Chapter 321 - Chapter 321: Chapter 320 History of the Taotie Clan_1

Chapter 321: Chapter 320 History of the Taotie Clan_1

“Ground-Eater?”

Lu Yang bent over to pick up a piece of mud from the ground, resisting the urge to swallow it, then tossed it back.

Fairy Eternity hopped up from the ground with a laugh, “Yes, Ground-Eater is literally about eating dirt. Is that so hard to understand?”

Fairy Eternity felt that Lu Yang’s intellect might be inferior to her own, but understanding this should be quite simple, shouldn’t it?

Lu Yang:”…”

So your Ground-Eater is to be taken literally?

Seeing Lu Yang’s confused expression, Fairy Eternity sighed slightly, feeling fortunate that she was there in his Spiritual Space to offer him advice. Otherwise, Lu Yang’s naive mind could be easily deceived.

She further explained, “Though Taotie is known as one of the four fiends of antiquity, that reputation came later. Initially, they were a miserable lot. They had big appetites but no real ability, always starving, and their weakness prohibited hunting, leading to a vicious cycle.”

“The Taotie clan could not fast. Their life was all about eating.”

“Desperate with hunger, they would eat anything, even tree bark and leaves. But those weren’t filling or nutritious.”

“Perhaps their ancestors felt sympathy for them. A genius emerged from the Taotie clan who was talented in cultivation and clever.”

“That Taotie creature thought, since eating is inherently necessity, if I can ingest tree bark and leaves, why can’t I eat the earth itself?”

“It isolated itself for three days, without drinking a drop of water. It was on the brink of starvations, seeing its past life flash before its eyes. It assumed its end was near but then remembered its clan, its family and its emaciated brothers and sisters, their fervent expectations.”

“It felt it could not just fall into oblivion like this, it had to fight back!”

“Finding hope in the shadow of death, it combined all its life-learning instincts through an insatiable will to survive, thus creating a great divine skill — Devour the sky and Swallow the Earth!”

“This divine skill transformed into the power of their bloodline, becoming an innate part of the Taotie’s heritage. From then on, every Taotie would automatically acquire this divine skill, vying to consume the earth.”

“Wait a minute. I heard that the Taotie clan’s Devour the Sky and Swallow the Earth could even shatter space. From your description, it doesn’t sound like it could do that?” Lu Yang couldn’t help but question. This story did not match what he had read in books.

Fairy Eternity glared at Lu Yang, indignant: “Man, you really have no patience. Just listen to the rest of the story!”

“Please continue.”

Fairy Eternity, full of smug satisfaction, uttered a satisfied “That’s more like it,” and continued her story:

“The reason the Taotie clan lived such miserable lives and had generally low cultivation levels was because they had no energy left for cultivation. Once they started to eat their fill, they had surplus energy to cultivate.”

“The racial cultivation talent of the Taotie clan could easily rival the top-tier demon beast clans, such as the Dragon Clan, Phoenix Tribe, Kun Peng Clan, Qiongqi Clan, and so on.”

“The Taotie clan cultivated rapidly. Another reason for this was that eating dirt really could make one stronger. The better the quality of the earth, the more rapid their cultivation rate. There was even a time when the price of black soil skyrocketed because of their consumption of it.”

“The soil in the medicine garden of the Seek Dao Sect is of good quality. You could try it and I guarantee it would boost your cultivation speed!”

“I’ll think about it.”

Taking advantage of Lu Yang’s pretense of consideration, Fairy Eternity continued, “As the Taotie clan’s cultivation levels rapidly advanced, they began to make a name for themselves within the demon race. Eventually, they became more than just talented; the overall strength of their race was considered on par with the top tier clans.”

“And this paved the way for their reputation as one of the four fiends.”

“Later, when the Taotie clan became prosperous, they felt that as a noble clan, constantly eating dirt was a beneath them. So, they modified the skill of Devour the Sky and Swallow the Earth to absorb everything, just as you see it now.”

Lu Yang fell silent for a moment, then asked, “Fairy, why did you not teach me the version of Devour the Sky and Swallow the Earth that came later?”

Fairy Eternity looked at Lu Yang curiously, not understanding his question, “Isn’t that what you asked for? You wanted the most ancient skill, especially one that clearly holds an air of antiquity?”

“This skill is genuinely ancient, even for me. I learned about it from ancient books and through the exaggerated storytelling of Qilin Immortal. I’m just relaying what I know to you.”

“Let me tell you, this move is almost forgotten. Even the Taotie clan might not have anyone who knows it. If you hadn’t begged me, I wouldn’t have taught you.”

Lu Yang: “…”

Thanks a lot.

“Does this skill only allow for eating dirt?” Lu Yang asked hopefully.

“Of course not.”

“Really?” Lu Yang felt delighted thinking that Fairy was reliable after all.

“Try having a bite of dirt and see. It surely will be very dry and hard to swallow. If you drink water, it will turn into mud, which is also hard to swallow and can stick in your throat.”

“That’s where ‘Devour the Sky’ comes in, to help swallow the earth. After eating dirt, you can use spiritual essence as water, swallow surrounding spiritual energy to help gulp the earth down. With a gulp, it’s all swallowed!”

“…So this is a combo skill?”

“What do you mean? The founder is a genius of the Taotie clan. It’s only natural for him to think all the details through, isn’t it?”

“Of course, you can also use Devour the Sky separately, to absorb spiritual essence.”

“Let me try.”

Lu Yang silently recited the method’s incantation, opened his mouth, and true enough, a vast amount of spiritual energy flooded in, filling his entire body.

Lu Yang started to cough, feeling choked, “I choked myself up, it feels like I can’t breathe. My body instinctively closed my mouth and started to cough.”

“You’re absorbing spiritual energy too fast. With your current cultivation level, you can’t absorb it this quickly.”

Lu Yang, taking her advice, circulated his cultivation methods to calm the spiritual energy in his body, he opened his mouth and deliberately slowed down the absorption of spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy tasted as sweet as nectar, which, after being digested in the stomach, spread throughout his body, bringing an indescribable comfort.

“Ah, this feels good~” Lu Yang couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Wait, the feeling of absorbing spiritual energy just now, wasn’t it the same as using a Gathering Spirit Array?”

“You guessed right, the original Gathering Spirit Array used by our human race was created based on this skill.” Fairy Eternity disclosed another ancient secret.

The various arts of cultivation, such as talismans and array methods, were all things the ancient human race imitated from nature, or from demon beasts.

This includes imitating the Taotie clan.

“No wonder… Hold on. Even if I learn this version of Devour the Sky and Swallow the Earth, it’s useless. Who now would know about the Taotie clan’s past and recognize that me eating dirt signifies Devour the Sky and Swallow the Earth?”

Lu Yang suddenly realized that while it was true this skill was ancient, if it were too ancient, there would be a problem if nobody recognized it.

He even doubted whether anyone from Fairy Eternity’s era would know about these things!

Fairy Eternity hesitated, “So, do you want to learn the current version of Devour the Sky and Swallow the Earth?”

Lu Yang nodded vigorously.

Fairy Eternity breathed a sigh of relief, “Then that’s easy.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know how.”

Because she didn’t know, Lu Yang didn’t need to learn it. It was that simple.