It Might Be a Late-Blooming Variety, Who Knows?

At the center of the spirit field, besides the Red Sun Fruit Tree that had grown several mutated fruits, there lay a Nameless Withered Vine, half-dead and motionless. It had been with him ever since he transmigrated.

The vine was grayish-brown all over, its surface covered in the cracks of age. No matter how much Earth Vein Spirit Spring Lu Changsheng had poured on it over the years,

it had only barely managed to cling to a sliver of life. It had never even grown a single new leaf.

"This thing's been with me for over eight thousand years. It might be a late-blooming variety, who knows?"

A sudden thought struck Lu Changsheng.

He walked over to the White Jade Platform and carefully picked up the lump of Nine Heavens Breathing Soil Nuwa had given him.

"This is a legendary earth-type treasure that can bring any spiritual root to life. If I use it to cultivate this withered vine..."

Lu Changsheng didn't hesitate. He decisively scraped off a piece of Nine Heavens Breathing Soil about the size of a fingernail, then, with a pang of regret, dripped onto it a drop of Three Lights Divine Water he had traded for from Nuwa.

"Go!"

He gently buried the Breathing Soil mixed with Three Lights Divine Water at the vine's roots.

For the next ten years,

Lu Changsheng stayed by the spirit field without taking a single step away.

A miracle happened one night in the tenth year.

"Crack."

A faint snap, so soft it was almost inaudible, sounded in the silent cave abode.

Lu Changsheng's eyes flew open. He stared intently at the withered vine.

A thin crack had suddenly opened across the surface of the vine, which had once been grayish-brown. From the fissure emerged a tender green shoot, delicate yet brimming with astonishing vitality.

Then, like a spark setting the prairie ablaze, that flash of green rapidly spread across the entire vine.

The shriveled tendrils grew plump at a speed visible to the naked eye, as though they had been carved from the purest jade.

"What is this...?"

Feeling the strange fluctuation radiating from the vine, Lu Changsheng gaped in astonishment.

This fluctuation had none of the earth-shaking pressure of an Innate Spirit Treasure, nor was it aggressive.

It was like an invisible net, gently spreading in all directions and silently blending into the surrounding void.

What delighted Lu Changsheng even more was that the vine seemed to have spent so long by his side that it had picked up his temperament, undergoing a never-before-seen "Cowardly Path Mutation."

The probing waves it emitted came with a natural layer of concealment!

Even when the divine sense of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal swept over it, it would automatically overlook the vine, mistaking it for the most ordinary breeze or disturbance in the spiritual energy.

"An absolutely top-notch warning radar!"

Lu Changsheng rubbed his hands together in excitement.

He reached out a finger and gently touched the vibrant green vine.

The vine seemed to have a spirit of its own. It immediately curled around his finger, like a child clinging playfully to him,

coiling around his wrist three times before its ends joined to form an inconspicuous green bracelet.

As soon as the bracelet settled into place, a clear picture of every movement within a ten-li radius instantly appeared in Lu Changsheng's mind.

He could even sense a sleeping earthworm deep underground turning over.

"Good! Good! Good! With this treasure, I can finally leave home with real confidence!"

Overjoyed, Lu Changsheng promptly gave the vine an exceptionally fitting name: Cowardly Immortal Vine.

Preparing to leave took Lu Changsheng a full twenty years.

By the time he finally stood before the cave abode's heavy stone door, he had armed himself to the teeth.

Beneath his dark golden feathers, he had plastered layer upon layer of Breath Concealment Talismans; under his left wing, he carried a stack of Earth Escape Talismans, while under his right wing he hid a pile of formation plates.

The Cowardly Immortal Vine radar was wrapped around his wrist.

In his dantian, he kept the mass of Great Dao Merit tightly suppressed in its deepest reaches, ready to erupt at any moment of life or death.

"Phew—"

Lu Changsheng drew a deep breath and circulated his True Immortal realm power to its utmost.

"I'm only here for treasure, not trouble. Grab the magic treasure and run!"

He silently recited the Cowardly Path True Words three times. Then, gritting his teeth, he pressed the switch that activated the formation.

"Rumble..."

The muffled sound of the stone door opening rang out, especially grating in the silent cave abode.

Lu Changsheng didn't walk straight out. First, he tossed out a dozen or so Breath Concealment Talismans, laying a thick veil of mist around himself.

Then he became a dark shadow skimming close to the ground and soundlessly slipped into the Primordial Land beyond.

His journey of eighty thousand li had officially begun.

The moment he left the cave abode, Lu Changsheng immediately used the Earth Escape Technique and plunged a hundred zhang underground.

The sky?

That was for reckless fools who were tired of living. Flying through the sky during the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity was practically asking to be a sitting duck.

Underground was the ultimate refuge for those who followed the Dao of Cowardice.

Lu Changsheng didn't travel very quickly underground.

He opened the Cowardly Immortal Vine's range of detection to its maximum and maintained absolute awareness of everything a hundred li ahead.

The first century.

Lu Changsheng traveled ten thousand li.

During that time, he encountered three groups of little demons fighting on the surface.

The strongest among them was only at the Heavenly Immortal realm.

But Lu Changsheng adhered to the principle that less trouble was better than more. He went so far as to detour several hundred li underground, keeping well clear of them.

The second century.

When he had traveled thirty thousand li, the Cowardly Immortal Vine suddenly sent out an extremely intense warning!

Lu Changsheng shuddered in fright. He immediately stopped using the escape technique and held his breath, pressing himself against the cold rock and not daring to move.

Through the Cowardly Immortal Vine's feedback, a heart-stopping scene appeared in his mind.

In midair, roughly three hundred li above him,

two enormous figures, vast enough to blot out the sky, were fighting for their lives.

A True Dragon tens of thousands of zhang long, its entire body burning with black flames, was locked in a frenzied clash with a blood-soaked five-colored phoenix, biting and battering each other among the clouds.

Every clash of their laws unleashed power capable of destroying heaven and earth.

Mountain ranges spanning thousands of li were flattened, and rivers were instantly dried up.

The terrifying pressure of two late-stage peak Primordial Unity Golden Immortals bore down through the thick layers of earth, making the power within Lu Changsheng's body difficult to circulate.

"A Dragon-Phoenix battle! I actually ran into a fight between Primordial Unity Golden Immortals!"

Lu Changsheng hid underground, not daring to make a sound.

He could even clearly feel a blast of black dragon breath from the True Dragon land on the ground just dozens of li above him,

melting the entire stretch of earth into a bottomless lake of lava.

If that blast of dragon breath had veered even a little, or been just a bit more powerful, it would have forced him, a True Immortal, straight out of hiding.

"Way too damn dangerous! Just a little aftershock from a fight between immortals like that could kill me!"

Lu Changsheng roared furiously in his heart, feeling a pang of deep regret over the bait Nuwa had given him.

To avoid the battle between those Primordial Unity Golden Immortals, Lu Changsheng stayed sprawled underground for a full thirty years!

Only after the commotion above had completely died down and those two terrifying auras had gradually faded into the distance

did he dare to cautiously use the Earth Escape Technique again, creeping east like a startled mole.

And so he went, stopping and starting, doubling back and circling around.

Lu Changsheng took the spirit of the Dao of Cowardice to its absolute extreme.

He didn't pick any spirit herbs, didn't go near any strange treasures, and immediately detoured around any unfamiliar aura.

At last, one thousand years and eight months after leaving his cave abode,

Lu Changsheng's divine sense, probing through the Cowardly Immortal Vine, touched an extraordinarily strange region.