[Sea of Bitterness].
As soon as the Old Dragon Lord's words fell, Tian Qiu had already begun to act. Although Mu Changsheng was somewhat reluctant in his heart, he still appeared very cooperative on the surface.
Immediately after, Tian Qiu formed a hand seal.
"Go!"
Vermilion streams of light instantly flowed out from him. Clearly a Water-element Dao Fruit, yet at this moment, it unexpectedly manifested a powerful and fierce fiery aura.
However, the Old Dragon Lord was not surprised by this at all. Instead, he chuckled lightly in his heart: Heavenly River Water... it represents the time when Qi ascends and descends, situated in the high and bright position of Fire. It has water pouring down as abundant rain to aid the water within the fire. Only in the heavens does it exist—named water but actually fire. This is also the reason why it would be detrimental to the Water element if it became the Supreme.
But placed in the Fire element, it was different.
At this moment, the [Heavenly River Water] deployed by Tian Qiu faced [Heavenly Fire] not with fear, but swarmed up to surround and wrap it.
This was the most crucial step.
Other Water elements, even [Vast Ocean Water], could not achieve this step. Only [Heavenly River Water], which concealed the Fire element, could approach [Heavenly Fire] to this extent.
But that was all.
As its own safety was threatened, the originally dormant [Heavenly Fire] began to revive rapidly. Intense rule concepts exploded instantly, permeating the surroundings.
Boom.
With a loud bang, heavenly fire descended.
Only a small part of it fell on the Old Dragon Lord and the others. The main target was Tian Qiu, the audacious one who actually attempted to imprison it.
Tian Qiu had not been a Perfected Lord for long; how could he withstand the punishment of heavenly fire burning his body? Immediately, under the rolling heavenly fire, he let out a miserable howl. Dragon blood was coughed up, burned into nothingness before it could even fall. While his flesh split open in the firelight, a fragrance even wafted up.
"Brother Tian Qiu, don't panic!"
Seeing this, Mu Changsheng hurriedly stepped forward, pinching the hand seal in his hand. The [Wu You Heaven] transformation of truth and falsehood circulated, wiping away Tian Qiu's injuries in the blink of an eye.
"Phew... thank you, Fellow Daoist."
Tian Qiu let out a long sigh of relief, looking at Mu Changsheng gratefully. Seeing this, the Old Dragon Lord also stroked his beard with satisfaction, feeling that he hadn't misjudged the person.
For Mu Changsheng, he was still reassured.
After all, this person was one of Heaven's chosen, born to stand on the opposite side of the four major rogue factions. He was also a former noble of heaven and earth. If he didn't help the Old Dragon Lord, who else could he help?
"Well done."
The Old Dragon Lord looked at Mu Changsheng and encouraged him with a smile: "Work hard. When this old man becomes a Great Perfected Lord in the future, I definitely won't treat you unfairly."
"Thank you, Senior!" Mu Changsheng looked excited.
However, the next second, he lowered his head, his eyelids drooping, preventing the Old Dragon Lord from seeing the resentment in his eyes. In his heart, he couldn't help but curse loudly:
Old loach, now you know how to talk?
Only your words sound nice. Why didn't I see you speaking when I asked you to help me figure out how to clear the [Nourishing Life Master] before?
Just making empty promises!
If the Old Dragon Lord could help him solve the trouble of clearing the [Nourishing Life Master], he would naturally be loyal. How could he possibly run to find the Saint Sect in private?
Thinking of this, Mu Changsheng looked forward to Lu Yang's arrival even more.
Although he had only met Lu Yang once and taken a glance at his massive Sword Dao Fruit, it was still happier than dealing with the Old Dragon Lord here with false civility!
Soon, time flew by.
Tian Qiu's injuries constantly worsened, only to be constantly wiped away by Mu Changsheng. However, [Heavenly Fire] remained in a state difficult to seal.
Indeed, the power is insufficient.
The Old Dragon Lord frowned slightly upon seeing this: After all, it is a Supreme Dao Fruit. Even without anyone controlling it, relying on instinct alone is not something other Dao Fruits can offend at will.
...Forget it.
With this thought, the Old Dragon Lord finally exhaled deeply, formed a hand seal with his fingertips—unless absolutely necessary, he really didn't want to use this move.
