With the Little Winged People on his back, Hou Niao ran faster and faster, his speed worlds apart from when he had been traveling underground. This was also his best opportunity to come into contact with the Earth Spirit Pearl and sense it.
The five elements were also the focus of his primary cultivation method. Given the limits of his cultivation realm, both what he could learn and what he could discover for himself required an extremely long process.
Suitable treasures could accelerate that process, and in the Brocade Continent's cultivation world, no treasures accorded more closely with the Great Dao of the Five Elements than things like the Earth Spirit Pearl. That was also why everyone flocked to it like ducks.
He was lucky enough to have a chance to stay close to it for a while. He just wondered whether, now that Heaven had made this beginning, it would next send down a Gold Spirit Pearl, a Wood Spirit Pearl, a Water Spirit Pearl, and a Fire Spirit Pearl. Would there be a Thunder Spirit Pearl?
As his understanding deepened, his interaction with the Earth Spirit Pearl grew increasingly close. By the end, he could even apply a little of his own law power to barely manage flight. But he did not fly. Some benefits were best swallowed quietly; displaying them would only invite jealousy, breed unnecessary trouble, and introduce uncertainties into their fragile tacit understanding.
Traveling without sleep or rest, he reached the Winged People Tribe's camp after just three days. The Little Winged People was finally safe.
There was little need to worry about someone stealing the Earth Spirit Pearl. Along the way, the cultivators had come to understand that it belonged to whoever had sought it. Stealing it was useless: they could neither carry it