Vol 5 Chapter 8: Immortal Ox

"What the hell is happening?"

Outside, Fang Wuming who was cultivating not far from Lin Jing also felt something strange.

Seeing the "zombie birds" and "zombie rats" emerging from the ground, he wasn't afraid since those undead creatures had very low cultivation levels. But these things shouldn't appear in the Mountain of Lewd Sacrifices at all - he just felt something was off.

Moreover, the fruits on nearby trees suddenly split open with wide grins and started laughing creepily at him - not exactly a pleasant experience.

Boom!

Just as Fang Wuming suspected this might be another disturbance caused by Lin Jing, a deafening rumble shook the earth as a giant figure emerged from the ground. The mountain god's avatar looked toward Lin Jing's secluded cultivation site, about to demand this troublemaker leave its territory immediately... when suddenly, a pine leaf mouse riding on a leaf tore through space and appeared outside the multiple layered arrays, staring down the mountain god's avatar.

"Hey!"

The pine leaf mouse crossed its arms and examined the mountain god, making it clear the beast tamer's cultivation must not be disturbed.

As it waved its claws warningly to shoo away the mountain god, the pine leaf mouse's originally emerald-green immortal-like eyes began radiating chaotic green light - an intense, overwhelming green - while drool uncontrollably dripped from its mouth.

Because this mountain god seemed to have lived for tens of thousands of years, accumulating unimaginable wealth from all the tolls it had collected over the millennia. The pine leaf mouse couldn't even begin to guess how rich it must be.

"Where did this rodent come from?" the mountain god cursed.

"Fine, I'll be generous - you can keep your stuff, just get the hell out of here!"

"You have one breath's time to scram from my territory!"

The mountain god roared, causing Fang Wuming who was hiding nearby to tremble in shock. This mountain god... was actually willing to let them go without demanding anything? Just voluntarily driving away this calamity?

Why couldn't he get this kind of lucky break?

"Squeak!!!" The pine leaf mouse absolutely couldn't allow any interference with Lin Jing's cultivation at this critical moment. It pulled out its newly upgraded mechanical bamboo spear that had reached Nascent Soul-level power, hoisting it onto its shoulder and aiming directly at the mountain god.

Simultaneously, it loaded its own demon core into the bamboo spear as ammunition.

Though the mountain god didn't recognize what the mouse was holding, being aimed at like this gave it an extremely bad feeling - somehow more threatening than even quasi-immortal energy.

"Mountain God-senpai..."

During their standoff, Lin Jing's voice suddenly emerged from the secluded cave.

Only then did the mountain god realize Lin Jing had opened a gap in the layered arrays, allowing his spiritual sense to extend outward.

"Honorable Mountain God, I wish to continue cultivating here a while longer. When my cultivation is complete, I will depart and leave you generous gifts. May we stay a bit longer?"

Lin Jing spoke politely. Originally the mountain god wanted to refuse, but when an overwhelmingly terrifying aura leaked from the cave, the mountain god was shocked.

It instinctively probed with its spiritual sense and was stunned to discover - beside Lin Jing's meditation spot lay the corpse of an immortal beast that had been dead for who-knows-how-many years.

Normally an immortal beast corpse wouldn't frighten the mountain god. But at this moment, white smoke streamed from Lin Jing's left eye while black smoke poured from his right - the dual-colored smoke connected to the dead ox's eyes, and horrifyingly, the zombie ox stood up and stamped its hooves, radiating an incomprehensibly powerful aura.

The mountain god got the distinct impression this ox could flip its true form over with a single kick!

"What kind of joke is this? I just broke through to Nascent Soul and haven't even stabilized my cultivation - how could I possibly control an immortal beast corpse and restore some of its living power?!" Lin Jing was internally panicking, completely baffled.

"Fellow Daoist Zhiyan?"

Facing the mountain god's repeated calls, Lin Jing suddenly regained clarity. After a moment's contemplation, he finally responded: "As you wish, Fellow Daoist."

