Chapter 145 Catching a Pheasant and Pairing it with Mushrooms! The Divine Phoenix Lays Eggs in Fright
Lin Yuan led the five little ones, carrying a small rattan basket filled with "chaos life-devouring fungus," as they strolled leisurely through the forest.
"We've gathered enough mushrooms, but for stewed chicken with mushrooms, just having mushrooms won't do; the star of the show has to be the chicken."
Lin Yuan looked up at the dense canopy around them and muttered, "In this deep, old forest with such a good ecosystem, there should be plenty of wild chickens around, right? If I could catch a pure, natural free-range chicken to take back for soup, the flavor would be absolutely divine."
Hearing "stewed chicken soup," the five little ones' eyes instantly lit up. Especially Zhang Xiaopang, whose mouth was already watering.
"Teacher! My dad said wild chickens love to hide in haystacks and low bushes!" Zhang Xiaopang actively shared his hunting experience.
"Makes sense, let's look around." Lin Yuan used his walking stick to poke through the bushes ahead.
Meanwhile, on a towering mountain peak less than ten miles away from them.
An Ancient Wutong Divine Tree, burning entirely with crimson flames, was radiating a terrifyingly high temperature capable of incinerating the sky and boiling the sea.
In the center of the Wutong tree's canopy perched a peerless divine bird of a size that blotted out the sun, its entire body flowing with Nine-Colored Divine Fire!
The [Nine Heavens Nirvana Divine Phoenix]!
This was a true overlord-level existence in the Immortal Realm, possessing a terrifying cultivation at the Half-Step Immortal Emperor Realm! Sensing the supreme fortune emerging at Qingfeng Mountain in the Lower Realm, it had specifically torn through the Void Realm to descend here, occupying this Ancient Wutong tree to use the Primordial Chaos Qi of this place to break through that final Immortal Emperor barrier.
"Lì——!"
The Divine Phoenix closed its eyes and let out a proud phoenix cry. With its every breath, the fire-element Law above the entire Qingfeng Mountain resonated.
Just then.
Lin Yuan pushed aside a purple bamboo leaf blocking his path and looked up at that mountain peak.
"Eh? Why is that tree over there glowing red? There seems to be a big bird perched on it too, with a colorful tail; it looks quite like a wild mountain chicken."
Lin Yuan's eyes lit up as he pointed at the Ancient Wutong tree ten miles away.
Following the direction of Lin Yuan's finger.
Goudan and Tiezhu looked up toward that mountain peak.
Boom!
The hearts of the two peerless prodigies suddenly constricted, as they felt a terrifying heat capable of burning their Souls to ashes rushing toward them!
"That... that's the Nine Heavens Nirvana Divine Phoenix?!"
Goudan's legs went weak with fear, and he tightly grabbed Tiezhu's arm: "The supreme divine bird rumored to feed on True Dragons, whose single breath of divine fire can burn through the Three Thousand Dao States?! Teacher actually called it a wild mountain chicken?!"
Tiezhu was also covered in cold sweat: "It's over, Teacher doesn't really want to catch it to make soup, does he? That's a Half-Step Immortal Emperor!"
Lin Yuan had already enthusiastically raised the withered wooden walking stick in his hand.
"The distance is a bit far, but that wild mountain chicken looks quite plump. Old Wan, you catch it down there; don't let it hit the ground and ruin the meat quality."
While giving instructions, Lin Yuan weighed the withered wooden stick in his hand and, like throwing a javelin, casually tossed it toward the "wild mountain chicken" ten miles away.
"Swish——"
The moment the withered wooden stick left his hand.
An extreme power of Karma, which completely ignored spatial distance and crushed the myriad Daos of the heavens, attached itself to that broken wooden stick!
On the Wutong Divine Tree.
The Nine Heavens Divine Phoenix, which had been cultivating with its eyes closed, suddenly felt an unprecedented crisis of life and death descend!
It snapped its eyes open, and the Nine-Colored Divine Fire erupted violently around it as it prepared to meet a great enemy.
However, when it saw that withered wooden stick flying toward it slowly, the pride and ferocity in its eyes instantly froze, replaced by an extreme terror originating from the depths of its Soul and piercing into its very marrow!
"This... this is an ultimate taboo power that surpasses the Immortal Emperor! It cannot be resisted! To touch it is certain death!"
