Chapter Six

  Zhou Bofu bid farewell to Laohe Yunchongzi and found a mountain head about ten miles away. He ate a den of black bears in a cave on the sunny side of the mountain and moved into the cave to start his cultivation. As a result, he had to move out after just a few days - his appetite was too big, and he almost ate all the large animals around the cave clean. Helplessly, Zhou Bofu could only take the swamp where Yunchongzi lived as the center, drew a golden spiral line as the route of action - slowly eating along the line and then slowly walking back to eat along the diagonal line.

  Time passed and several months went by. During these months, Zhou Bofu and Yun Zhongzi became completely familiar with each other, and he would often go to the swamp to chat and seek advice from that old crane. Yun Zhongzi was also a talkative person who liked to offer guidance, and the two demons were like old friends at first sight. Although Zhou Bofu had been constantly drinking blood and killing many people in his daily life, Yun Zhongzi had long since become a vegetarian. Therefore, every time Zhou Bofu went to find Yun Zhongzi, he would hold back from eating blood food, which moved Yun Zhongzi greatly, and the two demons became even more inseparable.

  Yun Zhongzi introduced several other demonic beasts to Zhou Bofu over the next few months, including a python-like creature who claimed to be aquatic. Zhou Bofu couldn't help but feel a chill when he saw its body was over ten meters long. There was also a wild boar spirit named Tusheng, and as soon as Zhou Bofu met him, he immediately spat out that the two must be brothers, which led to a fierce chase between the two creatures. These guys were all active within a hundred miles of each other and often bumped into each other while chatting, from which Zhou Bofu learned many secrets.

  "Right, the aquatic snake, that old codger Yun Zhongzi is also a crane. Aren't cranes supposed to eat fish and whatnot from the water? How did this old guy change his ways and start eating vegetarian?"

  "Ah, I know this one." A wild boar spirit who was gnawing on a tender root of reeds said hastily, "That old crane initially awakened to the 'Jiugao Jing' heart method of his own tribe when he first attained the Dao. It's a profound technique for refining Qi. However, about 800 years ago, he somehow obtained a manual called 'Yi Mu Changqing Jue', and then abandoned his tribe's heart method to practice this thing. After practicing it, he became a vegetarian."

  "Huh, sounds like a pretty impressive technique? Eastern Wood Green Dragon, Evergreen Formula... just listening to it is quite something." Zhou Bofu said in surprise, "However - I think Yun Zhongzi this old fellow is just that, completely not looking like he's cultivated for 800 years, shouldn't he be stronger?"

  "Hmm, I asked him that back then. It turns out that this kung fu is actually cultivating one's own azure wood energy, used for refining qi and prolonging life, it has a miraculous effect on treating illnesses and saving people, but it's useless in fighting. Besides, don't tell others, but that old crane himself said his talent was mediocre, his innate abilities limited, his lifelong wish was only to cultivate the Tao peacefully. So usually he also accumulates good karma, those who come to him for help with illnesses, that old master basically does his best, so among our demon tribe, Yun Zhongzi is also quite reputable."

  "Alas, Yun Zhongzi is indeed a good person... No, he's a good demon... It always feels so awkward to say that..." Zhou Bofu sighed while gnawing on an water buffalo head.

  These guys just passed their days like this, for Zhou Bofu it was: hunting, cultivating, hunting, cultivating, checking the Origin World, cultivating...

  Time flies, and five years have passed quickly. As the main vein was unblocked one by one, Zhou Bofu finally solved his biggest heart disease: he never grew up, although his body had grown a lot, but it was always like a young bird. Now, he has finally started to move towards becoming a mature bird. His body became larger, and he estimated that he was about the same size as the large carnivorous dinosaurs he had seen before, with a height of about 4 meters when standing upright, and over 6 meters tall when raising his head. The fluff on his body had all fallen off - replaced by beautiful feathers. Now his body is covered in a layer of metallic green feathers that shine like metal, with white and brown flight feathers on his wings, forming an extremely gorgeous cloud pattern, and when he folds his wings, it becomes a beautiful brocade. On top of his head grew golden and red feathers, resembling a crown, to be honest, when he looked at himself in the water, he felt more like a phoenix's crest, with long, thin feathers growing on both sides of his face, purple-red in color, and when he stood upright, it was like a beard hanging down from his head. His eyes were still yellow, but they had become bigger and more spirited, and due to the countless lives he had taken, his aura was even stronger, and except for a few familiar friends and monsters, no one dared to look him in the eye. The blood basin-like mouth was the same as before, only larger, with a bright yellow color. On his short tail on his buttocks, rough and hard tail feathers also grew out, and five sword-like plumes appeared, which were still growing and would take some time to see what they would look like. Five years later, Zhou Bofu had become a majestic giant bird. His hunting method had also changed, as his body had grown larger, the way he hunted on foot in the dense forest was no longer suitable - fortunately, his flight feathers had already grown out, and he spent a lot of effort learning to fly, with countless blood-and-tear jokes, according to several friends' words "enough to laugh at him until the end of time", now, he flew like a traditional bird of prey in the sky, using his sharp eyes to search for prey on the ground and in the air, and using his sharp and large front and back claws and terrifying big mouth to hunt. As his cultivation increased and his body matured, he possessed an aura that was enough to make the prey on the ground scatter or tremble with fear, making it easier for him to hunt.

