Forging Immortality through the Dao Seed

"What kind of treasure?"

Zhang Jing curiously scanned the herbal garden before him. His gaze seemed to penetrate through the layers of soil, trying to confirm what treasure Deer 38 was referring to.

"Ah, what kind of treasure? Well..."

Deer 38 hesitated, fluttering its eyes and spoke bashfully:

"To report to the Immortal, this has been passed down through generations in our lineage. We are not exactly sure what kind of treasure it is."

"None of your many generations have ever dug it up to have a look?"

Zhang Jing looked at Deer 38 in astonishment, his voice tinged with incredulity.

He found it hard to imagine that from Deer 11 to Deer 38, despite knowing that there was a treasure beneath, no deer in the generation had ever ventured to find out.

"Why would we dig it up?"

"Our line of old deer have been cultivating spiritual herbs here for generations. We eat and sleep, it's peaceful. What if we dig up that treasure and can't grow any spiritual medicine afterwards? What then?"

Deer 38 answered honestly.

I see.

Zhang Jing nodded in understanding.

Considering from the deer's point of view, this did appear to be normal.

On the other hand,

Although the Immortal before him had a favorable attitude, there was still no answer regarding the matter of him serving as a mount. This made Deer 38's liver tremble with anxiety.

It looked pitifully at Zhang Jing. "Immortal, do you think I still have a chance?"

"A chance? You mean, for being a mount?"

Zhang Jing's eyes couldn't help but curl up with amusement.

Looking at the White Deer that had almost shrunk into a ball in fright, he drew out his words, "Deer Thirty-Eight——"

As soon as he spoke,

The white deer opposite him shivered even more desperately. It dared not even breathe heavily, tightly closing its eyes as if awaiting the verdict from fate.

"Considering your sincere attitude, let's give it a try."

A calm phrase.

To Deer 38, though, it was music to its ears.

Dodged a bullet!

Deer 38's body instantly lost all its strength. It fell onto the ground, eyes moistening uncontrollably.

It shouted emotionally:

"Thank you, Master! Master is kind! When I get out, I will rectify my character and be a proper deer!"

"Call me 'Master' from now on."

Zhang Jing didn't quite like the way 'Master' sounded and corrected with amusement.

"Yes, Master."

"You step aside for now. I will collect all the spiritual herbs here." Zhang Jing instructed.

As soon as he said this,

Deer 38 became alert. It stood up straight and immediately put on a servile smile. "Master, why do you need to do such menial tasks?"

"Leave it to me. I am well-practiced in this."

After saying this, Deer 38 hurriedly brought a rock over. Using its white fur, it wipes the rock clean. "Master, you can rest here."

"Alright then."

Zhang Jing nodded, sitting down comfortably on the rock.

On the other hand,

Deer 38 moved carefully into the herbal garden. Then, it began to dig up the spiritual herbs laboriously.

Despite its large hooves, its movements were gentle and skilled, giving Zhang Jing a peculiar impression as if watching embroidery.

About half an hour later.

"Master, all the spiritual herbs have been dug up."

Deer 38 tip-toed to Zhang Jing and reported softly.

Upon hearing this,

Zhang Jing opened his eyes, showing a hint of surprise in his gaze.

Before his eyes, around a hundred spiritual herbs had been neatly sorted according to their five elements and level of quality.

Clearly,

Deer 38 had put considerable thought into doing this task.

"Good job."

Zhang Jing's tone softened.

"No troubles at all, Master, you are the one who worked hard. I'll go dig up that treasure now."

Deer 38 heard the change in Zhang Jing's tone and broke into a beaming smile, jumping with joy.

No sooner had the sound trip than

It hopped off to a patch of empty ground.

Blessings from our ancestors!

Old Deer is definitely not going to die this time~

...

Meanwhile,

Zhang Jing's eyes mainly landed on the spiritual herbs before him.

After counting, he discovered,

That there were 23 spiritual herbs of water property that he cared about the most. Among them were many middle and high-level spiritual herbs. If used completely for cultivation, his level could conservatively be elevated to the Qi Refinement level of seven.

