Chapter 375: (2): Untamed Vagrant Cultivators
The Golden Core Tier earth immortal hovering in midair surprisingly didn't use his mind's voice to communicate with the twenty or so vagrant cultivators. With mountain mist concealing his appearance, the earth immortal instead looked at Chen Ping'an and directly asked, "Are you intent on stopping us from obtaining these treasures? If you and your companions are willing to retreat from this mountain pass and not interfere with our plans, then after we defeat this earth bull, I can give you ten percent of my share of treasures. I'll convert them into snowflake coins and personally hand them to you afterward."
After hearing the explanation from Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia, Chen Ping'an was roughly aware of the situation here already.
Even though the earth bull collapsed in blood behind Chen Ping'an was indeed a demon, it was an innately gentle type of demon, and the so-called calamity caused by earth bulls twisting and turning that people talked about had absolutely nothing to do with it.
The earth bull had remained hidden in this mountain pass for more than two hundred years, and its intention was actually to repair the shattered dragon vein such that it could use it as a residence in the future. In all these years, the earth bull had actually been lying on the mountain pass in its true form, appearing like a mountain range with many cliffs. Moreover, this not-really-mountain-range was filled with lush greenery from the get-go.
Genuine cases of earth bulls turning their bodies were caused by Ao, mole crickets, earthworms, and giant toads that slumbered under the ground.[1] These mountain spirits and water beasts preferred quiet over commotion, and relying on their innate abilities, they liked to link their gigantic bodies with the surrounding mountains to slowly absorb the spiritual energy of the earth. These spirits and beasts were afraid of spring thunder.
Once these spirits and beasts advanced to the Abode Tier of the Middle Five Tiers, or when they were about to form a golden core, they would need to absorb an exorbitant amount of spiritual energy. However, because they slumbered underground most of the time and absorbed the fortune of the mountains, their advance in cultivation base would pertain to the fated opportunities of the Great Dao and cause them to unleash their ferocious nature as spirits and beasts. It was because of this that there were stories about earth bulls turning their bodies and Ao turning their backs, events that would bring tragedy to the mortal world.
In reality, Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia had also been asked to participate in the battle against the earth bull in the beginning. However, even though Zhang Shanfeng's cultivation base wasn't especially high, he was incredibly knowledgeable about the origin of many mountain spirits and water beasts. He was well aware of the origin and gentle nature of earth bulls, so he turned down the earth immortal's invitation to suppress and kill the great demon together.
The truly troublesome aspect of things was the possibility that the earth bull was at the Dragon Gate Tier, only a step away from forming a golden core. Zhang Shanfeng understood that even clay Bodhisattva statues would also have a temper if they were hunted and provoked; even honest and friendly people would flare up in rage if they were continually targeted. Would a literal demon not be the same?
Thus, Zhang Shanfeng was afraid that the earth bull would trigger violent reactions from the earth veins when it reached the brink of death. If that happened, they would truly witness a colossal earth bull turning its body. This would cause earthquakes to tear through an area at least five hundred kilometers in radius, and tens of thousands of innocent people in the two nearby prefectures could die without knowing why.