No one knows the origin of the Five Seed Pomegranate.
In many ancient texts, the growth conditions of the Five Seed Pomegranate are described in one sentence—grows in wet and hot conditions, one sprout every thousand years, one fruit every three thousand years.
In other words, the maturity cycle of a Five Seed Pomegranate takes a minimum of eight thousand years.
The five sprouted leaves require five thousand years, and the maturation of the central fruit requires three thousand years.
However, the Five Seed Pomegranate in front of us is clearly mature.
Not to mention anything else, even from a hundred miles away, the fruit at the center of the Quagmire Lake emits an incredibly alluring aura.
That aura somewhat resembles a mother’s breath, yet carries a sense of etherealness, making everyone instinctively want to go closer, absorb it, embrace it.
This is the unified and most important characteristic of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects that can replenish origin power.
In front of this characteristic, even Dao Realm experts cannot resist this feeling.
This is related to the innate state of the mother body; every human, while still in the mother’s womb, exists in a mysterious innate state.
This state disappears upon leaving the mother’s body.
But these Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects, which can replenish origin power, are able to emit such an aura akin to the mother’s innate aura, making people subconsciously want to go closer.
Fortunately, this sensation originates from the heart, from the deepest memory of a person’s Divine Soul, a body’s instinctive preference for this power.
Therefore, most people are still able to control this emotion and refrain from unwittingly entering the quagmire.
Ye Zhen believes that the seemingly calm quagmire with no bubbles present is definitely fraught with unimaginable danger.
Otherwise, with Wang Baimu’s personality, having already been here once, how could he possibly return empty-handed?
He would definitely have picked this Heaven and Earth Spiritual Object, the Five Seed Pomegranate, himself first, and then sold it at a high price.
Ye Zhen believes that once the Five Seed Pomegranate hits the market, it can absolutely fetch a sky-high price; not just thirty Spirit Void Fruits, even three hundred or three thousand Spirit Void Fruits are possible.
This is related to its function.
The greatest function of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Object, the Five Seed Pomegranate, is to replenish innate primordial power.
What is innate primordial power?
Among the martial artists, it often happens that some senior masters die sitting as their resources are exhausted.
Here, the exhaustion actually refers to the depletion of innate primordial power.
Even a Dao Realm expert, once the innate primordial power is entirely consumed, has only one path to go, which is death.
But the Five Seed Pomegranate can replenish innate primordial power; in other words, this object can prolong the life of Dao Realm experts whose resources are about to be completely exhausted.
Essentially, as long as there’s a chance, those Dao Realm experts would buy it regardless of cost.
However, this innate Spiritual Object is extremely rare.
Though it is priced, there is no market; it has never appeared in the auctions of the Four Seas Market for countless millennia.
This shows its preciousness.
"Old Wang, are you going to reveal the danger of Quagmire Lake yourself, or should I throw you into the lake to figure it out myself?" Ye Zhen tugged at the Flood Dragon Tendon strung through Wang Baimu’s collarbone, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.
"I’ll talk! I’ll talk!"
Without any hesitation, Wang Baimu spilled out the situation in the Muddy Lake to Ye Zhen.
"Ancient Fierce Beast, Goldback Crocodile Dragon?"
"At least five? And all trapped in Half-step Dao Realm for thousands of years?"
Ye Zhen’s eyebrows twitched, "Old Wang, you’re not trying to scare me, are you?"
"Do you have any beast meat on you? Throw a few pieces in. Also, before throwing them, step far away from here." Wang Baimu said leisurely.
Ye Zhen hesitantly retreated slowly, stepping back ten miles away as per Wang Baimu’s suggestion, then took out ten pieces of beast meat weighing a hundred jin each and forcefully threw them into the quagmire.
When the beast meat flew over the Quagmire Lake, the lake was still calm without a single bubble, but as soon as the first piece of beast meat fell, the entire Quagmire Lake surged as if a river was overturning.
From the center of the Quagmire Lake, a giant mud arch bridge more than three thousand meters long first rose up, then the mud arch violently raised, swallowing the hundred-jin beast meat into a blood basin mouth with a diameter of a hundred meters.
The two green eyeballs, twice the size of a cow’s head, coldly stared at Ye Zhen.
The icy gaze made Ye Zhen’s heart tighten, as if grabbed by a giant hand.
The feeling given by this Goldback Crocodile Dragon was even more terrifying than many Dao Realm experts.
With an icy look at Ye Zhen, the Goldback Crocodile Dragon glanced back at the central Five Seed Pomegranate of Quagmire Lake, then slowly burrowed back into the mud, causing the three-thousand-meter-long mud arch bridge to disappear.
Almost simultaneously, the five giant mud arches that had just arisen all disappeared, and the Quagmire Lake quickly regained its calm.
Only the Five Seed Pomegranate remained shining brilliantly there.
Ye Zhen carefully searched his memory for content related to the Ancient Fierce Beast, Goldback Crocodile Dragon, and his expression couldn’t help but turn solemn.
The Ancient Fierce Beast, Goldback Crocodile Dragon, does not belong to the Ancient Dragon Clan bloodline, but its ferocity is comparable to that of the Ancient Dragon Clan, earning it the name Crocodile Dragon.
Most Demon Beasts, even those with the bloodline of Ancient Fierce Beasts, find it hard to advance further once their cultivation reaches the Peak of Ninth Stage Realm King Realm, which is equivalent to the Half-step Dao Realm for human warriors.
