Forging Immortality through the Dao Seed

Zhang Jing's pitch-black pupils reflected the endless flames sweeping across the heaven.

And the figures standing proudly amidst the fiery clouds in the mid-air.

At this instant.

A flaming white bone demonic crow was slowly descending, a crimson arrow lodged in its chest.

"Why are my brothers from the White Bone Dao in such a hurry to leave after coming from afar to Nanli? We should at least extend our hospitality as the hosts."

A voice laden with murderous intent echoed.

A man in a purple robe from the inner courtyard boldly stepped forward.

Several dozen Dao patterns, resembling talismans, emerged out of thin air. They scattered and branded the void in an instant, faint green and red lights connecting them, forming a cage that encompassed all the enemy figures.

He laughed heartily.

"Haha, witness our Wind-Fire Incineration Array!"

In the blink of an eye, the red and green cage transformed into a wellspring, madly drawing in the spiritual energy from the surrounding hundred-mile radius.

The sky changed color due to this.

Within the formation.

An endless green wind arose, escalating into a storm in an instant.

And the nameless Karmic Fire sprang into existence.

In a flash, the fire followed the wind, and the wind fueled the fire, continuously and unendingly.

Rampant! Destructive!

It was as if nothing would stop until the enemies were burned to ashes.

All this happened in a flash.

Down below.

Zhang Jing silently took his gaze away, a faintly discernable look of yearning flashed in his eyes.

With a flash, he disappeared from the rooftop.

In the room on the second floor, he hastily stored all his belongings into his storage space.

Cries of distress echoed faintly, along with the chaotic sounds of footsteps.

Zhang Jing knew he couldn't afford to delay.

He should take advantage of the chaos and leave Langya County as fast as possible.

But at this moment.

Boom——

The floor significantly shattered, and a massive deer head emerged from below.

"Master, catastrophe has occurred! Your Human Race is fighting up there, the energy is horrifying!" Lu Thirty-Eight was scared out of his wits.

It was shaking uncontrollably.

Heaven have mercy.

Lu Thirty-Eight had never seen such a terrifying scene in his whole life.

Good heavens!

The sky seemed to be set ablaze.

This was completely overturning his worldview.

With this thought, it couldn't help but steal a glance at Zhang Jing.

Although it had been less than a day since it started following its master.

Yet, within this short day's experience, it felt more dangerous and exciting than all the experiences added up in its many decades of life.

"Our Lu clan... It can't be that our bloodline will end with me, Thirty-Eight..." Lu Thirty-Eight began to have wild thoughts in his heart.

On the other side.

Zhang Jing had no spare time to bother about Lu Thirty-Eight's destructive action.

Looking at the situation, after this battle, whether Langya City would still exist was still a question.

He lightly stepped on the floor.

All the floors on the second level collapsed immediately, the view below was fully exposed.

And Zhang Jing was falling in sequence, sitting directly on Lu Thirty-Eight.

"Thirty-Eight, we should not stay here for long, let's leave first." He calmly instructed.

The more chaotic the situation, the more orderly they must be.

"Master, which direction should we run?"

Hearing this, Zhang Jing quickly pointed in the direction away from the battlefield and said, "First leave Langya County in that direction, and then take a detour back to the Dao Institute."

"Understood! Master, hold on tight."

Lu Thirty-Eight roared and with a flash of spiritual light on its body, it went through the wall and rushed towards the direction Zhang Jing just pointed out.

At this moment, it was exerting all its strength.

Its hooves left behind a series of afterimages, and the wind howled beneath them. The figure of Zhang Jing on its back grew higher and higher.

The next moment.

Smack!

Feeling something was amiss.

Zhang Jing slapped its horn and exclaimed without pleasure:

"Thirty-Eight, lower down. Flying high at this time, are you courting death?"

Being reminded by its master.

Lu Thirty-Eight finally came to its senses, hastily lowering its altitude, returning to the ground and running toward the far distance.

All the way, it quickly bypassed many Loose Cultivators and several Dao Institute cultivators who were also fleeing for their lives.

They looked on with shock and envy.

Zhang Jing was also not idle on its back.

He kept his eye on the terrifying residual energy of spells falling from the sky, constantly reminding Lu Thirty-Eight underneath him to adjust its direction to avoid unnecessary trouble.

...

Under Zhang Jing's guidance, Lu Thirty-Eight ran straight ahead, its figure swift as a streak of light.

Zhang Jing glanced back at the flickering sky in the distance.

He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

They had finally escaped.

Yet no sooner had this idea occurred.

A sense of trepidation surged in his heart.

Zhang Jing abruptly stood up, looking ahead.

There, astonishingly, was a long and narrow trench, the aftereffect of a spell's impact, emanating a faint cold aura, rather inconspicuous under the shroud of night.

And Lu Thirty-Eight, as if oblivious to the danger, was unexpectedly going to leap right over it.

Danger! His mind's eye instinctively opened.

"Thirty-Eight, dodge quickly!"

Zhang Jing's breath hitched, and he shouted loudly.

But at this moment, Lu Thirty-Eight simply had no time to react.

In face of impending crisis.

Whoosh whoosh——

The Five Spirit Rivers abruptly appeared. The icy-blue spiritual light turned into a barrier, desperately standing in front of Lu Thirty-Eight.

A stifling crunching noise resounded immediately.

In the end,

Lu 38, with his enormous body, gently halted in front of the narrow furrow, unable to make any further progress.

Zhang Jing wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Just now, his inner senses detected a faint-but-complete, unfamiliar Taoism Rhyme lingering in the furrow, giving him a feeling of shock and fear.

He dared not gamble.

