194: Chapter 194 Seed Extraction

At the summit of the snowy mountain, where the sky met the earth, thousands of golden rays beamed brilliantly.

The palace of the Queen Mother of the West had actually emerged from that frozen Small World.

Li Xiuyuan's eyes narrowed slightly as a trace of surprise flashed through his heart.

However, he quickly realized that it was not the actual physical structure, but rather a projection that crossed the boundaries of time and space, hovering above the summit of Kunlun, separated from this world by a faint, looming veil.

Stepping into the Small World, he was no longer greeted by the eternal, unchanging white snow.

Instead, a vast sea of flowers covered the entire mountain.

A riot of vibrant colors and myriad shapes stretched from beneath his feet all the way to the horizon, merging with the distant snowline like an ink wash painting with spilled pigments.

The palace of the Queen Mother of the West stood in the center of the sea of flowers. Its magnificent golden eaves were draped with lush green vines, and clusters of nameless wildflowers peeked out from the gaps between the glazed tiles. As a gentle breeze blew, the entire palace swayed softly amidst the shadows of the flowers, appearing a bit more lively and a bit less coldly majestic than before.

"A-Yu, let me say this one more time: Myriad Leaves Blooming is not for you to use as a mere decoration!"

Before Li Xiuyuan could even draw close, an angry shout erupted from inside the palace.

Immediately after, another voice rang out, crisp and self-righteous: "Master, I'm just familiarizing myself with Myriad Leaves Blooming. I'm not fooling around!"

Li Xiuyuan pushed open the grand doors, only to see the Queen Mother of the West pointing her index finger at A-Yu's forehead from afar, gritting her teeth in anger, looking thoroughly exasperated by her disciple's lack of progress.

The moment she saw him enter, the Queen Mother of the West abruptly pulled her hand back and coughed twice. She completely wiped away her exasperated expression from a moment ago, putting on a lofty and majestic front.

A-Yu, however, didn't care about any of that. Her eyes lit up when she saw Li Xiuyuan, and she quickly ran over.

"Benefactor!"

"Why are you here?!"

She stopped in front of Li Xiuyuan, bowed politely, and then looked up to study him curiously.

Li Xiuyuan noticed that the current A-Yu had Spiritual Qi circulating all around her body, having already crossed the threshold of cultivation. Although her aura was not yet very strong,

she was already firmly established in the Second Realm. To make such progress in such a short time, the Queen Mother of the West, as her master, had indeed not been negligent.

"I've come to get something from the Queen Mother."

Li Xiuyuan said.

"Go back to your cultivation," the Queen Mother of the West's voice came from behind, carrying an unquestionable tone.

Although A-Yu was a bit reluctant, she also knew that Li Xiuyuan must have serious matters to discuss since he was looking for the Queen Mother of the West at this time.

Thus, she obediently bowed to Li Xiuyuan and then trotted away.

The Queen Mother of the West watched her figure disappear behind the corridor pillars before withdrawing her gaze. "Has the surge of Spiritual Qi in the outside world ended?"

Li Xiuyuan nodded. "You should know that yourself."

"The scale and intensity of this Spiritual Qi surge were even more violent than I had anticipated,"

the Queen Mother of the West said.

Originally, in her predictions, this Spiritual Qi surge would at most allow some weak Rising Beings to cross a major Realm, and that would be the absolute limit.

But unexpectedly, many Rising Beings had actually crossed two major Realms out of nowhere,

and a vast number of Rising Beings were even able to directly comprehend Divine Abilities from their Bloodlines. Moreover, the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the outside world had reached an unprecedented level.

Even the Queen Mother of the West herself felt that the concentration of Spiritual Qi after this surge could rival that of her own era.

And this meant that,

aside from powerful cultivators appearing one after another, great demons would also make their entrances on the stage, and even those Ancient Deities who had faded into obscurity would emerge.

"Where is the peach tree seed?" Li Xiuyuan was in no mood to listen to her lament about the changing eras and went straight to the point.

