Chapter Fifteen: The Auspicious Land of Five Spirits

  Zhang couldn't help but laugh secretly, no wonder the little snake was guiding him in this direction, it turned out that it knew where the spiritual ginseng's lair was located. He gently patted the snake's body and pretended to educate it: "Snake, you're small, but your guts are big."

  An old man with white hair saw a person and a snake-like figure, feeling a bit off, asked: "Fushe hasn't recognized its master?"

  Zhang was confused: "What is 'recognizing a master'? Is he recognizing me as his master?"

  "Recognizing the master is a kind of blood recognition ceremony for driving demonic beasts, drawing talismans, reciting spells and dripping blood on the demonic beast. After the demonic beast absorbs the blood, it successfully recognizes its master; after recognizing its master, the demonic beast only recognizes you as its master, completely obeying your commands, and will not exhibit the phenomenon of devouring its master."

  "It's that complicated? I won't bother."

  "How can they be willing to listen to your orders?" the old man asked in surprise.

  "I don't know."

  The old man thought for a moment and said: "Then do you want to learn from the venomous snake's blood recognition, this technique I happen to know."

  Zhang was afraid and shook his head: "Don't, isn't it better for them to be free?"

  The old man's gaze passed over him, looking at the wicker basket behind: "Those three small dogs are ordinary domesticated pets, right? They were set to be restricted and cannot grow up for life. I don't understand why you bring these three burdens with you when your cultivation is not high."

  "What? Is there a restriction? No wonder they haven't grown up in years. Can seniors lift it?" Zhang Fei was very concerned about the three little ones.

  The old man smiled: "What's difficult about this? It's just that after the seal is lifted, they will grow up and no longer be so cute. Do you really want to lift the seal?"

  Zhang Pa nodded: "Cuteness cannot be the price of being unable to grow up, bother senior to cast a spell."

  The old man smiled and looked at Zhang Pa, his fingers snapping three times in quick succession. Instantly, the three small dogs were startled, their eyes dazed and seemingly disoriented by their current situation. After a while, they slowly regained their composure. The old man said, "Alright, can you tell me why you brought them along?"

  Zhang Pa spoke out about how he was only accompanied by them when he was lonely, and the old man nodded: "I was wrong to blame you earlier, fellow Taoist, don't take offense."

  Zhang was a bit embarrassed: "If you want to blame someone, I should be the one to apologize. Your demon beasts were all killed by me."

  The old man looked at the giant pig and said lightly: "His cultivation is equivalent to the initial stage of the Human Condensation Period, but he can't withstand a single collision with Fow Snake."

  "Condensing Dan period? What about my master's realm, how can this pig be so fierce?! Please forgive me, senior." Thinking of the big pig's ferocious appearance, Zhang felt a bit fearful afterwards. If it weren't for the snake, he would have died ten thousand times already.

  The old man waved his hand and said, "What's the big deal about this? I have many such demonic beasts under my command, all of whom are at the initial stage of forming their elixir." He turned to look back at the little dog: "It's you who is not highly cultivated, running around with them recklessly. If things go wrong, your life will be in danger. It would be better to abandon them early on."

  Zhang shook his head stubbornly and said: "Absolutely not! They are good to me, I must be good to them too!"

  The old man smiled, and at this time he completely believed that Zhang Fei had no malice towards him. He put down his guard and praised: "You have feelings and righteousness, you are a good child. Tell me how you came to the boundless grassland."

  "What? This is the endless grassland? Not Thunder Mountain? Where's Thunder Mountain?" Zhang Pa asked hastily.

  "Tianlei Mountain? It's not too far away, if we fly, it'll take about ten days or half a month to arrive."

  Zhang Pa was very depressed, and the road back seemed even more difficult. He told the old man about his journey in detail, with a bitter face. The old man listened and burst out laughing, asking him: "Haven't you ever seen a woman?" Zhang Pa argued strongly: "I saw one in Daoxian Town!"

  "En en, I've seen it, hehe." The old man smiled for a while, pointing at the pig demon's corpse and asked Zhang Pa: "What does it look like to you?"

  "What's it like? Isn't it just a bigger pig?"

  The old man nodded: "That's right, he was originally just an ordinary domestic pig."

  "Ordinary household pig? Cultivated to the Congealing Dan stage? Far more formidable than me." Upon hearing this, Zhang was shocked, as expected.

  The old man said again: "Do you still remember the secret about my age that I told you earlier?" Zhang nodded in fear.

  "Ordinary pigs can also become masters of tying knots, and that's related to a secret." The old man said slowly.

  "What secret?" Zhang was full of curiosity.

