Flock of Crows Before the Hall Enter Willow Garden

The steward lightly knocked on the courtyard gate.

First, the Purple Cloud Azure Rain within the courtyard slowly drew in. By the time Liu Dongqing ambled over and opened the gate, all the steward could see behind him were rows of damp, tender shoots in the two plots of earth.

In truth.

The casting of the Mirror-Illuminating Cloud-Birthing Purple Rain Art had merely been Liu Dongqing's cover.

Under the veil of Purple Cloud Azure Rain, even Manager Hou in the courtyard above could not spy on the details within Liu Dongqing's yard.

And under the cover of those purple clouds, Liu Dongqing had cleanly and efficiently planted all the Jade Cloud Fruit plants he had cultivated overnight with the <Branch-Splitting Myriad Transformations Origin-Seizing Art> into the fields.

The portions belonging to the Bloodthirsty Medicinal Vine offspring, including the woody tumor sections used as nutrient stores at the grafting points, had all been deeply buried beneath the soil by Liu Dongqing.

Moreover, Liu Dongqing had executed the <Branch-Splitting Myriad Transformations Origin-Seizing Art> with even greater meticulousness.

He had not raised the Jade Cloud Fruit plants to full maturity in one breath, but had merely forced them into the form of tender shoots.

For one thing.

This allowed Liu Dongqing to better control when the Jade Cloud Fruits ripened, letting him set the pace and fleece Zhang Qiwei with greater efficiency.

For another.

Everyone knew that the seedling stage was the most fragile. They could wither and die at the slightest provocation. With such delicate seedlings planted in the fields, no matter how suspicious Zhang Qiwei's steward became upon arriving, he would not insist on pulling them out of the soil for inspection.

Sure enough.

When Liu Dongqing invited the steward into the courtyard.

The middle-aged Daoist spent only a dozen or so breaths silently and carefully scrutinizing the seedlings, then glanced at the deep trenches Liu Dongqing had also dug between their neat rows.

Clearly.

Liu Dongqing had already prepared to bury demon beast blood and bone fragments within them to fertilize the fields.

Thus, the steward did not even take a few more steps toward the fields before turning around and looking at Liu Dongqing with an exceedingly haughty air.

It was a haughtiness Liu Dongqing had not even seen from Manager Hou or Zhang Qiwei.

"You boy seem diligent enough in your work. My mistress did not misjudge you."

The way he said it made it sound as though he were the one who had not misjudged Liu Dongqing.

Standing where he was, Liu Dongqing started to respond, but before he could say anything, he first let out a huge yawn.

At once, seven parts of the steward's aggressive bearing were quietly dissolved.

Then Liu Dongqing's somewhat bleary, exhausted voice followed.

"Not at all, not at all. I merely did my best. Senior Sister's affairs cannot be delayed, so it is only right that I endure a little hardship. Fortunately, I am somewhat quick with my hands, and I did not hold up Senior Sister's time. I happened to finish the earlier work before the steward arrived.

"Now... I am merely waiting for the rice to go into the pot."

The steward curled his lips into a smile that did not reach his eyes, his gaze sweeping across Liu Dongqing's face like hooks.

Seeing that Liu Dongqing's manner was respectful, that his exhaustion remained difficult to conceal, and that every word he had spoken revolved around "Senior Sister," the steward finally gave up the thought of making things difficult for him.

He even tossed Liu Dongqing a playful remark.

"Then now, the 'rice' you are waiting for has arrived."

As he spoke, the steward raised a hand and sent a Dao seal flying toward the skies above Departure Peak.

Whoosh—

A piercing rush of air followed close behind.

Blazing light descended into Liu Dongqing's courtyard. Only after the radiance dimmed somewhat did Liu Dongqing see clearly that it was a phantom in the shape of a flower basket.

At that moment, the phantom flower basket was tipping over above Liu Dongqing's courtyard.

Within the illusory light, streaks of solid black radiance came tumbling down.

Bang—bang—bang—

Along with the repeated sounds of heavy objects striking the ground, Liu Dongqing focused his gaze and saw that what had fallen were cages of blackwood, one after another.

More than a hundred breaths later.

