Dragon and Phoenix at Odds

When Lu Yang went to visit Tao Yaoye, he brought an image-recording orb as promised. The footage captured inside was utterly priceless. Lying in bed and holding the image-recording orb, Tao Yaoye saw Clan Head Xiao beating Xiao Xinghai black and blue—a vicious tiger devouring its own cub—and wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her from a lack of rest. Weren't the five of you supposed to be putting on a play? How did rehearsing turn into a real beatdown? Perhaps this was simply a Kunpeng Clan tradition—the Old Ancestor beat the clan head, the clan head beat his son, etched into their muscle memory and passed down from generation to generation, Tao Yaoye thought idly. Clan Head Xiao's furious roar echoed from the image-recording orb. "You little brat! No wonder lately I keep hearing about things I never did being pinned on me! The culprit was you all along!" "Dad, hit lighter! Can you really blame me for this? If your reputation wasn't so terrible to begin with, would everyone believe it without question?" "You dare talk back?!" Body Integration stage versus Nascent Soul stage—the outcome was an utterly one-sided rout, without the slightest suspense. Regrettably, *The Four Calabash Brothers Wreak Havoc in the Sea* had come to an abrupt halt at the flooding of Penglai Island. That scene was left entirely to Tao Yaoye's imagination. Then again, it wasn't hard to picture. When Clan Head Xiao disciplined Xiao Xinghai, he had summoned towering waves that completely submerged him. If Xiao Xinghai were swapped out for Penglai Island, the island probably would have drowned just the same. Tao Yaoye couldn't help bursting into laughter. Lying bored in bed, watching the image-recording orb proved quite entertaining. *** "Fellow Daoist Xinghai, are you all right? Clan Head Xiao was way too rough on you," Meng Jingzhou said, repeating the words he had uttered not long ago. "Sigh, my dad just doesn't understand my painstaking intentions." Xiao Xinghai lay in bed while Lu Yang and the other three tended to him—peeling fruit for him and pouring him water. "Right now, our clan only has Venerable Black Feather as a Tribulation Transcendence patriarch. My dad is the most likely candidate to become the next one. Unfortunately, he lacks the resolve to be ruthless with himself, so it fell to me, his son, to give him a push. "The so-called Tribulation Transcendence stage is a realm one can only ascend to by braving tribulation. "Yet tribulations aren't limited to a single kind. Lightning tribulations are tribulations, but isn't all the hatred I've drawn to him a tribulation too?" Lu Yang kindly comforted Xiao Xinghai. "Fellow Daoist Xinghai, save your breath. That's exactly what you told Clan Head Xiao while he was beating you earlier. He didn't believe a word of it, and it only made him hit you harder." Otherwise, Xiao Xinghai wouldn't be bedridden right now. Currently, he looked even more drained than Tao Yaoye did after unleashing her Feathering Immortal Physique. The good news was that he could recover by taking medicinal pills. The bad news was that Clan Head Xiao had forbidden him from doing so. This was a [Rule]. A Nascent Soul stage cultivator taking on a Body Integration stage cultivator and forcing the latter to deploy the power of rules—Xiao Xinghai had ample reason to be proud of himself. "How about giving my Nirvana True Flame a try?" Meng Jingzhou suggested. In his palm danced a cluster of orange-red flame—the very Nirvana True Flame renowned for its restorative properties. Xiao Xinghai hastily shook his head. "No, no, that won't do! Because I cultivate the Dragon Transformation Art, I possess certain draconic traits, while the Nirvana True Flame represents the Phoenix Clan. With the dragon and phoenix at odds, it would only worsen my injuries!" This was certainly a theory Lu Yang had never heard before. "Fairy, is that true?" Lu Yang asked the ancient cultivator for confirmation. "It's true. Ao Ling and Lianyi were lifelong rivals—competing either for a seat of immortality or over Immortal Kirin in bed." Lu Yang: "..." *So everything they fought over had to do with immortals, huh?* "A tradition probably developed from it, flowing down through the bloodlines of later generations of dragons and phoenixes. "Still, there's also the saying that the dragon and phoenix bring auspicious harmony, proving their powers can coexist. Whenever they united to fend off home-wreckers—like that little Qiongqi or the nine-tailed fox—they actually got along quite well. It's just that this little kunpeng is injured too severely and lacks the strength to regulate both powers and allow dragon and phoenix to coexist."