Primordial Salted Fish: Starting from Refusing to Join the Demon Clan

Phoenix Perch Mountain, inside a small courtyard.

The ground is paved with bluestone, mottled with moss, and an ancient sycamore tree provides shade, casting down a myriad of auspicious rays.

The stone table was ancient and simple, with Fuxi sitting cross-legged on the left, brewing tea with his delicate hands. The spiritual spring was a rootless water that came from the eye of the earth's veins in Phoenix Perch Mountain, and when it first boiled, one could faintly hear the sound of a phoenix's cry.

The aroma of tea wafts out, unlike the scent of ordinary flowers and plants, but rather carries a hint of the Taoist rhythm of the five elements, bringing peace to the mind.

Nuwa stood on the right, gently waving her fair hand to take various innate spiritual fruits and place them in a crystal jade plate.

The spiritual fruit shimmered with light and emitted a wonderful fragrance; each one contained the primordial essence of the universe at its very beginning.

"Fellow Daoist Ming, please."

Fuxi gently lifted the teacup with his slender fingers and poured a cup of spiritual tea for Kunpeng. The tea was clear and emerald green, and the surface of the water reflected a few illusory images of heaven and earth, endlessly changing.

Kunpeng raised his cup and took a small sip, feeling a refreshing energy flow down his throat and into his dantian, instantly nourishing his slightly weary spirit. He couldn't help but praise, "Excellent tea! This tea contains the essence of the five elements, and also the spirit of the Phoenix Perch Mountain's earth veins. Drinking it is like bathing in the spring breeze of the Great Dao. Fellow Daoist is indeed extraordinary."

However, the moment he put down his teacup, Kunpeng felt a sudden unease, a strange sense of unease welling up within him.

In the primordial world, there is an emphasis on cause and effect, on fate, and even more so on "reciprocity."

Fuxi and Nuwa, being innate deities and future great saints of the demon race, not only did not drive away this stranger who had come so abruptly, but warmly invited him and treated him as an honored guest.

I felt a little embarrassed coming empty-handed.

Kunpeng pondered to himself, his fingers twitching slightly beneath his sleeves.

Each of the three immortal islands holds a unique opportunity, and the one on Yingzhou Island is a primordial spiritual root—the primordial five-needle pine.

It is also one of the ten innate spiritual roots. Its effects are not as miraculous as those of ginseng fruit or yellow plum, but it is definitely a priceless treasure in the primordial world.

"Now that we're here, we can't be impolite."

Kunpeng's expression shifted, and he no longer hesitated. A flash of spiritual light appeared within his wide sleeves, and an extremely dense aura of innate Yi wood instantly filled the entire courtyard.

"Splash—"

Fifteen pine cones, each a different color but identical in shape, appeared out of thin air and hung in mid-air.

Each of these pine cones is only the size of a thumb, and its surface is covered with intricate and mysterious innate Dao patterns. Most remarkably, they are not a single color, but rather a mixture of five colors: blue, red, white, black, and yellow.

When five pine cones of the same color come together, one can clearly feel the essence of the Five Elements flowing through one's fingertips, endlessly regenerating.

With a gentle wave of its hand, Kunpeng sent a surge of spiritual energy enveloping the pine cones, which landed steadily on the stone table in front of Nuwa and Fuxi.

"I apologize for my intrusion in visiting, as I have not prepared any generous gifts." Kunpeng said calmly, as if he had presented ordinary melon seeds rather than innate spiritual fruits. "These are the fruits of the five-needle pine. Although they are not some rare and precious treasure, they are just a token of my appreciation. I hope you two fellow Daoists will accept them with a smile."

Fuxi's eyes flickered slightly, but he did not rush to reach out. Instead, he first took a deep look at Kunpeng.

In the primordial world, every innate spiritual root was as precious as an innate spiritual treasure.

They are not only rare and precious materials, but also carriers of the "Tao".

The higher the grade of an innate spiritual root, the more complete the Great Dao laws it contains.

For beings below the level of a Great Luo Golden Immortal, the five-needle pine fruit is a supreme treasure that can defy fate and change destiny. Consuming it can allow one to ascend to immortality and comprehend the laws of the five elements.