  The old man looked at Zhang Pa seriously: "This secret is a bit against heaven, can you swear to keep the secret forever?"

  Zhang Fei thought for a moment, then refused: "Thank you, senior, for trusting me. Since this secret is so important, I'd rather not know it. If it leaks out, it won't be good for you."

  The old man was surprised, and unexpectedly, a cultivator would give up the secret of rapid cultivation for a secret that had nothing to do with himself. However, the young man didn't ask questions, thinking it could only be beneficial and not harmful to himself, so he felt at ease and laughed loudly: "You're really a good kid, since that's the case, I won't force you either. Later, I'll give you a few bottles of elixir to help with your cultivation."

  Zhang Pa Lian thanked him repeatedly.

  The old man thought for a moment, then warned: "Your Fow Snake is too young and hasn't acknowledged its master. If it's discovered by a high-ranking Yuan Ying cultivator, not only will the snake be caught, but you'll also lose your life. From now on, don't let them out carelessly."

  Zhang was frightened and only then realized the severity of the situation. He respectfully said: "I will follow your teachings, senior."

  The old man stood up: "Wait here for a while, I'll be right back." As soon as he finished speaking, his face suddenly changed. He stood facing west, and an idea flashed through his mind. With no time to think twice, he decisively waved his sleeve, picked up the giant pig's corpse, and covered Zhang Pa and the three small dogs. In an instant, they vanished from the grassland.

  After a stick of incense, Zhang Pa and the old man had just finished talking at the scene above, a flash of lightning flashed by, disappearing into the distance in an instant. Not long after, the lightning flew back, hovering high above the endless grassland. As the light dissipated, a human figure appeared, a tall and imposing bald-headed man, furrowing his brow in thought: "Strange, the spiritual energy is gone, could it be that a high-level demon beast has passed by?" Since he didn't discover anything, the bald-headed man recited an incantation again, and another flash of lightning shot eastward.

  Zhang was stunned at this time, shocked by too many things in one day. Just now, the old man had cast a spell to cover him, and then used the Earth Escape Technique to sink rapidly dozens of miles underground. In the blink of an eye, everything before his eyes turned black, but suddenly, there was a bright light, revealing a huge garden. The garden was filled with countless rare flowers and strange grasses, as well as several clear springs and streams. Occasionally, in the meadow, there were giant demonic beasts that resembled cows, horses, sheep, and pigs.

  If that's all, it would be fine. What's even stranger is that the garden has a strong spiritual energy that makes Zhang eager to cultivate as soon as possible.

  Arriving at the garden, Laozi was no longer tense and his expression returned to normal. He smiled and spoke with Zhang: "Man's plans are not as good as heaven's plans. Originally, fellow Taoists didn't have to come here. However, since you've entered the garden, I won't hide it from you either. Let me resolve your doubts."

  Zhang followed the old man into a pavilion and listened to him explaining the origin of this place.

  The old man had been cultivating underground for at least 700,000 years. Although his cultivation was extremely difficult to improve, his divine consciousness and primordial spirit were exceptionally strong. Just now on the ground, the old man originally wanted to go down and take some elixirs, but suddenly sensed that a high-level expert in the Yuan Ying stage was flying towards this place. The old man couldn't defeat the Yuan Ying expert, nor did he dare to risk leaving Zhang alone above, in case he was discovered by the expert, who would definitely not let him off easily after hundreds of years of cruel cultivation experience. In desperation, he could only bring Zhang with him into the underground flower garden to hide from the Yuan Ying stage expert.

  The underground garden is a gigantic seal, accompanied by various strange array prohibitions, sealing all spiritual energy and preventing external leakage. Under the garden is the place where the five spirits gather fortune, after being sealed by the seal, all spiritual energy fills the garden.

  This enclosed space was set up by a world-renowned genius thousands of years ago. It is said that his cultivation level was extremely high, but no one knows exactly what level he reached, only that he was invincible in the world. This great man liked to wander around when he had nothing to do and accidentally discovered the place where the five spirits gathered fortune. He then displayed his magical powers, overturned the sky and earth, and built this garden tens of miles underground.

  What's even more formidable is that he somehow managed to learn magic and used the Five Spirits' blessed land to create a heavenly-defying cave.

  As the old saying goes, one day in heaven is a year on earth. The Inverse Heaven Cave has this very effect. This divine being actually recreated another heavenly cave underground, achieving a year inside the cave for every day outside. Because it was too against the heavens, after the cave's creation, the spiritual energy of the boundless grasslands tens of thousands of miles away all disappeared, and apart from wild grasses, no other crops could grow.