Primordial Era: I am a treasure trove, full of magical treasures.

The name Shen Xingyuan is truly fitting.

After flying 30,000 li westward, without even needing Bixi to guide him, Xuanbao himself sensed that strange feeling of "sinking." The spiritual energy in the world seemed to become viscous and heavy here, involuntarily collapsing in a certain direction. Parting a patch of gray miasma that never dissipated, the scene before his eyes suddenly... or rather, horrifyingly unfolded.

It was a vast, almost boundless, deep black pool, its surface as smooth as the finest black jade, utterly still and eerily silent. Not even birds seemed to dare approach, creating a strange vacuum above the water. The banks lacked the usual damp mud and moss of a typical marshland; instead, countless strange stones, rounded by the currents and covered in deep claw marks, stretched densely to the horizon. The claw marks ranged in size from large enough for a magical artifact to lie flat in, to smaller ones as if cleaved by a knife or axe, exuding a savage and ferocious aura.

"This is it."

"The Weak Water?" Xuanbao raised an eyebrow, intrigued. He strained his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them, and gazed at the inky black pool. Sure enough, the depths of the water weren't truly black, but rather a kind of "nothingness" that swallowed all light and sank everything. Not even a feather could float, and even immortals and Buddhas couldn't cross it—it truly was the legendary Weak Water! But such a vast expanse of Weak Water forming a pool was truly rare.

"Isn't that the Weak Water!" The tip of the Bixie's tail trembled. "It is said that at the bottom of this Sunken Star Abyss, there is an ancient, damaged Netherworld rift from which the Weak Water seeps out and gathers here. That fragment of chaos, wrapped in the wisp of Xuanhuang Mother Qi, happened to hit the top of the rift, blocking most of the Weak Water from leaking out, and also becoming the 'eye' of this pool. It was by using that fragment and the original aura of the Weak Water that the old alligator dragon cultivated this terrifying power... no, it was the heaven-reaching and earth-shattering divine power."

Little Bixi's voice trailed off, his beady green eyes darting around warily: "Let me tell you, this old alligator dragon has a sinister origin. My father... my grandfather's generation passed down the story that it was formed from a drop of the Chaos Demon God's essence blood fused with the Weak Water during the separation of the pure and the turbid. It was born able to roll around in the Weak Water. Its skin is thick and tough; even ordinary innate spiritual treasures can't cut through its armor! Its snoring carries the poisonous aura of the Weak Water; just smelling it will make a Golden Immortal faint for three days! Are we... are we really going to provoke it?"

Xuanbao didn't answer directly. Instead, he stroked his chin and commented with interest, "Born from the fusion of the essence and blood of the Chaos Demon God and Ruoshui? Interesting. This background... tsk, in a later novel, he would definitely be a mid-stage villainous minor boss who would give the protagonist a headache. What a pity," he shook his head regretfully, "born at the wrong time, stuck here as a warehouse keeper."

Bixi didn't quite understand the terms "BOSS" and "guard the warehouse," but it understood the tone of "born at the wrong time" and regret. It immediately scratched Xuanbao's shoulder anxiously with its paw: "Big Boss! Daoist Master! Dear Grandpa! What time is it for you to be commenting on someone's background? That thing will be completely ruthless once it wakes up... uh, it doesn't seem to have any relatives to recognize. Anyway, it's terrifying! Let's think this through, let's think this through..."

"What are you planning?" Xuanbao grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. "Since we're already here..."

Xuanbao went straight to the edge of the pool, stopping about ten feet away from the Weak Water. He squatted down, picked up a pebble covered with claw marks, and found it to be icy cold and extremely heavy. When he probed it with his divine sense, he felt a slight dizziness. It was indeed the Weak Water.

However, for Xuanbao, whose strength has now reached the level of a Hunyuan Golden Immortal, these are all minor issues.

Xuanbao squinted at the center of the pool and sensed that there was indeed a treasure aura beneath the Weak Water. Moreover, it was not just a piece of Xuanhuang Mother Qi as Xiaobi had said. Xuanbao sensed at least three treasures emitting treasure aura in the Weak Water, which meant that there were at least three good things below.

But just then, a sound suddenly came from the bottom of the Ruoshui Pool.

"Gurgle... Boom—!"

In the center of that jet-black pool, a massive whirlpool suddenly erupted without warning, its depths unfathomable. Then, a dark shadow, larger than a mountain, carrying with it a viscous, asphalt-like liquid, slowly rose from the depths of the whirlpool.

