Chapter 340: Chapter 325: Both Promoted!
A cunning rabbit has three burrows.
In the Cultivation Realm, high-tier loose cultivators without the backing of sects or clans often establish multiple residences when capable.
The residence used for everyday cultivation can have its location disclosed to some trusted friends, allowing them to contact and locate the cultivator.
However, some secret hideaways are specifically for seclusion.
Loose cultivators find it difficult to fully trust others, so during crucial seclusion periods, they either rent a residence in large Immortal Cities like Prison Fire City for protection by the sects behind the city.
Or they retreat into their secret hideaways where no one can find them.
Jiang Fengxian resides in the Wilderness Jungle and rarely leaves, so the first method is not viable for her. Instead, she opts for the second method, finding another Spiritual Mountain Blessed Land in the jungle for a hideaway.
No one knows exactly how many hideaways she has established in the vast Wilderness Jungle, but Zhouyang, Xiao Feng, and Li Zhengwei accompanied her from Phoenix Cloud Mountain and traversed tens of thousands of miles through the jungle before reaching the hideaway she spoke of.
This hideaway is located in a forest densely filled with miasma within the Wilderness Jungle. The forest is overgrown with various colorful miasma, where numerous poisonous insects and snakes reside, and many poison types even Purple Mansion Stage cultivators struggle to withstand.
Even ignoring these poisonous creatures, merely the colorful miasma mist in the forest makes it impossible for Purple Mansion Stage cultivators to live there long without taking antitoxic pills.
However, Jiang Fengxian possesses a rare Antitoxic Treasure Pearl, which can create an antitoxic barrier several yards wide, allowing Zhouyang and the others to traverse freely within.
The three followed her, riding her Five-Colored Peacock, and flew hundreds of miles through the miasma forest before stopping outside her so-called hideaway.
This hideaway is hidden within a valley less than a thousand acres deep in the miasma forest, concealed entirely by a Tier Four Illusion Array. From the outside, it merely appears as an ordinary forest, with no valley visible.
Within the valley grows a Tier Four Spirit Wood "Fragrant Cloud Tree," stretching hundreds of feet tall, whose fragrance can neutralize and dispel the toxins in the miasma, turning the valley into an idyllic haven within the miasma forest.
"I seldom visit this Xiangyun Villa, so I’ve only established a few stone chambers for seclusion. Fellow Daoists, feel free to choose a spot in the valley to establish a temporary dwelling."
After opening the Illusion Array and taking Zhouyang and the others into the valley, Jiang Fengxian glanced at them with her beautiful eyes and spoke of her arrangement.
Cultivators generally dislike sharing a dwelling, even with intimate Dao Companions, they cultivate separately.
So Zhouyang and the others, after hearing Jiang Fengxian’s words, immediately chose spots and released their flying swords to construct their temporary dwellings.
Mindful of their host’s face, they reduced the area of their dwellings, limiting themselves to a bedroom, a seclusion chamber, a living room, and a few other stone chambers.
Zhouyang didn’t even establish a Spirit Beast Chamber, but rather released his "Golden-winged Thunder Eagle" from its Spirit Beast Bag, letting it nest on the "Fragrant Cloud Tree," feeding it pieces of the Barbaric Beast Heart he acquired at the exchange meeting.
"Fellow Daoist Huang, has your ’Golden-winged Thunder Eagle’ been fed the ’Spirit Awakening Pill’?"
Beneath the Fragrant Cloud Tree, as Zhouyang was feeding his "Golden-winged Thunder Eagle" pieces of the Barbaric Beast Heart, Jiang Fengxian’s clear, pleasant voice suddenly rang out behind him.
Turning back, he saw Jiang Fengxian with her Five-Colored Peacock standing dozens of feet behind, both staring at him with an unfriendly gaze directed at the "Golden-winged Thunder Eagle."
The Fragrant Cloud Tree is large, but two rare-bloodline flying demon beasts naturally are unwilling to share a tree.
Thus, when Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian were off guard, the two spirit pets started to fight.
In the battle, despite having tier three middle-grade cultivation, the Five-Colored Peacock suffered minor defeats, with many feathers scorched by the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle’s lightning, forcing it to leave the Fragrant Cloud Tree to settle elsewhere.
Upon learning of this, Zhouyang hurried to apologize on behalf of his spirit pet to Jiang Fengxian, offering to confine the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle in the Spirit Beast Chamber for nurturing.
However, Jiang Fengxian didn’t mind this incident and instead advised him against keeping flying spirit pets long-term in small closed spaces like the Spirit Beast Bag and Chamber, lest it hinder their growth.
Honestly, Zhouyang was aware of this, and had always paid attention to such matters, thus he readily agreed when Jiang Fengxian mentioned it.
Now, hearing Jiang Fengxian’s inquiry, he promptly replied: "Fellow Daoist Jiang has sharp insight; indeed, I have fed this unruly bird a ’Spirit Awakening Pill’."
"Feeding demon beasts the ’Spirit Awakening Pill’ certainly awakens their spiritual wisdom early, but regular interaction and communication with them maximize its effectiveness."
"Fellow Daoist Huang, if you have time, consider illustrating the demon beasts in the Demon Beast Atlas for it, teaching it to recognize various demon beast appearances and techniques, and even instructing it on identifying the functions of spirit herbs and elixirs."
