The written agreement Ao Ding spoke of was a document he had drafted himself.
The eldest princess skimmed it. The respective demands of the ten brave men were clearly laid out, along with the signatures and fingerprints of Ao Ding and the others.
Of course, a document alone was naturally not enough.
Neither the beauty ants nor Ao Ding himself could swear an oath upon their "Great Dao True Nature." Thus, Sun Chen had been specially asked to leave a curse upon the document. If anyone violated it, the curse would erupt at once.
The eldest princess held up the document, her expression grave. She had cultivated for eighty-three years, and although she had yet to enter the true Dao, she had already developed Divine Sense and spiritual perception. She understood how terrifying the curse upon the document was.
Seeing this, an attendant beside her immediately urged, "Your Highness, the queen has ordered that you take full responsibility for this matter."
Mother...
The eldest princess sighed inwardly, signed her name upon the document, then took out a small seal and gently stamped it.
As the red seal settled into place, an invisible aura surged from the document and enveloped everyone present.
Once the agreement was fulfilled, the curse's power would dissolve on its own. If the agreement could not be fulfilled, however, the curse would claim their lives.
On Ao Ding's side, it bound the ten of them.
On the Jiaxia Kingdom's side, it bound every beauty ant in the kingdom.
The eldest princess then ordered someone to bring three hundred taels of gold and two jade boxes.
Ao Ding accepted them, inspected them carefully, then divided the three hundred taels of gold among the woodcutter, fisherman, and farmer.
"The gold is genuine. Once you take it home, you must be careful. Don't casually show it to others and invite the calamity of blades."
The three thanked Ao Ding repeatedly.
What ability did the three of them have to slay a demon?
Wouldn't this young master still be doing the main work tomorrow?
Holding the two jade boxes, the eldest princess solemnly told Ao Ding, "These boxes contain Cloud Immortal White Fruit, a spirit medicine cultivated by our Jiaxia Kingdom. It can strengthen the body and prolong life. However, its effects are limited, and it cannot extend one's heavenly lifespan."
Heavenly lifespan was the upper limit of life predestined for a living creature.
Only superior immortal medicines and divine fruits could break through that heavenly lifespan and grant enduring longevity.
"Our white fruit can only replenish deficiencies. It truly cannot restore the dying to life or extend their allotted years."
Lin Bai's expression changed, and he turned toward Sun Chen.
Sun Chen smiled. "That is indeed so. There are myriad spiritual things beneath the heavens, but those that can truly break through the limits on lifespan imposed by heaven and earth are exceedingly few-"
Even if such things existed, they were not something a group of ants could cultivate.
Ao Ding opened a jade box and examined its contents carefully.
The Cloud Immortal White Fruit resembled cotton, flawlessly white and clustered into a ball.
Sensing the spiritual power upon it, Ao Ding wore an odd expression.
Handing one jade box to Lin Bai, Ao Ding comforted him. "My friend, as our human bodies grow, our innate vital essence constantly drains away. Although this medicine cannot grant longevity, it can replenish those deficiencies. Keep it. It should prove wonderfully useful in the future."
He handed the other jade box to Sun Chen.
However, he did not think this Cloud Immortal White Fruit was particularly useful.
This stuff... was only a cut above the spirit medicines grown in the Seven Spirits Sect's Hundred Herbs Garden.
Its potency probably could not even match a spiritual herb with five hundred years of maturity.
Sun Chen glanced up at it but did not accept it, merely telling Ao Ding to keep it himself.
"All right, we've received half the payment-we should prepare to face our enemy. Your Highness, please leave for now. Our method of defeating the enemy cannot be watched freely."
The eldest princess nodded repeatedly and led the maids out.
However, she had noticed that Ao Ding and Lu Xiu had an affinity with immortality and was unwilling to miss this opportunity. She ordered an attendant to return the document to the palace and have her mother select three of her younger sisters to arrange the marriages, while she remained outside the prince consort's residence, awaiting her chance.
There were too many people around during the day, and those two youths were thin-skinned. Once night fell...
Ao Ding closed the door and clapped his hands at the others. "Come, everyone-your weapons, arrows, farming tools, whatever... take out whatever feels comfortable in your hands."
He Wenchang and the others silently laid their broken sword, bow and arrows, hoe, fishing net, and other belongings before them.
Ao Ding drew out his wooden staff, pointed it at the fishing net, and silently recited the Chicken Feather-Shedding Curse.
A wisp of white light drifted soundlessly from the wooden staff and merged into the fishing net.
A halo visibly appeared over the fishing net's surface.
He Wenchang's eyes lit up, and he asked Sun Chen, "Senior, could this be a Dharma Artifact of legend? Is he making Dharma Artifacts for us?"
