Picking Peaches [Seeking Monthly Votes and Investment]

"That scent!"

Just then, the nose of Jiang Ming's transformed Spirit Stone Ape twitched. That was right—he could be certain that the regions surrounding the Desolate Antiquity Forbidden Land had produced quite a few natural treasures. It would not be long before Ye Fan arrived.

He needed to stockpile some natural treasures in preparation for cultivating the Shrouding Method.

With his current physique, only the methods of this world could unlock the true potential of this physical shell.

As long as he did not enter the Desolate Antiquity Forbidden Land itself, the outer regions should be safe, right?

Besides, one had to keep one's word. He had promised Madman that he would help him cry once, so he had to follow through.

With a thought!

Jiang Ming used the incomplete Nine Secrets: Xing to catch up. He had studied it all along the way, and by now, he had already grasped its form and learned this profound secret art.

The Spirit-Bright Divine Ape was one of the most intelligent primordial ferocious beasts of the Immortal Ancient Era. It was famous for learning anything quickly and understanding with the slightest prompting. Its spiritual clarity was unmatched; it understood transformations, recognized the timing of Heaven, knew the advantages of terrain, and could shift stars and swap dippers.

Why was it called the Spirit-Bright Divine Ape? Its innate divine abilities alone—recognizing the timing of Heaven and knowing the advantages of terrain—were like the saying of old: knowing astronomy above and geography below. They were symbols of intelligence, of unparalleled spiritual clarity.

Star-Shifting and Dipper-Swapping was a divine ability that allowed the Spirit-Bright Divine Ape to use an opponent's own methods against them, quickly learn others' divine abilities and precious arts, and even redirect those abilities back at their owners. It was especially compatible with the Seventy-Two Transformations. After transforming into other ferocious beasts, it could pass for the real thing, even touching upon the mysteries of time and space.

It could also alter celestial phenomena, change time, change fate, and more.

Combined with Fiery Golden Eyes, Jiang Ming had followed Madman for a hundred thousand li and had long since learned his profound footwork.

"Roar..."

From time to time, the roars of Archaic Desolate Species echoed through the Primordial Mountain Range. There were many ferocious beasts and demonic birds at the Dao Palace Secret Realm and above here. Its danger surpassed that of the Primordial Ruins.

The Primordial Ruins had, at most, been created by a battle after the Azure Emperor disappeared.

That was only a few thousand years ago.

The Desolate Forbidden Land, however, had existed since long ago, traceable all the way back to the early Desolate Ancient Era. It had once been the territory where the first Great Accomplishment Sacred Body suppressed himself. Later, the Ruthless Empress forcefully claimed this place and even helped the first Great Accomplishment Sacred Body suppress the strangeness and ominousness within him.

Thus, the Primordial Mountain outside the Desolate Antiquity Forbidden Land was over a hundred thousand years old. Many powerful primordial remnants lived within it. Backed by the Desolate Antiquity Forbidden Land, this place was usually too dangerous for anyone to approach, sparing the ferocious birds and savage beasts some trouble.

As time passed, the deeper one went into the Primordial Mountain Range, the more powerful the ferocious beasts and demonic birds one might encounter.

"Wuwuwuwu—"

After entering the Primordial Mountain Range, Madman's emotions became increasingly repressed, increasingly sorrowful, increasingly dazed. His clouded eyes gazed toward the depths of the Desolate Forbidden Land as he advanced in a foolish stupor, utterly lost.

Jiang Ming, meanwhile, concealed his aura as much as possible and swiftly ventured deeper into the ancient forest. Whenever he caught the scent of something good along the way, he immediately transformed into the species guarding it and secretly plucked the spiritual medicine.

Here, the guardians of spiritual medicines over five or six hundred years old were at worst savage beasts or exotic birds comparable to Other Shore cultivators. But now, these natural treasures were his.

"This is a Golden Ginseng with a thousand years of medicinal age."

Jiang Ming transformed into a grub and tunneled over. Using a spatial divine ability, he directly dug the Golden Ginseng out of the ground, leaving behind a pit three chi deep.

"Yoyo—"

A Five-Colored Deer as large as a dump truck blinked its clear yet foolish eyes. The precious medicine its parents had told it to guard was gone. The key was that it had not even discovered where the medicine thief was.

Could it have accidentally eaten that Golden Ginseng itself?

