Journey to the West: I am the fiercest bird under Bodhi's seat

Above the Great Luo realm, one is beyond the reach of ordinary people and is known as a "quasi-saint".

Therefore, it often takes countless years of accumulation to advance from Taiyi Golden Immortal to Daluo Golden Immortal, and one must rely on a divinely bestowed opportunity to achieve this.

Even at the very beginning of the primordial era, a Great Luo Golden Immortal was enough to be revered as a top-tier powerhouse.

Even naturally gifted beasts must cultivate diligently for over 100,000 years and go through several cycles before they have a sliver of hope of entering this realm.

The so-called "Yuanhui" is a method of recording the years in the primordial era—when heaven and earth were first separated, one Hui was every 10,800 years, and twelve Hui were combined into one Yuan.

One Yuanhui is 129,600 years.

At that time, age was measured by the number of years one had lived through. If someone was said to be old and virtuous, it was said that they had "lived through several years".

If it was this difficult in the prehistoric times, how much more difficult would it be today?

Therefore, although the four peaches that ripen only once every nine thousand years entered his stomach, causing Ye Feng to feel a slight loosening at the bottleneck of the Great Luo Sect, it was still not enough to help him break through the barrier.

About half an hour later, Ye Feng opened his eyes and got up, and saw that the monkey was lying lazily on a tree trunk not far away, resting with its eyes closed.

Sensing the commotion, the monkey leaped down and asked with a grin, "Senior brother, how did that nine-thousand-year-old peach taste?"

Ye Feng smiled and said, "As expected of a spiritual root of heaven and earth, its effects are truly astonishing. However, although there are many peach trees in this garden, very few ripen each year. If we continue to pick and eat them, we may attract the attention of those with ulterior motives."

The monkey covered its mouth and chuckled, then looked around to make sure no one was watching before lowering its voice and saying, "Senior brother, there's no need to worry."

Before he finished speaking, he flipped his hand over, and several tiny, golden insects appeared in his palm, wriggling and rolling around. He then casually tossed them toward a peach tree.

The moment the insect landed, it perked up and swiftly burrowed into the tree trunk, disappearing in an instant.

The monkey explained in a low voice, "This is a spirit-devouring worm, a rare species from the primordial era that I specially sought out a few days ago. It specializes in devouring spiritual roots and spiritual energy."

"I have already planted quite a few in the garden, so please feel free to enjoy them. If anyone discovers that the number of peaches is not correct, I will claim that they have been eaten by insects."

"If I were to personally eliminate this insect, wouldn't it be done without anyone knowing?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Feng stared at him with a strange look.

Is this really that reckless and foolish monkey from back then?

Could it be that the saying "one is influenced by one's company" is true? After being around me for so long, even the monkeys have learned to be cunning?

However, the plan was quite ingenious. Unfortunately, he later learned that he had not been invited to the Peach Banquet, and in a fit of rage, he caused a scene at the Jade Pool. Otherwise, he might have actually managed to deceive everyone.

But in any case, it's a good thing that the monkey is willing to use its brain.

Ye Feng smiled and praised him, and the monkey immediately beamed with pride.

Afterwards, Ye Feng left the Peach Garden and returned to the Thai Royal Palace.

In the following days, he frequently entered and exited the park.

With the Soul-Devouring Worm as a scapegoat, the two had no more scruples and looted all the nine-thousand-year-old peaches that had ripened that year.

A total of eighteen, plus the eight that the monkeys had secretly eaten, make a total of twenty-six – exactly the total yield for the year.

It should be noted that the nine-thousand-year-old peaches are of utmost importance in the Peach Banquet, and only immortals and Buddhas of extremely high status are qualified to taste them.

To receive the Queen Mother's Nine-Thousand-Year Peach Banquet, the person sending the invitation must at least reach the level of Guanyin of the South Sea.

Of this harvest, Ye Feng consumed ten, gaining a total of 90,000 years of magical power.

The monkey got eight, bringing its total to sixteen, including the previous eight, which was more than Ye Feng had gotten.

Ye Feng could only smile wryly and shake his head: he had arrived too late and had not expected that this rascal would dare to steal from his post after only seven days in office, showing his audacity!