The next second, deep blue light emerged at his fingertips. Within it, clarity and turbidity changed, cycling back and forth, yet finally merging and penetrating, transforming into a chaotic color. As he pointed out a finger, it fell straight onto the rioting [Heavenly Fire], infecting and then merging into it.
In an instant, [Heavenly Fire] fell silent.
However, soon, even more intense restlessness erupted from this Fire-element Supreme. It was a terrifying, dense whistling sound of countless divine senses!
"Mother granted me sentience!"
"Today I know I am me; it turns out I am [Heavenly Fire]..."
"Nonsense, I am [Heavenly Fire]!"
"Get out of my body!"
At this moment, every concept within [Heavenly Fire] birthed its own intelligence, chaotic and violent, fighting each other.
"This is..."
Seeing this scene, Great Sage Xuan Yuan and Great Sage Ming Zhu instantly revealed horrified expressions. Although the Old Dragon Lord restrained his actions after doing all this without any explanation, they still saw the clue: This is... the fundamental wonder of [Vast Ocean Water], a Supreme Dao Fruit Wonder!
Its name was—[Foundation of Heaven and Earth]!
The spirit of the valley never dies—this is called the mysterious female. The gate of the mysterious female is called the foundation of heaven and earth... Vast Ocean Water's fundamental wonder is the symbol of reproduction and continuance!
Life and sentience.
The fundamental Wonder of [Vast Ocean Water] could grant life, whether to living things or dead objects. Living things would reproduce the next generation, while dead objects would birth self-awareness.
At first hearing, it didn't seem like much.
Far less powerful than establishing rules, severing the future, or anchoring karma.
However, when actually used, it was equally broken... because the existence granted life by it would regard the owner of [Vast Ocean Water] as its own mother.
Then obey the mother completely.
Under the influence of the wonder, no matter what you did to the Old Dragon Lord—whether it was Clconcepts, wonders, spiritual power, dao art, or even yourself—you would be affected by him.
Your spiritual power would have self-awareness; your concepts and wonders, and even your Dao Fruit, would no longer obey orders. Even you yourself would develop a second personality, or simply get pregnant, then give birth to a child. Then your entire body of mighty power would be inherited by the child, while you yourself would die directly.
Of course, there were also downsides.
Mystic Female, Foundation of Heaven and Earth, Mother of the World... Simply put, if the Wonder of [Vast Ocean Water] was used too much, one would turn into a female and could not change back.
Regarding this, the Old Dragon Lord was quite apprehensive.
Of course, this wasn't him obsessing over gender issues. At his stage, primary gender wasn't an issue at all, or even irrelevant.
The Old Dragon Lord's vision was much bigger than that.
Ultimately, the reason he was apprehensive about turning female was that as an important figure shouldering the reproduction of the True Dragon bloodline, he had to be male.
After all, males reproduced faster and simpler; outputting was enough.
Just one against ten, and ten descendants could be born.
Compared to that, females, even if taking on ten or even a hundred at once, could ultimately only give birth to one... This was an unshakeable law of reproduction.
If I turn female, how will the True Dragon Clan reproduce?
Since the heavenly change, the True Dragon Clan has been frequently suppressed, yet it can still spread its branches and leaves. That's all because I worked hard, shot by shot, in private!
Mere [Vast Ocean Water], how could it be more important than the clan?
Others simply didn't understand his greatness and hardships as the Dragon Lord! Didn't know how much essence and energy he had shot out for the clan!
This was just a last resort. He had to use [Vast Ocean Water] to suppress [Heavenly Fire]; otherwise, the Old Dragon Lord would absolutely never use this bad plan.
"...Done."
Looking at [Heavenly Fire], which was powerless to resist the seal because countless consciousnesses were born and killing each other, the Old Dragon Lord finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Take it away quickly, we..."
Splurt!
Before his voice fell, a fair hand suddenly pierced through the Old Dragon Lord's chest. Blood sprayed, and internal organs tumbled out joyfully.
In an instant, all sounds fell silent.
However, soon, the Old Dragon Lord's roar, mixed with shock and rage, echoed loudly, causing the [Sea of Bitterness] to tremble, revealing a figure shrouded in smoke:
"[Sky-Shrouding]!!!"