If he accidentally triggered the Taoism Rhyme when passing overhead, he would be in trouble.

"Master," Lu 38 curiously asked while gently rubbing his deformed deer face with his hoof. "Why did we stop all of a sudden?"

"Bypass this crevice."

Zhang Jing didn't explain more, just speaking with a lingering fear.

"Master..."

Lu 38 wanted to ask something else, but suddenly heard a series of sharp howling noises as the air was torn apart behind him.

Zhang Jing reflexively looked back.

In his line of sight,

a stream of light rapidly approached, in a blink of an eye, it was already beside him. Its speed not only didn't decrease but seemed to be accelerating.

It should be a senior brother in the late stage of Qi Refinement.

Zhang Jing speculated.

The next moment, he seemed to realize something and hurriedly warned:

"This Senior Broth——"

But before the word left his mouth,

the figure wrapped in the stream of light flew straight over the furrow in front Zhang Jing.

A chill of decay swept over.

The spiritual light on the figure suddenly dimmed, and the entire body heavily crashed into the ground not far away.

Maybe it took one or two breaths.

A set of rotten bones suddenly appeared on the ground, and along with the robe and the magic artifact he carried, they all lost their spiritual power fluctuations and changed to mundane items.

Lu 38 couldn't help but look toward the sound.

Immediately, a hint of terror flashed in its eyes.

"Master, you...you were wise," it stuttered.

The outside world is very dangerous, Thirty-Eight. Don't go out casually in the future. Just eat and sleep in this cave and nearby.

Lu 38 suddenly remembered the last words of its father, Lu 37, before his death.

Mournful as if he wanted to cry but couldn't.

The outside world was too dangerous, and it truly wanted to go back now,

even if there are no spiritual medicines left there.

But—-

It sneakily glanced at its master and couldn't help but feel sorrow: "I, Thirty-Eight, might not be able to go back."

At this moment,

the shock on Zhang Jing's face had not fully subsided.

A cultivator in the late stage of Qi Refinement just died silently in front of him, not even having time to scream.

"Is this the Foundation Establishment Realm? Is this a completed Taoism Rhyme?"

"Even if it's the residual traces dissipated for a long time, even if only an imperceptible Taoism Rhyme is left, it is still a force that the Qi Refinement realm cannot resist."

Moreover, the vestiges of the spell in front of him, and the Taoism Rhyme attached to it, could probably last for ten or twenty years.

Zhang Jing could imagine it.

In the decades after this monster turmoil had subsided, the Langya County would be a forbidden area where both cultivators and mortals would not dare to venture.

The various spell traces and remaining Taoism Rhyme scattered throughout the area will transform into gaping, greedy beasts eagerly awaiting their prey.

His gaze moved away from the skeletal remains of the senior brother.

Zhang Jing's face returned to its usual calm.

He urged his spiritual power, leaving a warning in front of this seemingly insignificant but incredibly dangerous furrow. Then he urged Lu 38 to leave this place as soon as possible.

Having just had a close call,

Zhang Jing was no longer in a state of complacency.

He kept his Heart Eye method activated throughout.

It wasn't until they had left the city of Langya nearly a thousand miles behind, completely unable to sense the aftershocks of the battle, that Zhang Jing let Lu 38 vault into the sky and leave Langya and Yunzhou at full speed.

...

Three days later.

The vast Longze Lake came into view.

Phew——

Zhang Jing took a deep breath, completely relaxing his heart.

Lu 38 also seemed as if it had broken free from the life-threatening tension from that night. It quickly reverted to its previous garrulous state.

It glanced at Zhang Jing, then at its huge body, seemingly recalling the experience in the small shop earlier, a troubled expression crossed its deer face.

"Master, I won't go into the place where you live."

"I can sleep outside. After all, I have tough skin and strong flesh, so I'm not afraid of wind or rain."

"But Master," Lu 38 said, looking at Zhang Jing with a pitiful expression. "You promised to buy me that Life-Saving Ring as soon as possible."

"I heard that the Dao Institute has as many powerful beings as the stars in the sky. Without the Life-Saving Ring, what if I accidentally run into a tricky figure one day and get slaughtered? Then you, Master, will lose your faithful mount!"

"Anything else you want to request?"

Zhang Jing struggled to suppress his laughter, and asked Lu 38 very seriously.

"Also," Lu 38 said, shaking its little sack around its neck enthusiastically. "Master, could you help me find a piece of land, preferably abundant in spiritual energy? I want to plant some Spiritual Medicines. The seeds in this bag were all collected by me."

"Don't worry, I will surely satisfy you."

"By the way, Thirty-Eight,"

Zhang Jing suddenly looked at him and asked, "Do you have any Cultivation Method?"

"No,"

Lu 38 answered in a deep voice.

"I was born knowing how to inhale and exhale the spiritual energy of nature, also absorbing the pure spiritual power inside the Spiritual Medicines."

"So, those skills of walking on water and treading the wind were also born with you?"

Lu 38 nodded at his words.

Zhang Jing couldn't help but feel a little envious.

Though, from observation during the past few days, Lu 38's efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy is probably between a lower-ranked Cultivation Method and a common cultivation method.

But it's innate after all,

unlike them, who need to go through numerous tests and competitions before they could have a chance at cultivation.

His gaze slowly fell on Lu 38's huge head.

In all honesty,

having lived with him for a while, Zhang Jing was quite satisfied with Lu 38.

As a mount,

he has a gentle and peaceful temperament, runs and flies fast and stable, obediently executes his commands, even if it has doubts.

Not to mention he has a hobby of planting Spiritual Medicines.

Apart from being timid, afraid of death, simple-minded, and chatty, it seemed to have no shortcomings.