Primordial Era: I, the Lamp Burner, intercept the Western opportunity at the outset.

Dipankara summoned the blessed pestle, erased his own primordial spirit imprint from it, and gently pushed it toward the guide.

"Junior Brother Jieyin, you have worked diligently to manage the family business for nearly 20,000 years. I will give you this mid-grade innate spiritual treasure, the Divine Pestle, for your self-defense."

With the Primordial Measuring Ruler for attack and two top-grade spiritual lamps for protection, Burning Lamp is not lacking in the power of this blessed pestle.

On the contrary, Jieyin's Six Pure Bamboos are more focused on support and defense, lacking offensive capabilities. Giving him this treasure is also a reward for not having any other thoughts after the Self-Ignition Lamp left.

The disciple was overjoyed, took the blessed vajra, and examined it carefully.

"Haha, what a treasure! Thank you, Senior Brother Jieyin. Junior Brother Zhunti and I are also part of the West."

Zhen Yuanzi watched with envy and casually gifted a mid-grade innate spiritual treasure to someone else. Fellow Daoist Randeng is indeed quite wealthy.

"And me too, senior brother, I've been working very hard too."

Zhunti chimed in at the opportune moment, after all, no one can have too many innate spiritual treasures.

"Once you take human form, your senior brother will certainly not be stingy with you."

Randeng was helpless; even before Zhunti had taken human form, he was already a lively character.

"Alright, guide, use the blessed pestle to wake up this dragon. I have some ideas to test."

Burning Lamp pointed to the dragon who was begging for mercy, indicating that he should use the blessed pestle to bring him back to his senses.

The guide initially left his primordial spirit imprint in the blessed pestle, and understood the meaning of the lamp.

He raised his hand and pointed, and a stream of demon-dispelling power flew out from the top of the blessed pestle and entered the dragon's primordial spirit.

Another scream rang out, and the dragon awoke to find its cultivation sealed, surrounded by three Taoist priests and a tree, their gazes menacing.

Zhen Yuanzi watched in alarm, thinking that he was about to use magic to heal the dragon, but it was done so directly.

"I haven't asked you your name yet, Dragon Clan?" Ran Deng said, trying to sound as kind as possible.

"Replying to your question, senior, my name is Ao Yuan." Ao Yuan's tone remained respectful.

"Do you want to live, Ao Yuan? If so, cooperate with me later and don't resist."

Ran Deng patiently guided him, because if Ao Yuan didn't cooperate in the upcoming experiment, he might accidentally kill him.

Ao Yuan didn't know what the young Taoist priest in front of him wanted to do, but his survival instinct still made him nod.

Seeing that he agreed, Ran Deng no longer hesitated. He drew out the ninth-grade world-destroying black lotus from his spiritual platform, made a hand seal, and condensed a black lotus seed from the world-destroying black lotus. He then slowly injected it into Ao Yuan's primordial spirit.

Ao Yuan's eyes widened, and he exclaimed in shock, "World-Destroying Black Lotus, you're a demonic cultivator!"

"If you don't want your primordial spirit to explode, then shut up and accept the lotus seed in peace."

Ran Deng waved his hand to seal his mouth, resisting the urge to slap him to death. He was the top disciple of the Xuanmen sect, yet he dared to slander him as a demonic cultivator.

With the help of the lotus seed, Randeng was also able to glimpse Ao Yuan's primordial spirit. The phantom of the yellow dragon was coiled on the spiritual platform, and countless gray-white chains stretched out from the void, firmly locking Ao Yuan's primordial spirit and cutting off his hope of advancing to the Great Luo realm in this life!

The power of karma between heaven and earth!

During the Great Calamity of Dragon and Phoenix, the Dragon Clan and the Phoenix Clan fought a decisive battle, causing boundless slaughter and shattering the primordial land. This aroused the hatred of heaven and earth, which unleashed endless karma. Countless Dragon and Phoenix Clan members, including Great Luo Immortals and even Quasi-Saints, perished on the spot. As a result, new members of the two clans born thereafter are bound by karmic shackles that imprison their primordial spirits from birth.

From then on, it became extremely difficult for both races to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth. Once they entered a meditative state, the shackles of karma would erode their primordial spirit, causing them to go astray and become possessed by demons.

Most of the remaining Great Luo Immortals today are survivors of the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity; there are almost no newly promoted Great Luo Immortals.

As the black lotus seed took root and sprouted on Ao Yuan's primordial spirit, although Ao Yuan felt as if ten thousand ants were gnawing at his heart, the karmic shackles that had sealed his primordial spirit for countless eons actually dimmed a little.

"What's this? I can actually feel my cultivation bottleneck loosening slightly. I can comprehend the laws again?"

