The Necessity of Cultivation

At Eight Seals Mountain, the light was dim, and mountain mist swirled through the air.

Birds chirped incessantly in the woods, filling them with lively noise.

Suddenly, the red dragon Wentesi appeared out of thin air atop a massive tree.

His appearance startled a flock of birds, sending them scattering in every direction.

Having appeared in this world, Wentesi swept his gilded vertical pupils over the area. He found no wild boar, but he did find its hoofprints and caught a faint whiff of its musky scent.

"Did that pig Demon Beast leave?"

Wentesi had learned several Law Techniques the previous day, including the Swamp Technique, Web Technique, and Slow Technique.

The red dragon had an astonishing talent for Law Techniques. After practicing hard all night, he had made some progress and was eager to test the results.

"It probably went back to its sty. I'll scout it out first, then set another trap and lure him into it."

Wentesi was not as reckless as other red dragons. Having been human in his previous life, he preferred to act cautiously and think three times before making a move.

Ahem, the greed he had shown upon seeing the spiritual ginseng last time was just an exception.

Besides, that tusked pig Demon Beast was no pushover. Its thick hide was as hard as iron, and its pair of tusks were extraordinarily sharp. If he confronted it head-on, he would likely come off worse.

Wentesi spread his dragon wings, which spanned nearly four meters, and flew into the sky, circling as he searched. The birds around him fled at the sight of him.

Before long, Wentesi found the tusked wild boar's lair. He swooped down and landed on a nearby tree to observe it.

His dragon eyes made out the hoofprints on the ground, and he caught a strong whiff of the boar's musky scent. Wentesi concluded that the tusked wild boar had not left and was inside its lair.

"Hmm, it's still here, as expected. I'll find a good place to set a trap first, then lure it in."

With that, Wentesi spread his dragon wings and took flight again, scouting around the valley.

The wind whistled as Wentesi searched with his sharp dragon eyes. He soon found a mountain hollow with high ground on three sides and a slight depression in the middle. It was just right.

Wentesi slowly circled down, landed in the depression, and began casting Law Techniques.

Swamp Technique! Swamp Technique! Swamp Technique! Swamp Technique!

Wentesi cast the Swamp Technique four times in succession, turning the entire floor of the hollow into a swamp that would be difficult to escape.

Web Technique! Web Technique! Web Technique!

Layer upon layer of webs, each strand as fine as a hair, covered the surface of the swamp, making the trap even more perfect.

Wentesi lifted his dragon head in satisfaction, thoroughly pleased.

Casting so many first-level spells had consumed most of the magic power in his body, despite his fourth-level life rank, but it was all worthwhile. He believed this pig Demon Beast was certain to die today.

"Time to hunt."

A cold gleam flashed in Wentesi's dragon eyes. His scales flared slightly in excitement, and he spread his wings and shot into the sky.

The wind howled as Wentesi returned to the sky above the pig Demon Beast's cave. This time, he did not even look before opening his fanged jaws wide.

A blast of dragon breath imbued with Dragon Might spewed forth!

Fierce dragon flames engulfed the entire cave entrance and surged deep inside.

Wentesi kept breathing fire for more than ten breaths before he finally heard a piercing porcine shriek from the pig Demon Beast's cave.

Only then did Wentesi close his dragon jaws and stop breathing fire. The wild boar was awake, so there was no need to continue.

Those ten-odd breaths of dragon fire had also consumed quite a bit of his strength.

The next moment, a tusked wild boar the size of an elephant charged out of the cave, bristling with aggression!

The hair on the boar's forehead had been scorched into a blackened patch, giving off a faint burnt stench. Even the surfaces of its two tusks were somewhat blackened. All of it was Wentesi's handiwork.

The boar's eyes were bloodshot, and it was clearly in a frenzy. The moment it came out and saw Wentesi, it roared and charged.

"You're courting death! It's you again! Lizard!"

As the saying went, enemies' eyes burned all the redder when they met. Woken by dragon breath, the wild boar wanted nothing more than to tear Wentesi to pieces on the spot and avenge itself!

I let you get away yesterday, but you dared come back today? Do you really think I, Old Pig, am easy to bully?

Seeing that the fish had taken the bait, Wentesi wasted no words. He spread his dragon wings and took off at once, easily dodging the pig Demon Beast's headlong charge before making himself scarce.

Seeing this, the pig Demon Beast refused to let Wentesi escape so easily. It pushed hard off the ground with all four hooves and raced after him, afraid he would disappear again as he had yesterday.

"This damned beast is keeping close. Hmph, hmph."

Wentesi flew roughly six or seven meters above the ground, watching the pig Demon Beast at his heels out of the corners of his eyes.

The pig Demon Beast was truly formidable. It smashed through several large trees in its path without slowing down, reducing them to splinters along the way.

And so the dragon and the pig chased each other through the woods.

Soon, the site of the trap appeared ahead and to Wentesi's right.

Finally!

Wentesi veered toward the trap he had set, lowering his speed and altitude somewhat so the pig Demon Beast would not lose him.

Seeing Wentesi slow down, the pig Demon Beast thought he was running out of strength. Overjoyed, it drove all four hooves harder and sped after him.

