sitting under the crooked tree, quietly munching on fruit. Look up at him and say, "You're back."

But the valley remained empty.

Only the ripples on the pond caused by the wind, and the soft sound of petals falling onto the stone table.

The pool was crystal clear, the crooked-necked tree was lush with leaves, and the bluestone was smooth... everything was as it was yesterday.

It's just that one person is missing.