Ao Yuan's face was a strange mix of pain and excitement.

Randeng nodded. It seemed that it was as he had expected. Rahu told him that the way to cultivate the World-Destroying Black Lotus was to gather evil energy and karma through boundless slaughter, and let the World-Destroying Black Lotus absorb it to grow. Otherwise, it would constantly erode his primordial spirit, which was truly a demonic act.

If the Dao Ancestor hadn't intervened to seal the World-Destroying Black Lotus, I really don't know what I would have done in the face of my primordial spirit being constantly eroded.

However, just as Randeng was burning Ao Yuan's primordial spirit with Netherworld Ghost Fire, he discovered that the primordial spirit was entangled in chains of karma. He then pondered whether he could separate lotus seeds to absorb the karma within other living beings and then reclaim the low-level world-destroying black lotuses that had grown from them.

Although this method is slow, it is safe. Conversely, races like the dragons, which have deep karma, will come to him for help. His own world-destroying black lotus can also take this opportunity to grow to the twelfth grade and reach its peak.

"Senior, can this method be used on other dragons? If so, there is hope for the revival of our dragon race!"

Despite the pain, Ao Yuan knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Randeng.

He was indeed a loyal dragon. Ran Deng interrupted him with a cold snort, "Don't even think about it. This method is quite mentally taxing, and I can't mass-produce seeds."

Ao Yuan's eyes dimmed slightly, then suddenly brightened again.

"Senior is going to let me go so I can deliver a message to the Dragon Clan."

Ao Yuan seemed to have grasped at a glimmer of hope and prayed loudly.

"He's quite clever."

Ran Deng exclaimed in admiration, then with a flick of his sleeve, sent him flying, and said coldly,

"But I don't need you to deliver my message, and I don't even necessarily need you."

Ao Yuan did several somersaults, but he wasn't angry.

"Senior, you need me. I am the Third Prince of the West Sea Dragon Clan. The one you defeated at the beginning was my guard leader. If they go back, they will only be regarded as spies of the Demon Clan. After all, the Demon Ancestor almost wiped out my Dragon Clan. Only if they go back will they have a chance to listen to me."

"Hahaha, alright, I underestimated you. Fine, I'll let you go. You're a smart man, you know what to say."

Randeng was somewhat surprised to have been outmaneuvered by the Third Prince of the Dragon Palace, but it didn't matter; as long as the news reached the higher-ups of the Dragon Clan, that was fine.

He activated the great formation, signaling Ao Yuan that he could leave, but Ao Yuan remained standing there, speaking again.

"Senior, I have another request. After the clan reaches an agreement with you, could you please carve a lotus seed for my Daoist partner? If I become the Dragon King of the West Sea afterward, I promise never to be an enemy of the West."

Ran Deng was somewhat surprised. Ao Yuan had just been focused on the clan, so why was he now considering his Daoist partner? However, it didn't matter to him who he engraved the seed in for the time being, so he said...

"Either way, this humble Taoist will only carve the seed, regardless of who comes. But why this sudden request?"

"To be honest, senior, my partner is about to give birth. With that karmic shackle in place, there is no chance that any newborn in our clan will survive. I'm afraid that both mother and child will perish. That's why I'm begging you, senior."

Ao Yuan was incredibly sincere, yet tears streamed down his face. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether it was from the pain or from worrying about his wife and children.

Ran Deng didn't reply. With his back to him, he waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.

With a resounding dragon roar, Ao Yuan transformed into a dragon and flew towards the Western Sea.

Zhen Yuanzi broke the silence with a sigh, "I never imagined that there would be such a creature among the dragons who cares so much about its people and is so loyal and righteous."

"Yes, this dragon might actually lead the dragon race to revival in the future."

The act of guiding is also a sigh.

"In the face of this great calamity, all will turn to ashes. Let's see what the future holds."

While Jieyin and Zhenyuanzi were unaware of the future trends, he knew that he and Taishang had already reached the Daluo realm, and it wouldn't be long before most of the innate saints of this era would enter the Daluo realm, and lectures at Zixiao Palace would begin. At that time, the world would be in chaos due to the witches and demons.

This is why Ran Deng wanted to make contact with the dragon race ahead of time. In the previous life, when the Lich War took place, the West was still very barren, and no one had any designs on it. Now that it is reviving ahead of time, it is both a good thing and a bad thing.

With the West involved, will the liches still only focus on killing their opponent? Will they join forces to attack the West?

Therefore, the West needs an ally who is strong enough to withstand one of the other two sides, and who is also under the control of the Burning Lamp.

The dragon race is the best choice.

Having sufficient foundation, yet possessing the fatal flaw of karma, makes them the perfect ally.