Wentesi and the pig Demon Beast arrived at the mountain hollow one after the other. Just as Wentesi was about to reach the center of the trap, he suddenly pulled upward.

Caught off guard, the pig Demon Beast plunged into the trap made from the Mire Technique and Web Technique. Its momentum carried it deep inside, straight to the very center.

"Aaargh!!"

The pig Demon Beast let out a furious roar. This damned lizard actually tricked me! Damned lizard!

The pig Demon Beast struggled desperately, kicking wildly in the mire and webs with all four hooves, sending mud flying and webs quivering.

It struggled with such force that it shook the entire mire, and some of the webs wrapped around him even snapped.

Watching from the rock wall, Wentesi grew nervous, afraid the pig Demon Beast would break free. That would be troublesome.

He immediately cast two Slow Techniques at the pig Demon Beast to slow it down.

Fortunately, the pig Demon Beast's strength lasted only a moment. After Wentesi's Slow Techniques struck it, it struggled a few more times before running out of strength. Its four hooves kicked wildly, but its body only sank deeper.

Wentesi breathed a sigh of relief, then showed the wicked grin expected of an evil dragon.

"Kekeke! Little fat pig, you can't get away now, can you?"

Wentesi crouched on the rocky wall of the hollow, his crimson scales reflecting the shadows shifting in the swamp, and smugly swished the tip of his tail.

As he pondered how to torment the wild boar that had humiliated him, a snicker suddenly sounded in his heart.

"Shilongzi, what are you standing around for? If you don't finish it off, this little earth pig is going to burrow away!"

Wentesi's vertical pupils abruptly contracted. Where the hell had that voice come from?

A crow stood on a branch, its feathers glossy as ink and its beady eyes gleaming faintly. It tilted its head as it looked at him.

A crow that can speak in someone else's heart?

A Devil Beast from Eight Seals Mountain?

The thought had just crossed his mind when the swamp beneath him suddenly gurgled.

A faint earthy yellow light rose from the tusked wild boar trapped in the mud, shining brightest around its two tusks. Its desperate struggles abruptly stopped, and the mire churned violently like boiling water.

Wentesi's heart skipped a beat.

He had no time to ask where the crow had come from. Raising a claw, he hurled Law Techniques downward.

Slow Technique!

Web Technique!

The two Law Techniques slammed into the wild boar.

But the pig's body glowed yellow, slick as though greased, preventing the Web Technique from sticking and the Slow Technique from slowing it.

Finally, the wild boar looked at Wentesi and shot him a glare with its scarlet eyes.

"Splash-"

Mud flew everywhere, and the pig vanished, leaving only a muddy hole.

The mountain hollow fell silent in an instant.

Wentesi stared at the hole, his red dragon face nearly turning into a black dragon face.

My great big fat pig just disappeared?

The fat pig that was already in my mouth just got away like that?!

"Hahahaha!"

The crow cackled, its mocking laughter sounding in Wentesi's heart.

"What did I tell you? That pig is an Earth Virtue Demon Beast. It had been stuck at the third layer of [Embryonic Breathing] for years, but you drove it into a desperate corner, and it actually broke through in battle and awakened the wonders of [Earth Escape].

"You'd better watch out for its revenge, lizard."

"A breakthrough in battle? Isn't that the sort of thing that only happens to novel protagonists? And why wasn't it me, but a big fat pig instead?!"

Wentesi grumbled inwardly. He had truly suffered the worst of luck, letting that pig escape.

"And what are this Embryonic Breathing and the wonders of [Earth Escape] that the stinking crow mentioned?"

He looked at the crow gloating in the tree and used the cantrip [Common Language] to speak coldly.

"Who are you? Why can you speak in my heart?"

He had been scouting from the air earlier, yet he had not noticed the crow at all.

He did not know when it had appeared, but with such abilities, it was certainly no ordinary bird.

He feared the crow had seen him arrive in this world from the very beginning. If so...

The chill in Wentesi's eyes deepened.

"Huh?! You can talk? I can't see the slightest trace of Spiritual Qi around you. I thought you were just a mutated ordinary Shilongzi."

"As for me?"

The crow ruffled his wings and said with considerable pride:

"I am a rare member of the Feather Race of Eight Seals Mountain. You may call me Crow Lord! As for the voice you hear, that is my innate Divine Ability, [Myna Tongue]."

"Crow Lord? [Myna Tongue]?"

Wentesi asked a few more probing questions, but Crow Lord laughed them off.

Not wanting to keep at it, Wentesi flew toward the wild boar's cave. The monk might run away, but the temple could not; surely the spiritual ginseng would not burrow away too. He could at least recoup some of his investment.

To his surprise, the moment he took flight, Crow Lord flapped after him, hovering at an unhurried pace behind him.

"Shilongzi, don't be in such a hurry to leave."

Crow Lord's voice drifted over. "You're going to the pig cave for the spiritual ginseng inside? Give me some. I have great use for it."

Wentesi's dragon wings faltered, and he looked back at him coldly.

"How do you know there's spiritual ginseng in the cave? And another thing! I'm not called Shilongzi!"