  "Is this... Ryūō?" He still had a habit of talking to himself.

  On this day, Laohe Yun Zhongzi and Zhou Bofu, the python spirit Shui Sheng, and the wild boar spirit Tu Sheng gathered together again to celebrate the advancement of the python spirit and the wild boar spirit. The python spirit had already grown into a giant snake over 20 meters long, and just a few days ago, it broke through the last joint of its main vein, acquiring the secret method "Entwining" of its tribe. At around the same time, the wild boar spirit also broke through its bottleneck, its body becoming even larger than an elephant, like a small mountain. Its tribe's secret method was the "Seal and Rebirth Method". Laohe brought out a batch of secret wine brewed from spiritual fruits collected over many years, while Zhou Bofu took out various rare and exotic mountain delicacies that he had spent several days flying thousands of miles to gather. The group happily indulged in food and drink, with Tu Sheng saying: "Everyone, I saw a small white tiger in the northern mountains a few days ago, which was quite interesting. That white tiger was young but its cultivation level was high, seemingly a naturally gifted spirit. In just a few years, it had already refined its main vein and four limbs, and even gave itself the name 'Dishitian' and gathered a group of followers, all of whom were wolves, monkeys, eagles, and whatnot. It entered a mountain valley and became the mountain king. Haha, looks like our demon tribe has produced another talented individual."

  "Devil Emperor Heaven? What an interesting name, have you guys heard of it?" Zhou Bofu asked the other demons with a smile.

  "No, I've never heard of any other demon or cultivator named Di Shi Tian. What's wrong with you, Bo Fu Xian?" said Yun Zhongzi Laohu.

  "It's nothing, I just think this name is quite majestic." Zhou Bofu said lightly.

  "What about that little white tiger back then? Interesting, this world doesn't have a Tiānshì Heaven, so where did you come up with this name, little white tiger?" Zhou Bofu thought to himself in secret. He knew that the demons of this world were mostly rough and unrefined, like Yún Zhōngzǐ was an exception, so the origins of this little white tiger were quite interesting.

  After the banquet, Zhou Bofu and Yun Zhongzi brought up the topic of cultivation again: "Fellow Daoist Yun Zhongzi, I've heard that many cultivators in the world refine golden elixirs and take heavenly materials and earthly treasures to advance their cultivation. Is this true?"

  "Brother, don't be like this. From my many years of cultivation and research, I can see that taking these kinds of things to nourish one's vital energy is fine, and using them to break through is also okay. But thinking that eating a single Golden Elixir Pill will increase your cultivation by 100 years is not worth it. Cultivation is still best done through one's own efforts. There are hidden subtleties here - whenever you eat this kind of Golden Elixir, after your cultivation increases, you'll have to spend a lot of time to fully master it, and the amount of time spent will be almost the same as if you had cultivated normally. If you don't do it this way, then in ordinary times there won't be any problems, but once you're in a life-or-death battle, you'll lose control. However, most cultivators nowadays don't know this principle, which is why taking medicine has become so popular. Brother, still, don't be like this."

  "I understand, thank you for pointing it out."

  Zhou Bofu bid farewell to Yun Zhongzi and flew back to the mountains to cultivate. Two years passed, and finally, the last hurdle was about to be broken through. On this day, he made an appointment with Yun Zhongzi's old crane and entrusted the python water birth and wild boar earth birth to start closing the barrier and impacting.

  "Alright, I've finally reached this step. Let's see what my innate divine ability is. I'll probably be able to figure out what kind of bird I am too."