Chapter 494: Snatching
Chapter 494: Snatching
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
"So, Little Brother is a beast tamer as well. To be able to reach 2-star at such a young age, the younger generation sure is impressive!"
Even though Hall Master Han was perplexed, he didn't allow his true thoughts to slip through. Clasping his hands, he spoke politely before turning his attention away.
A 2-star beast tamer under twenty was impressive, but in their Beast Hall, it wasn't a particularly rare sight.
Hearing the other party's perfunctory words, Zhang Xuan couldn't be bothered to explain himself.
His aim here was the soul oracle tomb. It didn't matter to him whether the other party viewed him highly or not. It would suffice as long as the other party didn't interfere in his affairs.
"Hall Master Han, Zhang..."
Seeing the attitude of his old buddy, Hall Master Sai immediately realized that the other party might be misunderstanding something. He immediately spoke up to explain the matter when the ground before them suddenly tremored and a loud voice echoed.
Roar!
A loud howl reminiscent of thunder boomed, and the leaves from the nearby withered trees immediately fell to the ground.
"Impressive!"
Zhang Xuan's eyebrows shot up.
Just the voice in itself was sufficient jolt a cultivator beneath Zongshi realm to death.
For a single roar to be so incredible, as expected of a famous spirit beast in the Myriad Kingdom Alliance. It was indeed a fearsome existence.
"It's awake, let's begin!"
Hall Master Han's eyes lit up. He immediately turned around to instruct the elders.
Upon hearing the instructions, the elders nodded and stepped forward. One of them flicked their wrist.
Boom!
The massive corpse of a spirit beast appeared on the ground.
"The corpse of a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan [Deerhorde Beast]? You all even managed to hunt down one of those?"
Upon seeing the corpse, Zhao Feiwu's eyebrows leaped and a look of disbelief surfaced on her face.
"This spirit beast is incredible?" Sun Qiang asked doubtfully.
"The Deerhorde Beast is only a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan spirit beast and it isn't particularly strong. However, it possesses extraordinary speed. Its meat is fresh and juicy, making it a favored prey among spirit beasts and cultivators. Unfortunately, their numbers are severely limited and there might not be a single one across the entire Nine Folds Mountain. It must have surely cost a lot of time and effort to capture one!"
Due to her illness, Zhao Feiwu wasn't able to move around freely. Thus, she devoted her time to books. Given the unique nature of the Deerhorde Beast, she remembered it clearly.
Hearing the conversation of the two, the gray-robed man proudly explained, "Looks like you know quite a bit. This Deerhorde Beast took seventeen beast tamers over a course of half a year to hunt! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this is the only hunted Deerhorde Beast within the entire Myriad Kingdom Alliance at the moment. It'll be impossible to find a second one on the market!"
Even though the cultivation of Deerhorde Beast wasn't too high, it possessed high wariness and it was exceptionally cunning. If not for so many beast tamers being dispatched for it, it would surely be impossible to capture it.
"Un!" Even though the other party was being narcissistic, Zhao Feiwu knew that there wasn't any mistake in saying so.
It was indeed extremely difficult to capture this beast. Back then, a prince of the alliance (the household of the Alliance Head) was ill and required the heart of the Deerhorde Beast for treatment. Thus, the Alliance Head Residence offered a high monetary reward for the acquirement of this spirit beast but there was no result for five whole years.
Eventually, due to the lack of medicine, the prince's physical condition deteriorated and he eventually died.
It was also because of this that she flipped through the books and learned of the Deerhorde Beast.
"Not only is the flesh of the Deerhorse Beast fresh and juicy, more importantly, this spirit beast feeds on spirit herbs. Despite its weak cultivation, it is overflowing with spiritual energy, making it no different from a tonic. If a spirit beast were to consume it, they would be able to easily overcome their current bottleneck and reach higher realms!"
Hall Master Sai interjected. "In other words, it's a mobile Realm Breakthrough Pill!"