First to emerge was a head covered in a thick, grotesque, anciently scarred bony carapace, as large as a moving palace. Its eyes were not yet open, but the folds in their sockets had already squeezed out the Weak Water, like two fissures splitting open in an abyss. What spewed from its nostrils was not air, but two streams of grayish-black Weak Water poison, hissing and distorting the air wherever they passed, even subtly distorting space itself.

"Which...blind fool...disturbed my peaceful sleep...?"

The sound was deep and muffled, like billions of thunderbolts rolling through the earth's core. Each word uttered was accompanied by the tremors of the Weak Water Pool and the humming of the star-studded debris and rocks on the shore. A terrifying pressure, mixed with the unique sinking and deathly stillness of the Weak Water, crashed outwards like an invisible tsunami!

Bixi, perched on Xuanbao's shoulder, rolled its eyes, lashed out with its dragon claw, and passed out, leaving only the tip of its tail trembling unconsciously.

The old alligator dragon finally opened its eyes.

They were two murky, yellow vortexes, seemingly filled with ancient filth and resentment. Even the light seemed heavy and dim in their presence. They locked onto the tiny yet strikingly "blinding" figure on the shore—Xuanbao.

"Insignificant ants... dare to covet... my treasure..." The old alligator dragon was clearly in a terrible mood upon waking, its mind not yet fully awake, but its killing intent was already boiling. It didn't even bother to ask who the newcomer was; its berserk magical power at the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, mixed with the essence of the Weak Water, transformed into a gigantic, sky-covering, pitch-black claw, carrying the force to shatter stars and tear through the void, and slammed down towards the Xuanbao (and the small, corpse-like bizi on its shoulder)!

If that claw strike landed squarely, an ordinary Great Luo Golden Immortal would probably be instantly turned into a pile of minced meat.

Xuanbao sighed and patted the unconscious little bixie on his shoulder: "See, it's all because you said that they had no relatives and that you had no manners, and that you woke them up."

Little Bixie: ...

Xuanbao extended one finger.

Gently push upwards.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

The next moment, "Crack—Boom!!!"

The colossal claw, imbued with the power of the Weak Water and capable of shattering stars, seemed to have collided with the hardest "spiritual treasure" since the beginning of time. Its claws shattered, and fragments of its carapace mixed with black blood (which, when dripped onto the ground, corroded deep pits in the rocks) scattered everywhere! A terrifying recoil swept up its arm, and the old alligator dragon's enormous body jerked backward, letting out a roar a mixture of pain and rage, shaking the entire Weak Water of the Starfall Abyss and stirring up thousands of feet of black waves!

"Roar—!!! Who is this person?!"

The old alligator dragon awoke fully, its cloudy yellow eyes filled with horror and disbelief. It had cultivated for countless years, relying on the Weak Water, boasting that its physical strength was comparable to a top-tier innate spiritual treasure, making it virtually invincible within the Great Luo Realm. Yet today, its claw had been shattered by a single finger?

Xuanbao then slowly stood up, dusted off non-existent dust, and wore a regretful expression that seemed to say, "I told you not to lay a hand on me." He said, "I mean, we're all respectable people... well, even if you're shameless, you still have a facade. Why did you start by getting physical? How uncivilized."

The old alligator dragon was both shocked and enraged, but more so by the complete unleashing of the ferocity emanating from the depths of its chaotic bloodline: "You injured my body and disturbed my sleep, die!" It held nothing back, its entire body rising completely from the Weak Water Pool—a truly moving, dark mountain covered in grotesque bone spikes and ancient runes! It opened its massive maw, no longer merely biting, but spewing forth a torrent of Weak Water's essence, condensed to its utmost! Wherever this torrent passed, space collapsed, all things sank, carrying a terrifying power capable of dissolving magic, corrupting primordial spirits, and plunging true souls—straight to the Xuanbao!

"Sigh, he won't listen." Xuanbao shook his head, this time too lazy to even move a finger. With a slight thought, a flash appeared in the void above his head, and a ruler-like shadow, whose color was indescribable and seemed to contain the endless cycle of birth and death of worlds, appeared—the phantom of the Qiankun Ruler!

The ruler's shadow gently traced a line across the torrent of weak water.

There was no earth-shattering explosion. The torrent of weak water, which was enough to make even the most powerful immortals retreat, broke off and disappeared silently, like a pencil mark erased by an eraser, as if it had never existed.

