Seed

Li Dao wiped the corner of his mouth, walked over to the pheasant, and looked down at the ground.

There was a crooked line whose meaning he could not make out, with a black vortex drawn beside it.

"Cluck, cluck, cluck-"

The Five-Colored Pheasant tilted its head. Seeing him wipe his mouth, it immediately began clucking at him nonstop.

It kept gesturing with its limbs, pointing a claw at itself, then at the Stone-Armored Tiger, and finally at the vortex.

Li Dao's curiosity stirred at its antics, and he watched its comb bob back and forth before him.

After watching for quite some time, he finally figured out what it meant.

"You're saying this is where you met?"

"A lot of Ferocious Beasts have gathered here?"

"Could some treasure be about to emerge there?"

Seeing that Li Dao understood, the Five-Colored Pheasant merely nodded over and over in confirmation without making a sound.

Li Dao rubbed his chin, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"If some treasure is about to appear there, it might be worth taking a look."

He needed resources for the Flesh-and-Blood Seed Dao now. This concerned the path he would take from here on.

If that treasure could help him, it would greatly reduce the time he needed to spend searching for resources.

He looked toward the Five-Colored Pheasant and saw it pacing anxiously, its eyes filled with worry.

He could not help feeling amused. This was his first time seeing a Ferocious Beast so intelligent, and he suppressed the urge to roast it.

He beckoned to it and said:

"These chicken-scratch drawings of yours aren't very clear."

"How about this? Take me to where the treasure is going to emerge, and I'll let you go."

The Five-Colored Pheasant seemed to understand him, and relief immediately appeared in its eyes.

It hastily nodded at Li Dao, as though afraid he would change his mind the very next moment.

Li Dao shook his head without saying anything more, took out a small knife, and walked over to the Stone-Armored Tiger.

He began roasting it right there.

"As the saying goes, man is iron and rice is steel. Let's fill our bellies before we go."

"Besides, if this Stone-Armored Tiger dared to come straight after you, there must still be some time before the treasure appears. There's no rush."

After saying this to the Five-Colored Pheasant, he devoted himself to roasting the meat.

A trace of relief flashed through the Five-Colored Pheasant's eyes. Had it not been so fast,

it might already have ended up in the "Little Devil King's" belly.

Seeing that Li Dao bore it no ill will for the moment, it crept over to his side and stared at the golden roast meat dripping with juices.

It clucked twice, looking at Li Dao, then at the meat.

I was hunted for three days and two nights. Unless I eat every scrap of my enemy's flesh and drink every drop of its blood, how can I wash away this hatred?

Li Dao found its behavior rather amusing. He had thought the chickens here were vegetarian, but apparently they ate tiger meat too.

Without thinking much of it, he tossed over a roasted rib.

Man and beast began feasting in the forest after the rain.

Under their combined efforts, the Stone-Armored Tiger, as large as a small hill, grew smaller and smaller. Before long, all that remained was a mess strewn across the ground and a stark white skeleton.

He had to admit that a Cave Heaven Realm Ferocious Beast contained an enormous amount of energy.

Wisps of divine radiance spilled from Li Dao's entire body, while streaks of treasured light shrouded him.

He looked as though he were about to shed his mortal form and ascend.

Feeling the energy filling his entire body, Li Dao wasted no time gathering it all toward his chest.

Recalling that profoundly mysterious sensation from before, the imposing aura radiating from him changed.

Nearby, the Five-Colored Pheasant had eaten until its belly was round and it could barely move. It felt the almost tangible pressure emanating from Li Dao.

Its feathers instantly stood on end, and it felt a fear of him that seemed to arise from the very source of its being.

Li Dao remained oblivious, immersed in a dim, nebulous state.

He saw his two hundred and six bones stripped of flesh and hair. These were the "root" of his entire body, the foundation supporting its movements.

All the energy converged before his chest, tracing the outline of a tiny seed.

That brilliant golden outline seemed to have existed since the first opening of the heavens.

The moment it appeared, dark clouds began gathering in the blue sky above Li Dao.

Lightning dragons writhed among them, looking ready to descend at any moment.

The surrounding flowers, grasses, and trees began swaying, while tender shoots broke through the soil and stretched toward Li Dao.

Even the Five-Colored Pheasant nearby could not help taking a few steps toward Li Dao, only to be jolted awake by that heavenly might.

Only Li Dao, wholly absorbed in the changes within his body, noticed nothing. He continued pouring divine power into the seed with all his strength.

The seed had barely taken shape, yet it already possessed a sacred quality, a feeling born of its exceedingly high grade.

This was the "root" of Li Dao's Dao of the flesh, the Dao he had comprehended in the cave.

But the energy within him was not yet enough to manifest the seed completely.

Merely outlining the seed had already exhausted all the energy stored in his body.

He slowly opened his eyes, and the mysterious aura permeating his body gradually receded.

He saw the Five-Colored Pheasant cowering and trembling nearby but said nothing.

As the seed's outline emerged, he felt his connection with heaven and earth become clearer.

With a thought, the essence drifting between heaven and earth surged toward him like a tide.

Crack, crack, crack-

He stretched, unfurling the great dragon of his spine, and a series of resonant sounds rang out as though the heavens were being opened.

"Come on. Stop playing dead!"

"If you're dead, I'll start plucking you and making chicken soup!"

As he spoke, he walked over to the Five-Colored Pheasant and nudged its backside with his foot.

The moment his words fell, the Five-Colored Pheasant, which had been playing dead, sprang up.

It faced Li Dao with its head high and chest puffed out, its eyes full of determination.

Li Dao paid no attention to its display and immediately had it lead the way.

Man and beast set off toward the place where the treasure would emerge.

He had to admit that, in the world of Ferocious Beasts, the Five-Colored Pheasant was something like the flesh of the Tang Monk.

Every Ferocious Beast that saw it wanted to come over and take a bite.

Along the way, they had already encountered quite a few Cave Heaven Realm Ferocious Beasts that wanted to attack them. As for those in the Blood Moving Realm, there were even more

of them.

But every last one of those creatures became food for man and beast.

Although this stretched what should have been a three-day journey into five full days,

it was all worth it. Looking inward at the brilliant golden seed within him, which had grown a little more solid, Li Dao was in an excellent mood.

As for the Five-Colored Pheasant, with grease covering its beak and essence gushing from every pore, it was also in an excellent mood.

When it looked at Li Dao, there was now a trace of admiration and gratitude in its eyes.

After all these years, it finally knew what it felt like to be a dog throwing its weight around behind its master.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-

As man and beast continued onward, the sound of flowing water crashing against the banks reached their ears, booming like thunder from the highest heavens.