As for the rest...

Zhang Jing's gaze lingered on the other four properties' spiritual herbs.

There were quite a few high-level spiritual herbs among them. Although the precise price couldn't be determined, they should more than fill the gap in the Tao Merits required to exchange for a high-quality legacy.

Whew—

Zhang Jing released a deep breath.

At that moment, his only thought was to return to the Dao Institute as soon as possible.

...

Time passed slowly.

"Master, master, I've found the treasure, come and take a look! "Lu Thirty-Eight exclaimed excitedly.

As the sound echoed.

In just a few steps.

Zhang Jing stood before the large pit that Lu Thirty-Eight had dug, looking down into it.

There, right in the center of the pit.

A fabric-like object the size of a palm lay boldly.

The fabric was mottled black and yellow, showing irregular traces on all sides.

It appeared as if it had been torn off something forcefully.

Even more peculiar was.

This fabric piece shimmered with a five-colored glow.

Every time the glow flickered, it attracted five elements of spiritual energy from the earth's veins surrounding it.

Most of the spiritual energy was swallowed by the fabric, a small portion was dissipated in all directions.

Upon seeing this.

A look of sudden comprehension flashed in Zhang Jing's eyes.

So, it was this fragment of fabric that had been gathering the spiritual energy of the five elements from the earth's veins, no wonder this place could simultaneously nourish more than a hundred spiritual medicines of different properties.

His body drifted downward.

Lu Thirty-Eight wisely jumped out of the pit to make room for his master.

Zhang Jing slowly approached the mysterious piece of fabric.

He bent down, grabbed the corner with his right hand, and tried to pick it up.

But when he applied force, he realized something was wrong.

The object didn't seem large and appeared lightweight, but in reality, it weighed a thousand catties.

The strength he was using now should've been more than enough to easily lift a bull.

Yet, this piece of mystical fabric did not budge an inch!

Interesting.

A trace of curiosity flashed in Zhang Jing's eyes.

What was it made of that even such a small piece was so heavy?

He increased his strength several times, and finally managed to lift the fabric piece slowly.

At this moment.

Both of Zhang Jing's feet had sunk more than two feet into the ground.

But he did not pay attention to these.

Instead, he immediately began to scrutinize the mysterious fragment of fabric in place.

However... after a long time of examination, he had no findings.

As soon as his spiritual sense and spiritual power touched the fragment, they were quietly swallowed up like a clay ox entering the sea.

He activated his clairvoyance Dharma Seeds.

But still could not find any clues.

The piece in hand was like a bottomless abyss.

Finally, Zhang Jing reluctantly gave up.

He had to wait until his cultivation was higher.

But when he tried to store the fabric piece in his storage space.

Zhang Jing was surprised to find that neither his storage bag nor the spiritual ornament space reacted to it.

"Is it that the rank of this fragment is too high, and therefore cannot be stored in the storage bags or spiritual ornament space, or is it because of some other reason?"

His eyebrows furrowed slightly.

If it cannot be stored, it means he will have to carry it with him all the time.

And this thing was not light!

As he mused.

Zhang Jing's gaze suddenly fell on Lu Thirty-Eight, who by this point had widened his eyes in innocence.

"Um… Thirty-Eight…" he called out warmly.

At his words, Lu Thirty-Eight couldn't help but shiver.

...

Soon.

Outside the cave crevice.

"Thirty-Eight, is this how you usually leave?" asked Zhang Jing, a bit exasperated.

In his line of sight.

Lu Thirty-Eight was struggling to squeeze out of the narrow crevice in front of him. His face distorted from the effort, and the look of fierce determination appeared even more daunting.

His antlers creaked as they were twisted, seeming like they could break off at any moment.

"Hehe, master, this is how we've always entered and exited,".

Lu Thirty-Eight grinned, then resumed the arduous task of squeezing his sizable body out of the small crevice.

"Don't you have a spell that can change your size?"-

"I don't think I can do that."

"I'll look for one when I get back."

"Thank you, master."