"Dharma Artifacts... you could call them that. But compared to the Dharma Artifacts we cultivators use, he is merely blessing a few implements with temporary spells-once they lose the support of his magical power, they will soon return to their original state."
Watching Ao Ding cast his spells, Sun Chen understood how this coward intended to slay the demon.
Tomorrow, he absolutely would not step onto the square platform to fight himself.
He was blessing the others' equipment with spells so they could carry enchanted implements that countered chickens. Clearly, he intended to send the others up to fight the Golden-Peng Pheasant.
That would do, too-
Cultivators were not inherently bloodthirsty or eager for battle.
Looking again at He Wenchang, Lu Xiu, and the others, Sun Chen thought, Very well. With an innate martial artist like Lu Xiu here, catching a little chicken won't be difficult. Failing that, I can have them leave the Jiaxia Kingdom and strike from outside the Dharma Realm.
Ao Ding continued chanting, compressing the spell's power into a thread and sealing it into the fishing net bit by bit.
Only when the fishing net was brimming with spell power did he turn to make another "temporary enchanted implement."
Enchanted implements were a type of Dharma Artifact. Like Array Artifacts, Pill Treasures, Talisman Treasures, Sword Pellets, and the like, they were implements made by cultivators through different methods.
Their ultimate purpose was to create "True Heavenly Spirit Treasures," commonly called "Dharma Treasures."
In this world, Dharma Treasures were rare indeed.
Even the vast Seven Spirits Sect had only two Dharma Treasures to anchor its fortune.
Dharma Artifacts were what Wang Weilong and the others used in their daily lives. They could fly through the skies, burrow through the earth, and subdue demons and fiends.
Watching Ao Ding cast his spells, Sun Chen pointed at the broken sword and arrows on the ground, and the damaged objects were restored to their original state.
The woodcutter's eyes lit up, and he hurried over to Sun Chen with the hoe in his hands.
"Senior..."
Sun Chen smiled faintly and pointed casually, and every notch in the hoe vanished as well.
"With his spell power blessing them, these objects will allow you to hurt that demon chick when you face it tomorrow." After some thought, Sun Chen also drew a talisman on the backs of He Wenchang, Lu Xiu, and the others.
A flash of spiritual light passed, but none of them could perceive any difference.
"These talismans can protect your lives. Don't bathe tonight."
Everyone repeatedly agreed.
By the time Ao Ding had blessed every implement with the Chicken Feather-Shedding Curse, it was already midnight.
Yawning, he dragged his weary body back to rest.
Sun Chen immediately took out the Cloud Immortal White Fruit. "Come, no resting-eat this spiritual thing, then sit down and circulate your cultivation immediately."
"Huh? Do I have to work that hard?" Though Ao Ding complained aloud, he quickly tore apart the ball of "cotton fluff" and swallowed it, then silently circulated his cultivation.
Blessing the enchanted implements had completely exhausted Ao Ding's magical power, leaving not a trace.
Now, with the spirit medicine's help, his depleted magical power gradually recovered, even exceeding what he had possessed before.
Only at dawn, when Lu Xiu came looking for him, did Ao Ding slowly end his cultivation.
"Come on, let's slay a demon!"
Brimming with youthful vigor, the boy called his companions together and headed for the square platform once more.
Once again, not long after they stepped onto it, a large bird swooped swiftly down from the sky.
With a cloud-patterned golden crest and golden feathers covering its body, it looked at them with radiant vitality.
"Huh? Its injuries have healed?"
Yesterday, Ao Ding had plucked so many of its feathers, yet now it was completely unscathed?
Deeply surprised, Ao Ding silently shifted his eyepatch and looked at the Golden-Peng Pheasant with his left eye.
At once, he discovered streams of foreign spiritual power flowing within the Golden-Peng Pheasant's body.
"So many strands of unrefined spiritual power. Did it eat quite a few living creatures last night?"
"Brothers, kill it!" On the other side, He Wenchang swung his longsword and leaped up.
The Golden-Peng Pheasant gave a contemptuous smile, utterly dismissing this being who had posed no threat to it yesterday.
Its eyes remained fixed on Ao Ding, only to find that he had not stepped onto the platform at all. He merely stood below, staring at it as though examining something.
"Chirp-" The Golden-Peng Pheasant thrust its head toward Ao Ding to peck at him.
Suddenly, pain struck its body. Before it could react, it saw great swathes of its feathers falling away.
What was happening?
Utterly bewildered, the Golden-Peng Pheasant looked at He Wenchang, who was slashing at it with his longsword.
