The gray wind blew through the gray desert, begging the question of whether people would soon start calling the Greenhair Badlands by a different name. After all, the sand was all gray now. As the wind blew, it rapidly intensified to the point of being a storm. It was a tempest containing godly might, and as it spread, it imparted the sensation that it would never die down. Even the canopy of heaven changed. It was no longer filled with red light. It was as if the entire desert had been separated out of the Moonrite Region.

For anyone outside, entering the desert would now be a very deadly risk. Even the pontiff from the Red Moon Cathedral didn’t dare to stay inside. Bedraggled and broken-down, he had no choice but to fall back. He had even lost some of his godheralds in the retreat.

Once outside the desert, the cathedral cultivators looked back into the storm.

“This place is cut off from the outside now.”

“The gray storm isn’t going away. It’s preventing anyone from going in.”

“The people inside can leave, but people on the outside have to deal with that storm if they want to go in.”

The Red Moon Cathedral finally had no choice but to label the place a forbidden region and leave it be.

The people already inside of the gray storm didn’t look any different from before, although they were all incredibly shocked.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing and everyone else left the Imperial Sovereign’s Land of God Decapitation and reappeared out in the gray wind and sand.

In the past, when Xu Qing and the Captain finished a big job, they usually had to teleport randomly to safety. But this time, there was no need for that. The gray storm was their protection. For all intents and purposes, the Captain’s deal with the black wooden door ensured that they were now in the safest location in all of the Moonrite Region.

And thus, the entire group returned to the Green Spirit Pharmacy in the mudbrick city. Everything was normal back at the medicine shop.

Patriarch Inkrule had been standing guard the entire time, and had been doing a good job of it. After everyone left earlier, he’d been feeling very nervous. And then those images appeared in his mind…. Although hardly anyone in the Moonrite Region could have recognized the people in those images, he recognized all of them instantly. And that was especially true of Xu Qing. After all of that happened, he had decided to just do his best to guard the shop. Later, the green sand transformed, and the massive basin was filled with gray sand and wind. All of that convinced him that the best course of action was just to stay where he was. He had worked hard to take good care of the chickens, fattening them up as much as he could. That included his old apprentice. When he finally spotted Xu Qing, the Heir Apparent, and everyone else on the street, he started trembling with excitement, and rushed forward to receive them.

The next day, the Green Spirit Pharmacy opened for business again. Ling’er’s face was flushed as she worked on the accounts, all while occasionally looking happily at the back room. Her cultivation base was very different from before. She had now thoroughly assimilated the destiny aura from Emperor Ancient Spirit. That was all thanks to the good fortune of that blood cocoon.

Xu Qing wasn’t the only one to benefit from good fortune. Ling’er had also been blessed thanks to the Heir Apparent and his siblings.

Ning Yan and Li Youfei went back to scrubbing the floor. The Captain resumed his guard duties and kept an eye on Nethersprite as she boiled water. Nethersprite hadn’t returned her little toy. Thus, as she boiled water, she always took every opportunity to slap and chide the skin lantern. She also had the lantern do the blowing to keep the fire hot.

Wu Jianwu was again reciting poetry. He hadn’t seen Patriarch Inkrule for quite a while, and missed him a lot. “It feels like forever since I went on my way; yet it seems like I’ve hardly been gone a day.”

Patriarch Inkrule pretended not to have heard him.

The Heir Apparent and his siblings went back to their routines. Fifth Sister was in the backyard, happily tending to the chickens. Eighth Sib clasped the Captain’s shoulder and chatted like before. However, when Xu Qing occasionally listened in, it seemed like the Captain was often getting more information out of Eighth Sib than the other way around. Whenever that happened, Princess Brightblossom would shake her head.

Xu Qing was once again focusing on cultivation.

On the third day after their return to the Green Spirit Pharmacy, the Heir Apparent called Xu Qing over. As he sipped tea, he talked to Xu Qing in the meaningful and heartfelt manner of a true Master.

“Xu Qing, you might have reached the four-tribulation Nascent Soul level. However, there are still some abilities that you haven’t been able to unlock. Therefore, you need to keep that sun at your waist, and you can’t take the hat off.

“Things are going to be chaotic out there. Thankfully, things are going to be relatively peaceful here in the desert. Therefore, I want you to take advantage of the time you have to speed up the pace of your tempering.”

Xu Qing nodded. After returning, he’d visited the Moonrebel Congregation to find that the statues there weren’t active like before. An atmosphere of nervousness had come to fill the place. Almost all of the discussion was about the images everyone had seen in their heads a few days before. Everyone agreed that something big was coming. As a result, everyone seemed to be interested in stockpiling medicine.

Because of the gray wind that blocked off the desert, things were very peaceful around the Green Spirit Pharmacy. And that wasn’t even to mention there were four Smoldering Gods there.

Settling his thoughts, Xu Qing looked at the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom. Respectfully bowing he said, “I look forward to your advice, Seniors.”

The Heir Apparent was very pleased with Xu Qing’s attitude. “The first thing you need to do is study your heavenly dao. I don’t know the details of how you got it, but it looks like you plundered it years ago.

“Situations like that would occasionally occur back in the day. But heavenly daos aren’t simple things. They exist on an extremely high level! And thus comes today’s advice. You’ve overlooked something relating to your heavenly dao.”

