Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

Black Wind Mountain was bombed.

It wasn't a collapse, but a literal "explosion"—the mountain was torn apart from the inside by a tremendous force, and countless tons of rock were thrown up as if by an invisible hand, spraying into the air with a thick, ink-like demonic aura.

The demonic aura dispersed the clouds, the sunlight dimmed instantly, and the entire valley was plunged into an eerie, dim yellow.

Chen Yuan pulled Bai Zhi along as they ran, the ground beneath their feet undulating like waves.

"What on earth is that?!" Bai Zhi asked, turning back as she ran, her voice trembling.

"I don't know!" Chen Yuan roared, "But whatever has been suppressed in the Black Wind Cave for hundreds of years, held down by a mountain of bones and a blood-fiend formation—it's definitely not a benevolent entity!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a second roar came from behind him.

I heard you clearly this time.

It was neither a beast's roar nor a ghost's howl, but a strange sound that mixed the sounds of metal grinding, bones breaking, and hurricane howling.

The voice carried the resentment accumulated over thousands of years of suppression, and a trace of... pain?

On Chen Yuan's right palm, among the five star-shaped scars, the one representing the gray-black star (devouring evil and purifying) was burning hot. At the same time, the pale gold star (the origin of life) also resonated faintly—not with rejection, but with a complex tremor that was almost "compassionate".

The two stars reacted in completely opposite ways.

"Wait." Chen Yuan suddenly stopped and turned to look at the mountain that was spewing out demonic energy.

"Chen Yuan? What are you doing?" Bai Zhi tugged at him.

"Something's not right." Chen Yuan stared at the churning demonic energy, his microscopic vision of the silvery-white starlight maximized. "That thing... is struggling."

"What?"

"Look at the flow of demonic energy," Chen Yuan pointed to the sky. "Most of it is spreading outwards, corroding everything. But there's a small wisp at the core that's contracting inwards—like something is trying to 'pull itself back'."

Bai Zhi followed the gaze.

Sure enough, within the pitch-black torrent of demonic energy, one could vaguely discern a deeper, ever-twisting core.

Each time the core contracts, the speed at which the demonic energy spreads slows down.

"It doesn't want to come out?" Bai Zhi was stunned.

"Or rather..." Chen Yuan narrowed his eyes, "a part of it doesn't want to."

Before the words were finished, the outline of the thing finally appeared where the mountain had been blasted open.

The first thing to emerge was a pair of wings—but only the skeleton remained.

The jet-black skeleton, when unfolded, was ten zhang wide, with scattered, decaying membranes hanging on its bone wings, and each bone spike was entangled in viscous demonic energy.

The flapping of the bone wings did not create wind, but rather a corrosive black current that hissed and quickly turned the rocks into sand.

Then comes the body.

Just a skeleton remained, and between the ribs of the chest cavity, a slowly beating, dark red heart could be seen—no, not a heart, but an energy core deformed by demonic energy. The surface of the core was covered with cracks, and with each beat, demonic energy leaked out from the cracks.

The strangest thing is the head.

That was not the skull of any known monster—it was streamlined, with a sharp, spear-like beak and huge eye sockets, inside which burned two eerie green flames.

Within the flames, one can vaguely see... an eye?

Only one left.

The left eye was empty, while the flame in the right eye flickered wildly, sometimes violent, sometimes chaotic, and sometimes... a fleeting glimpse of clarity that was extremely difficult to detect.

"Bone-corroding... Vulture."

A voice rang out directly in Chen Yuan's mind.

Aged, frail, bearing the wear and tear of endless years.

Chen Yuan was startled: "Who?"

"Me." The voice came from his palm—a fragment of information transmitted by the gray-black star (Devouring Evil Purification), "An ancient Sky-Patrolling Spirit Vulture, which controls wind and thunder, and governs weather, should have been an auspicious creature. But eight hundred years ago, it was captured by an elder of the Blood Fiend Sect and refined with the 'Ten Thousand Souls Eroding Bone Array,' who wanted to turn it into a protective evil beast for the sect. Halfway through the refining process, internal strife broke out in the Blood Fiend Sect, and the array that was suppressing it went out of control, sealing it and the array together into Black Wind Mountain."

