Not in the Mortal World

Crow Lord had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, the next moment, Wentesi opened his mouth and said:

"Crow Lord, would you be willing to become my Field of Merit and be converted by me?"

Crow Lord's face drained of color.

He hurriedly flapped his wings and flew backward. Only after reaching a safe distance did he turn around, his face full of wariness:

"Shilongzi! So after all that, you did join the Buddhist sect, and now you want to persuade me to become a mount?

"I'm telling you, no chance! I'd rather die than become a mount!"

Crow Lord wore an "I knew it" expression, shaking his crow's head like a rattle, his face full of resistance.

Wentesi said helplessly:

"I have no connection to the Buddhist sect.

"Rest assured, I won't forcibly exploit you. I founded a religion called the Great Love Dragon Religion.

"As long as you enter under me and become my Field of Merit, you'll have your own benefits and a bright future for certain."

But to Crow Lord's ears, this was nothing but a string of lies, meant to trick a demon into the water to become a drowned ghost.

The Buddhist sect had an abysmal reputation in the cultivation world and was notorious.

Crow Lord didn't believe a word of it, taking it all for a trick.

"No! No!"

Crow Lord refused repeatedly, refusing to budge an inch:

"No matter how you dress it up, I'd still be a mount! I, Crow Lord, am used to roaming free. I'd rather die than become a mount!

"Even if you saved me, I can just give you my life! A life for a life!

"For us of the Feather Race, freedom is the most! Most! Important thing!"

By the end, he looked ready to die for his freedom.

Seeing this, Wentesi didn't press him.

Had it been another demon, he certainly wouldn't have bothered with all this effort and would have forcibly converted them.

But Crow Lord was, after all, the first intelligent Demon Beast he had dealt with in this world.

He really couldn't bring himself to be that ruthless.

It seemed Wentesi was too kind!

Where would he find a Field of Merit, then?

As he pondered, Wentesi suddenly glimpsed the golden eagle below the cliff move out of the corner of his eye. Its wing was twitching.

Wentesi's eyes lit up.

He had it.

A dead golden eagle could make a living Field of Merit!

Ignoring Crow Lord, he flapped his dragon wings and landed beside the golden eagle.

But the golden eagle had indeed reached the point where its oil was spent and its lamp was dying. The twitch of its wing had been its final struggle before death, and it would soon die.

Seeing this, Wentesi hurried to act while it was still warm.

With his earlier experience converting gnolls and kobolds, he went about it with practiced ease. Hairy Head Sun Law Power surged within him as he raised a claw and placed it on the golden eagle's chest.

He sent the incomparably overbearing Hairy Head Sun Law Power surging into the golden eagle's body, where it circulated throughout.

The entire process flowed like clouds and running water, and was complete in less than half a quarter-hour.

Crow Lord watched from the side, terrified. At the sight of the billowing golden light, the feathers all over his body nearly stood on end.

The Buddhist sect's conversion method!

This Shilongzi really is a member of the Buddhist sect!

No, a Buddhist mount!

The golden light faded, and clarity returned to the golden eagle's formerly unfocused eyes. It looked up at Wentesi.

The ferocity and hatred in its eyes were long gone, leaving only obedience and reverence.

The golden eagle raised its head with difficulty and let out a low cry.

It seemed to be getting to know its master.

Following the Qi veins, Wentesi sensed the size of the golden land in the Western fantasy world.

Enormous!

After seven months of expansion, the golden land in the Western fantasy world had become vast enough to support many merit fields.

But limited by his own cultivation at the Embryonic Breathing Fourth Layer, he could currently support five at most.

"But it's still about to die."

Conversion could only subdue living beings; it could not heal their injuries.

Or rather, Wentesi could not heal the injuries of living beings for the time being.

The golden eagle had taken his elbow strike head-on. Its breastbone was shattered and its internal organs severely damaged. Even though it had become a Field of Merit, it probably wouldn't live much longer.

Although Wentesi could transfer cultivation to the golden eagle, he couldn't transfer its injuries.

At the very least, the Golden Land Merit Field Method couldn't do that yet.

After giving it some thought, Wentesi ultimately couldn't bear to let his newly acquired tool die just like that.

His heart ached a little, and he sighed:

"You golden eagle, you haven't even paid me any taxes yet, and you've already made me take a loss."

Wentesi opened his mouth and spat out a verdant leaf. It was the Jade Life Leaf the Great Tree Sage had given him.

"A wood virtue Qi Ingestion treasure..."

Sensing its presence, Crow Lord cried out involuntarily.

Wentesi first held the whole leaf, then, reluctant to part with it, tore off a corner of the Jade Life Leaf and carefully fed it into the golden eagle's mouth.