"I see. So, they are intending to use the corpse of this fellow to please the Demon Cinque Beast!"
Coming to an understanding, Sun Qiang was astonished.
To think that they would even procure such a rare and difficult to hunt spirit beast to tame this Demon Cinque Beast. The hall master of the Beast Hall had truly gone all out this time.
While they were discussing this matter, Hall Master Han took in a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Brother Demon Cinque, I've prepared the items I told you about already. They are right here, come out and take a look!"
The voice echoed into the cave. There was a moment of silence, and the atmosphere grew tenser by the moment. Just as everyone was about to reach their limit, a loud gust of the wind blew out from within and a gigantic figure flew out.
It was a massive spirit beast possessing a height of around seven to eight meters. When its wings were spread apart, its length reached more than thirty meters long. Its eyes were scarlet as though fresh blood, giving it a fearsome appearance. At the same time, its body is filled with resilient-looking scales, reflecting its outstanding defensive capability.
The Transcendent Mortal 4-dan pinnacle aerial spirit beast that everyone within the Myriad Kingdom Alliance feared... the Demon Cinque!
Roarrr!
As though having comprehended the words of Hall Master Han, the massive savage beast looked at the Deerhorde Beast corpse placed in front of him with fiery eyes.
Spirit beasts were already capable of absorbing spiritual energy to cultivate, and they possessed intelligence not beneath that of a human.
The corpse of this Deerhorde Beast was producing the deep fragrance of herbs and an intense spiritual energy disturbance. At this moment, its instincts were telling it that if it were to consume it, its cultivation would surely soar. Even if it wasn't able to reach Transcendent Mrotal 5-dan, it wouldn't be too far from it then. Under such circumstances, how could it not feel agitated?
"Brother Demon Cinque, as long as you promise to a condition of mine, this Deerhorde Beast will be yours!"
Seeing that its interest was piqued, Hall Master Han chuckled lightly.
Roarrr!
The Demon Cinque Beast turned its head to Hall Master Han, as though indicating its willingness to listen to the conditions of the latter.
"For the past three years, Brother Demon Cinque and I have been spending much time together, and I believe you should know have a clear understanding of what kind of person I am. My condition is simple... I hope that you can become my tamed beast!" Hall Master Han said. "Don't worry, we can sign an equal contract. This way, I won't be able to force you to do anything you are reluctant to!"
Roarrrrrr!
Hearing that it had to become a tamed beast, the Demon Cinque Beast's face immediately warped in savagery and it roared in displeasure. It emanated a deep aura of hostility that left one's hair standing on ends.
It seemed to be saying that if Hall Master Han dared to continue talking about the matter, it would surely make a move.
As a bearer of the Dragon Bloodline, it was of esteemed standing. How could it possibly be willing to submit to a mere human and serve as its lackey?
"You shouldn't be in such a hurry to make your decision!"
Seeing how the other party refused him without the slightest hesitation, Hall Master Han's complexion turned awful. However, he quickly veiled it and chuckled, "I believe you should know of my standing among the humans. I am the head of the Beast Hall, a figure respected by many. Brother Demon Cinque, as long as you follow me, I will treat you as my peer and fulfill anything you ask of to the best of my ability! The lifespan of spirit beasts might be long, but how long does it take for you to raise your cultivation by absorbing spiritual energy from the surroundings? You will be entitled to much better resources if you were to follow me!"
After finishing those words, Hall Master Han beckoned to the elders behind.
A few elders stepped forward and a bunch of spirit stones appeared on the floor.
They were all low-tier spirit stones but they stacked up into a mini mountain. There was at least several thousand of them, and their appearance immediately caused the spiritual energy in the surroundings to surge. Just by taking a whiff, one could feel their pores opening up and an indescribable feeling of comfort would envelop one.
Humans weren't the only one who could utilize spirit stones for their cultivation; spirit beasts were the same as well.
Cultivating through absorbing spiritual energy from spirit stones would surely be much faster than simply absorbing spiritual energy from the surroundings.
