Watching the two great spirit beasts fight to this point, Jiang Chen couldn't help but feel a bitter taste in his mouth.
A Saint Grade Spirit Beast and a Spirit Grade peak spirit bird—fighting to the bitter end, they had resorted to brawling like children, using the filthiest, most shameless, and most primal of techniques.
The Fire Crow King shrieked incessantly, its wings transforming into blades as they frantically slashed and hacked at every inch of the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard's oral cavity.
The Fire Lizard's tongue—a good several meters in length—had been virtually pulverized to the root.
The searing agony made the Fire Lizard's entire body convulse violently.
But even so, the Fire Lizard clamped down on the Fire Crow King's legs with its jaws and refused to let go.
The Fire Crow King's legs were locked between those serrated teeth, unable to advance or retreat. Within its range of destruction, there was nothing left to destroy. And the damage inside the mouth—though agonizing—was clearly insufficient to kill the Fire Lizard outright. If this stalemate dragged on, once the Fire Crow King's strength was fully depleted, it would truly become nothing more than the Fire Lizard's meal.
At this moment, the Fire Crow King's savage nature manifested in its entirety.
It kicked its legs forward—and between the spray of blood and flesh, the sinews were torn clean through.
With a single sweep of its wings, the Fire Crow King plunged straight down the Fire Lizard's throat, burrowing into its chest cavity.
This Fire Crow King had actually abandoned its own legs—mutilating its own body—just to breach the Fire Lizard's chest and abdomen and deal a fatal blow from within.
Seeing this, Jiang Chen couldn't help but admire the Fire Crow King's ferocity and courage.
But with the battle reaching this state, a faint thrill rose in Jiang Chen's heart. He knew his opportunity had arrived.
The Fire Lizard realized the Fire Crow King had abandoned its legs and charged into its body. It knew it was in grave danger. It roared ceaselessly, slamming its massive frame against the ground again and again, as if trying to shake the Fire Crow King loose.
But the Fire Crow King's objective was clear—once inside, there was no way it would come out.
As time dragged on, the Fire Lizard's frenzied, anguished roars grew steadily fainter. Its enormous body, which had been thrashing wildly, gradually slowed to weak, listless twitching—and finally, to a barely perceptible breath.
Its pair of blood-drenched eyes, though ravaged by the Fire Crow King, never closed. It died with its eyes open—unwilling to accept its fate.
In the end, even a dignified Saint Grade Spirit Beast could not survive this trial.
Jiang Chen was deeply shaken. Even a being as powerful as a Saint Grade Spirit Beast—when its lifespan drew to a close and its cultivation steadily dissipated—was this helpless before the tribulation of life and death.
This only proved how merciless the path of cultivation truly was. Even a Saint Grade Spirit Beast, when weakened, could be besieged by forces far inferior to itself and still end up perishing, its dao extinguished forever.
"So it seems," Jiang Chen mused, "unless one reaches the supreme realm of immortality on the path of cultivation, one remains as insignificant as an ant before the tribulation of life and death."
In that moment, Jiang Chen's heart was profoundly shaken, and his resolve to pursue the supreme dao was fortified all the more. Only the supreme dao could grant true immortality—an eternal communion with the Heavenly Dao.
A dragon stranded in shallow waters is tormented by shrimp; a tiger down on the plains is bullied by dogs.
On the body of the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard, this truth was demonstrated to the fullest.
Jiang Chen had been watching for quite some time, and he knew his chance had come. The reason he had stayed behind this whole time was precisely to take this risk and wait for this opportunity.
When the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits.
Jiang Chen strolled out from his hiding spot at a leisurely pace. His sudden appearance startled the handful of remaining Fire Crows into a frenzy of panicked cries.
The Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard's final assault had annihilated nearly all the Fire Crows. Fewer than ten remained, and every single one bore injuries of varying severity.
These remnant Fire Crows posed absolutely zero threat to Jiang Chen.
Watching seven or eight Fire Crows dive toward him, Jiang Chen paid them no more attention than if they weren't even there. He continued walking casually toward the Fire Lizard's carcass.
But just as those seven or eight Fire Crows were plunging down, seven or eight vines erupted from the ground—each bearing a massive fire lotus. Their petals opened like gaping maws, each lotus swallowing one Fire Crow whole.
Despite the fact that each Fire Crow's individual cultivation was comparable to the first or second level of the human Spirit Realm, once caught by the fire lotuses of today, they had virtually no power to resist.
They didn't even have time to scream before being devoured and refined by the fire lotuses.
Every Fire Crow carried a fire-attribute crystal core, and their flesh and blood were highly nourishing—making them the perfect offering for the fire lotuses.
Jiang Chen circled the Fire Lizard's carcass several times, then released the Gold-Munching Mouse King. "Old Gold, I want the crystal core and scales from this Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard reserved for me. Everything else—the rest of the flesh and blood—belongs to the Gold-Munching Mouse clan. Oh, and let me tell you one thing: this Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard was a Saint Grade Spirit Beast."
"Wh-what? A Saint Grade Spirit Beast?" The Gold-Munching Mouse King's shifty eyes blazed with greed. He licked his lips so hard he was practically drooling.
"Mm. You've always been clamoring for a bloodline evolution. This is your chance. I forgot to mention—there's dragon bloodline in this Fire Lizard. It's been diluted over countless generations, of course, but dragon bloodline is dragon bloodline. You understand what that means?"
The Gold-Munching Mouse King nodded rapidly. "Understood, understood. Chen Shao, what exactly happened here? A Saint Grade Spirit Beast... how could it possibly—"
The Gold-Munching Mouse clan was innately timid and cautious. Even with a feast laid out right before him, he insisted on getting the full story first, terrified that one careless move might land him in catastrophic trouble.
Jiang Chen smiled. "All you need to say is whether you want it or not."
"Want it, want it!" the Gold-Munching Mouse King blurted immediately.
"Well then, problem solved. But before you enjoy your hearty feast, there's one thing you still need to deal with."