Shilongzi, also known by several other names, was another name for the kind of lizard Wentesi had known in his previous life.

He actually called a great true dragon a Shilongzi?

This crow had a way to die, and a hint of killing intent had already crept into Wentesi's gaze as he looked at him.

"Don't be angry, Shilongzi. Listen to me. I was nearby when you set the pig cave on fire. I'd had my eye on that fat pig for a long time, but I never had an opportunity."

Crow Lord spoke frankly, without the slightest guilt over spying.

"Afterward, I saw you set the trap and lure the pig Demon Beast over. I was hiding in the shadows, so you didn't notice me."

So he was only watching outside the pig Demon Beast's cave. He didn't discover me the moment I crossed over. Of course, how could there be such a coincidence in this world?

Wentesi understood. That was what had happened.

But the crow had watched the whole time, clearly waiting to reap the benefits of their fight like the fisherman in the tale.

Now that the pig Demon Beast had escaped, he wanted a share of the spiritual ginseng. In his dreams!

"Why should I give you any?"

His tone was exceedingly hostile. A red dragon's greed was carved into his bloodline; how could he spit out something already in his mouth?

Crow Lord was not annoyed. He said leisurely:

"Shilongzi, I don't see a trace of Spiritual Qi on you. You probably haven't set foot on the path of cultivation yet, have you? You merely had some fortuitous opportunity and accidentally ate a few spiritual fruits or something, which awakened your intelligence.

"I can trade you the 'Hairy Head Sun Method.'

"It is the fundamental inherited method of the [Hairy Head Sun] lineage, far better than practicing blindly. It is a path of ultimate yang and hardness, capable of breaking Sha and suppressing evil. Once you learn it, you will surely be able to slay that fat [Earth Virtue] pig the next time you meet."

Wentesi's heart stirred.

"A Cultivation Method?"

He had been fretting over his lack of a way to learn about this world. Presumably, the Cultivation Method the crow spoke of was a way to raise one's level of life in this world.

He could also use the Cultivation Method the crow had mentioned to indirectly verify this world's level: whether it was a low-magic, mid-magic, high-magic, or even a super-magic world.

But Wentesi kept his face impassive and bargained the price down.

"Four spiritual ginseng roots for one lousy Cultivation Method? You certainly know how to ask for the sky. I'd say it's worth one root at most."

Though he did not know what the Cultivation Method was worth, he certainly could not go wrong by bargaining down.

"One root? You lizard, you're too stingy!"

Crow Lord flapped his wings as though his feathers were bristling.

"This is the fundamental inherited Cultivation Method of the Primordial Sun Dao, an eighth-grade immortal text!

"Even four roots would be a bargain for you! At least three!"

"One and a half."

Wentesi kept haggling. Fundamental inherited Cultivation Method or eighth-grade text, he did not care; all he had to do was drive down the price.

"Two and a half! This method is extremely hard to come by. You can cultivate by gazing at the sun, and it even comes with an accompanying Qi-gathering method!"

Wentesi stared at Crow Lord for a few breaths and knew he could not push the price down any further.

Two and a half spiritual ginseng roots for a cultivation method was not a loss, especially since the pig cave held at least ten.

"Deal."

The dragon and the crow soon landed in front of the wild boar's cave.

The spiritual ginseng in the pig cave was undamaged. There were twenty-one roots in all.

Wentesi took out two and a half spiritual ginseng roots and pushed them in front of Crow Lord to make the trade.

Crow Lord picked up the spiritual ginseng in his beak, then spat out a feather with a silvery sheen and gave it to Wentesi.

"Here's the [Hairy Head Sun Method]."

Wentesi pressed a claw against the feather and used his senses to confirm that everything was in order. Then he put away the spiritual ginseng and crow feather and left.

He had to find a secluded place to return first, then study the Cultivation Method.

Crow Lord stood in front of the pig cave, a gleam flashing in his eyes as he watched Wentesi leave.

"Hehe, another one took the bait. More spiritual resources earned."

Then Crow Lord disappeared into the dense forest.

Wentesi found a secluded spot and tried to examine the cultivation method.

The cultivation method entered his mind, and images depicting the practice of the Hairy Head Sun Method appeared. The figures in the images were human, and there were nine images in the opening section.

Why was this cultivation method made for humans? I wonder if I can cultivate it in this red dragon body?

Wentesi felt that the crow had tricked him. This cultivation method was clearly intended for humans, so how could a true dragon like him cultivate it?

Wentesi thought it over for a long while, but ultimately decided to try it first. If there was a problem, he would stop.

Mm, I'll try it first. If it doesn't work, I'll give up. And judging by this book, humans exist in this world too.

Recalling what the crow had said, Wentesi's heart filled with questions:

And what are Earth Virtue, the Hairy Head Sun Dao lineage, and eighth grade?

This world is really complicated, no simpler than my original world! I'll have to be even more careful from now on.

He had to resolve these questions about the things he didn't know next time. It would be best to find a few human books to read.

And there was that wild boar that hadn't died! Sooner or later, he had to find a chance to kill it!

At the thought, Wentesi's eyes grew a little redder.

He then took what he had gained on this trip and returned to his original world.