The Heir Apparent’s expression looked very serious. In order to avoid exhausting himself, he was weighing his words very carefully before speaking.

“Given the level of that heavenly dao, if you don’t keep a close eye on it, it could very well leave you. What’s more, although you aren’t in the Spirit Trove level, considering that you had the destined opportunity to plunder a heavenly dao like that, then, theoretically speaking, you should be able to command at least some heavenly dao magical laws.

“It’s just that it hasn’t manifested very clearly on you so far. Keep digging. Keep seeking enlightenment of your heavenly dao. Sense the magical laws it contains. And more importantly, treat it well, guide it, and make sure it follows you willingly.

“In addition, though heavenly daos contain all of the usual magical and natural laws, yours does have a specialty. It will just take some effort on your part to discover what it is.”

Xu Qing was very taken aback. Acting on instinct, he took a look at the heavenly dao inside of him. The bluegreen dragon was in his sea of consciousness looking back. And though Xu Qing couldn’t be totally sure, it seemed almost looked like it had a fawning expression on its face. Xu Qing put some thought into the matter of the heavenly dao bluegreen dragon. He was wondering what part of his study and research into it had been lacking.

After some thought, he decided that the Heir Apparent’s advice made a lot of sense, and that he should study the heavenly dao more thoroughly. One thing that stuck out to him was that he had acquired this heavenly dao through enlightenment. It was actually a manifestation of his life essence bluegreen dragon. He had formed it, not plundered it.

The most important thing was that he needed to assert his authority. The bluegreen dragon had been acknowledged as an heir by the heavenly dao at the Ten Entrails Tree. And that meant that Xu Qing… counted as its grandfather.

In other words, he didn’t need to study it too deeply. He fundamentally understood a lot about it already. And he wasn’t worried at all about it leaving him. As for treating it well, that would depend on how it behaved.

In view of all that, Xu Qing looked at the Heir Apparent. “Senior, I can actually sense the specialty in my heavenly dao’s magical laws.”

“Oh?” the Heir Apparent said, looking at Xu Qing. Princess Brightblossom also looked over. Before, the two of them would have reacted much more sharply to someone under their tutelage acting so casually. But not now. The Heir Apparent looked at Xu Qing seriously, and Princess Brightblossom seemed somewhat excited.

“Seniors, my heavenly dao formed when I experienced enlightenment of dao-severing. That’s its specialty. It’s probably also connected to slaughter and tribulation lightning. That’s why I was able to convert it into a heavenly saber.”

Xu Qing waved his hand, causing a small bluegreen dragon to fly out from the top of his head and start gliding around.

The Heir Apparent nodded. His expression unchanging, he said, “Hmm. It’s just as I thought. You used a destined opportunity to plunder enlightenment from heaven and earth.”

A short distance away, Eighth Sib’s eyebrows shot up and he opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, Princess Brightblossom looked at him. A tremor passed through Eighth Sib, and he forced himself to stay silent.

Despite what the Heir Apparent had said, he was actually bewildered. He rarely made mistakes, especially considering his experience as someone with a Smoldering God cultivation base. What was more, he had observed Xu Qing’s heavenly dao quite a bit. He had seen a deep level of approval in that heavenly dao, as well as an independent spirit. Those things didn’t seem to match with what Xu Qing said about his enlightenment.

Gaining enlightenment of an illusory heavenly dao wasn’t enough. It required constant cultivation and growth to succeed. If you likened heavenly daos to a species, then heavenly daos of that level were like ordinary citizens who need to develop significantly before becoming royalty. Besides, that was something of a dead end. It didn’t matter how much a heavenly dao grew, it could never become like the heavenly daos of ancient times in the Revered Ancient mainland. They were the royalty.

But Xu Qing’s heavenly dao was somehow different. It had a deep level of approval that the Heir Apparent could sense was connected to one of the ancient heavenly daos. It seemed outrageously unbelievable. Upon sensing it, the Heir Apparent had assumed that it must have been something that Xu Qing surreptitiously plundered and added to his assets.

Princess Brightblossom muttered to herself briefly before looking at Xu Qing and his heavenly dao. “Xu Qing, did your heavenly dao experience some incredibly momentous event?”

Xu Qing was about to answer the question but didn’t have the chance.

The Captain proudly laughed and said, “Of course! It was back when little Ah Qing and I were on a big job.”

“What job?” Eighth Sib asked curiously.

“Oh, nothing worth talking about. We just gave the little bluegreen dragon a daddy, which is when it became our grandson. You see, little Ah Qing and I had a child together. Ai. It’s been such a long time since we saw our son. I’m really starting to miss him.”

The Captain looked up into the sky. All of a sudden, a rumbling in the dome of heaven seemed to respond to him.

The Heir Apparent shot to his feet. Princess Brightblossom’s expression flickered, and even Fifth Sister looked moved.

Eighth Sib gasped and looked at Chen Erniu, then Xu Qing. Finally he pointed to the sky. “That’s your son?”

Xu Qing hesitated briefly, then said, “After waking hīm, hē’ll likely be one of the ancient heavenly daos.”

The Heir Apparent sat back down and grabbed his teacup. Yet again he was starting to feel exhausted. Princess Brightblossom and Fifth Sister both sat there quietly. Eighth Sib’s jaw was hanging open.

Ning Yan continued scrubbing the floor, his heart aching with regret. I had a chance too… to be the father of a heavenly dao!

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