The Jade Life Leaf melted as soon as it entered its mouth, turning into a warm, gentle force of vitality that flowed down its throat and into its internal organs.

Before their eyes, the golden eagle's previously faint breathing gradually steadied, and its pale wounds began slowly scabbing over and healing.

Although still gravely injured, the golden eagle had been pulled back from the gates of the underworld.

A little while later, the golden eagle flapped its wings a few times and managed to push itself up off the ground. Though weak, it could already fly short distances.

Wentesi was satisfied. As long as it could fly, there was no need for it to recover from all its injuries.

Wentesi then swallowed the rest of the Jade Life Leaf and stored it in his great stomach pouch.

Then Wentesi turned to Crow Lord:

"You're going to the Chuan Region to seek refuge with your friend? Are there any Demon Race markets there?"

"Yes, of course."

Crow Lord nodded. "There are three or four small demon markets near my friend, and a large market where humans and demons mingle. It's very lively."

"Good."

Wentesi pointed to the golden eagle beside him and said:

"From today on, it'll follow you. Take it to that big marketplace in the Chuan Region where humans and demons mingle."

Wentesi paused, then added, "How about we count this as payment for saving your life today?"

Crow Lord, however, fell silent for a while. After a long time, he spoke:

"That's a small matter. I'll do it along the way.

"I'll certainly repay you for saving my life. If you need anything, Shilongzi, just say the word. I, Crow Lord, will never refuse."

Crow Lord was utterly serious as he said this, his eyes shining.

Wentesi was somewhat surprised. He truly hadn't expected Crow Lord to possess such loyalty.

"Haha, good."

Wentesi laughed.

With everything arranged, Wentesi stayed no longer.

Every moment he remained here meant a greater risk of being sensed by the Greater Yin.

Time to run!

He would find a safe place to cross back to his territory.

Wentesi beat his wings and shot into the sky.

His crimson-gold dragon wings swept across the sky, his voice drifting on the wind:

"Crow Lord, until we meet again."

Crow Lord assumed he was going to serve his Buddhist master and nodded his crow's head in farewell.

Now only Crow Lord and the golden eagle remained.

Crow Lord turned and met the golden eagle's obedient gaze.

"Hmm... we're flying west."

Crow Lord spoke to the golden eagle.

The Xiang Region, on the shore of Dongting Lake.

A Daoist in plain robes stood on the shore, hands behind his back, quietly watching the shimmering ripples on the lake, neither speaking nor thinking.

A white-robed youth stood beside him, attending him in silence.

A closer look would have revealed some resemblance between the plain-robed Daoist and the white-robed youth.

After a long while, the white-robed youth could no longer hold back and asked:

"True Person, why are we staying here? Didn't Fairy Yuyao order us to investigate the appearance of [Hairy Head Sun] in the world?"

The plain-robed Daoist was actually a True Person!

A True Person was a figure at the Purple Mansion realm with Divine Abilities!

A figure who could destroy heaven and earth and move mountains and fill seas with a single technique or method.

Hearing the youth's words, the plain-robed Daoist turned to him and said gently:

"When no one else is present, you may simply call me father.

"As for why we stopped here, where should we go?"

The plain-robed Daoist and the white-robed youth were father and son.

The youth fell silent.

Seven months had passed since the search for [Hairy Head Sun]'s appearance in the world began, equivalent to seven cycles of the waning and new moon in the Moon Mansion.

They, the immortals who had descended from the Moon Mansion, had exhausted its countless techniques and methods without finding the slightest clue.

"Seven lunar cycles ago, Fairy Yuyao used the supreme treasure [Shamanic and Yi Cross-Reference Liuren Divination Board] to calculate with [Shamanic Qi] and divine where [Hairy Head Sun] had appeared.

"The divination indicated the area around the Southern Xiang Mountain Range in the Xiang Region. Unfortunately, we failed to find it."

The plain-robed Daoist sighed, though there was not the slightest trace of disappointment on his face.

"Father, why not use the [Shamanic and Yi Cross-Reference Liuren Divination Board] to divine it again?"

Hearing this, the plain-robed Daoist smiled and said:

"Jun'er, how could such an immortal artifact be used at will? Having used it this time, we'll have to wait thirty-six years before the next."

The blue-robed youth called Jun'er nodded and said no more.

"So, Jun'er, since we haven't found it in seven months, we can take it easy for the remaining thirty-five and a half years and search at our leisure."

The plain-robed Daoist continued gazing into the distance:

"We can enjoy the pleasures of the mortal world while we're at it. Why not?"

Finally, the plain-robed Daoist murmured to himself:

"Perhaps that sign of [Hairy Head Sun] has long since left the mortal world and escaped into the Sun Grotto-Heaven that we have never managed to find."