After accumulating magical power for 90,000 years, Ye Feng's cultivation has reached the peak of Taiyi Golden Immortal, and he can even be called "half-step Daluo".

However, he ultimately failed to break through the barrier.

He possesses the Golden Crow bloodline, a top-tier lineage in the primordial world, which should have made it easier for him to break through to the Great Luo realm than others.

Even so, to reach the realm of the Great Luo Golden Immortal, one still needs at least one Yuan Hui of magical power—that is, 129,600 years of cultivation.

He is still a little short, but only one step away.

In contrast, the monkeys ate and slept all day long, never deliberately refining the peaches, letting the spiritual energy of the peaches flow naturally throughout their bodies.

In just half a month, he had already entered the mid-stage of Taiyi Golden Immortal.

Because he was unrestrained and allowed his spirit to scatter freely, more than 80% of his essence was absorbed by his physical body without him even realizing it.

The profound skills passed down by Patriarch Bodhi are nearly perfected, and the prototype of the "indestructible body" has already been formed.

Currently, there are very few magical treasures in the Three Realms that can harm its life.

If one were to consume a golden elixir, one could completely perfect this body and become comparable to an ancient great shaman.

Ye Feng could only sigh and shake his head at this.

This monkey is truly a child of destiny.

After leaving Fangcun Mountain, his spiritual practice relied entirely on eating and sleeping.

When he first came down the mountain, he was only a Celestial Immortal, but now he has reached the mid-stage of the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm.

If this matter were to spread, it would infuriate countless scholars who had toiled away in their studies.

The outside world remained completely unaware of the Peach Garden affair.

Now the park is in the monkey's control, and anyone who wants to enter must first get his permission, otherwise they will not be allowed to enter.

After Ye Feng finished eating all the peaches that ripened only once every nine thousand years, he no longer came here often.

The peach tree is among the ten most famous spiritual roots in the primordial world.

But the only one that can truly be called a "spiritual root" is the one that bears fruit only once every nine thousand years.

As for the 6,000-year-old and 3,000-year-old varieties, they are all new plants that the Queen Mother of the West attempted to cultivate by grafting onto 9,000-year-old peaches.

Unfortunately, the effort ultimately failed.

The result was only two half-dead variants, with greatly reduced medicinal efficacy.

It is of almost no benefit to beings above the Taiyi Golden Immortal level.

Recently, Ye Feng has been cultivating in seclusion in the Thai Royal Palace, while secretly sending people to investigate the movements of the Heavenly Palace.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Court appeared calm on the surface.

Because of the two previous thefts of the treasure vault, the Jade Emperor has dispatched the various Heavenly Lords of the Dipper Department to guard the area around the treasure vault, setting up multiple layers of defense.

The Fighting Department is one of the three major combat forces of the Heavenly Court, with formidable fighting power, on par with the Thunder Department and the Fire Department.

Even so, there was still no news about the Taoist priest in blue.

Ye Feng knew perfectly well that the Jade Emperor's so-called investigation was nothing more than a formality.

He wasn't particularly fixated on finding his lost items.

On the contrary, Ye Feng himself was still bothered by the two lost treasures.

He only knew that the Sky-Shooting Net and the Sun-Shooting Bow were magical artifacts used by the great sorcerer Hou Yi, who once shot down nine golden crows in one fell swoop.

That's it.

However, after recently perusing the secret scriptures of the Heavenly Palace, he has gradually gained some insight into the ancient war between witches and demons.

For example, these two magical artifacts were actually crafted by Hou Yi specifically to slay the Golden Crow.

It consumed countless materials; the main trunk was taken from the Fusang Divine Tree, and the bowstring was made from the dragon sinew of the ancient cold mirage Xuanli.

Xuan Li was originally a giant of the Dragon Clan. After the fall of the Dragon Ancestor, he took over the power of the Dragon Clan and his cultivation reached the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal, only one step away from the Quasi-Saint.

Born from the depths of the abyss, imbued with the cold energy of heaven and earth, he is the strongest of the cold-attribute dragon race.

In order to obtain the dragon tendons, Hou Yi personally ventured into the deepest sea, where he killed Xuan Li in his home territory, skinned him, and extracted his tendons to forge several cold-natured magical artifacts.