The old alligator dragon's yellow eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

Xuanbao had already taken a step forward, his figure appearing like a ghost in front of the old alligator dragon's huge head, and he threw a seemingly ordinary punch.

"Thump!!!"

A muffled thud, like the tolling of an ancient bell that had stood for billions of years, resounded. The old alligator dragon felt an irresistible, profound force pierce through its supposedly indestructible skull armor, reaching deep into its very soul!

"Awooo..." With an extremely frustrated roar of pain, the old alligator dragon's mountain-like head was slammed hard against its forelimbs, its vision blurred and its mind buzzing.

Before it could react, Xuanbao appeared to its left as if by teleportation, and "slap!" slapped its hardened cheek, making its head tilt to one side.

Another kick landed on its right side, striking the junction of its shoulder blade, causing its massive body to stagger.

Next, Xuanbao fully demonstrated what "the simple education of a Hunyuan Golden Immortal" means - fists, feet, elbows, knees... and when he was really into it, Xuanbao even took out the Heaven-Shaking Hammer, a top-grade innate spiritual treasure, and just stood there 80~80~80.

"Serves you right for being so fierce!"

"That'll teach you to be grumpy in the morning!"

"That'll teach you to be uncivilized!"

"You're just sitting there sleeping, not knowing how to use your precious treasure, huh?"

"You've utterly disgraced the essence of the Chaos Demon God!"

Each strike was not fatal, but each one precisely avoided the hardest part of the carapace, striking the joints, acupoints, and the connection between the soul and spirit, causing the old alligator dragon to howl in pain, yet it was completely powerless to resist.

The bixie beside it had slowly woken up at some point, and was covering its eyes tightly with its two front paws, but couldn't help peeking through the gaps between its paws.

"So the boss is this powerful?! You should have said so earlier! You almost scared me to death..." Bixi muttered to himself, his dragon whiskers twitching.

After "educating" it for dozens of days, Xuanbao finally stopped and stood calmly in front of the old alligator dragon's nose. Looking at the old alligator dragon again, its originally fierce and turbid yellow eyes were now filled with confusion, grievance, and deep fear. Its eye sockets seemed a little swollen (although it was not very clear because they were blocked by its thick armor). Its eyes were as clear as those of a newborn crocodile.

"Have you given up yet?" Xuanbao asked.

The old alligator dragon nodded its enormous head with difficulty, almost imperceptibly, and emitted a muffled, thunderous, aggrieved voice: "I...I surrender...Immortal, spare my life..."

"Hmm," Xuanbao nodded in satisfaction, then flew around the old alligator dragon's head twice with his hands behind his back, looking it up and down. "I must say, if you look closely, you actually look quite imposing. This armor, these bone spikes, this physique... If you were to be taken out as a showpiece, you'd be quite intimidating."

Old Crocodile Dragon: "???" It had a bad feeling.

"His strength is so-so, peak Great Luo level. That should be enough to guard the gate and protect the courtyard." Xuanbao stroked his chin and continued to comment. "It's just that his temper is a bit bad and his manners are a bit low. He needs to be reformed."

"Immortal... what do you mean?" the old dragon asked cautiously, afraid of answering wrong and getting beaten again.

"My dojo is located in Kunlun Mountain, and I'm in need of a guardian beast to protect the mountain gate... Hmm, a mountain-guarding divine beast." Xuanbao looked at it with a smile. "I see you have special backgrounds, able to control the Weak Water, so you might be considered a promising talent. Follow me, and you'll live a life of luxury... uh, at least you won't have to sleep in this black pool every day, how about it?"

The old alligator dragon was dumbfounded. It had reigned supreme in this Starfall Abyss for countless years; though it was lonely, it was free! Suddenly it had to guard the gate?

It instinctively wanted to shake its head, but when it looked up, it met Xuanbao's ambiguous smile and the illusory image of the giant hammer beside it that made its soul tremble. Then it thought back to the beating it had just received…

Dignity? Pride? What are those? Does it hurt as much as getting beaten up?

The old alligator dragon lowered its enormous head even further, its voice barely audible: "This...this little alligator is willing to pay respects to Master." Well, to avoid further beatings, and for the sake of any potential "fragrant and spicy" treatment, guarding the gate is fine! As for Kunlun Mountain...where have I heard of it before...?

"You're so sensible." Xuanbao patted its huge head approvingly. "From now on, I'll call you... 'Ink Armor'."

"Mo Jia thanks you for bestowing the name upon him, sir."