The Divine Phoenix's intelligence, which was at the Half-Step Immortal Emperor level, made the wisest judgment in an instant.
"Run? There's no running! Karma has already locked onto me!"
Just a second before that withered wooden stick was about to strike the top of its head.
This high-and-mighty Nine Heavens Divine Phoenix performed an act that would make all cultivators drop their jaws in shock.
"Poof poof poof!"
Its entire body suddenly shuddered, and it actually forcibly shook off all the dazzling, priceless nine-colored phoenix feathers on its body!
Not only that, but it also frantically suppressed all the Nirvana Divine Fire within its body, causing its massive frame to shrink rapidly.
In the blink of an eye.
A bald "free-range chicken," covered in bare skin with only a few stray hairs left and about the size of an ordinary old hen, appeared on the branch.
"Clack."
The withered wooden stick gently tapped the head of this "plucked chicken."
There was no lethality, because this chicken had completely given up resistance and even proactively offered its head.
"Cluck cluck cluck!"
To prove that it was truly a harmless domestic bird suitable for making soup, this dignified Half-Step Immortal Emperor level Divine Phoenix actually strained its throat to let out an extremely standard hen's cry.
Not only that, but in a fit of desperation, it jerked its rear.
"Plop."
A [divine phoenix immortal egg], emitting a faint red glow and containing endless Nirvana life-force, was directly pushed out by it, falling onto the leaves.
After laying the egg, the Divine Phoenix drifted down from the mountain peak ten miles away like a kite with a broken string, landing with extreme precision into the open hands of Demon Venerable Wanhua at the back of Lin Yuan's group.
Demon Venerable Wanhua held this trembling "plucked chicken" and then looked at the still-warm "chicken egg" in the distance; his entire being went numb.
The dignified Nine Heavens Divine Phoenix, in order to avoid being beaten to death on the spot, actually plucked its own feathers and was so scared it laid an egg then and there?!
Lin Yuan walked over slowly, looking at the "spoils of war" in Old Wan's hands.
"Oh, this wild chicken is quite sensible; knowing its feathers are hard to pluck, it molted them all in advance?"
Lin Yuan nodded in satisfaction: "Though it looks a bit thin, the meat of this kind of free-range chicken that flies often will surely be firm. Tonight's pot of stewed chicken with mushrooms is sorted."
Lin Yuan turned toward the mountain peak: "Old Wan, I think I saw this chicken lay an egg just now? Go, pick that egg up too; we'll steam some egg custard for the kids tonight."
"Old... This old servant will go right away!" Demon Venerable Wanhua swallowed hard, quickly stuffed the Divine Phoenix into the bundle on his back, and scurried off to pick up the egg.
Inside the bundle, the Divine Phoenix was squeezed together with several large radishes, so scared it tightly hugged its bald wings, not even daring to breathe loudly. To be able to keep its chicken life in the hands of such a supreme taboo existence, what did being plucked and stewed for soup matter? As long as a sliver of its true Soul remained, it was a stroke of immense luck!
Goudan and Tiezhu stood to the side, watching as Teacher casually settled the dinner of a Half-Step Immortal Emperor level divine bird, and completely stopped thinking.
"Tiezhu..." Goudan sent a voice transmission with vacant eyes.
"Don't talk, I'm already prepared to go back and help Old Wan tend the fire." Tiezhu replied numbly.
Lin Yuan beckoned: "Let's go, kids. All the ingredients are here, let's head back to the lakeside camp to stew the soup!"
Not long after they left.
Holy Lord Zixiao and the Nine Nether Devil Emperor, who had been secretly following behind, crawled out from a patch of bushes.
The two of them looked at the nine-colored Divine Phoenix feathers scattered all over the ground under that Ancient Wutong tree ten miles away, and their drool literally flowed into a river.
"True Divine Phoenix Feathers! Every single one can be used to refine a top-grade Immortal Artifact!"
Holy Lord Zixiao rushed forward like a mad dog, frantically scooping feathers into his arms.
The Nine Nether Devil Emperor was not to be outdone, roaring as he dove into the pile of feathers: "Get lost! This largest tail feather is this Emperor's! I'm taking it back to make a shuttlecock for my Tiezhu to kick!"
The two peerless big shots fought tooth and nail in the midst of the dancing Divine Phoenix feathers over a few chicken feathers, yet they both tacitly suppressed their voices, fearing they might disturb the green-robed figure preparing dinner up ahead.