"There's a total of 8000 spirit stones here. As long as you agree to the condition, I can give them all to you right now," Hall Master Han said.
The reason why he could take out so many spirit stones while Hall Master Sai wasn't able to was not because the latter was poor. Rather, Hall Master Sai had spent the bulk of his money on collectibles, resulting in the amount of spirit stones he could take out at a moment to be severely limited. In terms of total assets, the latter would surely be far superior.
It was just like those antique collectors in the world Zhang Xuan lived in prior to his transcension. If those collectors were to sell their entire collection, they would surely be drowning in cash. However, as finding a suitable buyer for these items were difficult, the amount of cash they could take out at a given time might not compare up to some of the wealthier merchants.
"If you aren't interested in these spirit stones, you might be interested in this!"
Seeing the lack of response from the Demon Cinque Beast after taking out the bunch of spirit stones, Hall Master Han hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth. Flicking his wrist, he took out a jade box.
Slowly opening it, a spirit stone came into sight.
Boom!
The moment the box was opened, the spiritual energy in the surroundings immediately grew so dense that it was nearly tangible. It felt as though as long as one was holding onto the spirit stone, even if one didn't attempt to absorb it, the spiritual energy would still seep into one's body, enhancing one's body.
To put it simply, if one were to place this spirit stone by the side of an infant, even if the latter didn't cultivate, nourished by the spiritual energy contained within it, his body would become incredibly powerful and it would be immune to common illnesses. In less than two months, its physical body would become no weaker than that of a Pigu realm cultivator.
"Could this be a... middle-tier spirit stone?"
Zhang Xuan clenched his fists tightly in agitation.
Having read innumerable books, he knew a thing about two on the various tiers of spirit stones.
The spirit stones in his possession at the moment were of the most inferior grade, low-tier spirit stones.
Low-tier spirit stones were sufficient to support the cultivation of a cultivator of Transcendent Mortal 4-dan and below. Any higher than that would require spirit stones of higher grade.
Taking Zhang Xuan for example, due to the incredible purity of Heaven's Path zhenqi, even though he was only at Transcendent Mortal 1-dan Prolonged Longevity realm pinnacle, low-tier spirit stones were already nearly ineffective on his cultivation. If he wanted to reach Origin Energy realm, on top of completing the Heaven's Path Divine Art of that level, more importantly, he needed a middle-tier spirit stone!
That spirit stone in Hall Master Han's hand was more than sufficient for his cultivation to rise from Prolonged Longevity realm pinnacle to Origin Energy realm pinnacle.
While quantity could make up for the disparity in quality, this logic only applied if the disparity in quality wasn't too great in the first place.
With sufficient straw, one might be able to buy a diamond. However, the properties of a straw could never achieve the properties of a diamond.
Thus, even though ten thousand low-tier spirit stones could be exchanged for a middle-tier spirit stone, it couldn't replace the effectiveness of a single middle-tier spirit stone.
"That's right, it is a middle-tier spirit stone!"
Not expecting his old buddy to take out such an invaluable object, Hall Master Sai's eyes widened in shock.
Middle-tier spirit stones were incomparably expensive. There wasn't more than a handful of it throughout the entire Myriad Kingdom Alliance. The value of it could only be greater than the Deerhorde Beast!
Roarrr!
Seeing the middle-tier spirit stone, the eyes of the Demon Cinque Beast grew even redder.
In truth, Hall Master Han's heart was also bleeding from taking out his greatest treasure. However, he knew that it would be impossible to hook in the Demon Cinque Beast without this much. Thus, clenching his jaws, he continued, "As long as Brother Demon Cinque agrees to becoming my tamed beast, this middle-tier spirit stone will be yours... Hm? Brother Demon Cinque, what are you intending to do..."
Before he could finish his words, the Demon Cinque Beast flapped in massive wings and charged forward. Its talons swooped forward swiftly amidst raging winds to grab the spirit stone in Hall Master Han's hand.
"Snatching? The heck!"