Just then, two majestic Five-Colored Deer, each as large as a semi-trailer, returned. They had given birth to three fawns, but the primordial forest held too many dangers. In the end, they had only managed to preserve the fawn with the purest bloodline. Despite its young age, it already possessed cultivation comparable to a Divine Bridge cultivator.

"Yoyo yoyo—"

Very soon, the Five-Colored Deer with imposing antlers noticed that its Golden Ginseng had vanished. That spiritual medicine had been meant to help the fawn advance into the Great Secret Realm.

A while later!

The sounds of the fawn's sobbing and the furious cries of the male and female deer rang through the primordial forest.

Naturally, Jiang Ming had no idea what was happening there. Just moments ago, he had paid a visit to a Golden-Winged Roc's nest, transformed into a Skyhorned Ant, and stolen a two-thousand-year-old stalk of Xun Wind Grass from the cliff where the nest stood.

If a Sea of Bitterness cultivator consumed this Xun Wind Grass, they would immediately gain the ability to fly.

If a Life Spring cultivator consumed it, their flight speed would become five times that of an ordinary Life Spring cultivator.

No matter what, cultivators who consumed it would gain the power of Xun Wind. Whether used to enhance movement speed, attack speed, or attack power, it could increase them severalfold. It was an extremely practical natural treasure. Only under the long-term influence of a Golden-Winged Roc Eagle's aura could it gradually transform into such a precious medicine, capable of helping a Golden-Winged Roc Eagle at the Perfected Four Extremes Secret Realm break through into the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm.

But now, the precious medicine had been stolen outright.

"Screech—"

Within the primordial forest, a gigantic golden bird let out a cry sharp enough to pierce metal and split stone. When it spread its wings, it resembled a golden auspicious cloud. Its wingspan reached a hundred meters, every feather dazzling and brilliant as divine radiance flowed over them. Its claws looked as though they had been cast from gold, incomparably sharp and glinting with blinding metallic coldness.

"This is a black hair from a Demon Ape. That damned old ape stole my precious medicine."

The primordial remnant Golden-Winged Roc Bird could actually speak human language. Looking toward a certain part of the mountain range, it charged directly over.

At the same time!

Within a Peach Blossom Valley, a heaven-shaking "Awooo!" rang out. With a whoosh, a gust of black wind shot into the sky as a black demonic ape five meters tall, with a wingspan of ten meters, roared in fury. The Silver Pan Peach it had painstakingly guarded for twenty-two hundred years had been stolen, and all that remained was a pile of Golden-Winged Roc Bird droppings.

Outrageous!

The demonic beasts and savage birds of Shrouding the Heavens had two methods of transformation. One was to choose the ancient methods contained within their bloodline inheritance. They lived longer than ordinary cultivators and possessed formidable combat strength, but accordingly, they could never assume human form unless their cultivation became so immense that it transcended the laws of Heaven and Earth.

The other method was to cultivate the Shrouding Method created by Huang. This allowed them to embark upon a path of cultivation toward transformation into the human race. The closer their form was to that of humans, the greater their potential or the stronger their cultivation generally became.

Many Primordial Royal Clans had evolved from powerful ferocious birds and divine beasts of the primordial era that chose this path of evolution.

For the human race, they could actually be regarded as the Demon Race.

However, the racial name "demon" arose during the primordial era in which the Primordial Royal Clans existed, because that era produced Demon Emperor Xue Yueqing.

In particular, during that time, many pre-Qin Qi Refining practitioners from the Earth where Ye Fan lived traveled beyond the domain and brought the term "demon" into the starry sky, gradually causing the Demon Race to rise.

Distinguishing the Primordial Royal Clans from the Demon Race was actually very simple.

The bloodlines of the Primordial Royal Clans were all powerful. They had evolved from the strongest ferocious beasts and divine birds of the primordial era.

The Demon Race, meanwhile, began with Demon Emperor Xue Yueqing. Xue Yueqing had merely been a snow rabbit with an ordinary bloodline, yet he created the Demon Emperor Scripture and evolved step by step into a True Dragon, attaining the Dao as a Demon Emperor.

This told the lowly savage beasts and exotic birds that even with ordinary bloodlines, even without being primordial ferocious beasts or divine birds, they could still become invincible beneath the stars.

As for the Demon Emperor, many believed he was a lotus, yet they did not know his true origin. He was a lotus similar to the one that emerged after the genuine Immortal King Azure Lotus fell and underwent nirvana.

That was right, still a lotus!!!