Even for a Great Luo Golden Immortal, although the fruit has limited effect on improving cultivation, the innate Yi Wood Qi and the Five Elements Dao Rhyme contained within it are invaluable aids for comprehending the laws and repairing the primordial spirit.

The laws are precisely the necessary conditions for breaking through to the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm and attaining the Great Luo Dao Fruit!

"Fellow Daoist, could this be the legendary Five-Needle Pine, one of the Ten Great Innate Spiritual Roots?"

Fuxi's voice was gentle and warm, yet it revealed an undisguised surprise. He lightly touched a pine cone with his finger, and the pine cone emitted a crisp chime, as if it were celebrating having met a kindred spirit.

"That's right." Kunpeng nodded slightly, picking up his teacup to conceal the smile in his eyes. "I obtained it by chance. Since we have met by chance, and you have extended such a warm invitation, I naturally could not come empty-handed."

"However, although these five-needle pines are good, we are all Great Golden Immortals who have long since abstained from grains. These fruits are better than those ordinary fruits for a treat."

Kunpeng spoke of it casually, as if it were just a wild fruit picked casually by the roadside.

But he knew in his heart how important this "treat" was.

In the primordial world, resources were life itself.

Each of those ten innate spiritual roots was entangled in immense karma. The Creation Lotus was the most heaven-defying, intolerable to heaven and earth, ultimately triggering heavenly punishment and shattering, thus benefiting the Three Pure Ones.

The most effective one is the Yellow Plum, which is said to allow mortals to instantly become Great Luo Immortals after consuming just one, and it is also the main ingredient for refining the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir.

While this five-needle pine may not be as domineering as the Huangzhong plum, it excels in possessing all five elements, exhibiting a balanced and harmonious nature.

Kunpeng's move, seemingly casual, was actually a demonstration of his profound knowledge to Fuxi and Nuwa, and also a way of forging a good relationship.

"You're too kind, fellow Daoist."

Nuwa's beautiful eyes lingered for a moment on the five-needle pine cones on the table, their colors intertwined, a hint of barely perceptible amazement flashing in her eyes. She said nothing, but simply raised her hand, and a gentle force of creation swept through the void.

"Since Fellow Daoist Ming is so hospitable, it would be a disservice to Phoenix Perch Mountain to not reciprocate with courtesy."

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of light appeared on the table, and several crystal-clear fruit platters materialized out of thin air.

Although Fuxi and Nuwa did not guide the boy to serve them, with their current Great Luo cultivation, picking spiritual fruits was a trivial matter that they could accomplish in the blink of an eye.

Kunpeng's gaze narrowed slightly as he swept over the fruit platters. The spiritual fruits displayed on the platters were of various shapes and colors, their faint, exotic fragrance instantly spreading throughout the hall, subtly overpowering the previous aroma of tea.

The emerald green Wood Spirit Fruit, the crimson Fire Spirit Fruit, the deep blue Water Element Pearl...

Kunpeng nodded inwardly. The fruit platter contained fruits of mid-to-high grade innate spiritual roots. Although they might be slightly inferior to the five-needle pine in terms of grade, they had the advantage of being diverse in variety and all of them were freshly picked, with their spiritual energy still present, making them of quite good quality.

"Fellow Daoists, there's really no need to be so polite. I was just doing it on a whim," Kunpeng said with a smile, waving his hand with a composed demeanor.

Fuxi wore a gentle smile, straightened his sleeves, sat down at the table, and slowly said, "Fengxi Mountain is located beside Buzhou Mountain, and is usually quiet and lonely, rarely visited by fellow Daoists. Moreover, the Wu Clan is now powerful and expanding everywhere, and many weak creatures have fled here. My brother and I are protecting this area, so how can we be impolite in our hospitality?"

In the primordial world, for a Great Luo Golden Immortal, only those of the same realm can be called "fellow Daoists".

Previously, due to the expansion of the Wu tribe, quite a few creatures fled to Phoenix Perch Mountain. Although Fuxi and Nuwa were by nature low-key and disliked fighting, in order to protect these creatures of Phoenix Perch Mountain, they inevitably had some contact with the outside world, and thus gradually gained some fame on this prehistoric continent.