In reality, his mind was flooded with a strange, dual perspective. Two distinct visual feeds—one from his left, one from his right—superimposed themselves over his consciousness.

Through the eyes of the Fire Crow, the night was not a veil of darkness, but a vibrant landscape. The cold moon hanging in the firmament, the scattering of stars, the swaying silhouettes of trees, and the silent flow of the river all rendered with crystal clarity.

Although he could not hear sound nor smell scents through the link, the visual acuity was terrifying. Every flower, bird, fish, and insect was visible. More importantly, the Fire Crow’s vision possessed a unique thermal sensitivity; any object emitting heat was instantly locked onto and highlighted in vivid detail.

For these creatures, there was little difference between high noon and midnight.

With a mental command, the Fire Crow flapped its wings. It soared over the hundred-meter-high stone mountain, transforming into a blood-colored spectre under the moonlight as it sped toward the distant horizon.

Its destination: Zhu Fuxian’s Spirit Farm.

Previously, the distance had been too great for Jiang Chen to investigate personally without risk. Now, with an aerial scout, he could explore the area while simultaneously testing the limits of the [Fire Crow Qi Nurturing Method]’s shared vision.

As the distance increased, the limitations of the bond began to show.

While the Fire Crow attempted to follow his commands, its nature was still wild. Its Loyalty and Intimacy levels were not yet at the peak, leading to a wandering attention span.

It would occasionally dive to terrorize smaller birds or swerve erratically to avoid larger predators.

The straight-line flight to Zhu Fuxian’s farm should have taken only a few minutes. However, due to the crow’s dawdling and detours, it took a full fifteen minutes to arrive.

‘Inefficient,’ Jiang Chen noted inwardly. ‘But this lack of focus should improve as our bond deepens.’

Despite the delay, the target finally came into view.

Jiang Chen’s internal voice murmured in shock. ‘Fifteen acres?’

Zhu Fuxian’s territory covered a massive area. Some plots were planted with Spirit Rice, others with medicinal herbs, and some with rare, unidentifiable spirit plants. There were even patches that looked recently harvested, lying fallow and empty.

‘How many years has Senior Brother Zhu been in the core area? For a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator to secure fifteen acres of Spirit Farm… the disparity between his resources and my two acres is immense.’

The Fire Crow began to circle in the air above Zhu Fuxian’s fields.

At first, everything was quiet. But perhaps the crow lingered too long.

Suddenly, a brilliant surge of emerald light erupted from the ground below.

Screech!

The Fire Crow was seized by a primal terror. Without waiting for a command, it turned tail and fled, flapping its wings frantically to escape the vicinity.

Inside a wooden hut below, Zhu Fuxian sat cross-legged in meditation. He slowly opened his eyes, a thoughtful expression crossing his weathered face.

“Why would a Fire Crow appear here?”

One hour later.

Lying on his bed, Jiang Chen opened his eyes and thrust his hand out the window.

A streak of blood-colored light shot into the room and landed in his palm. It was the Fire Crow, shivering uncontrollably.

It had spent an entire hour flying in a panic before daring to return.

Although Jiang Chen shared its vision, the connection had its limits. At such a great distance, he could not force his will upon it to override its survival instincts.

Even now, curled in his palm, the creature was a mess of trembling feathers, looking as though it had seen a ghost.

Jiang Chen probed the crow’s memories with his Spiritual Sense, frowning.

Even at the last moment, he hadn’t seen what the source of the light was. A sudden eruption of green luminescence, followed by overwhelming fear—that was all the crow registered before losing control.

‘At least this wasn’t a wasted trip,’ Jiang Chen mused. ‘It proves that Zhu Fuxian is definitely not just a decrepit old farmer waiting to die. Everyone has secrets. As long as he doesn’t cause trouble for me, I won’t pry further.’

He retrieved a handful of [Top-quality Spirit Rice] produced from his second-grade farm and fed the terrified bird. He continued to stroke its feathers until the trembling ceased.

But the taming process was far from over. There were still four untamed Fire Crows inside the [Spirit Beast Ring].

Jiang Chen decided to name this first success “Crow One.”

He issued a second command to Crow One: ‘Enter the ring. Make the others submit by any means necessary.’

He tossed Crow One into the [Spirit Beast Ring] and projected his Spiritual Sense inside to watch the show.

What he saw left him speechless. Crow One had a hidden personality trait: it was a classic bully.

When facing the unknown terrors of the outside world, it was timid and submissive. But when facing its own kin? It struck with heavy fists.

Thwack!

A wing slapped one of its brethren into the wall.

Crunch!

A claw trampled another into the dirt.

In the blink of an eye, Crow One had beaten the other four into the ground.

Compared to the well-fed Crow One, the other four were exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. Their emotions were already unstable, and this physical dominance broke their wills instantly. They cowered, emitting low, pleading caws.

Crow One stood atop their prone bodies, chest puffed out, head held high, strutting with the arrogance of a conquering king.

The bird had clearly forgotten that just an hour ago, it had been scared witless and fled for miles before daring to come home.

Seeing the job was done, Jiang Chen summoned the four submitted crows out of the ring one by one.

With their wills broken, the taming process was smooth and unobstructed. He named them Crow Two through Crow Five.

Unfortunately, their potential values were far inferior to Crow One’s. However, quantity had a quality of its own. With five birds, he could form the basic [Fire Crow Formation].

Moreover, every ten hours, each crow would produce a drop of [Fire Spirit Liquid]. This substance was equivalent to fire-attribute Spirit Rice and would aid in increasing the Fire Spiritual Power in his Qi Sea.

Soon, all five Fire Crows were gathered, perched in a row on Jiang Chen’s headboard.

Crow One took the center spot. Crow Two and Three sat to the left; Crow Four and Five to the right.

The newcomers were nervous at first, but as Jiang Chen fed them grain after grain of [Top-quality Spirit Rice], their tension melted away, replaced by the same “foodie” loyalty as their leader.

Five pairs of eyes looked at him with anticipation, waiting for the next handout.

Jiang Chen’s heart stirred. He closed his eyes.

The next second, a bizarre and disorienting scene flooded his mind.

Five distinct visual feeds merged into his consciousness. Ten eyeballs focused on one subject.

The image was of Jiang Chen sitting on the bed, viewed from five slightly different angles. The clarity was so high he could count the individual hairs on his own arm.

He raised his hand.

In the shared vision, five versions of himself raised their hands instantly, without a millisecond of latency. It was like watching a live broadcast of himself from a multi-camera setup.

After testing the connection for a while, Jiang Chen felt the Wood Spiritual Power in his Qi Sea running low. He retrieved the [Companion Green Lotus] from the field and issued a collective command to the flock.

“Circle the air around the Spirit Farm. If any human approaches, make a commotion immediately!”