When it comes to understanding the Heavenly Dao Laws, Demon Beasts simply don’t possess the insight that human warriors do.
However, Demon Beasts have Demon Cores, and while their realm may not break through, their cultivation continues to improve with ongoing cultivation.
The notion that many Great Saints of the Demon Clan possess boundless magic power stems from this.
Under normal circumstances, the cultivation of a Goldback Crocodile Dragon at the level of the Half-step Dao Realm would result in a body size of approximately fifteen hundred meters.
But the five Goldback Crocodile Dragons Ye Zhen saw just now, even the shortest one is over twenty-five hundred meters long, with the longest exceeding three thousand meters.
"The size is nearly double that of Goldback Crocodile Dragons at the Half-step Dao Realm. How profound must their cultivation be?" Contemplating this, Ye Zhen inhaled sharply.
Especially considering the incredibly strong defense of these Goldback Crocodile Dragons; their Crocodile Dragon Hide offers defense equivalent to the Dragon Scales of the Ancient Dragon Clan.
Killing just one is difficult enough, let alone five.
Suddenly, Ye Zhen’s brows furrowed as he swiftly grabbed hold of Wang Baimu, causing another scream to escape from him.
"Something’s wrong!"
"Since these Five Seed Pomegranates have matured, why haven’t these Ancient Fierce Beasts, the Goldback Crocodile Dragons guarding here, picked and eaten them?
Don’t tell me that these five Ancient Fierce Beasts Goldback Crocodile Dragons are here only to guard these Five Seed Pomegranates?" Ye Zhen asked.
Demon Beasts have much less Spirit Wisdom compared to human warriors, but instinctually, they surpass them greatly.
They often find those Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects hidden in deep mountains and marshes, then wait patiently for them to mature before consuming them to enhance their power.
Clearly, that’s what these five Ancient Fierce Beasts Goldback Crocodile Dragons are doing.
Wang Baimu made a remarkably unpleasant expression, "Let me speak slowly. When I saw this scene last time I was here, it puzzled me greatly.
These five Goldback Crocodile Dragons kept guard on the Five Seed Pomegranates, preventing me from picking them even though they had matured, yet they didn’t consume them, which was extremely strange.
After leaving last time, I consulted some Ancient Kingdom Secret Treasures as well as those Heaven and Earth Spiritual Treasure guides and strange records that have been passed down from the Ancient Times, and looked them over.
I ultimately discovered that the essential reason why these five Ancient Fierce Beasts Goldback Crocodile Dragons are guarding mature Five Seed Pomegranates without eating them lies with the Five Seed Pomegranates themselves."
"How so?" Ye Zhen asked.
"Have you heard of second maturation?" Wang Baimu asked.
"Second maturation?"
"Yes, many Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects continue to grow after maturing, transforming into another type of valuable treasure; the Five Seed Pomegranates possess this characteristic." Wang Baimu paused.
"Stop being cryptic, hurry up and tell me!"
Urged impatiently by Ye Zhen, Wang Baimu revealed the information as if pouring beans out of a bamboo tube, with absolute candor.
Turns out these Five Seed Lotuses mature after eight thousand years of growth - if not harvested, they will continue to grow.
After another two thousand years, the Five Seed Pomegranates reach their life limit; the protective five seeds start to wither while the central Five Seed Pomegranate rots due to extreme growth.
But within these overgrown rotting Five Seed Pomegranates arise five fully mature seeds.
Which are the seeds of the Five Seed Pomegranates.
Under normal circumstances, once these seeds drop into a quagmire, they will root and sprout again, growing into five new Five Seed Pomegranates.
However, if the seeds are consumed by Demon Beasts whose cultivation is trapped at the Half-step Dao Realm, they will exhibit a peerless transformative effect!
Helping those Demon Beasts stuck at the Half-step Dao Realm to shapeshift.
According to Wang Baimu’s inference, the Ancient Fierce Beasts Goldback Crocodile Dragons in that quagmire must be waiting for the Five Seed Pomegranates to undergo second maturation.
Once the Five Seed Pomegranates mature a second time, they can consume the seeds, shapeshift against Heaven’s will, take human form, and once again embark on the bright path of cultivation, comprehending Heaven and Earth Laws.
Wang Baimu even predicted that there may not have been just five Goldback Crocodile Dragons in Quagmire Lake in the past, but rather fifty or even five hundred.
But due to the second maturation of these five Five Seed Pomegranates offering only five seeds capable of reversing shapeshifting, fierce internal warfare and killing likely occurred within this Goldback Crocodile Dragon tribe.
In the end, the five strongest Goldback Crocodile Dragons survived, and they have remained guarding these matured Five Seed Pomegranates, waiting for their second maturation.
That’s the reason these five Goldback Scaled Dragons are guarding mature Five Seed Pomegranates without consuming them.
Having made sense of all this, Ye Zhen frowned deeply, "Old Wang, have you thought of a way to pick these Five Seed Pomegranates during this time?"
"Thought about it!"
"Dreamt of it every night! But no matter how much I brainstomed, I couldn’t come up with a feasible method," Wang Baimu replied.
Just as Ye Zhen was about to speak again, his expression cooled; the Fire Spirit Power imprint he left two thousand miles away shattered.
The Second Elder Jii Gongyue and others from the Three-eyed Demon Clan had pursued them!

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