Chapter 158: Fertile Soil

It took the giant turtle a full month just to break through the primordial gale-winds of the Central Land’s outer periphery and truly enter the world of the Central Land.

Within that month, Ji Hao sat upon the giant turtle’s neck, watching as an ever-increasing number of colossal entities emerged from all directions. Dragons, phoenixes, tortoises, qilin, and all manner of exotic birds and beasts—both those with names and those without—were all gigantic primordial creatures, bearing belongings of various sizes as they journeyed toward the Central Land world.

He also witnessed astonishingly massive metal fleets struggling and patrolling amidst the primordial gales. On those metal fleets, warriors of the Yu and Jia clans could be seen coming and going from time to time.

Even from afar, Ji Hao could sense the arrogant and condescending aura radiating from these three-eyed and four-eyed otherworldly fiends as they looked down upon all living things.

Unlike in the boundless void, this time those metal warships merely cruised past in the distance, without approaching to demand any taxes or the like. Ji Hao had even harbored a tiny bit of anticipation, hoping these people would come up to stir up trouble, but the result left him greatly disappointed.

Having labored through the gale-wind layer and truly set foot in the Central Land world, Ji Hao felt as though his eyes were simply not enough to take it all in.

Many of the so-called physical laws he was familiar with from his past life completely failed here. Far too many bizarre sights utterly subverted Ji Hao's common sense.

For instance, the moment they entered the Central Land, the giant turtle passed by an ocean. An ocean that hung forlornly and solitarily in mid-air, without any foundation whatsoever. The azure sea water was crystal clear, teeming with all kinds of marine life, and reefs and small islands floated upon its surface.

Countless massive fish swam and played freely in the sea, when suddenly a school of killer whales swept in aggressively. Large groups of fish scattered in terror; some desperate big fish leapt up with all their might, suddenly soaring high above the water surface, and then sailed far away along the fierce wind in the void, flying straight across this ocean to plunge into the seas surrounding several nearby continents.

He also witnessed, high above a continent of exquisite beauty, thousands of graceful floating peaks arranged in a straight line like a string of pearls.

Flying waterfalls resembling dragons cascaded between those peaks. White pillars of water roared back and forth, intersecting horizontally and vertically in mid-air. Mighty water-dragons surged from one peak to another in an unimaginable, incomprehensible manner, gathering even more waterfalls before rushing onward to the next peak.

White dragons danced among thousands of peaks; as fierce gales blew past, vast sheets of spray erupted, and with sunlight streaming down from high above, rainbows flashed brilliantly across this entire continent.

The melodious calls of "You-you" echoed endlessly. Large flocks of pure white cranes, holding multicolored magical fungi in their beaks, flew across the void in groups. These cranes possessed gigantic bodies with wingspans of around a hundred zhang. They flew leisurely through the void, traversing from one continent to another, while vast billows of clouds and mist swept past them like tidal waves.

These cranes carried themselves with proud postures and peerless, ethereal flight. As they flew past the giant turtle, they showed not the slightest sign of panic.

Old Man Gui laughed heartily and tossed a dozen jars of aged wine into the air, prompting several old cranes with crimson-as-blood plumage on their crowns to swoop down. They joyfully pierced the wine jars with their long beaks, swallowing the fine nectar in large gulps. Quite naturally, the large magical fungi clutched in their beaks tumbled down one after another, only to be caught amidst the joyful cheers of the caravan guards.

Ji Hao watched with watering mouth. Every single one of these magical fungi was about a zhang in size, wreathed in spiritual Qi throughout, and exceptionally plump and luscious. Heaven and earth essences must have nurtured them for countless years. To humans, these things were supreme nutritional treasures.

Without hesitation, he also pulled out a jar of wine and flung it fiercely toward an old crane. Smoothly, a bluish fungus fell from the crane's beak, and Ji Hao scooped it firmly into his embrace. The Ruyi-shaped bluish fungus had barely touched his hands when it snapped open with a "pop," and wisps of purple-blue spiritual aura continuously drilled into Ji Hao's seven orifices. Instantly, Ji Hao felt a warm glow in his soul, and his spiritual power rapidly increased by more than half.

"Wonderful!" Ji Hao beamed from ear to ear, hurriedly stuffing this precious bluish fungus into the brocade pouch at his waist.

"Meat!" While Ji Hao and Old Man Gui used clever tricks to trade wine for magical fungi with the crane flock, Manman by the side had been drooling with ravenous desire at the sight of these gigantic white cranes.

Before Si Wenming could keep an eye on her, Manman sprang up like a monkey. With a single bound, she soared hundreds of zhang into the air, landed heavily upon the head of a massive crane, and brandished her mountain-quelling hammer, preparing to smash it down onto the crane's skull.

There could be no cruelty greater than playing the zither to cattle or boiling a crane for its meat. Ji Hao let out a speechless, lingering sigh and hurriedly shouted, "Manman, these birds gave me good things, spare them! If you want meat, there's plenty of delicious beast meat in the storehouse."

Manman paused, heaved a heavy sigh, stroked the panic-stricken head of the massive crane, and lamented, "But you are all so pretty, I just wanted to taste whether your meat is delicious or not."

Shaking her head, Manman ultimately spared the giant crane she had targeted and leapt down. Yet she did not let it off completely empty-handed; upon leaving, she casually plucked the longest and hardest quill from the crane's wing, proudly hoisting it over her shoulder like a fluttering banner.

Having had a quill plucked out by brute force, the giant crane let out frightened, squawking cries, flapped its wings, and fled in disarray. At the cries of this crane, the other white cranes also accelerated their pace, swiftly distancing themselves from the giant turtle.

Ji Hao watched as these flocks of giant cranes sped away, flying toward a distant, mist-shrouded continent. From afar, Ji Hao activated the Golden Crow Divine Eyes and discovered that the continent was shimmering with spiritual light everywhere, filled with aged medicinal herbs of all varieties.

With a whoosh, just as the crane flock departed, a streak of golden light swept past the top of the giant turtle's head.

With sharp eyes, Ji Hao barely managed to make out a golden-winged roc with a wingspan exceeding a hundred li. Bearing a trace of arrogance, a trace of wild audacity, and the supreme haughtiness of dominating the heavens and the earth, this roc didn't even deign to glance at the giant turtle, vanishing into the distance with astonishing speed in an instant.

Ji Hao silently estimated the roc's flight speed, and was shocked to find that it was at least a hundred times faster than the giant turtle's pace. Such divine velocity truly befitted the legendary primordial divine bird most skilled in flight and soaring between heaven and earth.

This was the Central Land, the core of heaven and earth, the supreme fertile soil, and the most magical place in the world.

Ji Hao held his breath, greedily savoring every single inexplicable yet truly existent wondrous scene around him.

The giant turtle plodded forward honestly step by step, passing landmasses one after another, until it finally came to a halt upon a continent named "Sweet Nectar."

The giant turtle planted its four limbs firmly on the ground and raised its head to let out a relaxed, lingering roar. Sweet Nectar was the headquarters of the Guiling Caravan; upon arriving here, the caravan had truly returned home. Hearing the giant turtle's roar, countless men, women, and children poured out of the wooden houses in all directions to welcome them with joyous cheers.

Ji Hao and his two companions did not participate in the celebratory banquet hosted by Old Man Gui and the others. Under Si Wenming's leadership, they mounted Crow Duke and left Sweet Nectar, continuing their flight toward the very core continent of the Central Land world.