The sound was intermittent, like a flickering candle that could go out at any moment.

"It is now... half living, half evil artifact. Most of its intelligence has been eroded, leaving only instinct and pain. The fire in its right eye is its last remnant soul."

Chen Yuan stared at the bone vulture struggling amidst the demonic energy: "Can you communicate with it?"

"No," the gray-black star replied. "I can only read the remaining information from the 'Bone-Corroding Array' on its body. But the remnant soul in its right eye... seems to be pleading for your help."

"SOS?"

"It doesn't want to be completely consumed by the demonic energy. It wants... liberation."

Just then, the flame in the Bone Vulture's right eye suddenly flared up.

Immediately afterwards, that chaotic, painful sound exploded in Chen Yuan and Bai Zhi's minds:

"Hungry...so hungry...eat...eat you all..."

"No...we can't eat them...they're...alive..."

"I'm starving!!! I've been starving for eight hundred years!!! Bone...flesh...spiritual energy...give it all to me!!!"

"Go...go quickly...I can't control myself...hurry..."

Two consciousnesses are tearing each other apart within the same body.

One is an "evil vulture" refined by the Bone-Eating Array, possessing only hunger and the instinct for destruction.

One is the original, last remaining trace of clarity of "spirituality" of the Vulture.

The evil vultures accounted for 99%.

Only a sliver of spirituality remains, like a candle flame in a storm, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

The bone vulture moved.

It flapped its bone wings, soared into the sky, and stirred up a storm of demonic winds.

But its flight path was extremely strange—it didn't rush straight towards them, but instead circled and tumbled wildly in the air, sometimes diving and sometimes pulling up forcefully.

"It's...fighting with itself?" Bai Zhi was stunned.

"Yes." Chen Yuan took a deep breath. "The spirits are stopping the evil vultures from attacking us. But it won't last long."

He looked down at his palm.

The five star-shaped scars were all burning hot.

The gray-black star (devouring evil and purifying) is extremely averse to demonic energy.

The pale gold stars (the origin of life) resonated with that remaining trace of spirituality.

Silvery Star (Material Analysis) is frantically analyzing the structural weaknesses of the Bone Vulture.

The emerald star (the law of growth) trembled—it sensed the "forced and twisted growth" on the bone vulture's body, a pain that violated the laws of nature.

And the Crimson Star (Blood Refining Law)...

Excitement.

It showed an almost "greedy" desire for the energy core that had been corrupted by demonic energy.

Chen Yuan's mind raced as he calculated.

Escape? At the speed of the bone vultures, they couldn't run three miles.

Fight? Even a peak ninth level Qi Refining cultivator would struggle against a second-grade demon beast, let alone this thing, which is at least a third-grade beast.

That leaves only one path—

"Bai Zhi," Chen Yuan suddenly spoke, "do you believe me?"

Bai Zhi looked at him and nodded emphatically: "I believe you."

"Okay." Chen Yuan turned around, stopped running, and instead took a few steps toward the direction of the Bone Vulture. "No matter what happens later, don't get close or run. Just stand still and hold your lamp."

"What are you going to do?"

"Let's take a gamble." Chen Yuan spread out his right hand, and the five star-shaped scars glowed faintly at the same time. "I'm betting on its last bit of spirituality, that it still wants to live. I'm betting that these five stars of mine can pull it back from the demonic aura."

He looked up and roared at the bone vulture tumbling in the air:

"Hey! Big guy!"

The bone vulture suddenly stopped, and the flame in its right eye flickered wildly.

"Eat...eat him..."

"No...he's talking...listen..."

Chen Yuan continued shouting, "I know you're hungry! You haven't eaten in eight hundred years, I'd be hungry too! But look closely—"

He pointed to himself: "Me, I'm at the ninth level of Qi Refining. I've only just recovered 80% of my essence and blood. I don't have much flesh, and my bones are practically nothing. Eating me won't fill me up; it'll just get stuck in my teeth."

Then, pointing to Bai Zhi, she said, "She's a spirit plant, full of the essence of herbs and trees. For someone like you with a constitution corrupted by demonic energy, eating her is no different than drinking poison. Neither of them are good food, so what's the point of you eating them?"

