Chapter 4915 — The Defect of Devouring
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Only now did he have the chance to properly survey this legendary Thunder Burial City. With the wraith's primordial spirit no longer shrouding everything in its heavy mist, all that surrounded him could be seen clear as day.
In Wei Zhao's original imaginings, even if the place was not carpeted with Nourishing Mystery Grass, it should at least have been possible to find some with ease. But now, after one look around, his heart sank straight to the bottom of his stomach.
This was a barren wasteland through and through—not a blade of Nourishing Mystery Grass to be seen, not even a single weed. Everywhere he looked was bleached white bone. The so-called Thunder Burial City was merely a prettified name; in Wei Zhao's view, "mass grave" would have been far more apt.
"You're saying you'll give me these bones as medical expenses?" Wei Zhao looked at the wraith's primordial spirit, caught between laughter and tears.
"Yes... not finished eating..." the wraith's primordial spirit answered promptly. What it meant was that some residual primordial spirits still clung to them, which it had not fully absorbed and merged, and so it had naturally handed them over. To it these were likely its most precious possessions—in a sense, this wraith's primordial spirit was actually quite generous.
Unfortunately, Wei Zhao had no use for such generosity. If among these corpses there had been powerful thunder-type spirit beasts that had died only recently, they might have held some value for him. But the ones before him—perhaps because of the thunder burial—had long since lost flesh and hide, the great majority reduced to bleached white bone. They were of little use whether for alchemy or artifact forging, and could only be reckoned as chicken ribs—meat too scant to be worth the chewing.
Wei Zhao casually collected a few of the finest thunder-type spirit beast remains, things like thunder dragons and lightning eagles. It cost him no effort at all—a single thought and they went into the jade pendant's space. Even if they were chicken ribs, he would take them; better than going home empty-handed.
"Ah, a wasted trip." Wei Zhao sighed helplessly. He had not caught so much as a glimpse of half a stalk of Nourishing Mystery Grass, and had instead taken a gratuitous lightning thrashing from the wraith's primordial spirit—truly suffering for nothing.
"Count your blessings, kid. Say nothing else—the lightning power within you has surged ahead by leaps and bounds, far surpassing ten years of your own bitter cultivation. That boon is hardly inferior to Nourishing Mystery Grass. It's I who've truly lost out this time, down to my last scrap—not a scrap of gain, and my vital essence badly depleted for nothing!" The ghostly thing gave a bitter laugh.
"Senior, since this thing can grow strong by devouring the primordial spirits of other thunder-type spirit beasts, surely you could do the same?" Wei Zhao said, struck by a sudden inspiration.
"I could, yes—but do I look like I've got water on the brain?" The ghostly thing curled its lip in disdain.
"What do you mean?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled.
"If I devoured other primordial spirits wholesale, of course I could swell as swiftly as it did—I could even swallow it whole in one gulp. But by then I would no longer be myself; I'd be the next dim-witted wraith's primordial spirit. Understand?" the ghostly thing said, speechless.
"That serious?" Wei Zhao was slightly startled. As he understood it, a primordial spirit was like true qi—a form of energy—and being energy, it ought naturally to be replenished in this most direct of ways. He had never expected such a result.