Chapter 1 A Chance Encounter

Hearing Jiang Xuan greet him with a smile, for some reason, Ao Yu's heart trembled. He felt that Jiang Xuan harbored ill intentions.

"I have offended you greatly before. I hope Fellow Daoist will forgive me."

While bowing and apologizing, Ao Yu took out an Immortal-ranked superb treasure. He was quite adept at being a dragon, guessing that Jiang Xuan intended to cause trouble. Before Jiang Xuan could even mention it, he directly offered the treasure as an apology.

"Tsk..."

Jiang Xuan was stunned for a moment. The words on the tip of his tongue became difficult to say. Ao Yu's attitude was too good.

"Forget it, let's write off this matter." Jiang Xuan didn't say much, directly put away the Immortal-ranked superb treasure, and turned to leave.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait!"

However, Ao Yu quickly called out. Fortunately, his surname wasn't Shen, otherwise Jiang Xuan would definitely draw his sword and chop him down immediately.

"What is it?"

Seeing Jiang Xuan stop, Ao Yu seemed to be struggling. Seeing that Jiang Xuan seemed a little impatient, he gritted his teeth and said, "I wonder if Fellow Daoist needs a follower? I want to follow you!"

"..."

Jiang Xuan was stunned again. What was Ao Yu's thought process? He felt inexplicably confused.

"You are a Celestial Immortal, carefree and at ease in these Three Realms. Why bother?" Jiang Xuan didn't understand. He could understand if it was a Returning Void Earth Immortal or a Godfiend, but why would a Celestial Immortal want to follow someone else? Wouldn't it be better to be free and unfettered?

However, upon hearing Jiang Xuan's words, Ao Yu couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Fellow Daoist doesn't know, I am not a true dragon race member. After transcending the tribulation, I shed my old body and became a dragon. Later, because of this Celestial Immortal cultivation, I was recognized by the dragon race and bestowed the surname 'Ao'."

Such things were not uncommon. At the peak of the dragon race, there was a Zulong (ancestral dragon) of the Ancestral God level guarding it. It was one of the overlords of the Three Realms. Although the Zulong died in the ancient war, and the dragon race's overlord position also changed, there were still many strong individuals among them.

Moreover, all spirits in the world have the possibility of transforming into dragons, especially the demon race and the aquatic race. Previously, Ao Yu was a water demon in the Tianluo Ancient River. After a long period of time, he finally transcended the tribulation and became an immortal, transforming into a dragon and being granted the surname "Ao."

"However, I am not a true dragon after all. Even if I become a Celestial Immortal, I have no status in the dragon race. Those core secret techniques and divine powers of the dragon race are even more out of my reach..."

Ao Yu said here, and Jiang Xuan also understood. This was an ambitious dragon who didn't want to stop at the Celestial Immortal realm, and wanted to go further.

But he was only a Celestial Immortal after all. So what if he was from the dragon race? The dragon race simply didn't care about a Celestial Immortal like him. Some powerful Great Worlds could achieve the phenomenon of ten thousand immortals coming to court, let alone the dragon race that was once one of the overlords of ancient times. No matter how weakened they were, Celestial Immortals would not have a very high status in the dragon race.

And Jiang Xuan had Dao Ancestor standing behind him. Becoming Jiang Xuan's follower would give him more opportunities. Perhaps one day, he could break the shackles and become a True Immortal, or even become a Dao Ancestor.

"Are you sure you want to follow me?" Jiang Xuan felt that he was quite unreliable. There were five people who had followed him before, but he basically hadn't cared about their cultivation. When he left the Shennong Dojo, Youzhu and the others had only just broken through to the Yuanshen stage.

Moreover, it was true that he had Dao Ancestor behind him, but without permission, he couldn't possibly pass on the many inheritances he obtained from Bodhi Dao Ancestor to his followers. If he wanted to obtain opportunities, he would have to rely on himself.

"Yes." Ao Yu made up his mind, rather than seeing no path forward, he still wanted to take another gamble.

"Alright, then make a Heavenly Dao Oath."

Jiang Xuan was always casual about followers. Otherwise, he wouldn't have only left one spot in the first place.

"Okay!"

Ao Yu said immediately. He naturally knew the oath of a follower. If there were no mandatory requirements, the Three Realms were basically the same, so he quickly made a Heavenly Dao Oath, and a shackle was added to his body in the dark.

"Master."

After making the oath, Ao Yu immediately changed his address. Jiang Xuan frowned and said, "In the future, you can call me Your Highness or Young Master. There's no need to say the word Master."

"Yes."

Ao Yu didn't ask any more questions. There were all sorts of requirements for followers in the Three Realms. As long as it wasn't too excessive, as a follower, he would naturally abide by the rules set by his master.

"I have a question for you." Looking at Ao Yu, Jiang Xuan suddenly remembered that he still had a test on him. It just so happened that Ao Yu was a local tyrant in the Tianluo Ancient River area, and might be able to help him.

"In the places you know, are there any people with great merit? At least merit that produces golden light, a hundred zhang (approximately 333 meters) of golden light." Jiang Xuan asked. Although his divine sense was powerful now, he still couldn't cover an entire Great World, so it was better to directly ask Ao Yu.

"Merit golden light reaching a hundred zhang?" Ao Yu heard this and began to recall, "I have seen a few people, but they all eventually joined forces with Celestial Immortals, and those were all tens of thousands of years ago."