Every slash stripped a great clump of feathers from the Golden-Peng Pheasant. With each swing, the spiritual light upon the longsword also grew dimmer.
Whoosh-
From farther away, arrows shot over and struck both the Golden-Peng Pheasant's wings. Bright red feathers fell away in showers.
Seeing his shots land, the hunter immediately drew more arrows from his quiver and continued attacking its legs, back, and crest...
Soon, the group gained the upper hand and battered the Golden-Peng Pheasant into a completely plucked chicken.
Sun Chen glanced around, then suddenly pointed above and to the right of the square platform and asked Ao Ding a question.
"What do you see over there?"
Ao Ding looked, only to see brilliant daylight and a cloudless blue sky.
But as he examined it closely, he suddenly sensed something amiss.
Focusing the power of his left eye, he looked again and saw a shaft of azure light emerge behind the blue sky.
The azure light was as thick as a pillar holding up the heavens, its end beyond sight.
"Wait, this is..."
In a flash of insight, Ao Ding suddenly blurted out, "The Xuanjia Immortal Tree?"
The nine-zhang immortal tree they had seen before coming to the Jiaxia Kingdom.
With that single realization, heaven and earth overturned before Ao Ding's eyes, and he felt as though his entire body were squeezing out of a ball of cotton.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing before that nine-zhang immortal tree.
Beneath the tree, there was no one but him.
Only he stood quietly beneath it.
Suddenly-
Faint movements came from beneath his feet, accompanied by repeated chirping cries.
He looked down.
A small square platform stood by the immortal tree's roots.
A plucked chicken a foot in size was struggling and flapping upon it.
On the platform, he could also make out tiny beings fighting the plucked chicken.
Huh?
That was the Golden-Peng Pheasant, and-
With an odd expression, Ao Ding silently lowered his head.
Beside the square platform, he saw a tiny person smiling at him.
Senior Sun Chen.
Sun Chen looked up at the sky.
The scenery conjured by the Dharma Realm could not deceive a True Person.
Seeing that Ao Ding had spotted him, he simply took a step out and appeared beneath the Xuanjia Tree as well.
"Well?"
Ao Ding said nothing, merely gazing at a spot not far from the square platform. Near the tree roots was the entrance to an anthill.
Densely packed red-and-black ants gathered there, busily going about their day's work.
"This is the Jiaxia Kingdom? This is the beauty ants' Dharma Realm?"
"Correct. Within the Dharma Realm, they are no different from us. Outside it-they are as insignificant as ants. Even that so-called Golden-Peng Pheasant..."
Sun Chen shook his head and told Ao Ding to step forward and try it himself.
Ao Ding silently approached and reached out casually, catching the plucked chicken in his hand.
After he shook it a couple of times, the Golden-Peng Pheasant fainted.
"It... it was that simple?"
"What else did you think? How could the 'human heroes' the Jiaxia Kingdom sought in past years deal with these spiritual birds and strange beasts? Three hundred years ago, the so-called Golden Sword Prince Consort's demon-slaying amounted to nothing more than leaving the Dharma Realm through the square platform and casually waving a hand beneath the Xuanjia Tree to sweep the demon away."
Sun Chen smiled. "Within that Spirit-Realm Dharma Realm, the Jiaxia Kingdom is indeed a group of powerful beauty ants. But without the Dharma Realm's blessing, under the suppression of the Xuanjia Immortal Tree... heh... you could crush this anthill with one foot. Look-the beehive in the treetop."
Ao Ding looked up. A damaged, blue-jade-colored beehive hung in the treetop five zhang above the ground. A large swarm of bees was repairing it.
As he studied those bees, Ao Ding suddenly understood something.
The Golden-Peng Pheasant's feathers had recovered today entirely thanks to what those bees had done yesterday.
"That is another Spirit-Realm Dharma Realm, built by bees that attained the Dao. If you and I entered that hive, we could behold the beautiful sights of the Jiashang Kingdom."
Examining the Xuanjia Tree with his left eye, Ao Ding suddenly blurted out, "This tree itself is also a Dharma Realm. In turn, it suppresses the development of both races, ensuring that neither can become demons and wreak havoc here!"
"Correct-this is the Central Wasteland, and four of the Six Sects of the Immortal Gate hold territory here. With those four sects looking down upon all, how could they let demonkind grow into a force? This Xuanjia Immortal Tree and its Dharma Realm were established by the Golden Court Sect. Under this Dharma Realm's suppression, other species can cultivate and establish Dharma Realms of their own, but they cannot harm humans. Indeed-within the Xuanjia Dharma Realm, they can only face humans in their original forms, leaving humans free to take whatever they please."
Before you continue