Its sinews were then used to form the string of the bow used to shoot down the sun.

The hibiscus tree is pure yang, representing the essence of the sun; while the sinews of the Xuanli tree are extremely yin, containing the cold and malevolent energy of millennia.

Yin and Yang complement each other, ultimately forging this peerless treasure.

Upon reading this, Ye Feng suddenly had a question in his mind.

Xuan Li was indeed personally killed by Hou Yi, without a doubt.

But where did those hibiscus branches come from?

At that time, the Fusang Tree was an important place in the Demon Court, guarded by the Golden Crow Clan, who regarded it as the root of their clan's destiny.

How could a high-ranking shaman of the Wu tribe obtain such a sacred tree branch?

The Heavenly Palace records make no mention of this.

It is said that Hou Yi used Fusang wood to make a bow and also forged ten "Sunset Arrows". Considering that the Golden Crow flies away like lightning, he also used precious materials to forge a net that can seal off the void and imprison a certain area of ​​the world.

In that battle, ten suns appeared simultaneously, their flames scorching the sky, turning half of the primordial wilderness into scorched earth.

In the end, all nine golden crows perished, with only the youngest managing to escape.

Emperor Jun and Donghuang Taiyi were furious, and Houyi was also killed by Donghuang Taiyi himself. From then on, the Lich King and the Demon King went to war.

However, the Heavenly Court's records of the war between the Lich King and the Demon King are incomplete, and many key details are vague.

For example, at the time of the war, how many ancestral witches were still alive in the witch clan?

When exactly does the cycle of rebirth after earth transformation occur?

Did Gonggong and Zhurong perish together before or after Houyi shot down the sun?

All are blurry and unclear.

Ye Feng sneered inwardly after reading it.

Even a dignified historian of the Heavenly Court would resort to such manipulative and pedantic writing.

But based on the scattered words and phrases, he vaguely speculated:

During the Lich War, all twelve Ancestral Witches were probably still alive.

All other changes occurred afterward.

He was startled.

If that's true, then the Wu Clan could deploy the Dutian Divine Fiend Array, gathering the power of the twelve Ancestral Witches, approaching the might of a Quasi-Saint—

They failed to wipe out the demon race in one fell swoop?

Could it be that the demon race was so powerful back then?

He could only speculate on the matter and dared not draw any conclusions.

Besides, he had no intention of delving into these old grievances.

In this world, knowing too much often leads to a quicker demise.

Even the Heavenly Court deliberately erases certain truths, so why should he be so persistent in seeking them out?

What he cared about was always just the Sky Net and the Sun-Shooting Bow.

But it was precisely because of these two treasures that he became increasingly uneasy.

According to records, those nine fallen golden crows were all Great Luo Golden Immortals.

Among them, the older ones had even reached the late stage of the Great Luo.

Yet Hou Yi still managed to pierce his heart with an arrow, annihilating him both body and soul.

It is clear that the bow and net are indeed the nemesis of the Golden Crow.

Ye Feng frowned.

He himself has not yet reached the realm of the Great Luo.

Fortunately, the records mention that after the great battle, the last Sunset Arrow disappeared without a trace.

Without this arrow, the power of the Sun-Shooting Bow would be reduced by at least 50%.

This finally brought him some comfort.

Furthermore, he also has a trump card in his hand—the Great Array of Heavenly Gods and Demons.

When it comes to a life-or-death struggle, they may not be without the strength to fight.

The only concern is whether using this item in the Heavenly Court would bring terrible consequences.

Unless it's a matter of life and death, it's always best to keep your skills hidden.

It's best to wait until you reach the Quasi-Saint realm before revealing this final trump card.

When sages are absent, quasi-sages are the pinnacle of existence in this world. Once one reaches this realm, one can disregard all constraints and roam freely without hindrance.

Besides this, Ye Feng immersed himself in cultivation day after day.

At the same time, he constantly rehearsed his plans and repeatedly considered every possible variable.

If we descend from the Heavenly Palace again this time, all we will encounter from now on will be deadly and arduous battles.

Especially when facing the Buddha in the end—even if he joined forces with the monkey, he had no chance of winning.

Fortunately, Buddha, relying on his great supernatural powers, made a bet with the monkey, thus leaving a sliver of hope.