Do You Think We Should Go Find More Fertilizer Ferocious Beasts?

"Elder Brother!"

Zhunti was the first to react. In a flash, he rushed toward the Bamboo Hut. "Wake Elder Brother, quickly! A ferocious beast is attacking—we have to take Elder Brother and run for our lives!"

"It's too late!"

Jieyin grabbed Zhunti, a glint of resolve flashing through his eyes. "That ferocious beast is too fast—it'll be here in the blink of an eye. Elder Brother is comprehending the Dao (sleeping). If he's interrupted now, at best he'll suffer qi deviation; at worst, he'll perish and his Dao will be extinguished!"

"Then what do we do?" Zhunti was sweating profusely with panic.

Jieyin drew a deep breath. A never-before-seen fierceness and determination surfaced on his perpetually sorrowful face.

"You and I have only gained our present fortune because of Elder Brother's grace."

"Today, even if we have to stake our lives on it, we cannot let this beast disturb Elder Brother's Dao comprehension!"

"Junior Brother, grab your weapon!"

"Alright!"

At those words, the fear in Zhunti's eyes was instantly replaced by madness.

He snatched up the [Sky-Turning Shovel] from the ground, wildly burning the Great Luo Magical Power within him, even at the cost of overdrawing his origin.

Jieyin also brought out the Twelve-Grade Golden Lotus of Merit. Its golden radiance blazed as it firmly shielded the Bamboo Hut behind them.

The two brothers stood shoulder to shoulder like two hardy blades of grass in the wind, blocking the only path Taotie could take in its charge.

"Come on, you beast!"

Zhunti roared, his voice tragic and heroic.

Closer!

Closer still!

Taotie's enormous body blotted out the sky and sun, its fetid breath seeming to crash straight into their faces.

Seeing two tiny "ants" daring to block its path, the eyes beneath its armpits flashed with mockery and cruelty.

"Snacks that don't know their place, let me... devour you!"

Taotie opened its great maw, and a terrifying suction force erupted, shattering space inch by inch.

Jieyin and Zhunti felt their bodies about to fly up against their will. In despair, they closed their eyes.

Elder Brother, let us be brothers again in the next life!

However.

Just as Taotie's sharp fangs were about to touch Mount Sumeru's outer perimeter—

"Buzz—"

A soft sound rang out, like a plucked string.

Countless incomparably intricate golden patterns suddenly lit up in the otherwise calm, unremarkable air around Mount Sumeru.

Immediately after.

A light screen, seemingly as thin as a cicada's wing yet containing the aura of chaos, appeared without warning.

It was the first basic defensive layer Taiyuan had set up to guard against "mosquitoes"—the Simplified Chaos All-Heaven God-Sha Great Formation (passive activation mode).

Taotie had charged too fast to stop.

BANG!!!

A heaven-shaking muffled boom rang out.

Yet it was not the sound of an impact. Instead, it sounded like something being instantly vaporized.

Jieyin and Zhunti waited for quite some time, but the pain and death they had anticipated never came.

Only a gentle breeze brushed across their cheeks.

The two cautiously opened their eyes.

The Quasi-Saint-level (or so it believed) ferocious beast Taotie, which had been incomparably arrogant and radiating monstrous ferocity just moments ago, had now...

Vanished.

Completely vanished.

All that remained was a heap of gray-white powder, drifting down from the air in a vast fluttering shower, precisely scattering across the Spiritual Field that had been loosened by the earlier tremor.

Wherever that powder fell, several Spirit Grass stalks that had been somewhat yellow instantly turned lush, dripping green, even shooting up another stretch.

Dead silence.

Jieyin: "..."

Zhunti: "..."

The two remained frozen in their life-or-death stances, shovel and lotus raised in their hands, staring at the "ashes" falling from the sky with blank minds.

That was a Quasi-Saint!

That was an Ancient Ferocious Beast capable of Heaven Swallowing Earth Devouring!

Just like that... gone?

It didn't even let out a scream. Not only was it blasted to dust, it even ended up serving as fertilizer?

"This is the... Mountain Protection Array Elder Brother set up?"

Zhunti swallowed, his voice as harsh as two sheets of sandpaper grinding together. "I actually always thought it was just a barrier to keep out wind and dust..."

Jieyin felt as though his legs had been filled with lead. With a thud, he dropped to the ground, staring at the curtain of light as it slowly faded away as though nothing had happened. His eyes brimmed with the relief of surviving a calamity, as well as reverence for Elder Brother as boundless as a surging river.

"Keeping out wind?"

Jieyin gave a bitter laugh and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "A Quasi-Saint turned to ash the moment it hit it. If a Saint came... they'd probably have a layer of skin peeled off."

"Just how strong is our Elder Brother?"

At that moment, the image they held of their "laid-back yet wealthy Elder Brother" instantly shattered, reforming into that of an unfathomable supreme demon god who held life and death in his hands.

It turned out the safest place had always been by Elder Brother's side.

Just then.

A lazy yawn sounded from the Bamboo Hut behind them.

Wrapped in a blanket, Taiyuan pushed open the door with bleary eyes, rubbing them in displeasure.

"What's going on? I think I heard someone setting off firecrackers again just now?"

"So damn noisy."

As he spoke, he walked to the doorway and happened to see the ash drifting down from the sky, along with his two junior brothers standing there like wooden chickens.

Taiyuan's nose twitched. He caught the faint yet exceptionally pure scent of high-grade flesh-and-blood energy in the air.

"Huh?"

Taiyuan's eyes lit up. Looking at the Spirit Grass in the ground, which had suddenly begun growing with gratifying vigor, he said in surprise, "This fertilizer's pretty good. It contains Innate Sha Qi and flesh-and-blood essence—just right for balancing out the yang energy of the Breathing Soil."

"Where did it come from?"

Zhunti and Jieyin exchanged a glance. Looking at their Elder Brother's innocent-looking face—an act—they both had the same thought:

Elder Brother, just keep pretending!

Even if you're asleep, everything between heaven and earth is still within your calculations!

Zhunti immediately put on a fawning smile and jogged over. "Elder Brother's foresight is divine! Just now, some blind beast passed by. Seeing that our fields lacked fertilizer, it specially sacrificed itself for the greater good and offered itself up."

"Oh, I see."

Taiyuan nodded, wearing the expression of someone who didn't quite understand but was fine with it as long as the result was good. He yawned. "Then remember to turn over the soil. Don't waste such good fertilizer. Oh, and that fertilizer has a bit of Sha Qi in it, so remember to dilute it with Merit Water before watering the fields."

With that, Taiyuan turned and went back inside, waving a hand. "I'm going back to catch up on sleep. Don't bother me unless it's important."

The door closed.

Jieyin and Zhunti remained where they were, staring at that pile of Quasi-Saint ashes in speechless silence for a long while.

Using a Quasi-Saint as fertilizer...

In this Primordial World, was there anywhere more extravagant than our Western Lands?

"Senior Brother."

Zhunti suddenly tightened his grip on the Sky-Turning Shovel, his gaze even more fervent than when he had faced Taotie.

"What is it?" Jieyin asked.

"I think Elder Brother thinks there isn't enough fertilizer," Zhunti said softly. "Do you think we should go outside... and lure a few more ferocious beasts back?"

Jieyin: "..."

He'd gone mad.

This junior brother had been completely led astray by Elder Brother. On the path of "farming," there was no turning back for him.

But this feeling...

It felt damn good!