Chapter 336: Chapter 323: Barbaric Beast, Female Cultivator
To Zhouyang’s surprise, the venue for the exchange meeting was not within Prison Fire City but held on a Tier Four Spirit Mountain several thousand miles south into the Wilderness Jungle from the city.
The Wilderness Jungle extends over a million miles. The locations of those Barbaric Alien Race tribes are deep within the jungle. There are no tribal presences in the area within at least a hundred thousand miles close to Nanman Country, only occasionally visited by solitary Barbaric Aliens for hunting.
Therefore, some high-tier Loose Cultivators from Nanman Country and neighboring countries often take the risk to occupy Spirit Mountains in this region to establish cave dwellings for cultivation.
These Loose Cultivators, being solitary, could abandon the Spirit Mountain and escape to Nanman Country if they couldn’t withstand attacks from high-tier Demon Beasts or Barbaric Aliens.
In contrast, none of the Cultivation Clans and Sects would dare to risk destruction and the jeopardy of their entire family and roots by settling here.
Although Zhouyang had been in Prison Fire City for three years, he spent the whole time cultivating and refining magical artifacts, never truly setting foot in the Wilderness Jungle.
This time, he accompanied the Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator Xiao Feng, who invited him to the exchange meeting venue, and finally witnessed the grand scene of this rich and mysterious land.
Looking down from the sky, he saw an endless sea of forest with towering ancient trees hundreds of feet tall everywhere, each tree forming an ecosystem, supporting countless birds, beasts, and reptiles from top to bottom.
Occasionally, a beast’s roar would send countless dense flocks of birds scattering, forming a "bird cloud" that shaded the sky.
Usually, at these times, colossal birds with wingspans of several to dozens of feet would dart out from towering ancient trees or above the clouds to hunt those frightened birds.
"Are those birds the Barbaric Beasts? They indeed seem different from Demon Beasts!"
On the "Illusory Cloud Ship," Zhouyang curiously observed the massive, fierce birds in the sky and couldn’t help but quietly ask his companion Xiao Feng.
Xiao Feng, a well-known Loose Cultivator Artifact Refining Master in Prison Fire City, was skilled enough in Artifact Refining to produce Tier Four High-grade Spiritual Artifacts, which was rare among Loose Cultivators, and his cultivation had been at the Ninth-Layer of the Purple Mansion for years, having attempted Golden Core Stage once.
Upon hearing Zhouyang’s murmur, Xiao Feng, with his white hair and the appearance of a wise Immortal, gently stroked his long white beard and laughed, saying, "Those creatures aren’t considered Barbaric Beasts; at most, they’re fierce birds with some Barbaric Beasts’ bloodlines!"
Barbaric Beasts is just a general term, similar to how humans refer to all spiritually wise and magically powered animals as "Demon Beasts".
Strictly speaking, Barbaric Beasts are indeed Demon Beasts, but unlike the Demon Beasts often spoken of by cultivators, Barbaric Beasts do not cultivate magical powers or Divine Techniques, nor do they form Demon Pills or Beast Souls, much less transform into human form like Tier Six Demon Kings.
They only train their bodies and possess inherent Talent Divine Techniques from birth, with very low Spiritual Wisdom.
Generally speaking, the larger a Barbaric Beast’s body, the stronger its power. The Kings of Barbaric Beasts, comparable to Tier Six Demon Kings, reportedly have no less than a thousand-foot-long body.
However, even the Kings of Barbaric Beasts, comparable in strength to Tier Six Demon Kings, have Spiritual Wisdom barely surpassing a seven or eight-year-old human child.
Of course, Barbaric Beasts do not only have disadvantages; they also have many advantages.
For example, in terms of physical power, Barbaric Beasts are much stronger than Demon Beasts of the same tier, and usually, human cultivators cannot inflict fatal damage on same-tier Barbaric Beasts using the same-tier magical artifacts.
Moreover, Barbaric Beasts value bloodline more than Demon Beasts; typically, direct descendants of the Kings of Barbaric Beasts are born with the strength of Tier Three Demon Beasts and will possess the power of the Kings of Barbaric Beasts upon reaching maturity, which even the Jiao Dragon Race cannot achieve.
Additionally, Barbaric Beasts have much longer lifespans than Demon Beasts. It is said that the lifespan of the Kings of Barbaric Beasts can reach up to a hundred thousand years!
It is said that before the Celestial Immortals passed down cultivation techniques to the humans of this realm, Barbaric Beasts ruled this world. At that time, the land, sky, and ocean were dominated by various gigantic Barbaric Beasts.
The Demon Beasts cultivators talk about now were, at that time, like today’s Barbaric Beasts living only in remote corners of the Wilderness Jungle and the deep ocean, merely fringe beings.
Later, for some unknown reason, the number and high-tier existence of Demon Beasts suddenly increased significantly, launching a supremacy struggle against the Barbaric Beasts clan.
This war between Demon Beasts and Barbaric Beasts went on for countless years, claiming the lives of countless Demon and Barbaric Beasts, ending with the Demon Beasts’ victory.
However, although Demon Beasts emerged victorious and annihilated almost all the Kings of Barbaric Beasts, they suffered great losses themselves, the standard case of "killing a thousand of the enemy, at the cost of eight hundred of our own."
At this moment, humans who had always been overlooked by the Barbaric Beasts and Demon Beasts, seized the opportunity to rise swiftly while the Barbaric Beasts perished and the Demon Beasts weakened, and quickly snatched most of the spoils after the Demon Beasts defeated the Barbaric Beasts.