The bone vulture hovered in mid-air, its right eye glowing and dimming as if it were "thinking".

The vulture's instincts roared, but the last vestiges of its rationality actually made it think that... there was some truth to it?

"So," Chen Yuan pressed on, "I have a suggestion. Instead of eating us, I'll help you solve your 'hunger' problem, and while I'm at it... cleanse yourself of all this messy demonic energy. How about it?"

"Cleanse...the demonic energy?" The spiritual voice trembled with disbelief. "You can...cleanse the demonic energy from the Bone-Corroding Array?"

"I can't guarantee it," Chen Yuan said honestly, "but trying is better than starving, right?"

The bone vulture fell silent.

It slowly descended from the air, finally landing thirty feet in front of Chen Yuan. Upon landing, its massive bone claws sank into the ground, and its demonic energy corroded the earth, producing hissing white smoke.

The flame in his right eye was fixed on Chen Yuan.

"How...how will you clean it?"

"Use this." Chen Yuan raised his right hand, palm facing up.

The five star trail scars lit up simultaneously—this time not with a faint glow, but with real, distinct five-colored light. Gold, cyan, blue, red, and yellow intertwined, coalescing above the palm into a palm-sized, slowly rotating phantom of star trails.

The flame in the bone vulture's right eye suddenly contracted.

"This is... the aura of laws?" The spiritual voice was filled with shock. "How could you, a mere Qi Refining cultivator, possibly bear five laws simultaneously?!"

"It was a coincidence." Chen Yuan didn't explain further. "The key point is that there's a law here that specifically counters the demonic energy on your body."

He pointed to the scar corresponding to the gray-black star.

"Destroy evil, purify."

The bone vulture remained silent for an even longer time.

Just when Chen Yuan thought it was about to launch a sudden attack, it slowly lowered its huge head—not in an aggressive posture, but in a posture of submission, or rather, supplication.

"it is good."

The spiritual voice was weak, yet resolute.

"I'll let you try. But if you fail..." the evil vulture's consciousness suddenly retaliated, "If you fail, I'll eat you! I'll chew you to pieces!"

"Deal." Chen Yuan nodded and walked forward.

Bai Zhi called out from behind, "Chen Yuan! Watch out!"

"Don't worry." Chen Yuan didn't turn around. "If it really wanted to kill me, it would have done so just now."

He walked up to the bone vulture and looked up at its huge, decaying body, which had been corrupted by demonic energy for eight hundred years.

A closer look reveals an even more shocking sight.

Every bone was covered with black corrosion marks, the imprints left by the Ten Thousand Souls Corroding Bone Array.

Thick, demonic energy seeped continuously from the cracks in the energy core.

The flame in the right eye switches between ghostly green and dark red, representing two consciousnesses fiercely vying for control.

"Where to begin?" Chen Yuan asked.

"The core," the spirit said, "is the key to the Bone-Eroding Array. Without purifying the core, everything else is in vain."

Chen Yuan nodded and raised his hand to press on the Bone Vulture's chest cavity—but his hand stopped in mid-air.

"What?" the spirit asked.

"There's a problem," Chen Yuan said, looking at it. "The purification will be very painful. The Bone-Eating Array has been fused with you for eight hundred years, and the demonic energy has become a part of your body. Forcibly separating it is like scraping the bone to remove poison, and it's a complete scraping from your soul to your body."

He paused.

"Can you handle it?"

The flame in the bone vulture's right eye burned quietly for a few breaths.

Then, the spirit smiled.

It wasn't a sound, but a desolate and sorrowful "emotion" that was directly transmitted into Chen Yuan's consciousness.

"Eight hundred years... Every day, every moment, I can feel those wronged souls gnawing at my bones, and demonic energy corroding my soul. Pain? I've long forgotten what it feels like not to feel pain."

"Let's do it. Even if it hurts, it's better than this."

Chen Yuan no longer hesitated.

He pressed his right hand against the dark red energy core in the eagle's chest cavity.

The light of the gray-black star (Devouring Evil Purification) shone brightly in his palm.