Jiang Xuan shook his head. As he expected, it was indeed rare to find someone whose merit golden light reached a hundred zhang. Even if they did appear, they would immediately be taken into the sects of those large forces. There were very few wild ones, so it was really not easy to find them.

"Then do you know where there are Earth Immortal Loose Immortals with great sin? At least sin that produces bloody light, a hundred zhang of bloody light." Jiang Xuan asked again.

"Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals with a hundred zhang of bloody light? There are quite a few of those." Ao Yu replied. He was entrenched in the Tianluo Ancient River, which was a large river that spanned thirteen commanderies and stretched for an unknown number of miles. Naturally, Ao Yu had also seen many great sinners.

"Which ones are there?"

Hearing Jiang Xuan's question, Ao Yu immediately told Jiang Xuan about the great sinners at the Loose Immortal and Earth Immortal level that he knew.

"Fourteen? I can even exceed the quota?" Jiang Xuan thought, but he didn't plan to do that.

Now he had a more detached view of sinners and those with merit. After all, there was Daoji on Mount Sumeru who possessed unimaginable merit, and there was also the Silver Moon Heavenly God whose sins were so heavy that the heavens sent down karmic fire.

The Three Realms were also a world where the strong preyed on the weak. This merit and sin were just determined by fate. Who could really say for sure?

Just like Ji Ning, who would mistakenly kill billions of mortals in the future and be burned by karmic fire, but he did it for revenge and was tricked into committing a great massacre, so it wasn't entirely his fault.

Another example was the Silver Moon Heavenly God, who went on a killing spree against the No-Space Gate because his Dao companion died because of them, which also caused countless mortal lives to be lost, resulting in him being entangled in karmic fire.

Of course, such situations were rare. Most of the great sinners didn't have so many convoluted stories, especially those Loose Immortals, most of whom went mad because they failed to transcend the tribulation, and then slaughtered countless mortal beings, which led to them being entangled in bloody light of sin.

As for Jiang Xuan's current view, if he didn't encounter them, then so be it. If he did encounter them, he would kill them if he didn't like them.

With his heart power manifesting and reaching the level of dominance, Jiang Xuan acted so arbitrarily, only following his heart. As for the rest, it was difficult to interfere with his state of mind.

A month later, Jiang Xuan completed the test of killing great sinners. Next, as long as he could find a disciple whose merit golden light exceeded a hundred zhang, the main body could learn the *Eight Nine Arcane Art*.

Fortunately, the Daming Great World was big enough. There must be people whose merit golden light reached a hundred zhang. Jiang Xuan wanted to find them, and he definitely could find them.

So after killing the great sinners, Jiang Xuan traveled with Ao Yu in the Daming Great World, without a specific goal. Everything depended on fate. If he could bump into someone with great merit, then it was fated with him. If their temperament also suited him, he would naturally accept them.

"Huh?"

After wandering for half a year, Jiang Xuan came to a relatively remote commandery in the Daming Great World. As he passed through the void in a flying boat, he happened to see a person.

"Your Highness, it's a person with great merit!"

Ao Yu was driving the flying boat, but his divine sense could easily detect what was happening on the ground tens of thousands of miles below.

"Well, stop for now and see what happens next." Jiang Xuan instructed without any extra action. There was no shortage of people with great merit in the world, and he wouldn't only be fated with one person. Instead, he focused more on temperament.

Below Jiang Xuan in the void was a mountain range stretching for millions of miles. At this moment, within this mountain range, five Zifu cultivators were riding their mounts on their way.

They all came from a family that could be considered powerful, but it was only a branch family. After finally breaking through to the Zifu realm, they were wholeheartedly thinking of joining an immortal sect in the nearby Yanshan City.

For safety's sake, they didn't even dare to drive a flying boat. Instead, they chose to ride their mounts. Although this would take longer, it would at least be much safer.

But what they didn't expect was that even though they were already very careful, they were still being targeted. What made them even more desperate was that this time, the one targeting them was still a Vientiane Great Demon!

"Xiaoyu, you guys hurry up and leave, I'll stop it!"

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl, with tears in her eyes, shouted at another smaller girl!

Immediately afterward, a spiritual fire ignited on her body. It was a secret technique that overdrafted the potential of the Zifu. Once used, she understood that her path of cultivation might end here!

"No! Sister, we'll leave together!"

The girl named Xiaoyu cried. The five of them came from the same tribe and had cultivated together since they were young. Their feelings were very deep, so how could they abandon each other?

"Xiaoyu, calm down, don't let Qingyan sacrifice in vain!"

A young man tightly grasped the girl named Xiaoyu. His body was also trembling, because he knew that the chances of them escaping were not high.

"Xiaoyu, listen to them, you guys leave quickly!"

The girl named Qingyan shouted, and then directly charged towards the Vientiane demon beast!

But the gap between the Zifu and Vientiane realms, how could it be compensated by forbidden techniques? The demon beast's sharp blood claws directly broke through the obstacles and grabbed towards her head!

"Buzz!"

At this moment, a sudden saber light fell, like a knife cutting tofu, directly cutting off the head of the Vientiane beast. Then, it disappeared in the blink of an eye. The demon beast's claws paused three feet above the girl's head, but could no longer press down.

*Bang!*

The demon beast's body fell, raising dust, and also pulled them back to reality. The girl came back to her senses, quickly stopped the forbidden technique, and looked around, but she never found any figure, as if the saber light came from nothingness.