"This Five-Colored Peacock of mine has also consumed the ’Spirit Awakening Pill’ and can now distinguish over a thousand spirit herb and elixir forms, aiding me in finding many spiritual objects in the Wilderness Jungle each year."
Jiang Fengxian nodded slightly, unexpectedly offering advice on beast breeding techniques to Zhouyang.
This kind of saying, Zhouyang truly is hearing it for the first time.
His face flashed with a thoughtful expression, and he hurriedly cupped his hands and gave a salute, saying: "Fellow Daoist Huang has taught me well, many thanks to Fellow Daoist Jiang for the guidance."
"It’s just a small effort, Fellow Daoist Huang need not be polite."
Jiang Fengxian waved his hand, then immediately walked towards his own cave dwelling with his Five-Colored Peacock.
After the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle swallowed a whole Barbaric Beast Heart, it fell into a deep sleep. It needs to slowly digest the benefits brought by the Barbaric Beast Heart through sleep.
To prevent accidents, Zhouyang, after it fell asleep, moved it from the Fragrant Cloud Tree to the Spirit Beast Chamber newly opened inside the cave.
Then he himself entered the Seclusion Chamber, formally secluding himself to assault the Third-Layer of the Purple Mansion.
Four months later, Zhouyang emerged from seclusion, successfully elevating his cultivation to the Third-Layer of the Purple Mansion.
At this time, less than six years had passed since he ascended to the Second-Layer of the Purple Mansion.
Ascended from the Second-Layer to the Third-Layer of the Purple Mansion in less than six years, if this cultivation speed was known, it would surely frighten people to death.
Even those legendary Spirit Body Cultivators might not achieve this in such a short time.
Fortunately, no one in Nanman Country knew of his situation seven years ago as a First-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator. Thus, upon seeing his successful promotion, neither Xiao Feng, Jiang Fengxian, nor others felt surprised, except for a few words of congratulations.
Even after ascending to the Third-Layer of the Purple Mansion, Zhouyang was still the one with the lowest cultivation among them, followed by the Fifth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator Li Zhengwei, who was short and stout.
At this time, they had been at the villa for less than five months, according to Xiao Feng’s suggestion, the group would still stay for another half year before officially setting off.
Therefore, after Zhouyang’s cultivation elevated, he did not rush further into cultivation but instead dedicated his time to the Talisman Making Art.
Compared to the Artifact Refining Skill, his Talisman Making Art still has a lot of room for enhancement, and the quiet environment in the valley was just suitable for this purpose.
In this quiet manner, another half year passed, and on the eve before departure, the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, which had fallen asleep for a year after consuming the Barbaric Beast Heart, finally awakened.
After awakening, the cultivation of the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle was still at the Tier Three Lower Grade Demon Beast level, but its size had increased significantly.
Before the sleep, the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle had a wingspan of only five zhang.
But after awakening, the wingspan exceeded seven zhang, its size had grown by nearly half!
Zhouyang tried and found that after awakening, the Tier Three Lower Grade Flying Sword could no longer break through the layer of feather defense on the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle. Its feathers are now harder than a Tier Three Lower Grade Flying Sword.
Moreover, its claws and bird beak could easily leave deep marks on Tier Three Lower Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifacts; a Tier Three Lower Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact Shield could only withstand a few claw strikes before being torn into pieces.
Such powerful physical strength coupled with the powerful Thunder Divine Techniques of the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle clan could rival a Flood Dragon of the same tier, and winner would be uncertain!
"Ordinary demon beasts cannot perfectly absorb and integrate the power of the Barbaric Beast Heart. Your Golden-winged Thunder Eagle must have fused a strong Barbaric Bird Bloodline in its ancestry, and now it activated the Barbaric Bird power through consuming the Barbaric Beast Heart, which caused such great changes."
"Look carefully at its pupils; the pupils have changed from light golden to dark golden, which is a change brought by the Barbaric Bird Bloodline."
Jiang Fengxian, with expertise in Beast Taming and Breeding Techniques, and living in the Wilderness Jungle for long, knew far more about barbaric beasts than Zhouyang.
When Zhouyang examined the changes in the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle after awakening, she quickly identified the reasons behind its transformation, knowing better than Zhouyang, its master.
"So that’s how it is!"
Zhouyang nodded with a look of realization, then smiled and cupped his hands in thanks, saying: "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Jiang, for clearing my doubts. Fellow Daoist Huang has learned a lot."
However, Jiang Fengxian slightly moved her lips, using Telepathy to tell him: "Generally, demon beasts awakened with Barbaric Beast Bloodline will master one or two unique Divine Techniques of the Barbaric Beast. Fellow Daoist Huang, after returning to the cave, you can let the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle exhibit its Divine Techniques to see what they are."
After speaking, without waiting for Zhouyang to thank, she turned to Xiao Feng and Li Zhengwei who also just left the cave and said: "Fellow Daoist Xiao, Fellow Daoist Li, we’ve been staying here for a year, shall we prepare to leave now?"
"Let’s wait for another month; one month later will be the ten-yearly Holy Fire Festival of Prison Fire City. By then, many cultivators from the Wilderness Jungle will return to Prison Fire City to participate in this grand event. If we set off then, the chance of being seen on the road will be much lower."
With glowing eyes, white-haired Xiao Feng revealed his plans in a deep voice.