Hearing this, the Queen Mother of the West drew a tiny seed from her wide sleeve across the air and presented it to him. The seed looked completely ordinary, only slightly larger than a common peach pit, with a very faint golden halo shimmering on its surface that was almost imperceptible unless one looked closely.

"After taking it back, just find a place to plant it. There's no need to fuss over its care; it will mature on its own,"

said the Queen Mother of the West.

Li Xiuyuan took the seed.

He had actually long planned to throw this peach tree seed into an Ancient Grotto-Heaven. Of the several Ancient Grotto-Heavens opened up by the Lord River God, a few still remained.

"When do you plan to transform into a True Dragon? And what method will you use?" the Queen Mother of the West asked again.

Li Xiuyuan said, "I have no such plans for the time being."

He did not really want to tell the Queen Mother of the West about his plans, so he intended to gloss over it. However, he did not expect that she would seemingly see through his lie.

The Queen Mother of the West furrowed her brow slightly, saying with a hint of displeasure, "Your Karma is bound to Kunlun, and I was willing to give you such a precious Flat Peach Tree seed. I thought that even if we weren't friends, we were at least allies, yet I never expected you would still hide things from me."

"I really didn't expect you to be so stingy."

This Queen Mother, who possessed immense majesty in legends, actually spoke with a trace of a young maiden's petulance at this moment.

Li Xiuyuan remained unmoved by this. After a moment of thought, he said, "Fair enough, I was indeed being too cautious. I do have preparations."

Hearing this, the Queen Mother of the West's eyes lit up, and she immediately asked, "What method do you plan to use?"

Then she added, "No, that was a redundant question. With your temperament, you will definitely use the most direct method to confront the Heavenly Tribulation."

After saying this, she crossed her arms, rested her chin in her hand to ponder, and muttered to herself,

"Hmm... If it were the past, I wouldn't recommend you head-on resist the Heavenly Tribulation, as the risk would be too great. But in this era, the Heavenly Dao has been dormant for a long time, which presents a very good opportunity."

"If you really can't withstand the Heavenly Tribulation, you can temporarily come to my place to hide. But when that time comes, it will be easy to enter but hard to leave."

Hearing this, Li Xiuyuan also understood what the Queen Mother of the West meant.

When Rising Beings faced the Heavenly Tribulation and really couldn't hold on, they could choose to find a place to hide. If that place was extremely safe and could shield them from the Heavenly Dao's perception, they could indeed escape the disaster.

However, this also meant pulling one's head into a shell, having to hide in that place for all eternity without leaking even a shred of Qi, otherwise the Heavenly Tribulation would still hunt them down.

Throughout the long river of cultivation, there had been many great demons who, left with no other choice, opted for this path.

Yet in the end, without exception, none of them escaped death.

Those titans who could once move mountains, drain seas, and stir up storms ultimately returned to mediocrity just to survive for a moment longer, unable to even withstand the erosion of time, turning to dust in silence.

Li Xiuyuan was more or less familiar with these stories.

"I'll consider that when I'm truly left with no other options in the future."

Li Xiuyuan said.

Declining the Queen Mother of the West's kind offer, Li Xiuyuan turned and walked out along the path in the sea of flowers. His robes brushed past the petals swaying gently in the wind, catching a faint, lingering fragrance of vegetation.

Standing behind a pillar by the side door of the palace, A-Yu poked half of her head out and waved at him.

Li Xiuyuan caught this out of the corner of his eye but did not stop his steps, merely nodding slightly in response.

His figure soon merged into the snowy white at the end of the sea of flowers, disappearing past the boundary of the Small World leading to the outside.

Yet the Queen Mother of the West, standing still where she was, knew that Li Xiuyuan definitely had another method of transforming into a Dragon. Even if he were truly left with no other options in the end, he would never run to her place to hide like a coward.

"Then I wish you good luck."

"Do not fail. Otherwise, once my Kunlun Palace manifests in the world, the disasters that follow won't be something I can resolve with my power alone."

She raised her eyes to look toward the distant horizon, her gaze passing through the layers of the sea of flowers and the snowline, landing on the figure that was about to leave Kunlun.