Seeing that the Demon Beasts, who had become the hegemon of the realm, were yet to enjoy the privileges of a ruler, they were dethroned by the new human overlords.
It is said that the reason Demon Beasts and human cultivators are now irreconcilable lies here.
Regarding the information on Barbaric Beasts, and the legendary feud between Barbaric Beasts and Demon Beasts, Zhouyang only learned about them when he first reviewed the records of the Wilderness Jungle.
As far as he knows, large-scale Barbaric Beast herds exist only in the Wilderness Jungle and the Overseas Abyss; elsewhere, even if occasional Barbaric Beast figures are seen, they are not in groups.
And the reason Barbaric Beasts in the Wilderness Jungle can exist is said to be because some Barbaric Alien Races have a tradition of taming Barbaric Beasts, thereby preserving them.
Upon hearing Xiao Feng’s words, Zhouyang immediately said with slight disappointment, "Are there only wild beasts with Barbaric Beast bloodlines? I was hoping if I met a suitable flying Barbaric Beast, I would let my spirit pet fight it, to stimulate the power in its bloodline!"
His "Golden-winged Thunder Eagle" consumed three more "Beast Spirit Pills" in these three years and successfully advanced to a Tier Three Demon Beast. Furthermore, after its advancement to Tier Three Demon Beast, he fed it a "Spirit Awakening Pill," which can imbue Demon Beasts with spiritual wisdom.
Now, this spirit pet with greatly opened spiritual wisdom is quite hard for Zhouyang to find a Demon Beast of equal strength for training companions.
Hearing his words, Xiao Feng couldn’t help but look at him with a face full of envy and said, "Speaking of which, Xiao truly envies Fellow Daoist Huang’s good fortune to possess a ’Golden-winged Thunder Eagle’ as a spirit pet!"
"Your ’Golden-winged Thunder Eagle’ is only a few years old and has already become a Tier Three Lower Grade Demon Beast. As long as you cultivate it well, its chance of advancing to a Tier Five Demon Beast is much greater than that of you successfully forming a core!"
"At that time, even if you only have Purple Mansion Cultivation, you can engage in discussions with those Golden Core Stage cultivators!"
In the Cultivation Realm, strength ultimately reigns supreme. If Zhouyang has a Tier Five Demon Beast as a spirit pet, he can indeed engage in discussions on equal standing with Golden Core Stage cultivators.
Of course, Zhouyang certainly does not agree with Xiao Feng saying that his chance of successful core formation is lower than the ’Golden-winged Thunder Eagle’s’ chance of advancing to a Tier Five Demon Beast.
However, he can think this way in his heart; outwardly, he naturally cannot say so. Immediately, he smiled and shook his head saying, "Brother Xiao praises me too highly; I know my own situation. If I hadn’t casually purchased a ’Beast Spirit Pill,’ even if the ’Golden-winged Thunder Eagle’ was naturally gifted, it wouldn’t have advanced to Tier Three Demon Beast so quickly."
"That certainly is the truth, but it’s a pity that Nanman Country is remote. By the time Xiao heard about the donghua Continent cultivation realm merchant group coming, they were already gone. Otherwise, Xiao would definitely want to see what kind of appearance Fellow Daoist Huang’s flying giant ship has!"
Xiao Feng nodded, showed an expression of regret, and let out a long sigh, lamenting missing this opportunity.
Just hearing Zhouyang talk about the circumstances of Donghua Sect’s flying giant ship already made Xiao Feng, who spent his life obsessed with refining artifacts, yearn for it. If he could see it with his own eyes, there would be no regrets in this life.
As the two talked along the way, they quickly flew thousands of miles and arrived outside the Spirit Mountain where the exchange meeting was held.
The mountains within the Wilderness Jungle are not as towering and steep as the ones in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range. The Spirit Mountain before Zhouyang and them barely reached a thousand zhang in height; trees were towering on the mountain, mist permeated, and Zhouyang exerted his eye power to look, even seeing many demon beasts active within.
"In the Wilderness Jungle, there are demon and barbaric beasts everywhere. If a Spirit Mountain rich in Spiritual Qi has no demon beast presence, it tends to attract trouble."
"Fellow Daoist Jiang has considerable insight in beast taming; besides him, this Spirit Mountain also hosts a Tier Four spiritual monkey and its ruling monkey group. With the group’s cover and the Tier Four spiritual monkey deterring other demon beasts, he can practice and live here peacefully."
"This time, when we came, Fellow Daoist Jiang particularly instructed not to make a commotion to avoid alarming the monkey group and attracting other demon beasts’ prying."
Seeing Zhouyang’s gaze lingering among the demon beast monkey group on the Spirit Mountain, Xiao Feng hurriedly explained the situation to him, then sent out a communication flying sword to notify the Jiang-named cultivator residing on the Spirit Mountain to come out and welcome them.
Somewhat to Zhouyang’s surprise, the Jiang-named cultivator hosting this exchange meeting turned out to be a stunningly youthful female cultivator.
While he and Xiao Feng waited outside the Spirit Mountain, a Five-Colored Peacock suddenly carried a colorful-clothed woman in floating attire before them.
This colorful-clothed woman’s beauty did not lose to the Eastern Continent female cultivator Yun Yiyi whom Zhouyang had once seen in the "Illusion Hall," and possibly even surpassed her in appeal to men.
She stood proudly in seven-colored attire on the peacock’s back, resembling a peacock queen, noble and beautiful.