The steward raised his hand again. At once, the phantom flower basket hanging in midair ceased pouring, and its various lights drew together, condensing into a bright yellow jade talisman that landed steadily in the steward's hand.

Liu Dongqing cast an envious glance at the bright yellow jade talisman before impatiently shifting his gaze toward the birdcages.

The possessions of lavish households were still far beyond his reach, but these cultivation resources were already close at hand.

As expected!

Beneath Liu Dongqing's deliberately weary expression, ecstatic thoughts were already surging wildly through his mind.

Everything was becoming reality exactly as he had anticipated.

Demon beasts corresponded to Bing Fire. The demon beasts Senior Sister Zhang had sent her steward to deliver were indeed all avian creatures.

Furthermore.

Even the proportion of crow-type demon beasts was roughly what Liu Dongqing had expected, accounting for sixty to seventy percent of all these avian demon beasts.

At that moment.

The inheritance of the Crimson Crow Spirit Incantation became a torrent, stirring wave after wave through his mind.

The catalogues recorded by generations of predecessors of the Crimson Crow Lineage, listing every demon beast that carried the bloodline of the Crimson Fire Divine Crow, flooded into Liu Dongqing's thoughts and matched one by one with the avian demon beasts he was staring at.

Ash-Feathered Crows, Purple-Feathered Fire Crows, Ghost-Faced Crows, Yellow-Billed Crows, Azure-Flame Nether-Eyed Crows...

Joy swept through Liu Dongqing's mind like a raging tide. At this moment, he could no longer maintain the disguise on his face.

More pleasing than the sheer number of avian demon beasts was the explosive increase in the varieties of crow-type demon beasts!

After all, the Ash-Feathered Crow was merely a distant relative of a distant relative of the Crimson Fire Divine Crow. In terms of bloodline inheritance, it was the lowest of the low.

Its current progress might not be bad, but Liu Dongqing understood that if he truly wished to cultivate toward the ultimate Great Accomplishment of the Crimson Crow Spirit Incantation, then even slaughtering and refining every Ash-Feathered Crow in the Southern Border might not allow him to condense a complete Crimson Fire Divine Crow bloodline origin.

If he continued cultivating fruitlessly, Ash-Feathered Crows might only bring increases in pure cultivation, no longer allowing Liu Dongqing to condense even a single additional Fire Crow Dao Sigil.

Only by broadening the species of crow-type demon beasts he refined would he have any hope of gaining complete mastery over the bloodline origin of the Crimson Fire Divine Crow.

That would have been difficult for Liu Dongqing to accomplish on his own. He would need to spend long years searching bit by bit, and would also need extraordinary luck, before he might gather sufficient numbers and varieties of crow-type demon beasts.

But in the eyes of someone born into a great clan like Zhang Qiwei, they naturally commanded channels that Liu Dongqing could never access. Such a matter might take no more than a single instruction.

Moreover, so that the Jade Cloud Fruits could grow better, the avian demon beasts Senior Sister Zhang had sent were all of remarkably high rank.

Among the various crow-type demon beasts, the most common Ash-Feathered Crows were instead the least numerous.

In the catalogues of Liu Dongqing's inheritance, quite a few species—such as the Purple-Feathered Fire Crow and the Azure-Flame Nether-Eyed Crow—were far, far more closely "related" to the Crimson Fire Divine Crow than the Ash-Feathered Crow.

That meant they possessed greater and richer power from the Crimson Fire Divine Crow's bloodline origin.

Just as Liu Dongqing was scrutinizing them so carefully.

Suddenly.

The steward's somewhat impatient voice sounded from beside him.

"What is it? You have been staring at these beasts for so long, yet you have not said a word?"

The middle-aged Daoist's voice dragged Liu Dongqing back into reality.

Almost instinctively, Liu Dongqing was about to answer the steward. But when the words reached his lips, he paused instinctively. Then, the greedy desire in his heart could no longer be restrained.

Perhaps because he had already entered the Lesser Thought Art, at that moment Liu Dongqing's greedy desire ran through his entire mind and even seeped into his voice. The sound he made caused even the steward's heart to tremble slightly.

"Not enough! These are not enough! They are far, far from enough!"