With that, the mountain god abandoned its plan to evict them, deciding not to provoke this freak.

It cursed its bad luck for letting a monster nearly on par with the Four Heavenly Kings enter its domain!

The next moment, as the mountain god left, Lin Jing terminated the zombie-driving technique and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Not bad."

"Using the power of life and death to activate the zombie-driving technique can indeed control this immortal ox corpse."

"But my cultivation is still too low. Even burning my lifespan to forcibly elevate my beast taming mastery to Void Mystical Stage using the Divine Control Art, manipulating this immortal ox remains quite strenuous."

"Earlier, I could barely control it for less than a second - good thing it successfully scared off the mountain god."

"But it's enough. With this trump card, even if only momentarily usable, I'll have self-preservation capability in the Origin Realm. At least I won't be bullied by those immortal physique geniuses or millennia-old Nascent Soul freaks."

Lin Jing wiped the blood away and grinned. It seemed his comfortable life in the Origin Realm would depend on this big ox.

His top priority now was increasing the ox's control duration - preferably to over five minutes - to accomplish more things.

With the mountain god no longer interfering, Lin Jing continued stabilizing his cultivation. Now the only team members who hadn't condensed their primordial spirits were the Heavenly Demon avatar and the Ice Soul Gu's true form.

Several days later...

Outside the Mountain of Lewd Sacrifices territory.

An aristocratic, princess-like female cultivator was desperately fleeing through the mountain ranges.

Chasing after her in a teasing manner was a peak Nascent Soul cultivator.

"Fairy, hand over the dragon veins you're carrying and I won't harm you."

"In your dreams!" Gu Youran spat back, her face pale. She never expected such terrible luck - first getting teleported to a desolate wilderness, flying over a year to escape, then the first person she meets in the Origin Realm being a Heavenly Demon Sect cultivator!

[Take these premium dragon veins to cultivate with in the Origin Realm. But remember - never let Heavenly Demon Sect members discover them. Their Heavenly Demon Codex relies on devouring dragon veins for cultivation. To them, these premium veins may only be second in value to Origin Sources.]

Gu Youran recalled her father-emperor's warning. She had indeed sealed and hidden the dragon veins thoroughly, yet still got discovered.

Originally, with her experience dealing with Lin Jing - inheritor of Heavenly Demon techniques - and relying on her Postnatal Immortal Physique, she thought she could handle ordinary Heavenly Demon Sect cultivators.

But she'd been naive. While she could counter his Heavenly Demon secret arts, she never expected him to know "immortal techniques" - spells requiring immortal energy to activate. Such things were impossible to learn in the Tianyuan Realm. But the Origin Realm was different - Origin Sources could produce immortal energy. Using this, the Heavenly Demon cultivator had immediately wounded her with immortal techniques, catching her completely off guard.

"Then keep running! Let's see how far you get!" The Heavenly Demon cultivator snorted coldly. But the next instant, his expression changed sharply as he recognized they were approaching the Mountain of Lewd Sacrifices territory.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" He roared furiously, burning spiritual power in pursuit. He bitterly regretted not knowing the Heavenly Demon Crossing technique.

If this woman reached the Mountain and gained the mountain god's protection, even with the few wisps of immortal energy rewarded by the Holy Son - enough to activate immortal techniques a few times - he'd never be able to seize those premium dragon veins anymore. That mountain god's power was utterly terrifying.

"Damn bitch, I said STOP! You think entering the Mountain of Lewd Sacrifices will save you? Don't push me! Even if I have to enter that damned mountain myself, I'll capture you! At worst I'll break through to Void Mystical Stage right inside and leave the Origin Realm! With these premium dragon veins and stripping your immortal physique origin, it'll still be worth it!" Seeing Gu Youran still fleeing, the Heavenly Demon cultivator raged internally, his fury reaching boiling point.